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Published on Monday, 02 February 2009 16:11

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Portland Adonai (Iglesia del Nazareno Adonai) Organizes

On Sunday, November 13th, District Superintendent Dr. Stan Reeder, with the aid of DIstrict Latino Ministries Coordinator, Dr. Mario Zani, presided over the official organization service of our newest Latino congregation.  Organization recognizes that the church has grown to the place where it is ready to assume oversight and leadership of its own ministries and activities.  A church board has been elected and charter members have been received into the Church of the Nazarene.  We are excited for Pastor Mario Flores and his congregation and thankful for the birthing of this church by Portland Central under the leadership of Dr. Jerry Warren.

New Commitments to Christ at The Pursuit in Grants Pass

This report came in from Pastor Gary Johnson on Sunday, November 13th: "In August we had a couple stop at our  yard sale.  They said they were wanting to get married but had no one to do the wedding. My secretary suggested I could help them out which I did, after I shared Christ with them. They have been regular since then. A few weeks later I shared Christ with her teenage daughter and baptized her a few weeks later still. An uncle who attended these events called me this week saying that he was scared and confused, and needs a relationship with God. Friday our associate pastor Jodi Combe and Kyle McGill went to his home and shared Christ with thirteen individuals: no definite commitments were noted. Today they all were in church plus some others.

I am preaching a series from Philippians; today chapter 4 verses 2-3, “How To Be A Peacemaker.” I turned the conclusion into an evangelistic message by saying, “Though we don’t have any of the kinds of struggles that St. Paul faced, still there is a struggle in every heart present,  the struggle of ” the un-surrendered will.” More than twenty persons came to the altar, some from that family and some throughout the congregation. More than a dozen made commitments to Christ including two Mormon ladies. I gave away a dozen Bibles and am in the process of forming a new 101 baptism and membership class. Praise the Lord!"

We are Thanking the Lord for His Touch- Rev. John David Hicks

We recently received the following note:

Thank you for your prayers!  
Report:  Six days later (11-4-11).  

 

Last Saturday afternoon my wife rushed me to the emergency room of the McMinnville hospital with chest pain.  When I arrived, my blood pressure reading was 225/120.  A cardiologist was called in and did a cardiac catheterization.  He reported that as he watched one of my coronary arteries closed off and the EKG showed I was having a massive heart attack.  Then it opened up again.  A Life-Flight helicopter was called to take me to Portland.  The doctor told others that he thought that I might die on the way.  In Portland a coronary stent was implanted in the artery to keep it open.  They said I would be in the hospital for three days for recovery.  But I was released the next day, Sunday and there is no indication of heart damage.  Praise God for His hand of protection in answer to prayer.

 

I am 70 years old, yet I feel like Caleb.  “I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day… the LORD helping me, I will drive them out.” (Joshua 14:11–12).
 
Do you know what gets me up in the morning? The thought of living in His presence and telling someone about Jesus!  Those who are in bondage to sin, sickness, or the devil, I get to set them free!  Jesus has commissioned me to disciple, encourage, and bless others. “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18). No, I’m not going to retire. My identity and direction comes out of my relationship with Christ.  My mission is to be Christ’s ambassador to this world (2 Corinthians 5:20). I am enjoying the journey.

 

Thank you for your prayers!  

 

Your Brother in Christ,
John David Hicks

We would also encourage you to read Rev. Hicks encouraging word, "And David Strengthened Himself in the Lord his God" on his faithencounter.org website.

Pastor Dennis Mortimore Installed at Prospect

We are excited to announce that Pastor Dennis and Joy Mortimore were installed as pastor and wife at our Prospect Church on Sunday, November 6th.  The Mortimores come to us from Medford First Church where they have been active for many years as small group leaders and encouragers to pastors, including those on the Siskiyou Zone.  Pastor Dennis has provided pulpit supply at Prospect a few times over the past few years and the Lord used that connection to place a burden on his heart to pastor the Prospect church and community.  Having served churches in Arizone, California and Southern Oregon, Pastor Dennis and Joy bring vital experience, a desire to proclaim the life-transforming power of the Gospel and a heart for ministry. We welcome the Mortimores to the Oregon Pacific District Pastoral Family and look forward to hearing Good News Reports from Prospect.

