In Community:

July 2022 Newsletter

Road Trip Preferences

by Pastor Mike Kurtz

Maintaining Unity Among a Multiplicity of Preferences

In preparation for our road trip to Lake Tahoe last week, I asked the following question on Facebook:

What’s your favorite snack to eat on long drives?

The response was good with the list of snacks being quite long. That list included the following items (in no particular order):

• Grapes
• Almonds
• Cheetos
• Sunflower seeds
• Arare
• Beef Jerky
• Dried Mangoes
• Wasabi Peas
• Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips and Diet Coke
• Rice Crackers
• Granola Bars
• Hi-Chews
• Cheeseburgers
• Gummies
• Bugles and Dr. Pepper
• Musubi
• 85℃ pastries
• Red Vines
• Frozen Grapes
• Pepperoni Sticks
• Jicama
• Fuji Apples
• KitKats
• Milano Cookies
• Wheat Crackers
• Atkins Caramel Chocolate Nut Roll
• Popcorn
• Chocolates
• Costco Trail Mix
• In and Out Burgers
• Black Licorice

What a list! Cheeseburgers… does this count as a snack? I’d be 10 pounds heavier at the end of our trip if it is. I know this was a really long list to read through, but what was surprising in this little survey is just how varied the responses were. There were only a few items that were duplicated by the respondents (musubi, sunflower seeds, Cheetos), but other than that, clearly the snack of choice is as different and unique as each person who eats them.

As we continue through the book of Ephesians, Paul emphasizes unity over and over again.

He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.  Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. (Eph. 2:15-16)

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. (Eph. 4:3)

And while we are as different as the snacks that describe us, we have the ability in Christ to experience oneness no matter what our preferential differences might be. How is this possible? Oblige me if you would, but I think it is possible if we will remember a few things taken from a simple road trip. First,

There is a lot of room for different preferences.

In this list of fine snack foods, there were some respondents from the same family, each with their own snacks. I imagine in your own travels, the bag of snacks for your road trip has all kinds of treats, a few favorites for everyone. There is room for many preferences, isn’t there? Just because one person prefers one thing doesn’t mean others can’t have their preferences, too. Remember that the next time you see someone else’s preference as a threat to your own.

Second, despite differing preferences, it’s important to remember:

We are all in the same car for the long haul.

As the Body of Christ, it is not a matter of choosing to be in or out of the Body as believers. When we put our faith in Jesus, we are automatically transported into the Body of Christ. As a family, we travel together. I can’t leave Maili to walk while Ly and I drive. Since we are all in this together, it might be best to make the best of it, right? Want to make the drive more bearable? Then share the experience. That means at times we may listen to one kind of music and at other times someone else’s preferred music. That means making rest stops more often than we’d like. That means doing things a little differently sometimes. That’s what we do as a church family. It helps to remember that we’re all in the same car together, so to speak; we’re all on the same team, all in the same family. We all want the same thing ultimately, but maybe in different forms.

As I write this, my extended family is downstairs trying to figure out how to spend the final morning of our vacation together. There’s a lot of back and forth about where to eat breakfast, what to do before or after, trying to figure out times. It is a blessing listening to them work to a decision, and they do so actually quite easily. The respect and care for one another is clearly the reason for such an easy decision. We’re a family after all.

Harmony in the course of give and take is a beautiful thing to see and a blessing to be a part of. And since being together isn’t really a matter of choice biblically, we ought to make it a blessing by working together. We can make the journey a little easier and a little more unifying by remembering we’re all in one family.

And then lastly, it’s important to remember that:

We are all headed to the same destination.

It’s important to remember that while the journey is really important, the destination is where the heart of the vacation begins. Our destiny is eternity. The journey is quite frankly short in comparison. If we can keep our eyes on the prize, it makes the long road trip more bearable when difficult, more joyous when smooth. So if brother Bob is eating those gross snacks next to you, it’s okay when you consider the destination is really not that far off. Or for that matter, the destination is well worth any sacrifice I need to make along the way. Or if baby Emma has a huge smile on her face while everyone is watching her favorite show for the twentieth time, we all smile with her because we love it when she’s happy, and somehow, we know heaven is going to be a little bit like that moment.

Maintaining unity may be difficult when everyone has their own preferences. But if we will remember that there is plenty of room for many preferences, that we are all in the same family trying to make the best of every situation, and that we are all headed to the same destination, we can make our differences not an enemy to unity, but the strength of our unity.

