Bethany Community Church

On a cold December morning in Seattle, thirteen travelers began a mission trip to Baja, Mexico.  We began gathering and preparing as a Community Group back in November started by Megan Dobrasz.  Now it was time to experience what God prepared for us.  To leave our comforts behind, cross a border and join the on-going work of Foundation for His Ministry located in Vicente Guerrero.

Our group was a mix of a few Baja veterans, and others beginning their first ‘missions trip.’  We were ready to work, serve, encourage the FFHM staff in its efforts and, as they say at the mission, to have our lives changed forever.  Our two white vans moved down Highway 1, first picking up Chad and Erin Fransen (Bethany-supported missionaries in La Mision, Baja).   By the time of our arrival, the weather was warm, the sun out, and our anticipation growing.

And it soon began with the children.  Those who were abandoned, abused, left behind and missing God’s love and hope.  Of note are the many disabled/handicapped children receiving individual care and training, the work of the day care staff to educate migrant children, and long-term work with children in various house settings, living as family with house parents.  We helped in all these settings.

Other opportunities came in the medical clinic, the harvesting of macademia nuts, in the print shop, doing landscaping and just plugging into the mission’s daily schedule of prayer, worship, service and relationship building.  One morning we spent time with a dozen men at the rehab facility, north of town.  We labored along side them in building housing for their ministry and praying with them at the end.

Seven days later, these thirteen travelers were now friends and co-laborers in God’s work in the Baja.  A mission accomplished and new life opportunities opening up.

Submitted by Jim Underhill, Baja Team Leader

Interested in upcoming trips? Contact Elli Oswald, Director of Missions, or Megan Dobrasz, Pastor of College & Career.

Thank you for your generosity this Christmas season! We were able to provide over 500 gifts to local children and youth, Bagley families, Bethany families, and Tabitha guests.

Below is a note from a mother who received Giving Tree gifts this season:

I want to  thank you and the family of Bethany church for the amazing support our family was blessed with through the Giving Tree. The gifts our son will be blessed with on Christmas morning are ones that we could not have provided for him ourselves. Through those who were moved to give, we are now able to fulfill our sons wishes for Christmas. The gift card to Fred Meyer completed the package, we intend to use it to get gifts for each other. Words cannot explain our appreciation for the generosity, more so my husband and I were both moved to tears by the generosity of others and the faithfulness of our Lord.

A big thanks those who coordinated this year’s Giving Tree, as well as the volunteers who came in to sort, transport, and distribute the gifts!

My prayer during this Advent (capital “A”) season is that we would continue to be a people of advent.  During this four-week period we celebrate and prepare for the “coming” (Advent) of Christ at Christmas.  Over the year that I have been at Bethany I have been amazed at the various ways in which this church is working to be a community that comes to people, a church that seeks to bring Christ into various worlds.  Yes, we celebrate the coming of Christ, but we have also been entrusted with the power of Holy Spirit to help us be bringers of Christ into every nook and cranny of creation.

I would ask that we pray, this month, for some of the various ways in which people here at BCC will be ‘bringers’ of Christ.  This is not an exhaustive list, but I trust that you might know other places that you can be adding in prayer as well.

*Over the last three months we have seen hundreds of people connect with Bethany through our Community Groups model.  Our intention in creating these groups was to provide places with various levels of commitment, and relatively easy means of entry so that more people could access the Bethany community in meaningful ways.  We have been hearing some fun success stories as we prepare for a new catalog of groups that will come out on January 2.  Please be praying for these groups as they finish up this week and next; pray that people are being transformed in relationships with Christ and each other.  Also, please pray for the new groups and their leaders that will be forming in January.

*Small Groups continue to be a means by which people are encouraged and blessed.  Nearly 600 people are in ongoing discipleship relationships in which they are learning to share life together well.  Pray for the continued growth and health of these groups and that more and more people would gravitate towards this kind of community.

*Students are heading into finals here in the next couple of weeks.  Whether high school, college, or grad school students- these people are feeling higher levels of stress.  Please pray that the Lord would be multiplying their efforts (and their sleep), helping them to be less anxious and remain balanced enough to continue to pursue Christ, and other relationships, during their daily lives.

