Connection March/April 2015

11265 SW Gaarde Street, Tigard, OR 97224 Ph. 503.639.5336 http://www.faithjc.com Faith Journey Church

home of Gaarde Christian School

Our special guest on Missions Sunday, March 8th, is from Shared Hope.

They are a local international ministry that focuses on eradicating sex

trafficking through prevention, restoration, and bringing justice

through legislature and policy solutions. Understanding the

devastation that is wrought by Human Trafficking is the beginning of

making a difference in the lives of those who have been affected by

Human Trafficking. As Christ followers, we are called by Him to share

the HOPE that His life on earth, death on the cross, and resurrection

from the grave offered every soul on this earth. Our focus for Easter

will be on that hope the does not disappoint, the hope that brings us

to the end of ourselves, and to the arms of Christ. It is a hope that we

must be compelled to share, not only with our neighbors and co-

workers, but with those who have been caught up into the tragedy of

Human Trafficking.

Journey - Pursue - Impact

ARTICLE Page

The Pastor’s Pen 2

March / April Calendars 3

Schedule 4

West of 55 4

Missions News 5

Adult Ministries 5

Worship 6

Ablaze Youth 6

Journey Kids 7

Accelerate Clubs 7

Gaarde Christian School 8

Join us as we welcome our

missionaries Sue Beaman, Josh

& Renee Ransom, and Tamara

Henkes for Saturday. On Sunday,

a guest from SHARED HOPE will

challenge us as we kick off a

focus on Human Trafficking.

the Pastor’s Pen

Page 2

His story, our hope

“With the Death of Jesus on Calvary, we witness, amid the

cacophony of soldiers and criminals, gawkers and passers

-by, what looks like the final triumph of evil. All the ugli-

ness and violence we can imagine was embodied in the

events that had as their climax the six hours during which

God in human form hung on a cross on a hillside outside

the gates of Jerusalem… It is only once we have seen the

full extent of evil on display there and witnessed the ap-

parent victory of death that we can begin to appreciate the

triumph that is EASTER!”

~Adam Hamilton: 24 Hours that Changed the World

This “triumph,” this Easter morning exuberance is found in

an incredibly dramatic way in John’s gospel chapter 20,

verses 1-9:

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to

the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the

stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran

and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one

whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the

Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they

have laid him." 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple,

and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were

running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and

reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw-

the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then

Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth,

which had been on Jesus'* head, not lying with the linen

cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other

disciple, l who had reached the tomb first, also went in,

and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not under-

stand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ~ESV

Reading this great passage of scripture I could not help but

focus on the last verse (9) in speaking of John and Peter’s

revelation that came out of their lack of understanding and

think Harriet Beecher Stowe’s earth shaking words

in 1852 in her book “Uncle Tom's Cabin:”

“O, with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty,

is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man,

"Behold! Thou hast one more chance!

Strive for immortal glory!”

Every year Easter morning shouts to us wake-up! Arise!

“Thou hast one more chance!” In fact, because of Jesus’

story, “His mercies (compassions) are new every morn-

ing!” *Lamentations 3:22 & 23

I wrote a poem for this article and Easter season that ex-

presses our great hope through Jesus’ story:

Easter Hope, His Story

Easter Hope is found in the

Hero hanging from the cross.

Easter Hope is found in the

Emptying of Abrahams Bosom.

Easter Hope is found in the

Brilliance of an Easter sunrise.

Easter Hope is found in the

Woman with spices and caring.

Easter Hope is found in the

Echo of the empty the tomb.

Easter Hope is found in the

Footfalls of the running faithful.

Easter Hope is found in the

Story of the Savior of the World!

~T. Paul

The great hero of World War II and then Prime Minster of

England once said:

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth,

but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off

as if nothing ever happened."

We have provided two helps March through May this year

to prepare your hearts for Easter and provide answers post-

Easter for those who would want to explore Jesus’ story fur-

ther through the discovery and discussion of “GodQuest.”

