NLC News May 12 2022

May 12th, 2022

SATURDAY, MAY 14

Starting at 10:00 a.m. - BLESSING OF THE BIKES - Rose Ann Vuich Park
12:00 noon - NLC Kids' Volunteer Training

SUNDAY, MAY 15

8:30 a.m. GROWTH CLASSES:
- Pray and Go with Laurie and Nori - Room 113
- Titus video class with Ron & Judy - Room 111
- Foundations with Leroy - Room 114
9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room) and Connecting Point for Kids (Rm 101)
10 a.m. WORSHIP and CHILD DEDICATION; NLC Kids & NLC Crew (Jr/Sr High)
- Pastor Mark preaching on "Transformed by Jesus" - The 7 'I Am' Statements of Jesus
- Dale Henry of Oasis ministries in Uzbekistan will give a brief mission report
11:15 a.m. - New Member lunch - Dining Room
5:30 p.m. - LIFELINE Young Adult Growth Group
6:30 p.m. - COMMUNITY CLASSES
- GRIEFSHARE - NLC Community Room
- FAITH & FINANCES CLASS begins - Room 114-115
TUESDAY, MAY 17
- 6:00 a.m. Men's Bible Study - Dining Room
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18
- 6:00 p.m. - Worship Team rehearsal - Gym
- 6:30 p.m. - Prayer Gathering - Room 113
THURSDAY, MAY 19
- 6:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY leadership training, Rooms 111, 112
- 7:00 p.m. LIFE SKILLS - NLC Community Room
SUNDAY, MAY 22 - Child dedication in the 10 a.m. service
THURSDAY, MAY 26 - CELEBRATE RECOVERY OPENING NIGHT

PRO TIP: by clicking the link above, you will open the church's Google calendar.
At the bottom right of that calendar you will see this image:

By clicking that image you will be able to import the church's Google calendar into your personal Google calendar, allowing you to see all church activities on your own calendar.

Pastoral coverage during Mark's Sabbatical

Pastor Mark has been granted a two-month sabbatical to rest, study, and prepare for returning to lead NLC forward in its mission. While he is away in July and August, three pastors have agreed to provide care and staff oversight for NLC, its staff, and leaders. Praise the Lord for these gifted pastors.

Jordan Ringhofer, our Pacific District Minister will provide staff oversight in July.
Dennis Fast, Palm Village chaplain, will provide pastoral care in July.
Otto Ekk will be our “pastor in residence” throughout the month of August to provide pastoral care and staff oversight.

Sunday messages in July will be brought by Carlos Huerta - new executive director of FPU’s Center for Community Transformation (July 3 and 10), Jordan Ringhofer (July 17), Cecil & Tracy Ramos - Multiply missionaries in Thailand (July 24), and Cece Olea on Children’s Sunday (July 31) following a week of Vacation Bible School. August messages are not yet finalized.

Get Trained as an NLC Kids' Volunteer

Saturday, May 14, 12 noon - Dining Room

Pray

Megan Barnes’s friend Brandie lost her sister to cancer this week. Join Megan in praying for her comfort and peace.
Steve Bryan's former pastor, Pat Herring, is recovering from open heart surgery in Alabama.
Continue praying for people dealing with cancer and other long-term illnesses: Glen and Peggy Zimmerman, Brian Smith, JR Southard, Galen Wiest, Kelly’s sister in law Dana, and Ron’s sister in law Bonnie.
Seek healing and strength for those recovering from surgery: Marilyn Chappell, Greg Jantzen, Cooper Kias, and Laurie Isaac.
Others need healing as well: Ruth Serrato, Mary Fenske, and Grieg Hoque. Pray for Johnny Esposito, whose back has sent him to the emergency room 3x over the last 2 weeks.
Continue to pray for those receiving nursing or memory care: Olga Brandt, Chris Holmen, Vicky Barkman, Marilyn Chappell, Bob Martin, Rosella Isaak, Luella Unruh and Alice White.
Tom Regier (Uganda) is fabricating needed parts for one of the planes. Thank the Lord with him that all is going well.
Dale Henry from Oasis ministries in Uzbekistan will share a brief report on Sunday morning. Pray he’ll find more US host families who can bear witness of Jesus to Uzbek ag workers.
Pray for endurance for Erick Parra at Teen Challenge as he continues growing in Christ..
Pray for peace in Ukraine, and in other places of conflict around the world. Pray for refugees who are separated from their homes and family members.
Pray for Multiply workers Jeremy & Adrienne Penner as they work among the Myanmar people in Thailand. Pray for creativity for the ministries in worship, youth discipleship, and evangelism, and for ongoing relief work among those displaced by the military coup in Myanmar. Also rejoice and pray for Multiply’s new executive director, Bruce Enns.
Pray for Norma Froese, Carolyn Ehoff, and Leo Olea who serve as our Personnel Team. They are seeking God’s provision for several key positions at NLC.
Pray as NLC Kids looks to hire a Nursery/Childcare Coordinator, and a new director. Praise the Lord for the opportunities we have as a church to minister to infants, children, and teens.
Pray for the opening night of our Celebrate Recovery ministry, May 26th. The leadership team has been preparing to meet people and walk with them through steps of recovery from habits, hurts, and hang-ups. It's time to open the doors! Pray people will come.

Give

Received Last Week (5/08)..........$7,426
Received this year to date: .….$276,442
Budget to Date: …………......…..$306,698
Budget Goal: …………..……........$443,008
Needed Weekly: ……….…….....…$10,410

From Pastor Mark

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the "love chapter" and has often been used as the text for wedding sermons. Nothing wrong with that. Husbands and wives need these words as a standard set above the scope of their own feelings so they can know how to relate to each other as God desires and empowers.
But these words aren't for married couples only. Not at all. These words from 1 Corinthians 13 are written to each of us in the church. They set the standard for the way we relate to each other - the way we love each other as Jesus' commanded. You and I will not be able to meet this standard, at least not if we rely on our feelings to motivate us. But the Holy Spirit certainly can empower us to live up to these words. He shapes our will and does the work within us to please him, giving us all we need to truly and authentically love each other as well as our "enemies".
I appreciate God's call to humility in this text, that we as humans can only see and know so much here on earth. It's not uncommon to desire and even demand certitude about matters in life. We humans ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and even, after all. But that wasn't God's intention for us. He rather desired that we walk with him and each other, in his grace. Humility to accept our own limitations helps us to love others in their limitations, just as God does for each one of us.
Consider God's Word and ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to live as he desires:

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - New Living Translation)