Czech Republic Mission Trip Update

The following update came from Justin Schroeder who was on a mission trip with Karen Hellweg and several others from the Portland area. They were in the Czech Republic serving in an English Camp with Josiah Venture.

Camp was amazing! Such a great week, despite the illness. Zach and Caro were the only ones of our team to make it through the week without vomiting. Gracey and Sean, fortunately, got much better as quickly as they became sick, and were up and running within hours. I was #26 to come down with the vomiting/fever bug on the very last night of camp, which meant I spent the last night (which are always epic) laying in bed. I believe about 36 people total had the virus during camp.

The thing is, though, that none of that stopped the energy of camp, and it was probably meant to be. No one was sent home, and those who weren't sick were full of life and energy that made this one of the sweetest camps ever. We had a super fun and crazy time, and got to make some great friends with the students there. At the end of the week, many had intense spiritual conversations with the Czech youth group members, and one girl accepted Christ right there at camp!

After camp was follow-up. Half the team went to Trebic, and a few of us went to Jihlova (YEE-hlo-va), the other town involved with the camp. It was a great chance to hang out with the students in their element, to relax and adventure as peers and to get those who had formerly not seen the local youth group a really good intro/plug-in to their respective churches. I think most of our team found the follow-up to be the most precious time of the whole trip.

After we said goodbye, we went to Prague! The last couple days were spent in the chaos of this beautiful city. First was the debrief, where Nate and Rob (of JV) essentially commissioned us BACK to carry on the spreading of the gospel in the places we live, not just for a couple emotional weeks in a foreign country. After debrief, we walked, shopped, toured, got lost, hit up all the major must-see points, got lost, and had a great time bonding as a team one last time. It was a magical time but also I'm still sore from all the walking.

I am so so extremely proud of this team and everything they accomplished this past week. It was truly incredible to see the way God worked through each member in a unique and powerful way. Not only did many people in various leadership roles express how impressed they were, but the students took to these Americans in a rich and beautiful manner.

So Gracey and Karen made it home safely to Portland! I immediately began the whole process over with another team and am back in eastern Czech ready to start camp tomorrow. Well sort of ready. Mostly just exhausted. And Caro, Zach and Sean are on a plane back to America as we speak!

Side note: as I am here at this new training, I'm seeing SO many people I've met in the past and have been catching up right and left with all sorts of individuals from all different towns and places in the country I've worked with. It is incredible to hear stories of people I knew back in those towns who have become Christians or are growing in their faith, leadership, and lives from the catalyzing effect camp had on them. Often times our job here is only planting a seed, but four years in and I can personally testify that God is bearing TONS of fruit in this country.

Ok back to the not-side-note. The middle note, if you will. Or whatever:

So thank you for helping make this journey possible through your prayers and loving support of each member. Please pray that the Denver team makes it home safely. Also please pray for each of these Americans, that this experience will not be lost in their personal lives and walks and that their growth will be evident from this point forward. Finally, pray for all the students, Christian and non-Christian alike, that God will continue his powerful movement through this atheistic nation, and that His light will once again shine from the Czech Republic.

God bless.

Peace, Love, and Kouzelné Hroch,

-Justin

New Life Church Wilsonville Grand Opening

New Life Church Wilsonville held their grand opening last Sunday, January 8, 2012. It was a great morning. One member wrote, "Sunday was an exciting day! It seemed like a long time coming, but God had His hand in every step of our preparations leading up to the grand opening."

We celebrated the new life that Jesus gives and the importance of remaining connected to him. Any new start, for a church or for a person comes from our connection to Jesus.
Afterwards we celebrated with a meal from Buster's BBQ. Everyone enjoyed it and ReGeneration got a little extra that evening, too.






We will be meeting there every Sunday at 10:00am. Please continue to pray for us.

Anyone is welcome. Please bring or send your friends!



Nine different churches contacted me and told me they were praying for us. Thank you all!

10/10/10 -- A Great Sunday at New Life Church

I have been a pastor at our church, as of last week, for 22 years! In that time, I can probably count on one hand the number of Sundays that I would say were really great, days where I wouldn't really change anything. God has done such a good work in our church, but He has done it through a series of gradual changes and good, but not spectacular Sundays.

