Utah Team Report

Monday night I journaled:

"Aching legs.

Feet worn sore.

Backs strained.

Laughter spreading contagious.

Repetitive brush strokes.

Long hours.

United team.

Hearts full.

Smiles inerasable.

He answers prayers for restoration, for strong voices, for growth in coaches, for kids (111!), for sufficient help, for united team, for patience, for energy. The days aren’t without failures, imperfections, and strife. But as He continues to work on us, He supplies us with sufficient grace.” 

The report today is the same. It has been a very different week from our group’s missions trip two years ago to Juneau, AL, or our at-home missions trip last year, but the verdict is the same—God is still exceeding our expectations. He is still faithful. He continues to answer prayer. We prayed for the right amount of workers, and we get exactly the right amount of help from Alpine—the right amount of guy coaches for the overload of young boys and just the right number of girl coaches. We prayed for personal spiritual growth, and every night as we debrief, we hear story after story of God’s work in our hearts. Kids are opening up, making decisions to follow Jesus, and loving every minute of Sports Camp. We asked for energy, and God has miraculously seen us through. We prayed for good relationships with Alpine and God is doing it! So keep praying!
The last two days of Sports Camp are yet to come, a couple more work projects on the way, more interactions with Alpine church. We anticipate that the best is yet to come!

 “Every step we are breathing in your grace.
Ever more we’ll be breathing out your praise.
You are faithful. God, you are faithful!”
(Never Alone, Matt Redman) 

 -- Report by Lauren Reavely for the team

2009 at New Life Church: AWANA

Another highlight of 2009 was the beginning of AWANA. Last summer Sara Pylate began to think and pray about leading an AWANA club for New Life Church. Her children had gone to another church for the club and she thought it would be a great way to minister to other kids as well as her own, if we would offer it.

When she presented it to me, she wanted to go full scale, doing club for two-year-olds through sixth grade. I talked her down to two clubs to start with. Puggles and Cubbies started October 14th. After having more Puggles and Cubbies than we prayed for, we are expanding in January to include Sparkies and TNT clubs. If you would like to register a child you may do it online here.

Thank you to all you who make AWANA possible. Please continue to pray for them.

5(hundred) Hours - A Call to Prayer

What is 5(hundred) Hours?

5(hundred) Hours is an ambitious, church-wide call to prayer aimed at spending five hundred cumulative hours in corporate and private prayer to prepare for the January launch of re:Generātion, a new Young Adults Ministry taking place Sunday nights.

How to Get Involved—Starting, November 29th

As a Life Group or Ministry Team Leader. . .

. . . you can get involved by pledging to spend a portion of your group’s time in December praying for this new ministry. Remember, the time is cumulative, meaning if eight people pray for one-half hour, that’s four hours all together.

As an Individual . . .

. . . you can get involved by pledging your own personal time in prayer, encouraging those you know to do the same and holding one another accountable.
To pledge, please fill out the response card included in this week’s bulletin (one card per person).

As a Church . . .

. . . you can get involved by attending weekly prayer events Sunday morning between services at Riverfalls or before service at Robinwood and by joining with us New Year’s Day to pray, worship and fast.

Guiding the Process

Throughout the month of December, there will be a different area of prayer to focus on each week.

Week 1—Leadership and Leadership Development
Week 2—Worship
Week 3—Mission and Outreach
Week 4—Community and Discipleship

In addition to these focuses, the Young Adults’ Team will also be providing updates on the launch along with practical tips to help your prayer times, both in private and in public.

Why 5(hundred) Hours?

Prayer exists for two reasons: to bring glory to God’s name (Jn. 14:13) and to bring joy to God’s people (Jn. 16:24).

John Piper explains it like this: “God aims to exalt Himself by working for those who wait for Him. Prayer is the essential activity of waiting for God—acknowledging our helplessness and His power, calling upon Him for help, seeking His counsel. . . . [God] will not surrender the glory of being the Giver . . . [because] the Giver gets the glory.”

Our primary aim, therefore, in calling for this unique and ambitious time of prayer is to see God’s glory and our joy brought together. Yes, we want young people worshiping God. Yes, we want a new generation of leaders trained and equipped. And yes, we want to seek and save the lost. But in and through all of this, what we want is for God to get the glory and for us to get the joy.

