Wednesday, October 3, 2018
AC3 VB189 Elemental
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Say Hi to AC3's New Nursery Director!
A note from Karli!
*Good Afternoon,
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for welcoming me into the family this last month.
As you know, I have taken on the role of the Nursery Director position for the year of 2018-2019. This opportunity has opened the door for me to use my gifts from Christ in order to help wherever possible to facilitate growth in Kreek Kids Ministry.
A little bit about myself: I was born and raised in this wonderful community of Marysville, and have moved all around the Pacific Northwest my whole life, but have always come back to my hometown. A relationship with Christ for me has always been apparent, but like any Christian, God has left the heard of his sheep to find me when I am lost time and time again. At the hardest point in my life, He was always there to comfort me. I have been a part of AC3 for four years, I have a loving husband, and a one year old son. When I am not at church, I spend most of my time co-owning a photography studio here in Marysville, WA.
A few fun facts about myself:
1. Who in our family tells the best stories? My Mother in Law Deanna Braaten is so good at telling a story to our family or reading a book.
2. What is your family motto? "Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken"
3.What is your family's place to hang out? Honestly, either at church, at Chase's parents, or at home. We like to be home whenever possible.
4.What's your favorite family movie? Either Thor Ragnarok, Princess Bride, or my husband's favorite, Knights Tale.
5.If you could go anywhere as a family, where would it be? Always Disneyland/world or Europe!
6. Pumpkin Patch or Supermarket for pumpkin picking? ALWAYS pumpkin patch (or to just look at all the cool pumpkins and take the kids in the wagon, but then going to the store to get a cheaper carving pumpkin haha!)
I have agreed to join the Kreek Kids Directors for my passion in Children's Ministry, and believe that a child's relationship with God can begin as early as birth. A simple nursery song can help educate an infant in who our God is, and how much he loves us. Early introduction into a foundation of faith can determine a solid lifelong relationship so no matter what life throws at you, there will always be someone in your corner. Proverbs 22:6 says: "Train up a child the way up he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Along with a child's need for ministry at a young age, AC3 also believes in the importance of parent contribution into that growth of a child's relationship with Christ Our Kreek Kids Weekend Mission: To be the BEST HOUR in every family’s Week! Our Co-op Mission: Partnering with Parents to raise up the next Generation of Heroes in the Faith!
Please feel welcome to reach out to me anytime to learn more about our Nursery, or visit with us on Saturday, October 13th, 2018 in the Orange Room for a Nursery Brunch with a brief presentation about our AC3 KKM mission and get to know our Nursery a little more.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for welcoming me into the family this last month.
As you know, I have taken on the role of the Nursery Director position for the year of 2018-2019. This opportunity has opened the door for me to use my gifts from Christ in order to help wherever possible to facilitate growth in Kreek Kids Ministry.
A little bit about myself: I was born and raised in this wonderful community of Marysville, and have moved all around the Pacific Northwest my whole life, but have always come back to my hometown. A relationship with Christ for me has always been apparent, but like any Christian, God has left the heard of his sheep to find me when I am lost time and time again. At the hardest point in my life, He was always there to comfort me. I have been a part of AC3 for four years, I have a loving husband, and a one year old son. When I am not at church, I spend most of my time co-owning a photography studio here in Marysville, WA.
A few fun facts about myself:
1. Who in our family tells the best stories? My Mother in Law Deanna Braaten is so good at telling a story to our family or reading a book.
2. What is your family motto? "Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken"
3.What is your family's place to hang out? Honestly, either at church, at Chase's parents, or at home. We like to be home whenever possible.
4.What's your favorite family movie? Either Thor Ragnarok, Princess Bride, or my husband's favorite, Knights Tale.
5.If you could go anywhere as a family, where would it be? Always Disneyland/world or Europe!
6. Pumpkin Patch or Supermarket for pumpkin picking? ALWAYS pumpkin patch (or to just look at all the cool pumpkins and take the kids in the wagon, but then going to the store to get a cheaper carving pumpkin haha!)
I have agreed to join the Kreek Kids Directors for my passion in Children's Ministry, and believe that a child's relationship with God can begin as early as birth. A simple nursery song can help educate an infant in who our God is, and how much he loves us. Early introduction into a foundation of faith can determine a solid lifelong relationship so no matter what life throws at you, there will always be someone in your corner. Proverbs 22:6 says: "Train up a child the way up he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Along with a child's need for ministry at a young age, AC3 also believes in the importance of parent contribution into that growth of a child's relationship with Christ Our Kreek Kids Weekend Mission: To be the BEST HOUR in every family’s Week! Our Co-op Mission: Partnering with Parents to raise up the next Generation of Heroes in the Faith!