Last Sunday, however, was one of those days that I would say was really great. For starters, the Robinwood congregation had their highest non-Easter attendance of the year and started a new class called Gospel Armor with 22 adults attending. The Riverfalls congregation enjoyed four baptisms (Audrey Lazar, Rachel Polley, David Hellweg, and Sam Cochran). Three fathers baptized their children. The service was full, but not as full as it would have been had we not sent a team to go do the service at Tanner Springs. Then we shared dinner together and the child safety training was packed. Eighty people were reminded of the importance of keeping kids safe. Add to that the 20 or so from a previous training and there are already 100 volunteers trained and ready to serve! That would have been good enough, but then 50 or so young people hit the I-205 off-ramps in Clackamas County to raise money for homeless people on World Homeless Day. Then, ReGeneration had a large crowd who were challenged to choose the path of wisdom from Psalm 1:1-6. If that weren't enough, one young man came up to me then and told me how he'd submitted his life to Christ after we talked last week!

I fell into bed exhausted, but happy for God's work at New Life Church. And . . . I hope it encourages you, too.

re:Generātion Launch

re:Generātion Promo from New Life Church on Vimeo.

re:Generātion exists to engage young adults in gospel-centered community focused on worship, mission and leadership development.

re:Generātion will begin gathering this Sunday night at the Riverfalls campus from 7:00-9:00pm (Life Groups will start at 6pm).

re:Generātion Launch

After much preparation and prayer, re:Generātion is finally poised to launch. You can read more about our preview service—this Sunday @ 7pm—and our official launch—next Sunday, March 7th @ 7pm—over at the re:Generātion blog:

Preparing to Launch - One Week to Go (Part 1)
Preparing to Launch - One Week to Go (Part 2)

Prayer and Fasting on the re:Gen Blog

Check out this recent series of posts on Prayer & Fasting over at the re:Generātion blog that were put up in preparation for the launch of our on-campus Clackamas Community College (CCC) Life Group.

Prayer and Fasting (1) - Why Fast?
Prayer and Fasting (2) - Transformational Fasting
Prayer and Fasting (3) - Missional Fasting & Application(s)

re:Generātion Pre-Launch Underway

re:Generātion had its first of three pre-Launch Meeting last night here at the church. Thanks to the footwork and recruiting of a number of key people (as well as to the prayers of those of you who aided in last month’s 5(hundred) Hours), we’re starting off with a core team of just under 30 young adults representing at least three different churches: New Life Church (West Linn), Good Roots Community (Milwaukie) and Clackamas Bible Church (Clackamas). If you’d like more information on what’s going on with re:Generātion check out our new blog at nlregeneration.blogspot.com.

What is re:Generātion?

Vision

New Life re:Generātion exists to engage young adults in gospel-centered community focused on worship, mission and leadership development.

What is re:Generātion?

Starting February 28th, re:Generātion will be primarily organized around a weekly, Sunday-night gathering from 6:00-9:00pm made up of three, interlocking elements.

First: missionally-focused Life Groups. From 6:00-6:45pm, the church will be open and available as a meeting place for various small groups each of which will be organized around reaching a specific people-group for the sake of the gospel (i.e., recovering addicts, a particular neighborhood, CCC students, young, single-mothers, etc.).

Second: Word and Worship. From 7:00-8:45pm, there will be a time of public teaching and corporate worship aimed (in both style and content) toward communicating and applying the gospel to a 20-something audience. Because worship is a response to revelation, this “service” will be intentionally frontloaded with gospel-Word so that the last half or so can be spent in gospel-Worship.

Third: a prayer ministry. After the time of teaching, while most people will still be in worship, the Fireside Room will be open for prayer to those wanting to respond to the message or who came that night with special needs. A team of trained volunteers (led by Kevin Dickey and Crystal Carlson) will provide a welcoming and guiding presence in the prayer room in service to those who reach-out.

Who is re:Generātion for?

re:Generātion is aimed at:

1. Training and equipping young adults at New Life Church for life and ministry.

2. Training and equipping young adults from other churches for life and ministry in their local church.

3. Reaching unchurched, young adults with the gospel.

How can I (as a church member) get involved?

First: through prayer. The Sunday-night prayer room will be the primary place for relational overlap between New Life Church at large (i.e., non-young adults) and the members of re:Generātion. This setting will provide a powerful opportunity for mentor-type relationships to develop.

