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HOPE Worldwide / Red Cross Day of Service Rescheduled for 2-12-12
February 3, 2012 By
As many of you have already heard, our Day of Service honoring Dr. King has been rescheduled for next Sunday, February 12 from 12:30-4:00. We will be meeting at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, 1911 Pacific Avenue Tacoma, Washington 98402 (where the South Sound Church of Christ meets). Lunch will be served at 12:30, followed by the program at 1:00, followed by canvassing at 2:00. We realize it’s late notice for some, but there were many moving parts to rescheduling this event, and we have a February 17th deadline…so February 12th it is! We hope that many of you will still be able to join us for this special service project. (and note free parking–at least for the first 150 cars!)
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Alex Whitaker – Perfect Love: Perfect Judgement
January 30, 2012 By
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SPU – Blessed Are The Eyes That See What You See
January 23, 2012 By
If I told you that 5 years ago, when we didn’t have a campus presence at SPU, that it wasn’t an ideal place to begin a campus ministry, many people would have agreed. I saw many efforts made to help start a ministry there in the past and there were times when I began to doubt whether we would ever see a campus presence of disciples. It’s a small college that has deep religious traditions, which makes bringing in new ideas and approaches to Christianity difficult. Many thought it might take a full time intern on the campus to provide the students with daily leadership and direction. And most obviously, there were many complexities of starting a campus ministry in a school where many students and faculty might feel threatened or offended by the differences in our perspectives on conversion, baptism and practical Christianity.
Today there are 13 brothers and sisters at SPU (and 16 in their two bible talks), thanks to a series of little miracles that helped us see a restoration of biblical relationships and faith lived out there.
The first miracle was that we had children that grew up in our group of churches, who decide to attend school there: Ali Winje, Audrey Hoffner and Fabricio Turcious were among the first. Ali Winje was the first disciple to start attending classes at SPU. With a scholarship to play soccer, she was all alone her Freshman year and really fought hard to stay faithful, having to attend a UW Bible Talk and be a part of a ministry on the other side of Montlake. The next year, Audrey Hoffner enrolled at SPU. Fabricio enrolled the folllowing year, and brought a lot of faith and a strong desire to start a ministry. With Fabricio, Ali and Audrey together, the 3 of them formed a cohesive core group that made the Bible Talk attractive to other students. Along with Jake Tacher and Hannah Templer, who attended different schools, we finally had enough students to start an SPU Bible Talk. And if one of those pieces was missing, I doubt it would have worked.
The second miracle was the City Region purchasing the Queen Anne building. Situated less than a half mile up the hill from SPU, the Queen Anne Church building provides a very inviting and welcoming place for SPU students to worship. I think the stability and permanence of the building has made evangelism at that school a little easier because students come and see something familiar, a permanent place to worship and grow in their faith. The Queen Anne building is a place where they can have events, watch movies, hold dances, pray all night and of course, worship on Sundays. The city region of the Seattle Church sacrificed in dollars, and the SPU ministry is reaping in souls being saved.
The final miracle was the conversion of strong spiritual men: Aaron Badilla, Jens Brenestead and Brian Fisher were the first three brothers converted there, and they have all grown into faithful, spiritual leaders who have helped convert other strong men of character. They use their talents by leading Bible talks and small groups on that campus, outreach, and even singing and performing on Sundays. Those brothers have provided a sense of stability and maturity beyond their years and have opened a door that has made it safe for other students to follow.
Fabricio, Josh and Jens
This past week, in sub freezing temperatures, Josh Heinke was baptized into Christ at Golden Gardens. Josh was the 16th SPU baptism in the past 2 years! The whole moment was pretty overwhelming for me, so I stayed afterward and prayed. When I closed my eyes, all I could think of was Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Luke 1O. So many of us have longed to see something like this, a vibrant ministry at SPU. I believe that SPU is one of the largest campus ministries at a faith based school in our movement of churches. What an incredible blessing for us to see God working like this, and I pray that the miracles happening here can inspire faith in students on other difficult and hard to reach campuses.
