Celebrating a '10' Year Partnership!

With Legacy in mind, the Kreek Kids ministry team along with insights from AC3 families and leadership, officially became a cooperative partnership ministry in the 2009/2010 ministry year! 

At that time we understood and believed two things to be true. First, that parents really are the number one influencers in their child's life. Secondly, that a traditional Sunday School model would not continue to work for us and who we were as a church.

Knowing we could no longer effectively do children’s ministry or provide safe staffing ratios without the support of both AC3ers and Kreek Kids parents working together, AC3's Kreek Kids Co-op Ministry was born!

When we serve together and with Legacy in mind, we have the ability to create environments where kids feel welcome, have fun while learning Biblical truths creatively and we become a SAFE place for visiting parents to drop off their kids with confidence during weekend services. Our Kreek Kids partnership and co-op format is the key to what we call the BEST HOUR in every family's week!

AC3 is still passionate today about leaving a legacy of faith for the next generation and currently uses C.A.R.L. as a filter to help ensure that we are meeting  our Compassion, Alignment, Relationship and Legacy objectives. Because AC3 wants to continue to be relevant to seekers of all ages in our local community, a new Direction Team is being organized. This team will use a similar process that was used during our Five Year Planning Initiative in which C.A.R.L. was formed. They'll be collecting fresh data about our growing neighborhoods, how we currently invite our friends to church and much more. This team will be under the direction of our Pastoral Team and Elder Board.

As AC3's Kreek Kids Director, it's always hard to do the BIG ASK and let others know there are needs in our ministry and we do have a few. So if leaving a legacy of faith with the next generation of faith is important to you but you're not sure you have what it takes, let's chat over a latte! It's not as scary as you think:) 

The Church + Home = Greater Impact

Light (yellow) + Love (red) = Orange

Help Us Celebrate '10'!

Choose to do just ONE thing, a ONE time serve option to help support our Kreek Kids in the coming year. Looking for a total of 10+ serving opportunities filled by someone NOT currently serving in Kreek Kids. What a great way to tell our parents and volunteers 'I see you and I support you' in the coming ministry year 2019-2020. 

A few Celebrate '10' one-time serve opportunities include:

• Behind-the-scenes cleaning, organizing and classroom prep options
• Provide childcare during one of our Kreek Kids Team Training
• Provide childcare during a Child Dedication class or team meeting
• Be a substitute classroom or nursery helper  
• KK Entry-Level Positions PDF

Call me with any questions you might have. I look forward to celebrating the NEXT '10' years of partnership with you!

Twila & Kreek Kids Team

360-659-7335 EXT. 202

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Kreek Kids Mission: Partnering with Parents to Raise Up the next generation of Heroes in the Faith!  

A Challenge to Assemble.

Heb 10:25: …not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

So today I’m putting the finishing touches on a Romans 6-8 talk, and this passage just blows me away every time.  It’s like the climax of the whole Bible!  Truly life changing, if we understand it and embrace it.  Whether I can deliver the goods this weekend or not, we’ll see, but I’m excited to teach this stuff to the church I love.

Then the thought hits me and guts all my excitement, “no matter how good this talk is, only about 1/3 or less of my church is going to hear this, take this in, to be encouraged by it in the company of their sisters and brothers.” That’s based on trends in the church in America overall, and trends at AC3 currently.

Now, I ask you the question, what constitutes a “habit of staying away from church meetings”?  How would you know if that’s YOUR habit or not.  You’d want to know that, wouldn’t you?  You’d want to know if you were in standing violation of a clear Apostolic order, right?  The church meets (and has since Day One) every 7 days – so out of roughly 50 chances a year, how many do you have to miss before you call it a habit of “staying away”?  ½ of them?  Two thirds of them?  Is it only a habit of “staying away” if you stay away from all but two – Christmas and Easter?

Now, I’ve gone and made you uncomfortable probably.  You’re already charting your attendance in your head – don’t bother, we already know, for the average AC3er, it’s about once a month or less.  And now, maybe you’re getting a little defensive and muttering something about “legalism” and “church isn’t a meeting” or some other nonsense we say when we know something is amiss and we don’t want to look at it.

As to legalism, would you say the same thing if we talked about the habit of neglecting your diet and exercise?  The habit of neglecting sleep?  Would we call that being legalistic?  No, we’d put that in the category of “stuff we warn ourselves and each other about because we love and we want to see ourselves flourish and grow and get what we need and live within our design”.