In addition to the Sunday-night prayer room there will also be an ongoing prayer effort organized to support the ministry of re:Generātion. This group will meet periodically through the month to pray for the leadership and leadership development of re:Generātion, re:Generātion’s evangelistic outreach and any other special needs.

If you’re interested in finding out more information about serving in the prayer room or on the support prayer team, please contact Aaron Orendorff at aorendorff@newlifenw.com.

Second: through giving. Most of the financial support for re:Generātion will come from the general fund. However, there will be special projects from time to time that we’ll need help to accomplish. Please keep your ears and eyes open for opportunities to give.

re:Generātion Blog

5(hundred) Hours Finale

Last Sunday, January 3rd, marked the close of re:Generātion’s 5(hundred) Hours of Prayer.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. As of Sunday’s collection, 502 hours have been reported (and remember, those are actual hours, not assumed, not pledged, not padded, actual hours).

With the launch date quickly approaching, there will (of course) be an ongoing need for prayer in re:Generātion. If you’re interested in serving on the prayer team (whether in Sunday night’s prayer room or simply in support), please let me know.

The launch schedule for re:Generātion is as follows:

January 17th
Launch Team Training; 6-8pm @ Riverfalls

January 24th
Launch Team Training; 5-7pm @ Riverfalls

January 31st
Launch Team Training; 6-8pm @ Riverfalls

February 7th
Super Bowl; Promote re:Generātion (No Meeting)

February 14th
Valentine’s Day (No Meeting)

February 21st
Pre-Launch Meeting; 6-8pm @ Riverfalls

February 28th
re:Generātion Launch; Doors Open @ 6pm

After last Sunday’s message, it should be clear that the vision for 2010 is enormous, ambitious and truly impossible without God’s presence and blessing. It won’t be long until our next corporate prayer effort begins . . . and you can be sure that if we spent 500 hours praying in December, with all of the travel and crazy scheduling that Christmas and the New Year bring, our next goal will be even higher.

A Day of Prayer and Fasting

What?

As part of this December’s 5(hundred) Hours: A Call to Prayer, we are setting aside New Year’s Day—Friday, January 1st, 2010—as a day of prayer and fasting.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

[W]henever men are to pray to God concerning any great matter, it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer.

Arthur Wallis, God’s Chosen Fast

Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importunity into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly earnest . . . . Not only so, but he is expressing his earnestness in a divinely-appointed way. He is using a means that God has chosen to make his voice to be heard on high.

When?

There will be two gatherings for prayer and worship at the Riverfalls Campus. Please join with us by fasting for one or both of the meetings, either in person or while you’re away:

12pm-1pm (Lunch Fast)
6pm-7pm (Dinner Fast)

re:Generātion/5(hundred) Hours - Gospel

5(hundred) Hours - Gospel from New Life Church on Vimeo.

Week 5 - Gospel

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 February launch of re:Generātion, a new Young Adults Ministry taking place Sunday nights.

Week 5 - Gospel

The gospel is the good news that God sent His Son to save us from our sins. This means that union with Christ—in his life, death and resurrection—is not only what converts a person, but what transforms, empowers and matures them too. Everything we do—from ministry to mission—is to be shaped by the reality, as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, that having been crucified with Christ, we no longer live, but rather Christ lives in us. The life we live in the flesh, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.

re:Generātion exists to convey and communicate the centrality of Christ to the gospel and the gospel to all of life.

What to pray for as we ought . . .

Gracious Father, make re:Generātion a gospel-centered community committed to conveying and communicating the centrality of Christ to the gospel and the gospel to all of life.

Guard and guide the hearts of both its members and its leaders for we are all prone to follows other gods—idols of our own making and design.

Grieve them, I pray, in those times when they forsake you, with a profound and godly sorrow and lead them in a life marked by true repentance(2 Cor. 7:9).

Cause them to turn away,
From seeking their own good,
From exalting their own names,
From loving their own lives,
From playing their own gods,
From saving their own souls.

Be gracious, O Lord, according to your loving-kindness; according to the greatness of your compassion blot out their transgressions. Wash them thoroughly from their iniquity, and cleanse them from their sin!

Create within them clean hearts and renew right and steadfast spirits within them (Ps. 51:1-2, 10).

Make them righteous by your grace as a gift received by faith. Do not allow them to trust in their own works but in you, the God who justifies the ungodly through the redemption that is in Christ (Rom. 4:5).

