True North Expeditions

Gather With Us This Sunday: November 18

 

Rick and Joyce Barton will be sharing some of their Faith Journey stories.

Worship Gathering 10:AM

True North Church:  10583 N. Government Way, Hayden Lake

Map & Directions

Children's Ministry available:

Contact Liberty for more information.

Waumba Land: Babies to Age 2

10:AM, Front Room

Information/Check in at interior entrance from the main room.

 

Super Kids: Ages 2 - 4

10:AM, Front Room

Information/Check in at interior entrance from main room.

 

Wild Side: Ages 4 - 11

10:40- 11:40 (After Half-Time in Worship Gathering)

Information/Check in at the Wild Side Booth (Main Room)

True North News: November 6

Here's the latest Newsletter

Wisdom's Heavy Work Order

Whew!  According to Proverbs 8 & 9, Lady Wisdom just made it to the top of my list of "Favorite People".  She speaks thusly:

"God sovereignly made me—the first, the basic—
   before he did anything else.
I was brought into being a long time ago,
   well before Earth got its start...
Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause,
   always enjoying his company,
Delighted with the world of things and creatures,
   happily celebrating the human family.

Lady Wisdom says that God created her before God created anything else.  Note her activities since her advent, and don't miss the emotion:

Day after Day

• joyfully applauding God
• enjoying His company
• taking delight in His creation
• happily celebrating His human family

Here's her bottom line:

"So, my dear friends, listen carefully;
   those who embrace these my ways are most blessed.
Mark a life of discipline and live wisely;
   don't squander your precious life.
Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me,
   awake and ready for me each morning,
   alert and responsive as I start my day's work.
When you find me, you find life, real life,
   to say nothing of God's good pleasure.

Now, let's see if I can wrap my head around this...

Wisdom's Work (as prescribed by the Lady):

1. To pay attention to my TRUE blessings
2. To ENJOY them
3. To tell God how much He ROCKS for providing them

And the Blessings I'm supposed to enjoy (see above list)

1. God's very Presence
2. Creation
3. His human family.
   

And the BENEFITS of accomplishing said OVERWHELMING WORK LOAD (see lists 1 & 2):

1. Blessing
2. REAL life
3. God's good pleasure 

Sooo...Is that all there is?

Huh.

Seems like I might be "squandering [some of my] precious life" by chasing after other stuff: things and activities that I think will bring me what I really want (see list #3).

Proverbs seems to imply that my job every morning (maybe day after day?) is to listen to The Lady (wisdom), and to be alert and responsive to her work.

One Question:  What do I do with all my backlogged paperwork???

Introducing Vern & Evie King, Hospitality Ministry Directors

Introducing: Vern & Evie King

 

"We never know, when we offer a cup of cold water, tea or coffee in the name of Jesus what kind of life changes may follow.  We desire to continue to be a church whose ministries positively affect this community."

 -excerpt from the Kings' story On Pizza & Soda Crackers

 

True North is very privileged to introduce

 Vern & Evie King

proud owners of

 

Dorrie Goliath-Slayer

the devious doggie who helped Paul with diet-cheating schemes last week

(click here to read her letter to Paul)

 

 

The Kings have been responsible for the lovely food spread in recent months, and have agreed to coordinate True North's Hospitality ministry.

 

Want to help?  Here's a note from Vern & Evie:

We are in need of people who would like to join us in providing the Sunday gathering with hospitality.  It is a gift of service involving

• commitment to serve a month of Sundays

• arriving at church early
• picking up donuts from Super 1
• making coffee & plating donuts
• some cleanup required after the gathering time. 

If you are interested in joining the hospitality team as a regular or as a substitute, please email Vern and Evie (and Dorrie!) at vk3099@aol.com

Vern & Evie King: On Pizza and Soda Crackers

Recently Vern and I have been given the opportunity to become involved with the ministry of hospitality at True North Church.  Because of our personal experiences, Vern and I are both passionate about hospitality. 

When Vern was a teenager, a couple in Vern’s church extended a standing invitation to their house, any hour of the day or night, to play games and make homemade pizza.  Many hours of fun and building of relationship ended in an introduction to a personal experience with Jesus.  It was a life changing experience. 

My earliest recollections surrounding hospitality were enjoying soda crackers and cheese or peanut butter with seminary friends of my parents after church on Sunday night.  We brought the soda crackers and they usually provided the cheese or peanut butter.  If our crackers were soggy, dad had this clever way of “freshening” them.  He would put a little margarine on each one, put them in a tin pie pan and put them under the broiler for a few seconds.  It wasn’t much but it was what we had and we enjoyed the time together as we built a relationship that lasted the lifetime of my parents.

Hospitality brings people together.  At True North, it has been our personal experience that hospitality provides a time for people to make an initial contact with old friends or newcomers.  The fact that two men came the first time we visited the church and took the time to sit down and have a conversation impressed us very much.  By the end of that short visit, they knew us well enough to pray for us and we for them.  It is a treasured friendship that continues to  this day and one that brings us much comfort in our present circumstances. 

