January 2010 Connection
Reflections on Vital Faith
by Corey Beals, George Fox University
Corey, pictured here with his family, Jill, Jonathan, and Daniel, teaches philosophy and religion at George Fox University. He is a member of Newberg Friends, and regularly opens his home to host Friends students and fireside chats with young adults.
The lights are out and I can’t see my own hand. I am groping and wondering when I might stumble into God. And then I hear the query, “Do I live in vital relationship with God?” and am asked, “Is Christ’s presence evident in my life?” Now that can be an intimidating question. Is Christ’s presence even evident to me? What does it mean to live in “vital relationship,” anyway? Acts 17:25 says that God has given me my very “life and breath.” Let me share some thoughts about how I try to live with this reality. >>read more and join the dialogue>>
Leadings of the Holy Spirit
by Karen Oberst, Klamath Falls FriendsThere are many ways God leads in our lives. Let me briefly touch on five of them: a knowing that something is the right thing to do, an “audible” voice, discerning among F/friends, through books, or an impulse to do something. That first kind of leading may be more like a nudge. I had dusted off my Greek and was doing an in-depth study of the Sermon on the Mount. Going not only verse by verse, but word by word was teaching me so much that I knew I had to share the discoveries I was making. And so But I Tell You was born. Not only did this nudge from God enable me to share my discoveries with others, but it let me fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a published author.
>>read more about the other ways God can speak>>
Out of My Mind… The Year of Joy
by Colin Saxton, NWYM SuperintendentAs the calendar resets with another January, my first act of the new
year is to declare 2010 “The Year of Joy!” Please make a note of it. Yes, I know the Chinese calendar has already set 2010 as “The Year of the Tiger.” You may also remember the movie that came out in the early 1980s called 2010: The Year We Make Contact. As I recall, this meant contact with some alien, intelligent life-form. (I wonder if aliens would consider us an intelligent life-form?)
As I learn to go deeper into Christ, joy is what I experience. Not giddy happiness. Not an absence from pain or elimination of real-world suffering. In fact, in terms of a sensitivity to others’ suffering, it seems that the deeper one goes into the Christ life, the more one is aware of how much hurt and how much brokenness is in the world. Joy is an altogether different animal, isn’t it?
>>read more and join the dialogue>>
Latino and Anglo Cooperation in Worship
By Ken Comfort, Reedwood Friends
Mario Macias walked into my office in May 2006, along with Angel and Hernan Diaz. “We want to introduce you to our friend,” they said. The Latino Ministries Task Force of Northwest Yearly Meeting was hoping to start a Latino ministry in Portland. Four months later, in August, 2006, Colin Saxton, Angel Diaz, Marvin Mardock, and I met to consider Mario Macias for a position at Reedwood. Mario came to us from a Baptist background. He had pastored in several American Baptist churches in California, Florida and Oregon and he has traveled to Cuba to minister on more than thirty occasions. Mario may have ministered among American Baptists for fifteen years but what we saw and heard of his testimony that afternoon concurred with Friends.
>>read more and join the dialogue>>
Keeping Current with Local Outreach ~ Camas: Peace Playhouse
by Ron Myers, Camas Friends
Needing help was where we found ourselves at Camas Friends Church as we began our planning for our third annual Peace Playhouse. After two successful years with Peace Playhouse, we decided it was time to put in some extra effort to develop a program that would be so clearly laid out that any of us could carry out the activities on fairly short notice. This would provide insurance in case the person scheduled to lead an activity was unable to be present at the scheduled time.
We remembered that before the yearly meeting’s reorganization, the Peace and Social Concerns Committee had developed Peace Trunks. The chests were now over at the Center for Peace and Justice at George Fox University under the care of Lon Fendall (West Chehalem) and his associates. The folks at the Center were incredibly helpful.
>>read more and join the dialogue>>
Keeping Current with Global Outreach – Pursuing Honesty in Christ’s Name
by Johan, NWYM Friend Serving AbroadI’ve got a secret.
I was not entirely surprised when I found bottles of Smirnoff’s vodka behind books on the bookshelves of our childhood home. My father was still showing of heavy drinking, even though he had promised to quit, so the stuff had to be somewhere. In those years, I kept my own secrets in a different way–the small padlocked cabinet I built in my high school carpentry class.
>>read more and join the dialogue>>
Friends Leadership Program
By Jamie Johnson, program director
The first semester of the Friends Leadership Program at George Fox University is nearing completion. The group has met every two weeks to deepen our relationships with each other and the Friends church, sharing the many ways we see the Lord working in our midst. We have explored what it means to be a Quaker, how we have seen people leading in our midst, and how we can be faithful to Christ as full-time students.
>>read about the program and financial assistance>>
NWYM Foundation: Testimonial and Resources
By Lorraine Watson, pastor at North Seattle Friends
Have you had Gene Christian present the estate planning materials at your church? Here’s perspective from one of our pastor
s about her experience. Call Gene if you feel your congregation would benefit from similar support.
Gene Christian was at North Seattle Friends on the 15th of November and did an excellent job talking about estate planning. He spoke in worship in place of the sermon and his presentation was very appropriate for worship.
My clerk agreed to have Gene come to church that day and then told me about it. He never does that, so it was clear to me that Walt was particularly impacted by the communication from the YM about Gene and estate planning. I am pretty committed to saying yes to my people when they have a leading, so agreed to let Gene and Brendon come, and now I’m glad I did.
>>read more and join the dialogue>>
GFU Mission: A Week of Living Lightly
By Lynn Otto, George Fox University
For one week in October, George Fox University students and staff were challenged to live lightly. Skip a Shower Day, Bring Your Own Mug Day, and A Day Unplugged encouraged the university community to try some environmentally-friendly practices during its Week of Living Light, Oct 18-24. The event was sponsored by a sociology class taught by Professor Lisa McMinn. The class invited students and staff to pledge their participation in CO2 reduction events throughout the week.
>>read about what happened>>
Announcements and Updates
- Friends Women Retreat update
- Friends Men Retreats announcement
- Latino Friends Conference of North America
- Ministry Transitions
- Latino Ministry Points update
- Living Water Ministries’ “Spirit Jam”
- Thanksgiving Offering update
- Green Plow Ministry Point
- Jr. High Jamboree
- Recent George Fox Evangelical Seminary Graduate: Joseph Thouvenel
- Immigration Advocacy ministry team
- First annual Peace Month
Download a PDF copy of the January 2010 Connection
