Church Picnic, May 17- Greg Hull COME ONE COME ALL!! To the 75th Annual new Life Vineyard picnic on Sunday, May 17 after the second service. Expect gobs of fun, festive merriment, high spirits, gaiety, and assorted what-not. A scrumptious, flavorsome feast will be dished up, with plenty of thirst-quenching refreshments. All at absolutely NO COST. Yes, that’s right, IT’S FREE! HURRAH!! And that’s not all. There will be countless exciting and action-packed games for those of all ages, from babes in swaddling clothes to those who are old enough to know better than to participate but still do anyway. These thrill-a-minute activities will include the always exhilarating Water Balloon Toss; the game voted “Worst Name For A Game Ever,” Corn Hole; at least one humongous inflatable contraption of suspect origin; spear throwing; and the ancient contact sport first played on oyster shell courts during the Roman Empire during the reign of Octavian: Bocce Ball. (See recent action photos of electrifying Bocce Ball matches on our web site.)
It’s even rumored that an International Bocce Federation-sanctioned match will occur at the NLV picnic gala involving the reigning world champion Bocce baller, Ken “The Gnarly” Ritz, and an up and coming challenger, currently ranked number 4 ½ in the world, Adam “Meat Cleaver” Fisher. YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS EXCITING EXTRAVAGANZA!!! |
The Blowup- Ken Ritz A few days ago we had possibly the biggest “blowup” since we’ve had kids in our home. Kathy and I have been foster parents for many years. When our youngest son Joel reached about 7 years old, we started taking in foster kids as a ministry. Someone might ask, “isn’t being a pastor ministry enough?” but ministry gets more personal when it's at home every day. Over the last eight or nine years we’ve taken in six foster kids, ages ranging from 6-14 years old. They usually stay in our home about a year or year-and-a-half while their “biological” parents are getting their lives together. During their stay with us, every one of these kids has committed their life to Jesus Christ, been baptized, and gotten deeply connected into church – so we’re counting on the fact that their lives will be changed forever, even though they may eventually go back into an unstable living situation. A few weeks ago our current foster son, 10 years old, came to live with us. Most of the time he is a model child; helpful, obedient, EXTREMELY talkative (you know, the 40 questions a minute deal). But once in a while the explosions come, residue of a very painful past that we know little or nothing about. And like I said earlier, a few days ago we had the biggest explosion ever, and though we managed to settle things down within a few hours, it was very stressful for both Kathy and I – and who needs more stress in life? We have more than our share already. But in my quiet time with God this morning as I prayed about this, I felt like God asked me, “Ken, do you want an easy life, or do you want to make a difference with your life.” There was no question about my answer to that – I want to make a difference; and I’ll do whatever it takes, endure whatever stress I have to, and go wherever God wants me to go, just so long as He uses my life to make a difference for Him. How about you? |
Next, Teens Reset Ideas About Sex- Adam Fisher What can the Bible teach us about sex? Well, now that we’ve spent 6 weeks RESETing our ideas about Jesus, the youth ministry is going to spend 6-7 weeks resetting their ideas about sex. What I ask from the adults of our congregation is three-fold:
For more information about me or the senior high youth ministry, Fusion 12:12, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at FisherAd@yahoo.com, or catch me on MySpace or Facebook. Pastor Adam
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