NLC News May 11 2023

May 9th, 2023

New May Memory Verse

Connections While Camping

Praise the Lord for connections made at the church campout last week at Morro Bay State Park!
Fifty-five people and two dogs came and went during the 5 days, with 45 spending the nights. There were 7 campers/trailers and 7-8 tents around the large group campsite. Rain and cool temperatures only lasted the first day and evening, with sun and warmer weather from Thursday on. People enjoyed the trails, games, shared meals, campfires, s'mores, golf, playing on the beach and hiking Montano de Oro's trails and tidepools.
Ken and Bruce led devotionals after breakfast, and Bruce led the Sunday morning service. Campfires were times to hear each other's stories, sing, and laugh.
It was a great time to relax, make time for others, and connect.
Thank you to Bruce Smith, Ken Sawatzky, and Duane Penner for planning and organizing the campout. We're ready for the next one!

And thank you to Jordan & Tristan Ringhofer for leading the service at NLC!

Sunday morning worship and communion

Fun at the beach

Brian and Ken searching for golf balls

Fatima and Lydia enjoying s'mores

Got a Grad in Your Family?

Please let the office know of any graduates from 6th grade, 8th grade, high school, or college in your family. We'd like to celebrate them and encourage them with our prayers! Email: office@newlifedinuba.org

click for church calendar

THIS WEEK/WEEKEND
THURSDAY, MAY 11 - CELEBRATE RECOVERY
5:30 p.m. - Dinner; 6:30 p.m. - Worship - Lesson "Spiritual Inventory Part 1"
7:30 p.m. - Small Groups and Rock Solid Cafe

SUNDAY, MAY 14 - MOTHER'S DAY - CHILD DEDICATIONS
8:30 a.m. ADULT GROWTH CLASSES - NLC KIDS ministry for parents in growth classes ONLY

NO Life's Healing Choices (Resumes May 21st)
Video Class: Romans, Part II - Room 111 - Taught by Ron & Judy Brown

9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room)
10:00 a.m. WORSHIP - NLC KIDS/CREW - NURSERY

NLC Kids will check in at the Dining Room and join the first part of the worship service for the child dedications; then they will leave for Kids' Church
Josh "Chinoh" Aquino will be speaking
Child dedications:
- Joanna & Lafayette Brooks, with son Adonis
- Melissa Celaya, with son Joshua
- Ana Tovar, with daughter Camila
- Candace Godfrey, with daughter Brinda
- Maria & Victor Gonzalez, with daughter Noemi
- Lisa Johnson & Martin Perez, with son Joseph
Please pray about being a "spiritual godparent" to one of these families, praying for them and checking in with them throughout the year ahead.

AFTER WORSHIP - We will be surrounding a young military family to pray over them as they face an upcoming service separation.

THE COMING WEEK
TUESDAY, MAY 16
6:00 a.m. Men's Bible Study: Book of Job - Dining Room
6:00 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Women's Step Study - Room 114/115 (the group is full)
6:30 p.m. Healing Rooms of Dinuba offers healing prayers - Church patio/library

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17
6:30 p.m. - Worship Team - Gym
6:30 p.m. - Prayer Gathering - Room 113

THURSDAY, MAY 18 - CELEBRATE RECOVERY
5:30 p.m. Dinner; 6:30 p.m. Worship/TESTIMONY; 7:30 p.m. Small Groups / Rock Solid Cafe

SATURDAY, MAY 20 - NLC FAMILY NIGHT OF WORSHIP
5:30 p.m. - Family activities in the Dining Room
6:30 p.m. - Worship in the Gym

SUNDAY, MAY 21 - BAPTISM SERVICE
8:30 a.m. ADULT GROWTH CLASSES - NLC KIDS ministry for parents in growth classes ONLY

Life's Healing Choices - Rooms 114/115 - Taught by Brian Willems and Veronica Stalis
Video Class: Romans, Part II - Room 111 - Taught by Ron & Judy Brown

9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room)
10:00 a.m. WORSHIP - NLC KIDS/CREW - NURSERY

Pastor Mark preaching - A Diverse Family of Faith: Gentiles Get Baptized!
Baptisms:
- Catricia Alvarez
- Anthony Keo
- Joshua Keo
Please consider being a prayer partner with one or more of these individuals, praying for them and checking in with them throughout the year ahead.

11:15 a.m. SEMI-ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING - Dining Room

Planning ahead...

