In Community:

October 2018 Newsletter

Taking Care of What Ails You

by Pastor Dave Bauson

Just a couple of days ago I returned from a visit to the dentist. My visit wasn’t just for a regular checkup; I had a broken tooth way in the back. A rather large chunk of the tooth had gone missing without my noticing. One day I was eating and noticed that something was stuck in my tooth. When I felt the tooth I realized that the food was stuck in a hole! I don’t know how long it had been gone — I only know that after I discovered it, I left it unfixed for months. Although it wasn’t painful in itself, it was definitely a pain to live with. I brushed several times per day. I chewed on the left side almost exclusively. And the worst part was that food tastes better on the right side!

Have you ever had a feeling that something’s missing somewhere, but you can’t place it? Check your spiritual life. Maybe you aren’t praying as often as before, or when you do pray it seems a bit dry. The words just seem to be flung “out there” and left to lay. Or the Bible, when you read it, just kind of echoes in your head for a few moments and then you go back to taking care of other things. Or hanging out with folks from church doesn’t carry the enjoyment it had other days.

I think our most common predicament is an aimlessly wandering spiritual life. Somehow we’ve been distracted and ended up setting aside spiritual things in order to handle daily life. Once we’ve started on that winding path it takes a concerted effort to get reoriented. Of course our wandering could start with a conscious decision to handle our life on our own; whether in our enjoyment or in our predicaments. Worse yet sometimes we’d rather be rebellious for a season. Whatever the case our daily life will inevitably lose its flavor. We’ve pushed its most significant parts to a spiritually deadened place.

We know the answer of course. We come to the decision to turn to the Person who can take care of our problem. No fears! This Physician will set things straight. Charles Spurgeon said “How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, to restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice!”

Isaiah 30:18 “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.”

What a relief it was when I left the office and my dentist said, “Don’t worry about favoring the right side any more. Just enjoy your food.” Today on the way to work I was thinking, “My mouth is so happy!” Keep short accounts with God. Once the problem is handled, our lives are restored to the joys that He has designed us to experience.

Beacon Hill Elementary Back-to-School BBQ

by Pastor Mike Kurtz

As I lay in bed in the early morning hours, the day of the BHIS BBQ, I was woken by the sound of a torrential downpour from the open window.  I had been hopeful that the sun would shine as it had in past years, but this year it seemed that the BBQ was headed in another direction. I started thinking through contingency plans. People would meet inside the cafeteria. We could put up canopies over the BBQs. We could serve in the wide hallway. But what about the turnout? Surely there would be a lower turnout, and certainly everyone couldn’t fit in the cafeteria. But the food was already ordered and ready for delivery. The latest weather report showed 57% chance of rain during the hours of the BBQ. But wait, another weather app showed only 7%. What to do…

Well, the pictures tell it all. The weather turned out great, which just goes to show that if God is in it, everything is going to be just fine.

For the past four years, FBC has hosted a back-to-school BBQ for the community at Beacon Hill Elementary School. The turnout is always good, the families enjoy the time, and there’s always more than enough food and music to bring a smile. This year we served over 400 hot dogs and veggie burgers, and served up as many scoops of ice cream (thanks, Marsha!). By the end of the evening, many parents and PTA staff expressed great appreciation for our generosity and work of love.

But this was more than just us serving a community with love. This was also about God revealing His faithfulness to a world who needs to see Jesus. On the drive home afterward, it started to rain after being dry for the entire event…

Beacon Hill International School – City Serve Work Day

by Roney Rustia

Thank you Faith Bible volunteers for coming out to the Beacon Hill International School service day! We had 37 cheerful servants of the Lord show up to help!

We were able to complete several projects the teachers asked us to do:

1. Playground – painted line and fill-in colors for hopscotch, four-square, tether ball circle, and basketball court
2. Front entrance garden – weeded planting area and laid down beauty bark
3. Classrooms – helped clean and organize classrooms and leveled books
4. Interior Painting – painted cabinets to brighten up the room

I am personally blessed to see how God works through ministry events like this.   We corporately serve practical needs in the community, while at the same time, getting to know so many great sisters and brothers within our own Body of Christ. This is a great ministry of “Reaching Out” AND “Reaching Across”. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did working together.

The hope and purpose for the Beacon Hill International School service day is not just to show that we value the wonderful teachers and staff who serve our community (though we do!), but ultimately, to point the teachers, children, and families to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s continue to pray that He will be glorified.

