Month: December 2019

Fall Field Trip Fun

December 28, 2019 The Homeschool Ministry

Who doesn’t love field trips? Getting outside of the classroom (so in our case, the house!) to explore, learn, and grow through hands-on activities with friends is a highlight of school for us. But as a homeschooling mom who isn’t great at dreaming up, planning, and executing excursions on my own, I am especially thankful for our homeschool group.

We have packed in a lot of adventures already this fall. Sometimes we all pile into the church van which is always fun. The kids feel a bit like they are riding in a school bus, and it is somewhat akin to playing the game of sardines, especially when you consider there are typically 5 or more car seats involved! Here are a few highlights from the semester.

September

On a hot Tuesday in September, we caravanned over to Willow River State Park and Nature Center in Hudson. After hiking around a bit, we had a geocaching lesson with one of the park naturalists. She taught us how to use handheld GPS devices and led us on an excursion where the kids successfully found two caches! We enjoyed a picnic lunch together and then hiked to Willow Falls. The waterfall was beautiful and the mist refreshing on a hot day!

October

In October, we packed into the church van and drove south to Alma, WI to visit Castlerock Museum. What an impressive place! We saw arms and armor from as early as ancient Greece to the early modern period and even got to try on chain mail!

November

November brought us downtown for a tour of Westconsin Credit Union. It’s fun for our kids to see church friends in their work environment. Danielle H. and another employee led us on a tour through all the departments with scavenger hunts in hand. Some of our favorite parts were getting to operate the pneumatic tubes at the drive-up windows and playing coin bingo!

December

We gathered together in December for a woodworking lesson with Tavis, where each child built their own birdhouse – just in time to use as Christmas gifts! Skills like hammering, measuring, and tracing were learned by some and practiced by all.

Last but not least, we snuck in an extra December lesson on the human body while Matt was in town. He introduced us to Organella (ask one of the kids about her!) and taught us about what our organs do. We also got to make lungs using paper cut-outs, straws, and sandwich bags! Matt tied it all together by sharing 1 Corinthians 12:27. We are each part of the body of Christ and have an important role to play, just like each organ in our body has an important job to do!

On behalf of all the families who participate in the homeschool group, we are thankful for all of these learning opportunities and especially for all of you who helped to make them happen!

Shofar Mission Cebu Update

December 25, 2019 Shofar Missions Cebu

Merry Christmas from the Philippines! Read the latest Shofar Mission Cebu update to see what God is doing in the Philippines.

The Infamous Giant Tree at the Fuente Osmeña Circle

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of preparing for the next team to arrive. They will land in just a few days, then we’re in for an excursion around the island for Ministry Training Institute and Women’s Discipleship Classes. We’re excited for them to arrive and ask that you’d pray for those we’ll be ministering to! As always, we are seeking to build the Kingdom and bear fruit that remains. In addition to the classes, we will be doing some advance work for the 2020 teams, teaching a few Exploring Creation Science classes, and hopefully installing new antennas for Street Level Radio.

Campus Outreach

Over the past few weeks, we wrapped up the semester and the Discipleship Explored series at our weekly Street Level Ministries meetings. We also had a movie night with the students before we all went our separate ways for Christmas break. Even though classes ended a few weeks ago, we have been able to spend a lot of time with the students through Word on the Street Magazine service, meeting up for lunch, and even surprise visits to the office. God continues to knit this little community together, and we’re eager to see who He’ll put in our path next semester. Please pray for the students to remain close to God as they return to their families for a few weeks, and to come back refreshed and ready to participate in His mission on their campus.

Exploring Creation Science

Would it be an oxymoron to say that things keep evolving in the world of Exploring Creation Science? Well, even though classes aren’t in session right now, that doesn’t mean things have slowed down at all. Over the past few weeks, there have been various meetings with school administrators to plan schedules for the next semester. God has even opened the door for lessons to be taught for the first time at a public high school! With that comes a variety of new challenges. Lessons are being adapted and developed to answer questions and challenge students who may be very skeptical of our God’s good design in creation. If you’re curious to know more, visit the new webpage for this branch of Shofar Mission!

Prayer Requests

Safe travels and quick recovery from jet lag for the team. Most importantly, that we as a team would be listening and following God’s leading and for the ministry endeavors to bear long-lasting fruit.
Lesson development and planning schedules for Exploring Creation Science.
That the Street Level students would remain close to God and in His Word over Christmas break, and return refreshed for the next semester.