*Pastor Richard is currently travelling in Germany and Austria, and will be there for the first two weeks of December.  Please pray that his ministry (teaching bible students) would be a blessed time for both the students and him.  Richard not only teaches while he is there, but he also provides a pastoral voice in the life of the students.  His days are long and full of both teaching and deep conversations- pray he is able to rest and reflect to students his love of Christ that we witness here throughout the year.

*A group of 15 people are heading to Baja from December 11-December 18 on a trip to an orphanage and community center there.  These people will be “coming” in a very real way to help support practical needs (construction) while also maintaining relationships that have been built with the residents over the last several years.  Pray for this team’s safety and for their witness as they both share and receive Christ’s love.

Advent is a strange kind of waiting.  Collectively, we wait for something that has already taken place; the coming of God to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.  We listen to the story, but we already know how the story goes.  My prayer is that during this season we would wait with anticipation;   that we would long to celebrate the ‘coming’ miracle of God stepping into this world to dwell among us.  Christ entered in, not merely as a tourist, but as a humble savior.  During this next month may we be reminded of who Christ is, and what he has done for us.  Also, lets remember ways (both small and big) that we might be able to be ‘Little Christs’ (literal meaning of Christians) in the worlds in which we walk.   Our neighborhoods, our schools, and our work places should look forward to our ‘coming’ in–as we live into the Good News that Christ has come, and the even better news that Christ will come again.
Blessings,

Joe Springer
Pastor of Small Groups

by John Thompson

I was reading (or I guess, re-beginning) Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, when I noticed the “Author’s Note.” Most times I skip past it, the forward, and another pieces that I deem extraneous, but I stopped to see this. I am realizing that this is a word for the reader, from the person that wrote the whole thing, and most times, from perspective of having written the book and thinking, “Wait, this needs just a quick beat to get them started.” I’m glad that he left this simple, yet profound piece of hope and understanding (my paraphrase):

In life, in order to love something, we have to see someone who has already learned to love that thing that we desire to love. In that showing, we see a mentor, a counselor who can guide us, even if we never converse with them. It is as if they are giving us a time tested, visual map.

God has been showing me this in various ways. The one that stands out the most was watching a friend dance.

Now, being a man that has been in the church for some time, I’ve read most every book that John Eldridge has written, save for Captivating (‘cause that’s the one for chicks, right? Just kidding, it’s on my shelf to read- I promise) which he wrote with his wife, specifically for women. After reading these books, I’ve found that the common thread that runs underneath all of them is that the glory of God is man fully alive.

However, what that means has always eluded me- does it mean that I go out and do what God desires me to do? Then by means of my own effort and praying and going to church I get fully alive, right?

Thank God, no.

It was this seeing of my friend dance- It was her last show, she was moving to London to go to a very exclusive dance school that it is close to impossible to get into. She is going to this place on passion and prayer, as the school doesn’t allow for scholarships to international students. Anyway, this last show- she made it Dr. Seuss themed and had her talented friends accompany her in this dance routine that she had choreographed. It was about a girl that had been tossed about by life and seen and met many different things, pain and beauty and friendship and loneliness. In all of this, with narration guiding, she danced. And I have to tell you, that even though I’ve watched So You Think You Can Dance, I’ve never seen passion poured out like this ever in my life. It was as if she had been unhinged from this world and in a sense, left, and this spirit was left to move around in this body, lifting and falling with a movement that resembled animated flame.

I left there saying that was the first time I had really enjoyed seeing dance. Something so intentional, so raw and honest and specifically done for God’s glory. Then I heard a voice:

“That’s what I mean when I want see you alive. I love you and I love the things that you love, I desire the things that you desire- because I put them there. I love you, my guy.”

After was this huge moment of “Ohhhhhh,” and I haven’t been the same since. I think that’s the thing that we forget- that while we go about our lives, there is a God in heaven with his heavenly host, cheering on the stands of our lives, louder than any soccer mom. He leans over to the angel next to him-

“You see that girl? She’s my girl! I sent my Son so that she could live and live like no one else! I love her so much! She so talented and so beautiful, I love to open doors for her and surprise her with things she didn’t expect. She is my wonderful and glorious treasure, and I love her, hang on-

(Stands up)

YEAH! You are doing so well! I am so happy for you! Keep going! You are my kid; I’ll never let you go!