To some, hospitality may seem like just a food service but we are hoping to continue to develop the vision of hospitality as a way to bring people together for the purpose of fostering quality relationships within and outside our church body.  In a book I began reading this week, I read this quote:

“One evening, he went to bed by a yak dung fire, a mountaineer who’d lost his way, and one morning, by the time he’d shared a pot of butter tea with his hosts and laced up his boots, he’d become a humanitarian who’d found a meaningful path to follow for the rest of his life”. 

Hospitality has the potential to build strong relationships that sustain us in the dark times.  One can approach hospitality as something " parsonettes" do (or so I hear they preach at Seminary) or something "good lay people" do.  However, in reality, we are just simple folks trying to follow the model of Jesus as he went from place to place eating meals, sharing water etc. with the people he came in contact with.  I hope we have no agenda other than to love the people we touch wherever they are in their journey. If that relationship leads somewhere else, I hope we are ready to "share the hope that lies within us". 

 

Hospitality can take many forms.  We don't all love to entertain in our home or bring our favorite recipe to a church function.  That is some people's only vision of hospitality.  What I hope we can continue to develop is how hospitality "spins" differently in our different lives because of the gifts and talents we were created to use,  Unless we are asked to change something by Jesus Himself, I hope this church will always continue to be what it presents to our community now, a place for all kinds of people who are loving their Savior and trying to make a difference in the world.

 

We never know, when we offer a cup of cold water, tea or coffee in the name of Jesus what kind of life changes may follow.  We desire to continue to be a church whose ministries positively affect this community.

If you are interested in joining the Hospitality Team as a regular or as a substitute, we would love to hear from you!  Email us at vking3099@aol.com

 

 

Letter from Devious Dorrie

This is the letter from Dorrie Goliath-Slayer that Paul read in his message a couple weeks ago. That week happened to be his first week back after an extended illness. Dorrie references Paul's special diet: clear fluids, no salt, no salsa.

The letter, dictated by Dorrie, and sent with the help of her administrative staff (Vern & Evie King) is posted purely for your enjoyment. 

Dear favorite pastor Paul,

 

I hear you have a special diet.  You know, I have liver disease and am supposed to eat only a certain kind of food.  I DON"T like it so I have some tips for you if you don't like your new food:

 

 - look right into the eyes of the person who brings your food and make a whining sound under your breath.  Maybe they will feel sorry for you.

 

 - sometimes if you look really cute or do something really cute, the people with the other food that you like better than yours will share a  little with you  If they are talking to you about how you need to be a "good pastor" and eat your special food, cock your head from side to side and act like it is all really making sense to you.

 

 - walk away from your food, lay down somewhere and look really sad.  That works well for me

 

Hope some of this works for you.  It works for me several times a day.

 

Miss Dorrie King, Supervisor

Absolutely Brilliant: Wellness(?) Plans of the Early Church

 With the passing of Halloween, Harvest, and/or All Saints Day (depending on your outlook), it feels like we are smack dab in the middle of fall.  We should have a good week to 10 days of fall and then it will be winter again!  I for one can hardly wait…but I digress.

 

Once again my place of business is getting a new health insurance provider. As times get tougher and tougher for co-pays, premiums, and PPOs, companies have to shop around to try to get the best deal.  I’m not complaining by any means, I feel that we are substantially blessed to have what we have because I know there are many with less. 

 

One new thing the company is trying is a wellness program.  The immediate reward for joining is a lower premium and the long-term reward is more years to shovel snow.  A big part of the plan is plenty of exercise, but these types of plans are nothing new to Christians.  For example, in the 60s-70s there was the ‘run for your life, the Romans are at the door’ plan.  A few years later, there was the ‘dodge the lion’ plan (better for the lion than most of the wellness participants).  Even later, Nero popularized the ‘burn away those…well, everything’ plan.  These are just a few of the earlier more popular programs.

 

We can be thankful we have what we have and we should be thankful for things we don’t have as well.

 

Track shoes, cat-food, and matches....Absolutely Brilliant!

Want a Group? Come for Soup!

Dave and Diana Baker will be hosting an informal Small Group event for anyone interested in forming or joining a new group. Come for dinner and get acquainted!

Friday, November 13

6:PM @ True North

Soup & Bread

will be provided

YUM!

Questions?  Contact

Dave

 or  Diana 

True North News: October 29

Click here for the October 29 Newsletter

Facing the Future: The Pinelow Conversation

Below is an informational video about the Future of Pinelow Park which is scheduled to be shown in each of our district churches during the months of October & November. Also included is a response form that you may download and print, fill out, and mail to district office. 

Download the Pinelow Response Card here, and be part of the Pinelow Conversation.

There are still THREE more Pinelow Conversation Events available for you to attend, if you'd like to participate in the conversation:

“Facing the Future” locations and times

Sunday, November 1—Wenatchee, 6PM

 

1011 S Miller, Wenatchee WA 98801

 

Tuesday, November 3—Pasco, 7PM

7305 W Court St, Pasco WA 99301

 

Thursday, November 5—Lewiston First, 7PM

1700 8th St, Lewiston ID 83501

 

For more information about Pinelow Park and Conference Center, visit

http://www.nwdistrict.org/pinelow-park.html