FamilyGram5fba2b318e93cafb2fcd-f72c28db3a25c29cab9bff7c9c1ca25c.r88.cf… · this whirlwind tour of...

Family Bible Church FamilyGram Page

FamilyGram A Publication of Family Bible Church

August 2016 Volume 2016 Issue No. 8

in this ISSUE

AWANA page 8

Birthdays and Anniversaries

page 9

Global Partners— DeNeui page 5

Global Leadership Summit

page 1

Pastor Ron page 1

Silver Eagles page 4

Youth News page 2 and 5

Worship page 6

heats up.

What does the Bible have to say to us as followers of Christ on the subject of vot-ing? Actually, it says nothing specific about voting. With very few exceptions,

throughout ancient history democ-racies were not the common

form of government. People didn’t elect their govern-mental or national lead-

ers, so it should come as no surprise that the Bible is silent

on the specifics of voting. It was something that only in the rarest

setting applied to the contemporary readers. National (or Tribal) positions

of leadership were normally gained by birthright or as the spoils of war. Lesser positions were appointed by those in pow-er.

In Greco-Roman times democracy ebbed

(Vote—Continued on page 2)

By Pastor Ron Lawler

S hirley Williams was a member of the House of Lords (England) for about

half a century. The Pricilla Papers record that she was taking calls on the radio when a woman caller remarked about their current electoral choices:

“I am so disillusioned I just won’t vote anymore,”

“You won’t vote!”

The irritation in Shirley Williams’ voice almost crackled on the line.

“Do you know what it cost the suffragettes to win that vote for you, a woman? How dare you not vote!”

I have heard similar expressions of frus-tration from both men and women as our current presidential election campaign

Too Disillusioned to Vote

T he Global Leadership Summit is a

two-day event telecast LIVE in HD

from Willow Creek’s campus near Chi-

cago to hundreds of locations in North

America. You are invited to join an ex-

pected 305,000 people committed to

getting better as leaders in 2016.

Throughout the fall, Summit events take

place at an additional 675+ sites in 125

countries and 59 languages.

FBC will be hosting a satellite location

and you can participate! The Summit

begins at 8:30 and runs till 4:30 both

days. We still have a few registrations

available at just $89 per person (that’s a

substantial discount from the regular fee

of over $200! Call the church office to

reserve your place at this dynamic event.

0 shows a list of the faculty of the

summit or go to http://

www.willowcreek.com/events for more

information.

Family Bible Church FamilyGram

tive. We shared scripture and talked a lot about the Fruit of the

Spirit when we had the opportunity.

and flowed. During the Republic period (509-27 BC) of the Roman Empire, citizens exerted, by an-cient norms, extraordinary con-trol over politics. From 27 BC on, the Emperors ruled autocratically.

Henlee Barnett, in the theological journal Review and Expositor, suggests that the Bible offers sev-eral guidelines for Christians re-garding political action:

“(1) a recognition of the state as a God-given institu-tion to maintain order and justice; (2) the duty of citi-zens to support the state in terms of taxes; (3) the right to criticize the evils of gov-ernment and of corrupt pol-iticians; (4) to pray for rul-ers; and (5) to obey God rather than the state when its demands conflict with the Christian conscience.”

These five points serve as excel-lent reminders for the Christian regarding political action, but what about voting, especially when we feel there are no good choices?

Let me offer you three brief sug-gestions that may help you as you contemplate whom to vote for:

1. Until Jesus runs for office, we will always be voting for the lesser of two evils. I know that some of you will react to that philosophy as

(Vote—Continued from page 1) unacceptable, but it would be a greater evil to disengage from the electoral process because you don’t like the options.

2. Don’t choose “one trick po-nies.” With the often confusing tidal wave of appeals to accept or reject candidates and with our own personal standards of right and wrong, it is very easy to choose a candidate because of one or two favorite issues. Those issues could be such things as the party they belong to or our favorite “moral issue” to defend, etc. Which candidate is the best overall choice to deal with the most critical issues we are facing in the environment in which we are currently living? If your house was on fire, would you stand in the front yard and screen the Fire Fighters based upon their top three moral issues before let-ting them on your property?

