september 2017

Resolving Everyday Conflict By: Pastor Ken

As believers, we live in a reality of opposing cultures, a “worldly culture” and a

“culture of peace.” The world encourages people to relate to each other according

to selfish desires and worldly customs, especially amid conflict. Society schools

us: “Be yourself…follow your heart.” These attitudes are promoted: “I am more

important than you.” “I will love you if…,” “You owe me” and “Satisfy me.”

A culture of peace based on God’s word inspires believers to love God with all their hearts and leads

them to love their neighbors as themselves…even during conflict. A culture of peace counteracts the

pull of a worldly culture and produces many blessings.

On a personal level, conflict affects our marriages, families, church, neighborhoods and workplaces.

It affects Christians and non-Christians alike, bringing us low, damaging our relationships, and

tarnishing our witness to the world.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Through the gospel, where God reconciles a sinful people to

himself, his people are given both a vision and a practical way to live in peace with one another.

Peacemaking brings the prospect of hope for broken relationships and a powerful witness to a

watching world.

Beginning on September 10, an adult Sunday School class and the Middle and High School classes

will take an amazing eight-week journey called Resolving Everyday Conflict. Each Sunday we will

unpack the powerful and practical answers the Bible has for resolving conflict and restoring

relationships. We will dig into topics such as: the root cause of conflict, when to overlook an offense,

what makes a good apology, what forgiveness really means, and how to deal with difficult people.

Scripture clearly states Christians are to be known by their love (John 13:35) and peace (Romans

12:18). Sadly, however, most of us do not know how to respond biblically to tensions in our lives.

What is your first reaction in a tense situation – between you and your spouse – an issue with your

child’s teacher – your neighbor? Where should you start? How do I get the log out of my own eye?

What should our relationships look like after we forgive? Resolving Everyday Conflict will provide

plenty of tools and practical interaction to apply the basic biblical peacemaking skills when a

situation arises.

See you and your student in Sunday School!!

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Let love and faithfulness never leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the

tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name In the sight of God and man.

–Proverbs 3:3-4

You cannot afford to miss it. Stealing, breaking, smashing, blaming…a long slow death to your marriage.

The holding on to previous hurtful events and words is exactly what you must stop doing.

George* missed it. I had no idea what to expect when he called me and wanted to meet. Our only

connection was a mutual friend—and it was because of him that I agreed to meet with this stranger.

Within minutes, George’s faithfulness was obvious. But George was faithful to the wrong thing.

“Faithfulness to the past can be

a kind of death above ground.” –Jessamyn West

Have you hung on to something from the past? Something that you have no business using as a weapon,

or as a motive for distance. Wielding some previous hurtful event either in your mind or in conversation

will not win you favor or a good name—not with your spouse, and not with your God.

Release it. Let it go.

If this is your struggle, your commitment to letting go of the past is the right focus of your faithfulness.

It is your love on display as it should be. Both a necklace around

your neck and holy words written on your heart-tablet.

Here are three tips to move you in the right direction:

1. Write the offense down. Jessamyn West documented,

“Writing of the past is a resurrection; the past then lives in

your words and you are free.” The purpose is to describe

what you need to release.

2. Prayer can change you. Pray for the grace to forgive the

former events and wisdom to confront the future affronts.

Get on your knees about this issue, because your marriage may depend on it.

3. Bless the socks off your spouse. Pour out every bit of awesome sauce you have to romance your

spouse, to serve them, to honor them, and give thanks to the One who has made the two into one.

There is a reason you are together, and it is so that you can be God’s love on display for your

spouse to see.

Be faithful in the right things.

*Name changed to protect identity.

3 Steps to Forgiveness in Marriage By: Dave Buller

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Being a Blessing By Pastor Jeff Neher

This is our theme for this year in our youth ministry.

Jesus was a blessing everywhere he went. He figured out the needs

of the person and he blessed them by meeting that need. People reacted

in many different ways, and some even rejected the blessing He was

trying to give them.

In Matthew 20:28 it says, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life

as a ransom for many.” This is our calling as disciples of Jesus, not to be served, but to sacrificially serve

others. This goes against everything in our society that is about being served, and we have to renew our minds

to God and His desires for us. The scriptures are full of how God has blessed us and our calling to pass that

blessing on to others.

As we pursue this calling of being a blessing to others, we begin our Wednesday nights with the Love Dare

Series. Students will be learning how to serve and be a blessing to their parents, and the parents will be

learning how to serve and bless their kids. If both sides of this equation can learn how to bless and serve the

other, what an amazing thing that would be! Just like a great marriage where both spouses learn to serve,

bless and sacrificially meet the needs of the other, a great family is one where the same process is learned.

