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January 1, 2012 |
Vol. 4, Iss. 1 |
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And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
Philippians 1: 9
Lord Jesus , we thank You for our churches and the congregations to which we are attached. In this New Year, we pray that You will equip and encourage us to undertake local outreach projects and missions that will enable us to embrace and welcome new visitors and new friends into our midst. Thank You for the power of the Gospel in our lives and for the potential that it has to spread across our community. In Your Sacred Name, we pray. Amen. |
Dear Church Family:
Thank you so much for your many kind and generous expressions of love during this Christmas season. We are truly blessed to be able to serve the LORD in this church and deeply appreciate the love and support we receive from each of you.
Sincerely,
Pastors Keith, Brandon, and our families
Packing Up For the New Year - January 7
The Christmas decorations are coming down on Saturday, January 7th. If you can help with this task of packing, organizing and loading boxes up stairs to the storage area, please join us at 10:00 AM. The more the merrier! Thank you little elves!
New Adult Sunday School Class to Begin January 8
An adult Sunday School class will begin on January 8 with Kay Gomez as the teacher. The class is titled "Understanding Poverty". The class is built on the format of a book titled A framework for Understanding Poverty. For people who are interested in Christian ministry to people in this day and age it is imperative to understand the cultures which surround the poor, the middle class, and the affluent. Sunday class times will be at 10 am in the club house.
Congregational Meal - January 15
The Hospitality team will be providing a Pasta Bar lunch coinciding with the Annual Meeting. A variety of sauces will be available to choose from - including options for our vegetarian friends. Please bring a dessert to share.
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Thailand Team Update
by John and Jody Fenlason
The team has arrived safely at the Christian Mission of Ben Naratchakwai in Nakhon  Phenom, Thailand. Immediately the first day we were thrust into working with students in 3 different schools where we had the opportunity to work with elementary and high school students exchanging English words and simple phrases. After the New Year, which will include joint celebrations with the Thai members of the fellowship group here, we will take on specific assignments. John and Jody will be working with nursery school students learning English.
The quilts made by the Women's Ministries group have been delivered to John and Maeo Middlewood and will be presented to various students
 A large number of our church family in the Philippines lost everything. One of our pastors' families escaped their home in the middle of the night with just their night clothes. The home and all belongings were destroyed. There is some loss of life, and some folks are missing. There is no running water to clean up the mud and debris and disease is an increasing danger. Advent Christian General Conference is sending relief funds to our college and churches. If anyone wants to give, checks may be made out to Agape International Foundation and given to Pastor Clio or mailed to the foundation at 406 Scenic Way, Kent, WA 98030. Agape foundation is IRS tax exempt.
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One Minute Meditation
For the New Year
 So what is so special about the New Year? Maybe it is this: once a Wednesday is gone, another pops up seven days later. We'll see a December every year, and as much as we'll miss the spring, we do take comfort in the fact that we'll see another one the next year, and the next, and the one after that.
But it doesn't work that way with years. Once this calendar year expires, there will never be another one. Days, months, seasons, and holidays will all eventually return, but once this year is over, it's over.
Maybe that is why we tend to schedule our resolutions for change at the beginning of each New Year, hoping the old habits won't return much as that particular year won't return. This approach to changing ourselves is symbolic, of course. Real change requires so much more than a New Year's resolution.
It's tough to break established habits, but remember that there is hope for the person who sincerely desires change. The power for real change means admitting that we are helpless to do it on our own. Lasting change requires the help of the Lord.
The Bible says if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Christ transforms us when we give our lives to Him. He transforms us from the inside out. Now that's a change for the better. And it's a change that lasts.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away, behold, new things have come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17
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| Classifieds
Free: Oak entertainment center - the kind with glass door cabinets for DVD player - in excellent condition. Just come and get it.
Needed: Tree cut down and removal. Large pine tree beside our house needs to be cut down and removed. Estimates welcome.
Both: Contact Keith/Jan Eldridge 253-859-5469
For sale: We have a 20 something year-old Kimball console piano in excellent condition that we would like to sell. We are the original owners and Katie and David both learned to play on this instrument. We use to have it tuned regularly but since it hasn't seen much use in the last few years it has been a while since it has been tuned. We would like to get $600 but would consider offers. I thought I would post it here before trying Craigslist. Contact Scott or Betty Schleiffers. (253) 838-6574 or email psa51 10@yahoo.com .
Listing items in the Classifieds
If you'd like to add items to a West Valley Classifieds list, please e-mail the church office ( office@westvalleychurch.org) for items in the following categories. Please also include your contact information and a detailed description. - Help Wanted
- Work/Services Wanted
- For Sale
- Free Items
- These items will be listed on a weekly basis in our e-news. If you have recurring items, please keep the church office informed on a weekly basis by the end of day Thursday.
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Do You Have an Article for the Bulletin or E-news?
You can submit bulletin and/or e-news article submissions using our online submission form at www.westvalleychurch.org/forms.html at any time. Please note that e-news submissions need to be received no later than Wednesday morning of the week you want the article to run. Bulletin submissions need to be received no later than Thursday evening of the week the article needs to run. You can also use this online form to submit Prayer and Praise for the e-news.
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