Please feel welcome to reach out to me anytime to learn more about our Nursery, or visit with us on Saturday, October 13th, 2018 in the Orange Room for a Nursery Brunch with a brief presentation about our AC3 KKM mission and get to know our Nursery a little more.
Constructive Connections-Part 7
Constructive Connections is a fiction series. They are beginning tales of how each person is crafted by God to fulfill a purpose, to enhance the narrative of life. By contributing unique talents to serve one another, a tower God calls us to construct begins to form for His joy.
Watching the Lower Third
“Just listen to what is broadcasted on the media-feed; make sure the sound and video is clear,” Jacob Meyer said, wincing as he leaned to the left. Recovery from surgery hadn’t been easy. “My video, your feed. Just make sure to push,” pained again, he pointed to the highlighted script schedule with one hand and with the other pointed to the keyboard, “the mute button so we don’t show the copywritten production.
It really was an easy volunteer job. I was used to letting Jacob overexplain instructions.
“Another part of your job is to keep an eye on the lower third,” he said.
“Just make sure you keep on top of the comments,” then he eyed me in classic Jacob stare fashion; mustache twitch, left eyebrow lift, top lip hidden by bottom teeth. “Make nice, hospitable comments, like you were talking on the phone with a friend. Or texting, which is what I’m sure you are used to but don’t use text talk! I hate that stuff. If you want to say ‘you’ don’t use the letter ‘u’. And proper grammar is appreciated by all the viewers.” He stopped and pointed his finger at the screen, “And do not cuss!”
“Check,” I answered. I’ve been working with him for a few months through my friend, Craig, who referred me for some odd jobs at Jacob’s house. He still doesn’t quite trust me even though I’ve always shown up to clean up his yard every Wednesday at 4 sharp.
Fighting the urge to say, Just breath, man! I answered instead with, “You have made that crystal clear, my friend.” I rocked back in my chair, adjusting my burgundy knit under the earphones, listening to the audio output from Jacob’s video feed. Humans are judgmental beings. Suppose we were created to categorize for a good reason. What is an edible berry vs a poisonous one, what is a good kitty vs a vicious one, what is a good cup of coffee vs instant? God might have been thinking he was doing us a favor by giving us this category sorting system, but like all good things; we humans go and mess it up.
I can’t blame Jacob too harshly for putting me into his “homeless” category. My camp residence is a sage two-man tent without address or mailbox. Setting my phone to the white noise of a raging river was my life two years ago. Now waking up to the cool of the morning, a real-time roaring river is actual blessed white noise.
The burgundy knit hat I wear every day is the reminder. Category: Mourning. Cody, my nephew was only 15. When I was having lunch, talking with Craig, he asked if I blamed God for not saving Cody from sickness. Never did.
Just because I don’t have a permanent roof over my head, doesn’t mean God and I don’t get along. Or Just because I live in a tent doesn’t mean I don’t know Jesus. I grew up getting to know God through Dad’s sermons. We had a life of church, school, family, friends. Category: American Dream. But one day, things were not so good. So I ran.“The world is ugly,” I explained, “and it isn’t always kind. But God isn’t responsible for sickness. He’s an artist! Why would he scrap his creations with the ugliness of Sick? Na, sickness is Category: Satan."
My sister Kari, Cody’s mom, is another story. Category: Vanishing. She’s not so good with God right now. Kari spends hours on the computer watching what is going on in other people’s lives. She is living a half-life through the smiles, vacations, thumbs up, and likes. More likely, she’s feeding into the lies. Lies of perfect health, perfect marriages, perfect children, perfect cooks. When I packed my stuff from the spare bedroom to move out, I told her I wasn’t going to watch her disappear. We already experienced heart-wrenching wasting away, I couldn’t experience another. Two years of Kari’s immovable numbing sorrow couldn’t have been God’s plan when he released Cody from his sick body.
Craig asked me to come check out his church. “You know I’m Category: Wanderer, don’t you?” I replied expecting inevitable judgment, wondering if Craig was aware of the line he would be crossing to bring me into his camp.
“Yeah, I got that, Stanley,” he said knowing my story. “But I read about this guy that asked a really great question to this other guy: ‘Do you want to get well?’”
The Jesus reference was clear; I remember hearing my dad preach on it once. In John 5 there is a story of a disabled man who couldn’t get to the water to take a bath. He asks for Jesus’ help. Jesus doesn’t give him a hand, he doesn’t lift him up by the armpits; he just asks him, “Do you want to get well?”