The next time you find yourself at odds with someone in our church family, ask yourself if this is simply a matter of preference. Ask yourself, is this something that is really worth parting ways over? Consider if you have possibly lost sight of the greater purpose of the church or are stuck on something that is simply a matter of preference only.

Okay enough said — back to the snacks! We’re headed to Seattle in a few days unsure if we’ll drive non-stop or if we’ll make it a two-day drive. Regardless, though, we’ll be sure to eat some of your favorite snacks along the way. Until then, keep on snackin’!

Small Groups at Faith Bible

by Pastor Kohei Takeda

The Church means God’s people, and doing Church is about sharing life in community. Regardless of significant challenges like the pandemic, God has certainly been at work in our small group communities, connecting people and making more and better disciples of Jesus. FBC continues to witness God’s faithfulness as He keeps adding more people to our small group communities and transforming their lives, especially among house church small groups and small groups of young professionals.

House Church

Following the Early Church in the Scripture, House Church is a safe community where we intentionally make Jesus’ disciples who make disciples by sharing life with both believers and unbelievers. Many people think that House Church is a seeker small group. But, actually it is a disciple-making community for believers because we can never grow in faith alone. We are never perfect. We constantly have ups and downs in our journey of faith. We need to encourage, pray, and walk alongside one another.

So, following the example of the Early Church, house church openly shares blessings but also struggles in our life. We rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep (cf. Rom.12:15). Also, we share this with our unbeliever friends. We always want to directly share Jesus’ love in words and deeds. But, it is when the Holy Spirit works in our imperfection and transforms our life that unbelievers discover God in our life. This is how discipleship and evangelism crossovers in the House Church.

From toddlers to the elderly, now we count more than 80 (nearly 90) in 7 house churches/small groups who regularly gather to share life. Yet, the number is still growing. Half of them are unbelievers, and we see more of them attending Sunday worship in-person or online. We praise God that as we cultivate life-sharing communities they are becoming more open to the Gospel, experiencing peace and love. We know that initially some of them were strongly against Christianity. But, now we see them smile and relaxed, enjoying fellowship and worship, being themselves. Currently, we are praying and preparing to start up two new house churches. We cannot wait to see how God leads us to bear more fruits.

House Church Leaders Appreciation

On June 4, God led all the shepherds (leaders) of the House Church to gather in person to celebrate God and appreciate each other. We enjoyed fellowship with BBQ and potluck and then spent a time of praise and appreciation.

As a church, we want to praise God but also acknowledge and appreciate our shepherds’ love and sacrifice for the people. In fact, every single house church experienced challenges during covid. But, every shepherd persevered by not only passively keeping the status quo but by actively showing love and reaching out to their members whether believers or unbelievers.

In the appreciation party, we also spent time praying for each other, discerning God’s vision, confirming His calls for us, and showing our recommitment. I thank God that every single shepherd is motivated by love and joy to serve their people.

Small Groups of Young Professionals

As we all experienced, covid and online meetings made us feel extremely drained during the past two years, emotionally and spiritually. Even with their youthful energy, our small groups of young professionals were not an exception. Sometimes we struggled with creating momentum. Other times, we were just tired and were tempted to give up keeping connected.

But, the small group leaders persevered through this hardship by praying and trusting the Lord. I remember that one of the leaders honestly shared with me, saying “it is hard but we just can’t let our small group die but trust the Lord!” In the midst of darkness, God was at work in their heart.

As the situation with covid has shifted, now we see their small groups dramatically changed. We see more and more new people joining their small groups to share life. Not only in the small group, they are spending more time together days and nights. They are naturally but actively inviting new people into their small groups and ministries, showing hospitality. Now, God blessed one of their small groups to add many people so that it no longer became a “small” group. So, four of them rose up to serve as small group leaders, and with much prayer and communication, they multiplied into two groups so that they could invite more people. Shortly after the multiplication, God is connecting more people. This is definitely one of our highlights.

All-Church Shepherds’ Gathering – “Don’t Do Ministry Alone”

Since Fall 2020, we have been blessed to meet online each month with our small group leaders (shepherds) of FBC to encourage, pray, and equip. As we gathered, we reminded ourselves of the biblical truth, “we cannot do ministry alone.” Over the past two years, God led us to deepen unity in Christ with diverse leaders by sharing our blessings and struggles as shepherds. We also shared the Scripture and united in our common goal of discipleship, that is to make Jesus’ disciples who make disciples.