Journeying Together ~Pastor Tom

AVAILABLE N

OW!

Wednesday’s @ 7pm!

BEGINS APRIL 15th

APRIL 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

MARCH 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

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March - April 2015 Calendars

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

Missions Convention

Daylight Savings Time Begins

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

Spring Brunch

for ladies

GCS Middle

School

Production

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

GCS Spring Break

Father/Son Overnighter

Easter

Good Friday

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

Missions Convention

7pm

Ablaze Youth

Mpact Club

Accelerate Club

Easter Monday

Youth Group

Day Trip to

Oregon Coast

Service Schedule

Wednesdays

7:00 pm ABLAZE Youth

Accelerate Clubs

Missionettes (Girls Kinder - 5th Gr.)

Rainbows (Girls and Boys 3 - 4 Years)

Tuesdays

5:30 am Men’s Bible Study - Davidson’s

Sundays

8:45 - 9:45 am Sunday School - All Ages

Nursery ( Birth - 2 Yrs )

10:00 - 11:30 pm Worship Service

Children’s Church ( 3 Yrs - 5th Grade )

Nursery ( Birth - 2 Yrs )

6:00 pm Adult Home Group - Location Varies

Page 4

Office Hours

8:00am - 4:00pm Monday through Friday

Fridays

7:00 pm The Wave - Prayer and Worship

(2nd Friday of each month)

Jesus said, “Do not worry, ”saying

‘What wi l l we eat?’ or ‘What wil l

we drink?’ or ‘What wil l we

wear?’… indeed, your heavenly father

knows that you need al l these things.”

- Matt 6:31-32

My grandma, a depression era child, had said from time to time what I’ve heard many say from that period of economic struggle, “We were poor, but never knew it.” Perhaps this is due to the fact that the basic necessities of life, though not in great abundance, were always enough to meet her family’s needs as her

parents depended on God’s promise to provide.

Nevertheless, while they struggled through those lean years, they learned not to take God’s provisions for granted. Even today, many who went through the Great Depression are not quick to discard food or possessions. After all, this is a

generation who did not have the luxury of just throwing out clothing on a whim. They became survivors who found ways to make things last. So, if anyone in our country today understands the adage “Waste not, want not.” It is these

seniors.

This combination of trust in God’s goodness and an appreciation for all he provides, has given this group a wonderful perspective on God’s care for those who trust him. This generation knows that no matter how difficult life becomes, God will be true to his word and supply what we need. Also, as these seniors model for their children and grandchildren gratefulness for and careful management of God’s bountiful blessings, they help remind younger generations that these provisions are from a loving God and

need to be cherished.

In His Service,

Pastor John Granholm

West of 55

Fridays

7:00 pm The Wave Prayer and Praise

Second Friday of each month

Missions News

Page 5

Mission ConneXion Conference

January 16th & 17th Jim and I attended the Mission ConneXion Northwest Conference. Their vision is to help God’s people effectively mobilize in Mission. Their purpose is to connect local churches and individuals to missions so that increasing numbers of believers are actively serving in areas of the world’s greatest need

and opportunity.

While attending the conference we had the privilege of listening to four

keynote speakers:

Don Richardson: He wrote “Peace Child” about their work with the Sawi Tribe in Papua New Guinea, and 50 years later returned and created the mini-documentary video, “Never the

Same” about what’s happened since.

Steve Richardson: The eldest son of Don Richardson, is the President of Pioneers and leads a mission organization dedicated to initiating church-planting movements among unreached people groups around the world. Pioneers is an organization whose passion has been to see God glorified among those who are physically and spiritually isolated from the gospel of Jesus Christ - from Muslim Bedouins in the deserts of

North Africa to animist villagers in the jungles of South America to secular humanists in Eastern Europe and middle-class Buddhist urbanites in the

sprawling cities of East Asia.

J.D. Payne: A pastor of church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a missiologist and author of several

books on missions and evangelism.

