New Recordings Online

Last week's sermon is up on the website and available to download. We also got more music recorded:
- As Long As I Have You, an upbeat favorite at New Hope
- Agnus Dei with All Heaven Declares, two great worship songs that exalt the Lamb of God

Kids Return!

Our Kids Campers returned safely yesterday from a great week of camp! They all looked a little wiped out as they arrived, but from all the reports it sounds like they had an awesome time (my daughter said she didn't want to come home yet)!

We've got a few pictures here, and I'm sure there will be more on the website soon. Ashley is also planning to put together a slide show for next week's service (Aug 31).

Thanks to all the leaders who helped make camp both possible and wonderful!

Conspiracy Theorists Joke

Two conspiracy theorists die and go to heaven, and they get a chance to meet with God.

When the appointment comes, God sits them down and says to them,“Look, guys...Oswald did it alone, Armstrong really did walk on the moon, and 9/11 was a terrorist attack by Muslim extremists that caught the US Government by surprise.”

After a moment of stunned silence, the first guy leans over to the second and whispers, “Wow, this really does go all the way to the top.”

Air Force Band Concert

The United States Air Force Band is presenting a free concert tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the McMinnville Community Center, and our Young at Heart group will be meeting there to enjoy the music. If you'd like to gather with our group, they'll be meeting there at the Community Center at 7:00 p.m. Join the fun!

Surrender

I've got another song to share with you, again from the Zach and Sarah Blickens Band. I've been listening to this beautiful song all week and may even teach it sometime to our fellowship. Check out Surrender by Zach Blickens at PraiseCharts.com.

I put some new recordings on our Sermons, Etc. page on the website today.

First, I got the message from last Sunday on there. It's a little longer than usual because it includes a few short testimonies and ends with our shepherds' report that we will be signing a new one year lease for our current location!

Also, we finally got the sermon from June 1st posted. It took a while because it was originally recorded on a video camera and it was a little tricky transferring the audio. Even with the wait (and the less-than-perfect sound quality), this one was worth the effort...Dewey's talk about "breaking bread" here is fascinating and I hope you'll have a listen!

We also have two new music recordings to share--last week's renditions of Trading My Sorrows and Your Name are on there for your listening and worshiping pleasure.

Enjoy!

Superhandles

The News-Register's website has a video of our own Jon Hildebrandt showing off his crazy basketball dribbling skills. If you haven't seen them yet, click here!

Kids Camp Under Way

The Kids Camp convoy headed out of the parking lot today! Pray that everyone have a great time at Camp Tapawingo this week, that the weather won't hinder things too much, and especially that God would work in the hearts of these kids we love.

Potty Humor

Recordings from Sunday

I am happy to report that our recordings from last Sunday are on our website's Sermons, Etc. page.

Dewey's sermon about the Wilderness was fabulous, so be sure to listen if you get a chance. And Steve got some good music recorded from our singing, especially a great recording of Mighty to Save. That song plus a couple more are on the site as well. Enjoy!

Laminin!

Here is Louie Giglio with an interesting illustration of Colossians 1:15-20.

A great weekend!

We had a great weekend here at New Hope!

I wasn't able to stop by personally, but I hear the Garage Sale went very well on Saturday. Over $500 was raised, which met the goal of covering expenses for some kids to go to camp next week. Praise the Lord! And thanks to everyone who brought items to the sale and volunteered to pull it off!

Sunday morning was just great. We had 147 in attendance, and if you weren't one of them, I'm sorry you missed it! I was very happy to have our whole New Hope Worship Band together again for the first time in weeks, and the songs we all sang seemed to really connect us to God's greatness and grace. And Dewey's message about living in the "wilderness" was terrific. I'll have it up on the website soon, so if you missed it, be sure to take some time to listen online!

We then enjoyed another summer barbecue together at Dancer Park. The weather was beautiful, and I got a chance to talk to some folks I don't normally get to, so it was a nice time of fellowship. Repko cooked up a bunch of hamburgers, chicken, german sausages and hot dogs--yum!

Our softball opponents forfeited, so we had fun just dividing up our players and scrimmaging against each other. Only two games left in the season!

If you're part of our New Hope family and are away travelling or on summer break, just know that we miss you look forward to seeing you again when you're back!

Garage Sale on Saturday, 8am-2pm

Lots of cool stuff for sale here at the church! Be sure to come out Saturday and buy some treasures!

The Hot Water Bottle

I had this story forwarded to me last week. I read it through, had tears in my eyes, and then figured it must be an urban legend of some kind. So I went to TruthOrFiction.com where I check out all the stuff that gets sent my way, and it turns out it was true! Wow!

The story comes from Helen Roseveare, a missionary doctor from Northern Ireland to what was then called the Belgian Congo. It's a beautiful testimony of God's provision, and if you've never read it before, it's really worth your time...

THE HOT WATER BOTTLE

One night, in Central Africa, I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all that we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying, two-year-old daughter.

We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive. We had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator, and no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.

A student-midwife went for the box we had for such babies and for the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly, in distress, to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "...and it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over a burst water bottle. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chilled. I also told them about the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt consciousness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby'll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, " ...And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?" As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything: The Bible says so, but there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time that I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone; so, I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then, there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children began to look a little bored. Next, came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - - that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. As I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be? I grasped it, and pulled it out. Yes, "A brand-new rubber, hot water bottle!" I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone: She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday School class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. One of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child -- five months earlier in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "That afternoon!"

"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24

Another song to share

I wanted to share a link to a song called Ready to Fly, a beautiful song that talks about our yearning for heaven. It's written and performed by The Zach and Sarah Blickens Band from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Enjoy!

Garage Sale!

Don't forget, we're having a fund raiser Garage Sale this Saturday, Aug 9, 8:00am-2:00pm, at the church to help sponsor our youth who are serving at the New Hope Kids' Camp later this month.

If you have stuff to donate for the sale, we'd really appreciate getting it early in the week, because the sorting and set-up has already begun. The church office is open Mon-Thur, 10am-2pm, or you can call/email me if you need to bring your things at a different time.

And of course, come buy some of these treasures yourself on Saturday!

Back Blogging

Hello! I've been away camping with my family and in-laws at Beverly Beach, so it's been several days since anything's been posted here. Other than the fact that my cursed tent seems to bring out the summer rain, we had a great time on our trip!

I haven't missed any Sundays, so here's a quick recap if you've been away yourself. There are, of course, lots of folks vacationing right now, so we've had around 130 the last couple Sunday mornings. Toby Carver preached last week on the Armor of God, and brought some of his police gear for show-and-tell as illustrations. Yesterday Dewey was back from his youth camp speaking engagements, and he spoke about Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and how the devil similarly tempts us.

Summer is always interesting for the worship team, since we rarely have everyone here. We definitely had some switching around these last two weeks, but as I said yesterday, even if we have lots of changes in our worship band, the God we worship never changes. And we pray that each person who came to worship Him had a real chance to express their love and awe!

Our softball team has had a rough couple weeks. We're 3-5 now, after losing 12-1 last week and 12-0 yesterday--yikes! We still have fun. Yesterday we only had 3 of our women team members, so Cori Stansfield and Susie Lucas stepped in and played at the last second--their first time to ever play softball! They did great, and it was fun cheering the rookies on!

We have a big week coming up, so keep checking in on the New Hope Connection!