Christmas Lights

I sort of expect to drive by (our resident powerpoint and lighting expert) Jason Alexander's house one day and see something like this...

Merry Christmas!

Caroling this Sunday

Don't forget we're Christmas Caroling this Sunday at 6:00! Meet at the church. And here's a little link to help you get warmed up: Carol of the Chins

Family Christmas Concert Tonight!

Join us at 6:00 p.m. tonight for our Family Christmas Concert!

We've got a great collection of songs that celebrate the 1st coming of Christ, sung by soloists and choirs of all ages! We'll even have cookies after the program. Come celebrate with us!

Lost in translation...

Christmas at New Hope!

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and (for me, at least) the official beginning of the Christmas Season! We've got three special Christmas events coming in December at New Hope:

Sunday, December 13, 6:00 p.m.
It's our second annual Family Christmas Concert! A musical evening featuring our Christmas Choir, Children's Choir, solos and instrumentalists. It's Christmas music New-Hope-style, with lots of great songs that celebrate Jesus and His birth.

Sunday, December 20, 6:00 p.m.
It's time for some good old fashioned Christmas Caroling. Dress warm and bring a happy voice!

Thursday, December 24, 6:00 p.m.
Our simple and beautiful Christmas Eve Service will help you focus on Christ this Christmas. Come sing traditional carols, hear the Christmas story from God's Word, and share in communion and candle light.

We hope to see you at all our Christmas Celebration events!

Sermons Podcast

A couple people have asked if we can make our sermons available for podcast, and we've now made some changes that will make podcasting possible. In short, our sermon files will be stored on http://www.sermon.net/ rather than our own website, but you can still access the messages as you always have on our Sermons, Etc page.

I am personally unfamiliar with the whole podcast thing, but if you have questions let me know and I can get you the answers from somebody smart!

By the way, we now have the sermons uploaded through November 15, and I'll try to get yesterday's message up soon.

Time change tonight

Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight! We hope to see you at church in the morning all chipper and well-rested!

An interesting quote

But far too often, churches preach and teach the importance of our own moral actions, thereby belittling the importance of what Christ has done for us.

The result is that every time a scandal breaks involving a prominent Christian laid low—South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Ted Haggard, Mel Gibson—we're treated to an endless news cycle about hypocrisy. But hypocrisy isn't failing to practice what you preach. Hypocrisy is pretending to have beliefs that you don't actually have. Real hypocrisy is rare and difficult to discern.

The battle to overcome sin, on the other hand, plagues every Christian daily.

From the article Sin: The Rest of the Story, by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway

New Hope Song

Yesterday we celebrated our fellowship's 3rd anniversary, and Dewey's message from Matthew 9 was appropriately themed "It's a new day," a real celebration of the new life and hope we have in Christ. As I considered this theme last week, I decided I really wanted to write a song that communicated what we believe as a church--that Jesus Christ can bring new hope to all who trust in Him. We got a pretty good recording of the song, and you can hear it now on our website's Sermons, Etc. page.

Dewey's sermon should be on the page very soon, and it was great. In fact, I blame Dewey for making me a little emotional as I stepped up to sing the song, and you can hear my voice breaking a few times because of it!

As with all the songs we sing on Sunday mornings, I hope this one helps you love and appreciate the Lord even more...enjoy!

New Hope - by Brian Janssen

When I needed an anchor for my soul,
When I needed my broken life made whole
When my heart was hopeless, a Savior reached to me.
I found Truth that set me free.

Now there is hope for me;
Now it's a brand new day.
Now I rejoice to see my burdens are lifted away.
Now I have endless life and love and grace
no matter where I go:
In Jesus Christ I have found new hope.

The Latest Downloads

For those who are fans of Dewey Bertolini's sermons (and who isn't?) I have good news: We are finally caught up on all his sermons on our website's download page! The last few weeks we've enjoyed some wonderful messages from the book of Matthew on changed lives, mercy, forgiveness and awe. So take some time to take in God's Word by going to NewHopeConnection.com and clicking on the Sermons, Etc menu button!

In addition to the sermons, I've also recently uploaded two songs from our last couple Communion services. In September, Jered Caywood and I played a modern version of the hymn Come Ye Sinners, and this month featured Ian Estrada singing Mighty Is the Power of the Cross. Both recordings turned out really nice, and hopefully they will encourage you to appreciate Christ's gift to us even more.

God's Presence

I recently read a thoughtful article by Carolyn Arends that I thought I'd share with you. The title, "Come, Lord Jesus" was followed by the subtitle: Oh, wait. He's already here. It's a refreshing perspective on God's presence and our response. Click here to read the article.

Race Track is Ready...

Tomorrow evening at our AWANA kids club, clubbers will be racing little wooden cars that they painted last week. Dev Jubinville (pictured below) built a 32-foot slotted race track for the cars to roll down, and it should be fun!