On June 26, 2022, God opened the door to gather in-person for the first time with all our small group leaders of FBC. Looking back at the past two years, we praised God and His work in our small groups even during the darkest times. Then, after confirming our common goal of “making disciples who make disciples,” we prayed and cast visions in the fall together to seek God’s heart for each of our small group. It was a life-giving moment, guided by the Holy Spirit. FBC’s future is bright because of these faithful shepherds who show sacrificial love to their people.

Community Building

by Pastor Kohei Takeda

All-Church Lunch Fellowship

Spiritual leadership is about discernment. To follow Christ faithfully, pastors and elders need to discern where we are and where God is leading the church. At FBC, I prayed and asked God to show us what we as a church should focus on at this uncertain time with the pandemic and pastoral search. Even though the restrictions with covid are getting lifted, the church looked completely different from the pre-pandemic era and we struggled with keeping a sense of community.

But, after Easter God called us to keep focusing on building the Body of Christ. It was when we began to share the letter to Ephesians on Sundays, which is about the unity of the church. God guided us to follow him from where we are through prayer and the Word. For FBC, part of community building was to start the all-church lunch fellowship. Actually, this was not an easy decision for us because when we began this ministry in mid-April, covid cases were not declining in the area. So, as pastor and former medical professional myself, I spent a lot of time praying and consulting with our elders, three of them are doctors. Namely, it was a spiritual and physical (public health) discernment.

Taking our best safety measures, we launched this ministry in April to offer lunch and fellowship every other Sunday. Aligned with the church’s mission of discipleship, our goal for this ministry is to help people connect and build relationships across the church through fellowshipping and serving. To pursue unity by serving together, each Sunday we tried to organize a different team with diverse people from various cultures, life stages, and even languages. Kenji Kumai and Akiko Takeda helped with the logistics of the food prep (coming up with menu, etc).

I would like to share three highlights about how God blessed FBC through the lunch fellowship.

Fellowship across differences

When we started the ministry, there were less than 80 people who joined the lunch fellowship. But, over time God added many people to the fellowship. Now we usually prepare 130 lunch bags on Sundays but sometimes we run out of food! Yet, the most beautiful part is not about the number but how people are fellowshipping. If you have ever joined the fellowship, you would notice that people are quite mingling. Young carriers and seniors. Americans and Japanese. Newcomers and old timers. Of course, we never gave them any instructions on their seats, but out of love, they are sitting together and listening to others’ stories, attentively.

Serving with unity and joy

Another highlight is the amazing volunteers. As of late June, we have offered lunch on 7 Sundays, but have you noticed that a total of 60+ volunteers served to make this happen? As I shared earlier, we prayed and tried to organize a team of diverse people each Sunday. Praise God, he brought us together faithful volunteers from different parts of the body – whether they are Japanese, young professionals, parents, or seniors. Moreover, not only did they work hard voluntarily behind the scenes, they were also interacting with each other voluntarily. As I served with them in the kitchen, I noticed that they reached out to each other and shared life as they served. Again, this wasn’t listed in our instructions, which means it was solely led by the Holy Spirit.

Blessings of food

As we read in the Bible, God blesses us with spiritual food but also physical food. Thanks to Kenji and Akiko’s creative ideas, we had 7 different menus on 7 different Sundays, and they all tasted amazing. To make you hungry again, it was hot dog, prosciutto sandwich, clam chowder, croissant sandwich, pulled chicken, bulgogi, and mandu. As we enjoyed each meal, we were reminded that God cares for our flesh as well.

CYC (College/Young Career) Ministry Update

by Danny Cohen

Hello FBC fam!

I think most college students these days are on TikTok, a social media app where users can view and create short-form videos called “TikToks”. It’s great for sharing highlights from your last trip, a dance tutorial, a cooking recipe etc… I don’t have TikTok and most Grapevine readers might not have this app, but no worries – I’ve created a written “TikTok” of the CYC highlights from the last few months so no one feels disconnected:

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Over the last few months, we started and wrapped up a Wisdom Literature Series (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job) and used bible text to dive deeper in God’s character & the concept of justice: What is justice? Is God just? How does God intervene in His justice?

As we head into summer break, the CYC teachers have already setup coffee dates to vision and prepare for next year’s Sunday school lessons!

MONTHLY FELLOWSHIPS

April – we hosted a Boba & Bunco night at church and let the good times roll – it got so intense that some dice ended up in people’s drinks!

