DayMountains

Woodward Park Baptist NewsAugust 2O14

Worship with us Sundays at 10:30am | SW corner Maple & Teague, Fresno CA 298-7087 | woodwardpark.org

Richard & Kathy HaahrChurch Family Spotlight

Richard and Kathy Haahr are faith-ful members of WPBC since 2012.

Their three children are: Scott, Jon, and Heather and they are blessed with four grandchildren: Nathan, Dylan, Jersie, and Arcadia.Kathy was born in Los Angeles in a Christian home, and her family moved to San Luis Obispo when she was two. Richard was born in San Mateo, CA.At age five, Kathy received Christ dur-ing a Good News Club meeting at her home.Three months later, her church hosted a mission’s conference and they made a special presentation just for chil-dren. Kathy recalls a missionary nurse speaking about her work in Ethiopia.“Hearing her story just cemented my salvation, my relationship with God, and I knew right away I wanted to be a missionary nurse,” said Kathy.Kathy credits her mom, Toni James, with encouraging her on a nursing path. Today, Kathy has more than 30 years of working in hospital emergen-cy rooms.The last two and a half years, Kathy has been teaching nursing classes at Fresno State.Richard accepted Christ at age 19, af-ter his first year of college. At the time, he was working at a cattle feed lot in southern California. The foreman, a 55 year old man “was as mean as can be. You could never do anything right,” Richard declared.Richard thought to himself, “What is the value of life? If you’re going to grow old and be like this guy, why go through all the pain and agony along the way?”Later that summer Richard attended a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles, where he heard that “Jesus is the way,

the truth, and the life, and that no man comes to the Father except through Him” (John 14:6).“I came to the realization that I am a sinner separated from God, who needs a relationship with Christ,” said Richard.Two years later, Richard and Kathy met at a college youth group at Grace Church in San Luis Obispo, where an-other dorm mate of Richard had been to talking to Kathy.“But that guy left the room and I moved in,” said Richard with a hearty laugh.The pair chatted, became friends, dated for two years, became engaged and eventually married December 19, 1970.Before marrying however, Kathy went to nursing school, while Richard served in Vietnam as an Infantry Lieutenant in the Army.Because of his degree in farm man-agement from Cal Poly, Richard (along with two men from Iowa) were as-signed to teach Vietnamese villag-ers how to grow crops using western methods. Although he was always in danger, this unique duty kept him safer, and away from much day to day direct combat.After getting married, the couple moved to Oregon, then to Los Angeles, finally settling in Fresno in 1981.The Haahrs currently own and operate a CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) business and training center. This pro-cess began in 1999 when Kathy sug-gested to Richard that if they taught CPR classes together, they’d be able to see each other more.Richard agreed and went ahead to earn his CPR teaching credential, since he already had a CPR card.

Love Sacrifices 8/3Love Discerns 8/10Love Unifies 8/17Love Prevails 8/24Love Assures 8/31

See Haahr, inside

Sept61 to 5:30p

in the

at Shaver Lake

Register Sundays at theWelcome Center or during the week

at the church office.

with baptisms

If you have questions or want to be baptized, call Gary Williams at 298-7087

Saturday

Class Name TeacherMoral Earthquakes and Secret Faults ... Mike McCulloughLoving Our Kids on Purpose .................. Gary and Nancy WilliamsResolving Every Day Conflicts .............. Peter CelumGod Provides (Financial Class) .............. Diane HamillStudy on the Book of Philippians .......... Richard HaahrSacred Marriage .................................. Glenn and Sandy KoslanForward Classes .................................. Staff/Various Leaders

Fall Classes Oct. 5 - Nov. 9 (6 wks.)6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

This summer, our preschoolers have enjoyed becoming “pirates,” while also learning that the Bible is better than gold! Parents: remember August 24 is promotion Sunday. We will have special activities, including bounce houses. See back page for more information.

‘Better than Gold’ Men’s Ministry

BreakfastSept27Come enjoy a great breakfast and hear a testimony on the patio with worship music. Sign-up Sundays at the Welcome Center.