3. Be an informed voter. Never has so much infor-mation been so readily availa-ble about every conceivable nuance of voting issues as is today. Read the source mate-rial offered by the candidates themselves. We cannot possi-bly follow the last suggestion above (no one trick ponies) if we do not do the research. Every serious candidate, and

number of the not-so-serious ones, have websites in which they ex-press their philosophies and pro-posed solutions. With our local candidates we often can sit down and talk directly to them. You might be thinking, “What would I ask them?” I did an online search for “questions to ask political can-didates” and behold 45,700,000 resources right at your fingertips! The top ten or twenty will give you plenty of ideas. (As always read about the site offering you infor-mation to determine credibility.)

Remember that our sovereign God is in control. He does not always run things the way I think He should. Our respon-sibility is to do the best we can with what we have. We won’t all agree with each other’s choices. If ultimately our eyes are on God and we are doing our best, we will not be too disillusioned to vote.

a message from

T hank you all for your prayers!

Our Mission trip July 24-30 was a great success! We took five kids to the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho where we learned about their culture and were able to serve alongside them in their com-munity. Some of the projects we helped out on were Kids Camp, Boys & Girls Club, painting and maintenance of a home, and food bank work. With the kids pro-grams we played lots of games and interacted with local kids and learned many aspects of life in Lapwai, ID from a youth perspec-

At Sonya’s house we were able to help her two boys paint the entire

house and trim work as well as replace a broken and unusable deck staircase. The personal interactions with this family were wonderful and impacted our kids in a very positive way.

At the food bank warehouse, along with thousands of pounds of canned goods, we were able to repackage bulk macaroni (6’x6’x4’ crate) into smaller bags for distribution to sites that hand them out to those in need. It was a great

(Youth—Continued on page 4)

Youth Minister to Nez Perce


H ello Praying Friends and

Family,

After a busy year we are looking

forward to… a busy summer!

Read about our upcoming adven-

ture below!

This past May, Some of you in

the Southern California area

might have noticed that Mark

made a special appearance in a

few of our churches. The

goal: To bring France to

you! This visit allowed our

French pastor, Christophe Mar-

tin, and his wife Johanne the

opportunity to share with you

the need in France, the amazing

things God is doing, and how you

can play a role. With all the

meetings that were squeezed in

this whirlwind tour of 8 days, it’s

amazing the Martins survived!

Christophe shared about the cur-

rent social and spiritual state of

France:

the increasing secularization

of the French state…

the corresponding reaction

of the of French Muslims,

some of whom are be-

coming more ex-

treme…

the minority sta-

tus of the evangelical com-

munity and the barriers to

growth.

He also shared about the strate-

gic projects he is organizing with

Youth for Christ-France to train

church leaders:

a national website for evan-

gelical youth to connect

them to training possibilities

throughout France

city-wide youth gatherings

throughout France to en-

courage growth and net-

working

an internship program to

give youth training and expe-

rience in ministry

If you would like to bless the

Martins in this ministry, or bless

a young French Christian who

desires to be trained to be a wit-

ness for Christ and to be a

church leader, here are two ways

to give a one-time gift:

By check

Checks can be made out to

“WorldVenture” and sent to:

WorldVenture

1501 W. Mineral Ave.

Littleton, CO 80120

Be sure to note that the

funds are for the Special Pro-

ject: France-Training for

Youth for Christ,

Account number: 6410-907

Online

Go to https://

www.worldventure.com/

give/ and select the project

France-Training for

Youth for Christ

The logo for our

English Camp in August “Bringing

California to

France!”

This summer we

have TWO TEAMS

from California

coming to bless our French church.

The first team is coming from July

17th to 27th and is from Oceanside

Christian Fellowship in El Segundo.

They will be helping our church con-

vert our church basement into rooms

we can use as classrooms, for Sunday

School or youth meetings. The

church has been meeting in this

building for years and has never con-

verted this space. Thank you to our

friends from OCF for giving their

time and expertise and raising the

money to come and bless our church!

Please pray for:

safety in travel

safety while working

a good interaction between the

American team and our French

church members

God to receive glory in our work

together!