May – we wanted to provide a fun opportunity to meet others in our growing group, so we coordinated a table for 4 (random dinner with 3 other members) and then walked to UW’s hub to bowl together. Of course a boba run on “the Ave” after was a requirement for us that day! We also went to a Mariner game together and two miracles happened: Mariners actually won, and we ended up sitting next to a Keyport Bible Church!

June – we switched up the guy/girl fellowship events from earlier this year! This time the guys bonded over a classic game night at church, while the girls grew closer through hand-pouring candles together at Lulumiere.

GRADUATION & LINK SUNDAY

*cue Pomp and Circumstance. We had the pleasure of providing gifts and words of encouragement to celebrate our lovely graduates who have been such a huge part of our CYC community:

• Julia Kumai  (Seattle Pacific University, BS Exercise Science)
• Jordan Greenshield (Seattle Pacific University, BS Nursing)
• Ken Kok  (Seattle Pacific University BA Visual Comm, Digital Media Design minor)
• Michelle Yeung (University of Washington, BA Accounting)
• Daniel Lin (University of Washington, BS Informatics -HCI, BA Comparative History of Ideas)
• Keisha Lugito (Seattle University, Master of Science in Finance (MSF)
• Drew Fukuda (University of Washington, Doctor of Physical Therapy)

We were also able to congratulate FBC’s graduating high school seniors and welcome them to the CYC fam on LINK Sunday! We can’t wait to get to know you all more next year <3.

CONNECT W/ C Y C

Our group is growing and we are looking to provide even more opportunities for members to get plugged into other areas of Faith and our community. Please email Danny Cohen (cannydohen@gmail.com) if you have any ideas or opportunities for this summer/next year!

Thank you so much for always praying and loving our CYC members and leaders. It has been a blessing to see God provide and show us His faithfulness towards this CYC community over the years. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for 2023. Peace & Blessings!

Congratulations Graduates!

School of Promise Child Sponsorship Update/Vander Kooi Welcome Lunch

By Dawn Hogan

What a joy to have the Vander Kooi family visit our FBC family on June 19th! Joel, Marvel, Kirsten, Daisy and Hezekiah made Seattle the first stop on their journey home for their one-year sabbatical. FBC has been walking alongside the Vander Koois as they seek the Lord in carrying out the mission to provide excellent Christian education to children who are caught in poverty and at risk for human trafficking in Chaing Mai, Thailand.

During the service, Joel shared the stories of two students, Mary and Bree. Mary is an FBC member sponsored student who became a believer and is an active participant in Promise Church. Mary is fortunate that her mother and community support her faith. In fact, Mary’s village offered The School of Promise (SoP) the opportunity to run their community center! What an excellent opportunity for Mary and other believing SoP students to grow in their faith as they reach out to friends and family members in their village!

Joel then shared the story of Bree, a student who was filled with uncontrollable anger. Bree’s teacher didn’t know how to solve the problem, but she trusted God and reached out to pray with Bree. After that, Bree would stop and pray whenever she felt herself overcome with anger. She gained freedom from her anger and was able to put her trust in Jesus. Unfortunately, Bree’s father wasn’t supportive of her decision and lashed out in anger, forbidding her to practice her faith. However, Joel approached Bree’s father with a request for Bree’s excellent translation skills for Promise Church. This was an appealing idea to Bree’s father, so Bree was able to continue going to church, although not every week.

After the service, some current sponsors and those interested in learning more about The School of Promise gathered in the Fellowship Hall for lunch and Q&A time with the Vander Koois. Tom set the tone for the time with an opening prayer before we dug into the kalua pork sliders (egg salad for those not into pork), potato salad, chips, fruit and cakes that Rieko and Gary Kato very graciously provided. Quite tasty!

We started out with questions for those gathered and then moved into questions from the attendees. Collectively, we know quite a bit about the School of Promise, but Joel and Marvel provided some updates. We learned that the school now offers education for students through 12th grade. They have a vision for a new secondary school and another primary school in neighboring areas. Prior to the pandemic, the Vander Koois were hoping to move to Myanmar; however, due to the instability in that country, they decided to keep their focus on Thailand. We then broke into small groups to pray for the Vander Koois, our sponsored children and the School of Promise and then Gary closed with a word of prayer.