The guy gives him all kinds of valid physical excuses as to why he can’t get to the water, but by ignoring the question, Do you want to get well? he ignores the hope that he could ever be different from how he was in that moment.
In true Jesus awesomeness, He says, “Get up!” and the guy walks! It took some courage for Craig to call me out: Category: Listening to God. It got me through those church doors, and as I turned towards God again, I began to feel well.
I’d be like, “Heck yeah, I want to get better!” But maybe he just didn’t know how to let Jesus know that he really wanted to be able to walk to the water himself? He was stuck in the idea that he couldn’t get better.
When I saw an opening to help livestream the sermon, I thought of Kari sitting captive; enthralled by the water, but unable to walk to it to get clean. Through seeing and hearing the sermon in the place where she is stuck, maybe she could hear God ask her: Do you want to get well?
I sent her the link to the livestream sermon. Pulling up her friend profile, a pic of her and Cody, both smiling ear to ear, pain pangs returned and burned a little. I messaged her about 10 times with quips like; “New job: Check church social media page for live feed at 10:30!”, “Please can you can message so I know you are there?”, “Come-on, help me make a good impression the first day on the job!”, “Help a brother…your brother…out!” I know…Category: Begging. I don’t have the words. Jesus does, though.
Do you want to get well?
“5-minute heads-up,” Jacob nudged, while trying to focus the camera, grimacing as his stomach complained. Jacob knows lots about volunteering; not so much about taking it easy after surgery.
Adjusting my burgundy knit I nodded, ready to watch for the Kari and Cody circle along the lower third.
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
Monday, October 1, 2018
Miracle Gifts--Elemental-Week 1
I became a Christian at 15. And almost instantly it seemed, I started looking differently at that institution which was simultaneously, the bane of my existence, the dominant feature of my WHOLE way of life, the source of my pride and joy all rolled into one – my HIGH SCHOOL.
My High School suddenly became an arena for MISSION. I stopped seeing it only as classes and friends, teachers and grades and getting ready for college – and a place to be rejected by females. It was still all that, but now it was something more. I had read these words of Jesus a million times, but suddenly reborn, I realized they applied to ME.
Matt 5:13-15 - "You are the salt of the earth. …"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Accordingly, I began to see my high school through Jesus' eyes, as a dark place that needed some light. I saw it as a rotting place and I was the salt called to rub in there and keep it from decay. I saw it as a foreign country and I was an ambassador to it.
So I started to look for opportunities for conversations, relationships, and good deeds I could engage in to direct people to the God who had bought me and loved me.
The way I saw my High School is how I think Christians ought to see the world. The world is the Titanic Sinking, in two ways:
On one hand, it is a disaster from which I must flee: Its values, its habits, its thinking were a threat to my very soul and I needed to separate myself. On the other hand, it was an opportunity; a tragedy which called out for action and intervention.
If I had fled by getting in the Lifeboat, others were still floating in the water, lost and in need. So now it was my duty to go back in. Being pulled into the Lifeboat, immediately puts me on a Mission back to the disaster from whence I came.
Now, some of you maybe have been cowed into thinking that it’s presumptuous of you to think you could be on a mission from God; to think God could USE you. And maybe on your own, the mysterious life change that God has in mind for lost humanity would be impossible to realize. But what if I told you, God has rigged the game? What if I told you, God had accounted for you limitations when he called you the salt and light of the World?
In fact, the recurring teaching of the New Testament is that every follower of Jesus whom he commissions as his Ambassadors also has been divinely enabled by his Spirit to follow that commission. In October, we’ll look at all those divine enablements, and we’ll categorize them into four groupings in four weeks. And you will find yourself in at least one group and realize that you – yes you! – have been equipped for your part in the rescue operation.
The first week we’ll deal with “Wind” gifts – the miracle gifts that Christians often debate about their validity and operation. But it’s a good place to start a series on gifting because, in some sense, EVERY gift is a miracle gift! Because every gift comes from the Holy Spirit inside, who energizes you and brings disproportionate (read: a miraculous amount of) fruit out of a particular service you render.
This miraculous quality of the gifts applies not just to the superstar gifts that everyone sees – leadership, teaching, evangelism. It applies to everyone because we ALL are gifted to serve the great Mission.
Look at the early church. Aside from the likes of Peter and Paul we have Dorcas, a humble old lady known for her part in the Mission: “She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.”
Transformed people in the early church lived out their gifting so effectively, they turned the Roman Empire upside down in 300 years. One church father quoted outsiders looking in saying: "See, how they love one another!”