The second team is coming from July

31st to August 15th and is from Jour-

ney of Faith in Manhattan

Beach. They will be running an Eng-

lish Camp at our church for youth

from our area. The camp will con-

clude with a barbecue, and the stu-

dents are encouraged to invite their

families. Obviously we want to help

people with their English! And they

will definitely learn some Eng-

lish. But our deepest desire and

prayer is that we will make many new

contacts within our community,

share with them the love of God and

keep in contact through follow-up

(Deneui—Continued on page 4)

The DeNeuis in France

Johanne, Christophe, and Mark on our way to LA!

Bringing France to California!


English activities after the summer. At this point

there are only 10 students signed up. We still have

over a month, and the French tend to sign up for

things last minute.

Please pray with us for:

STUDENTS!!!!!!!!

protection for the team during their travel and

time in France

A good interaction between the French team

and our French church members, and that eve-

ryone would be blessed and encouraged from

working together for God’s kingdom!

God’s truth to be received, seeds to be planted

to bear fruit!

Our mailing address is:

18 rue des Chevreuils

68870 Bartenheim-la-chaussée

France

(DeNeui—Continued from page 3)

FUN, FELLOWSHIP & FOOD! 6:00 PM Friday, August 19th

chance for our youth to get involve in loving others and mak-ing themselves available to serve in whatever way they were able. Lastly, our kids recognized the relationships built along the way can be even more impactful than the physical need that is trying to be met!

Each night and morning we dove into the Word with devo-tions, prayer, small groups, and music with the other 65 peo-ple from our Tristate area. These were just as impactful on our students as the serving – the Theme of “First:Love” grounded in 1 John 4:19 gave us all the foundational con-cepts of how much God loves us and how to respond to Him in love and service of others. We ended the week with a foot washing ceremony and sharing many of the heart changes and growth in God that took place over the week.

August 28th we will be doing a dessert banquet where our students will share their personal experiences and their per-sonal application since coming home and re-entering “real life”. Everyone is welcome to come see and hear what we were able to experience. Thank You again for all of your prayers and support!

- Pastor Dan Potter

(Youth—Continued from page 2)


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

9:50 am Sunday School—C-6


Sr. High Jr. High

Youth Calendar for August 2016

Jr. Hi: 7-8:45 C-3 World View


Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6 Burlington Mall

Man Hunt Bring $ for dinner

Jr. Hi: 7-8:45 C-3

World View Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6

“War Room”

9:50 am Sunday School—C-6 Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6

Back to School Prep Jr. Hi: 7-8:45 C-3

World View

Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6 Walmart Scavenger

Hunt & DQ $3.00



Jay & Ashley’s Anniversary! Congrats!

Sr. High 7-8:45 C-6 “San Andreas”

Unconditional Love by Tamara Collins

"But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." —Romans 5:8

"Your love never fails, never gives up. It never runs out on me."

Those are lyrics from the worship song "One Thing Remains" by Je-sus Culture. Last night I was en-joying an outdoor worship concert with my family and we all sang along with this chorus. Amid the chaos and children running around me (many of whom were mine!), I was really trying to grasp God's amazing love for me as I sang these words. God's love never fails me. His love for me never

runs out. He never gives up on me. It is hard for this performance-driven and goal-oriented girl to comprehend God's unconditional love for us. For me.

At one point in the song, as I sang the words aloud, I turned my head and saw one of my daughters sitting on her daddy's shoulders. In the mo-ment I looked at her, she reached out her arms and turned her head toward me with eyes that asked me to hold her. Time stood still for a moment. And in a flash I realized how short I fall from God's standard of love. You see, this particular child of mine tests my patience. Often. She tests the boundaries continually. She makes life more, let's say, interesting. Do you have one of those children? Or maybe work with someone like that? Or are married to someone similar?

And with such a quick reminder, God covered me with his love again. He full well knows the ways I fall short. He knows when I'm short tempered with my children or quick tongued with my husband. He knows the con-ditions I put on the people around me, really without even meaning to. And all the while God loves me. His love never fails, never gives up. It never runs out on me. Or you.