Let’s continue to pray for the Vander Koois and The School of Promise! I sometimes catch myself saying “all I can do is pray”. But really, this is the very best thing we can do because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

Here are some ways you can be praying:

• For Bree’s father. He still opposes the idea of his daughter following Christ and is against Christianity in general.
• For Mary and other students in the village as they help run their community center.
• For the Vander Koois’ transition to small town life in North Dakota for the next year. The three kids have only ever lived in Thailand, so it is almost like going to a foreign country for them.
• For their supporters in Colorado, Michigan and North Dakota to be richly blessed so that their plenty would overflow to the ministry in Thailand.
• For their refreshment and enjoyment of time all together before Kirsten goes to college next year.
• For clarity of vision & provision for expansion of the ministry to other areas.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to sponsor a child, receive the HIS monthly newsletter or ask questions about this ministry!

Walking with you and SoP,
Dawn

Missionary Highlights – The Bauson Family

For the past three years we’ve seen God do great things through our ministry at the School of Promise. For the purpose of our update, you could break our experience into roughly two parts: the first two-plus years; and the last few months.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit roughly eight months after we arrived in Thailand. But despite conditions, opportunities to contribute to the School of Promise abounded! Akiko helped establish consistent communications between the School and its many prayer and financial supporters. Dave taught the school’s Computer Science course to students from the 7th through 11th grades. He added a Bible introduction to the teacher training curriculum and trained both Thai and missionary teachers. He also joined the IT team and wrote online software to support the school’s student tracking and accounting functions. Our family has been participating in the new church plant “Promise Church” through providing leadership and teaching.

God did big things during that “first part” of our term in Thailand. But in the last few months He has done even greater things! For the purpose of this report, I’ll divide the ministry into three sections: 1) Promise Church; 2) the School of Promise; 3) the Christian college.

Promise Church

Our church has seen growth in opportunities to minister to students, their families, and the community. God gave us an opportunity to minister to the family and the nieghborhood of one of our Sunday message translators. Bruce’s brother passed away a few weeks ago from complications after a motorcycle accident. The church and the School of Promise were quick to respond by helping at the Buddhist funeral, providing and serving meals, and attending the funeral. As Bruce continues to learn more about Christ through translating, he and his mother hear and experience more of Christ’s love through the ministry.

Promise Church has also started a discipleship program. School staff and missionaries meet with students regularly, teaching them Bible and giving spiritual guidance and advice. Bruce attends one of several discipleship groups. As Joel Vander Kooi noted a couple of weeks ago, the opportunity to operate the Ban Pong community center will give even more opportunities to reach out. This time, in a community about 40 minutes away from the School of Promise!

The School of Promise

We have had success in this model of establishing a Christian school, then using that school as a venue to plant a church ministering to the community. Our student population has grown to the point that we will soon have too little room! So we’re reopening our pre-COVID plans to build a new high school.

We’ve been asked to plant similar Christian schools plus churches in a couple of other locations. The School of Promise will become a training ground for Thai nationals and missionaries with this kind of vision. Mae Sot, in a neighboring province and on the border with Myanmar is asking for help to establish a Christian school. And a church in Maha Sarakham wants to help provide staff to start a school there in Eastern Thailand, where the population is only 0.17% Christian.

The Christian College

This project was placed on hold during the larger part of the COVID pandemic. But interest has grown in establishing a Christian University in a neighboring province. In the past few months we have reviewed several plots of land large enough to build this school. And one of our missionary staff is renewing contact with a Thai donor who has offered to provide the needed 40+ acres! We foresee the university starting out with a college of Christian Counseling, a Bible college, and a college of Elementary Education.

So life in Thailand is quite busy, as the Lord opens doors and invites us to participate! We really appreciate your sending us as your ambassadors to Thailand. As Dave said last Sunday, FBC’s community is working to build a sister community in Chiang Mai. And that community is now being called to build yet more communities.

Missionary Highlights – The Sasaki Family

Hello Family and Friends,

Thank you for your continued prayers.  It has been a full couple of months since we last updated you.  Scott has been progressing steadily through his cardio-rehab. At this point, all indications seem to point to very limited cardiac damage and our return to PNG at the end of July.  We hope to have more definitive information after his echocardiogram in July.  He also seems to be managing his diabetes well. Learning how to manage his diet, particularly his carbohydrate intake has been super helpful. He is feeling better than ever!

We were blessed to be able to attend a retreat put on by Canyon Hills Community Church that had over 35 of the church’s global partners attending from all over the world.  We spent almost a week in the Leavenworth area. It was a time of real refreshment, and it was a great opportunity to meet other missionaries and learn about what the Lord is doing in various places around the world.  We also had an opportunity to get to know (or know better) a number of the CHCC pastors and staff.  A big “Thank You” to CHCC!