They fed orphans and took in abandoned babies. Women streamed into the early church because it was a haven from Roman misogyny, that used them as sex objects, got them married by age 13 and left them to starve after they were widowed. While plagues were causing Romans to toss even their own family members into the street, or leave town, Christians serving with their gifts, were found moving in to care for the sick and take them in.
Jesus one time said we followers would do “greater things”. How could that be, when Jesus did some pretty great things? But what if he didn’t mean greater physical miracles, but greater spiritual fruit? While Jesus had done amazing things, in 300 years, his followers had turned an entire Pagan Empire, Christian.
It is your destiny to serve the Great Mission, and your gifts are the miraculous provision God has given you to participate in it!
~Written by Rick Thiessen
My High School suddenly became an arena for MISSION. I stopped seeing it only as classes and friends, teachers and grades and getting ready for college – and a place to be rejected by females. It was still all that, but now it was something more. I had read these words of Jesus a million times, but suddenly reborn, I realized they applied to ME.
Matt 5:13-15 - "You are the salt of the earth. …"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Accordingly, I began to see my high school through Jesus' eyes, as a dark place that needed some light. I saw it as a rotting place and I was the salt called to rub in there and keep it from decay. I saw it as a foreign country and I was an ambassador to it.
So I started to look for opportunities for conversations, relationships, and good deeds I could engage in to direct people to the God who had bought me and loved me.
The way I saw my High School is how I think Christians ought to see the world. The world is the Titanic Sinking, in two ways:
On one hand, it is a disaster from which I must flee: Its values, its habits, its thinking were a threat to my very soul and I needed to separate myself. On the other hand, it was an opportunity; a tragedy which called out for action and intervention.
If I had fled by getting in the Lifeboat, others were still floating in the water, lost and in need. So now it was my duty to go back in. Being pulled into the Lifeboat, immediately puts me on a Mission back to the disaster from whence I came.
Now, some of you maybe have been cowed into thinking that it’s presumptuous of you to think you could be on a mission from God; to think God could USE you. And maybe on your own, the mysterious life change that God has in mind for lost humanity would be impossible to realize. But what if I told you, God has rigged the game? What if I told you, God had accounted for you limitations when he called you the salt and light of the World?
In fact, the recurring teaching of the New Testament is that every follower of Jesus whom he commissions as his Ambassadors also has been divinely enabled by his Spirit to follow that commission. In October, we’ll look at all those divine enablements, and we’ll categorize them into four groupings in four weeks. And you will find yourself in at least one group and realize that you – yes you! – have been equipped for your part in the rescue operation.
The first week we’ll deal with “Wind” gifts – the miracle gifts that Christians often debate about their validity and operation. But it’s a good place to start a series on gifting because, in some sense, EVERY gift is a miracle gift! Because every gift comes from the Holy Spirit inside, who energizes you and brings disproportionate (read: a miraculous amount of) fruit out of a particular service you render.
This miraculous quality of the gifts applies not just to the superstar gifts that everyone sees – leadership, teaching, evangelism. It applies to everyone because we ALL are gifted to serve the great Mission.
Look at the early church. Aside from the likes of Peter and Paul we have Dorcas, a humble old lady known for her part in the Mission: “She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.”
Transformed people in the early church lived out their gifting so effectively, they turned the Roman Empire upside down in 300 years. One church father quoted outsiders looking in saying: "See, how they love one another!”
They fed orphans and took in abandoned babies. Women streamed into the early church because it was a haven from Roman misogyny, that used them as sex objects, got them married by age 13 and left them to starve after they were widowed. While plagues were causing Romans to toss even their own family members into the street, or leave town, Christians serving with their gifts, were found moving in to care for the sick and take them in.
Jesus one time said we followers would do “greater things”. How could that be, when Jesus did some pretty great things? But what if he didn’t mean greater physical miracles, but greater spiritual fruit? While Jesus had done amazing things, in 300 years, his followers had turned an entire Pagan Empire, Christian.
It is your destiny to serve the Great Mission, and your gifts are the miraculous provision God has given you to participate in it!
~Written by Rick Thiessen
Who's Who at AC3-Twila Crain
In our mission to be a safe church for seekers, we sometimes hear those attending say that they don't know who someone is. We want you to get to know the faces you see around AC3 . We are starting with the Triad, and last time we introduced you to Nate Crain. Next up, we have Twila Crain, who is one of our staff members highly involved with Kreek Kids, Seeds of Grace, and she has many other responsibilities around AC3.