Ahh the Four Seasons

December 22, 2019 Nehemiah Deacon Ministry

It’s cold out there

Winter is now back. Nehemiah has been busy keeping our church warm during these cold days. We utilized a Saturday and several work nights by removing and replacing window screens and storm windows. Other projects included working with all four of the window air conditioner units by removing and storing them away until next summer. Next we added some plastic here and there and even did some work to keep our gutters from freezing up. There has also been an upgrade with one of the furnaces because the old one simply wore out. Perhaps the biggest improvement was modifying and installing a new stage door on the west side of the church. It replaced the old original door which was looking quite weathered. Hopefully, that will help cut down on those nasty cold winter drafts we get in the sanctuary.

More various tasks

Other projects that we have finished this last summer/fall would be installing showers and drains in our new church campground shower house. We performed some servicing to one of the washing machines in the Street Level house. There was a little component added to the coffeehouse trailer that helps assist how smoothly the water flows out of the tap. Gotta have good water pressure in there right? The cleaning closet next to the ladies’ room was reorganized, painted, and upgraded with new shelving and a door header. Nehemiah installed a new air conditioner in the third level of the church to help keep it cool up there on those hot summer days. Lastly, the coffeehouse kitchen exhaust fan motor was also replaced. That’s one of Nehemiah’s fortes in our fellowship. Replace, maintain, and improve the materials God has blessed us with.

Some final thoughts

Over the next several months Nehemiah is planning to renovate another bathroom in the Street Level house. One bathroom has already been renovated this last winter. We are currently working on finishing up some bookshelves for the front entrance of the church. There is some landscaping, tuck pointing, and other plans for this upcoming spring as well. Nehemiah is thankful to serve our church flock as well as our Lord and savior Jesus. He’s the reason all of this even takes place. Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus.

River Falls Ministry News / December 2019

December 19, 2019 River Falls Ministry

Find the latest news from the JFBelievers church plant and Street Level college ministry in River Falls, WI.

Street Level Ministries UW River Falls

The semester finished out this week with a Christmas party. It was a chance for the students to have fun and fellowship during a week of finals. We participated in worship, bingo, and Matt from Duluth joined us and lead us in a short devotional.

The majority of the students that are a part of Street Level go home for winter break, so we will not be meeting for the next few weeks. January 28th is when our first meeting of second semester will begin.

Sunday Bible Study

On Sundays, we continue going through the book of 2 Corinthians discussing things like what Godly regret is and being generous with what God has given us.

Some other things we did included a holiday pot luck, and Brittany and Laura joined us for one of the studies while back visiting from the Philippines. We hope to do some community outreaches during the next month.

Third Place Study

This has been the month of fellowship with pot lucks and parties. We also had our Third Place holiday pot luck at the coffeehouse. There were a number of people that joined us from the community. We even met some new people.

The Blind Munchies Coffeehouse

This month in the coffeehouse we started serving our new winter drink special the pistachio mocha and hot chocolate. We also have had some additional merchandise that was carried back with the last missions team available. We continue to have regular customers and meet new people.

Prayer Requests

As the students spend their time at home for the holidays, that they continue forward with their walk with God.
Possible community outreaches over winter break.
For God’s continued leading in the ministry as we go into the new year.

January Schedule

Sundays: 5pm / JFBelievers Bible Study, 6pm / meal

The Blind Munchies Coffeehouse Hours

Sundays: 3pm – 5pm
Thursdays: 9am – 9pm
Saturdays: 9am – 1pm

River Falls Ministry Online

Living OneLife

December 16, 2019 Co/Mission Couples Ministry

What’s been going on?

You wouldn’t know it unless you took the time to think but the last time you read a report from us was back in August. We were reflecting on the Biking for Tacos ride and other events that put us outside and enjoying the warm air. Today we stand knee-deep in the snow with weather patterns that have followed the predictions of the likes of the Farmer’s Almanac. –How do they do that, by the way?

Since then, we have made a shift in our meeting schedule. What used to be a once-a-week regularity gave way to a twice a month format with the hopes of helping the overall schedule of the church and to help stem the busy schedules of some of our people. Our monthly gatherings now consist of one monthly member gathering (either a fellowship, a work project, or a trip to somewhere) and one full group fellowship time. This has created space for OneLife’rs to have more family time at home, more organic fellowship/discipleship time with each other and others outside of OneLife and even outside the church.

What did we do this last quarter?

September was flag football season at Samens Field. We stumbled our way through an impressive game and then robbed ourselves of any calorie burning by consuming the delights of a rather successful community chili.