The only way for this to happen is through prayer.

Follow-up from All-Church Meeting.

We had a great turnout on Sunday night for our all-church meeting and strawberry feast. In fact, the social team had to go get more supplies!

The key items in the meeting were as follows:

• New Members: Terry Montgomery, Keith Richardson, Rudy & Audette Ventura, and John & Sheila Gardner were introduced as new members. Welcome and congratulations!
  
• A Financial Summary: Given the effect the economy is having on so many individuals and on other churches, New Life Church is remarkably stable. We have spent about $2,000 more than we've taken in year to date. That is less than 1% difference between income and expenses!
  
• Remodel Updates: We are still about $10,000 underfunded for the Riverfalls building remodel and about $15,000 still to go for the Robinwood upgrades. Thanks for remembering these improvements with your gifts.
  
• Oregon City Update: The church is doing well. They took over 80 people into membership and baptized 3 on May 31st. They love Aaron and Amanda. Our church will decide in August whether to extend an invitation them to become a part of New Life Church. They will, then, respond to the invitation in October. Please pray for this process.
  
• An introduction to a Wilsonville opportunity: A church in Wilsonville, Canyon Creek Church, will be closing at the end of this month. We've been talking to their pastor about becoming part of New Life Church, about their people joining us in West Linn and about us incubating a church plant that would go back to Wilsonville in the next couple years. He will preach at Riverfalls on July 5th and at Robinwood on July 19th. This would be a great thing to add to your prayers, too. Thank you.

If you have questions or thoughts about this, please leave a comment. Thanks.

Ignite Students Serve at Shepherd's Door

Students from Ignite Youth Ministries (the high school ministry of New Life Church) served a gourmet dinner to the women and children of Shepherd's Door on Thursday, April 23, 2009. Check out the video, and click here to access the pictures.

New Life Church Receives Award!

If Our Church Were NASCAR . .

Have you ever noticed all the stickers on a NASCAR? Even the drivers are covered in patches and stickers. They tell you who is on the team, who the sponsors are and who contributes to making the car successful. Our church is like that. Though we don't ever talk about them at the same time we have relationships with a number of organizations that contribute to our success and who we are pleased to be on the same team with. Here are a few of the stickers that would be on the New Life Church car:

• Western Seminary: Pastor Scott is the chairman of the board at Western Seminary. Matt Vorhees and Aaron Orendorff are finishing their degrees this Spring. Pastor Nathan has been their poster boy for a number of years. If you look at the seminary's website you'll run into Nathan's picture before long. Milliken Hall at the Seminary is named after George Milliken's grandfather. You might say we go way back with Western Seminary. Our church is located in a town where half the adults have college degrees -- almost twice the national average -- and we value our relationship with this school
  
• CB Northwest: CB Northwest is the Northwest Association of Conservative Baptist Churches. Our church goes back to the very beginning with CB Northwest. Dale Austen, Bob Spidal and now Pastor Scott, have served as trustees for our local association. Taylor Reavely led worship for their Growth Getaway in October. Pastor Scott will be speaking at the Annual Enrichment Conference in March.
• WorldVenture: Worldventure used to be CBInternational. We were friends even before that, back in the day when they were the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Former Pastors Jerry Hamilton and Ross Laidlaw served on their board back in those days. We support a number of Worldventure missionaries. Our many of our short-term mission trips have leveraged our relationship with them.
  
• Food For The Hungry: For the past several years we have a sent a team to Guatamala with Food for the Hungry. Dr. Brad Titus has served on their boards and has brokered our connection with them. The next team is going in a couple months! Child Sponsorship is one of their chief tools.
  
• PRC: Pregnancy Resource Centers of Portland serve women in crisis pregnancies to help them carry their babies to term. One of the chief ways we value life is supporting PRC. We use their bulletin inserts on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday and raise money for them annually through the Baby Bottle drive and the Steps For Life walk-a-thon.
  
• West Linn High School: Right across the street, West Linn High School has long been a friend of our church. They have let us use their parking lots on Sundays, for which we are grateful. Coffee Cart will begin again in January serving students hot chocolate, coffee and pastries before school as we have done for the past decade and a half!
  