Some thank you notes from the Beacon Hill International staff:

Thank for organizing my fiction and nonfiction leveled books.  We are ready to start the year!  And we look forward to seeing you at the BBQ.  Thank you for doing this for our school and bringing our community together and letting us participate as a school community!
– Kelly

What a difference the colorful markings on the playground make to the climate and ambiance of our play area.  It’s so nice! I’m always in awe of the generosity Faith Bible Church shows to our school…please extend my gratitude to their community for me!
– Shannon

Thank you, Faith Bible Church for your, as always, incredible work and dedication at BHIS! Your enthusiasm and willingness to take on any task is so appreciated! I couldn’t have completed my huge paint job without you! I can’t thank you enough.
– Meg

I would like to express my gratitude for the generous support from Faith Bible Church.  It is so uplifting to my spirit coming back to a school to see a beautiful playground.  Thank you so much our friends from Faith Bible Church!
– Ying Ying Wu

Thank you for your continued service to our school.  Your amazing dedication behind the scenes is truly amazing and deeply appreciated. Every table that is scrubbed, staple removed and mat cleaned is appreciated.  The playground painting is truly beautiful and actually brought me to tears!  Please know that you have brought joy and movement to our 460 students.  Every recess and after school students will be playing four square and tether ball in these beautiful colorful places and it is a huge gift for our community. Thank you for everything you do for Beacon Hill.  We sincerely appreciate your time and commitment to our school community.
– Heather Graves Chavez

ROCK (High School) Kick-Off 2018-19

by Kenji Kumai

Strike or no strike, the 2018-19 school year has begun for FBC!  As always, we are sad to have lost a group of seniors last year, but excited about gaining 5 new freshmen this year!  Our new freshmen are:  Isamu Une, Hikari Bauson, Abby Ishimitsu, Sammy Dong and Sammy Nguyen.  We are now heavier in lower classmen vs. upper classmen this year.

To start out the year, we decided to have a Kick-Off fellowship.  We have not done this in 4 years, ever since our seniors from last year were freshmen.  Many of the parents of our freshman class this year are new to ROCK, so we decided to have a time of fellowship for the parents and students to get to know us leaders and the other ROCK students.

Our leadership team this year are for the most part returnees from last year.  And we added to our team.  Elizabeth Andres is back in the Seattle area now as a nurse and has just started her new job.  We are so excited to have her on our team!

So this is our team this year:  Ellison (El) Iseri, Elizabeth Andres, Stacie Lee, Amy Li, Alisa Williamson, Kenji & Jeanne Kumai.  And we also consider Chris Jo as a leader at ROCK even though he is technically the Sunday School teacher for the H.S. Sunday School class.  He helps and participates with the ROCK events throughout the year.

El and Elizabeth planned some fun ice breaker games for adults and students to play and we also had a “GTKY” (get to know you) game to get to know the leaders a little better.

We had spam musubi for a snack and a nice spread of desserts which everyone brought to share.  We felt that it was a casual and fun way for this group to break the ice and that the students (especially our new freshmen) were able to feel more comfortable at ROCK.

We have some events on the calendar such as the Puyallup Fair (Sept. 23), Fall Conference (October 13-14) and Corn Maze (Oct. 20) just to get us started for this new year!

Please pray for our ROCK Youth Group: that God will help this new group to bond and grow together in many ways, for safety as we do a lot of events and for each of the students to be able to walk closely with the Lord as we get to know each other better and get to know our Lord better.

Meet Our InterVarsity Interns

Matthew Kiyoi, Wyietah (Weda) By, and Westin Saito are interning with AAIV this new school year at University of Washington. Their lives are a testimony of the value and commitment AAIV has for its students and Jesus Christ. For the next three months we will be highlighting each intern as they continue to raise prayer and financial support. This month, we introduce Matt Kiyoi.

Dear friends and family,

As a new school year begins, I am reaching yet another transitional point in my life. After four years at the University of Washington, I am excited to receive my Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics! It has been a long journey filled with not only the rigors of academics but also learning guitar and how to code as well as building and developing friendships. Most importantly, I have learned to trust God, to invest in His Kingdom, and to become a leader who mentors and raises up future leaders. I am excited to continue ministering to college students next year as a Ministry Intern for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at University of Washington Seattle!

As a student at University of Washington, I was a part of the Asian American chapter (AAIV) of InterVarsity. I have had the privilege of seeing God bring people to follow Jesus and have seen how He is continuing to work in those students whom I have mentored. I am excited to develop relationships with students, share Jesus with them through scripture studies, and to see them eventually follow Jesus with their lives.

I fully expect God to do amazing things in the lives of the UW students next year, and I am so honored to be a part of His work. I am also excited to invite you to be part of this work as well. I need people who will commit to praying regularly for me and for students at UW. I will be working part-time in Seattle to help support myself, but I will also be raising $1,848/month, which is $22,181 total, to cover ministry expenses for the year. This budget includes a salary, allows me to attend conferences, including Urbana 2018, and various training events. It also allocates necessary resources for student ministry expenses as we look to expand our ministry on and across campus.

I will send out regular updates this year with prayer requests for myself and the ministry. Here is a website where people can support my ministry:  donate.intervarsity.org/support/Matthew_Kiyoi.

Please contact me if you have any questions, and thank you so much for your encouragement.

Blessings,

Matthew

School of Promise Missions Trip Team

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