Deliver Us from Evil by Nick Block, Spokane Friends
February-March 2013
NW YM CONNECTION
Vol. 6, Issue 1
An elementary school in rural Connecticut under the care of a capable principal with a committed staff, a recently updated security system, children schooled in emergency lock down procedures—a neighborhood school that had done everything right—became the site, at least at this writing, of the most recent witness to the violent nature of our society. It would provide a bit of comfort were we able to write it off as the action of one deranged young person. That would enable us to avoid acknowledging the fact that it is easier for some to get his hands on a semi-automatic assault rifle than to make an appointment with a psychiatrist, psychologist, or counselor—and lacking adequate insurance, it is cheaper as well. In many states it is easier to get a gun than to adopt a puppy from a local shelter. American children between the ages of five and fouteen are 13 times more likely to be killed by gunfire than children of the same age in any other industrialized nation. More U. S. citizens have died in gun homicides in the last six months than have died in all the terrorist attacks in the last 25 years, including those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Want more statistics? One million Americans have died from gunshot wounds since Martin Luther King was assassinated. By comparison, throughout all of England, Scotland, and Wales, over a one-year period of time, 60 people will be killed by a gun. In the United States 30 people are killed each day, the equivalent of a Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy—each and every day. The argument that an assault rifle is a suitable hunting weapon or appropriate for household security is patently bogus. Adding insult to injury, recent experience testifies that even with the best of intentions such weapons cannot be adequately secured. Despite what some would have us believe, keeping guns in the home is an invitation to family tragedy—just ask the mother of the Sandy Hook shooter whose own weapons were first used on her, or the police officer whose service weapon became an attractive play toy for his child. Of course, it’s not just the guns. Our children and grandchildren play violent computer games in which, for entertainment, they annihilate
What we face is deep, dark, and complex. It’s not just about guns and it’s not just about games of violence. It is about the moral fabric of our communities and our nation.
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Deliver Us from Evil (Continued from page 1)
Eight years pastoring Spokane Friends, Nick has held pastorates in Western and North Carolina YMs and for a decade worked with FCNL. For 45 years he has been married to Susan, an Indiana YM friend.
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amazingly realistic representations of human beings. They watch violence as entertainment on big and small screens, and then, reinforced by what they hear and see on the local news, come to accept such violence as the norm. Historically, Friends maintained a testimony on the appropriateness of certain forms of entertainment. Many of our elected officials seem tongue-tied and mesmerized. Maybe they are merely scared of the power of the myth—the idolatry of guns. And reelection campaigns are quite expensive. We should be under no illusion that this is a matter that local, state, or national legislators can address. You can’t legislate morality. Accommodating such a culture makes a mockery of our testimonies as Friends to peace and justice. Against all odds and swimming upstream against culture, Friends have held tenaciously to our interpretation of the story of Peter when he sought to protect Jesus from those who came to arrest him in the garden. Jesus instructed Peter to put down his sword. The answer isn’t convincing legislators to pass laws that support our sensibilities, but rather for us to live according to our own principles. What we face is deep, dark, and complex. It’s not just about guns, and it’s not just about games of violence. It is about the moral fabric of our communities and our nation. It is an extension of the breakdown of civil discourse and the inability of leaders in our states and our nation to seek cooperative solutions to our challenges rather than being perversely adversarial. Trusting in a personal weapon for our household security and trusting in a national military exponentially greater in size than any other on the globe are different only as a matter of scale. It is putting trust in something other than God. The Hebrew prophets would say that it is simple idolatry. Whether in Clackamas or Connecticut, the hard lesson is that, as followers of Christ, we are unable to be secure in this world by trusting what the world has to offer.
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Friends Center: Preparing for Ministry by Paul Almquist, Friends Center director Is the future of Northwest Yearly Meeting important to you? I would think so if you are taking time to read this newsletter. Most people would agree that having excellent leadership is vital to the growth and health of churches in NWYM. Since the beginning of November, I have had the wonderful honor of serving as the director of the Friends Center at George Fox Evangelical Seminary. This is a quarter-time position through NWYM, and I am finding it to be a great complement to pastoring at West Chehalem Friends. I get to follow some fantastic people who have served as director—Dick Sartwell, Carole Spencer, and Colin Saxton—and I get to hang out with some wonderful students and faculty. What is the Friends Center? It is not a separate building or program, it is simply a way of encouraging leadership development among our Friends seminary students who are seeking the Lord for direction, calling, and ministry opportunities. We are blessed to have so many bright minds and willing hearts among us who want to serve the Lord through Northwest Yearly Meeting. My role is to encourage these students through visitation, prayer, meals and coffee together, worship time, and casual conversation. This is the most enjoyable part of my role. I also work with our committee to designate scholarships for Friends students. Thanks to generous giving we are able to cover up to 50 percent of tuition for a good number of our students. Also, I get to develop Friends-related courses that students can take to enrich their experience and prepare them to serve among Friends. If you would like to learn more about the Friends Center or find out how you can help students with scholarship funds, please contact me at palmquist@nwfriends.org.