• Samaritan's Purse: For several years, thanks to Judy Cochran, we have filled shoe boxes and sent them to children we'll never meet around the world through Operation Christmas Child. This year we filled a record number, 121, shoe boxes and raised money for shipping them.
  
• Project Angel Tree: Project Angel Tree provides gifts for children of incarcerated parents through the ministry of Prison Fellowship. We are grateful to the Philpots for their leadership in helping us serve in this way. We are also excited about the growing relationship we are developing with the Prison Fellowship aftercare program. More on that later.
  
• Cadence: We have supported the Metkos for years. Paul and Beryl are now part of the senior leadership for Cadence, formerly Overseas Christian Servicemen's Centers. Pastor Bill has had a long relationship with Cadence, too. We have sent teams to work on Hospitality houses near Fort Lewis and Fort Leonard Wood.
  
• H2O: Hope 2 Others began as a result of a WorldVenture missions camp. Leslie and Lauren Reavely began making bags with meals and, well, hope for panhandlers alongside the road. They received a big boost from the book Do Hard Things which devotes part of a chapter to them. Their idea is being reproduced in many places throughout the country and has had interest internationally.
  
• CCLI: We utilized CCLI to help us with complex copyright issues for several years before I realized they were based in Portland, OR. Now one of our worship leaders, Ronn Pricer, works at CCLI.
  

I think I could probably find other stickers that belong on the church. We are happy with the company we keep. All these organizations, and others, help us help people make God their treasure!

An idea for our remodel!

Other churches are using their space like we are planning to after we remodel our Riverfalls campus. Here is an article about creating a Starbucks alternative ministry. Anyone interested?

H2O Introduction

Lauren made this video for their presentation at Women's Camp this weekend. If you think about it, please pray for them.

Utah Mission Team Departure

If you want to see the Utah Team off, please be at NLC Riverfalls at 8:30am on Sunday, July 6. The bulletin last week said 7:00am, but that's a mistake. Please pray with us as we embark on our 12 hour drive. Also, please check the blog daily for updates while we're ministering.

Steps for Life

New Life Church supports Pregnancy Resource Centers in a number of ways. One of the ways is through the annual Steps for Life Walkathon. While we did not have many people walk, we did come through as one of the top sponsoring churches. Thank you to those who walked and those who sponsored! Pregnancy Resource centers provide help and hope to women with crisis pregnancies.

Mother's Day Video

H2O & Do Hard Things

We had a great Saturday last weekend. Several New Life Church students and parents attended a conference for teens called "Do Hard Things." It was sponsored by the Rebelution. As you may or may not know, our H2O ministry is featured in the book by Alex & Brett Harris called Do Hard Things. So, when they put on the conference with the same title last weekend, they asked Leslie and Lauren to tell about H2O. They got up in front of over 2200 students and parents and told their story and encouraged other young people to do hard things. In addition they gave out almost 600 H2O bags and near 500 starter kits. We are excited about the multiplication opportunity this presents. Our prayer is the other young people will pick up this ministry in their churches and together we can eliminate panhandling in the Portland area!

Facebook for Pastors

I contributed a section to a new e-book, FaceBook for Pastors, that just became available. While it is targeted at pastors, it highlights some good ministry ideas for anyone who might be inclined to serve Christ on FaceBook. Here is the press release for it. It is about:

How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the Internet. This 32 page e-book will help Pastors and other ministry leaders make the most of this great networking tool.

* How to make the most of your profile information
* Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
* All about groups, messages, poking, etc
* Brand Your Ministry
* Meet prospects for your church
* Learn more about the members in your church
* Fine tune your communication skills
* Testimonies from Pastors who use FaceBook
* and much more!

Get the e-book here free using this link:

http://ministrymarketingcoach.com/free-e-books/

CB Northwest

When people find out I'm a pastor they frequently ask, "What kind of church is it?" I have spent 15 years trying to answer the question in a way that keeps the conversation open. Sometimes I try to say, "It's a church that preaches and lives by the Bible." But, what people usually mean when they ask that question is, "What denomination are you?" While denominations mean very little to most people, they provide a convenient category (often filled with misconceptions) in which to file me. So, just to make sure I communicate I usually say, "We're Conservative Baptist. Does that mean anything to you?" That will usually tell me, by body language alone sometimes, whether we can continue to talk.