(Sits back down)

Anyway, that’s my kid. She was going to go to hell, but I couldn’t let the happen. She’s too important to me.”

That’s the God that’s, well, on our side, if you couldn’t tell.

How do these all correlate? Good question.

Well, I needed to see my friend, Annie, dance her most passionate, her most heart poured out, to see how I could start making inroads to my own understanding of what and how I was to seek God in my own life. I can’t tell you how much knowing that sometimes we need to see someone else do something before it becomes accessible for us to love has helped me. Because sometimes faking it till you make it still leaves you a fake. Seek truth and seek people who are further down the spiritual road than you. Read some C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, or John Ortberg. Be on the lookout for moments where you can see someone fully alive, even though they might not be a Christian, or your idea of what a Christian might be. Indulge getting lost in the passion that’s on display. That in that indulgence, your excitement for what God can do in your life can be challenged and redefined.

“You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of the dust,

You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of us.”

Remember: He’s not done yet.

Nick Steinloski, Pastor of Youth Ministry

This month’s Watching the Wall is focused on the Youth Ministry at Bethany. This fall, things have been like a roller coaster. Several new commitments to Christ and great attendance and growth at Veritas (our weekly big-group meeting for high school and middle school), but we are also dealing with some high school students and choices they are making–students who don’t see the problem with lying, and even students dealing with running away from home. Really high highs and some pretty low lows. As we continue to reach students in our city, we also get to walk with them through some of their challenges. Below are some of the prayer requests we have received over the past few weeks as well as some about the youth ministry.

• One young man who lives in a group home for foster students who has been on his own for a few years. He has just committed his life to Christ and is now bringing his friends from the group home and Garfield High School where he attends.
• A High School female who is struggling with self-esteem: “I am having a lot of trouble with jealousy and lust. I don’t know what to do to make it go away. I have prayed but nothing seems to help. Please pray for me. Thank you.”
• “I have a friend who is having a rough time right now and is thinking about killing themselves. I need God’s help to help them.”
• “My birth dad needs help with his drug addiction.”
• A number of our students have parents who are unemployed.
• For our leaders to continue to have an impact in the lives of the students.
• We have four interns who are doing a fabulous job and would appreciate your prayers (Michael, Nick, Daniel and Chael).
• Winter Camp for both middle school and high school this February.
• For all the “church” kids who attend BCC; that they would see the value of getting connected and coming to Veritas.

Thank you for your continued prayers for the Bethany community as a whole, as well as our Youth Ministry specifically.

Pastor Nick Steinloski

Since school started, I have been taking the bus due to my job being in Edmonds, and gas taking toll on my wallet. And for the sake of sounding slightly enlightened, I’m trying to lower my carbon footprint.

Sadly though, because Edmonds is just past the King county border, I have to change busses in Lynnwood, from King County Metro to Community Transit. This change also makes me about 10-15 minutes late for work, but I’ve told my superiors and they have been very understanding.

All this to be said, I have been getting a bit anxious and/or aggressive with my thoughts in the morning.  When folks that take more time than I feel that they should take, thoughts of, “Come on! I need to get to work!” and, “if they take any longer, I’m going to say something!”  In the midst of this early morning mental teakettle moments, God decided to show up one day this week.

It was a typical morning, and after making my second bus with my cup of drip coffee in tow, I was feeling good about the day, that I might even make it into work a little early as the bus driver seemed to be a descendant of Mario Andretti or Jehu son of Nimshi (2Kings 9:20). However after dropping off some zero-period high school students, we started up and then came to a quick halt.

Initially, my mind will cycle through the obvious delays that occur on the bus: time points where the bus has to wait if they’ve gone to fast, the rogue pedestrian, the cross walk user, etc. These things factor in but were all shot down because we had pulled over and had the door open.

