Volume XX
Number 1
September, 2000
"Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works & give glory to your Father in heaven."
The effort to begin a new church in the Frankfort area has made great leaps and bounds over the past couple of months. We have had a number of information and social times which we will continue this month (check out the schedule at the end of this article). Our office, at the corner of Rt. 30 and 80th Avenue is up and running (stop by for a cup of coffee), and we have formed a couple of leadership/direction teams: Property Search and Development, Finance and Audio-Visual.
We are in the process of
searching for people to fill a number of key positions: Small-Group Coordinator,
Children’s Ministry Coordinator, Administrative Assistant, Part-Time
Secretarial and Office Assistance, Publicity Director and Music/Worship
Director. If you have any interest in becoming involved in any of these
areas or know of someone who may be interested, please let us know.
We have a number of families committed to being a part of The Bridge and many considering whether God is calling them to be a part, as well. Our goal is to get about 15 families from Faith CRC and 15 families from other churches to form a core group and launch team. We have targeted September 23, 2001 as our Grand Opening for our first official worship service.
Here are brief answers to some of the most commonly asked questions:
1. We will probably worship in a school auditorium in the area of Rt. 30 & Harlem (we are in the process of applying for that now).
2. We are anticipating a worship service that is basically contemporary (praise band, video screens, drama presentations, casual atmosphere) in order to connect with youth, community and non-churched but with intentional introduction and inclusion of many other more traditional forms of music and worship elements.
3. Our timetable is to have our launch team/core group in place by January 1, 2001 and begin to meet for prayer and equipping.
4. The basic elements for our first church season will be Worship Service, Church School and Small Groups.
5. We anticipate a continued relationship with Faith CRC for Cadets, Gems and other ministries and services that The Bridge will not be offering for a number of years.
6. Yes, you can become a part of this ministry without a full-time or lifetime commitment. We need people of every skill and ability for any length of time. You can remain a member of Faith CRC and still help us get started without feeling that you are abandoning your home.
7. We are being funded in minor amounts from Faith Church, Classical Home Missions and other local CRC Churches and are in the process of applying for a major grant from our Denominational Home Missions; however, the majority of our support will ultimately come from individual contributors who have a heart for this ministry.
8. Yes, we will be a Christian Reformed Church but will be using the name “The Bridge Community Church”.
Personally, I am scheduled to be interviewed for a license to exhort at Classis Chicago South which meets in a couple of weeks and hope to be examined as an ordained evangelist March of 2001.
You Can Help! Stuff we are in need of:
1. Two prayer partners who can commit to praying daily for me for one year.
2. Leaders who have an interest in developing their gifts who can attend the Willow Creek Leadership Conference being held October 19-21.
3. Office Needs:
3’ screen door
vacuum
pictures and nicknacks
folding chairs
1 up-to-date computer
microwave
folding tables
VCR
These are exciting times as we not only watch but also participate in God’s plan being developed and implemented! Please keep this ministry in your prayers and feel free to contact me at any time should you have questions, concern or comments.
Blessings,
Nick P. Ahrens
Saturday 23 8:00 – 12:00 PM
Bridge Golf Outing at Green Garden Golf Course – if you are interested in golfing, call Dave/Carol Decker at 815-464-7072.
Saturday 23 12:00 – 5:00 PM Bridge Office, Open-House (hors d’oeuvres).
ESTHER AND RANDY B.xxx-xxx-xxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Country Club Hills, IL 60478
We received the memberships of Randy B. and his mother, Esther B. from the Tinley Park Reformed Church. They had previously been members of the Homewood Reformed Church for many years. If you attended Faith Fest in August you will know Esther as the lady who baked the pies that won the "Bake-Off"! (I know for a fact that the rhubarb pie was very good!)
Esther was married for 46 years to Gerritt B. He died 13 years ago. When Randy was 3 they moved to a home located on part of Esther's father's farm. They still live in that home today although the farm has long since been built up with houses. Randy enjoys taking care of the large yard and garden and doing maintenance work around the house.
Randy attended the public schools in Markham and Tinley Park High School. He also attended McCormick Business College. He worked for many years as a desk clerk at a warehouse in Riverdale. At age 13 Randy was diagnosed as having diabetes. He is grateful to not have had too many complications from that, but finds that it does limit his activities somewhat.
