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