Southern Washington Ministry

Katherine and I took off late Saturday afternoon to Oregon for an overnighter at our daughter and son-in-laws. Elizabeth prepared a roast beef dinner and afterwards we all did some bowling - wii bowling that is. Sunday morning, after a bright and early breakfast at 6:30am, we headed out for Carson Bible Church across the river from Cascade Locks. Dave and Glenda West, Missionaries with N.I.C.E. have served there as pastor for 16 years. Even though a smaller church, they have two serves so I had the opportunity to preach a couple times. My sermon topic was "Responding to the Test of Faith in Life" from James 1:2-8. I started with two as the foundation: 1) Trials are the means God uses in testing the character of our faith (vs2-4), and 2) Godly wisdom is from a spiritual dimension, not human cleverness or insight (vs5-8). Then I shared four responses God expects from us: The Response of Joy in Trials (v2), The Response of Endurance (vs3-4), The Response of Prayer (v5), and The Response of Confidence (vs6-8). We enjoyed Sunday School in between the services. The Adult Teacher is working through the book of Genesis and discussed part of the Fall in chapter 3. Following church we had lunch with Pastor Dave and Glenda at the house and enjoyed a time of fellowship. On our way home we met for dinner with Don & Jody Wantland, Missionaries with N.I.C.E. who live in Castle Rock. We always enjoy our visit and chats about ministry and family. Don always has some great thoughts or usually has a theological question he has been pondering that he throws out.