We decided to bag church reports after each visit. 1.There’s not always a lot of interesting stuff to say and 2.”Thank you” is best said personally. But we’re making an exception for our church of yesterday, formerly Burien Bible Baptist and now Seattle Church of the Open DoorSeattle Open Door Church. And, boy, have they opened their doors.
Our relationship with the church goes back 7+ years when we visited raising support. At the time Lee Scholes was pastor and the church was, to put it truthfully, kind of a white island in a rainbow neighborhood. They had a Spanish-speaking church meeting in the afternoons, but they were struggling with how to adapt and reach the new population of Burien. They wanted to, but they didn’t know how. I can sympathize. In fact we began to pray along with them for God to help them reach out. Well while we were in Mexico Pastor Scholes retired and Brian Cho, a Korean-American pastor, came. We don’t know all the details or the story, but we saw the results yesterday. There is a contingent of Bhutanese refugees that has integrated into the church. There are Koreans and Japanese and Samoans and indy-rockers and, yes, how-do-you-say-it-Europeans. There was an energy and vibrancy to the church that you could feel. They are working hard to form one church composed of many “nations” and not several different churches. And the preaching was…well, Tim preached, so it was maybe passable. But surely on other Sundays it is good! Sometimes first impressions are wrong, but we really felt that God is doing something special at Seattle Open Door church. It seems that the church leaders are really behind Pastor Cho and working at making this happen. Just a hunch, but we suspect that bringing in a non-white leader of the whole church may have been a major step in this direction.
Now we know that there are struggles and ups and downs and we’re sure this isn’t coming easily. And being there for a few hours on one Sunday doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. Nonetheless, it was as mixed a group in a church as we’ve seen and definitely a shot in the arm for us on our first weekend back on the road. We’d encourage others to pay them a visit and check it out–Seattle Open Door Church in Burien.
Ok, since we’re posting prolifically, here are some more photos from our Christmas with Miguel and Socorro: Christmas Eve, Day and a trip up to Mount Rainier.
Some of you have asked for our schedule from time to time. So for general perusal, here is the list of our churches that we’ll be visiting this year:
1/10/2010: Bible Baptist Church, Burien, WA 1/17/2010: Scholls Community Church, Hillsboro, OR 1/24/2010: Edgewood Bible Church, Edgewood, WA 1/31/2010: Skyview Baptist Church, Vancouver, WA 2/14/2010: Prarie Baptist Fellowship, Yelm, WA 2/07/2010: Grace Community Church, Tacoma, WA 2/20-3/7/2010: Treasure Valley Missions Conference, Boise, ID 3/14/2010: Puyallup Community Baptist, Puyallup, WA 3/28/2010: Tabernacle Baptist Church, Shoreline, WA 4/11-4/25/2010: Bethany Bible Church, Kenmore, WA 5/23/2010: First Baptist Church, Colville, WA 5/30/2010: Valley Baptist Church, Priest River, ID
So we’ll have plenty to do. If you’re nearby, we’ll look forward to seeing you!
Well, we’re done with the festivities (but not the bowl games–how dumb is that?). It’s time to move forward with the year and start moving ahead.
Some of our big steps in 2010: 1. Tim has a thesis to write (well, actually to propose, get accepted, then write). 2. We have 5 months of reporting to our churches (coming soon: our calendar). 3. We are going to be working on putting a team together for work in Pueblo Nuevo. 4. Of course we will be getting ready for a road trip back down to Puebla in August.
So it looks like we’ll have plenty to fill our time until then. And of course we’ll be working a bit of fun into things, too!
We’re thankful to God for another year of life, for the potential and opportunities to serve Him in 2010. So Happy New Year! May God let you know Him better this year!
Start with 2 Samuel 7:8-16 move on to Isaiah 9:1-7. Then add a pinch of Luke 1:26-38 and a dash of Luke 2:1-7. Then for a touch of frosting on top jump to Revelation 5:5-10. There’s quite a bit more of the recipe normally, but this is the bare-bones version.
We’re here with Miguel and Socorro traveling, showing off our beautiful neck of the woods and enjoying their company. And that’s meant not much time for new posts. Today we did our big family breakfast–usually a Christmas Eve extravaganza–and opened a few gifts. It’s a wonderful thing to be with family and friends. And it’s a wonderful world God has given us, though it bears remembering too how broken it is. For that reason Jesus came. So we look back at God’s Great Gift and look forward to the culmination of that Gift–Jesus on the throne and a restored world. That’s particularly meaningful in light of the violence back in Mexico–and of course this year we’ve had: war, disease, economic turmoil, social unrest. If 2009 doesn’t convince you that the world is broken (with the corollary that we need a Savior), well you’re world view is in disarray.
So we celebrate with joy this year, but hoping for more. May you be blessed this Christmas, but long for more, in a godly way.
Este es para nuestros amigo en Puebla: ¡está nevando!
Si creen que hace frío en Puebla, lo sentimos mucho. Esta semana en el día la temperatura ha estado entre -3 y -8…en el sol.
Y hoy, por fin, está nevando. Estamos muy contentos al ver la nieve. Es algo diferente y muy bonito. y no va a durar más que unos días. Les mandamos unas fotos de la casa de mis papás hoy en la tarde…
Yesterday in the Tacoma area tens of thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects to four police who were shot in cold blood. Besides the obvious tragedy we’ve felt, it’s been interesting for us to note the differences in law enforcement and the relationship between cops and communities here and in Mexico.
Burning police truck in Otumba
This link is to a community outside Mexico City (about 20 minutes from the Nevins’ house) called Otumba. Two police agents arrived at a school to with an arrest warrant for a teacher accused of “actos libinidosos”, I assume for molestation of some sort. People in the community got wind of what happened, rang the church bell and 500 people attacked the agents and were in the process of lynching them (saying they were kidnappers and the people in the community were “sick of the crime in the community”) when 1000 state security agents had to bust in to free them, in the process losing a couple trucks that people threw gas on and lit.
Incidentally, Otumba is a place we had a run in this April with corrupt cops who effectively robbed us.
Sooooo, we’re awfully thankful for the four cops who gave their lives and for the many more who serve honestly and with integrity. “Fire in Otumba” is a reminder of what you get when police are neither honest, competent nor trusted by their communities. “Protect and serve” is a great motto. Oh, that it were true in Mexico (and many other countries around the world).
So we are thankful for our police here and deeply feel for the four families who lost their loved ones in Lakewood.
Well what to say. We’re here in Tacoma for Thanksgiving for the first time since before Drew was born. We’re at Opa’s and Grandma’s (Glessner) house with Jana and Josh & Laura & Sophie & Uncle Ron & Aunt Ruth. Fun!
We started off with the FBUP Turkey Trot, well, Tim & Jana. It was raining so Barbara-Lee stayed in with the kids to watch the Macy’s Parade, a Kieselowsky tradition that has yet to be transfered over to our household. And now we’re over at Grandma’s and Opa’s. Read more…
Well, the Fireballs won tonight, after a bit of a drought. It was a 2-0 “mauling” of the Cougars (who, I believe were our other victims), Again, Kayla scored both goals. Drew, while shoing no scorers instinct, was absolutely all over the place. Side to side, front to back. It seemed like he’d kick the ball across the court and then be the first to get to it. Anyway, he had fun. And so did I. So rah, rah for teamwork and hustle and learning. But it’s fun to win, too!
