“Made to Crave” a Deeper Walk
Vicki Taylor participated in a recent Bible study entitled “Made to Crave” by Lysa TerKeurst. This study has now been made available to the church family as a “virtual” book study online. For more information, contact Chris Jenkins at 363-3618.
"I decided to participate in the Made to Crave study because I have struggled with yo-yo dieting for years and why not try! Also, I really enjoy the women’s Bible studies I have done in the past, both of which were by Lysa TerKeurst. Her studies are amazing!!
"The Made to Crave study really focused on turning
my struggle with this seemingly “small” issue over to
God because He really does care about it. A few quotes
stand out like – “God never intended us to crave anything
more than we crave Him” and “Everything is permissible,
but not everything is beneficial”. The study is filled with
wonderful gems like that and brings everything back to
God’s Word. In the end, this is not a “diet” plan but a plan
to take care of God’s temple and recognize when Satan is
“tempting” you with unhealthy choices.
I would strongly recommend this study (and have)
to anyone who wants to make a healthy change in her life.
Not necessarily to lose weight (it is a benefit though) but
to be at peace with what you are doing to be healthy and
take care of your body.
"I have gotten so much from this study. I will be reading it
again, slowly this time. I believe this is a study that can
easily be picked up at any time in the future and be a
great support!
"In my daily life, I continually hear/see little quotes and
words from the book (and Bible verses) that help me
through tough times. They help me recognize temptations,
where they are coming from and how to deal with them."
Thanksgiving Offering, by Pastor Nick Stumbo
In November of 2015, we dedicated an entire weekend’s offering to international missions. Everyone was encouraged to pray and ask how the Lord would lead them to contribute. On one single weekend, we have over $17,500 come in from the congregation. Wow! With these funds, we were able to contribute $5000 to a Christian recycling ministry in Kosovo so they could purchase a new truck. They have recently signed a contract to handle all the recycling for schools and government offices. The truck will enable them to do this, and to hire several more people. All of this enables our international workers to build bridges to people who don’t know Jesus!
We also gave $3000 of personal support to Doug and Anya Holcomb, who work with CAMA in Kosovo. The Holcomb’s are out of an Alliance Church in Portland, and their children are our adopted TCK’s (Third-Culture Kids.) We also donated over $9500 of the remaining funds to the Great Commission Fund, supporting hundreds of workers around the globe.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this special offering is that, even though we gave away a full weekend of tithes and offerings, we were still ahead of budget for the rest of the month! Praise God for His goodness to us. It seems that no matter how hard we try, we just can’t out-give God! A huge thank you to everyone who gave!!
Outreach Room Christmas Food Drive, by Pastor Jon Donohue
In Luke 4, Jesus shared with the synagogue at Nazareth what his mission would be in the world. Quoting Isaiah, he began by saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” Our mission as the church has not shifted from this point. In the same way Jesus came to bless and bring good news to the poor, we have embraced that mission as well. In December, East Hills and The Grove did a wonderful job advancing that mission in a very practical way. The Outreach Room at Monticello Middle School engaged in its annual food drive to help meet the needs of students and families who are in desperate need of food over the Christmas holidays. Through your generosity we collected about thirty large boxes of food which went a long way to provide food for over ninety families in need in our community.
On the evening of December 16, members of connection groups and others in the church met over at the Monticello Outreach Room to help organize the food into individual boxes to be distributed to families. In the past this event took upwards of 24 hours. Because of the help of those who participated, the task was completed in just about one hour. It was also a fun time for members of the church and community to serve together.
The following evening, volunteers from the church and community helped deliver the food boxes to families in need. Each family was very thankful for the support and assistance it received heading into the holidays. Thank you so very much to each of you who helped through giving, packing, and serving at this year’s Outreach Room Christmas Food Drive. Because of you, the mission of Christ to bring hope and good news to the poor was advanced.
Outreach Room Christmas Food Drive
Happy New Year, by Jo-El Perez
Our family is excited about a new year and setting household goals. This year we are focusing on health and what that means to us. I think it's important to ask questions about actions, thoughts and behaviors like "is this healthy?" or "Will I bring health to God and my family if I do this?" It can be as simple as what you chose to eat, or how you spend your free time, and unfortunately I don't think watching TV all day makes the cut, but sometimes it sounds so good, doesn't it?
I want to encourage you that you are not alone in making resolutions and goals, but think about your health in these aspects when you make them. What are your motivations for your actions? Pray that God brings light to an area you need help, and then work towards that. It may not be easy, but make a plan, and give yourself grace as you grow.
As we begin making personal goals, I think it's important to make realistic spiritual and workplace goals. So as I move forward in Children's Ministry, I see how steadily Kidville is moving, and how excited and eager these kids are for knowledge. The questions they have excite me and show me they are ready to increase their level of learning.
This year we will be focusing on growth in Kidville. Growth for the children with a deeper
curriculum and hands-on crafts. And growth for our teachers, who's growth is just as important, if not more so. I say that, not because I don't believe in the
importance of children's growth, but because even with the best plan in place, a teacher who lacks passion and purpose cannot produce passionate and driven disciples.
As I begin to work through developing our skilled and passionate teachers and challenging them in new ways, I would also love to see some fresh faces step into helping roles. This is a great way to begin helping in a room, shadowing a skilled teacher and learning how to run a classroom. And don't worry, because skills can be taught!
As we pray that God brings us passionate new team members, will you pray that God shows you where he can use you? Whatever ministry that might bring you towards, you just can't go wrong when you listen to the Lord!