•February–March December2010 2011 Connection ••July/August 2013
Paul Almquist serves as senior pastor at West Chehalem Friends Church and is married to Nancy, who is a Mary Kay sales director. Their sons Mark and Tim attend George Fox University, and son Andrew attends Newberg High School.
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Beyond Daydreams of Peace by Haley Krueger, Lynwood Friends
Haley lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband, Matt, beloved corgi Gideon, and "The Ladies"—her pet hens. Haley serves on the Board of Youth and Young Adult Ministry and directs Surfside. She's an avid DIYer, thrift store regular, blogger, and spends most of her free time sewing and cooking... her idea of fun.
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“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Peace. The word brings to mind a serene place, one of isolation and stillness. Almost every time I try to conceptualize peace, I picture myself in nature, among trees and sounds of nearby streams. What do you picture when you hear the word peace? I’d guess, between all of us, our pictures have something in common. We all, in those daydreams and pictures, feel close to God. We have a heightened sense of the Spirit within us, and God’s whispering in our hearts is crystal clear. I imagine we feel a sense of contentment. Schedules and stressors gone far from us. Many of you might also picture being present in nature, while some gravitate toward time among good friends, or where relationships are thriving. My husband, I imagine, would picture himself in his shop, woodworking, with everything level and plumb. When we are drenched with peacefulness, we are pleasant people. It’s when we are the most hospitable and kind to others. However, most of my life isn’t spent living out my daydream of peace. It’s spent among noise and distraction. We have a tendency to get discouraged about this. Our solution is to spend vast amounts of energy trying to reach this place of contentment, blaming distractions for our shortcomings. It simply doesn’t work and only leads to greater discouragement, exhaustion, and resentment. Our lives focus less on God’s intentions, and become almost entirely about our own. But God is present with us always. It may feel easier or more profound to recognize God in content moments, but it’s God who brings contentment, not the other way around. There isn’t any reason peacefulness can’t become a greater part of our daily lives. Changing our perspective opens us to God’s powerful presence at work—amid our imperfect surroundings, speaking to us through flawed people and all the noise. Instead of longing for a change in your environment, long for God right where you are. God will show you that peacefulness is about being connected to the Holy Spirit in all you do and experience. God is as much with you now as during your picture-perfect peacefulness.
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Daily Gratitude
By Chris McMullan, youth director, West Chehalem Friends
Moving to America has been an endeavor of beginning new relationships. Since I started my position as youth director at West Chehalem Friends Church I’ve been swept up into a realm of relationships of varying kinds. I’ve found relationships with those of different perspectives; I’ve found relationships with those who are older and younger than I am. I’ve found relationships with people of different backgrounds, and it’s been fun hearing people’s stories in their development of who God has made them to be today. I find myself thanking God for these relationships, and I thank God for allowing me to be open to these, to remove me from my tunnel-vision view of what a relationship was to me and to see how others embrace and relate to God. A significant example of this has been participating in worship on Sunday. Coming from a culture of unprogammed worship for the whole service and not even calling church “church” (rather “meeting”), it has been hard for me to join in worship the way it is done over here and adapt my relationship view of how I’m “supposed” to meet with God. In being present in worship at West Chehalem Friends my heart has been opened and softened to seeing how the older and younger generations feel God at work in their lives, how God moves them in worship to share in ministry, and so I find myself not thinking there is a way we are “supposed” to worship. I’m venturing to find God in the things and arenas that I wouldn’t usually expect, and in doing so I give thanks that God can in fact bless me with his presence outside of my view and outside of where I have been told God exists.
Chris McMullan is the youth director for West Chehalem Friends Church. Chris comes from Ireland Yearly Meeting and moved from Ireland at the start of last summer to begin this calling.
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10, ESV).