Ramesh Richard: A theologian – evangelist from India serving as Professor at Dallas Seminary and founder of Ramesh Richard Evangelism and Church Health (RREACH). He has dedicated his life to evangelizing leaders and strengthening pastors, and is seeing breakthroughs in how we cross-culturally reach into large numbers of individuals by training

large numbers of pastors worldwide.

The speakers were very interesting and spoke about the barriers and breakthroughs they have encountered when sharing the love of Jesus in their

ministry.

If you ever have a chance to attend one of their conferences it would be

worth your time.

Donna Randol

Beth Chambers(Missionaries to OSU(Chi Alpha)

Jamie and Alisha Deweese Missionaries to Clackamas Com-munity College(Chi Alpha)

Kiel & Niina Downey Missionaries to Thailand

Rick & Laurel Ellis Missionary to Chile

Carl and Terri Gibbs Missionaries to Africa

Tamara Henkes Missionary to Romania

Dennis & Diane Holcomb Missionaries to Poland

Ken Huff Missionary to Cambodia

Steve and Julie Kramer Missionaries to U of O(Chi Alpha)

Bill & Carol Paris Missionaries to Tokyo, Japan

Josh & Renee Ransom Missionary to China

Matt & Heather Reigel Missionaries to Switzerland

John & Beccy Rodli Missionaries to Azores/Portugal

Rob & Jeanel Shipley Missionaries to East Africa

David & Dorothy Yunuba Missionaries to Africa

John & Carolyn Stewart Missionaries to Africa

Recently while reading OFF BALANCE by

Matthew Kelly there was a short passage that

truly challenged me: “It’s easy to let another

week, month, or year go by without really

thinking about the life you want to live. It’s too

easy to just let life happen. There are a lot of

ways you can live your life; the point is that

you don’t have to settle for the life you

stumbled into. You can pick it intentionally.”

WOW! Imagine the impact each of us could

make in our world if we were genuinely

intentional about how we live each day! We

would make a difference in the lives of so

many people, if our eyes were kept open to

the possibilities that God presents to us every

day. Will you take the challenge to live on

purpose? Together we can impact our world

with the grace and love that God intentionally

showers upon us!

Pastor Kelly GrosJacques

Adult Ministries

Thank you for all of your support in sending

our students to the Generation Unleashed

conference in January! Jessica and I took

five from the youth group to City Bible

Church in Portland for the better part of

three days where we all listened and

learned from a multitude of youth pastors.

The theme was Amazing Grace, and we

heard all weekend about what God has

done for us through Jesus’ sacrifice, not only

forgiving our sin but giving us freedom in our

lives. We all had a lot of fun in between and

after services, and we may have even

broken a piece of a playground…

With God’s grace on our minds, we are now

looking forward to Easter and all of its

significance. Last Wednesday I spoke to the

group about Ash Wednesday and Lent and

the somberness of the cost of our freedom. In

light of Lent, I challenged the students to

think of something they could give up until

Easter and I know some are really going for

it.

Andy Reum

Youth Pastor

Youth Ministries

Page 6

This month I have been cooking quite a bit. I

am an amateur cook who enjoys cooking

different cuisines from different countries. As

an amateur cook, I also like to try out exotic

oils that you don't usually find. My favorite

oil has to be coconut oil. Not only because

of the health benefits, but also the smell of it.

I often enjoy the final packaged product of

coconut oil, but I've never thought of the

process of extracting the coconut oil. With

mostly any kind of oil, pressing is required to

extract the essence. It made me think how as

a believer, our life is kind of like the pressed

oil. God often allows certain things to

happen in our life, not because He wants us

to suffer, but because He knows these

situations will produce something amazing in

us. It is like coconut oil. For a coconut to

produce oil it must be pressed under

pressure. Our life is often pressed by all

sorts of different things, and they are not

always fun. I believe if we are willing to trust

in Christ through those times, He can use them

to extract something amazing out of us for

the world to see. The process of being

pressed is not always enjoyable, but our God

has the power to make messy things into

something beautiful. It is not as important for

us to figure out how we are going to get

through the tough circumstance, as asking

how we can trust Him more. If we are willing

to trust Him, then He is faithful to complete

the work that He is doing in us.