Questions--Spiritually Minded
- How I clear my mind after a challenging day:
- Advice to a person of faith dealing with a broken relationship with their church:
- When I declared I was going to walk along with God, instead of away from him:
- Moment I saw significant change in my servant life:
 |
Twila and her husband, Tracy |
- How we found our way to AC3:
- Advice I’d give to Younger Me:
- Gifting I most admire:
- What I tell others about serving:
- 3 disciplines/habits that keep me connected to community:
- 3 disciplines/habits that keep me connected to God:
Questions--Secular Minded
- What book left a lasting impression on you?
- Marvel or DC?
- Beach or Mountains? Why?
 |
Twila, Tracy, and (L-R) son Nate,
daughter-in-law Amanda, daughter-in-law Braeden,
son Brandon |
- Favorite season? Why?
- You have a day with NOTHING planned and no responsibilities! What do you do?
- What is the last thing you binge-watched?
- Morning person or night owl?
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Power-Go Get'em Gideon-Week 4
POWER
When I was little, I couldn’t wait to have the power to make my own decisions. I mean, Come On! I couldn’t eat what I wanted, make my own bedtime or cut my own hair, though that last one did happen anyway, with mixed reviews. My pre-school picture looks a little like Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber. Worse yet, my parents had control over me. I remember fantasizing about telling my folks what to do; ordering them to make popcorn and watch cartoons at every opportunity. Alas, that dream was never realized.
When I got older and moved out, the pretty shine on that dream started to tarnish. There was no power without a commensurate set of consequences. What’s more, I realized that power was just an illusion. I traded my parents’ rules for the judicial laws, the tax code and the rules on bouncing checks at the bank. But for that one hour, before real life hit me, the power felt great. Our own power can be such an illusion.
In Judges 7, God is trying to make it clear to Gideon that he doesn’t need to rely on the power of his army or his strategy or his positive thinking to win the battle. He needs to rely on the power of God alone, and to prove his point, he has him pare down his army from 32,000 soldiers to just 300. While it is true that God did not even need those 300 men, he chose to use them to prove his point, and to let Gideon participate in the miracle he was about to perform. When you read the chapter *SPOILER ALERT* God causes the enemy army to become confused and turn on itself, allowing Gideon to have the victory. He does the fighting for them.
In 2 Chronicles 20:15, the Bible says, “He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” The battle is God’s. It’s not mine, though it certainly FEELS like mine. So, if the battle belongs to the Lord, why don’t I rely more on his power than my own?
Here are some reasons in the form of lies the enemy would have you believe about power: The circumstances are too great for God to move. God isn’t interested in this petty thing. If I let go of my power, all the plates I am spinning will fly out into space and also possibly put my eye out. I must hold tightly to any power I have because if I give it away, someone else will win and have power over me. God doesn’t love me enough to step in. God is mad at me.
If we think there is no enemy behind these thoughts, we have clearly missed a big part of the plot in the Bible. The enemy would love to have us trade in our rights as heirs with Christ through the power of the
Holy Spirit for a sense in which we can control with our own power. This is kind of like trading in a Ferrari for a unicycle. You might think you are peddling toward the battle, but you will grow tired long before you even get to it. Sometimes I have worried myself to exhaustion about a thing before the thing actually happens. And sometimes it doesn’t happen at all. Nevertheless, I can become battle weary on my unicycle miles from any actual battle.
If I am honest, when I fail to rely on the power of God, it’s because I really don’t trust him. I don’t believe he will come through; at least not in the way I want him to. I’m not sure he will consult me about how this should be handled, and I don’t want to give up the power I have over the result. Correction: I don’t want to give up the PERCEIVED power I have over the result. How do I know I’m still holding on to my own power in the battle at hand? It keeps me up at night with worry. It has me intervening with a sense of anxiousness, trying to fix the problem so that I can finally rest. It finds me making plans and strategies and gathering a bigger army, just like Gideon.
But then the Lord reminds me it isn’t by big armies that this battle is won. Not better weapons, not worry, not more and more and more thought. It is by trusting that this is his battle. That he will win it in the best possible way, even if it doesn’t match my plan. He will fight for me.
And sometimes, just like the 300 men led by Gideon, God will let me participate in the battle. What does this look like? Sometimes God will heal a relationship by giving me the grace to forgive someone. Forgiveness tackles the big lie that says you will lose power to the other person if you forgive them, but the truth of the matter is that forgiveness is incredibly empowering and freeing. This dance that God and I do sometimes is the most sacred of dances. It becomes clear that I will never change circumstances or people with more words, more threats, more pleading or more frustration. But God will change the world with forgiveness and love. This is the power of the Gospel, friends. And it is the most powerful thing that can happen to a person.
-Lori Caperoon
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