Connection • December Connection February–March 2011 2013
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Book Review: Dirt and the Good Life by Katie Gates
Katie and her husband, Nate, are the parents of three beautiful daughters. Katie is a part of Third Way Community of Friends, a homechurch located in Tualatin, OR.
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It seems we’re all looking for “the good life” these days. Our lives and decisions are centered around multitasking and efficiency, comfort and ease, distraction and entertainment. We’ve got our iPhones, Lazy Chairs, and big-screen TVs to help us on our way. Media voices and advertisements spout “wisdom” here too. But are we finding “The Good Life”? Mark and Lisa McMinn have suggested that dirt and the good life go hand in hand, and their beautifully written book, similarly titled Dirt and the Good Life, poetically details how these two esteemed professors find the simplicity of farming to be a way of life that brings goodness and meaning. Wise philosophers have often pointed out that people are created with two natures: a base, physical being that must go about the tasks of food, shelter, and clothing; and a higher, spiritual nature that looks for meaning and connection with God. We’re created with both of these aspects of our humanity. Becoming unbalanced toward our physical nature brings a shallowness that leaves the soul longing and leads to behaviors that can be destructive. On the other side, cloister ourselves from the enjoyment of existing bodily as a human being and all that entails—working with our hands, using our senses, interacting with creation—and we starve the physical being from connecting with God and others in the unique way it does. It doesn’t work for long and often leads to spectacular hypocrisy. The wisdom Mark and Lisa McMinn offer through their writing in this book is not stated through advice or practical tips. Instead, they allow themselves to be examples of people striving to find meaning as they live within the two natures, woven together in the midst of growing food, working with their hands, and celebrating the bounty of their hard work. “Material meets immaterial, and my ensouled body (or is it an embodied soul?) finds the deep joy God created me to know.” As writers, both Mark and Lisa bring their academic minds into processing the experiences of farming, infusing fresh thoughtfulness into their musings. As Mark writes, “The quiet hours of working in the dirt provide time for renewal and reflection on the big matters of living and dying, time and eternity.”
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Just as each of the earth’s seasons produce some joy and some melancholy, Mark and Lisa boldly write about the pleasures and hardships they encounter as they work the farm over the course of the growing and harvesting seasons. “Farming is for observant souls,” Mark states, and both his and Lisa’s observations range from beetle sex to cultivating hope. Their discussions about God are both straightforward and mystically reverent, in the same way they talk about the rains that are both life-giving and awe-inspiring. Throughout their book, Mark and Lisa give snapshots of their lives as a couple and as parents, grandparents, and Friends interacting with the community. They discuss the tender dance of marriage and growing old together, relate the celebrations of the harvest with their family and friends, and attest to the deep beauty of silence and Quaker communal disciplines. They also discuss the tasks and rituals involved with being a CSA, (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, where they grow seasonal produce for families who have subscribed to receiving fresh fruits and vegetables each week during the growing season. This writing is beautiful, wise, deep, and fresh. Mark and Lisa’s book combines the invaluable pairing of the physical, gritty, satisfying existence of the life of farming with the mindful, tender, and explorative existence of the life of the soul. This type of weaving can only be written out of experience and is incredibly rare. This book is a true gem. “I’ve stopped calling my teaching job my real job, and now refer to it as my other job,” Lisa says, “I’m growing more convinced that my real job—my real calling—is tending dirt.” And then, “For us, Fern Creek is a place of redemption. It is where we have discovered the abundance of the whole life that awaits the willing soul.” (Dirt and the Good Life is available for purchase at Barclay Press, including free video interviews with the authors: www. barclaypress.com) •February–March December2010 2011 Connection ••July/August 2013
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KEEPING CURRENT WITH LOCAL AND GLOBAL OUTRE ACH
A New Year—A New Creation by Johan Maurer, Friend Serving Abroad
As 2013 opens, a wave of anti-Americanism is radiating out from the Kremlin. How does this affect Judy and me? On one level, not much. This current campaign hasn’t seemed to change the way we’re treated in our town. But on the other hand, our whole reason for being here is to bless Russia—specifically our students, neighbors, friends, and the little community of Russian Quakers. Anything that affects the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional climate of the people we care about also affects us. After all, the first step in blessing is listening. 