bcf

Bethel Christian Fellowship - St. Paul Campus: 1466 Portland Ave. St. Paul, MN 55104 (651-645-1534)

Minneapolis Campus: 1429 Madison St NE Minneapolis, MN 55413 www.bcfnations.org June 09; Vol. 7, Issue 6

2009: A Year of Opportunity

CONTINUED:

Community LIFE: “Take me out to the Ballgame” International LIFE: “News from Katie Iacarella”

Page 11

Prayer LIFE: “Walking with Jesus in Lifestreams Prayer” Page 12

Men’s LIFE: “The Impact of Godly Mentors” Page 13

Fisherman’s LIFE: “The Grace and Goodness of God” Page 14

Financial LIFE: “God’s Level is Abundance” Poetic LIFE: “The Alpha and the Omega”

Page 15

Ken’s Korner: “A Life-Changing June Evening” Page 16

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Historical LIFE: “Bounty Indeed” Page 1

Pastor’s Page: “2006, A Year of Bounty” Ministry LIFE: “YAMS: A Community Built by God”

Pages 2-3

Worship LIFE: “Praise for God’s Bounty,” “Psalm 65” Page 4

Growing LIFE: “Journey with Jesus” Page 5

Community LIFE: “2009 High School Graduates” Page 6

June Calendar of Events/Family LIFE Calendar Pages 7-8

Fun Page for Fun Kids Pages 9-10

2006: A Year of Bounty [A continuation of our review of past BCF annual themes]

MONTHLY THEME:

Bounty, Indeed! I remember the unveiling of the 2006 theme, “A Year of Bounty,” very

well. David and I were going through a period of personal upheaval,

primarily related to what appeared to be a very unfair (forced) job

transition. “Finally!” I thought to myself. “No more of this scrimping by.

This theme message must mean that Dave is going to get a job soon.”

So I waited for that. And by the end of the year, it didn’t happen at all as

I had planned. David was moving toward an unpaid position with SALT

(Somali Adult Literacy Training) through World Relief, and none of the

vindication I had expected came through. In fact, we had more opportunities

to trust God.

As I think about the lessons I learned during that time and since, a couple

things stand out. First and foremost is my attitude toward money. I have

always been a saver—extremely careful to save money for a rainy day and

to evaluate each purchase. And God has been very faithful to provide. I’ve

been a giver, too. I grew up in a home where we had “Jars for Jesus”

money, and my parents taught me to tithe. God has always been faithful to

throw open the storehouses, just as He promises, sometimes through odd

little things like making a car last longer than it should have or winning things

in drawings.

But even though God had a great track record, the loss of Dave’s job

caused great financial panic and stress for me. One night, I sat down with

our accounts, sure that we were losing money hand over fist. But you know

what? Even without a normal, steady income, God had provided for us.

We have always had enough to pay our mortgage, and we got money from

unexpected places. Two years after Dave lost his job, we actually had about

the same amount of money in the bank as we did while he was earning a

regular paycheck. So, while I was viewing

bounty as the security of a steady paycheck,

God was providing for us even in the

absence of what I thought was necessary.

And three years later, He still provides. I

have a lot less personal anxiety about our

financial situation now than I did at the

onset.

Second, self-sufficiency is an illusion. This

lesson was driven home for me that year as

well. I was trying to create security through

my own talents. However, because of the

grace of God, He gives to us even when

we don’t deserve it. And our gifts and talents

are part of His grace and goodness anyway.

When I didn’t have the opportunity to control

things, it became clearer to me that I had to rely on God. Since it was all His

anyway, He could allocate to us what we needed. He did this through raises

and bonuses I hadn’t expected, payment for odd jobs, an inheritance, and

renters for our home.

We wrapped up our 2006 Christmas letter like this: “Although we haven’t

had a free ride this past year, we have been bountifully blessed with love,

life, and God’s provision, and that is bounty enough.” In 2006 and beyond,

I learned that God is about far more than financial bounty.

The bounty He has for us is Himself. The King of the universe considers us

a treasure. He calls us to Himself, eager to pour into us what we need. And

that is bounty, indeed! --Keturah Pestel

MONTHLY SCRIPTURE:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times,

having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8

The 2005 bulletin cover was designed by Greta Sandquist.