In Sunday school, beginning in September, we will be going through the peacemaker series. (Middle School

through Adult classes will be going through this) Learning how to deal with conflict in our lives, home and in

relationships in our world. If we can learn how to deal with conflict in a Biblical way, what a blessing that

would be to everyone around us! From our lessons, to our service nights, to our game nights, we are going to

learn how to “Be a Blessing” to others. I pray that God will transform our hearts and minds to have the attitude

of Christ that we find in Philippians 2:5-11:

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

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Raising Children in God’s Kingdom By Karen Rigler

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ…

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. ~2 Corinthians 4: 6, 13-15

The Lord has been laying this phrase on my heart the past couple of months, “raising children,” and asking me what it means. As a church family and as an individual family, we are clearly called to raise children to know God. But what does “Raise” mean?

Raise = a) lift or move to a higher position or level. b) increase the amount, level, or strength of c) multiply a quantity by itself to (a specified power) d) cause to occur or be considered. e) bring up (a child) f) bring (someone) back from death. g) force an enemy to abandon (a siege, blockade, or embargo)

Read those definitions slowly and let them soak in.

Yes, we focus our lives on definition (e), but I believe that God is asking more of us than allowing the physical process of growth to happen in the children we encounter. I think He wants us to lift or move the kids to higher position spiritually. What does that look like? I’m not certain, but I know that we need to be intentional every time we meet with children to share Jesus with them, and not just surface things. To tell them of the freedom we have found in Christ, so they might experience that, too.

I believe that God is asking us to increase the amount, level, and strength of these children so they are actively sharing the kingdom of God wherever they are going in life; home, school, the pool, sports, etc.

I believe God wants us to multiply the number of children we reach with the gospel exponentially. (The definition for c) is a math term when you square a number; 2 squared is 4, etc.

I also think that we are to cause the kids at NOCC to be considered in every aspect of church. It is important that kids are a part of the service, Sunday school, and every activity because their spiritual gifts are vital for the church to move properly.

I love that one of the definitions is to bring someone back from the dead. We will ALL experience this at some point, but it could truly happen in our earth time when kids of faith believe the Bible, and walk in faith with Him!!

Lastly, raise means to force an enemy to abandon and what better enemy could we force to abandon our kids than Satan.

We must pray together, as a body, asking the Lord, “What does it mean to raise a child?” We should recognize and hold children up to the Lord in prayer. We need to pray that we are doing exactly what God is asking us to do to RAISE the next generation. In so doing, we will get to see ourselves raised with them! We are living in exciting times and I am so happy to see these kids knowing, loving, and serving God as children! May we all be truly blessed as we work together to raise up the children!

VBS – Operation Arctic

Children learned that the Bible is the “Coolest” book on the planet! Stories were shared from the life of Paul, Mary & Martha, the Gospel Message and more. Friday night was a Family Night to share and celebrate what the children learned with a short program, snacks, games, and fellowship afterward. There were 165 children registered from our nursery – 8th grade. Our average daily attendance was 146 children. Our mission project was to raise money for World Shine Ministries in Uganda, Africa. We raised over $3,600 with part of the proceeds going to a ministry called, “Happy Feet” to purchase shoes for children that go without. The other portion will go to students who are

without uniforms. World Shine will purchase fabric and materials to give to their seamstresses in their tailoring class to make as many uniforms as they can. For every $500 raised, the children were able to “Pie a Pastor.” They watched a pastor get pied at the closing assembly. From the amount received, we were able to not only pie the pastors, but also the VBS Directors, a teacher, and the mission project leader! Good News!! There were 3 children that accepted Jesus as their Savior. We were also able to give 10 Bibles to children that did not have one in their home to read. We were able to connect with many children that did not have a church home already! It was a wonderful week!

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Books of the Bible Challenge is Complete!

The Sunday school children of NOCC were challenged last fall to memorize all 66 Books of the Bible. We set a team goal of 30 people; 25 children and 5 teachers had to say the entire list of books. We are happy to say we had 26 children say the books, and more than 5 teachers know them by heart as well! As a reward, Jeremy Burkholder and Kenny Rigler volunteered to perform the “Books of the Bible Rap” for the entire Sunday school class. Jeremy and Kenny were transformed into, “Vanilla Nice” & “50 Shekel” for the special performance and the kids were delighted to see a LIVE version of the song they have been using to

help them memorize the books. Children received a certificate of achievement and a small gift they did not know was coming at the Summer Sunday school party on August 20th. The children who memorized all 66 books are: Amos Buller, Christian Burkholder, Isaiah Burkholder, Seth Burkholder, Savannah Clingan, Aliyah Conner, Allie Goertzen, Cameron Goertzen, Analeise Knisley, Kaitlyn Knisley, Hannah Koster, Michaela Koster, Mattias Labriel, Dakota Maier, Kaelin Maier, C.J. Muench, Jordyn Muench, Ella Neher, Josiah Olmstead, Jonathan Rigler, Keanan Rigler, Noah Schaeffer, Savannah Schmitz, Colt Smith, Jett Smith, Josephine Wood. Take time to congratulate them and encourage them to continue to take time learning God’s Word!