FamilyNight at the Park

Sept28Dinner @ 5 | Business Meeti ng @ 6

Sunday

7:OO am | FREEDonations will be accepted

Saturday

The Prayer Room at Woodward Park Baptist Church is a place where anyone can experience

the close, abiding presence of God.

The quiet and peaceful room is furnished with a wooden desk and chair. There’s also a soft and comfortable large chair where you may sit as long as you would like.

As you glance around the room, you’ll notice Scripture and prayers detailing the pur-pose, importance and power of prayer.

The “Prayer Wall” is where we write your prayer requests. This wall has been painted with a coating that allows us to write prayer requests directly on it using dry-erase markers.

On Sundays during the worship service, Don Hiatt, and others, can be found here praying for the worship team, the pastor, and the congregation.

“If we practice praying when things are going well, then we’ll be better prepared for when they are not,” he said.

The church also uses the room Tuesday mornings at 6:00 a.m, and encourages other people to come and join this dedicated time of prayer.

“I believe the health of a church improves as the people begin to pray, and even more as they begin to pray together,” he added.

Anyone may come into the prayer room at anytime during the week and pray.

If you visit the prayer room during the week, please check with the church office to have someone open the worship building for you. - David Hawkins

Prayer Room Now Open

Sign up at Family Night at the Park (Sept. 28)

Prayer Wal l

“Now my God, may your eyes be opened and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” - King Solomon

“At first, we did teach a couple of classes together. But it turns out we really haven’t taught together as origi-nally planned!” the couple laughed.

Kathy is quick to share a personal story of God’s sovereignty, love, and faithfulness, when her mother passed away unexpectedly last year.

Her mother was experiencing some chest discomfort, but it was actually a heart attack, even though nothing was showing up on the EKG at the hospital.

“[As they treated her], Mom was able to talk to all of her children and most of her grandchildren,” said Kathy.

Because of Kathy’s decades of medi-cal training and credentials, she was allowed inside the catheterization lab with her mom, as medical personnel attempted to clear a blocked artery.

“I told her, ‘Mom, I’m going to stay right here and hold your hand until Jesus decides to take it from me. You keep on fighting, but I’m here for you.’”

To Kathy, this opportunity repre-sented an amazing example of God’s character.

“The way she’d encouraged me all those years before to become a nurse. And then during her final seconds here on earth, I was able to use those same skills.”

Another example of God’s sovereignty happened several years ago when Richard was on Highway 99, head-ing home from LA, 10 miles north of Bakersfield.

As he slowed down to exit for a water break, a volley of rocks shot across his path. To his left, a car was weaving on and off the center divider and back onto the freeway.

Richard trailed the car for about a mile and a half and saw the car crash into the center divider and swerve back onto the freeway. It crashed into the center divider again, blew the front-left tire (which destroyed the fuse box) which cut all the car lights.

“Just before coming to a complete stop, the car had made a dog-leg to the right, so any cars coming around the bend would crash into both of us in about 150 feet,” he said.

Richard positioned his car halfway in and out of the lane, and activated his high beams and emergency flashers to visually alert other drivers.

He’d just finished speaking with CHP on the phone when his phone rang again. “What’s going on!?” Kathy blurted out in exasperation to him.

Perhaps a half hour before, Richard and Kathy had talked on the phone, had said goodnight to each other, and she was getting ready for bed.

“My heart was just heavy trying to go to sleep. I was in bed tossing and turn-ing and praying for him,” she said.

“I said, ‘Lord, I just talked to Richard. Everything’s fine but if it’s not fine, just keep him safe.’”

Suddenly, it was too much for Kathy to take, so she immediately called Richard back and asked him, “What is going on!?”

He said to her, “Well, let me tell you!”

According to the CHP, the driver was a female who was heavily intoxicated.

The couple reminds us that “if God awakens you, or brings someone to mind, pray for them, because you don’t know what their situation might be.”

The couple attends Peter Celum’s Life Group on Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. and enjoy the love and fellowship of their church family.

“Being in the Word together helps us get to know other peoples’ hearts and their needs,” Richard added.

“The class is a real worthwhile experi-ence,” they said.