Let me give you some online references for our affiliations. While we are on the same team, Jesus's team, with many churches, we formally affiliate with CB Northwest, the regional branch of the Conservative Baptists of America. In fact, I am a CB Northwest trustee for the Willamette South Association, a group of sixteen churches in our area. This includes:

• of course, New Life Church.
• Barton Community Baptist Church
• Sandy Baptist Church
• Canby First Baptist
• Emmanuel Community Church, Clackamas
• Estacada First Baptist Church
• Gladstone First Baptist Church
• Happy Valley Baptist Church
• Lake Bible Church
• Milwaukie First Baptist Church
• Oak Grove Baptist Church
• Grace Church of Molalla
• Logan Community Church, Oregon City
• Light on the Hill Fellowship, Oregon City
  
• Maranatha Baptist Church, Oregon City
• Canyon Creek Church, Wilsonville

If you are inclined to pray for these CB Northwest and these churches, I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Please pray for me as I attempt to serve these churches as a trustee. I'm still figuring out what that means.

15 Lessons in 15 years

I want to finish this Spring Break Special by sharing some lessons I've learned over the past 15 years. They vary in significance and complexity. Some I learned the hard way. Some caught me off guard. Some I notice by paying only mild attention. Some may help you. Some helped me. Some won't help anyone. As penance for being late with this post I'll throw in a couple extra:

1. The myth of the hero leader is just that -- a myth.
   
2. Curriculum is generally dumbed-down to the lowest common denominator. Publishing houses are under such pressure to sell copies that curriculum has to be devoid of controversial (read "doctrinal") content.
3. People generally make up their minds before they consult their pastor. Then they hope he will tell them what they want to hear.
   
4. Conflict presents great opportunity for spiritual progress. . . and for disaster, I suppose. Conflict and progress are directly proportional.
   
5. What a person believes about God makes more difference than anything else.
6. God's people are unbelievably generous.
   
7. It takes years to develop spiritual strength and we all want it now. Suffering is the only shortcut. Discipline over time is the only other way.
8. Fatigue doesn't just make cowards of us all, it makes us all depressed!
9. People leave the church for a variety of reasons. It is not always the pastor.
   
10. If someone comes to the church because they had a problem with their previous pastor, it is only a matter of time 'til they have problems with me.
11. Spiritual leadership at home is hard. Husbands abdicate it to their wives. Parents delegate it to the children, letting them pick a church or decide whether or not to have family devotions. Spiritual leadership is delegated downward.
12. The pastoral task is to stand up and remind people of the greatness of God and the certainty of his promises. This is true whether you are at the bedside of someone who is dying, counseling, or behind a pulpit. It is a simple job really.
13. God is sovereign over the deployment of his servants. If someone will be of more use to him in another church or in another country He will see that they get there.
    
14. There is no substitute for preparation. The best meetings are those that have been thoroughly rehearsed before anyone even shows up.
15. Pastors don't really hang out together. Maybe they aren't very interesting. . . at least to themselves.
    
16. Pastoral ministry is impossible without supernatural power. I cannot take away someone's pain. I can provide wise enough counsel. I can't make someone hopeful. All I can do is pretend unless God shows up.
    
17. It is impossible to make too much of Jesus.
    

15 Innovations in 15 years

One of my favorite things has been to think up new ways to solve problems or to reach out. As I look back we've done some innovative things to further the ministry. Some of them originated here, others we borrowed from other people. Some of them worked well, some fizzled. Some we're still doing, some only lasted a week or two. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Coffee Cart: The kids who prompted us to start Coffee Cart by smoking behind the church and defacing our bus are now in their mid-30's. We still want young people to know the church is FOR them and wants them around.
2. Music Camp: This was a great mix of our personnel and opportunity for ministry.
   
3. New U: Who can forget Bud the Butterfly? Of all the things we tried that didn't really take-off, this may have been the best.
   