Awana starts at 6:00, but if you'd like to just come for the racing, join us at 6:30!

Birthday Cake

Lately we've been celebrating New Hope birthdays once a month with a song and a cake! We just want to thank Al and Bev Blunck for providing the cake for us each month--we appreciate them contributing in their way to help make New Hope a friendly, happy place!

New Blumenstein!

Dustin and Beth Blumenstein welcomed Ainsley Corrie Blumenstein into the world at 12:35 last night! She was 6 pounds, 5 ounces, 18.5 inches, and mom and baby are both doing great. They expect to take her home tomorrow (Tuesday) sometime. Congratulations!

Mommy Wars

From an article entitled "White Flag in the Mommy Wars" by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway:

I was soon a witness to the Mommy Wars. Originally, the big battle was whether women should work outside the home. Now the wars engage a wide range of parenting questions.

...These fights are vicious. And they're odd. We live in a society that wouldn't dare pass judgment on even deviant sexual practices, but we can't let women make their own decisions on how to diaper their children.

Much of the hype comes from the all-consuming nature of motherhood, causing sleep-deprived and overworked moms to focus on childrearing to the point that crazy fights seem completely normal. And much of the angst reflects our fear that if other parents do things differently, they will pass judgment on the decisions we've made.

Awana Leaders Meeting

Tonight we had a brief meeting with all of this year's Awana Leaders and helpers. It looks like we have a great group of seasoned veterans and talented rookies, and it promises to be a great year! We took time to review how our kids club runs each week, and then we prayed for God to bless this terrific ministry. As you read this, would you pray for us, too?

End of the Season

Yesterday our two softball teams played one final game to end our 2009 season. Team #1 came out on top, but everyone had a blast whether they were playing or cheering the teams on! Special thanks to Dev Jubinville for umping for us yesterday, and thanks to all who played this summer! Let's do it again next year!

Piano Concert Friday Night

Gerry Clark's friend Dennis Weiler will be presenting a free piano concert tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. at New Hope Christian Fellowship. The concert will feature hymns and other traditional pieces, and Dennis also includes photographic slides to add a visual aspect to his music. It promises to be a great night!

Gerry provided us with the following bio for Dennis Weiler:

Dennis just turned 68, and has three daughters and six grandchildren. He has 8 1/2 years of bible college with degrees in theology and music, and has worked in several churches and given concerts coast to coast. Dennis taught piano for 35 years, both privately and in public and Christian schools. He has almost 20 CDs and DVDs available on piano, organ, and keyboard orchestra. "I love the Lord and wish to share my music!"

One more game!

Our softball season is officially over, but we can't let go!

This year, New Hope fielded two teams in the city's co-ed league and we had a fun summer. We had more losses than wins, but spirits were always high, and I think God was glorified with the way both teams participated.

However, in the league schedule, our two teams never got to play against each other, so we've decided to have one more game. This Sunday after church, we are inviting everyone to bring a picnic lunch to Dancer Park, Field #9, where we will enjoy eating together and then watching Team 1 play Team 2 in a final scrimmage.

It looks like the weather will be beautiful, and I assume the game will start at about 1:00 p.m. Hope you can join us!

New Sermons Online

I was out on vacation for a couple weeks, so we were behind on our web site's sermon downloads, but Gerry Clark's terrific sermons on Stewardship (August 23 & 30) are now available online. As always, you can find them on our web site, www.newhopeconnection.com, under the Sermons, Etc. menu button.

I'm still waiting for Dewey's sermon from this last Sunday, but I expect to get that up there soon. Stay tuned!

This just in...

From Tuesday's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on news of the planned revisions to the NIV:

This is a weird story: The top-selling Bible in North America is being revised for the first time in 25 years to reflect changes in English usage. The language is changing so they're revising the Bible. For instance, the Book of Genesis now includes the line, "On the Seventh Day the Lord chillaxed."

Some new worship ideas

While I'm on vacation, I figured I'd brainstorm some new worship ideas for Sunday mornings. What do you think of these?

Kids off to camp...

About 25 campers and leaders headed off to Camp Tapawingo this afternoon for the weekend Kids Camp! Please pray for safety, fun, and spiritual fruit as the kids learn about storing up treasures in heaven.

"If you love the sound of death metal worship as much as I do..."

A quote for today

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” -- C.S. Lewis

Interesting stat

42% Scientists ages 18-34 who say they believe in God.
28% Scientists 65 and older who say this.

(Source: Pew Research Center)

Awkward Family Photos!

I stumbled onto a very funny web site today: www.AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. Maybe you can think of your own submission? Check it out!

Worship Wars!

It's about time somebody stopped these crazy hymn-singing Methodists(!)

