Give Hope This Christmas!

New Life Church will be sharing the love of Christ again this Christmas through Operation Christmas Child. As you may remember, families who participate fill a shoe box with gifts and Samaritan's Purse delivers them around the world. You can find more information in the lobby of the church this Sunday. Shoe boxes are due back at either of our locations on or before noon on Sunday, November 18th.

Keeping Children Safe at New Life Church

We've been working hard to keep children safe at New Life Church. We have a Child Safety Team that has been revising our safety guidelines. They also put together a training meeting last week.

They put together a Safety Jeopardy that engaged the 50 or so people who attended. You can play the Jeopardy game by clicking here (note: requires MS PowerPoint).

This meeting combined nursery, Treasureland, middle school and high school ministries from the Robinwood and Riverfalls locations.

If you have children in our ministry you can be confident we are doing everything we can to insure your children have a safe and positive experience in their classes.

Welcome to Holland

I've run across this little essay twice in the last week. It speaks to the disappointments in life, particularly that of having a special needs child. I trust it will be an encouragement to you like it was to me.

Welcome to Holland

New Bloggers at New Life Church

We have some new bloggers, some might call them "mommy-bloggers" at New Life Church. You can keep up on what is going on in the lives of their families:

House of Hoch
Meet me in Melange
Postcards from Holland

Other New Life Church bloggers who have been at it a while (but may not have posted recently) include:

My Heart's Desire
Lauren's World
Stillness
Believe and be satisfied
AJG
Unfading Beauty
above sublunary things
Resolution
Strong Willed Wife
RevReav


If you are a New Life Church blogger and I missed you, please forgive me. And please leave a comment and direct us to your blog. Thanks.

My Favorite Song

When I found this, I just had to share.

One Essential for World Ministry

I've prayed for missionaries for years. I've included countless "Pray for my visa" requests. I learned this week that it is a little different when it is your own visa.

Last week I began the process of applying for a visa to go to Brazil for 10 days in November. The first item on the application said, "Submit a passport good for at least 6 months after your return." I pulled mine from the file and found that it expired in February. I had only 4 weeks to get a passport and visa. The normal passport process is now 10-12 weeks and the visa process can take another 1-3 weeks.

The only hope was to go to San Francisco and see if I could get a passport in the morning and a visa in the afternoon. Someone gave me a plane ticket. And I cleared Friday for the trip. Here's how I told about my day to Bruce.

Yesterday, I got up at 4:30am and hopped a 6:55 flight to Oakland. I took the BART into downtown San Francisco and walked 8 blocks or so to the passport agency. The guard let me in even though I was early for my 10:30 appointment. Even then I didn't see an agent until they'd gone through almost 30 people and waited until 11:00. The agent took my paperwork and said, "We'll put it in the mail."

"Wait, that won't work for me. I leave too soon." I replied.

"Well then you can pick it up at Will Call at 3:00."

"That won't work either. The Brazilian Consulate closes at 1:00 and I have to be at the airport since my plane leaves at 4:00."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. If I mail it, we cannot guarantee when you will get delivery and it may be late and 3:00 is when it will be available." And with that, she walked away and disappeared behind the corner. In a moment she returned with a smile on her face and as she spoke with a smile her accent was more evident, "For you, we do a favor. You can come back at 1:00 and pick up your passport at Will Call."

"Thank you, but my visa office closes at 1:00."

"That's the best I can do."

"OK. Thank you very much. I'll be back at 1:00."

I left with a glimmer of hope. At least I could complete half my mission and come away with a passport if not a visa. I walked 15 blocks to the Brazilian Consulate to tell them about my problem. When I arrived on the 9th floor the lobby was littered with people sitting everywhere. I looked in the room and realized I wouldn't get to talk to anyone for a long time. So I took a number, number 550. The one window that was dealing everyone non-Brazilian was at 527. So I left and made a new plan. I'd eat lunch near the Brazilian consulate, then stop and get a new number, and run get my passport and return. Perhaps they'd still let me in.

At 12:45, after a Subway Club for lunch, I went back to the Consulate. They were only on number 537. At the current rate if I took a new number I'd miss my plane. So I didn't. I ran another 15 blocks to get my passport. Much to my surprise and relief, it was done at 12:59, one minute early.

