Marriage Counseling Joke

Hey, whatever works...

After just a few years of marriage filled with constant arguments, a young man and his wife decided the only way to save their marriage was to try counseling. They had been at each other's throat for some time and felt that this was their last straw. When they arrived at the counselor's office, the counselor jumped right in and opened the floor for discussion. "What seems to be the problem?" Immediately, the husband held his long face down without anything to say. On the other hand, the wife began talking 90 miles an hour describing all the wrongs within their marriage. After 5 - - 10 - - 15 minutes of listening to the wife, the counselor went over to her, picked her up by her shoulders, kissed her passionately for several minutes and sat her back down. Afterwards, the wife sat there speechless. He looked over at the husband who was staring in disbelief at what had happened. The counselor spoke to the husband, "Your wife NEEDS that at least twice a week!" The husband scratched his head and replied, "I can have her here every Tuesday and Thursday."

Rich & Dee Bryson

If you missed our worship service last Sunday then you probably missed the news that our friends the Brysons will be leaving our fellowship soon.

While Rich & Dee plan to stay here in McMinnville, they will be attending Court Street Christian Church in Salem where their son, Ben, is the lead pastor. Both of their kids (and all the grandkids) attend there, and when Pastor Ben told Dad he could use some help, it was an offer they just couldn't refuse!

The Brysons have been key players in our church from the very beginning, Rich as one of our shepherds, and both in numerous serving roles: teaching kids on Sunday morning, preaching up front, singing in the choir, running PowerPoint, helping in AWANA, hosting a women's Bible study, setting up on Sunday mornings, preparing communion elements, organizing the goodies in the foyer, and even getting the coffee ready for us! They are true servants, and we will miss them in many ways.

I want to personally and publicly say how much I have appreciated the Brysons and their care for me and my family. From the day we came to McMinnville two years ago they have looked out for us and supported us in big and small ways. There have been times when I believe Rich was more concerned about my welfare than his own. As neigbors they have graciously watched our kids when we were in a pinch. When they upgraded something at their house, it seemed we always benefited from it; I use some of their "hand-me-downs" virtually every day--everything from computer speakers to our DVD player to the mattress we sleep on! The Brysons have always been big on smiles and encouragement to me. I am grateful for their friendship, and I aspire to be like them in their servant attitudes and hospitality.

Rich is receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree this weekend, so they will be out of town this Sunday. Then next week, June 8th, will be their last worship service with us. Rich will preach, and we will all share in a potluck lunch to celebrate his graduation and share our appreciation for them as they go.

If you have any thoughts to share about the Brysons, feel free to click on the comments link below!

Awana Awards Night

Last week was the big finale for New Hope's first official year of Awana! Clubbers, leaders and family members all met for a hot dog feed, songs, a slide show, a presentation of the Good News...and lots of awards for kids of all ages who learned LOTS of scripture verses over the year!

The evening was led by our Awana Commander, Ashley DeForrest, and the awards were handed out by our three able directors of the various clubs: Joann Dorn, Susan Myers and Rebecca Bertolini.

This was my first time to be heavily involved in Awana, and I had a unique overview of the ministry. First of all, my two kids were involved in two of the clubs, one in Cubbies (preschool) and one in Sparks (K-2nd). Second, I led some singing for all three age groups, especially for the little ones, which was a blast! And third, for most of the year I led one of the teams in Sparks, so I had a chance to listen to my four Sparkies recite verses each week and then I cheered them on in the games that Toby Carver led. Fun! And on top of all that, we had a couple kids from our neighborhood come along for the final month or so, and I expect they'll jump back in when it starts up again in the fall!

With that kind of broad perspective, I think I am qualified to say that (1) Awana is a terrific program that really does help kids learn valuable truth from the Bible, and (2) we have an awesome group of adult leaders and helpers at New Hope who really care for these kids and make Awana a special event each week.

I've posted a few pictures below, but there are lots more in the photo gallery on our website!

God bless our students!

It's finals week for Linfield students, and then on Sunday morning (6/1) the college is having its graduation ceremony. That means we have seen the last of many of our college students until the fall!

