Parents!

I’d like you to (heavily) consider joining me and your church family at our first ever Parenting Workshop on January 22nd. It’s one day and super cheap for you and your spouse to come learn from people in your very own church family about how to best parent our children through all years and ranges of life.

I had the incredible opportunity to meet with the speakers (all WCC members) and might I say, WOW. These people are not only overqualified, they are passionate about the Lord and parenting.

Please head over to our website for parents in order to register for the workshop.

This is not a workshop for “those who are bad parents,” it is a workshop for ALL the parents in our body to learn from one another and some amazing in-house speakers who already speak at conferences around the area and the nation.

January 22nd from 9am-2pm. Come join us!

This past Sunday, I spoke in the main service about the Biblical discipline of remembering and reflecting. The text was Joshua 4 and I emphasized the idea of laying down our own memorial stones of remembering what God has done for us.

I figure it’s time to practice what I preached. God has been so good to this ministry, and although I did a mid-year recap after the summer, it is certainly time to lay out all of the things God has done in the Willamette Students in just 365. The truth is, I resonate a lot with Psalm 40:5 when the poet says, “You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us…yet they are more than can be told.” We have seen such blessing from God this year that I’ll bet we could write a good book about it. Instead, let me sum this up in a bullet-point blog post so that you can join with me in celebrating and commemorating what God has done in the life of this church and ministry.

My first day at Willamette came in the form of a youth internship on January 15th. When I started speaking that week one year ago, it might be strange for you to know that I actually did expect God to do all of the things he ended up doing. Perhaps normally you’ll hear someone say, “I never thought God would do this,” but that was not the case. I came in with high expectations from God, believing him to grow the ministry numerically and spiritually. And He did it. In the year of 2010, this is what I have seen the Lord do:

-Each week, tons of new confirming conversations between students/leaders that show students taking profound steps in their trust in Jesus.

-Grew our Wednesday Night program from an average of 25 students to a new average of 80-90.

-Baptized 28 students in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

-New volunteer leaders forged fresh gospel-centered mentor relationships with the growing student body.

-Saw 15 students go on an overnight micro-missions trip to downtown Portland to serve the materially poor.

-34 students are set to go to Nicaragua in the summer of 2011 to serve orphans and widows of the capital city, Managua.

-Wednesday Nighters studied the Story of God, the Greatest Commandment, and the books of Ruth and 1 Peter.

-Wednesday Night became entirely student-run except for preaching/teaching, and worship organization. From set-up/tear down to sound/lights/and ProPresenter, the program is driven by the student body.

-Capped off the year with a Christmas party of 102 students and an ugly sweater contest.

-Great momentum going into 2011.

Please continue to pray with us as we trust God in the students’ lives over this next year. If you are a parent, thank you for your tireless support of your student and their walk with Jesus, please continue to trust the Lord as you parent and love your child. We are here with you to support and help you in the process of God’s redemption.

For the Glory of God in all things,

Pastor Chris

This is what happened when we got a camera, an enormous microphone, and some high school kids in the suburbs.

See how, above this post, there is a “toolbar?” That’s the fancy name for all of those links at the top of the website. I’m posting this entry to remind you parents to sign the medical release form that is under the “Parents” and the “form” tabs up there.

If a student wants to go with us on any trip, we NEED this form filled out. That includes everything from Camp to off-site night events. It’s a good thing to do because we’ll keep in on file for a whole year.

Click here to get it done! Nice!

The other thing you might want to do is SIGN UP FOR OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER. It’s called Ask & Explore and we send it out every week. Simple click here to sign up so you keep in the loop!