2012 was a bumpy ride for Russia in many ways. As the year began, political demonstrations of unprecedented scale upset conventional wisdom. Thousands of new volunteers monitored the presidential elections in March. A punk feminist rock band shocked the nation with their “hooliganism” at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, igniting a whole new round of debates about church-state relations. As the year ended, Russian-American relations fell to a new low as the government here responded to American “interference” by banning adoptions by AmeriJohan Maurer is a writer, teacher, cans. And all organizations receiving American support and Friend Serving Abroad under and engaged in any activity that can be labeled “political” Northwest Yearly Meeting. He and his wife, Judy, and two cats live in are now subject to summary liquidation. Elektrostal, Russia. I was thinking about these themes when an old friend of ours passed along an open letter from his former colleague Andrei Zubov, now a professor of history at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations and director of its Center for Church and International Relations. He also teaches comparative religion at the Russian Orthodox Institute of St. John the Divine. As I read his letter—a New Year’s greeting to his wide circle of friends and colleagues—it gave me a sense of perspective on the year we’ve just left behind and the year to come. I think it applies directly to our own context here in Russia, but maybe you too will find it helpful. From Andrei Zubov’s letter: …The past year was full of expectations and hopes. As always, we had expected more than we gained, but what we gained was significant. The year will go down in Russian history for more than just its anniversaries [specifically the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino]. I think it will be studied as a year 8
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when Russian society was able to wake up, or at least begin to wake up. Our terrible totalitarian past no longer constrains our souls, especially the souls of young people. In principle, it’s sad—but it’s also healing—that society became more detached from government, more disillusioned with the authorities, and less inclined to hope that the problems of simple people will be decided by guardians in high places. People realized that these guardians have always, and will always, put the priority on solving their own problems—and at our expense. This is our bitter but useful experience. During this year, the credibility of the Russian Orthodox Church and its Primate suffered a tragic decline. On the other hand, the level of cynicism in society also fell. More and more people became involved in volunteer activities, in social programs. Again this particularly involved young people. Also, faith in God did not decline, but for very many people (almost a third of our citizens) whose background was a lukewarm and nomiAndrei Zubov nal orthodoxy, their faith became non-denominational. I think this is generally better and more honest, although it demands an accounting from those who continue to consider themselves members of the Church. For them—for us—the time has come to take on some very serious work. Our society no longer believes in words but looks all the more attentively at deeds and the actual lives of people in the public eye—including their private lives.... In this past year, many reputations were shaken and destroyed. Is it possible that this new year will be a year not for the destruction of old things, but the creation of new things? Perhaps the creation, the crystallization of a new, more kind, self-sacrificing and honest public life? All the prerequisites are in place; the realization depends on us. Every morning we wake up, all of us, young and old; we feel that we have been given a new day and a new playing field, on which we can distinguish ourselves or discredit ourselves to the benefit or detriment of ourselves and others. As the new year dawns, a whole year’s playing field opens up; symbolically, the world is created anew. In this new world, which comes to us and into which we enter, it’s my wish that you will find happiness unblemished by shame, and you will find meaning that does not pass away like morning dew. Time is something that is given to us, but the future is something we ourselves build. May we find joy in this work during this New Year 2013. Cordially yours, Andrei Zubov 2010 2013 Connection ••July/August February–March
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On Our Way Rejoicing by Becky Ankeny, NWYM superintendent
Becky Ankeny
It will be long past January 1 when you read this, but I have been thinking about my plans and hopes for 2013. You might be expecting some goals for the yearly meeting, such as that we come together over a vision of what we have to share with our neighbors—the truth that Jesus is present with us to teach us himself—and that we are actively communicating this good news. Or that we have plans for two or three church plants by established churches, one of them in Woodburn with a specific plan to become an integrated Spanish/English congregation. Or that we will have found a way to include bi-vocational pastors and youth pastors into our pastors’ retreats and conferences. Or that we have raised so much money for our Called to Ministry conference that we can charge $25 per attender. All these are good goals and ones that sit around in my heart and mind and prayers. However, if we accomplish all these goals and do not grow closer to Jesus, we are missing the mark. So the first of all goals is to lean in closer to Jesus. Here is how I plan to do this in 2013.
by just being me. I remember an older girl saying, “You got on my nerves the moment you got out of the car.” These things cannot be helped, and they aren’t intentional. Nonetheless, when I cause actual harm, I need to apologize. Jesus will help me know when to apologize and to whom. Fourth, I plan to move on. After an apology, I don’t need to wallow in remorse or shame or guilt. I have done what I was told to do, and that’s all I can do. After hearing and obeying successfully, I need to move on, not wallow in self-congratulation or smugness or self-satisfaction. Once after I did something good, I heard a little voice, just like one of those devils you see in the comics, and it said, “Weren’t you special to do that nice thing? Aren’t you a good person?” I laughed out loud, recognizing this as a temptation. So no space provided for grandiosity or shame. Just keep listening, obeying, and moving on. So I present to you this acronym of LOAM (listen, obey, apologize, move on). I hope that as I practice what I preach, the soil of my heart will be loamy—a rich mixture of dirt and compost and humanity where the seeds of God’s kingdom can grow.