We had the college students come to the front on Sunday to pray for them, and we wish them well this week as they finish up the spring term and head into the summer. We'll miss them very much!

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, and was a time set aside to decorate the graves of those who lost their lives in the American Civil War. It was later expanded to commemorate all who had given their lives in service to their great country.

So we give a simple but heartfelt "thank you" to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and also to those who were willing to risk the same to protect our freedom. We remember.

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self

Their country loved,

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness,

And ev'ry gain divine!

This is the kind of retirement home I want to get into!

I found this pic in a really fun collection of photos on AOL. Click here if you'd enjoy seeing a chihuahua in scuba gear, an erupting volcano in a lightning storm, a pigeon with a blow dart through its head and more!

Does Jesus Care?

Last month I finished writing a song and introduced it to our church. It was a new version of the old hymn Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart, with a new tune and an added chorus. A week ago, after church on May 11th, my friend Ken Ober came up to me and said he appreciated the new song and had a suggestion for another hymn to be revisited. The hymn was Does Jesus Care?, and I told him I was familiar with it, but hadn't sung it in a long time! I thanked him for the suggestion and told him I'd look into it.

The next day I looked it up. I was surprised that it was in only one of the three hymnals I reference most often, but I enjoyed getting reacquainted with the hymn. I grabbed my guitar to start playing around with melodies, and a new tune quickly came! It's probably not the most original melody, but on Sunday I sang it as a part of our worship. I hope it was an encouragement to everyone who was worshiping with us.

I looked up Does Jesus Care on my favorite hymn website, http://www.cyberhymnal.org/. There I learned that the lyrics were written in 1901 by a Methodist pastor from Pennsylvania named Frank E. Graeff. It turns out that Graeff was a winsome, optimistic pastor, particularly gifted in working with children. In fact, his disposition earned him the nickname, "the Sunshine Pastor," and I imagine that those who met him assumed his life was full of nothing but joy and peace. But we all know that life here is not easy, and Frank Graeff was not immune to the pains and struggles we all face. I couldn't find any details about his challenges, but here is how the cyberhymnal site summarizes Graeff's writing of his most well-known hymn:

Frank Graeff went through some ve­ry dif­fi­cult tri­als. The per­i­od be­fore writ­ing this song was one of great de­spond­en­cy, doubt and phys­ic­al pain. When he turned to God’s Word, 1 Peter 5:7 gave won­der­ful com­fort: “He cares for you.” Af­ter med­i­ta­ting on that truth, Graeff wrote these lyri­cs, with the re­sound­ing af­firm­a­tion in the cho­rus, “O yes, He cares…”

What a wonderful scripture. God invites us to "cast all our anxiety on Him"...and why? Because He is smart? strong? wise? organized? The Bible tells us to "cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." How amazing is it that God loves and cares for each individual!

One hundred and seven years ago, a beleaguered pastor was amazed by this very truth. And we still have his poetic reminder to help us focus on our kind and loving Father.

I encourage you to read the hymn below, and if you want to hear our version of it, you can click here.

Be encouraged...He cares for you!

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained

Too deeply for mirth or song,

As the burdens press, and the cares distress

And the way grows weary and long?

Does Jesus care when my way is dark

With a nameless dread and fear?

As the daylight fades into deep night shades,

Does He care enough to be near?

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed

To resist some temptation strong;

When for my deep grief there is no relief,

Though my tears flow all the night long?

Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”

To the dearest on earth to me,

And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks,

Is it aught to Him? Does He see?

Oh yes, He cares, I know He cares,

His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

I know my Savior cares.

A Great Weekend!

What a great weekend we had at New Hope Christian Fellowship!

On Saturday we participated in the Alien Daze UFO Festival parade. It was a lot of fun! This goofy parade (the second biggest in the country of its kind, behind the Roswell, New Mexico festival) is one of McMinnville's biggest events, so it's a great opportunity for us to get into the community!

I got a chance to see our local cable channel's telecast of the parade--we were the only church represented this year, and (if I may say so myself) the rocking-est musical entry! It was fun to see people enjoying the music along the parade route. I appreciate all the New Hopers who dressed up and participated, as well as those who helped make it happen. For a little taste of our entry, check out the quick video here...