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Grads Reconnect at Alumni Dinner
January 8, 2012 By
The past 3 years, we’ve hosted an alumni dinner to give students who have graduated from our ministry a chance to reconnect and meet graduates from other years. The event isn’t formal, but the fellowship is always enlightening, especially when disciples are able to connect with disciples who graduated years apart, yet shared the same common experiences while a part of the Seattle Campus Ministry.
Angela and Andrea both in the Seattle Marrieds Ministry
This year it was great watching Adrienne Kishimoto and Jackie Ahrens ( UW and SPU ’11) get to know Casey Scheopflin (UW ’01) and Katie Mitchell (UW ’05), meet for the first time. ”Wow, I didn’t even know they were in campus.” Adrienne confided. “This is great, I feel like I got to know people and see how similar our experiences were. It was really inspiring.”
Todd, Kenan and River
As people dropped in an out all night, we were treated to seeing campus graduates thriving in all the different ministries in our church, singles, young marrieds and the married with kids ministry, West-side, East-side; they were all happy and faithful. At one point, there were 30 alums in our house and 15 children, or future alums, as I like to call them.
When the evening came to an end, I was exhausted, but moved by the connectivity and beauty of how strong our common bond still is. The only thing that has to change is next year, the event must be held at the Church…15 future alums are a bit too energetic for 1 house!
Katie and one of the “future 15″
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Lock In Prayer Devotional: Rescheduled for the 10th of February!
January 2, 2012 By
Happy New Year Seattle Singles! Thanks for helping us create magical memories in 2011. This year, in 2012, we are looking forward to creating many more. Let’s start the year off right by giving it up to God. We would like to invite you to our annual Lock In Prayer Devotional. This February on Friday the 10th @ 7:30pm we will be spending all night together at the Seattle Church of Christ, Queen Anne location (check website “Locations” for directions). I, Jared Bridge, and Chelsea Zhang will be your hosts for the evening along with guest speakers from your Seattle Singles family like Dan Mier, Jordon Bondurant, Justin Juzwick, Charles Asafo-Adjei, and many more. We are going to be opening our prayer capsule from 2011 and revealing the prayers that we had written down earlier that year in faith that God would answer them.
The Lord is desiring to have fellowship with us at all times. We have a God that never sleeps! Let us unite with him in his constant perseverance to always be watchful over mankind. As we devote our time to the Lord he is faithful and will devote himself to us in whatever we desire. I am awaiting a connection that will strengthen me and those surrounding me on the battlefield so that we may be ready for anything that comes our way this year.
Invite your friends! We are going to have some food, refreshments, and breakfast for those that are still with us in the morning. There will be a donation box at the event. We are asking that you help us keep our events special and accommodating to those that are seeking Jesus by contributing to the Seattle Church of Christ. We are not asking for a lot but if everyone brings a little, it makes a difference. Thanks & see you there!
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Blessings Blog – Day 31: The God of Hope for 2012
December 31, 2011 By
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
I am so grateful to be celebrating New Year’s 2012 as one who knows the God of Hope. We have 80 church members, mostly from our Singles Ministry and a few married supporters, excitedly talking about tonight’s New Year’s Eve Gala aboard the Waterways Emerald Star. We are excited because we know how lucky we are to have God and each other in this short life. We want to honor the passing of another year, 2011, with all of its surprises, blessing and disappointments and dream of what may come in the new year, 2012.
Carol and I feel blessed to be a part of the leadership team of a vibrant singles ministry (despite our married status). Jared, Chelsea, Charles and Kari along with all the Single Bible Talk Leaders are the real heroes to our growing diverse group of just over 100 singles.
We all look forward with eagerness to the possibilities of 2012. I’m not sure what God’s will will be for you as you come to each fork in the road that will come your way. I do know that it is always His will for us to be happy, praying and grateful. We serve a great God and Father who loves us.
I Thessalonians 5:16-19 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…
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Blessings Blog – Day 28: Young People
December 29, 2011 By
Some really inspiring children
This morning I attended a prayer with some UW students at Luther Burbank Park. I was so excited because Justus was with me and I really was missing our ministry. We’ve had some of them over since the break, but I was really lacking something in my faith and couldn’t figure out what it was. About half way through the prayer, I was reminded of how amazing it was to listen to people pray with great passion, sincerity and faith. I was then reminded that it was Jake Tacher who organized the event on facebook. How grateful I was to see his heart and passion to meet with other Christians; so much, that he would organize a prayer because it seemed right to him. I went home thanking God that Allie, Kathyrn and Jake could inspire Justus to pray more sincerely than I ever could.