Fiji Bans Massive Methodist Hymn-Sing

Fiji's military government has banned a massive annual hymn-singing contest and church conference out of fears that the crowd of some 10,000 singing Methodists could destabilize the strife-torn nation...(click here to read the rest of the article)

Blumenstein Shower

Tomorrow after church we will be having a salad potluck lunch Baby Shower (men, women and kids are all invited) for Dustin and Beth Blumenstein.

Many of you know Dustin as our worship band drummer, and Beth is a faithful volunteer with our children's classes. They are welcoming their first child in October, and we want to celebrate! Hope you can join us!

Care Package for Karl

Our very own Karl Laeger is serving our country in Iraq right now, and we as a church would like to send him a care package to show we are thinking of him. The announcement in the bulletin says...

Along with cards, he would enjoy things like: beef jerky, gum, breath mints, toothpaste, toothbrush, or floss. Leave your gifts in the foyer.

If you'd like more ideas of items to send, I found a number of sites online that give great ideas. Here are a few links you can check:

http://thefuntimesguide.com/2005/09/soldierpackages.php

https://www.msu.edu/~sst/care.html

http://www.cafepress.com/lovethetroops/491788

Love is in the air!

We're blessed at New Hope to have some terrific young adults who serve the Lord and our church in a variety of ways. And this is a big week for four of them!

First of all, Jason Olds and Meredith Berthot are getting married tomorrow! Meredith is a teacher here in McMinnville, and is also one of our Sunday School teachers here at New Hope. And I see Jason here regularly giving his time to keep up the grounds around our building during breaks at work. Both have sweet, servant hearts, and we're happy for them!

Second, I got the news this week that Ethan Barske and Lindsey Jorgensen are now officially engaged! Ethan works at Evergreen, and when his work schedule permits he plays piano for us in the band. And Lindsey is one of the talented vocalists that sing along with me on Sunday mornings. I haven't heard anything about dates yet, but I'll keep you posted. Congratulations, you two!

Happy Independence Day!

Combining two of my favorite things: America and Muppets!

Cassie is off to Portland

Cassie Gamble leaves today to spend a couple weeks in Portland minstering with Child Evangelism Fellowship. Here's an excerpt from a letter she sent to some friends and supporters:

For the past two years, I have been working with Child Evangelism Fellowship to share Christ with the children in the community. This year I will be serving with them once again, and I have been given an opportunity to go to Portland, OR for a summer missions trip called “Student Thunder”. I am going with a group of teens from Oregon.

We leave on July 3rd, and will return on the 12th. During this trip, our team will be teaching children in 5-day Bible clubs, sharing with churches and youth groups about CEF and the importance of telling kids about Jesus, and training other teens to teach the kids after we’re gone. Even though it may seem odd to go on a missions trip so close to home, there are many children in Portland who haven’t heard the Gospel.

I know Cassie would appreciate your prayers!

And can it be?

Rich Bryson will be speaking on the topic of forgiveness this Sunday, so I've been looking for songs that mention forgiveness. In my search I stumbled on a stanza of And Can It Be? that I've never seen in any hymnal. This is one of my favorite hymns, and I love this unsung verse, too!

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
Amazing love! how can it be
that Thou my God shouldst die for me?

Charles Wesley, 1738

River Trip Pics

Rebecca put some pictures up on our website of the Kids River Trip last Friday. To see them, click here!

Happy Flag Day!

Are women born that way?

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

I was looking through my hymnal and ran across the hymn O Love That Will Not Let Me Go. I didn't sing this much as I grew up, so it's only slightly familiar to me. But I enjoyed the words as I read them this week, especially the 3rd and 4th stanzas. This hymn was written by Scottish Pastor George Matheson in 1882.

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Softball 2009 season is underway!

Our New Hope Hitters softball season began yesterday!

We have two teams this year, since there were so many who wanted to play (Team 2 had a bye this first week), and Team 1 played its opening game against Willamette Valley Medical Center. We lost 16-15, but everyone agreed it was a great game.

I not only enjoyed playing in the field, but also hearing the cheers and laughs from our team and the New Hope fans who came along. I'm looking forward to playing all season!

Rebecca Bertolini and Cori Stansfield both gave me some pictures. A few are posted here, but all 24 can be found at our web site's Photos page...just click here to see them.

New School Board Member

One of our New Hope members was just voted onto the Sheridan School Board! You may be surprised who it is...click here to see an article about him in the News-Register!

Piano Recital

A nice crowd of about 60 came to listen to Christie Gamble's piano recital, and we all enjoyed it very much! She did a great job, and it was fun hanging out afterwards at the reception, too. Here are a couple pics:

Piano Recital Tonight

Don't forget, our own Christie Gamble is performing a free piano recital tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church here in McMinnville. On the program are Bach, Mozart, Chopin and Debussy, and there's a reception to follow!