I walked the 15 blocks back to the Consulate. They had opened another window and were now at 546. I sat down long enough to fill in my new passport number on my visa application, but not long enough to get cooled off. The red LED screen invited me to the far window. "I am so happy to talk to you." I told the attendant. In my haste, I hadn't even signed my new passport.

In a matter of minutes I was finished. "Have a nice trip to Brazil," she called as I left at 1:30. Amazing!

I caught the 4:05 plane home and made the football game that evening! Besides the documents the whole day had cost me only $20.

I wanted you to be able to thank the Lord with me.

Child Safety Training Class, Sunday Evening at 7 pm

Do you volunteer to serve in our nursery, with school-aged kids,If you work with kids 0-18 years old, or are considering volunteering please plan to attend this important training time. The Child Safety Training Class will be held at the Riverfalls campus at 7:00 pm.

Red Cross Blood Drive This Friday and Saturday

There will be a Red Cross Blood Drive at the Robinwood campus Friday, October 19th from 1:30 - 6:30 pm and Saturday, October 20th from 8:30 am - 1:30 pm. The Red Cross has informed us that there is a major blood shortage right now, nationwide, so please give!

Blogging as a Scrapbook

I was looking for a Coffee Cart article and video to send to a friend who may be starting something like it in his city. I thought I had archived a link to the Oregonian article from a couple years ago about Coffee Cart, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, I looked and looked through the archives and discovered something wonderful -- the history of New Life Church is now on the blog. You can see current articles, pictures and updates about the events of the past two years at your fingertips. I want to encourage you to "waste" some time browsing the archives like I did. And I hope it will make you grateful, like it did me.

Thank You From The Foster Family

To the "New Life Family",

Thank you all again for the cards and calls and support as Mom's health declined. She enjoyed the visits especially--at her apartment as well as in the hospital. Their church family was very special to both Mom and Dad. Thank you again for your help with the beautiful memorial service. The music, flower arrangements, and the lunch following the service were very much appreciated by my brothers and myself. It means a lot to us. I also appreciate the use of the computer and the technology at hand to be able to project pictures and sound to share with those at the memorial the computer presentation that was put together for the service.

Sincerely,
Virginia Foster

Pumpkin Power!

A couple of Life Groups teamed up to go pumpkin picking after church yesterday. We all took a trip out to Bizi Farm in Vancouver. In case you don't know, pumpkin pickin' ain't what it used to be. Bizi Farm had every kind of farm fun you could imagine. We were kept "busy" all afternoon with the hay bale maze and tower, a petting zoo, a pumpkin sling, a corn maze, and a hay ride out to get our pumpkins.

One of the highlights of the day came when Miles Nelson sank a pumpkin into a barrel from about 30 yards away using a pumpkin sling! He won a cool scarecrow for his efforts.

The quote of the day came from Katrina, the Witkowski's foster daughter. As I fearlessly led our group in the corn maze a little eight year old voice behind me said, "I think Pastor's are good for spiritual advice, but not for getting people out of corn mazes."

Boy did I feel like a turkey!

How to Become A Famous Blogger

I'm considering becoming a famous blogger. Which route do you think I ought to take?

Success

For myself, success is, during this earthly pilgrimage, to leave the woodpile a little higher than I found it.

-- Paul Harvey

Meditation on the Goodness of God

There are days when I doubt the goodness of God. The other day in my prayer time I meditated on the goodness of God and how it intersected my life. I'd been involved in a funeral for a dear saint. I'd been back to work for a couple weeks and life was gaining speed and stress. I'd been to a couple different long board meetings. Rather than lose my bearings on the goodness of God, I tried to write down, for my own encouragement, some of the evidence I have that God is good to me. I hope it might help someone else, too.

O Father, You are good to me.
You are good in granting me physical health and nourishment this week.
You are good in humbling me through a variety of means.
You are good to bless me with a Savior.
You are good to draw me to Him irresistibly.
You are good to enable me to see Him, to savor Him, and to serve Him.
You are good to give me hope and direction.
You are good to place me in a family who loves me and whom I love.
You are good to give me a church family who loves me and whom I love.
You are good to permit the testing of my faith.
You are good to enable me against temptation.
You are good to give my your word and to reveal yourself to me.
You are good to give me the hope of heaven.
You are good to give me your Spirit to open my eyes to the beauty and truthfulness of the promises and to bring application of them to my dull heart.
You are good to never leave me nor forsake me, though I forsake you.
You are good to draw me back when I wander.
You are good to assure me of full forgiveness and a stake in Christ's righteousness.
You are good not only to patiently endure me, but to invite me to come boldly into your presence.
You are good to offer help when I need it.
You are good to be sovereign and to dwell in the heavens in unapproachable light
and to have purer eyes than can look on evil.
Because You are good, You are good to do whatever pleases You!