Shortly after the retreat, we flew off to Michigan to be there for our son Kyle’s wedding. We are pleased to introduce to you, Mr. & Mrs. Kyle (and Mackenzie) Sasaki.  This trip was the first opportunity we had to meet Mackenzie’s mom, brothers and some of her extended family. It was also the first time for us to see our kids in person since out return to the U.S. in March.  We had a great time being together with Kyle & Mackenzie, Nathan, Sierra & Joshua and Andrew & Rachel.

In early July, all of our boys and their wives (and our cute grandson Joshua) will be coming out to WA to spend some time together. It will also afford a chance for Mackenzie to meet more of the Sasaki and Weston families.  We are really looking forward to just having time to hang-out with them and do some Pac Northwest things!

Church Planting Update – Amdu

The church in Amdu continues to grow and mature.  Here are excerpts from a recent update.

…There are changes happening in the hearts of our believers here in Amdu.  We are privileged to have front-row seats to observe their spiritual growth.  There is so much of God’s Word that they have not yet heard, but they are standing firmly on the parts they do know.  We meet several times each week with our little group of believers. Two weeks ago we started teaching through the book of Romans   Even in the first few lessons, the believers have been excited for the new things they are learning.  And while they are learning new things from Romans, we continue to review some of the basic truths they have learned so far.  We are also working to equip them to clearly and simply share the message of salvation with their unsaved family members and interested neighbors.  The fellowship is sweet as we talk about God’s Word as well as share our burdens and pray together.

Most of the believers share a common prayer request – the weight of their unbelieving family and neighbors ridiculing and even threatening them.  But despite the pressure, they are confident that Jesus is the only way of salvation and they are hungry to continue to learn more.

The Amdu team is made up the Allen and Hatton families.

A New Season for the Tigak Team

The Hernandez family is currently in Tigak.  They’re in a new phase of life, sending their daughter to Lapilo to attend NCA.  Here’s a short excerpt:

We will be in Tigak for a few more weeks, after which we will take Naya up to our mission school for 9th grade! We look forward to the opportunity to walk alongside her in this transition, even though that means we’ll be out of Tigak again for a short time. But here is what the Lord has been teaching us through all of this:

Psalm 147 has been an encouragement. 
  Wherever we are, whatever the task, it’s an opportunity to praise the LORD, to sing to Him, to honor Him in all that we do. 

He is sovereign, and His understanding has no limits. When we are in Tigak, He has a purpose in that. When we are away from Tigak and serving in Hoskins, He has a purpose in that. When we are taking our daughter up to school, He has a purpose in that. No matter where He leads us …we need not only survive or ‘make it through.’ No, we will praise Him and sing to Him in it, and ‘make the most of it,’ recognizing that He is sovereign, and He has a purpose in us being here or there… He uses all these seasons and experiences to draw each of us nearer to Himself.

Thank you for praying!

– Praises

• Scott’s recovery is going well
• The Grove Retreat
• Andrew recovering – his Achilles surgery went well.  Now it is just a long rehab.
• Kyle and Mackenzie’s wedding – It was a beautiful day and a joyous celebration.

– Continuing Progress in our PNG church planting efforts; allocating new teams and seeing churches mature.

– Our NTM PNG leadership teams…For qualified people to join some of our leadership teams and step into some leadership roles.  Not a frequently sought after position, but vital to keeping our church planting work moving forward.

– The Amdu believers to be strengthened and encouraged

– The Martinez family as they see their oldest daughter off to NCA.

Sacred Road Ministries – Summer Mission Trip

by Mission Trip Team

Hi everyone!

We’re a team of three headed out to join Sacred Road Ministries this year to see what God is doing among the Yakama Nation east of the mountains in White Swan, Washington. It’s a cool chance to join with other groups from around the country and the believers in White Swan, serving together as parts of the greater body of Christ. At the same time, we’ll catch glimpses and hear stories of the deep need for hope in the community, so please be praying for them.

We’re looking forward to the work God will do in us and through us as we help with service projects and engage with the children and youth. Please ask us about it when we get back! 🙂

Brian Watanabe, Amy Li, Nathan Fukuda

FBC Calendar (link)

Summer Schedule (July-August)

9:30am Japanese Worship Service (July 10 & 24)
*No Sunday School

10:00am Coffee/Tea and Donuts
(July 3, 17, 31, August 14, 28)

11:00am English or Joint Worship Service

12:15pm All Church Lunch (July 10 & 24)