Coming Events

Wednesday Night
DIG-IN @ New Hope
• Growing in Spiritual Maturity Part III (“The Hangar” Room 117)
• Children: Power Lab (Check online or call the front desk for locations)
• Student Community Groups (Worship Center)
• Parents: Raising Kids of Character (“The Quad” Room 107-09)
• Women of the Word (Room 151)
• Spanish/English Conversation (Room 112) with Prayer & Gospel @ 5:30pm.


Surviving The Holidays

Sometimes we have a difficult time making all the holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays & Anniversaries special especially if we have experienced the loss of a loved one. We want to some way remember them, but it's so difficult! If you have had a loss through death of a loved one or gone through a divorce this may be a emotional time of the year for you. I personally invite you to join us for "Surviving the Holidays" November 8th, in the Galloway Fellowship Center at 10 AM till noon. This is the first time we've offered this seminar from GriefShare. We'll gather together to offer support & prayer & share refreshments. As a very special surprise I've invited an Oregonian author, Charlotte Hill who has written a true story of her son & his cancer. You won't want to miss hearing her share this tender, loving story. The only costs is $4.00 for the book you'll receive which will offer you Scripture, help, tips & encouragements for the holidays. Please attend, you'll be blessed! REMEMBER,

NOVEMBER 8TH, GALLOWAY FELLOWSHIP CENTER AT NEW HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH 10 AM till NOON.

Bev Skinner

503-659-5683 ext: 3043

bev@newhopecommunitychurch.org


Married Life Live Presents
“Dig In” with New Hope. Wednesdays Nights.
Nov. 5th - Mar. 4th. From 6:30 - 8:00pm in Room 109.*
Join other married couples for this integral 13-week series that focuses on intimacy in marriage. We will learn how to stop playing marital games in order to play on the same team, to discover what we really need from each other, how to meet those needs, and how to heal the hurts we inevitably experience in marriage.
(*Programming also available for Kids from Nursery - 12th grade.)
Questions? Contact Shanin at
503.659.5683 or shanin@newhopecommunitychurch.org

Mind Your Own Business

Mind Your Own Business
If money really could talk, what would yours say? Good-Bye? No matter how much debt you have, no matter how many bills you have to pay, no matter how much—or how little—money you make, you can achieve financial freedom and peace. With the roller-coaster stock market, job layoffs, sub-prime housing market, and uncertainty, who can we trust for sound advice and counsel? Learn how to take practical steps, spend smarter, make personalized goals and learn why, when it comes to money:
In God We Definitely Trust.

Join New Hope for ‘Mind Your Own Business’, a four-week series beginning this Sunday, October 26th at both 9 and 11am services. See you then!

Financial Peace University

Click Here To See What’s Happening @ New Hope This Week!

Events This Week 10/20-26

Wednesday Night
DIG-IN @ New Hope
• Growing in Spiritual Maturity Part III (“The Hangar” Room 117)
• Children: Power Lab (Check online or call the front desk for locations)
• Student Community Groups (Worship Center)
• Parents: Raising Kids of Character (“The Quad” Room 107-09)
• Women of the Word (Room 151)
• Spanish/English Conversation (Room 112) with Prayer & Gospel @ 5:30pm.

This Sunday Morning – October 26, 2008

Bone Marrow Donor Registry Drive: 10am - 1pm
Life. It’s in you. Join the marrow donor registry and give hope to patients everywhere, including New Hope member Sherry Holz. The stories about donating being painful aren’t true; it’s easy! There are three ways you can help: join the registry with a simple cheek swab, donate $25 for testing costs, or both! Stop by the Fellowship Hall after service to sign up.

Children’s Baptism Class for 4th and 5th Graders Begins!
Kids Town would like to invite all 4th and 5th graders and their parents to a three-part baptism class this Sunday, and continuing on Nov. 2nd and 9th with the baptisms following on Nov. 16th. Parents must accompany their child for all three classes in Room 112 at 10:30am. Contact janet@newhopecommunitychurch.org for more information.

Only @ 11am!
During our 11am service, we offer sign-interpretation at the front right, as well as Spanish interpretation along the left side. New Hope’s Latino Community also offers a Spanish Speaking service at 8am in the Fellowship Hall.

