In Community:

April 2018 Newsletter

Knowing Where We’re Going

By Pastor Craig Swanson

Planes and cars have seats facing forward. Bus seats face forward or sideways. Trains face either the front or the back. If I ever ride a train, I avoid the backward facing seats because I’m much more interested in seeing where I’m going than where I’ve already been. I like to know what’s coming next. I thought that you might feel the same about our message topics for spring and summer.

For the past long while, we’ve worked our way through the book of Acts with some breaks here and there. Now, after looking at some events in Jesus’ life occurring during passion week followed by resurrection life-change accounts for Easter, we’ll be starting a series through the book of Romans, one of the few New Testament books we’ve yet to explore together during my time at FBC.

Romans is an interesting Pauline letter. His other writings to churches were all follow-up communications. He wrote the two Corinthian letters a few years after spending a year ministering in Corinth. Galatians was written a few years after Paul traveled through Galatia on his first missionary journey. The prison epistles to Ephesus, Philippi and Colosse were penned after time had past from Paul’s personal visits. But Romans is a letter written to a church Paul had yet to visit. And that fact seems to have influenced the content of the letter; for Romans is different than the rest of Paul’s writings.

Romans is the longest letter composed by Paul; 16 chapters in all. Don’t worry about getting bogged down though, we’re going to take a break after we finish chapter 8 sometime this summer. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Paul had never personally preached in Rome, but he spends a bulk of the letter spelling out the details of the gospel which he most likely did in person in the churches he started. He wanted to make sure that his readers understood this foundational and transformational truth. And although Paul had not yet visited Rome at the time he wrote the letter, it appears that he was acquainted with many believers in the Roman congregation. An entire chapter is devoted to greeting his friends in the church. I’m looking forward to making our way through the first eight chapters soon and trust that the basic truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be encouraging as well as challenging for us as well. That’s the direction we’re headed.

CYC (College & Young Career)Update

by Brian Watanabe

Bunco Night!

Back in February the CYC (College & Young Career) and ROCK (High school) groups got together for a fun night to mix up and get to know each other a bit better. If you don’t know what Bunco is, it’s a game of fast-paced dice rolling which involves little to no skill.  You are paired up with a different teammate each round, making it a great ice-breaking game. If you want to know more about Bunco you’ll just have to ask among the CYC and ROCK groups, because there are even more meaningful things to mention about the evening.

After dinner and before the game portion was a time of worship and testimony where we were blessed and encouraged to hear from Amy Li. She shared a very personal testimony about past struggles, super real and open with the group. One of the takeaways was tied into one of the worship songs which Amy had chosen for the evening. The message was centered around the reassurance that God is willing to leave the other 99 sheep to seek after us and bring us back, which resonated with Amy and her testimony. It’s a great reminder and encouragement when we feel we’ve wandered so far away from Him.

DIY Escape Room!

The CYC March fellowship fell in advance of finals week for many students, so the fellowship was introduced as “Escape from Finals!” It was a fun time of eating, fellowshipping and working as a team to solve puzzles and discover the 87884 (a puzzle for you!). Thanks to the Tsuji family and Danny for creating a very well-crafted escape room experience with great puzzles! Hopefully the fun break and the mental stimulation helped with studying for finals. More than that, hopefully the key Bible verse in the escape room, John 8:32, will stick in our minds after that evening, reminding us that “the truth will set [us] free”. Jesus says in that passage that the truth can be known by keeping his commands and being his disciple, and freedom means Jesus setting us free from sin. Another meaningful and fun CYC fellowship!

ROCK (High School) Lazy F Winter Retreat

by Stacie Lee

ROCK Retreat Recap Video (link)

On March 2nd to the 4th, the ROCK youth group attended their annual winter retreat at Lazy F camp in Ellensburg.  Just to clarify, Lazy F, which we agree is an unusual name for a retreat center, stands for laissez-faire, a French word having to do with economics. As you can tell from the video shown during Sunday service (*video link above), the FBC high school winter retreat was a blast! There were a total of 10 high schoolers that attended, either part or full time with seven leaders/kids (Chris Jo and Ellison). It was a great time being able to get away from the city and retreat into a winter wonderland. Some people enjoyed being without cell phone reception more than others, but it was nice to unplug and spend quality time with each other.

After the two hour drive on Friday night after school, the ROCKers arrived at a snowy Lazy F cabin. Some of the ROCKers and leaders stayed up late that night. We played games like giant team bananagrams and other card games. There were breakdancing lessons, plank and wall sit challenges that left some of the older folk hurting for the rest of the week.

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day and our first full day at retreat. We were all able to take a snowy stroll in a forested area near our cabin, aka “a hike” according to the ROCKers, even though it was probably less than one mile. Much of our time was spent outside on the inner tubing slopes and playing in the snow, in between all of the meals hosted by the camp. Like the lack of WiFi, some enjoyed the camp food more than others, but we had many snacks as well. We spent a lot of time goofing off in a decently sized game room, playing basketball, pool, and air hockey.  During the night, we played games such as spoons and pie face (which was the punishment), spike ball, and as always, mafia (thanks Missy for being a great narrator!). The night came to a close with some face masks and a little dancing.

Sunday was a slower day for all of us, probably from the lack of sleep. But we all made it to breakfast bright and early at 8 am and were able to fit in one more round of inner tubing before our last session. Then, we packed up to go home.

Now you may be thinking, was this a church retreat?… They just inner-tubed and played games. Where was the spiritual component? Well, we had the enormous blessing of having Missy and Chris Takano and their two boys, Eli and Caleb, fly up from California to join in on the fun and be our speakers for the weekend. We held three sessions in total, complete with ice breaker games (food relay race?!) and worship by El. Everyone will agree that the Takano family all brought so much love and joy to the camp. Eli and Caleb were the most excited ones when it came to inner tubing, and the biggest risk-takers. Chris and Missy chose to center our weekend around Hebrews 12:1 about running the race of faith. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” They broke down this verse within each of our three sessions and shared how we can follow the great examples of faith (the “hall of faith”) from the Old Testament. All of these witnesses, like Abraham, were flawed. The Takanos shared about past difficulties that they had overcome and how we need to put aside the weight of our sins to pursue Jesus full force. It’s always a great reminder that we are not alone in the challenges of life. They were raw and vulnerable and the ROCKers seemed to resonate with their experiences. On the last day, Chris and Missy shared their exciting news of where God is leading them next in their race. Their example is one that many of us were able to relate to. They shared their boldness and willingness to do God’s work, even if it means moving to Germany. It was an emotional morning and we were so blessed by their wisdom and experience. Lastly, we were able to pray for them. But FBC family, please continue to pray for their journey and their family as they step into missions work overseas. Thank you again Missy, Chris, Eli, and Caleb for sharing your hearts with us.

Despite the SEVEN hour drive back home from Ellensburg, due to the Snoqualmie Pass closure, this was definitely a memorable retreat experience. Some cars stopped to tour the unique town of Leavenworth too. The friendships in this group of high schoolers is something to be treasured. The support they share with each other and also the amount of fun they have together is quite special. This weekend was certainly one to remember!

Japanese Ladies Easter Afternoon Tea

by Hiromi Kuge

Mission in Norway

by Naomi