The World Without You

You've seen "It's A Wonderful Life." George Bailey gets a glimpse of what life would be like without him before his friends come and bail him out of trouble. What would life be like, though, without all of us? Scientific American gives a hypothetical answer to that question in this video:



Humans have a preservative effect on the world around us, holding eroding forces of nature at bay. What kind of preservative effect do Christians have in the culture? What would life be like if the Christians were pulled out?

Prayer for Today

Humiliation

Sovereign Lord,

When clouds of darkness, atheism, and
unbelief come to me,
I see thy purpose of love
in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize
him more,
in chastening me for my confidence in
past successes, that my wound of secret
godlessness might be cured.

Help me to humble myself before thee
by seeing the vanity of honour
as a conceit of men’s minds,
as standing between me and thee;
by seeing that thy will must alone be done,
as much in denying as in giving
spiritual enjoyments;
by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil,
mind, mouth, life void of thee;
by seeing that sin and Satan are allowed power
in me that I might know my sin, be humbled,
and gain strength thereby;
by seeing that unbelief shuts thee from me,
so that I sense not thy majesty, power, mercy,
or love.

Then possess me, for thou only art good
and worthy.

Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin,
Satan did not play in tempting me to it,
I do not play when I sink in deep mire,
for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble;
Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies
not so much in the nature of the sin committed,
as in the greatness of the Person sinned against.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me,
by showing me
that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,
but that in Christ I am reconciled, made alive,
and satisfied;
that I am feeble and unable to do any good,
but that in him I can do all things;
that what I now have in Christ is mine in part,
but shortly I shall have it perfectly in heaven.

(From The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975, p.79)

Betty Foster, 1/9/1924 -- 9/30/2007

Betty Foster passed away last Sunday. A memorial service will be held at New Life Church Riverfalls at 11:00 Saturday, October 6, 2007. Below is the obituary that will be in the Oregonian later this week:

Elizabeth Jane Foster, known to family and friends as “Betty” or “Betty Jane” passed away Sunday September 30th 2007 at the age of 83.

Born Elizabeth Jane Rinearson, January 9th 1924 in Bellingham, Washington to Clara and Leonard Rinearson. She was the oldest of four children. The Rinearson family resided in Portland for awhile, but primarily in the Gladstone and Jennings Lodge area on what was left of the original 1845 donation land claim of 640 acres, originally owned by her great grandfather Peter M.Rinearson.

Betty grew up with a love of the outdoors, enjoying many adventures camping and hiking with her family. One of her jobs during her college years was to work in a lookout tower in the Mt. Hood National Forest. She also loved reading, having difficulty putting down a book once she opened it. She was known for her tall stature (being 6ft. tall), and her fun and friendly nature.

Betty attended Gladstone school and then graduated from Oregon City High School in 1941. Following her fathers footsteps who was a principle in various Portland Public Schools, she went into education as well. She attended Oregon College of Education in Monmouth as well as Oregon State College, graduating in 1946. Following her adventurous nature she accepted her first teaching position in Hawaii, where she taught for two years. It was there that she met Harold Foster who was stationed there in the Air Force. They were married July 2nd 1949 in Ephrata, Washington. When her husband was stationed in England for a year, she taught school there as well. They returned to Ephrata in 1952 to begin a family. The first child, a daughter, Virginia Foster was born November 1952. In 1953 they returned to the Jennings Lodge, Gladstone area and added two sons to their family: Harold Jr. was born in February 1954 and Bruce was born in October 1956.

Betty taught in the Oregon City school district, primarily at Jennings Lodge School. She earned her masters degree in Library Science in 1974 from the University of Portland and then became a school librarian at Jennings Lodge School. She later set up the Candy Lane School Library and worked at both locations for awhile. In 1976 she became the Librarian at John McLoughlin School in Oregon City, where she worked until her retirement in 1985.