4. Elders: This is certainly not new to us, but the transition to elder leadership was very, very smooth. The church voted unanimously to change. Over the past several years we have been well led by this group of men.
5. Middle School Auction for Dalit Children: It is great enough our middle schoolers support India's unwanted children. But it's even better that the Middle School leadership found a way to continue the support even after our Middle Schoolers graduate.
6. The Stewardship Project -- $50 Challenge: The church gave several people $50 to see what damage they could do for God's kingdom with one Grant. You will be amazed as you read about their creativity here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
7. Multi-site Church: We weren't the first, but we found a model that allowed us to plant churches and remain one church, to maximize the advantages of size and smallness.
8. Shuttle to Parking: This is another solution that should have worked better than it did. We have all kinds of parking near the church and a shuttle should have helped us park there without taxing our 23 existing spots.
   
9. Preaching without a pulpit: This grew out of a couple Easter messages where I was so over-prepared I preached for over 45 minutes. So, I decided to be myself more when I preach and script less. I, for one, have enjoyed the freedom.
   
10. All-Church Retreats: Some of my best memories with the church were at our Memorial Day Retreats. We were priced out of even the least-expensive camps. Nothing warmed our church up like this extended time together.
    
11. 65th Anniversary Celebration: We are the only church I know of to ever celebrate a 65th Anniversary! Part of our reason was a desire to digitize the church archives. Ken & Joanne Weiss made a fabulous video for us that is still available in the resource room.
    
12. Blog: We've had almost 50,000 visitors (remind me to have a contest about this) and almost 1,000 posts to our blog.
    
13. Kid's Klub: We did this two different summers. We have made-for-YouTube videos before there was YouTube of Brian and Judy singing "Money" or Gilligan being danced around by natives. Too bad.
    
14. H2O: H2O remains one of the most creative solutions to one of our society's most perplexing problems. This ministry has been featured in the Oregonian and in a new book for teens called Do Hard Things.
    
15. Christmas Dessert Theater: Thousands of people found this to be a fun, meaningful, and even worshipful start to the Christmas season.
    

Thanks to everyone who made such fun, thoughtful and innovative ministry possible.

15 Sermons in 15 years

In the past 15 years, I have preached approximately 700 sermons. Most have been eminently forgettable. I thought about that and wondered if I could remember even 15 sermons out of 700. To my surprise, I could.

I thought it might of some interest to share what have been some of my favorite messages. These are not necessarily the best or the most fun to deliver or the ones that God used the most. Some of them fit those categories. Sometimes the message was memorable because the preparation that was particularly meaningful to me. Here goes:

1. Treasuring God in Life and Death (January 13, 2008, 2 Cor 4). This message a couple months ago represented the first time I changed my preaching plan because of things that were happening in the church. . . and I'm glad I did.
   
2. A Treasure for the Nations (January 6, 2008). This message surveyed the entire Bible -- twice. I didn't know you could do that. It was a synthesis that encourages me to follow God's example. And it was fun to see if I could do it.
   
3. The Gospel According to Ruth (November 25 - December 16, 2007). I was impressed again at God's ability and inclination to redeem bad events and undeserving people.
   
4. The Resurrection (November 11, 2007, Mark 16:1-8). I almost said the entire gospel of Mark was my favorite to preach. Usually a pastor preaches this message on Easter. It was fun to do it in November.
5. Peter's Denial (October 28, 2007, Mark 14:66-72). I have benefited greatly from other people's mistakes. This is my attempt to prevent similar denials in my own life and in New Life Church.
6. The Book of Job (January 21 - February 25, 2001). God used these six messages to strengthen my faith in God's smiling face behind a frowning providence. I did not anticipate that I would feel like Job again later that year when we lost another child.
7. Stewardship Series (January 1 - February 5, 1995). Our church had experienced chronic financial scarcity for years. For some reason, God used this particular series to change people's attitudes about giving and stewardship. It set us on solid financial ground. I've tried to repeat that same series a couple of times, but never enjoyed the same dramatic effect.
   
8. Barabbas (April 9, 2000). I think this was my first attempt at preaching in the first person. I had forgotten that I preached this on my birthday. I remember my excitement trying to figure out what it felt like to see Jesus (literally!) as your substitute.
9. Zechariah (December 12, 2005). Zechariah's name means God remembers.
   