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Meal Team News

The Care Team facilitates the body of Christ as they willingly join

together to be a visual expression of the concerned heart of God

ministering during times of special needs, illness, or new life. Last

August a new Meal Team format was instituted to meet the needs.

Under leadership of Meal Coordinator, Cari Smith, four teams

rotated in service to meet the needs. Cari reported positive responses

from her team leaders. A recipient not only expressed appreciation

for the meals, but more importantly the opportunity to meet people

from our church that she may not have met otherwise. This year with

Cari’s move, Jessica Clingan will serve as Meal Coordinator with Team

Leaders, Juanita Zerfas, Meagan Englert, Rita Kofoid, and Kara Olmstead,

in leading willing team members of the church body to meet the needs.

Needs can be relayed to the church office by calling or filling out the “New Baby” or “Recovery Care”

forms in the Gathering Space. We don’t know needs unless we are notified. Also, anyone that would like to

be added to a team to help provide food should contact Jessica Clingan at 501-454-6466.

Thank you to the North Oak Church body for demonstrating God’s love through serving one another.

Carol Spalsbury, Care Team Leader

Heroes for Life Will Begin September 6 !

Heroes for Life (HFL) will begin after Labor Day this year on Wednesday, September 6th. Thank you for volunteering to serve with HFL as a teacher, helper, snack helper, outdoor volunteer, nursery helper or guest speaker! We have an amazing team this year of leaders that are already praying for the children we will have attending.

Our theme this year is the “New Testament.” Last year, we studied the Old Testament, so this will be an exciting year following the love and mercy of Jesus and His time on earth. So far, we have over 50 kids signed up for HFL and we are hoping for many more! You can register on-line @ www.northoak.net & click on the HFL slider or the link on the children’s page of the website.

Please pray for HFL – pray for the leaders, helpers, and kids. Pray that many children will hear about HFL and come to hear the gospel shared each Wednesday after school. Pray that God would lead the kids to know Him higher, longer, wider and deeper in the love of Christ.

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Thy Kingdom Come: Prayer from a Dumpster By: Callie Weeks

When I signed up to help at Rock Nest Ranch in British Colombia, Canada, I did not anticipate praying in a dumpster. In those five weeks, I did a plethora of things I had not expected to do. I could regale you with some of these stories, but that would only relay the “what” of my experience, not the “why.” Why does it matter? Camp is fun, but what’s the big deal? That is the far more important question.

The first week we were there was orientation week, and during this time we had a chapel service every evening to help us prepare our hearts for the weeks to come. We were taught by a man named Nustel, and one of the things he said summed up for me why this camp is so important. He was speaking from Isaiah 53 and pointed out a verse I had previously overlooked. When we share the gospel, we usually say Jesus can save you from your sins, and this is true, but it is only part of the picture. Was he pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities? Absolutely, but that was not all Christ accomplished at the cross. Isaiah also says, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.” So often we give Christ our sins but try to hang on to our sorrows, even though we cannot hope to carry them. Pain is very real. You don’t have to look farther than the first face at camp to see that these kids’ worlds are wracked by the consequences of sin and legacies of suffering. They know what it is to hurt. Their lives have given them huge burdens to carry, but sin is a God-sized offence and causes sorrows that only God-in-the-flesh is capable of carrying. The truth is, the only thing people can do with their pain is hurt. They can’t fix it; they can’t ignore it, and no matter how they try to hide it, it’s going to come out eventually. However, if a person understands that Christ not only paid the price for his sin, but also willingly carries his suffering, he is freed. Not from pain’s existence, but from its control. Instead of being dominated by struggles, he can surrender them to God in a continuous act. That is the glory of life with Christ—something these kids don’t have. They have all the sorrow and none of the hope. At Rock Nest, however, they have a place to feel safe, a place to ask questions, and a place to feel loved.

