Feeding the Hungry

Gary

Today, I got to ride along with Gary who runs our food ministry at New Life Friends, in Vancouver, WA. We went to pick up 10,000 pounds of food from the annual Walk and Knock which was his largest pickup all year. It was a big day for Gary and his volunteers so I was quite honored to witness the event. Gary has been in the “food ministry business” for eight years now and has seen a lot of stuff. Last month alone he served 2,700 people a meal. Every Friday he hands out groceries to 250 to 350 families. He runs a soup kitchen four days a week. Gary cares for “the least of these.”

Read the rest of Patricia’s story about Gary and his ministry.

GFES Graduate Impacts the YMCA

prayer box at YMCA

Roger Button, George Fox Evangelical Seminary graduate and member of Sherwood Friends Church, is chaplain at the Sherwood YMCA, often walks around the track and prays with members at the Y. Button is the first ordained chaplain to serve a single branch of the YMCA of Columbia-Willamette. The regional Y is reminding people who think of it as a good place to work out or find dependable child care that the C in Young Men’s Christian Association still means Christian values inspired by Jesus’ life — but broadly applied across denominational lines.

“My role here is to minister to the staff and members who call the Sherwood YMCA their home,” Button says. “I feel blessed to be able to be here and be a listening ear.” Many of the people he listens to aren’t churchgoers, he says, but again, that doesn’t bother him.

Quaker Waggin’s-Dec. 09

Download the December 2009-February 2010 issue In this issue: Patrick Neifert’s update from Israel Peace Through Pieces in the Congo 2009 Retreat photos 2010 Retreat dates A personal testimony – Sharon D. Todd

CPT Origins

Derek Lamson

Christian Peacemaker Teams – a chat about origins Derek Lamson (West Hills Friends Church, Portland), is a songwriter. This last summer Derek travelled to 30 states, two Canadian provinces, and three yearly meetings, carrying a concern for the CPT. It turns out they were there at the beginning; Bill and Genie Durland. “I was in [...]

Spirit Jam

Living Water Ministries, a ministry point of NWYM, serves the people of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in Plummer, Idaho. They recently held a “Spirit Jam” dance and music outreach. Part One (below) is traditional native dance and music. Here is Part 2 (Rap) and Part 3 (Hip Hop)

Living Life in Abundance

MelodyGilbert

. . Melody George, RiversWay Friends Community in Portland, recently moved with her husband Gil and her daughter Amy Roseanne from Tacoma, Washington. She has developed a Coping with Vicarious Trauma workshop and wrote a Psalm of Lament that we also wanted to share here. . . . In our fast paced culture, we are [...]

Hospitality at the Table

Myrna Tuning

By Myrna Tuning, Homedale Friends Church, Southern Idaho . “Hospitality: Showing God’s love by opening one’s heart and home to God’s children.” My definition, not Webster’s. “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb. 13:2, NIV). We entertain friends and family. But strangers? When did [...]

Deeper

By Gary Fawver, Newberg Colin Saxton chose Going Deeper as the theme for his Yearly Meeting message this year. His dream is for all of us in the coming year to increase the quality and effectiveness—the depth—of our relationship with Jesus. (Read Colin’s reflection here). Several times he suggested that there was no single way [...]

Out of My Mind…Going Deeper

Colin

“We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow….because we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power….I [...]

Keeping Current with Local Outreach – RiversWay

speed queen

Experiencing – Being like Jesus Simple and sustainable ways of “being” How can we “be like Jesus”? What would it look like for us to demonstrate God’s love and truth (as in John 4) in southwest Portland? These were the questions that RiversWay Community, a ministry point of NWYM, was discerning in spring 2008. At [...]