Root them deeply, Father, in the reality that having been baptized into Christ they have been baptized into His death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through your own powerful glory, they too might walk in newness of life.

Unite them to your Son that sharing in His death they might also share in His life-giving resurrection.

Through the cross, dispel the power of sin and set them free from its slavery.

As Christ himself died to sin and now lives His life to you, so too teach them to consider themselves in all their parts dead to sin but alive to you in union with your Son.

May sin, therefore, have no dominion over them, for they are no longer under the law, but under the reign of grace (Rom. 6:1-14).

And finally, Father, having experienced your gracious, gospel love, may they then love in return.

Make them agents of your grace, sent out in the name of Christ to seek and save the lost.

Printable Prayers

For a printable version of these prayers to take with you throughout the week click on the following link.

re:Generātion/5(hundred) Hours - Community

5(hundred) Hours - Community from New Life Church on Vimeo.

Week 4 - Community

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 February launch of re:Generātion, a new Young Adults Ministry taking place Sunday nights.

Week 4 - Community

Having been created in the image of a triune God, humans beings are made for relationship; we are built to live in community. Tragically, our rejection of God, what the Bible calls “sin,” has fractured our relationships—both with God as well as with other people. Through the gospel, God is at work to draw us back into renewed communion not only with himself but also with his people—the church. Life, ministry and mission are, therefore, all meant to be done together in the context of God’s family.

re:Generātion exists not to replace the local church but to embrace and support it by providing both small and large group gatherings committed to propelling their members into full participation within the body of Christ.

What to pray for as we ought . . .

Unifying Spirit, I pray for the ministry of New Life re:Generātion, for its individual members and for the communities of believers who gather beneath its name.

May they be one, Father—as an extension of Christ’s body—just as you and the Son are one,

Enable them to love one another in such a way that the world might see and know that you too have loved them and sent your Son to save them (Jn. 17:11-21).

Cause them to walk in a manner worthy of the calling they have received, with humility, gentleness and patience.

May they bear with one another in love and eagerly maintain both the unity and the peace that your Spirit has brought between them.

For there is only one body, through which your people have become members one of another, one indwelling Spirit, one enduring hope, one sovereign Lord, one common faith, one initiating baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:1-6).

Make re:Generātion, as a ministry and as Life Groups, a gospel-shaped and Christ-centered community.

May its members experience through their shared lives encouragement in Christ, comfort from your love, participation in the Spirit, affection and sympathy towards one another,

In doing so give them one mind, maintain among them one love, make them united in one spirit and focused upon the same purpose and goal.

Let them do nothing from selfishness or pride, but rather in humility may they consider others of more value and significance than themselves,

Cause them to look not only to their own needs but to readily turn to the needs of others (Phil. 2:1-4).

May they rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, being neither haughty nor conceited but associating with the lowly (Rom. 12:13-18).

Make them daily to watch over and exhort each another that they might not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, nor be led away from you, the living God, through an evil, unbelieving heart (Heb. 3:12-13).

Make re:Generātion a safe, gracious and honest place where the truth is spoken in love and sins are freely confessed (Eph. 4:15; Jam. 5:16).

Ultimately, Father, may you, the God of endurance and encouragement, enable them to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together they may with one voice glorify you, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, welcoming and accepting each another just as Christ accepted them, all to the glory of God (Rom. 15:5-7).

Printable Prayers

For a printable version of these prayers to take with you throughout the week click on the following link.

re:Generātion/5(hundred) Hours - Mission

5(hundred) Hours - Mission from New Life Church on Vimeo.

Week 3 - Mission

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.

Week 3 - Mission

If the church exists to worship God, then its mission is simple: “Make worshippers.” This is what the Great Commission is all about. In John 20:21, Jesus connects his mission to the mission of his followers: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Being a follower of Jesus Christ means being “sent.” The aim of this sending is to call people of every kind to turn away from all that is “not God” and embrace the reality of the one, true and living God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

re:Generātion exists to equip and send its members—as individuals and as Life Groups—into the world around them to “seek and save the lost.”

What to pray for as we ought . . .

Lord of the Harvest, send out workers into the harvest field.

Send the individuals and Life Groups of New Life re:Generātion out into their families, communities, neighborhoods and workplaces with the message of salvation (Matt. 9:37).