Esther stays active and attends an exercise class three times a week. Esther relayed that her mother lived in good health to age 99 and had raised a large family! Esther and two of her sisters (one in South Holland & one in Frankfort) still get together often.
We extend a hearty welcome to the B.s and hope that they will soon feel at home in Faith Church.
Faith Focus is back!!
Issues will be coming out the first Sunday of each month. If you have
anything that you would like to be included, please put it in the Faith Focus
mailbox or get it to me by the last Sunday of the previous month (one week
before Faith Focus comes out.) If you are a little late with your article,
just call me and I will do my best to fit you in.
My phone number is 429-xxxx and e-mail is dvan9063@ aol.com. If you e-mail an article to me, I will send you a reply letting you know that I received it. If you don’t get a reply, please call me so that we make sure that we don’t lose any articles.
If you have any ideas to improve Faith Focus, I would love to hear them!
Debbie VM.
I WOULD LOVE YOUR HELP WITH FAITH FOCUS.
If you like to write poems, or
you have a special way that you are serving God, how about sharing it with the
rest of the church? Put your ideas in the Faith Focus mailbox and I will use as
many as I can.
"They will sparkle in His land like jewels in a crown." Zechariah 9:16
This was the title of the Coffee Break & Story Hour leaders' 3 day convention in Grand Rapids, MI July 11-14. Eleven leaders from Faith Church joined 1,100 other women from the US and Canada for renewal and inspiration at the Amway Grand Plaza Convention Center.
General sessions and keynote speakers challenged us with 6 Rs. Remembering God's faithfulness and plan of salvation revealed through the 3 three Old Testament festivals was Lynn Austin's message. Repent of the "Sin of Silence" was a hard hitting message brought by William Fay, a converted businessman. We Rejoiced and celebrated the 30th anniversary of Coffee Break Ministries with a picnic, praise time, liturgical dancers (including Rachel Koehne) and testimonies on the banks of the Grand River on Wednesday night. Refining ourselves through a time of prayer and confession was the focus of the Thursday morning general session. Later Debbie Holley used many visual aides to challenge us to Reflect the Power of God as the Holy Spirit works in us. One example of that was search and rescue lights seeking to bring the lost to safety and salvation.
Timothy Brown reminded us to see the importance of Returning to God's Word for guidance and also to reach out to those who need help returning to the church and the acceptance of God's loving forgiveness.
Besides the general sessions we were able to chose 4 out of 43 breakout sessions including such topics as, “How to Reach a Skeptic like Me,” or “Evangelism that Looks Like You,” by Lee Strobel, “Master Teacher,” by Ray VanderLaan, “Go, Go Story Hour,” by Deb Fennema and many more.
Ever since listening to Barb Engbers talk about the major world religions I've thought more and more about what it means that Christianity is the only religion that offers a salvation by grace alone and the sacrifice of the Son of God and enjoys a personal relationship with the Son of God. The Joy that comes from that kind of relationship is the most effective way to draw others to Christ.
Although Coffee Break is a low key ministry built on developing relationships with non-believers, one of the other important emphases of this convention was that there are times when we need to be more direct and purposeful in presenting the invitation to accept Christ.
The eight Coffee Break and three Story Hour leaders from Faith Church who attended were Mary D., Norma D., Sue H., Elaine H., Gail K., Deb L., Linda T., Nancy T., Jan V., Cindy V., and Sharon V.
As we begin another season of Coffee Break and Story Hour we commit ourselves to these challenges and covet your prayers and support.
Our Opening Day Social will be on September 13 at 9:30am and the following Wednesday we will begin a study of Galatians for eight weeks, and then an eight week study of prophecies fulfilled in the Gospel of Matthew. Please consider how you may be able to help in this ministry (group assistants and nursery helpers are especially needed) and also who you can invite to come hear the Good News.
Elaine H.
Early
Teen Ministry (ETM) will have a start-up event on Sunday, September 10th at
4:30 p.m. All 7th & 8th graders are welcome and encouraged to come out
to meet the staff, hear what is planned for the year, have some fun and eat some
food, of course. See you there!
Mark your calendars!! Tuesday, September 12 will be our first meeting of
the year followed by Friday, September 15, which will be our Fall Camp Out.
This year we will again be joining the other churches of the Illiana council at
Davis Creek in the Kankakee State Park.
Other things we have planned this year will be another trip with Mr. Dorn to O’Hare airport, the Auto Show, and the always exhausting Mega-Breakfast.
