Paul and the Underground Church KidZone Lock In

God's love is always with us.

If you lived in ancient Rome, the oldest living male in the family held the title of paterfamilias. The paterfamilias, which means father of the family, had the final say in pretty much everything--a privilege called patria potestas, or paternal power. If a father didn't want a child, patria potestas gave him the right to have the child killed by exposure (simply setting the baby out in the street). A father could sell his children into slavery, stop his child from marrying, or make his child marry. As you can imagine, the image of a loving, compassionate father may have been a little vague back then.

Consider the power in Paul's words in Romans 8:38: "...nothing can ever separate us from God's love." Paul describes a tender, compassionate Heavenly Father who wraps his children in a strong and never-ending love. To Romans, who may have lived in fear of authority figures, this was a revolutionary idea.

Unconditional love is still a concept people struggle with. It seems illogical that God would love us so completely, so perfectly, even when we're imperfect. But Paul passionately proclaims that even death can't separate us from God's powerful love.

Because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, God's love truly is always with us! This is what the children attending the KidZone lock in on January 23-24 learned. They were guided in celebrating God's powerful love for his people by traveling through ancient Rome. They visited the Apostle Paul, who was under house arrest and chained to his guard Brutus. Paul showed them many of the letter's he had written. Letters inspired by God. Paul sent the children through the streets of Rome (the KidZone hallways) to the Underground Church, where they met Marcus and Lucia, two members of the church who were hiding in a cave, afraid of discovery by the Roman guard.

By the end of the night, the children learned of the great sacrifice the early church made so that we can worship today. They discovered that there are still people in the world who have to hide to worship God, and they learned to pray for the oppressed. And before they went to bed, Brutus, Paul's Roman guard, accepted Jesus as his personal Savior! With God all things are possible :)

What a God sighting, to watch the children learn and understand that God's love is a gift, and that His love is, indeed, always with us!

Blessings,
Kelli Kirk

A Gift of Love with the Grizzlies

My husband suggested we make enough dinner to take over to my brother who suffers with ALS. We were quite surprised when we arrived at Greg and Valorie's home to find so many cars at the house. We feared something had happened to Greg. To our surprise, and even more so Greg's, one of his favorite Grizzlie players, along with another player, the E-Center Grizzlie promoter, news media from 3 newspapers and their photographers, along with a few other friends, arrived at Greg's home - a gift of love for him from a friend. Bob and I were not supposed to be there, but the Lord blessed me with sharing a wonderful moment with Greg - and God was laughing with all the joy in that room. Praise the Lord! Glenice Coward

God is our Healer

On a Tuesday morning in late September of 09, our 22 year old daughter was rushed to the hospital. It was discovered that blood clots had formed in her leg and traveled into her lungs and heart. Wednesday evening emergency open heart surgery was performed. After her successful surgery we were told that it is rare for someone in her condition to live long enough to make it into surgery. Her surgeon also told us after the procedure was completed that she had less than a 5% chance of making it through. A week and a day later she came home from the hospital and within 3 weeks went back to work and living her normal life. THANK YOU JESUS! In countless ways the LORD GOD demonstrated that His presence was with us during every step of this horrifying situation. In the ER when we first learned of the seriousness of her condition, we felt the LORD impress upon our hearts, WATCH ME WORK! Prayers went out across the US and beyond. Daily, HE gave us scriptures to reassure that HE was with us and was working out HIS purposes. We thank all who lifted us up in prayer and now rejoice with us in telling of GOD gracing us with miracles. LET US HOLD FAST THE CONFESSION OF OUR HOPE WITHOUT WAVERING, FOR HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL. HEBREWS 10:24

Look and Listen

It might seem strange to list a funeral as a God sighting but many have said Susan Jardine's funeral was one. During Susan's Celebration of Life at Good Shepherd the microphone was opened to anyone who wanted to share. Many got up to speak and all were memorable in their stories about sharing time with Susan. Some told of her faith and courage during cancer treatments, others her devotion to God, many reported her steady kindness and love for children. Then 12 year old Duncan walked to the mic and explained how Susan had always listened when he needed to talk and prayed for his various ailments. Then he said he knew for sure that when he had bronchitis Susan prayed for him and he got better because she prayed. We will see God everywhere if we just look and listen!

With love,

Pastor Christine

How God is Working in Our Life!

Matthew got a paper back from his teacher that had 100% on it, upon reviewing the paper he realized that he actually had one wrong. The grade had already be posted and he could have kept quiet but he got up and told her that he has really missed one! I am so proud of him for doing the right thing.

Teresa Kashuba

The Lord Provides!

We made budget!

O give thanks, for the Lord is good! (Psalm 103)

Our final numbers for 2009 (unreconciled) indicate that we met and exceeded our budget. This is amazing considering the economy last year. Many of our people lost their jobs, yet people were very generous with their time, talents, money, and possessions.

We started a whole new ministry (The Milestone) to young adults who are "aging out" of the foster-care program -- and this was an unbudgeted ministry item. Even then, we were able to give more than we ever have to people in need in our community and within our congregation. Just when we thought we might have to reduce ministries because of lack of funding, we were able to increase it.

May we credit this good news of meeting the budget to the work of God in our lives? As we took our eyes off of ourselves and responded to God's love and generosity by being loving and generous, we experienced something wonderful -- joy through the work of the Holy Spirit.

There is a profound joy in giving to bless others. Jesus said, "If you lose your life for the sake of the gospel and for me, you will find it" (Matthew 10:39). Thank you, Lord, for demonstrating your truth in our lives.

-- Pastor Jeff

Christmas retreat with the UT Youth Mentor Project

Over the Christmas weekend about 12 kids and adult supervisors gathered at Camp Kostopulos. The intent was simply to give these kids a place to 'be' for the holiday, away from dysfunctional families and 'trouble' waiting to happen. Over the 2 1/2 days of the retreat, there were no fights, no really 'out of line' behaviors and everyone seemed to be having a really great time. One of the more amazing and humbling things to watch was one of the adult supervisors who spent the weekend being with and giving to these kids, as we began to understand that this person is currently unemployed, if not homeless.