A prayer for you: Lord, as I pause for a moment in the chaos of my day, I am reflecting on your love for me. It is without condition and without end. Thank you! Help me to accept your love and be unconditional as I share that same love with others today. Amen.

Sign up for devotions from Group Women’s Minis-try at: [email protected]


R ecently I finished

re-reading a book

by Paul E. Little called,

“Know What You Be-

lieve.” Beyond being a

great book it got me

thinking about how my

beliefs impact my life.

In ten chapters Little

covers the core basic of the Protestant

Christian faith including what we be-

lieve about the Bible, God, Jesus Christ,

Jesus Christ’s Death, People and Sin,

The Holy Spirit, Salvation, Angels, Sa-

tan and Demons, The Church, and

Things to Come (End Times). Each one

of these things is essential to the Chris-

tian faith and to the life of each Chris-

tian believer individually. And what we

believe about these things effects how

we think and live.

For the next few FamilyGram articles I

would like to work through how our

belief in certain areas of Christian the-

ology can and does effects how we think

and live.

Family Bible Church holds the short

statement, “We believe the Bible as in-

spired by God is free from error and the

only authoritative rule of faith and

practice.” (For any of our longer state-

ments of belief please feel free to con-

tact the office, a pastor, or elder). But

to break this statement down into its

parts…First, the Bible is inspired by

God! God had an intricate and intimate

involvement in the writing of the Bible.

While the Bible was physically penned

by humanity, God inspired each ac-

count, event, story, parable, lesson, and

teaching as instruction for His church.

This inspiration also goes to the canon-

icity of the Bible as the leaders of the

church in the 4th century prayed and

scoured the writings of the Hebrew

Scripture, the texts we now consider the

New Testament, and text that were re-

jected as inspired by God to complete

From the Worship Desk

what we now hold as the Bible.

God lead the way in the writing

and putting together of each book

and the Bible as a whole.

Second, the Bible is free from er-

ror! This freedom from error was

understood to include only the

original manuscripts. “Well, we

don’t have the original manu-

scripts,” some might say. Howev-

er, with remarkable

precision, pre-

typewriters and com-

puter spell check, there

were a number of dif-

ferent copies of the

scriptures made that

have survived the rav-

ages of time and the

discrepancies in these manuscripts

that are being discovered are so

minute that it has been likened to

the discrepancy of spelling the

word honor or honour. Both are

correct English, both convey the

same meaning, how it is spelled

lets you know whether an Ameri-

can or an Englishmen wrote it.

Finally, it is the only authoritative

rule of faith and practice! Simply,

it is the record and measure by

which we call ourselves Christians.

While we spend time reading great

books that are not the Bible, they

are not our rule of faith and prac-

tice. Even Paul E. Little’s book on

the basics of our faith, while a great

book, is not the rule of our faith

and practice. If no one had ever

written a book about the Bible, a

commentary, a “How To”, or even

a devotional, the Bible would still

hold all that we need for our un-

derstanding of Christian faith and

Christian practice. And while we

human beings will always want to

expand on the truth of the Bible,

we need to keep coming back to

what the Bible says!

That all being said, what does that

have to do with everyday Christian

living? How does or should one’s

belief about the Bible impact their

daily thinking and living? May I

say frankly that if one holds an er-

roneous view of scripture it will

greatly impact our understanding

of much of the basic beliefs of

Christian faith. If God did

not inspire the Bible, then it

is merely just another book

written by a bunch of men to

propagate a system of reli-

gion. But to believe that

God inspired the Bible is a

belief that God Himself had

special instructions for

those who believe in Him and that

it is important for us to know them

and do our best to obey them.

A Bible that is not free from error

would lead us to question every

word ever written in the Bible. I

can’t tell you how many times one

little error will make me question

everything written by a particular

author. God carefully guarded the

copying and translation of the Bi-

ble to preserve its integrity

throughout multiple millennia.

The confidence we can have in it is

astounding, that with all the trans-

lations out there today we can con-

fidently pick up a Christian scrip-

ture and understand God’s instruc-

tion for us. Both Christian and non

-Christian scholars of the Bible

give it a passing grade when it

comes to the integrity of the manu-

scripts that have been found and

are still being found by archeolo-

gists around the globe.