10. Things That Matter Most (1998). This series eventually led to a CD of original music (that you can still purchase from the church office, BTW). The music is more memorable than the messages.
    
11. The Limits of the Atonement (July 17, 1998). This is the only time I did not know what I was going to say at 11:30 on Saturday night. I had prepared two different messages, one for each of two different views. I chose to say God definitely saves those whom He elects. It had to be a dreadfully delivered message (I didn't get much sleep). But, someone brought a friend with them that Sunday, and the friend thought it was fascinating. He was saved shortly thereafter and baptized that next winter.
    
12. The Great (10) Commandments (September 26 - December 5, 1999). This series is memorable for me because it was during these messages that I discovered Thomas Watson. He has become one of my favorites because of his practical approach to Christian doctrine.
13. The Excellency of Christ (November 2 - December 21, 2003). This Christmas series was inspired by a sermon by Jonathan Edwards with the same title.
    
14. How to Raise Great Children: The life of John G. Paton (June 15, 2003). This Father's Day message was inspired by my reading of the biography of John G. Paton. He attributes his passion for God to his father. I couldn't help but wonder how you pass on that kind of vision for God.
15. God is for us! (Easter, March 23, 2008). It's not that I couldn't really remember 15 so I had to go to last weeks. The criteria is that it was memorable to me and I can remember what I preached on last Sunday! Seriously, it is such great news that I can't help but put it on this list.
    

15 Reasons I've Stayed 15 Years

As part of my reflection on 15 years I have thought about the things that have anchored me here. In the beginning we thought we'd return to Montana and much to our initial surprise we are still here. Why have I stayed at New Life Church for a decade and a half? Here are 15 reasons:

1. I still feel called by God to be here.
   
2. The church has given me no reason to go.
3. It is a pleasure to work with elders who are men of integrity and vision.
4. It is a delight to work with such a fine staff.
   
5. God is still answering prayers and sending workers into the harvest.
6. I am privileged to serve the greater Body of Christ. I was a GHC trainer for several years for Sonlife ministries and now am a trustee for Western Seminary and CB Northwest.
7. I am still learning a lot.
8. No one else wants me!
9. Most people who wish I would leave have given up and left the church.
10. I have freedom to care for my family and coach my kids sports.
11. I have a new office!
12. My family loves the church. If I was fired, they'd still want to come and serve!
13. There are several young men at New Life Church who will become better pastors than I am and God has given me opportunity to be part of their lives.
14. The church has loved my family. God has kept his word about returning a hundred-fold in this life. . . (Mk. 10:29-30).
    
15. There is work still to do!
    

15 Changes 15 Years

I recently completed 15 years as the Sr. Pastor of New Life Church. I took a few moments to reflect on what I have learned from the experience. While it is not much of an exciting career path, it is a privilege to be sure, to be allowed by God and patient people to continue serving for such a long time. The 15 years have included births and deaths, exorcism, baptisms, court appearances, letters of recommendation, meetings, conferences, progress and losses, complaints, compliments, and more.

For Spring Break I want to share some of my reflections on the 15 years. Here are a few of the changes that have taken place in the past 15 years:

1. The world was shocked that the World Trade Center had just been attacked. . . the first time!
2. People were outraged that gas was over a dollar ($1.06) and a first-class stamp was $.29.
3. The earth is home to a billion more people than it was in 1993.
4. The internet is now useful.
5. Dial-up isn't!
6. West Linn High School was being remodeled. . . the first time!
7. New Life Church was called West Linn Baptist Church.
8. The church had only recently paid off the mortgage on their 1960's addition to building and had never purchased any other property.
9. The church had been without a pastor for one week! The longest pastoral tenure had been seven and a half years.
10. We had two services, one traditional and one contemporary.
11. Freda Fox was still fourteen years from retirement and was the only church secretary to ever use a computer.
    
12. The inside of the church was brown paneling.
    
13. An elder was an old person who needed help across the street, not a church leader.
14. The church had only one location.
15. Our worship leaders at the Riverfalls campus were three and five years old.