Afterwards, I dropped my son off and met with Ryan, a recent Princeton grad and Campus Minister in my hometown of New York. We talked about life, ministry and everything else under the sun. I thought of his faith, to enter the full time ministry, with an Ivy League education. I was so inspired that a young man so talented wanted to serve the Lord full time.
Tim and Jolynn Dewolf came by before lunch and we talked about starting campus ministries. To be visitng for the holidays and wanting to talk about the work they are doing at the other UW (Uiniversity of Wisconson) invigorated me. I was already planning my winter schedule before they left.
Then I met with Darius and Justin, two single brothers who used to be in our ministry, but have since graduated and moved to other cities. They are both leading in their Bible Talks and careers. Their life example and laughter kept me smiling the rest of the day.
Tonight I spoke to Andrew Hudson who is getting ready to play in the Alamo Bowl tomorrow. Funny, all he wanted to talk about was reaching out to his teammates and how excited he was to renew our athletes Bible Talk on campus next quarter. Wow! All I wanted to talk about was football. I was so encouraged by how he and Cameron were staying strong and having quiet times together!
I was so inspired today by the faith of people who were spiritually younger than me. I guess it is more cooperative than that, but they inspired me and motivate me. The lifted me up and encouraged me to keep fighting and trying. Theygot me excited about my faith. Hebrews 3 reminds us to encourage one another daily, and I got a full dose of encouragement today.
This morning I heard my 7 1/2 year old son pray to Jesus with sincerity. It was short, but sincere. I was so moved to hear him pray.
I guess Ryan, Justin and Darius are so young anymore, but they are relatively young in the faith. I suppose today I thought to myself, what a blessing the youth of our movement is to us. Maybe that’s why Jesus’let the children come to him’…perhaps he needed a little inspiration that day. I’m sure he got what he was looking for, because today, I know I did.
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Blessings Blog – Day 23: Blessing in a Name
December 23, 2011 By
I was given the name Carol, meaning “Song of Joy”!
To be honest I struggled liking it! I struggled with it mostly because there were three other Carols throughout my grade-school years, because I am naturally a melancholy personality and it just seemed like an old person’s name! You might think I like it now because I know very few Carols or because I am such a joyful soul or I am an old person; but really I love it because of all the Christmas Carols we sing year after year and their message of God’s love!
I do love meditating on the spiritual poems that hit my heart hard. I love the older hymns and those writers who capture the message of the promised Messiah. They make me feel isolated in peace and hope.
Christmas is a special time when I hear my name uttered constantly. It seems easier to be joyful in this season but I carry the name throughout the year, which is a constant reminder of God’s love! I am and I feel blessed!
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Blessings Blog Day 12: Birthdays are the best
December 12, 2011 By
Yesterday, we celebrated Jude’s 1st birthday! Wow, I can’t believe it was a year ago that we were in the delivery room surrounded by family and friends, while we welcomed our 3rd child into the world. Has it really been a year? Sometimes it feels like a few days, and other times a few decades! In any case, we held the traditional 1yr old birthday party which includes much activity and planning for such a little person.
There were a few wonderful gifts (very thoughtful ones indeed). There were a lots of snacks. Danni brought out the cupcake tree, and we sang happy birthday to Jude who couldn’t even blow out one little candle. So he won’t even remember this, I thought to myself. As I looked around the room, something funny happened inside me. I felt so supported; and I’m sure Jude did too. That’s why I love birthdays: friends show up and tell you how much they love you and the difference you’ve made in their lives, just by showing up. That night, when we went to bed, my wife and I shared our fondest memories of Jude this year and smiled. It has only been a year.
One day, years from now, we’ll look back at the pictures and remember this special day. And I hope Jude remembers as well. I hope he remembers that he was loved and doted on by his parents. I hope he remembers that he has plenty of uncles and aunts, big sisters and brothers who love him. I hope every birthday, he remembers that he means something to so many people. Isn’t that what birthdays are for? Isn’t that what Christmas is for?
Happy Birthday Jesus (and Jude)!
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