And what about it being the only

rule of faith and practice for the

(Believe—Continued on page 7)

Know What You Believe The Bible


believer? There is a lot of good,

moral teaching out their today.

Things that teach us to treat our

spouses well, to parent our children

well, how to keep a fit and healthy

body, and how to manage our fi-

nances. And while these are all

good things to be reading and keep-

ing in mind while pursuing daily

living, we need to keep as the first

rule of faith and practice what the

(Believe—Continued from page 6) Bible teaches. It is so easy to re-

place what we’ve learned in the Bi-

ble with something we’ve read or

heard somewhere else or even by a

long held hope or dream. But we

need to be diligent in finding and

holding what the Bible says as our

ultimate guide even when we “don’t

like it.”

God’s Word, the Bible, is the stand-

ard by which we think and live.

When we begin to move away from

that standard we will find that there

will be on thing after another that

will begin to vie for our attention

and affection that are contrary to

God and His Word. So, read, read,

read, and read some more. I can’t

tell you how important it is to read

widely on a number of topics, but

always, always come back to the

Bible when referencing how God

would have you think and live.

You Don’t Have to Have All the Answers —Guest Blogger Kaitlyn Bouchillon

this:

Maybe it’s not about knowing all the

answers but trusting the Answer. And

maybe the world that feels like it’s on

your shoulders is really in His (more

than capable) hands. You can stop

climbing mountains and wondering if

you’re enough because the truth is:

Christ in you is BEAUTIFUL.

So hold onto hope, friend. Choose to

believe He’s got it all figured out and

His plans are so very good. Remember

that the time spent worrying is time

taken away from praying for the very

things that cause us to worry. Slow is a

frame of mind and today we can pause

and choose to come over.

We may not know all the answers, but

we can know the One who does.

Kathy is a guest blogger on Holley

Gerth’s Coffee for Your Heart blog.

You can follow Holley’s blog at

[email protected]

In the Bible, before the curtain was

torn in two, the Holy of Holies could

not be entered into by just anyone.

You and I, we would not have been

able to approach the place of the

Lord’s presence. The curtain would

have separated us – not from His love,

because oh friend, how He loves us! –

but from His beautiful, consuming,

powerful presence.

But when Jesus

Christ died as a

sacrifice, the cur-

tain that kept the

distance and cre-

ated a separation

was torn in two.

From top. To.

Bottom.

It was nothing

man could do, but

God did it for man. He entered into

our mess and invited us into His pres-

ence. We can come over.

So when the counters need wiping,

the bills are past-due and you can’t

remember the last time you showered

or got a full night’s sleep, remember

I heard once that God is the one

who overcomes — and because He

does, we can come over. That sounds

like really good news for me right now,

and maybe you too?

There are days – maybe weeks,

months, or even years – when there

are more questions than answers,

more things up in the air than things

we know for certain. The times when

someone you love dearly

is sick, a relationship is

falling apart, the bills are

stacking up or the kids

are running you wild.

Can I tell you a little se-

cret?

It’s okay. You’re okay.

Even when life is topsy-

turvy and spinning a bit

out of control.

Even when it feels like you’re carrying

the weight of the world on your shoul-

ders.

Even when your hands are full.

Because there is One who has over-

come. And so we can come over.

http://holleygerth.com/answers/


Trek

Journey

Nursery

(for our leader’s littlest

ones during club)

Children’s excitement

LOOKING AHEAD:

October 8th: Awana Conference in

Mt Vernon

For More Information, Contact Pamela

Ketchum 360-929-2135.

AWANA

Prayer Requests: For our Leaders’ hearts as they

lead children to Christ.