If you can’t make the first meeting and you want to go on the campout, don’t forget to get a consent form from Mr. K. or Mr. B. You must have a consent form to go on the campout. As always, we encourage you to bring a friend to Cadets. If they are not sure about coming, tell them how well we eat on the campouts—that will bring them in!!
The Building & Grounds Committee has revised the fee schedule for the use of the church. The rental of the fellowship hall has been set at $100.00. This fee covers the use of the tables and chairs as well as janitorial services. If you require someone to set up the tables and chairs and put them away after the event, there is an additional $100.00 fee. There is also an additional fee for the use of the sound system. Non-members will pay higher rates to use the facilities.
The Committee felt the rate raise was necessary to cover the costs of utilities, normal wear and tear and replacement costs, and for liability issues. To schedule an event at the church, please call Jan F. at the church office (532-8300).
Belec, Glynis, Jail House Rock
Burkhart, Jeffrey, A Surprise in Disguise
Burkhart, Jeffrey, Down Through the Roof
Davidson, A.J., The Story of Jonah
Shoemaker, T., Tried and True Job
Elmer, Robert, Escape to Murray River
Elmer, Robert, Rescue at Boomerang Band
Elmer, Robert, Captive at Kangaroo Springs
Alexander, H., Solemn Oath
Austin, Lynn, Eve’s Daughters
Austin, Lynn, Wings of Refuge
Edwards, Gene, The Prisoner in the Third Cell
Miller, Calvin, Snow
Oke, Janette, Beyond the Gathering Storm
230 Thomas, Jim, Coffeehouse Theology
248.4 Smedes, Louis, How Can
It Be All Right When Everything Is So Wrong?
359.07
Patten, A Question of Honor
920 Davids, Clarence, Out of the Air and Onto The Ground
351 Barton, David, America’s Godly Heritage
351 Barton, David, Keys to Good Government
351 Barton, David, Separation of Church and State
FIC The Donut Man—The Repair Shop—Integrity Music
FIC The Donut Man—The Donut All Stars—Integrity Music
FIC The Donut Man at the Zoo—Integrity Music
This is an admittedly boring article. It is all about numbers; numbers that are difficult to break down and impossible to connect to individual people.
FaithChr.org has been in operation since the fall of 1998. The Sunday Bulletin, available (almost) every Friday evening since February 1999, has been the site’s most popular feature. This suggests why many of the visits to the site happen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Statistics were not kept prior to June of 1999. As shown in the chart below, there has been steady growth since then. In fact, the number of “pages” served in July 2000 is well over 10 times that of June 1999.
mnth pages 1999 Jun 249 Jul 349 Aug 550 Sep 893 Oct 1286 Nov 1029 Dec 1923 2000 Jan 1744 Feb 1654 Apr 1973 May 2378 Jun 1592 Jul 3051 Busiest month: Jul 2000 (3,051 requests for pages).
What’s a Page? A “page” refers to a document. For example,
each bulletin is one document and is considered one page. A visitor
usually clicks through a page or two before arriving at the desired page.
If a visitor were to view the Home page, select the link to the latest bulletin,
read it and then leave the site, the activity would register as 2 pages.
FaithChr.org has about 200 pages.
Often the question is asked, “Who is visiting the site?” The logs do
not identify individual visitors. However, they do provide some
interesting tidbits. Taking the month of July 2000 as an example, the
following table indicates the breakdown by “domain” of entities making
requests. (The number of requests (17223) is higher than the number of
pages (3051) because it includes all of the graphics that go with each page.)
July 2000 requests by “domain”
#reqs: domain
-----: ------
7483: .com (Commercial)
5177: .net (Network)
2863: [unresolved addresses]
496: .edu (USA Educational)
298: .nl (Netherlands)
202: .org (Non-Profit Organizations)
182: .ca (Canada)
103: .us (United States)
97: .au (Australia)
27: .mil (USA Military)
57: .uk (United Kingdom)
58: .gov (USA Government)
53: .it (Italy)
50: .ph (Philippines)
23: .sg (Singapore)
13: .in (India)
3: .il (Israel)
2: .pt (Portugal)
2: .nz (New Zealand)
3: .ua (Ukraine)
1: .de (Germany)
30: .jp (Japan)
We have many people looking in at us via the web.
Is your group represented accurately? Check it out.