Eagle Point Showers Pastor With Appreciation and the Church Makes Connections

Pastor Kim Linder sent the following note to Dr. Reeder: "This past month has been quite an amazing time to be the Pastor and family in Eagle Point. Starting the beginning of the month my office received a surprise face lift and some office furniture while we were away at the M & M retreat. Upon our return I also discovered another room was renovated into a study and counseling office. A bulletin board full of memories was also put together as a recognition and thank you to the Pastor and family. All of this was unexpected, but they had more planned. Last week at our monthly Family Night we were given an incredible food pounding, and also the keys to a 2005 Ford Taurus.   It was a complete surprise and quite a shock. I'm still not sure how they pulled off both the purchase and keeping it a surprise. Things like this aren't supposed to happen in small churches. THIS WAS CLEARLY A GOD SIZED DREAM that many participated in. There were more than 80 people in attendance that night including 5 families that were 1st time guests to our church. I wonder what they were thinking as they saw the church body shower their Pastor and family with unmerited love and appreciation.

This past month has been very fruitful in terms of ministry as well. People are beginning to fill their Connection Inserts sharing intentional investments they are making in the lives of people God has placed in their paths. Over the past month we have had the opportunity to lead 2 people to first time commitments to Christ, and 6 people have been Baptized. To God Be All The Glory for all He is doing!"

Myrtle Point Hold Grand Re-Opening

Sensing the need to become a new kind of church for their community, the Myrtle Point church recently underwent some significant renovating of their facility as well as a freshening up of their approach to ministry.  On September 25th they held a Grand Opening Service of the Freedom Fellowship Church of the Nazarene and had 63 in attendance- about double what they have been running in recent years- and had over 100 for a picnic and gospel concert.  Pastor Wayne Harman heard comments from a number of people who do not normally go to to church that "it was the most comfortable church they had ever been in".  We are excited for fresh new ministry opportunities for Freedom Fellowship and look forward to hearing of transformed lives as a result of the church stepping out in faith to make a new impression on its community.

Good News from Drain Gateway Family Fellowship

Pastor Bill Steinbrook recently sent a note to Dr. Reeder with the following good news:  "The day Rosemary and I walked into Drain (June 19th) we had 12 people at the very first service and this past weekend we had 37 in the main service with 8 people missing for vacations. Our goal is to get to 45 by January and through prayer and hard work by all, we know God will bless this little church. We also have seen growth in the children's ministry, starting on day one with no children and this last weekend Rosemary started Children’s Church for the first time with 12 children present.

 

 "We have also been blessed by Roseburg Church on the Rise Congregation stepping up to come do a work and witness to help with the outside appearance of the church and parsonage along with clean up in the parsonage. We have been praying for this help and God found the people that were a perfect fit for this large task. We thank the entire Church on the Rise congregation for their prayers and willingness to help."

McMinnville Church on the Hill 100th Anniversary Story Told in Local Newspaper

With their 100th Anniversary Celebration approaching September 16-18, Church on the Hill in McMinnville was featured in a local news story. Excerpts:  "Mildred Maulding recalls when she first attended the Nazarene Church in McMinnville in 1949. The building... was heated with a wood stove mounted in one corner. Parishioners roasted up front and froze out back. A small platform up front was designated for the choir. "They couldn't get more than 10 people there," she said."  "The church had four charter members, all women, led by female pastor Eva Vernon." When moving to their third location, "Church members made their own bricks at the brickyard at the end of Davis and Evans Streets. Then they laid those bricks themselves...." For its next move, to "the hill", "That group of 200 moved onto 12 acres and built a sanctuary that would hold 800," Pastor Jerry Moen said. "That's faith."  Read more here.

Grand Ronde Baptizes Three

Pastor David Crabb sent in this report: "Last fall, several people received Christ through a membership class that was offered. Three of them asked to be baptized. Since it had been quite a while since the church had held a baptism service (more than 5 years), I preached a month long series on baptism based on Rob L. Staples book, “Outward Sign and Inward Grace.” We purchased a seven foot long tank for watering livestock, and baptized the three men on November 14, 2010.

In late April this year, another new believer asked to be baptized. When people heard that a baptism service was being planned, two long standing members of the church also expressed their interest in being baptized. With summer coming soon the desire was to get be baptized in a river, like the Bible says Jesus was. The date for the service was set for Sunday, September 4, 2011. So on Labor Day weekend, we started the service at the church, then made a short trip to the river and baptized the three ladies. God is doing a wonderful work and blessing his church in Grand Ronde."