First, I plan to listen. I just read Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott. My Quaker feeling is that after praying “help,” I need to be quiet long enough to hear the help I asked for. If I pray, “Lord, show me your way,” I need to wait long enough to let God’s Spirit shine a light in front of me. If I say, “Lord, I need your wisdom here,” I need to shut up long enough to let God’s Spirit send ideas I didn’t bring with me. Second, I plan to obey. I remember at a meeting of the New Call to Peacemaking initiative in the 1980s, a North Pacific YM Friend spoke of appreciating silence because it “helped him get in touch with himself.” Another NPYM Friend spoke to that and said, “What I hear in the silence is someone saying to me, ‘Why haven’t you done what I told you to do?’” When I listen, and God talks with me, it often has to do with my next action. So I need to simply step out and do what I heard to do. Third, I plan to apologize. Maybe this should have come first, since it is something Jesus often brings to me to do. This doesn’t mean taking the blame for everything, but it does mean acknowledging that my action has caused harm because I missed the mark. I likely annoy people and hurt their feelings all the time 10 10
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S
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CAMPS R E M M U senior high • tween camp
junior high • kids • surfside day camps • youth yearly meeting
We LOVE camping here in NWYM, and we have another full lineup for this coming summer. Information and links to camp websites can be found on our website by going to the YOUTH menu, then to SUMMER CAMPS: nwfriends.org
2010 2013 Connection ••July/August February–March
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Christian Education Corner By Myrna Tuning, Homedale Friends
The 2012 Yearly Meeting Christian Education Board’s dinner featured Mary Sonke, who has headed the Christian Life Club (CLC) at Homedale Friends Community Church for more than 25 years. She showed with words and a video how about 15 workers from different churches cooperate in reaching up to 100 elementary children from Christian and non-church homes. The curriculum is provided by Child Evangelism Fellowship, but the organization that includes Bible lessons, activities, music, and snacks is all local. When CLC began, the Homedale church was near the elementary school, so there was concern when the new church was built a distance away. Greenleaf Academy offered a school bus for $500, and permission slips were given to the school so Myrna is a member of Homedale Friends students could ride to the new church each WednesCommunity Church in Idaho. She is on the Yearly Meeting Board of Communicaday after school. tions and sometimes also writes for the Besides the regular Wednesday CLC meetings, Board of Christian Education, of which her husband, Frank, is a member. the staff and students roller skate in Nampa once a month. Before Christmas the entire group goes caroling around the area, ending at the church with a chili supper, to which everyone is invited. The school year ends with a swimming party at the YMCA. The school administration has no problem with the kids wearing their CLC shirts to school, and they can often be heard inviting other children. Wearing their CLC shirts, bringing Bibles or a friend, knowing the memory verse, etc., builds up points with which they can buy special items. There is a small fee to help pay for tee shirts and materials, but all are welcomed, and no one is required to pay. For additional income Mary and a crew of helpers have a hamburger booth at the County Fourth of July celebration and Demolition Derby. For information about the CLC program, contact Mary Sonke at marysonke@yahoo.com. The Christian Education Board invites suggestions for programs to be honored at their 2013 dinner.
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Updates, News & Announcements LOOKING BACK •• MidWinter: MidWinter 2013 was held at Boise Friends Church. A group of 70 staff and students from around NWYM gathered for fellowship and service. Thanks to Katie Krueger, Ingrid Stave, and Patrick Petrie for their excellent leadership!