Ok, so maybe that gets at something underneath the “habit of staying away from our meetings”.  You say, “that’s just the thing, frankly, I don’t NEED them every 7 days.”  Some beater cars need tune ups every few miles, BMW’s every 100,000 miles – I guess I’m just a spiritual BMW!  I don’t get a lot from the inputs, the worship or the messages, I mostly get what I need for my Christian life away from our public gatherings.

Really?  I debate whether that is so, but let’s say it is.  Go back and read the verse enjoining you and me to not neglect our weekly gatherings.  For whose sake is this important?  Is it primarily so you get a spiritual shot in the arm?  Is it primarily so that you can say you served in KK and did your duty?  Is it primarily so that you got fed? 

I’m reading something different, let’s say it together:  The primary reason I should not neglect coming to the public gatherings of the church is so that I can ENCOURAGE OTHERS. 

Hmmm… maybe you’ve never thought about that before.  Maybe, you need to be here – weekly – because someone else needs to see you here.  Maybe – except for obvious breaks on vacation, illness, etc. – you need to be here, for others, not for you.  How individualistic are we that we think the church gathering is only about meeting my need?  And if I deem it meets no need, the gathering itself is expendable, superfluous, not a priority.

I challenge you to rethink this whole thing, with one final thought: 

The apostle notes a reason to meet “all the more” – because you see the Day approaching.  I know many of you are deeply disturbed by the waves of secularity sweeping not just this nation, but the world.  It does seem, does it not, that a climax of confrontation is coming that only the “Day” will fix.  And yet often it’s the very people who wring their hands at the coming storm, and who curse the darkness the most, who do not bother to double down on the only thing Jesus ever gave us to feel hope in this broken world:  his Body, the Church, holding out the Word of Life.

Finally, the Church is by definition an “assembly”.  Those that are called out – out of world, out of chaos, out of the mess and out of darkness and into his wonderful light.  And how will we stand as light, unless we see each other – regularly – doing so?

-Written by Rick Thiessen

Accepting the Challenge...Part 2

by Guest Blogger: Jaime Dodds

After the banquet, I have gotten asked many questions, but some of them have been frequent. I thought I would try to answer some of those here and give credit where credit is due!

1. “Who made the huge frame?” Wayne Clinton made the frame with the help of his son, Bryan. I gave him a picture of an idea someone had showed me, told him that I the basic concept I had in mind, and said that I trusted him and his creativity. Let me tell you! I was so shocked to see how it came out! So much better than I had imagined, and so big! That took so much work, and it still is not done! Tim Ade will be helping Wayne with the finishing touches once the discs are complete.
   
   
2. “Where did you get the discs on the napkins?” Tim Ade is responsible for the discs on the napkin ties. I gave him the discs, told him my idea, and he made a brand using his forge. He branded the AC3 heron onto approximately 400 of those discs. Kellie Ade then drilled holes into all of them for the ribbon or twine. The thought was that you could use them as an ornament of some kind. I am happy to see so many people around church wearing them as necklaces and to see them hanging from car mirrors. I am glad that they did not just get thrown away!
   
   
3. “How long did it take to do all of those mason jars?” I did about 200 of them, and that took about 10 hours total. The rest were divvied up amongst a few volunteers­­Sarah Taylor, Mikki Trenkamp, Jessica Sautner, and Dana Callahan are responsible for the rest, so you can ask them personally how long it took each of them.
   
   
4. “How much did all those mason jars cost?” Hmmm...about $10. No joke, I begged, stole, and borrowed (minus the stolen part.) I knew Mason jars are a big item as far as popularity and availability, so I was not going to spend church money on something that would be easy to borrow and returned without being ruined. I will say that every person that I borrowed jars from took them back as is, willing to clean and undecorated them. That itself was a giant help! Everything was done with hot glue so it wouldn’t ruin the jar and would be relatively easy to peel or scrape off!
   