Giving at NLC

Received SUNDAY, MAY 7:..…. $5,254
Received this year: …………….. $239,846
Benevolence Fund..............................$38
Budget to Date: ….…..…..……... $291,844
Budget Goal: ……...………….......$421,553
Needed Weekly: ………………...…$11,357

Received SUNDAY, APRIL 30:……. $5,011
Received this year: ……………......... $234,592
Budget to Date: …………..……......... $283,738
Budget Goal: ………………….............$421,553
Needed Weekly: ………………........…$10,998

Remember Sonya Morgan, who lost her young adult cousin, Jason, recently.
Mike Naylor celebrated a birthday recently! Pray he can begin cancer treatments soon, and that Lord heals him of it completely.
JR Southard has been home from the hospital and would benefit from in-home care.
Glen Zimmerman is home from a recent hospitalization. Praise the Lord for a relatively quick recovery this time.
Several people are dealing with illness and/or allergies. Pray for relief and healing.
Our daughter church, Calvario Community, needs our prayer. Pastor Roland De La Cerda's wife, Bea, has finished her chemo and radiation for throat cancer, but her esophagus is not functioning. She relies on a feeding tube. Pray she can regain her ability to eat, for healing, and for rest for them both.
Zach Clemmer is requesting prayer for safe travels and guidance as he prepares for a trip to Nebraska.
The Chavez family in Peru sent out a recent newsletter. Pray with them for a reliable car, for relief from flooding and mosquitoes, and for an upcoming pastor retreat.
Johnny & Denise Esposito sent out an update from their ministry in Southeast Asia. There are several items of praise, including VBS and over 50 young people who accepted Christ at a recent Youth Conference.
Praise the Lord for the great connections at the church campout!
Ask the Lord to give you a heart to uphold one of the young families dedicating themselves and their children to the Lord.

The NLC Vision

As a diverse family of faith, New Life Community is a unique expression of the body of Christ. Just 25 years ago only 6% of churches were considered multi-ethnic. Today, more and more churches are breaking cultural boundaries to reflect the kingdom of God. Nearly 1/4 of Evangelical churches in America have at least two ethnic populations that make up 20% or more of the congregation. And with the New Testament as our standard, the more multi-ethnic, the merrier! Heaven will be a worship gathering of people from every nation and tribe!

Why has the church been so segregated? The concept of single-ethnic (homogenous) churches is relatively new. In 1972, one of the founders of the Church Growth movement in the United States offered The Homogeneous Unit in Mission Theory as a pathway to church growth success. The thinking was that "birds of feather flock together". It proposed that it is easier and more effective to start and grow churches with people who share culture than to start or maintain churches of people from different backgrounds. In fact, it was stated that "each homogeneous unit has a right to be different and to maintain that difference as it comes to the Body of Christ" (McGavran : The Homogeneous Unit). Over the decades we have seen churches maintain their homogeneous identities in the face of their changing communities. Rather than thrive, those churches are dying as they run counter to the will of God as well, who says he will "bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ" (Eph 1:10).

Diverse families of faith are intense, exciting communities to be part of. They aren't easy, yet they bring constant examples and experiences of God's loving heart and reconciling work through Jesus. And isn't that what the Gospel is all about? It's not just our diverse ethnic backgrounds that provide these opportunities, but our diverse social, educational, financial, political, and spiritual backgrounds that do as well. God is transforming us to be like him. We no longer focus on making other people become like us. Instead, we submit to God and learn from each other as he transforms us all toward the image of his Son, Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18).

From mid-May through June, I will be presenting messages from the Bible to help us understand and embrace the diverse family of faith that God is forming, including right here at NLC. We'll look at the early church in Acts (chapters 2-10) to see how Gentiles (like us) were first added to the church. From Hebrews 11-12, we'll launch our own look for heroes of faith from a variety of backgrounds. Communion on June 4th will give us a chance to see how Jesus made a place at the table for a diverse gathering of disciples. Then we'll travel to Antioch where Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus were first called Christians. And last, we'll look to the example of Ruth who went from being an "outsider" to being in the family tree of Jesus himself.

The experience of a diverse family of faith is not about shifting culture or politics. It's about God's plan to form a new, forever family from all of us, each one created in his image. Think of the ways your life and your spiritual life have grown because you're part of a diverse family of faith. What has God revealed to you and reformed in you through someone who is different than you? Have you sensed a new crop of the Spirit's fruit growing because you're in this new multi-ethnic soil? Where is God prompting you to take action or to change next? May God continue to give us his heart and the mind of Christ as we relate within the amazing and wonderful diverse family he has created and is restoring for his glory!