We waited and waited and I started to get a little aggravated. Meanwhile, I should tell you that God has been working on my heart to slow down, to be more in the moment, to stop and look, as Pastor Richard was talking about earlier in the Fibonacci series. To take a breath and drink in the beauty that God has just placed all around us, and also to take that time to order my ways, and be a better, more conscientious steward of my time.

But those thoughts were about 100,000 miles away. I just wanted to get to work, and I was telling myself “You know what? I’m going to go say something. I’m tired of waiting and this seems to be …” In moment, not unlike what Pastor Joe was talking about with Jesus command of the demons in Matthew 8, happened to me. While I’m fussing over my momentary needs, I hear:

“Look.”

I pull my head up to see a mother and her two children, bundled from head to toe, making their way up on to the bus, showing their passes and sitting together in the front. What I didn’t know was that the driver knew this lady and her kids because they were regulars, and that due to some unknown circumstance, that come up as only parents know, they were late to the bus. That bus driver knew, though, that they should be coming, and that it was odd that the three of them had not gotten on. Then, out of the corner of his eye, and even in the dark that was still the dawn, he saw their need, and had compassion on them.

I don’t know anything other than that I felt like a heel, but I knew that this was a moment to remember; that God was teaching me something profound.

That in the moments that we might feel are the most inconvenient, God might be on display for someone else, someone who, because a kid left the milk out, or the curling iron was left on to run back and be unplugged or the quintessential leaving of lunch behind, was in a moment of need. As we live our busy lives, and many of which include jobs that require that diligence and fastidiousness, we need to take a quick moment before the pressing that horn on displaying our grievance with a certain situation, to ask Jesus, “do I need to get agitated about this?” He might say yes, or he might just tell you look.

by John Thompson
Post College/Early Career

October 2010

Watching the Wall Prayer Guide

Warm Greetings!

…and I do mean warm.  Those of us who love fireplaces and hot cocoa are still waiting, but we wait with confident expectation that “it will come.”   This kind of waiting reminds me of a major theme in the Bible:  hope!

Habakkuk 2:3 reminds us that, “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”  God’s plans to evict all death, evil, destruction, poverty, and hatred will be fulfilled in spite of what we see in Congress, the UN, the Middle East, or the Gulf of Mexico.  As a church, we’re invited to be an island of hope in the midst of decay around us.  Toward that end, I’ll ask you to pray:

• For our satellite locations in North and West Seattle.   They’ve started their weekly worship gatherings, and are working hard at building outposts of hope in these two regions of Puget Sound.  Pray for Scott Sund and Shonnie Scott as they lead these important works, especially that God would continue to build an army of volunteers to serve in these great new works.

• For the Community Groups that are beginning, as well as for all their leaders.  There are over 800 people signed up to participate.  We’re praying that these groups will be an important context for discipleship, the birthing of significant friendships, and opportunities to serve our world.  Pray for each of these three goals as you remember the groups and their leaders, and for Pastor Joe Springer as he works to equip and encourage those leaders.

• For your pastoral staff.  We’re studying a book together this fall called The Good and Beautiful God as a means of maturing our spiritual disciplines, and helping us build community as a staff.  Pray for us, if you remember, as we gather each Thursday for this important work.

• There are lots of new interns serving at Bethany this fall.  Please pray for them as well, asking that God would use their time with us to mature their leadership, and enable them to discover their giftedness and calling for the future.

• Eric Henderson is down in Dallas this first week of October with a few other key worship leaders.  Pray that these worship leaders will find the right equipping and clarification of vision that they need in order to strengthen our already wonderful worship teams!

• Our Children’s Ministries continue to grow, and we’re praying for Pastor Earl Radford as he leads our team, asking that God will provide for he and his team in every way so that children would meet Christ in significant ways.

• Pray for God’s provision for us as a church.  In response to the growth that’s been occurring, we’ve been adding staff, taxing our facilities, and facing the kinds of challenges that come when anything grows.  These are good challenges to have, as Proverbs 14:2 reminds us—but they’re still challenges.  Pray that God will provide for the work to which we’re called, by moving our community to give faithfully.