The theme for camp this year was “Everywhere I go, God is with me”, based on the song “Everywhere I Go” and the verses in Psalm 139 which say, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” After singing that song at least twice a day for four weeks, you can image it is pretty well ingrained in my memory, and I have complained more than once about it still being stuck in my head, but that’s essentially the whole point of camp. We want this to get stuck in heads—in the kids’ heads, in the staff’s heads, and in the heads of all the poor people who have been subjected to us singing it at the top of our lungs in strange places. Everywhere we go, God is with us, offering to take our punishment and our sorrows. That is true for everyone. It’s true for the girl who changes foster homes every year, for the girl who never sees her father because he’s in prison, for the boy who just lost his father to cancer, for you, and for me.

C. S. Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point.” I would alter that slightly to say that being a camp counselor is every virtue at its testing point. At least for me, it was an enormous leap because I was continually plunged into circumstances I had no idea what to do with. I had to rely on the fact that God was with me, whether I was hiding in a dumpster or trying to console six wailing children simultaneously. Honestly, that’s a lot of what I did (consoling, that is, not hiding in dumpsters). As a counselor, my job was to take care of my kids, to make sure they felt safe and loved. We didn’t have lots of deep theological discussions or pray the sinner’s prayer, and I didn’t fix the problems in their lives, because I can’t. I wasn’t a hero, I was a proverbial road sign to the destination God is calling them to. I know that, for each of the hundreds of kids I met, God is with them offering forgiveness, offering peace, and offering Himself. I loved, listened, and did a lot of praying, because in the end, this is God’s show. All I can do is pray “Thy Kingdom come.”

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Make plans now to attend Celebrate 2017, a

national gathering for senior adults hosted by

MB Foundation! September 29-October 1,

2017 at the Renaissance

Denver Stapleton Hotel.

Registration fee is $225 per person which in-

cludes all events, refreshment breaks and

scheduled meals (except Saturday lunch).

Accommodations are not included.

Visit www.mbfoundation.com/celebrate2017 or call 800-551-1547

to register and find out more information.

The next North Oak Newsletter deadline is November 20. Anyone is invited to submit items to ejohannes@northoak.net or in church mailbox #300. If you received this newsletter by US mail or in your church mailbox and would like to receive it by email instead, please email nocc@northoak.net with “newsletter” in the subject line. The newsletter is also available on our website at www.northoak.net under Resources. If you DO NOT want to receive the newsletter at all, please email nocc@northoak.net with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

Trunk or Treat will be on Tuesday, October 31, from

5:30 -7:00pm in the NOCC parking lot. This annual community

outreach event is a great way to shine the light of Christ and have lots

of fun doing it! Invite your friends, neighbors and co-workers. Bring

your whole family and enjoy the festivities

together! More information is coming soon

about how you can get involved, so please

check the website and upcoming bulletins.

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FAMILY ALBUM

BIRTHS: Toby Allen Crull was born at 45 mph on August 24 to Brett and Julie Crull somewhere on Roosevelt Road, Chicago. Proud grandparents are Terry and Joan Crull. ( He was delivered by the doula in the minivan as they sped to the nearest hospital) All are fine! Luke, Kalee, Noah, Hannah and Ethan Lundmark welcomed Ella Mae on July 27 at 9:29pm. She weighed 7 lbs., 12 oz. and 19½ inches long and was born in Kansas City. Congratulations to James, Dawn, Raelyn & Isabella Carter in the birth of Elias Alexander. He was born at HaysMed on June 13 at 1:46pm weighing 8 lbs., 14.3 oz. and 20 inches long. We rejoice with John, Marie and Asher Stephens in the birth of Caleb Johnathan. He was born at HaysMed on June 10 weighing 8 lbs., 13 oz. and 20½ inches long. Ron and Gail Gallaway praise God for a healthy new granddaughter. Rylee Joy, born May 29 at 11:16 pm in Tualatin, Oregon, to Andrea and Christian Chevallier. Siblings Avery and Nolan welcome her. SYMPATHY: Lance Albin’s grandfather, Gene Albin, of Gove, Kansas passed away on August 14. He was 86.

Melvin Hair’s dad, Orville, passed away on August 6 in Hays. He was 89. Mark Thowe’s dad, Harry, passed away on July 6 in Hays. He was 96. Aaron Larson’s grandmother passed away in June. Dan and Lavada Klinger's son, Lynden, passed away suddenly May 31. He was 28. Jann Mages’ mom, Dorothy Monk, passed away on May 31 in Bemidji, MN. BAPTISMS: August 13, 2017: Ken Owen Nelda Owen Tom Goscha WEDDINGS: Spencer Greathouse, son of John & Brenda Greathouse, and Stormy Christerson were married August 5 in Bolivar, Missouri.

3000 Oak

Hays, Kansas 67601

Phone: (785) 628-8887

Email: nocc@northoak.net

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