The couple believes that our church family is “spoiled” to have a pastor who spends so much time in God’s Word.

“Because of his personal time with the Lord, Pastor David is able to bring forth the Word of God in truth and ac-curacy for us,” said Kathy.

In addition to her teaching duties at CSUF, Kathy continues to faithfully serve at Child Evangelism Fellowship. She’s also been a Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) leader, and has also been active in various Women’s Bible Studies. Twice a year since 1988, Kathy has worked as a camp nurse at Hume Lake.

Recently, Richard was nominated and voted to serve on the Pastor Leadership Team (PLT).

“Serving gives me the opportunity to help Pastor David set direction, ac-complish goals, and give guidance to help the Body of Christ grow toward maturity,” said Richard.

Richard has over 15 years of expe-rience teaching God’s Word, and plans to teach a class on the book of Philippians this fall at WPBC. He’s also made a commitment to read through the Scriptures once a year, since the 1980s.

“Philippians is one of my favorite books because it touches on every area of life. If you have a need, it tells you how to deal with that. If you have sinned and you’re feeling like you can’t serve God, it talks about that. It also talks about the attitude you need to have to carry on the kind of life that’s pleasing to God. It’s an exciting book!” he exclaimed.

He explained his teaching style is not just imparting Scripture, but it’s also training people how to apply it.

“I want people to come away from the class involved more with Christ,” he concluded with a grin.

Haahr, continued from page 1

CA Women’s ConferenceOctober 21, 2O148:30 am - 11:15 am Clovis Hills Community Church 10590 N Willow Ave., Clovis 93619More information email Georgia Prentiss: gprentiss@csbc.com

was raised by the WPBC family for Pregnancy Care Center’s Change 4 Babies Campaign. PCC uses these funds to provide free and confidential services, including pregnancy tests to

women. PCC thanks WPBC for partnering

with them to save and change lives!

$1,O39.65

PROMOTiONSundAy Aug24ChildrenThe kids will go to their new classes and have about 30 minutes of Bible study, and then go through a rotation for the bounce houses and other activities. Children's Church will be offered as usual.

A fun time where we celebrate our kids getting olderand moving on to the next grade in school.

StudentsWe use this day to transition our kids to a new class and welcome our Jr. High families into student ministry. Sunday morning Bible study will include activities to help our new 7th graders feel welcome. All families with upcoming 7th graders and current student ministry families are invited to a BBQ right after church. This is your opportunity to meet each other and get involved with student ministry. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to: vanessa@woodwardpark.org or call (559) 298-7087 by Wednesday, August 20.

WPBC Students Build Friendships at Laser Quest We had 31 students participate, including 4 guests and 4 upcoming 7th graders! It was a fun evening hanging out and strengthening our friendships. We were also encouraged through John 16:33 and Romans 8:37-39. We talked about how life will shoot many difficult and unexplainable situations our way, but we can take comfort in knowing Christ has overcome the world and that we can never be separated from His love, no matter what! That’s very encouraging and gives us strength to carry on. - Vanessa Oviedo (Youth Minister)

Aug 8 - Students return from mission trip to San Diego. Thank you for praying for them as they serve during the first week of August.

Aug 17 - Pool Party @ McAbee’s (4-8pm) 1943 N. Nadine Ave. Clovis CA 93619. Every student please bring a 2 liter soda or a bag of chips! Girls please wear one piece swimsuits or a colored t-shirt over a 2 piece. Boys no speedos, just swim trunks.

Sept 4 - TNL begins again at church @ 6:30 pm. Be a part of a night of Bible study, games, snacks, and friends. Don’t miss out!

Sept 24 - See You at The Pole. Be a part of a day where students gather at their school’s flag pole to ask God to do a great work through them and in their schools, cities, and our country. “NEVER STOP PRAYING, ESPECIALLY FOR OTHERS.” Eph. 6:18. Parents: visit www.syatp.com for more information.

Dec 29-31 - Ignition Student Conference in Ontario, CA. Save the date and make plans to be a part of an exciting 3 day conference for Jr.High & High School students. More info to come in September!