Rebecca took some pictures and posted them in a photo gallery on our website. Take a look (and if you took pictures that day, please let me know so I can add them)!

But the weekend didn't end on Saturday...we had a terrific time of worship on Sunday morning! Our singing time included great songs about fellowship together, the unique greatness of God, and the hope we can have in giving our burdens to Him. Dewey preached expertly about the importance of the virgin birth, so Lindsey sang Mary Did You Know to close the teaching time (with Heidi adding some tasty violin to the band accompaniment).

I guess I can't speak for everyone, but our times together on Sunday morning are a delight to me personally, and I hope they are as meaningful to the others who are there.

Steve Myers occasionally records some of the music in our worship times, and this week he got some good recordings that we want to share. You can find all of our sermons and a number of songs on our website's downloads page, and I thought I'd include a few musical links here as well. Enjoy!

The House of the Lord
Only a God Like You
A Shield About Me
Faithful One
Mary, Did You Know?

p.s.

I just found a video on the News-Register's web site of the UFO parade. It briefly shows me playing my saxophone in the parade itself, but near the beginning it also shows the Bertolini's and some others of our crew as we waited for the parade to start! See it here.

A simple message beautifully told

I came across this video and was really moved...

Identified Marching Object

I was taking a look at the UFO Festival's website, and on the home page there's a short video showing stuff from last year. I watched to see if there were any New Hope "sightings," and sure enough, about 45 seconds into the video there's a quick glimpse of McKenzie Adix who was dressed in blue and twirling something in front of our float. Check it out!

Brilliant!

Maybe if I can get my daughter to sign off on ideas like this now, while she's seven, I can afford her wedding 15 years from now!

You've come to Christ. Now what?

This morning I read an article addressed to new believers, but even as a 35-year veteran of Christianity I found it to be full of wonderfully practical challenges! Check out You've Come to Christ. Now What? (adapted from Brian Tome's book Welcome to the Revolution: A Field Guide for New Believers).

Ladies Night (er, morning) at New Hope

This Mother's Day morning we had some special treats for the ladies!

First was our "Ad Hoc Men's Choir." All the men were invited (cajoled?) to the front where they sang a rousing rendition of the old hymn At Calvary. It sounded great!

We also presented a men's quartet version of Softly and Tenderly, and then the kids came up front to recite a poem and hand out flowers to all the moms. Dewey followed with a great sermon about God's mercy and redemption using the stories of four women in Jesus' ancestry.

All in all it was a great morning to honor not only our great Lord but the wonderful women He's given to our New Hope community! Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day vs. Father's Day

This article is addressed to pastors, and it's actually more about fathers than mothers, but I found a lot of interesting information in it so I thought I'd share it. Check out Pastors, Don't Use Mother's Day to Bash Dads by Paul Coughlin.

Joke for the day

A man walks into a dentist's surgery and says, "Excuse me, can you help me. I think I'm a moth."

Dentist: "You don't need a dentist. You need a psychiatrist."

Man: "Yes, I know."

Dentist: "So why did you come in here?"

Man: "The light was on..."

Welcome!

Earlier this week Steve and Lacy Myers (and daughter Sophia) welcomed a new addition to the family! Solomon Jude Myers was born Monday, May 5th at 4:15 p.m. (8 lbs 1 oz, 19 1/2 inches for you stat junkies).

Reports are that everyone is doing great and they came home from the hospital yesterday. Congratulations!

Talking Politics with Your Kids

I don't know that this article was super-practical for me, but it was certainly entertaining! Check out Parenting and Politics: Raising Responsible Voters by Jenny Runkel.

Servant in Action

I caught serial servant Ida Grace Mauser in the act (again), shooting poison at the weeds behind the church. Over the last few months I've seen Ida Grace working on the landscaping many times, and I really appreciate her service to the Lord in this practical way!

New Hope Kid's Camp 2008

Our Children's Department came up with a promotional video for this summer's Kid's Camp at Camp Tapawingo!

Camp is open to kids entering 3rd-6th grades. The cost is only $175, and the dates are August 18-22. Contact Ashley DeForrest for more information or to sign up!