• University students are returning, and we’re praying that, in contrast to prevailing cultural trends, the students who share life with us during their college years would be established and strengthened in their faith, and develop a passion for God and clarity of calling.

• Elli Oswald begins this week in her significant role as Director of Missions and Community Outreach at Bethany.  Pray for her.  Welcome her.  Ask that God would grant her anointed wisdom as she seeks to equip and mobilize our community to make God’s reign visible outside the walls of our church.

Waiting?  Yes, sort of.  But as you can see, it’s an active waiting.  Thank you for praying with us this month.

“May Your kingdom come, may your will be done, at Bethany Community Church, throughout Seattle, and to the far corners of the earth, as it is in heaven.”  Amen.

Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

I was visiting my five-year-old nephew a few weekends ago and it seems that he has inherited the A.D.D. that runs in my family.  His brain, mouth, and body were not only running a mile a minute, but they were also often running in opposite directions from each other. Add to all of this that he’s also a five-year-old boy, and you have utter chaos.  Since he’s delightful, it was chaos that was well worth it—but several times we had major communication issues about what he was doing or what I was supposed to be doing.

For example, there was a three-minute window of time that started with us sitting on his bed listening to his goodnight story. Two seconds later, we were on the floor playing with trains—and not just building a train set, but ramming our trains at each other to see who could knock each other off the track first. (And because I was the adult, it was communicated that I was expected to lose and/or forfeit, a rule I chose not to follow.) All the while, we’re having a discussion about how and when he goes to the bathroom at night.  And all of this is taking place at a volume that over the course of an extended time could cause permanent hearing loss.

I’ve been thinking about him and our play time a lot the past couple of weeks, mostly because I enjoyed it so much, but also because I’ve wondered at his ability to enjoy himself at such a frantic rate.  Granted, he is just a five-year-old and it’s just play time, but I think many adults operate under this same pace.  Feeling so scattered and stretched that we are frenetically trying to get it all done and as we check things off the list other “little” things pop up that also need to be done, adding a glint of craziness to our eyes.  For others it’s not a question of focusing on too many things all at once or being a chronic multitasker, but the struggle of monovision and not being able to focus on anything but that one issue that keeps rolling around your brain: will my child succeed? How much longer will I stay here? Does he/she like me?

The question is rarely about the quality of things done or thoughts thought, but rather— who is determining our focus?  As believers we’ve given our whole lives to God in order to let Him determine what our priorities are. Sometimes those priorities are many, and life feels like a sprint; other times there is one particular issue that is so heavy on our heart that we are burdened to be intercessors.  Where ever you are in the moment of life right now I hope that this can be a chance to re-evaluate.  More than justifying our own choices, we can use this reminder from an energetic five-year-old to lay everything down and see what God picks up and puts back in our hands.

As we come to prayer this month I hope that as you encounter the list of needs and praises that God would be speaking to you about how to pray and where he wants you to focus in this season.

Dear Lord, I thank you so very much for those who are praying for your body.  I thank you that you’ve given them a heart to petition you regarding concerns and that there is belief that you will intervene and respond to our conversations with you.  Jesus, please teach us constantly how to pray well and develop us evermore into speakers, hearers, and doers of your word.  Thank you for loving us well and claiming us as your people. Amen.

Megan Dobrasz

Pastor of College and Post College/Early Career Ministries

From Jean Ballance, Associate Director of Children’s Ministries.

Our Kids’ Summer Adventure ship set sail July 12 with over 160 kids in attendance and 70+ volunteers. This was the first of four amazing evenings where the kids learned how God’s Word is true, comforting, surprising, and life-changing.

With a delicious dinner to start each evening, the kids experienced God’s Word through crafts, games, Bible stories, discussions and videos, as well as singing and skits. The air was abuzz with excitement and laughter, yells of “Let’s GO!” throughout the buildings, and you may have even seen kids crab walking, jumping, or doing the Egyptian while crossing the street.

We packed out the Chapel each night and you could even hear the kids singing their favorite song, “Vast Voyage,” from out on the sidewalk. We had so many volunteers jump on board who helped stock bins, cook, lead groups, paint and build our amazing set, sing, and so much more. We are so thankful for all who helped us out this year. All of you were a tremendous blessing! We had a fantastic journey, with a fantastic crew of kids and adults, and, most of all, a fantastic God who lead us from the beginning to the end.

