The Newsletter Graeagle Community Church July 2018

Thank You!! I was so incredibly blessed by the outpouring of love on Monday evening as so many of you gathered at the church to surprise me with a “60.5 birthday.” So many others sent notes with kind words of love and encouragement. It is an understatement to say that it was overwhelming.

I want to begin by saying “Thank You” to all who came and celebrated with me. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Carolyn for planning the party. Carolyn is the truest and best partner in life and ministry that I could ever imagine – and those of you who know her understand what I mean when I say that God has used Carolyn to keep me in ministry and to keep our family together through our years in Village Missions (4 in Rancho Tehama and 30 in Graeagle). You need only to ask our chil-dren to confirm that what I say truly the case. One very profound feeling and an accompanying thought came over me as so many of you stood and shared such kind and affirming words about the impact of our ministry in your lives over the years. I became more and more uncomfortable as you shared and then something pretty amazing took place – I began to feel increasingly and wonderfully small as you shared. As I worked to process what I was feeling it became clear to me that what I was actually experiencing was a testimony of God’s magnifi-cent glory in the gospel. We – you and I – had begun to enter into the transcendent life of God where we are privileged to experience the pleasure of His love and its power to make us truly the “family of God.” I began to think of His glory on display in the heavens in those very moments much like Paul noted in Ephesians 3:7-11,

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the mani-fold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:7-11 NIV)

That evening was, in so many sweet ways, “to the praise of His glorious grace!!” I was such a tremen-dous continuation to the powerful and transforming fellowship the Spirit created Sunday as 4 of our sisters in the Lord were baptized declaring their love for the Lord and their resolve to pursue and serve Him in all of life. As Paul wrote to the Philippian church,

I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Phi 1:3-8 NIV)

I am not exaggerating when I say I never imagined being a part of a church that loves God and each other so well. I’m confident that though we can and will grow much more into the like-ness of His glory (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18), who you are pleases Him.

In The Love Of God Which Is Beyond Words,

Mike

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

Reviewed by Gail Arterburn

This is a wonderful book of fiction. It is not your typical Christian book, neither is it published by a Christian publisher, nor written by a known Christian author; but it packs a powerful Christian message about exercising and experiencing the grace of God in both the daily and the most difficult times of life. The story revolves around the

Drum family: Nathan (a devout man and pastor of two different Methodist churches), his wife, Ruth (who never planned to be a pastor’s wife), and their three children, Ariel, Frank and Jake. The story is told by Frank, as he looks back to the summer of 1961, and the mys-terious deaths that occurred in their small town in Minnesota. This book was a New York Times bestseller and won multiple book awards when it was published in 2014. I highly recommend this book.

Book

Nook

For NINE YEARS the Graeagle Community Church hosted the Village Missions Southwest District Summer Connection and in later years the VM Staff Conference. This year, as you know, the conference moved back to Mis-sion Springs Conference Center near Santa Cruz, CA. The missionaries and the Village Missions leadership, repeatedly mentioned the church and their faithfulness and love in providing a place for the conference and for the sacrificial service of the church members. Mike and Carolyn thank you, too! Here is a note we received just before leaving for conference from the Sulpice family serving in Ono-Igo, CA

(you may remember them as the family with the autistic red-head teenager). Dear Graeagle Community Church, Just a note of thanks for the many years of refreshment and memories your church has provided for our fami-ly these past 9 years. Our children looked forward each year to the kids’ classes and Daniel’s teen group, cookouts, amazing meals, and all the pampering they received there. If you only knew how many times Graeagle has arisen in family conversations. You went out of your way to make a safe place for Luke (the Red Head). He felt comfortable and always knew just where to go (the swings and the nursery TV set). For him to feel so at ease truly says so much. Conference is back at Mission Springs, but your generous hospitality will never be forgotten.

Many thanks to God for you, Ed and Clara Sulpice and family

July has five Sundays, so on July 29th there will be a

Fifth Sunday Potluck. Watch the bulletin or call the church office for details

yet to be determined.

