Pastor Paul's Paragraphs

     I love February in north central California. Spring comes early around here and I love spring. The unseasonably warm temperatures during the month of January have caused me to think about garden season and I am already ahead of the curve for planting. As each season arrives, I do find myself embracing it with anticipation, yet spring has to be a favorite. The winter months reflect the end of the harvest, the bare trees, and the disappearance of outside flowers. It also brings a very necessary season of dormancy to many plants and trees. I also like spring for the energy it seems to bring us. The new year has us renewing our drive to exercise and spend time outdoors. We find ourselves reconnecting with neighbors, barbecuing, and keeping our cars just a little cleaner. Those in the nutrition field tell us that vitamin D is good for you and sunshine in safe amounts is both a free and natural way of maintaining a proper level.

      The main reason I enjoy the seasons, and especially the spring, is that each of them reminds me in vivid imagery of the majesty of God. As I watch a flower bulb begin to break the soil and sprout upward, as I see a tree begin to bud, as the grass takes on a lush green, or the leaves begin to form, all this reminds me of how great our God is.

     Psalm 89:11 says, "The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them." These next weeks, as the bush begins to blossom, as the trees bloom and set on fruit, as the rose bush puts on new shoots with beautiful flowers, as the birds begin building nests, as the squirrels come out of their hibernation, as the soil is worked and the crops planted, be mindful of the majesty of God. Genesis tells us that He created it all and Colossians 1 reminds us that He is involved each and every day. I remember my days as a teenager at a Billy Graham crusade and George Beverly Shea singing "The Wonder of It All." If that memory seems foreign to you, just use your internet search engine and you will be able to find both lyrics and music and then share in my memory.

      Pastor Paul

Faith Promise Missions

2009 Missions Conference

• Sunday, February 1 - 10:30 AM
  Becky Reimers of A Woman’s Friend
  This resources center and medical clinic provides abortion clinic alternative services for couples in our community.
  
  
• Sunday, February 8 - All Day
  Kelsey Pietch of Western Baptist Home Missions
  
  
• Sunday, February 15 - 10:30 AM
  Dick Page presenting Christian Assistance Network
  "Enabling Christ’s people to change communities." If you are able to give your time of 3 hours a week to volunteer at CAN, please see Larry Garvin or Ruth Clark.
  
  
• Sunday, February 22 - 10:30 AM Steve Gledhill of Word of Life Ministries - "Reaching Youth with the Gospel of Christ".
  
  
• Sunday, February 22 - 6 PM
  Maggie Craig will be sharing about her recent mission trips and what the Lord is doing in her life.

Eight Ate Together Sunday

Church families host a meal for eight in their home. Include someone you know and someone new. No evening service so the meal may be lunch or dinner. The format is up to you: provide the meal, bring a dish or potluck. This would be a wonderful opportunity to make some new friends and renew acquaintances!

Valentine's Day Brunch

Hosted by:
The Master’s Men & Ladies of Grace
Saturday, February 14, 2009
9:30 - 11:30 AM (Church Gym)

This brunch is for friends, couples relatives and singles, high school age and up.
Child care will be available in the church nursery.

Cost: $2.50 Per Person Tickets will be available at the Welcome Center on Sunday, February 1st & 8th.

Save The Date

SAVE THE DATE

Memorial Weekend, May 23 - 25, 2009

Help Open Pilot Lake Camp!

Come and help reverse the ravages of winter! Food and accommodations are free! The fellowship is priceless! See Russell Rohleder Sr. for more information.

Be sure to check the website at www.pilotlake.org to make sure roads are clear.

In The Valley of the Jungle

The Voice of the Martyrs 2009 - Colombia

"I was ready to die. I closed my eyes and entrusted myself to God." Pastor Manual said. But the bullet from the gun pressed against his skull never came.

Earlier that Sunday evening, three strangers showed up at Manuel’s house. When he answered the door, one man put an automatic pistol to his head and dragged him and his wife, Olivia, to his church next door. They taunted him for several hours, pointing guns at his head saying, "We’re going to kill you now. ...You think because you’re a pastor we won’t kill you? You will not leave here alive." After many hours of this game, one of the kidnappers pulled the trigger. The hammer of the gun struck, but the gun did not fire. He fired again, but the gun did not shoot. Frustrated, the gunman began to beat Manuel. The attackers fled, but not before they robbed the church. Manuel is one of the few believers with a passion to reach even those who live where FARC guerillas and paramilitary groups fight over the drug trade. He chose to move to a dangerous city to lead a church.

Manuel’s family is under intense pressure. Since the attack at the church, Manuel and his wife were kidnapped again and held for several hours. His co-pastor was murdered. The threatening letters and phone calls continue. Manuel has moved the location of his church three times. Voice of the Martyrs is helping him with housing and food, but it is the Holy Spirit sustaining him.

"We have lived in our own lives what persecution is in Colombia, but we are fed by inner spring." Manuel says he counts on Exodus 34:10; "And He said, Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you." Please keep Manuel and Olivia in your prayers.