Phil Tu FJC Worship Leader

Worship

Page 7

On February 11th, we were able to give out 72

badges and certificates to our hardworking

students. We also celebrated their achievement

and faithfulness with a

Valentine party.

On February 22nd, Mariah

Ba l fou r and Jayden

LaGrotta were awarded

trophies in our main church

service for becoming an Honor Rainbow and an

Honor Prim. Between the 2 students, they had

received a total of 51

badges to receive this

special recognition. We

are so proud of them as

well as all of our students.

Come join

the fun.

In His Service,

Connie Frisinger

M Pact Coordinator

Children’s Ministries

In Journey Kids, we recently finished learning that the Reward for Everyone

who Accepts Christ is Heaven in our REACH series, and have continued into

the KidMo! series TEACH. During the next five weeks, we will start learning

how to live out God’s word in our lives through right Thinking, Exercising what

we know in our daily lives, Amplifying Jesus, Changing bad habits, and

Helping others. As we explore different Bible stories with Lester the Lab

Assistant and Mrs. Fluffynutter, we will continue to learn more about God and

grow in the truth.

We have also been working to get the kids excited about the upcoming

Missions Convention that Faith Journey is hosting for our missionaries. After

handing out Buddy Barrels in service, our children have been diligently

bringing in their change to contribute on their own as well.

Also coming up, we have our annual Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday!

Our Journey Kids will have the opportunity to search for eggs around our

church campus and maybe even find one of our special prize eggs! I hope

you all can make it!

Jessica Scott

M’Pact clubs for girls first through fifth grade - and - Rainbows club for preschool aged girls and boys

Children’s Church

SUNDAYS @ 10:00AM

Freedom Kids Services for 3 yrs - Kindergarten

On Sunday mornings, our little ones (three

years old through kindergarten age) meet

together to learn, sing and play.

Journey Kids Services for 1st - 5th graders

Kids, bring along your energy on Sunday

mornings for Journey Kids! This is no time

to sit back and watch... every child is an

integral part of the service. Together,

we’re learning to worship, serve, reach out

and translate what we’re learning into

action in our own lives.

Important Dates

Mar 13 - Father/Son Overnight Campout, 7pm - Sat 8am

Mar 19 - End of Third Quarter / Talent & Art Show, K-8th, 7pm

Mar 20 - Teacher In Service - No School, Day Care Open

Mar 23-27 - Spring Break - No School, Day Care Closed

Apr 3 - Good Friday - No School, Day Care Closed

Apr 6 - Easter Monday - No School, Day Care Closed

Apr 13-17 - Achievement Testing, 1st-8th

Apr 17 - Middle School Program, 7pm

Apr 30 - Class Pictures

FOR MORE INFORMATION,

VISIT THE GCS WEBSITE!

www.gaardechrist ian.com

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good

works.” -Ephesians 2:10)

This verse continues to guide us as GCS gears up for

Missions Month, a time set aside to be intentional

about investing in the lives of others, seeking to serve

rather than be served.

During March Missions Month, students will be

challenged to bring canned food goods for the

Oregon Food Bank. Students will also meet

missionaries to Thailand, Kiel and Niina Downey in our

kick-off chapel, March 4th. Preschool through eighth

grade students will collect goods to meet some of their

needs as they prepare to move to Thailand.

Thank you for continuing to partner with us in the

education of your student. It is a pleasure to impress

upon them not only academic knowledge, but a

knowledge and understanding of serving and loving

others in the name of Christ.

Kendra Jones, Administrator “YOUR CHILDREN, OUR CALLING”

11265 SW Gaarde St. Tigard, OR 97224

Gaarde Christian School