Using Your Influence To Make A Difference

Dear Friends,
I want to talk to you specifically this week about influence. All of us have a sphere of influence. When the demoniac in Luke 8 was healed, he begged Jesus to go with him and join the disciples. Jesus realized he would have a much greater influence among his own friends and family. He responded to his request in verse 39 "Go back home and tell people how much God has done for you." So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.” I think His advice to us would be the same. The Christian with influence is not the one who knows the most about the Bible, but the one who has invested in relationships and is passionate about what Jesus has done in his life.
One of the three markers for spiritual maturity at New Hope is increased influence with the world. On a recent Sunday during our Go Fish series, Pastor Brent and I asked you to invest in relationships in your sphere of influence. We gave you Invest and Invite cards to give out the next week. The following Sunday there was a visible increase in guests at church that indicated the reason they were there was because someone had specifically invited them with the card the week before. It is fun to watch as we are becoming what Jesus told us to become, “fishers of men.”

The good news is that you do not have to go it alone. Your church family and staff are here to partner with you in sharing the good news with your friends and family. One way we do this is to speak to the issues that are shaping our world. In the coming weeks, we will be touching on concerns that people care about deeply, churched and unchurched alike. This Sunday we will attempt to bring a Biblical framework to this politically tumultuous time with the message, The Kind of Leadership America Needs. The bottom line is that Jesus is the only real hope for people, and to put our hope and trust in a political candidate or party can only lead to disappointment. It is easy to get swallowed up in the climate of political animosity and lose our opportunity to become salt and light. All of us have leadership influence that we can use.

Whether you have a lot or a little, money and financial stability is a concern on everyone’s mind these days. There has never been a more uncertain or troubling time since the Great Depression. Partnering with resources from Dave Ramsey and others, we will be presenting a new series “Mind Your Own Business.” The Bible clearly shows us a way to financial peace and freedom. You will learn how to survive and thrive in spite of the frightening circumstances we face. This is an excellent opportunity to share these resources with those outside our church. Sunday we will be giving you Invest and Invite cards to share with your friends for this new series. I have personally witnessed many people come to Christ as a direct result of Biblical financial teaching.

Perhaps the greatest way we influence the world is to become a servant leader, and love and serve as Jesus did. On Sunday, October 26 we will join together to give the gift of life to one of our very own, Sherry Holz. Sherry is suffering from cancer, and without a life-saving bone morrow transplant, there is no hope. You can participate by getting a cheek swab that morning at church to see if you match, or by donating $25 to help pay for the test for you or someone else, or both. The new process is very pain free and only involves a little discomfort. Find out more at our front porch this Sunday, or call, or email Trudy
trudy@newhopecommunitychurch.org.

In November we will serve by focusing on our newest build for Habitat for Humanity as we volunteer time and give resources in this life changing venture. This will be the second Habitat House that New Hope has partnered with this year.

In December we will be touching the lives of prisoners and their families through project Angel Tree. Our church has a tremendous influence in the lives of prisoners through our prison ministry under the leadership of David Overby. We will also be partnering with the Advent Conspiracy and other churches to provide a Christmas Gift to our City. Mayor-elect Sam Adams has asked the faith community in Portland to partner with the city in helping homeless families and adults, and high risk, low-income youth. What a tremendous opportunity for us to have increasing influence with our city as we become Christ’s hands and feet to our city. We will show love to our world by building a house for aids orphans through Open Arms International. You will hear much more about these service opportunities in the coming weeks.

One final note, I want to mention two people of influence at New Hope whom we will greatly miss. Thursday we had a memorial service for Don Leslie. Don and Gloria have been actively involved in New Hope the last 17 years. Don was deeply loved by everyone who knew him, and used his influence to serve the Lord. We also recently said goodbye to Al Gadberry, another long time member of New Hope. We give honor to these wonderful people who have loved and served in the life of our church.

Don’t forget that your influence can make a difference in someone’s life this week. See you this Sunday!

Pastor Ray

FEELINGS vs. FOCUS

God Promises Peace That Transcends Our Understanding

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Is it possible to NOT feel anxious during our current times of economic uncertainty, political indecision, global unrest, and maybe even personal heartbreak? The key to answering that question is to focus on the word ‘feel’. I have found that feelings can be fickle. We can’t always control how certain events make us feel, but we can choose the object of our ‘focus’.