"I knew them when..."

Last night at Youth Group I had a total blast with our new Youth Worship Band! It was their first time leading worship all together, and they did GREAT!

These guys are total rookies...Tanner played electric guitar and has been taking lessons for only about 6 months. Tyler's taken guitar lessons for about as long, but had never played bass until 2 and a half weeks ago! Same for Brenna, who's taken a few years of piano lessons, but has only played synth for a couple weeks. And Cori basically learned the drums from playing "Rock Band" and doesn't even have a real drum set at home to practice on! (Cassie's the wiley vet--she's sung up front with me for a while, of course!)

Over the years of my ministry, it's often been a challenge to find musical talent. After all, you can't just manufacture instrumentalists out of thin air--you just have to wait for God to send them your way. So it's a real joy for me when some young players like these come along, with some budding musical skills and a real desire to use them! I really look forward to helping them grow in their gifts, and one of these days (soon?) I'll get them up there to lead in "big church"!

Here are a couple pics that my wife took with her phone...

The Loudest Cheers in Heaven

A touching moment in an airport inspired this touching article from Kay Warren. Enjoy!

The Loudest Cheers in Heaven

Sand Storm!

I saw something like this in a movie called Hidalgo, but I figured it was exaggerated for the film. I guess not! This clip was filmed in Iraq during a sand storm in 2005 that ran over Al Asad Air Base (where Karl Laeger will be going in a few weeks)!

Awana Awards Night

Last night we concluded our Awana year with an Awards Night. Lots of ribbons and certificates and applause was handed out to clubbers and leaders alike, and it was a great finish to a great year! We also enjoyed a big slide show and hot dog feast. We really appreciate Ashley DeForrest and her faithful sidekick Rebecca Bertolini for making our kids' club terrific! I look forward to being involved again in the fall!

New Hope in UFO Parade!

I went to the UFO Parade downtown on Saturday and enjoyed it as always. What a nutty event! And while our church didn't have an official entry this year, I saw some New Hopers representing in the festivities!

Jeff and Jenny Pomeroy, who own a moving & storage company here in town, put their business on display here (sorry you can't see any faces in the shadows).

Curt and Karen Oldfield have been coming to our church now for exactly one year. How do I know? Because last year they saw our New Hope band in the UFO parade and decided they wanted to check us out (true story)! This year they dressed up their converted VW and towed their kids and some friends in a trailer!
Sonja Mullian wasn't exactly in the parade, but we saw her walk by several times as she patrolled the route. It looks like she's giving a ticket here, but she's actually helping some out-of-towners find the Pet Costume Contest that followed the parade.

It's always good to see folks from our fellowship involved in our community! Hopefully next year we'll be able to put an official New Hope entry in the parade again!

Anne Muehleck, who sings regularly in our New Hope Band, let me know that the Linfield choirs will be performing this weekend. The jazz groups are playing and singing tonight at 8:00 p.m., and the Concert Choir is singing on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Both concerts will be held in Ice Auditorium (Melrose Hall) at the Linfield campus.

I've been to both of these spring concerts before and they're terrific! Admission is free, and you can click here for a map of the campus (Melrose Hall is building #1 on the map).

New Recordings

I just uploaded two new recordings from last Sunday's Mother's Day service to our Sermons, Etc. page on the web site.

One is of Dewey's message from Sunday about Prayer and Fasting. We had a little technical glitch during the recording process, so unfortunately we missed the first 10 minutes or so of the sermon, but Dewey's practical thoughts definitely come through in the 38 minutes we have there!

The second recording is of ten-year-old Cassie Carver's rendition of The New Song We Sing, an energetic praise song. She did a great job and it got a great response from our New Hope family. Enjoy!

Christianity Is True

Christianity claims to give an account of facts—to tell you what the real universe is like. Its account of the universe may be true, or it may not, and once the question is really before you, then your natural inquisitiveness must make you want to know the answer. If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all.

I found this quote from C.S. Lewis in an essay entitled Man or Rabbit? (from God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics). At New Hope we believe that there is real and absolute truth, that this truth can be found in the Bible, and that our daily lives and choices ought to reflect that truth.

Lewis' essay is a response to the question, “Can’t you lead a good life without believing in Christianity?” The whole article is worth reading, but here is his powerful conclusion:

“When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Cor. 8:10). The idea of reaching “a good life” without Christ is based on a double error. Firstly, we cannot do it; and secondly, in setting up “a good life” as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence. Morality is a mountain which we cannot climb by our own efforts; and if we could we should only perish in the ice and unbreathable air of the summit, lacking those wings with which the rest of the journey has to be accomplished. For it is from there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are “done away” and the rest is a matter of flying.

Youth Group Pics

I saw these photos of our youth group posted on one of the kids' FaceBook pages and thought they were worth sharing...