Life in the Big Potato

The team performed at the Riverstone Aphitheater Tim wields his weapon. Karen is not afraid. The Athletes gave us prayer requests so that our church could pray while they are running the race. The team raised about $300 for Open Arms Pregnancy Center at the two car washes they did. Look at that! The Magees enjoy a wonderful father's day in the park Jana's Co-workers threw her a shower.

I tried to embed this video, but it just didn't work. You might be seeing this video on TV somewhere down the road. The NAMB is taking a new direction. Lets pray for the work of this agency.

Pray that God will infuse our Pastor Search Team with his Holy Spirit to lead them in the right direction Pray that God will use this interim time to challenge and grow Tom and I and our families as we cling to HIM Pray that God will work in the people of NorthStar to show them what it means to be a church Pray for continued unity and commitment from our members Pray for a million details to work themselves out properly for our Ironman Impact Pray that we will get to carry out the two backyard bible clubs we are planning and that it will be fruitful ministry Pray that Jana will be comfortable and healthy in the last month of her pregnancy (actually pray that we would BOTH be comfortable) Pray for our family as many of them are making plans to visit us this summer THANKS!

If not, then you are missing out. If you are not familiar with Passion, it is a movement of college students to spread their passion for God to the ends of the earth. Louie Giglio is the man with the vision, but some of the most respected names in Evangelicaldom have been involved. John Piper, Beth Moore, Voddie Baucham, Francis Chan, Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, David Crowder, the list goes on. Anyway, this is the real deal and instead of doing more big conferences in the US that would be profitable and a guaranteed success, they have decided to go to difficult places. Instead of doing one big passion conference they are doing many of them around the world at great cost with no guarantee that they will have much of a crowd. Well, the result so far has been amazing. God is at work all over the world and the 268Blog is a great reminder of that. If you have a passion for the nations (i.e. you are a follower of Christ) then you MUST go read at least one entry.

The ladies at NorthStar threw us a churchwide potluck baby shower today. The men were also invited and Brad gave Bennett a tool to scare off the boys when she starts dating. Mrs. Liesel gave us some beautiful irises from her garden. Needless to say, Bennett didn't really know how to act after his first baby shower. I thought he did a great job. Everyone really loved it when he tried on the bibs and hats.

From Bennett: It has been flooding here. I know it is not the best picture, but that picnic table used to be about 30 feet from the water's edge. One of the largest snow amounts in history combined with a fast melt-off has caused all of our rivers lakes and streams to swell and over flow. They say there hasn't been flooding like this since back in 1997. That's not that long ago is it? That's when I graduated high school. May has been a busy month. We've had mother's day and communion, and we're gearing up for summer time. Our pastor search team is diligently seeking the man God would have lead our church and I have been preaching about the Life of Jesus. Good subject, don't you think? We're trying something new for NorthStar this summer. We're having Dinner and Prayer each Wednesday night. That's where we'll come together for an evening meal then have a prayer service to lift up our church, our community, our nation, and our...

photos by tiffany

The weather is finally good. And by "good" I mean AMAZING. The snow can still be seen on the mountains surrounding us, but the memory of it down in the valley has all melted away. Everything is green, pink, white, and yellow. People are walking out into their yards squinting up at the sun wondering if it really is safe to come outside in shorts yet. There was a time when it was hard to imagine it ever being warm or sunny here. When there are five feet of snow in your yard it is difficult to see yourself washing your truck in your driveway barefoot. But now that the SUN has come all the darkness fades away like a dream upon waking. In fact when I look back at my doubts about winter never coming to an end I have to laugh at myself. Of course summer is coming. How could I have ever thought other wise? The dread I felt at facing more days of shivering snow seems like nothing in comparison to the joy I feel at the sun and warmth of spring. That's how "good things...

The Evangelical Manifesto came out today. If you are interested in such things I think you should read it.

Remember us this week as we as we observe communion. I'm preaching on Christ's Baptism, and I am struck by the connection between these two events. They are both a public testimony to the death and resurrection of Jesus. They have elements that represent life and death. Baptism represents our one-time incorporation into Christ's body. Communion represents our ongoing reliance on his body and his blood to sustain us spiritually.

"Idaho's biggest looming managerial problem may be coping with its success at attracting new citizens. The population has grown from slightly more than 1 million in 1990 to almost 1.5 million today." According to governing.com Idaho gets a B-. Which is pretty good. We live in a state that was pretty satisfied with a lack of government activity until suddenly there were a lot of unexpected visitors and resulting permanent growth. Can we as the church, the body of Christ, be accused of the same thing? Have we been satisfied for too long with not getting involved with our community? Now that our numbers are slowing will we shrug off our sleepiness and start moving? Please pray that God will use us in this area of growth to do what Christians should have been doing all along.

Sunday night we had our first ever NorthStar Extravaganza. No one new our church was so talented. This was a variety show of sorts. We had Nate and Elena doing a skit with only their upside down chins showing. We had a group of ladies recreating the Pirates who Don't Do Anything music video. We had the advanced musical talents of both Sean and Rochelle Sydney. Travis, the singer/songwriter, performed two of his originals, with Tom on keyboard and Sean on drums. The preschool was well represented by Carson and Caeden singing Jesus Love Me . Then Gayle and Conrad, two of our special needs kids both sang. Gayle sang Row Row Row Your Boat and kept giving her parents a thumbs up with a huge smile! Conrad sang Blessed Be the Name of the Lord . It is hard to explain how touching these two performances were. I guess you'd have to know Gayle and Conrad. Another favorite was Fondra's crowd participation. She got four church members to stuff as many marshmallows in their mouth a...

So, I'm making a big deal out of it. So sew me. Its snow on my windshield.

Pray for those in our church who have not yet made a decision to follow Christ. Pray for those who have considered attending our church but still haven't made up their mind. Mostly, pray for our church. Pray that a desire to know God and make him known will become more than a duty, more than a religious practice, but will become our very passion. Pray that each person who considers themselves members of NorthStar will not be satisfied with casual belief or casual service to our king, but they will count no sacrifice too great to give in holy service to Jesus' Kingdom of Heaven. Pray that we who lead will not fear the evil one, that will not compromise the vision God gives us, that we will be pure and free from all sin. Please pray.

This picture was actually taken yesterday in bright sunshine. It was snowing at the time. Funny how when you look directly at the sun everything else seems dark in comparison. Doug, one of the elders at our church likes to end his conversations with the phrase, "keep you eye on the Son!" Please pray that those who are so used to the darkness that they think it is light will encounter the true light that brings hope to all mankind.

he preaches using the notes on his i phone when i'm gone for the weekend he eats marshmellows, granola, and peanut butter (that's all!) he still fits in his tux from college band and wore it tonight to church he makes me very proud to be his wife

I hate to complain or beat a dying horse. But I have to report to you that I woke up this morning with three more inches of snow in my yard. That's right, it is April 15 and we have snow. The painful thing about this is that we had two or three days of spring weather then BAM! its cold. It was so warm on Saturday that I worked up a sweat in the yard just raking up snow mold. SNOW MOLD! It develops when your grass stays cold and wet too long as in when it is covered with snow for 5 straight months. I don't know where they get their information but www.fyinorthidaho.com reported on March 30: Spring in North Idaho arrived with more record snow storms. In the Coeur d'Alene area, over 160" of the white stuff has fallen this year breaking the previous record of 124.2" in 1915-1916. So I'm happy now that we have the record. No more for us thank you. We'll have some more of that nice spring weather if its all the same. That'd be great.

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