When the Bible says… and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus --- we must trust God at His word. Practically that means that we might be feeling anxious about events beyond our control… but if our focus (our prayers & concern) remains on Christ Jesus, His promise is to give us peace.

We don’t know what news tomorrow will bring, but we do know that regardless of what happens God promises peace which transcends our current feelings of anxiousness, concern, fear, and disappointment… if we will keep our focus on Him.

In Him,

Pastor Brent Deffenbacher
New Hope Community

+++

6:30pm Tonight @ New Hope
Crown Financial Groups Beginning Tonight
In this 10-week study, you will learn how to enjoy the freedom, contentment, and economic stability that comes from God’s wisdom. Course fee: $45 for Singles, $55 per couple. Child care provided.

Growing In Spiritual Maturity Beginning Tonight
In this 3-week study co-taught by Pastor Ray & Brent, you will gain insights into living more like Jesus and feeling closer to God. Located in the Hanger Room 117.

Power Lab For Children 3 years old – 5th grade
Student Community Small Groups
Women Of The Word Bible Study
Raising Kids of Character Seminar
Questions? Visit us online for more information.

Hearing From our New Hope Family: Doing Life Together Part 2

Dear Friends,

Last week I recapped some of the exciting happenings and insider information in the life of our church that were shared at our recent Doing Life Together.

We asked for feedback at Doing Life Together from the congregation; ideas, questions and concerns. We received five pages of very exciting and positive comments from the evening, as well as some common questions and concerns. These are very important. This week I want to address the key questions so that you will have the information you need as we move ahead. Again, thanks for all your wonderful support and commitment. Please let me know if we can assist you or answer other questions as we prayerfully move ahead. Call us or stop by the Eagle Landing/New Hope Development Center. There is a question and comment box for you to use by the model.

Obviously the economy right now is in a great deal of flux and crisis. We are carefully monitoring this, and what impact and effects it will have on us. Fortunately, we are at a stage in the process where these events have less impact. We will continue to trust God for His timing and any changes to our plans. We appreciate your prayers over this process and project.

Question: Are we going to become a large business with lots of real estate to manage, and focus on making money rather than our mission?

Answer: Absolutely not! New Hope will only own our church facility and chapel, and possibly a ministry related facility. The rest of the center will be owned by a variety of interests. We will not be in property or business management, or be a landlord to commercial interests. We will not put the church at risk and be in the development business. We will own our new ministry center debt free. We are hoping to have a continuing residual that will come to the church to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings so that all our tithes and offerings can go to ministry.

Question: Will we lose touch with reality and become an isolated “Christian village or community” living in a bubble?

Answer: This will not be a “Christian village or community.” It will be a life style community that has a faith component at the heart of it. Ministry and service will take place in many other venues besides our church facility-coffee shops, plazas, etc. as we live and have influence in our shared environment. The benefit to the retail, entertainment office and residential is that we are a value added to the environment of the village. People desire to live in community where spiritual values such as compassion, faith, hope, love, and service are foundational.

Question: Are we rolling in money because of all this?

Answer: This is a difficult time financially for us because many people see the plans and think that we have a lot of money. We have had to put out money now for planning, zoning and entitlement issues. It will be a couple of years before we realize any funds, and these will go to pay off our current debt and build whatever facility we can debt free. We will only build whatever we can pay cash for, even if it is a much smaller facility that what we currently own.

Our goal is not to make money, but to provide a more effective environment to reach people for Christ and help them to take the next step.

Question: Are we going to compromise our message or be swallowed up by the new development and lose our identity? Will we be controlled by the businesses around us?

Answer: We will not compromise our mission or our message. We have a strong voice in deciding what types of businesses will go into the village. We will also help develop the covenant and restrictions that will be a part of the development for the future long after the current developers are no longer a part. We will own our own facilities. While we will continue our present practice of using our facilities to serve and love our community, we will have control over them. They will first and foremost be used for ministry.

AN INVITATION TO BE A PART
This Sunday, October 5, Pastor Brent, David and I will be hosting a new member’s class at 12:30 pm. If God is leading you to be a part of this community, join us after church and find out more about the vision, direction, what we believe and how you can be a part. A luncheon will be provided as well as child care. We will be finished by 2:30 pm. You do not need advance reservations.

See you this Sunday!