God Bless!
Jesus With Skin On, by Judi Wright
“Healthy people can identify their problems, fears, struggles and issues and they can articulate their plan to resolve them.” M. Dye, author of The Genesis Process.
January 1 gets us yearning for new, better, cleaner, clearer, healthier, better spiritual discipline, closer relationships, or a fresh start in some area of life. Plans and lists seem so promising when January starts…lists too long to stick with for more than a few weeks or months. What makes the difference between a life that actually moves forward in positive, life enhancing ways and one that flounders in the slough of despond?
Real change occurs when one person, motivated by the love of Jesus, invests their life into the life of another. Together, they walk toward health and wholeness. Where does that happen in our society? It is in and through the church.
It is the church that encourages us to love the hurting and the broken, those different than our own small circle of “comfortable” friends and family. For nearly half my life I have been a believer. The first half, the longer half, was lived in fits of hope alternating with deep pits of despair as I tried to make my own way work. It was all an exercise in futility until Jesus became a reality to me. Twenty-plus years ago I came to a church divorced and newly remarried, scared, hurting and lonely with a plastic smile and a secret desire to be loved and accepted as I walked out my new faith. I am choked up thinking about those dear women who embraced me, invited me to join them over and over and generally accepted me just as I was. They were on their own journeys with Jesus and they pulled me in tight and invited me to learn and grow with them. The love of Jesus they showed me helped me to stop striving in all the wrong ways of personal effort. I see that love of Jesus in the faces I am meeting at EHA and The Grove. Thank you, each of you, for embracing me as I come once again to a new place of healing and hope for me.
My challenge to you at this time of fresh starts is this: Can you identify what you are struggling with? If so, can you articulate your plan to resolve those things? If your plan does not involve reaching out in love to someone else and asking them to walk alongside you then I am afraid you are in for a disappointment. God created us for relationship with Him and with others. We need each other to carry out our plans and to support each other. Without other believers we are likely to become self-focused and discouraged by our inevitable failures along the way.
Perhaps your life seems pretty good to you right now. If so, halleluiah, the Lord has great plans for you! You are ready to reach out in love to someone like me, someone who may be scared, hurting, needy and lonely. That person, the one you are seeing in your mind’s eye right now, needs YOU. Pray about how you can reach out in love to them. Help them by including them in your journey with Jesus. You will be blessed more than the blessing you are offering to them. And they will know the true love of Jesus as you offer them a little Jesus with skin on: YOU.
Your sister in Christ, Judi Wright
Thirsty? By Pastor Jesse Jorgensen
Have you ever been really thirsty? Most of my thirstiest memories revolve around when I was growing up and working on my family’s farm. The summers in Montana can be really hot and dry.
Often, after working out in the sun we’d long to get back to the shop, which served as a sort of headquarters for the farm, and drink from the water spigot in the corner. We all agreed that the best water came from that well. It may have just been that whenever we were drinking that water we were extra thirsty or, maybe that water really was better. Either way, I can still remember the refreshment that would come from that water as my thirst was quenched.
I’ve also noticed that I often feel similar refreshment when spending time in God’s word. Maybe you’ve felt this too. God has a way of speaking directly into our lives when we take time to slow down, listen, and read His Word. I’m often amazed at how he floods my soul with peace or truth or whatever He wants to give me in those moments.
Psalm 63:1 says “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”
These times of spiritually coming back to the “farm headquarters” and getting a refreshing drink are an important aspect of our personal worship. Worship is meant to be a conversation with God, a relationship that is engaged in through all aspects of life. God wants us to delight in him through our work, our play, and all that we do. When we gather together to worship at our weekend services, it is really just an overflow of our personal worship. It’s a special time when we gather together as individual worshipers and join in a group conversation with God. So, I encourage you to carve out time to engage with God and scripture this coming year as personal acts of worship and then live out of that refreshment in your every day life!
One tool that might help us do this is “The Daily Text”, a reading plan that takes us through the whole Bible in two years. Check it out on our websites: easthillsalliance.org or thegrovealliance.org and be watching for details on how you can sign up for daily reminders. We’ll also have a place on our websites, where you can join the church-wide conversation about what God is speaking to us as we take time to be refreshed in God’s word together!
Beginning this month, EHA/The Grove is using a tool that might help us do this. It is called “the Daily Text” and is a reading plan that takes us through the whole Bible in two years. You can view the daily texts online at our websites: easthillsalliance.org or thegrownalliance.org. Sign up to receive a daily text message reminder by texting "@daily-text" to 81010 or, send an email to daily-text@mail.remind.com to receive daily email reminders. We also have a place on our websites where you can join the church-wide conversation about what God is speaking to us as we take time to be refreshed in God’s Word together!
The Timothy Institute
Class of 2015: Betty Hayes, Monica Nichols, Matt Milligan, Susan Jones, Jon Donohue and Cameron McKinney.
The Timothy Institute is a one-year leadership development program for people of East Hills and The Grove. The Institute focuses on four areas: Leadership Development, Spiritual Formation, Theology, and Ministry Skill. The participants meet monthly for ‘class’ and also meet informally in triads for personal growth and prayer. The Timothy Institute group read 11 different books and wrote several papers as part of their development.
This year’s Timothy class will ‘graduate’ in December. They have put in a good deal of hard work, so be sure to congratulate them if you see one of these developing leaders! Also, please pray for them, and ask God to continue to use them and grow them as leaders and as followers of Jesus.
If you are interested in joining a future class of the Timothy Institute, contact Pastor Nick for more info.