Brookings Reports Good News on Several Fronts

Pastor Rick Green sent this update to Dr. Reeder:

"We recently finished off a list of summer building projects that we had lined up. We painted and put new flooring into four of our classrooms. Then we stripped the fellowship hall of some flooring that kept coming up, ground down the concrete underneath, and then a gentleman, that attends our church, who used to do the concrete floors in the casinos in Las Vegas, stained and sealed the floor for us. (see the photo below)

 

We've been having good attendance this summer. We had 276 for the Labor Day Weekend. It will be interesting to see what the fall holds for us. In the past we've been having our 8:30 service in the fellowship hall, but we've outgrown it and so we'll start using the sanctuary for the service.

 

Sunday evening, September 4th we had our 8th annual prayer walk around the school. This is sponsored by the ministerial association, but it's an event that our church leads the way on. The advantage of being in a small town is that all three schools are located next to each other and so we can walk around each of them and pray at the same event."  Here's an article about it from the local newspaper.

We are thankful for the great work that the people of Brookings are doing for the Lord!

Portland Iglesia del Nazareno Adonai Holds First Service

We received the following good news report from Dr. Mario Zani, District Latino Ministries Director: "After three years of hard work, great leadership by Pastor Mario Flores and his committed congregation,Sunday, September 4, 2011, at 8:50 am, Portland Iglesia del Nazareno Adonai began with its first service as such. We look forward to the full organization of this church on November 13. Thanks for your support and leadership in this endeavor! I very much appreciate all churches in the district for the vision to open a new trench to reach out the 84,000 Latinos in the Portland area.  This is a victory! There are days of great victory ahead!

Klamath Falls First Celebrates "Football Appreciation Sunday"

Pastor Duane Pooley reports that they held a "Football Appreciation Sunday" where they invited local high school teams and coaches for a special day of celebration.  With grilled burgers and activities like a dunk tank the church had 150 in attendance with 68 visitors.  Six people accepted Christ- including one of the coaches!

Myrtle Point Receives a Gift From Local Churches

Pastor Wayne Harman reports the following: "The big news is we have gotten a new roof on our church.  Emmanuel Baptist Church in Coquille has a couple of contractors volunteered and they volunteered to come and put a roof on if we would have the materials here, so on the 12th of August they came and took off two layers of shingles and replaced all the dry rot and put on a new roof.   There was also 6 or 8 men from the Coquille Nazarene Church along with Pastor Mike Martin who helped out on Saturday. Let me tell you it is a beautiful roof."

Eagle Point sends exciting report

Pastor Kim Linder sent a note to Dr. Reeder that included this good news: for the third month in a row the church has seen giving increased by 25% and that in July, with higher than normal expenses, this ReStart church had income exceeding expenses for the first time in a while.  People are connecting with oneanother and those outside the church as they focus on doing so.

Molalla Church Makes a Difference in their Local Community

From the Molalla Pioneer newspaper: "The Molalla Communities That Care resource center received a facelift thanks to volunteers from Molalla Church of the Nazarene.

      Church members spent several days scraping, pressure washing, priming and painting the building with a fresh coat of white paint with green trim, as well as helping with landscaping and other improvement projects."

Read more about the project and why the church took it on here.

Prineville has begun a second service

Due to growth over the past few years and desiring to reach more people with the Good News of Jesus, the Prineville church began holding a second Sunday morning service on August 14th.  Pastor Matt Huff reports that they had 135 in the two services- "a big number for us on a Summer Sunday" and that there was a new vibrancy and energy in church.  The church people are excited for the change and jumped on board to help pull off the new service.  We are excited to see what the Lord does to fill up the space made by this decision to add a second Sunday service.

Newport Church Paints Lincoln City Building

We are thankful to the Newport church for volunteering to paint the exterior of the Lincoln City church building.  A team from Newport spent 3 days preparing and painting the building.  It looks awesome!  Projects like these are an important part of our ministry together to make an impact on a ministry area and we appreciate the vision of Pastor Don Minter and the Newport church that sees a need in a neighboring church and does what it can to meet it.  If your church is looking for a more "local" ministry trip to help out a district church, please contact the district office.

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