   
5. “How long did it take to set up?” The tables were wrapped on Tuesday the 22nd in the AC3 lobby. That took a few hours with a team of four people­­ Sarah Ade, Twila Crain, my daughter Courtney, and myself. From here on out, assume that any of the paid staff and any of the people on stage or in the sound booth were there helping where needed. The church had access to Cedarcrest for four hours on Wednesday the 23rd to start setting up. We had a bunch of teen volunteers show up to help with that, in addition to a few other volunteers that helped with the laying of the tarps and hauling of the tables most notably Lee and Dea Braaten, Dave White, Wayne Clinton, Chad Dodds. The volunteers that took on big jobs and were at the school shortly after 7:00 the morning of the 27th to help with getting the last minute touches on the room and getting the food started are the ones I will focus on. Konni Craig not only help set up but was also responsible for every photo board that decorated the space. She did beautiful work on all of those. If you did not get to see them, they will be on display in the AC3 lobby in the near future. Brenda Froland was responsible for getting the logs cut for the cupcake display, and for not only cutting all of the holly and fir branches but also filling out the holly and fir in all of the jars that you saw with floating candles. She filled them with water and candles and finished decorating the tables. It took a few hours just for this task. Dea Braaten not only helped in a major way on the Wednesday set­up team, but she then showed up early Sunday to help set up the childcare area. Without Dea, we definitely would not have been able to pull this off! Amy Sullivan took care of all of the food and did an amazing job! I can not even tell you how much food we went through!

The banquet was an amazing event pulling 20 years of people and memories together in one room. I am happy that I was given the opportunity to coordinate the event, but I can, in no way, take most of the credit. God used me in a beautiful way to organize others to help with His work. When you see those volunteers that I mentioned above, please thank them for their hard work and contribution! If I forgot anyone, please forgive me and tell me that I forgot to mention your contribution! I promise that I will not forget after the 25th­anniversary banquet. 

Accepting the Challenge...Part 1

by Guest Blogger: Jaime Dodds

350 brunch attendees...50 children...20 childcare volunteers...320 mason jars...wood and burlap all over the place...months of prep. The AC3 20th anniversary celebration that took place in December was a major undertaking, and I felt called to accept the challenge after attending AC3 for fewer than five months. I enjoy event planning, but it had never been on this large a scale, and for a group of people that I was so unfamiliar with.

Why did I decide to take on this project on when I wasn’t even super familiar with the church?  What did I get myself into?  I really hope that I do not fail or let anyone down. These were all thoughts that went through my mind numerous times. I prayed for clarity and for the event to go as smooth as possible. And while there were a couple of little snags, they were so minor that unless you knew what the original plan for something was, you would never know it was not something in the vision.  

A month has passed, and I consider the banquet to be a major success. I had a few team members that helped in huge ways and to whom I am so thankful. We were able to take a middle school gym and disguise it enough that we could focus on the celebration and not the basketball hoops above our heads. And what a celebration it was!

The banquet consisted of many ideas coming together to not only celebrate the church in a way that had not been done before, but also to glorify God in a way that is not seen very often because of the scale of the event. Everything from food to decorations was planned deliberately with the theme of nature, sustainability, and authenticity that AC3 strives towards every day.  Burlap and brown paper covered the tables to give a rustic feel.  Mason jars were wrapped in burlap and twine, with ribbon thrown in to give some color. Bins of fresh cut holly and fir were brought it as accents for floating candles. All of the plates, cups, and flatware were compostable in order to keep the banquet as environmentally responsible as possible. Included in our delicious brunch were dairy-free and gluten-free options to appeal to those with dietary needs and restrictions. Every detail was thought out and planned for.  I tend to overthink scenarios, and while there were a couple of things that came up that nobody had thought of, we were able to work as a team and quickly take care of any little issues that arose. 

 We were able to have fun and rejoice in AC3 and how God has used our church to change so many lives over 20 years.  Along with our regular attendees, there were banquet attendees that came from out of town.  There were also those who grew up at AC3 and no longer attend, but who still love AC3 and wanted to celebrate its successes.  It was like a reunion and anniversary party rolled into one! I can only imagine the joy that God had that day over his children coming together in honor of a church that has touched so many lives and is still going strong after 20 years. 

Twenty years is nothing to scoff at. From a church that was a handful of a people worshiping in a living room, to 200-300 people on any given weekend, it is a huge achievement that deserved to be honored. And while we were at a different building--which happened to be one of the first meeting sites of AC3--the banquet had the same feel of one of our “normal” weekend services. There was music, and a message delivered by Rick, a video put together by Nate Crain, and a drama.  The theme happened to be perseverance this time--where we have come from the past 20 years, and what we hope to do in the next 20 years--and what an amazing message it was.  This time, it was just done on a slightly larger scale.