HOPE worldwide Community Service Brigade – Guatemala It is hard for us to imagine the emotional and physical pain many people endure each day. However, HOPE worldwide volunteers encounter hundreds living in the midst of the most painful poverty and disease daily. In Guatemala, we met Lizeth a very charming, intelligent and outgoing 11-year old despite the fact she was unloved by her mother and given to her aunt.
As I rode into work today, I listened to a local radio station talking about Marriage. I was prepared for them to be unable to do it justice as all four anchors are less than imitable in the marriage department. The topic of their discussion was Men looking to brag about their marriage .
Delhi is a wonderful but tough city to live in. It is polluted - they say that living here is like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. I believe it. I can smell and SEE the pollution. The weather is extreme, 120 F in the summer. Air conditioning is a luxury afforded by few. There is an acute shortage of water. Chaos reigns everywhere. Traffic looks and feels like a video game. Human life is cheap. People die in traffic accidents, of diseases, in childbirth, etc, at a much higher rate than they do in more developed countries.
Obedience training has begun. My husband is working with our little pup, teaching him four basic commands - sit, stay, come and no. These are the commands, that when fully trained, Denver should respond to immediately – and always. I look forward to his increased obedience as he matures. He will not only be pleasant to live with, but he will be much safer.
Core Convictions: The Chicago Church has launched effectively into the new year. A milestone weekend was celebrated here at the end of January as the entire Church gathered together downtown to be reminded, refreshed, and yes... rooted in our core convictions as disciples of Jesus.
A few churches in the Northwest desired for several years to plant a church in the Spokane Metropolitan Area. In the spring of 2002, the Seattle Church of Christ held a congregational devotional where it was announced that a new church in Spokane would be planted that summer. Mark and Annie McCune had been selected to lead this new church and the Seattle Church of Christ decided to do the majority of the financial support. Disciples of Jesus were called that day to have a missionary type heart and make a decision to stand up as someone who would be willing to move to Spokane. Many stepped forward, some of which had never even thought of living in Spokane before, but felt called to be on a mission team to take the Gospel to a new city. Then 22 people from the Puget Sound Area in Washington and Montana (Tacoma, Seattle, Bothell, Everett, and Missoula, MT) moved, in faith, with the McCune's to Spokane, WA in August of 2002 to plant the church.
The Spokane Christian Church's official inaugural service was on September 1, 2002 (Labor Day Weekend), where disciples from the Seattle Church of Christ, South Sound Church of Christ, and all of the Montana Christian Churches came together to celebrate the church's official start over that Labor Day weekend. For the next 5 years the church grew under Mark and Annie McCune's leadership until, with the support of the church, they made the decision to take another ministry position back in the Seattle Church of Christ, where they continue to faithfully serve to this day.
The Spokane Christian Church then went through a search process for new church leaders who would continue the great work the McCune's had started, and through incredible circumstances God moved to reveal that He had chosen Jermaine and Stefanie Peacock from the Kansas City Church of Christ in the Summer of 2007. God has used them in a powerful way through their years of service in the ministry for over a decade. That same year the church in Kansas City had a theme entitled, "Here Am I Send Me," after much time in prayer, time with family and friends, counsel from elders and conversations with the Spokane Christian Church, Jermaine and Stefanie would come to the realization that God was calling them to Spokane, Washington.
God has moved in a great way through this transition and has continued to grow His church to now 105 faithful disciples of Jesus. The Church is made up of Families (Married with kids), Married without kids, Campus Students, Singles and a growing Youth Ministry.
The Church has a diverse worship style mixing both traditional hymns a-cappella style and contemporary worship music. Our Deacon of Worship Andrew Cook has been powerfully leading the worship ministry for almost 4 years. Our worship band, "The Void Reclaimed" has recently been selected to lead worship at the 2008 Worship Ministry Conference which is a conference for song leaders, band members, part singers, drama, dance and technical teams from around the country.
We are an interdependent church partnering with churches that are like-minded throughout the world. Regionally we are bonded relationally with churches here in the Northwest, we call ourselves Northwest Family of Churches. These churches are in Seattle WA, Tacoma WA, Anchorage AK, Sacramento CA, Boise ID, Bozeman MT, Missoula MT, Ashland OR, and in CANADA with Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
We have a strong spiritual leadership base that consists of a Core Group, incredible volunteer Small Group leaders, Ministry leaders and Coordinators of various responsibilities. We also have a Board of Directors which ensures that church decisions and actions meet the requirements of ethics and laws, provides support to the ecclesiastical leadership in carrying out its missions and goals and ensures the church has the financial resources needed to carry out goals for the future. Currently serving on the Board are Don Evans as President, Vice President Mike Yochum, Secretary Linda Yochum, Treasury Jeff Lanctot and Member at Large Derek Banning.
The Church is growing spiritually and numerically. On average we have a Sunday attendance of about 145 people. In 2007, the Church witnessed 16 baptisms in the Lord. Disciples from the Spokane Church served in several ministries around the world including India; China; Sacramento, California; and Missoula, Montana. We had two singles raise up to go into the full time ministry; a young man to Ashland, Oregon and a young woman to Sacramento, California. Recently a young lady who was in our campus ministry moved to Seattle and is now helping her husband lead a Church in Bellingham WA.
Also, from 2002-2006, the Spokane Church was the fastest growing church with less than 100 members and the 3rd fastest (#1 fastest growing U.S. Church) within our worldwide family of churches, growing 230% within that time, all to God's glory.
2008 was a year of building strong disciples of Jesus and in 2009 much effort has gone toward strengthening one another through a year of many families facing griefs and health difficulties as well as many babies being born into our congregation. Our 2010 focus was connecting with Christ to change the world especially through the message of the gospels along with attention to work-life coaching.
Our 2012 to 2015 vision is to more clearly than ever see Christ and his simple but powerful ways of touching and changing lives and to carry on his work by planting and supporting a church in Tri-Cities.
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