Do you know that feeling of returning to work after a week off?  I felt that on Tuesday of this week after a relaxing vacation with my family in Newport, Oregon.  My family spent a week with my sister’s family in a beach house overlooking the ocean.  It never got really warm, and there was ample time to just sit and rest.  I can’t count how many crossword puzzles I did.  I truly came back refreshed and filled with energy for re-entry into the routine.  I bounced into the office, happy to see everyone, and ready to go.

But then I opened my email.  And I heard what I had missed.  And I looked at my actual task list (not the one I created in my mind as I was sitting on the beach!).  And I was reminded of those I shepherd and care for who need my time and attention.  And I feel a mantle being placed back on my shoulders, weighty with responsibilities I have felt free of for a week.

We all have felt this at times, this weight of responsibility.  We can lose sleep over it; we can lose our sense of peace; we can find it difficult to shut off in the evening so that we can rest or be present with family and friends.

Tim Laniak, in his book, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks, describes this feeling in a the life of a leader well:  “more than the quantity of physical activity, the real weight of leadership is emotional.  The greatest stress on our well-being (and our family life) is the energy required to care for a community.”

Where do we find relief from this weight of responsibility?  We can find it by remembering that the Good Shepherd “neither slumbers nor sleeps.”  Regardless of who is under our care, whether it be family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, we can find peace in acknowledging that God is already committed to them, because the people we care for are His.

In Psalm 121, the psalmist declares, “I will lift my eyes to the mountains; from whence shall may help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.”  When we pray, we look to God and acknowledge that he is the one who keeps us and those we love; he is One who never slumbers.  When we pray, we can let go of our sense that we are ultimately responsible for those we shepherd, and entrust them to the One who cares for them the most.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture; we are his.

This month as we pray for the people ministries at Bethany, I encourage you to include in your prayers those you know who need to be entrusted to God.  Remember that they are his, that we are his, and that the one who keeps us “neither slumbers nor sleeps.”

Blessings and peace,

Nancy Eckardt

Pastor, Discipleship & Leader Development

………………………………………………………………………………….

Praise God for making personal commitments and recommitments to Christ that our church body has experienced over the summer.  God is working within those who attend Bethany, and it is expressed in their public professions of faith through response at the end of services, baptisms, and membership.  Pray that for each of us our personal commitment to Christ would be expressed in our public lives – in our families, our church, our workplace and school, and our neighborhoods.

Praise God for the challenges we have heard during the Wednesday night summer series, as we have consider how our faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives flows into our relationship to Christ flows out into our relationships with our family, our friends and community, and our global involvement.  Wednesday we watched a movie about the impact of forgiveness on the Rwandans capacity to heal from the atrocities they experienced.  Pray that their example of sacrificial forgiveness will challenge us in our own pockets of bitterness that keep us from reconciling with those we are in conflict with.

Pray for all of our Bethany attenders who have participated or are participating in various short-term mission trips this summer.  Pray that out of their experiences, they will encounter God in new ways, and that their perspectives of the world will be transformed by the Holy Spirit through the experiences they have had.

Pray for the ministry staff as they put together plans for next year and recruit and equip leaders and volunteers.  Pray that God would raise able and willing volunteers from within our church to carry out the ministry of the church,  and that they would respond in obedience to God’s prompting.

Pray for the search for the new Director of Missions at Bethany.  Pray that God would be working to place the right person in this position, and preparing their heart for the ministry He has for them.  Pray that the transition among staff and lay volunteers would be smooth.

Pray for those who are struggling with overwhelming obstacles in their lives – unemployment, financial debt, medical difficulties.  Pray that God would be their strength and Provider, and that He would work through Bethany’s congregation to bless and care for them as they hurt.

Pray that as many of us return from summer vacations and look toward fall and new challenges, we would cling to God for direction and significance in our lives, and allow his life to flow from us, so that whatever we may do, we will bring glory to him.