Betty grew up attending the Gladstone Christian Church, as did her parents, grandparents and children. She taught Sunday school there for many years. In later years she was an active member of West Linn Baptist Church, serving as their librarian after her retirement.

She was preceeded in death by her husband Harold Foster who passed away on January 2nd 2004.

She was survived by her sister Katherine Gabrielson of Ocean Park, Washington. And three children, her daughter Virginia Foster of Milwaukie, and sons Harold Jr. of Milwaukie, and Bruce Foster of Brightwood, Oregon. As well as seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

She will be greatly missed by her loved ones and all that knew her.

Ten Reasons I'm Glad to Be Back.

10. A New Transmission:

The 7 quarts of fluid I wrote about in a previous post didn't save the transmission. They just leaked all over the road in front of our house.

9. A New Office Assistant:

Julia McBride started the week I left on this trip. She's doing a great job and is a great addition to our team. I've seen more of her than anyone since I've been back.

8. Music:

I played the drums on my first Sunday back with the family. That was fun. But more than that I am glad to have the piano and guitar playing in two different parts of the house as I fall asleep at night.

7. My Bed:

Speaking of falling asleep, I like my bed.

6. Rain:

We had only one day of rain on our trip, plus a few showers.

5. Elders:

I went to an elder's meeting on the first night I was back to work. They are great men with a heart to do what is right and to love people. That particular night they said "Thank-you" to the Montgomerys.

4. Staff:

Aaron Orendorff has started as an intern since I've been gone. Colin Mattoon has started as a Middle School intern, too. Matt V. has doubled the amount of time he spends with our high schoolers as is obvious from his recent blog posts while I was gone. I'm thankful for Pastor Bill even though he's on vacation now and I haven't seen him. And, of course, I continue to consider myself privileged to serve alongside Pastor Nathan.

3. The Privilege of Preaching:

I was blessed and challenged again as I prepared for the message from Mark 14:1-11.

2. The Growth of My Family:

We continue to talk about the memories we made on our trip and hear comments about how the kids have changed while we were gone. They were a delight to take on vacation as well as to live with day-to-day.and. . . .#1.

1. My New Office:

I knew it was in the works, but had no idea that it would be finished by the time I got home. A huge "Thank you" to Kim Brandstetter, Ken Weiss, George Milliken, Lee Bennett, and others who helped make it a reality. My whole family felt like we were on "Extreme Makeover: Office Edition."

Prayer for Today

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

Water Baptism Postponed

Sunday's water baptism service has been postponed until further notice. If you have questions about water baptism: what is it, why is it an important step for Christians? Or if you would like to be baptised in water, please phone Pastor Scott at the church: 503-656-8600, or e-mail revreav@newlifenw.com.

Baby Shower Wednesday Night!

The all church baby shower for Katie (Ross) Alexander will be held this Wednesday evening, the 26th, at 7:00 pm. Sandi Bettineski will be hosting the party in her home at 2405 Dillow Drive in West Linn. For a map to Sandi's home you may click here. If you have questions, please call Sandi directly at 503-655-1651. Remember to buy two of everything and double up on the diapers--Katie will be having twins in November!! Congratulations Katie!

One Solitary Life

Enjoy this simple video of One Solitary Life.

The Reavely's Are Home!

We're Home! We loved our trip AND we're excited to be back. Here are some stats from our trip --

Trip Stats

Days way from Home: 53
Nights in a Motel: 16
Breakfasts at McDonalds: 0
Museums: >17
Number of times Marcia's cell phone went off during the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetary: 1
Total Miles: 10,609
Lowest Gas Price: $2.49 (Two places)
Highest Gas Price: $3:26 (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Quarts of Automatic Transmission Fluid: 7
Pictures: 5324
Minutes in the car with tears: 4
Mosquito bites on Lisa: 147 (more or less)
Most frequently asked question: Where was your favorite place?

Thank you for your prayers and love for our family. We returned with a renewed love for each other, for the Lord, for our country and for our church that would allow us to be gone for so long.

5th Quarter: Pizza and a Movie

Attention high school students! Come join us across the street from WLHS at New Life Church for Pizza and a Movie after we beat Lakeridge :) All are welcome, so invite your friends.

