Life in the Big Potato

Bennett got a Marsh-Mallow Blaster from his beautiful wife for Christmas. Jana got a kiss from Frosty. Emma got a pretty Barbie with crazy wings. Jana was able to assist in the building of a Gingerbread house, while Bennett dominated in a game of Trouble. You're a good man Charlie Brown. And we know you will go very far.

we are surviving the winter (woo hoo), and we are actually having lots of fun. here are some fun pictures from this month. we wish all of you a very merry Christmas. the snow boarders getting ready. that's bennett in front. we actually get to ski and board in Narnia. it's magical. and our life group felix navidad party. we are thankful for the community God has given us. and this is our first Christmas tree from K-mart. "and they will call him Immanuel which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

You may be wondering how things are going with us. The church as a whole seems to be doing pretty well. I mean, we are filling up the "pews" (they are actually padded chairs that hook together) each Sunday morning. About a third of our people are involved in small groups. There are about 15-20 children involved on Sunday morning. Our youth group is only consistently around 6 or so. But we have a good group of adults who want to help with the youth. We are looking forward to starting many mentoring relationships. Our building fund is up to around $300,000 ( I think). That means that we are ready to move forward with plans for a new building. We still have to come up with another $300,000 before all is said and done, but we are far enough along to begin the process, which is very exciting. We have a new Associational Missionary or whatever we call it here. Joe Boney will be DOM for our association and the one south of us. Whispering Pines, I think it is called. Jana ...

I have now lived in snow longer than ever before. Not that there was a large reccord to beat. I guess the most days of snow I've ever seen was maybe four. Even then I was on a mission trip in Indianapolis. But here we have had 12 days with a significant amount of snow on the ground. The temps are ranging a few degrees above freezing now, but the snow is still several inches deep. We did get a chance to go skiing last week. As we rode up the ski lift into the fog we really felt like we were riding into Narnia or some other magical winter wonder land. It was so beautiful. I snowboarded and Jana skiied. We both took the lessons that were included in the package we bought. I ate a lot of snow, but eventually started having fun. I can't wait until you come visit so we can ski lookout pass together. See ya on Huckleberry Ridge.

Here are some images from our trip back home during Thanksgiving. Actually we went to Birmingham, Houston, and Hattiesburg. That sweet tea didn't stand a chance. We helped decorate Sue and Floyd's Christmas tree. I still think it needs more color. Emma and I are trying out for the next L.L. Bean catalog. Here the younger folks are discussing how things have changed since we were kids. This was supposed to be a leaf pile, but it is actually a stack of pine needles. Sandy didn't care. She did get a little sappy. This is probably right before the second half of the Fenton bowl. Jerry's team makes their game plan The Fenton boys have now taken up rocketry. This is the first attempt at hydrogen fuel for energy. Thanks to our families for feeding us and encouraging us this Thanksgiving. We love you!

Join with us in prayer this Fall - That our relationships with the youth would continue to grow into discipleship relationships - That our church would be moved to be body of passionate prayer, gleeful giving, and sacrificial service. - That our focus will be Christ alone. - That our life groups would be vibrant. - That our staff will be unified. - Pray for the UISBC (Utah/ Idaho Southern Baptist Convention). There are many churches dealing with conflict and bitter spirits. Pray for them to be humbled and for peace and unity to reign. - Pray as we begin to prepare for our trip to East Asia in the Spring that God would prepare the hearts of the college students we will meet.

my pop-in-law sent this to me ... Remember.... The will of God will never take you... Where the grace of God cannot keep you Where the arms of God cannot support you Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs Where the power of God cannot endow you. The will of God will never take you... Where the spirit of God cannot work through you Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you Where the army of God cannot protect you Where the hands of God cannot mold you. The will of God will never take you... Where the love of God cannot enfold you Where the mercy of God cannot sustain you Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you. The will of God will never take you... Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears Where the Word of God cannot feed you Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Last night we got snow here in Northern Idaho. You can see the remains on the mountain in our "back yard." There is not much left on the ground, but we have our ski jackets out and ready!

Here are some pictures from our trip last week. This place is really in the middle of no where. . Yes that is the famous Lottie Moon in the last picture, and that is literally how tall she was. They have the picture in the children's building. I guess so they can know even when you are small you can make a HUGE impact. ****

We are currently sitting at the library of the Missionary Learning Center in Richmond, Virginia. We arrived last night close to midnight. All I can say is, "This is so cool!" The "compound" is on a massive plot of land in the hill country. We went through two security gates and down a very long entrance drive to get to the campus. It is surrounded by pastureland with cows, trees, creeks, and a large pond. The leaves are turning and while they are not as brightly colored as the ones we left in North Idaho, the trees are beautiful, old and seem much more "treeish" to me. We are very excited to be here and see what God is doing. Prospective Jman, Masters, and ISC missionaries are here this week too. It's neet to get to see first hand, what we have heard so many people talk about.We are here meeting with an IMB consultant who is in charge of helping state conventions mobilize churches to be mission focused. We get to represent North Idaho.