Pastor Ray

A Note From Pastor David
When Was the Last Time You Saved a Life?
We have a great opportunity before us to make a difference. One of our church family, Sherri Holz (very active at New Hope) is in need of an immediate bone marrow transplant. It is a matter of life for Sherry. We all have an opportunity to be considered (tested) as a possible donor for Sherry. A bone marrow transplant in modern medicine involves basically drawing blood (much as though you were donating to the Red Cross), and they extract the marrow from that blood. No surgery…nothing invasive. The testing is a simple oral swab. Once a match is found, if you do change your mind, you are not committed. There are two options to be involved:

THIS FRIDAY EVENING, this testing can be done for free (or a donation up to $25) at the World Trade Center in Downtown Portland, from 4:30-8:30pm.
You can learn more about this at http://www.marrow.org/

We will also be bringing testing to New Hope, although it will cost $25 per test when done here. You will have the opportunity to either be tested, or just DONATE to those offering to be tested, or both. We will let you know more about this on Sunday.

I wanted you to know about this now, so you can be praying about it, and also because of the free testing THIS FRIDAY evening

-Pastor David

Update: Doing Life Together

Friends,
Hundreds of our New Hope family attended our Doing Life Together Sunday September 14, 2008. The positive response and feedback was overwhelming. There were several very exciting announcements. Although some of you who attended already received this information if you requested it, I thought it would be beneficial for our church family to recap the evening.
Ty Mattson www.mattsoncreative.com presented our newly completed vision book. This book clearly articulates our direction for the future, the reasons why, the values and characteristics that we will seek to embrace, and how we will accomplish the vision. This information was compiled from meetings with our pastors, staff, leaders and congregation, attending services and Doing Life Together, listening to message tapes, and face to face interviews over the last six months. The book captures the heart and essence of who we are and what we are about. If you would like a copy of this material, please email me. ray@newhopecommunitychurch.org

Kurt and Sally Kroon were introduced as the new associate youth director on our Student Community Team assisting Pastor Peter with both junior high and senior high. Kurt is an experienced youth pastor and is currently finishing seminary at George Fox University. He and his wife Sally have been in ministry for five years and are an excellent addition to the team. He will serve part time as he finishes seminary.

Dr. Jay and Jan Barber will be joining our team as Pastor at Large. Jay has just retired after 12 years as President of Warner Pacific College. Jay will preach and teach from time to time, mentor some of our developing staff, be a liaison to Warner Pacific College as we create a closer relationship in ministry to the campus, and represent New Hope to the greater metro area business and professional community. He serves on the advisory board of the Murdoch Foundation. We are so appreciative of their belief in the vision and willingness to join us and serve in this capacity. We are providing a small honorarium to help cover some of their expenses.

Our application for zoning and entitlements with Clackamas County and the City of Happy Valley have been deemed complete and the dates for our hearings are being set. This is a huge milestone. We are fully expecting to have our zoning and entitlements for the new project before the end of the year, which will allow us to move ahead rapidly with the financing and design phase.

A letter of intent has been signed on our new interim facilities with the North Clackamas School district, starting January 3, 2010. We will be announcing the actual facility shortly. It is large enough to accommodate our needs, has an inspiring worship space and lots of parking. There will be room to accommodate Waumba Land, New Hope Kids, Student Community, and New Hope Bible Fellowship Class. We are also making arrangements for our New Hope Latino community.

FEEDBACK FROM DOING LIFE TOGETHER
Finally, we asked for feedback at our Doing Life Together from the congregation. We received five pages of very exciting and positive comments from the evening, as well as some common questions and concerns. These are very important. Next week in the ipastor I will share the feedback and address the concerns so that you will have the information you need as we move ahead. Again, thanks for all your wonderful support and commitment. Please let me know if we can assist you or answer any questions. Call us or stop by the Eagle Landing/New Hope Development Center. There is a question and comment box for you to use by the model.

Sunday September 28
This Sunday we will welcome Pastor Wes Davis as we continue in the series Go Fish! Wes has personally put this into practice in his own life and in his church New Life in Kitsap, Washington. HYPERLINK "http://www.newlifekitsap.com" www.newlifekitsap.com
New Life is one of the fastest growing churches in Washington, an unchurched state similar to ours. They are reaching people for Christ who have never gone to church. Wes’s warmth, humor and stories will inspire and give you practical ideas on how to reach your friends for Christ. He is a personal friend and is very excited about the vision and future of New Hope.

Pastor Ray Cotton