LOOKING AHEAD •• Junior High Jamboree: February 15-18 @ Twin Rocks Friends Camp. Inviting all middle school students to join us on the Oregon Coast as we “dive in” to the wideness and depths of God’s love. Register for the weekend through the Twin Rocks website: twinrocks.org •• Youth Challenged through Local Service (YCLS): This coming June a group of youth will have the opportunity to experience serving in Portland and North Idaho. If you have a desire to learn more about what it means to serve the needs of those around you, then this is a great opportunity. Get information and apply to be a part of the 2013 team: nwfriends.org/ycls •• Friends Men Retreat/Man Camp: February 22-24 @ Twin Rocks/March 1-3 @ Quaker Hill. Our two annual retreats for men are coming up soon! Join us at Twin Rocks to explore “How Poverty Derails Us All,” with speaker Shawn McConaughey, and at Quaker Hill to look at how we can be “Running Free” in God, with speakers Gar Mickelson and Terry Riske. Information and online registration can be found at nwfriends.org/friends-men •• Bible Quizzing: March 9 @ Silverton Friends. This will be the final quiz meet for the 2012-2013 season, focusing on Matthew 1-28. Please register your team so you can join us in finishing a great year: nwfriends.org/bible-quizzing •• Young Adult Friends (YAF) Peru May Trip: Are you a young adult and interested in traveling and ministry? This coming May you can join a group going to Peru for a cross-cultural experience with local Friends. The application deadline is February 15, so if you feel drawn to be a part of this team go to nwfriends. org/may-trip-to-peru
•February–March December2010 July/August 2011 2010 Connection ••July/August 2013
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Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
Updates, News & Announcements
15-18 Junior High Jamboree – Twin Rocks Friends Camp 22-24 Friends Men Retreat – Twin Rocks Friends Camp
LOOKING AHEAD CONT.... •• Yearly Meeting Sessions: July 21-25, 2013, @ George Fox University. Did you not get to take a ride in the pedicabs last year? Don’t miss your opportunity to ride around the GFU campus between workshops, meetings, meals, and listening to Richard Foster share with us during our evening gatherings. We look forward to gathering once again to listen to and be moved by the Spirit among us. •• Young Adult Friends (YAF) Blazer Game: On April 17, 2013, young adults are going to watch the Portland Trailblazers play the Golden State Warriors. Tickets are only $15 each. Information and registration can be found at nwfriends.org/ blazer-night •• Youth Volleyball Tournament: April 12-13 @ George Fox University. It’s time for teams to start practicing for our annual tournament! Registration is now open for all teams, so please visit nwfriends.org/volleyball for information and online registration.
PASTORAL/NWYM STAFF TRANSITIONS •• Tom and Rita Romberg have accepted the position of pastor at Star Friends (Idaho). •• Daniel (Virginia) Kassahn has stepped in as the new children's ministries director at 2nd Street Community Church. •• At the end of February our long-time bookkeeper, Chuck (Karen) Scott, will retire after serving us for 14 years. We are extremely grateful for his work among us. Taking his place will be Tonya (Ken) Comfort of Reedwood Friends. We are excited to have her join our team—please welcome her with us as she steps into this position. Tonya Comfort
MARCH 1-3 Friends Man Camp – Quaker Hill Camp 9 Bible Quizzing – Silverton Friends
APRIL
12-13 Volleyball Tournament – George Fox University 15-18 Pastors Conference – Twin Rocks Friends Camp
MAY 24-26 Samuel School II – Quaker Hill Camp 17-30 YCLS – Portland and North Idaho 8-13 Twin Lakes Jr. Boys Camp 24-29 Twin Lakes Jr. High Camp June 29 – July 3 Quaker Hill Kids Camp June 30 – July 5 Twin Rocks Girls Camp 3-8 Quaker Hill Sr. & Jr. High Camps 7-13 Twin Rocks Tween Camp 15-19 Twin Lakes Day Camp 14-19 Twin Rocks Boys Camp 21-25 Yearly Meeting Sessions 21-23 Twin Lakes Backpack Trip 22-27 Twin Lakes Girls Camp 4-10 Twin Rocks Surfside Camp
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July/August 2010 Connection • •February–March 2013
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
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JOHN 15:14 NIV
“You are my friends if you do what I command.”
MEMBER OF E VANGELIC AL FRIENDS CHURCH NORTH AMERIC A
A publication of the NWYM Board of Communication. Joel Bock, editor
tel 503.538.9419 www.nwfriends.org
Calendar of Events......................................15
Updates, News & Announcements...... 13-14
Christian Education Corner....................... 12
On Our Way Rejoicing...........................10-11
A New Year—A New Creation................ 8-9
Book Review: Dirt and the Good Life.......6-7
Daily Gratitude............................................. 5
Beyond Daydreaming of Peace...................4
Friends Center: Preparing for Ministry....... 3
Deliver Us from Evil................................. 1–2
Inside this issue…
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