Leaders, community wide,

stepping forward in:

Cubbies

Sparks

T&T

A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not a form of es-

capism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is

meant to do." — C. S. Lewis

“Like” us on Facebook:

Awana4fambiblechurch

September 2016 Calendar 12

28 29 30 31 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 Registration 3:00-7:00 PM in FBC Lobby

9 10

11 Trek & Journey Begin

6:00—8:00 PM

Worship Center

12 13 Cubbies, Sparks, and T&T

Begin 6:00—8:30 PM

14 15 16 17

18 Trek & Journey

6:00—8:00 PM

Worship Center

19 20 Cubbies, Sparks, T&T

6:00—8:30 PM

21 22 23 24

25 Trek & Journey

6:00—8:00 PM

Worship Center

26 27 Cubbies, Sparks, T&T

6:00—8:30 PM

28 29 30


Tammy & Derek

Ostermann

Bev & Clay

Miller

Ashley & Jay

Jones

Paula & Rick

Geist

Trina & Brad

Trimmer

Kathy & Brian

Thompson

Wenbo & Fabyan

Decker

Ann & Jim

Eelkema

Heather & Michah

Franklin

Lynette & Jeff

Tompkins

Lisa &Jason

Stapert

Elva & Jim

Hannahan

Stephanie & Peter

Gebhard

Judi & Jack

Ulery

Susan Delmundo 08 Michele Mikkelborg 29 Patty Tracy 27

Geno Dogans 17 Charles Nannenga 13 Molly Vagt 22

Sally Douglas 09 David Ott 16 Bonnie Walters 19

Jim Eelkema 20 Brian Presler 09 Pete Wendt 20

David Fikse 17 Cameron Radka 15 Cassandra Whitlatch 13

Bradyn Bachman 26 Tom Frederick 28 Jim Register 10 Toby Wilhelm 11

Cole Baldwin 16 Elva Hannahan 03 Haley Riffel 02 Willie Wilhelm 05

Devon Bellamy 10 Patti Jones 08 Jackson Roberts 10 Elizabeth Willis 29

Susan Boe 04 Atticus Leeper 23 Benjamin Shaw 18 Layla Willis 21

Aidan Bulthuis 16 Madison Leeper 04 Rosmond Shaw 25 Jakob Wilson 21

Madison Cherry 26 Mary Martin 05 Jason Stapert 20 Laurie Zywica 17

Maria Crowell 02 Anne Menks 09 Adaiha Tanner 11

Wenbo Decker 28 Emma Menks 20 Jeff Tompkins 10


“Pride Goeth Before a Fall “

Homiletics (Jan.-Mar./96)

told of a turtle who

wanted to spend the

winter in Florida, but he

knew he could never

walk that far. He convinced a couple of geese to help him,

each taking one end of a piece of rope, while he clamped his

vise-like jaws in the center.

The flight went fine until someone on the ground looked up

in admiration and asked, "Who in the world thought of

that?"

Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the turtle opened

his mouth to shout, "I did--"

Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 2.

Upcoming

EVENTS

Every Tuesday 6:00 PM The Pier—College & Career

Every Wednesday 6:30 PM Prayer & Praise—Library

Silver Eagles 6:00—8:00 PM

Friday, August 19th

Global Leadership Summit 8:30—4:30 Thursday August 11th and

Friday, August 12th

Youth Dessert Banquet August 28th

LOOKING AHEAD WOW Bible Studies Begin Sept. 7th

Family Bible Church is a non-denominational church. We are located at 2760 N. Heller Road, Oak Harbor. Our Sunday service times are 8:30, 9:50 and 11:20 AM with Sunday

School running concurrently during 9:50 & 11:20 services. Nursery is available for 9:50 and 11:20 services.

Church office hours are 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM, Monday - Thursday. You can contact us by calling 679-1585. Our FAX # is 679-6144.

Email address: [email protected]. Web location: www.oakharborfamilybible.org.

f Follow us on Facebook at Family-Bible-Church-Oak-Harbor-Washington Articles for this publication may be submitted to [email protected].

Global Leadership Summit Faculty

Bill Hybels W

Melinda Gates - & G

Alan Mulally Ex O T (2 -2 4)

Bishop T.D. Jakes T H

Horst Schulze EO H G ; T R z- G

Dr. Travis Bradberry ; - T

Erin Meyer IN E D;

Wilfredo DE Jesús N L ; L

Patrick Lencioni ; T T G

Chris Mcchesney ; Ex

Danielle Strickland O T ;

Jossy Chacko E I

John C. Maxwell L Ex ;

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