Bridges To Change Giving Report

THANKS to all who have contributed food, clothes, or money for our ministry to Bridges To Change. We have been supplying an average of 12-15 boxes of food per month, which have been very gratefully received. As we go through the cupboard rather quickly, please don't forget that this is an ongoing ministry. If you could pick up a few extra items when you go grocery shopping it would be much appreciated. Please leave the non-perishable items at the manna cupboard, in the foyer of the Riverfalls campus. A sample of the items needed: peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti noodles and sauce, boxed complete meals, canned meats, hearty soups, cereals, canned vegetables--shop those sales!!! Please contact Evelyn Hall or Kathy Fuentes with any questions. "Give and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down,m shaken together, running over..." Luke 6:38

Coffee Cart Update

The "Coffee Cart" is a ministry of New Life Church, simply designed to bless and encourage the students on our doorstep at West Linn High School. Now that school is back in session we've had a great first week with the students. You don't have to be a Starbucks "barista", or even know your latte from a cappuccino in order to join us, you just have to be willing to help! More volunteers are urgently needed--early morning, weekday shifts. Please see Elaine Hochstetter, or call the church for more information, or to sign up. We need YOU!!

Missions: The Holladay Family Needs Your Help!

Rick and Mary Beth Holladay are our Global Outreach missionaries to the Art Factory in Germany, where our GO team ministered this summer.

The Holladay Family will be here arriving from Germany December 15th with their four daughters. The family will be traveling during part of their stay. Can you provide wheels for the Holladays? If you have a car or minivan you can loan, please call Jeff and Carol Carlson at 503-656-0970.

Men's Roundup 2007

A note from Lee Bennett: Even though the cook trailer wasn't completed yet, it still functioned extremely well. The plaque was very encouraging to see. There were several first timers there and it gave us the opportunity to explain to them why we have the trailer and the plaque. I think that Rick would have been very excited to see long time Christian men spending a good deal of time with these first timers. As the plaque says, iron sharpens iron.

A big thank you to Bill Kramer, Del Florea, Tom Elliott, Alex Fuentes, Billy Ferguson and Mark Hannifan. For all your hard work on the cook trailer, You guys rock, some of you cook!

Thanks,
Lee

LIBRARY: New Books for Riverfalls!

New books have been purchased for adults, teens, and children...there's something new for everyone! The adult/teen books are in the upstairs library. New children's books will be downstairs. Thank you Joeleen Montgomery for your hard work and dedication!



Children's Library The story of JONAH by Bible Classics

Books by Irene HowatHow ten Boys Changed the WORLD
Ten Boys Who Made a DIFFERENCE
Ten Girls Who Changed the WORLD
Ten Girls Who Made HISTORY

The Cul-De-Sac KidsThe Chicken Pox Panic
The Crazy Christmas Angel Mystery
The Double Dabble Surprise
Frog Power
The Mystery of Case D. Luc
No Grown-ups Allowed

The Case for Christ for Kids by Lee Strobel

Books by Lois G LeppardMandie and the Courtroom Battle #27
Mandie and the Cherokee Legend #2
Mandie and the Angel's Secret #22

TEEN'S Library (upstairs)
Christian Heroes: Then & Now George Muller by Janet & Geoff Benge
A Young Woman's Walk with GOD by Elizabeth George
A Young Man After God's Own Heart by Jim George
The Power of a Praying Teen by Stormie Omartian
Sister In Time: Betsy's River Adventure (1808) Journey Westward

Main LibraryDominion by Randy Alcorn (fiction)
Fame by Karen Kingsbury (fiction)
Found by Karen Kingsbury (fiction)
Tomorrow's Dream by Janette Oke & Davis T Bunn (fiction)
The Visitation by frank Peretti (fiction )
Moonlight on the Millpond by Lori Wick (fiction)
Sophie's Heart by Lori Wick (fiction)
Where the Wild Rose Blooms by Lori Wick (fiction)

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn (241)
The FIVE Love Languages by Gary Chapman (646.7)
The Five Love Languages of TEENAGERS by Gary Chapman (649)
bring up BOYS BY Dr. James Dobson (248.8)
On becoming TODDLER WISE by Gary Ezzo, M.D.(649)
Just Walk Across the Room by bill Hybels (248.5)
90 Minutes In Heaven by Don Piper (231.7)
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (248.4)

Germany GO Team's Slideshow Video