Midweek Update

Wednesday Night Prayer Requests:

• Ann Dale (mother of Kathy Adams) -- had back surgery last week
• Chelsea Eby (niece of Rodney Blunt) -- recovering from surgery
• Angela Kelso (friend of Mike and Millissa Macomber) -- grieving over loss of loved one
• A friend of Mike Macomber has a mother who is seriously ill with cancer. Mike's friend asks our prayers that his mother will be receptive to the gospel.
• We continue to remember Bill Williams, Elmer & Martha Juntenen, and Ruth Lake Wilkison as they deal with ongoing health issues.
• Eric Percival will be out of town next week; he requests prayers for his safety in travel.
  

Good News on the Job Front: Allen Burke has been called back to his job, after being on lay off for a few weeks. With a new baby in the house, that is good news indeed. Also Jonathan Natal has been hired for a permanent position rather than the temp work he has been doing.

Remember the Get-together and Archery Tournament at the Hills' home in Acme Saturday. Potluck cookout begins at noon; archery starts at 1:30 p.m. Everyone invited. Those who don't want to participate in the archery can be spectators or just visit.

VBS Meeting Sunday

We want to have a meeting after services Sunday morning to explore the possibility of having a Vacation Bible School this summer. If we have enough interest (i.e., people willing to teach and help in other needed areas), we will definitely have one. We need teachers, helpers, puppet workers, and people to help with activities and refreshments. We will also discuss the best time to have VBS and whether it should be five nights or a shorter weekend format. Plan to stay for a few minutes Sunday morning. If you can't be at the meeting but want to be involved, please comment to this message or contact John Gaines by phone or email.

Truth About Origins Audio

If you would like to listen online to a series of seven lessons on The Truth About Origins, you can follow the link below to a page on the website of the Jacksonville Church of Christ in Alabama. The messsages are by Dr. Brad Harrub. The availability of more and more good material like this really demonstrates the value of the Internet. Click here to go to the site, then choose which lesson you want to hear.

Leadership Link

As we continue to encourage the development of new leadership in the church, we should read whatever good material we can find about how we can be the best possible leaders in the most important work in the world.

My friend Ron Thomas (who preaches in Illinois) has a brief article on his blog which is worth reading. Here's the link.

Monday Musings --

Our Youth Afternoon went great yesterday. John Williamson, Mike & Millissa Macomber, and Eric Percival were all involved in chaperoning and organizing the activities. I played the Alex Trebek role and hosted a Bible Jeopardy! tournament in which Jacob Hill edged out Sandra Todd in a very close match for the over-all victory in the Game of Champions! We had a sizable group from Ferndale participate with us. A Bible Bowl is being planned for late June at Ferndale where Skagit Valley and Ferndale youth and adults can compete. More details about that will be upcoming.

I had a phone call from a dear friend in Florida, an older sister in the church there named Aleathia Lackey. Aleathia was so proud several years ago to learn that her name is the Greek word for truth. She had reached the point that walking had become very difficult because of her knees. She recently had knee replacement surgery and has had some setbacks in her recovery so she called and asked for our prayers. She specifically asked me to pass on her request to the church here.

Sunday Update - April 27, 2008

Today's Record

Attendance this morning - 90

Prayer Requests Submitted Today:

Please pray for my dad as he has 3 CAT scans Tuesday. Pray all will be well. -- Karla Williamson

Shawn's sister-in-law has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks now. She was admitted to ICU and put on a ventilator and a semi drug-induced coma. She was given a 50/50 chance of survival. She had the most severe case of pancreatitis the doctor had ever seen, complicated by a severe staph infection in her blood. She was taken off the ventilator this week and moved to a regular room. She has heart, liver, and kidney damage. The doctor has told us to keep praying as she "should have died in ICU." The doctor admitted that she is in God's hands and her recovery is up to Him. -- Aleicia Boomer

Please continue to pray for my niece, Chelsea Eby. She came thru her surgery on Wednesday very well and will now be at home recovering for several weeks. Please pray for a quick recovery and that her cancer will not return. -- Rodney Blunt

Please pray for our daughter Brandy and her family. They're all having many struggles and difficult times right now. -- Judy Hill

Please pray for the family of Julia Smith, who passed away from cancer last week in Pensacola, FL. Especially pray for Katie Lindsey, who is Julia's ninety-something year-old-aunt who has lived with Julia for several years. I talked with "Aunt Katie" by phone yesterday and she is very upset. -- John Gaines

Praises and Thanksgiving

Thank you to Millissa M. for putting the teen songbook together.

Thank you to Rodney Blunt for repairing the drywall hole in the nursery.

Announcements:


Head for the Hills! Archery competition next Saturday. Potluck and your choice of main dish. Eat 12:00-1:30. Competition starts at 1:30 sharp.

Picture Board: We're working to get a picture board put up in the hall showing all our Skagit Valley church family. The easiest way is to let Trish Gaines take your picture any time over the next three weeks. If you already have a picture you would like to use: (1) If it's digital, email trishgaines@gmail.com -- (2) If it's a print you can donate it to be used or a non-studio picture can be scanned and your original returned to you. Contact Trish if you have any questions. We encourage everyone to participate.

Check Back Frequently:

We intend to share this information every Sunday, plus update the blog frequently during the week with news and tidbits of commentary and links to other interesting web sites. Please bookmark this site and check it as often as you can.

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John Gaines

Jeopardy and the Expelled Movie

Thanks to Millissa and Mike for their help in getting the Jeopardy game set up for our Youth Afternoon Sunday. I wrote the questions, but Millissa figured out a way to use the Power Point program to show the questions. Excuse me -- answers -- this is Jeopardy after all. I hope Sunday afternoon will be both a fun and educational time for our kids.

The movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed has attracted considerable attention since it premiered a week ago. Produced by and starring TV personality Ben Stein, it challenges the sacred cow of science and its closed mind against the possibility of Intelligent Design. The movie is not religious, per se, but by all accounts it does a good job of challenging the thinking of those who think that evolution provides all the answers.

Here is a review of the movie written by my friend Terry Frizzell: http://brotherhoodnews.com/2008/04/26/expelled-movie-review This originally appeared on the Gospel Preachers email discussion group. Here is another account of seeing this movie written by Chris Gallagher: http://preacherspen.org/?p=99

If any of you see the movie, make a comment here and let us know what you thought about it.