Let Us Build Fellowship Together - Colin
June 7, 2007Over the next several months, I will focus this space on exploring our identity as NWYM Friends. A clear message communicated throughout the vision and long-range planning process emphasized our need to relearn and reclaim our identity as Christ-centered Friends. Together, we believe we have something significant to offer the world as we are faithful to our particular calling as Jesus’ people.
A few weeks ago, I spent most of a weekend in Sprague River, OR. It was the first time since I became superintendent that I got to visit that community. Over the last 2+ years, I’ve had many phone conversations and visits with their pastor, Bob Adams, and contact with other people in the Meeting, but there is nothing like sitting down together with Friends, seeing their faces, hearing their stories, and joining them in prayer and worship. Somehow in actually being together, the bond of community becomes more real and lasting.
George Fox University Church Matching Program
June 7, 2007The deadline for applying for the George Fox University Church Matching program is August 1 for this fall semester. The form is available online from the University.
The University Church Match program will match up to $600 annually from any Friends Church for each student from that meeting. The Yearly Meeting will match an additional $200. For more information contact the University Student Financial Services office at (503) 554-2300 or the Yearly Meeting office.
Investors Wanted for Church Expansion Projects
June 7, 2007Since 1955 Friends Church Extension Fund (FCEF), a Northwest Yearly Meeting agency has assisted Friends churches and other Friends organization with loans for building and expansion projects. Funds for these projects come from Yearly Meeting members who are willing to loan FCEF in the form of one- or three-year investment certificates.
Several new building projects have resulted in FCEF seeking new investors. The minimum investment amount is $250 with rates as high as 5.3%. Certificates are registered with the State of Oregon and are available in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Call Dave Hampton or at the Yearly Meeting office, (503)538-9419 or email at dhampton@nwfriends.org, for more information and the prospectus.
Roberts’ Reflections - He Was a Good Father
June 1, 2007In conversation about my Mother’s Day Reflections, Margaret Lemmons jokingly insisted that to be gender-fair I should feature Father’s Day equally. So, Margaret, here goes.From Google I learned that Father’s Day was started by a Spokane woman, Sonora Smart Dodd. This idea came while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. She thought her dad needed celebratory gratitude for his faithful care of a young family early left motherless. Next year a ceremony took place, and the idea spread. The special day was recognized by Congress in 1956 and designated for the third Sunday of June by President Nixon in 1972. Mark your calendars!