Dear Friends of NorthStar: As most of you know, NorthStar Church was planted with a clear vision of becoming a birthing center to other congregations. God has provided us land in the explosive growth corridor of one of America's up and coming communities, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Last April we shared with many of you God's vision for a ministry center that would serve as a missions outpost for the entire Inland Northwest.  We understood that securing a permanent home for NorthStar would be foundational if the dream of planting other churches would become reality. The plans called for $500,000 to construct this facility. We asked for 500 partners to stand with us in reaching this goal. The members of NorthStar began to pray and to sacrificially give. In six short months, God has blessed our fellowship us with over $60,000 of our goal...until this month when, through three generous donors, we have seen God ...

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday sweet Sandy. Happy birthday to you!

"I can't think of a youth movement that connects people more profoundly across demographic lines. This is a movement of cowboys, skaters, punk rock kids, nerds, drop-outs, cheerleaders, goth kids--you name it. And they all talk about how their faith and their faith community gives them a sense of identity, pupose, and community, which they say they can't find outside Christianity." "...many of the members of this Disciple Generation I met are extremely articulate, thoughtful, creative -- they are quite astute, I believe in many of their criticisms of the secular world as empty, consumerist, and purposeless." "I met pastors, students, organizers, you name it, with rhetorical power and quick wits which would put many people I know to shame." "...there is no doubt that this generation are finding very valuable and powerful things in their modes of living." "This is a movement that is more of a grassroots movement than one that follows a...

Exciting News for NORTHSTAR CHURCH A friend of this ministry has issued a dollar for dollar match up to $25,000 for all money raised in October. We need you this month! $10 becomes $20 $100 becomes $200 $5000 becomes $10,000 Tax-deductible gifts can be sent to: NorthStar Church Building Fund 1602 Appleway Ave. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83814 This is in regards to raising money for the church building fund.  I just wanted to pass along this exiting news.  It is incredible to imagine an individual giving up to $25,000 toward the future ministry of North Star.  That's great!  Maybe by the time YOU visit (I know every one of you is planning to come) we'll be breaking ground on a new church building. Pray that the Lord will pave the way for us to move forward with the building plans. More importantly, pray that He will pave the way for the Gospel to move forward in peoples' hearts.

create your own personalized map of the USA

September has been a busy month.  We've had three youth meetings now and averaged about 7.23 youth which is really great.  Most of the group is really young, 6th and 7th graders.  That means we are pretty short on maturity as a group.  But that also means that we have a great opportunity to impact some young Christians at one of the most formative times of thier lives! We've had two life group meetings in our home.  We've averaged 7.5 people there, and during life group I have consumed an estimated total of 34 chocolate chip cookies. I've been playing the bass in the church praise band for about 2 months now. Its been 2 weeks since I heard from the Mormon Missionaries. The temperature has been as low as 38 degrees already, but today it is in the low 60's. The church attendence has been around 80 or 90. I have helped people move 3 times in the past 3  weeks.  All local moves. Things are going well here. The church is officially 1 year old.  It cons...

our first wednesday night went great with the students. we are excited about what God has in store. here are some pictures from the night. we meet in the basement of our church house, and it reminds so much of my youth house growing up. the summer after i became a Christian i was hanging out with my youth minister and church friends all of the time. one day, probably to get us out of his hair, john (my youth minister) told us to go and get paint SAMPLES from walmart so we could eventually paint the house set aside for youth ministry. instead of getting samples, we purchased the paint on the church account. we were young- i don't have any other excuse. so i spent that summer painting our youth house with some other friends and with brushes- no rollers. that's why it took us all summer i suppose. community formed in our lives that summer. we became a team, and even though the purchase was a surprise to john, we gained ownership in a ministry that was supposed to be for us. pray f...

We had our first youth meeting last night and it went very well.  We had 9 young'uns and 5 grow'd up folk.  Thanks for your prayers. Sheri and Deva came to visit last weekend and were a great encouragement to us.  Here is a word of testimony from Sister Sheri:     "Most of you know that Deva and I went to Idaho for Labor Day weekend.  It was a     wonderful time of rest and fun with Jana and Bennett.  It was so very good to see     them again, and very hard to leave on Monday morning.  While I was there Jana wanted to me think of ways we could pray for them as I observed there lives.  So here they are....   Pray for their relationship with God to overshadow the everyday ministry duties in the office.  It is so easy to get caught up in the business of ministry and paperwork and such, and to neglect your personal walk.  Please pray they will continually seek God before office work.   ...

There are some people that you can have fun with no matter where you are. We are truely blessed to have those type of people in our lives. Labor Day weekend was so great! I didn't realize how much I missed these girls until I put them on the plane Monday morning. God has taught me during the past few years the value of friendship and community. There are people He places in our lives that make us really want to be better- people who challenge us to do more and be right where we are. Thank you so much for coming to see us Sheri and Deva! Thanks for encouraging us to continue the race and live for His name's sake here in North Idaho.

  Northstar Church in Hayden, Idaho, ministered to Ironman triathlon competitors in June, after two North American Mission Board missionaries helped open doors for the outreach. Photo courtesy of Northstar Church  Jana got her picture in the BP!  That's her on the right. So it's a really old story, and they didn't get the name of the town right (why would the Coeur d'Alene Ironman competition be in Hayden?)  Still!  Jana's picture is in it! I don't know why they didn't ask me for a quote.  I actually went on a appreciation cruise with the president of Ironman and a bunch of other dignitaries.  Doesn't that count for something? Seriously though, it was a huge deal and just the beginning of how we want to impact this community.  Plans are already in the works for next year, so please pray that God will use this ministry to draw people to him.

 Check out all my pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/justbennett/