October brought our retreat. A few friends from Duluth came down to join us. Friday night we divided the couples into groups of 3-4 couples and they were free to meet in homes or at restaurants with the goal of eating together and talking through the first session of the series (which we had to watch before coming together). Then Saturday got us up to drive to Bayport, MN for the remaining sessions at the Bayport Nature Center. Our event ended around 5pm where we took a group photo and sent everyone home. Some people even went to dinner afterward to continue the conversation.

November took us to the Pederstuen’s house for an evening of Win Lose or Draw and snacks. It was clear that we needed to unwind together. The night was full of conversation and laughter. We got to see just how fast people could draw things on the dry erase board, and how difficult it was too. The kids were there too and, I think… I think, they had a good time. November also brought a workday for the members. We all joined Gnosko at the campground to split wood, move leaves, and plant grass seed. It may have been only 40 degrees but working kept us warm.

December had our members decorating the sanctuary at church for Christmas. Multiple feet of pine garland and lots of red bows later, we were once again transformed for the holidays. Cookies and cocoa were had by most. The kids even had little projects to work on. It was crazy to watch the kid’s line up to vacuum the floor afterward. In the immortal words of my parents, “How come you don’t want to do that at home?” The night ended with Jason Haugley taking children on his lap to pull on his beard… an experience new to most of the kids.

Finally, December brings a Christmas potluck to our full group fellowship this coming Friday. Ideas stir as we contemplate our activities for the evening. I assure you it will be in the Spirit of Christmas one way or another.

In our near future

We’re looking ahead to the New Year with plans to host cross-fellowships again… some that include possibly sledding with fried chicken and pizza, a turkey-related ice event, and a city trip scavenger hunt of some sort. More details to surface.

Until then, Merry Christmas, y’all! We love you!

A Race Worth Running

December 13, 2019 Pastor Jesse Moss

At the end of the year, it is always interesting to look back and see just how far God has brought us in the past 12 months. It is good to pause and look at all that He has allowed us to be a part of. Following Christ is quite the journey. Knowing that we still have far to go and many trials to traverse is a daunting thing. It can seem overwhelming and you can lose sight of any progress if you don’t look back at where God has taken you.

The Bible compares the life of a Christian to a race. It is a race that is full of great feats of achievement and glorious moments of success for God’s kingdom, but also obstacles, unexpected curves, and crashes on the path. The 2019 leg of this race was no exception. It was full of activity. It was an exciting year of ministry. A quick look back at the calendar shows that JFB Duluth took part in four different mission trips. We had several outreaches in the twin ports community. We hosted two rummage sales, a concert, and had nearly a hundred church services. There were countless hours of service together. We have brought on more staff. We have begun to pursue new ministry opportunities on another college campus and also to home-school kids.

Ups and Downs

It has been busy and fast-paced. It isn’t hard to understand why God would compare this to a race. We have had great celebrations like when we joined JFB Menomonie in thanking God for allowing 30 years of ministry. We have laughed and had a lot of fun. It has been a great joy. We have worked hard. There really has been blood sweat and tears. The unfortunate truth is this race has had its fair share of injuries and setbacks. There have even been casualties along the way. It hasn’t been an easy race, but it has been a worthwhile one.

“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps
moving but does not make any progress.”
― Alfred Montapert

One of the largest racing events in the US is the Daytona 500. Where fifty cars race around the track at speeds upwards of 200 mph. The top concern is speed, motion, and activity. They want to move. So much so that the average pit stop taken to replace four tires takes less than three seconds. Meaning in the time it took you to read that sentence a car would be jacked up, had all tires removed and the replaced.

Like these drivers, we want to make sure that we are always moving. We want to ensure that we are always growing. But there is one big difference. The drivers are concerned with speed. They race around the track, but in the end, they get nowhere. They end back where they started. There is great motion, great activity, insane speed, but there is no progress. For the Christian, we must never be satisfied with motion and activity that doesn’t lead anywhere. What happened in 2019 was not intended to keep us busy. It was intended to take us somewhere.

Where Does the Race Lead?

In short, we are headed closer and closer to God. We are headed for spiritual maturity and greater holiness. Take a look back at 2019. No doubt you were busy. I hope you joined us in this race, but be sure to ask yourself where did it take you. Did all the activity leave you running in circles around the same spot all year? Or has it led you to press on? I’m not asking if you have reached the finish line, I am asking if you can recognize progress. Don’t allow yourself to be swept up by constant activity, staying busy, always moving but never actually getting closer to God. Let’s do as Hebrews 12 tells us and run the race that God has before us with endurance.