As you sent Your Son, so send them (Jn. 20:21):
Not to be served, but to serve;
Not to be loved, but to love;
Not to save their lives, but to lose them.

For though they are free and enslaved to no one, I pray that they would make it their aim to become the servants of all (1 Cor. 9:19).

Make them to be all things to all people that by all means they might reach and save some (1 Cor. 9:22).

Make them, Father, salt and light, deeply embedded agents of grace shining as light in dark and crooked world (Matt. 5:13-16; Phil. 2:15).

Move them, in all this, to set apart Christ as Lord in their hearts that they would be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in them.

May they do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clean conscience, so that even if their message is rejected their lives and good behavior may put all objections to shame (1 Pet. 3:15-16).

Help them to conduct themselves wisely, making the most of every opportunity (Col. 4:5).

Let their speech be gracious and authentic, seasoned with salt, so that they might know how to answer each individual person (Col. 4:6).

Create through this ministry :
New opportunities for the gospel to be advanced,
New relationships for the gospel to be shared,
And new communities for the gospel to be spread.

Open for re:Generātion a wide door for effective work that the mystery of Christ might be boldly and powerfully declared (1 Cor. 16:9; Col. 4:3).

Use those who join together as emissaries of King Jesus, heralds of the coming kingdom, that all the ends of the earth might acknowledge and turn to you, that people from every nation might worship before you.

Kingship belongs to you, our LORD God and Savior, for you rule over all the nations.

Say, therefore, Sovereign LORD, to the north and to the south, say to all the world, “Give up My people, do not withhold them” (Is. 43:6-7).

Printable Prayers

For a printable version of these prayers to take with you throughout the week click on the following link.

re:Generātion/5(hundred) Hours - Worship

5(hundred) Hours - Worship from New Life Church on Vimeo.

re:Generation/5(hundred) Hours

re:Generation/5(hundred) Hours Promotional Video from New Life Church on Vimeo.

Week 1 - Leadership & Leadership Development

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.

Week 1 - Leadership & Leadership Development

A central element of the church’s mission is to develop and deploy new leaders in every generation. Paul described this process as “entrusting” to faithful men and women the message of the gospel with the purpose of enabling them to take that same message to others (2 Tim. 2:1-2). Everything rises and falls on leadership.

re:Generātion is committed to the production and re-production of leaders through training, mentoring, and ministry experience.

What to pray for as we ought . . .

There are two primary areas of prayer to focus on this week: (1) re:Generātion’s Leadership Team itself and (2) re:Generātion’s Leadership Development as a ministry.

re:Generātion’s Leadership Team

I pray, Father, for the leadership team of New Life re:Generātion—for Grant Blomdahl, John McKay, Aaron Orendorff and Taylor Reavely.

I ask first and foremost that these men would be blameless and above reproach; instruments of your own choosing, qualified and gifted.

Make them sober-minded, self-controlled and hospitable.

May they say with the Psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but the Lord, and there is nothing on earth I desire besides Him.”

Make them gentle and honest, quick to listen and slow to anger; humble servants of your will and your people.

May you, O God, sanctify them through and through, keeping their whole spirit, soul and body holy for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May they earnestly love what is good and hold firmly to the message of your Word, instructing others in sound doctrine and refuting those who oppose it.

Unify and guide them in all their decision-making.

Give them wisdom from above: wisdom that is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

Give them a singular vision and unite them as one mind.

May their motives and decisions be governed by your Word and Spirit for the good of your people and the glory of your great name.

Cause them to keep a close watch on both their lives and doctrine, preserving them so that they might save both themselves and their hearers.

re:Generātion’s Leadership Team

Gracious Father, I pray that you would use the ministry of re:Generātion to produce and reproduce a new generation of godly leaders.

Raise up men and women passionately committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ; ready and willing to take up their crosses and follow him.

Give to these new leaders a spirit of wisdom and revelation in their knowledge of you.

Grip them with the truth of your word,
Shape them through the power of your Spirit,
Equip them through the ministry of the body,

Make them wise and discerning, trained and prepared, sanctified and faithful.

Do not take them out of the world, but protect them from the evil one.

Make re:Generātion a strategic, intentional, and powerful tool in the advancement of your kingdom.

Printable Prayers

For a printable version of these prayers to take with you throughout the week click on the following link.