What is Baptism? After the morning service last Sunday, a very important event took place in the life of our church as we celebrated the act of baptism for four individuals who wished to go public

with their faith in Jesus Christ! Personally, I had the joyful privilege of baptizing my oldest daughter, Angela, who had expressed a desire to be baptized several months ago. This month, I would like to take advantage of this recent event by writing a bit about what bap-

tism specifically is and how it functions as a vital aspect in the life of a local church. Mike dedicated his sermon that morning on Romans 6 and highlighted the key theological truth of how

our faith in Christ displayed in our baptism identifies us with him in his death and resurrection. This con-cept of identification with Christ really needs to be the heart of our definition of baptism. Mike showed how this specifically relates to our everyday lives in terms of our transformation in dying to sin and now being raised to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). The Apostle Paul argues from our baptism that we abso-lutely cannot abuse God’s grace by continuing to live in sin, erroneously thinking that more sin will some-how cause grace to increase.

As we continue thinking about the act of baptism, I would like to point out three further aspects about how we should understand it. First, we need to see that baptism is a Christian essential. It is not something that we have the right to either accept or reject based on our personal preferences. In fact, it is commanded by our Lord Jesus. In his “Great Commission,” he was rather clear that as the church continues to carry out his work by making disciples, this involves “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matt 28:19). Thus, it is the duty of every Christian to obey our Lord by seeking to identify ourselves with Him through the waters of baptism.

Second, the act of baptism is an act that is simply a symbol of salvation meant to signify both the cleans-ing and remission of our sins (Christ’s death), and our being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit who is at work in our lives (Christ’s resurrection). Because it is merely a symbol, it does not have any sav-ing effect in and of itself. Thus, although a person may be officially baptized, either as a child or as an adult, this does not mean that they actually possess the reality to which baptism points—namely, true saving faith.

More precisely, baptism is an oath-making sign of the New Covenant that Christ Jesus established in his death. This is comparable in many ways to the Old Testament sign of circumcision under the Abrahamic covenant. Circumcision was, among other things, a sign pointing to the reality of faith. Thus, just as it was certainly possible for people to be circumcised without actually possessing the faith to which the sign point-ed, so it is possible for individuals to be baptized without ever showing any evidence of true faith. This is why it is extremely important for the church to be careful and use discretion as the ceremonial symbol of baptism is carried out.

Third, it needs to be stressed that the act of baptism is an act of the church. This is important because our modern culture has often reduced the message of the gospel so that we tend to think about it only in in-dividualistic terms separate from God’s design for Christian community in the local church. We fail to grasp how our discipleship connects us to Christ, and how our baptism identifies us with him as it also identifies

us with his church. Thus, baptism is a corporate symbol performed by a church as it affirms and portrays a believer’s union with Christ and his covenant community through the symbolic use of water. At the same time, baptism is an act performed unto an individual believer as he or she publically commits both to Christ and his people, thereby marking off him or her from the world.

Hopefully this article has been helpful in understanding some of the basics of baptism. It truly is a pre-cious and blessed event that we should celebrate as we seek to obey our Lord Jesus and carry out his com-mand of making disciples of all the nations unto His glory!

In the Peace of Our Lord, Daniel

MEN’S MINISTRIES

MEN’S BIBLE STUDY Men’s Bible Study meets Saturday mornings at 7:30 for fellowship and Bible study.

Jim Backman, the Bible study leader for many years has had to step down from teaching at least temporarily, Daniel Ransom is filling in.

MEN’S BREAKFAST

The next couple breakfasts have been planned and dates set so mark your calendars for July 28th and September 8th.

MEN”S RETREAT

The dates have been set for this year’s Men’s Retreat! September 14-16 at Jackson Meadows Reservoir

WOMEN’S MINISTRIES

MOMS IN PRAYER Each Monday at 8:45 AM, women are invited to join in a time of prayer for our families. Prayer requests can be submitted by filling out a card in the narthex and dropping it in the box provided. All requests are kept confidential within the Moms in Prayer group.

WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY

Join the women on Monday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00.** The class is currently studying Deuteronomy.

Download a lesson from the church website or pick one up from the narthex table. Coffee fellowship before and after Bible study on the first Monday of the month.

Child care is available. **WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY WILL NOT MEET DURING THE MONTH OF JULY.

FELLOWSHIP/BOOK STUDY

Women’s Fellowship meets on Saturday mornings at 7:30. They are studying Jen Wilkin’s book, None Like Him. Please call the church office for meeting location.

WOMEN’S GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP

If you have suffered a recent loss, or are having a hard time dealing with any loss, we invite you to join the Grief Group. The ladies meet on Tuesday afternoons at 2:30.

For more information including meeting location, please call Gail Arterburn at 836-1361.

WOMEN’S LUNCHEONS

Mark your calendars now for our Fall Luncheon (Saturday, October 6th at Noon), and for our Christmas Brunch (Saturday, December 1st at 10 AM).

WOMEN’S RETREAT

The 2018 retreat is now in the past (and it was great)! Reservations for the 2019 retreat have been made! Join us May 3-5 at Zephyr Point. Save the date!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

JULY 8—12

6:00—8:00 PM

DINNER SERVED BEGINNING

AT 5:15

Classes for ages 3—Adult

Jim Wheaton has organized an outing at Bucks Lake for

Saturday, July 7th from 11 AM until 4 PM. Anyone who

would like to attend should meet at Sandy Point Beach (the

west side of Bucks Lake). There is a $7 (cash or check)

fee per carload when you enter the area. Bring your own

lunch and beach toys and come and enjoy the fellowship!

For more information, call Jim at 836-0226.

Vacation Bible School

July 8th-12th

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Youth Garage Sale Fundraiser

July 28th

Call Daniel for more information

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Youth Six Flags Trip

July 31– Aug 1

Tuesday, July 25th—Thursday, July 27th

K-6th 6:00—7:00 PM 7th—12th 6:30-8:00 PM

Kids, ages Kindergarten thru high school are invited to come for three

evenings of basketball skills training and games. The cost is just $15 (if you bring

your own basketball) or $25 (we will provide you with a new basketball).

Registration forms are available in the narthex.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 9 AM Prayer 10 AM Worship

2 8:45 AM Moms in Prayer

3 2:30 PM Women’s Grief Group*

4 5 9 AM Prayer for our Nation

6 7 7:30 AM Men’s Bible Study 7:30 AM Women’s Fellowship*

8 9 AM Prayer 10 AM Worship

9 8:45 AM Moms in Prayer

10 2:30 PM Women’s Grief Group*

11 12 9 AM Prayer for our Nation

13 14 7:30 AM Men’s Bible Study 7:30 AM Women’s Fellowship*

15 9 AM Prayer 10 AM Worship

16 8:45 AM Moms in Prayer 7 PM Church Board Meeting

17 2:30 PM Women’s Grief Group*

18

Godward Summer Edition

19 9 AM Prayer for our Nation

20 21 7:30 AM Men’s Bible Study 7:30 AM Women’s Fellowship*

22 9 AM Prayer 10 AM Worship

23 8:45 AM Moms in Prayer

24 2:30 PM Women’s Grief Group*

25

26 9 AM Prayer for our Nation

27 28 7:30 AM Men’s Breakfast 7:30 AM Women’s Fellowship*

29 9 AM Prayer 10 AM Worship Fifth Sunday Potluck

30 8:45 AM Moms in Prayer

31 2:30 PM Women’s Grief Group*

Vacation Bible School

Joshua Fest Plumas County Fairgrounds

Basketbal l Camp

Youth Trip to Six Flags

Al l -Church Picnic

Saturday,

August 4