2006: A Year of Bounty In the spring of 2005, A Year of Destiny, we spent forty days fasting and praying for Overflow. As is typically the case with those seasons, the seeds that are planted through fasting and prayer sprout up and bear fruit six months to a year later. The seeds that were planted in that season sprang up quickly with our Overflow of Blessing and came into full fruition in 2006: A Year of Bounty. The foundational scripture for the Year of Bounty was Psalm 65. This psalm captured my heart, imagination, and spirit for months before I ever delivered the theme message on January 8, 2006. It begins in verse one with the simple and beautiful declaration, “Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled.” The picture is that praise suddenly erupts out of a place of silence and stillness. This silence is pregnant with deep submission and trust, with waiting for God to act, knowing that He will, and responding with praise and obedience when He does. And God does act by releasing His bounty to His people. This bounty is rooted in His grace; it is sustained by His power; and it thrives in His goodness. � Rooted in His Grace

O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

We were powerless and utterly dependent, overwhelmed by our sins until we came to God. But when we came to Him, He forgave us and brought us close to Himself. And now we are happy and blessed. As the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:6-8:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is the essence of His grace and the taproot of the Year of Bounty. � Sustained by His Power

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteous-ness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed

yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.

Our hope, trust, and confidence is in the One who formed, created, and established the mountains. It is in the One who stilled the roaring and raging waters and brings us to a place of awe and wonder at His amazing power. Recently in our study of the Gospel of Mark, we looked at the account of Jesus calming the storm, as recorded for us in Mark 4:35-41:

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Sometime storms suddenly burst into our lives. The wind blows, the waves crash at us from every direction, and we feel like we are drowning. At these times, we must remember that Jesus is with us, and He alone has the power to calm the storm within and without. His bounty is not dependent on our circumstances, but on His power and authority. � Thriving in His Goodness

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grass-lands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

What an incredible picture of God’s goodness! It’s almost more than we can get our mind and heart around. In fact, I believe we can only fully capture it in our spirit and then let it spill over into our souls. In America we are given the freedom to pursue happiness. However, happiness is

pastor’sPPPPAAAAGGGGEEEE

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dependent on our happenstance, our circumstances. In difficult times like we as a nation are now facing, our circumstances don’t always make us happy. However, in the kingdom of God, we are given the freedom to pursue joy—a joy that is not dependent on our circumstances, but on His goodness. And God is good ALL THE TIME! That is why the apostle Paul instructs us:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Now he who

supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

As God fills us with His goodness, it spills out of our lives to others around us. That is the nature of bounty; it is more than we can contain! And that is God’s heart for us, not just back in 2006, but as an ongoing reality for this House of Prayer for All Nations. --Pastor Jim Olson

Would you like to hear more about The Year of Bounty? Please go to our website at www.bcfnations.org to hear the original message in its entirety.

YAMS: A Community Built by God

Over the past few months, Hui Min Wong and my wife Christina and I have had the privilege of leading the YAMS (Young Adults Married and Single) group at BCF. The three of us had some big shoes to fill as the former leaders, Julie Bodurtha and Candace Unger moved on to new stages of life. Yet, God continues to bless this ministry even as we have been learning on the go.

When Pastor Jim asked us if we would be willing to take the reins last fall, we started praying and sharing our vision for the ministry. We felt the need to continue pursuing things such as a Bible study and regular events, which were already in place. We also prayed for God to bring new young adults into the group and to continue to develop the sense of community with those who were already a part of YAMS.

After a period of prayer and preparation, we kicked off YAMS again in January. Since then, YAMS has been meeting as a LIFE Group once a week for fellowship and a video study on many popular biblical parables. These times have greatly blessed all who have been involved.

Over the past several months a consistent group has formed, and we have been able to see God build us into a community. At first, as we were getting to know each other, some of our discussions didn’t dig that deep. As time has passed, though, our conversations have become more open and honest. Our meetings have become a time not only to laugh and develop friendships, but also to study God’s Word in depth and to truly share what is on our hearts and minds.

In addition to meeting as a LIFE Group, YAMS has had several great social events, including apple picking, game nights, bowling, and a progressive dinner. Also, we recently had a bake sale to raise money for Ronny Watkins, who will be traveling to Ghana to work with Wycliffe Bible translators this summer. We raised a big amount of financial help for Ronny and were an equally big blessing to Ronny. Thank you to all, both the bakers and the eaters, who helped make the event a success.

While we know that God will continue to bless YAMS, our friend and co-leader, Hui Min, is leaving us to begin her graduate studies in New Mexico. (I tried to convince her that she could stay in Minnesota and go to school, but I was unsuccessful. It probably had something to do with the fact that it never reaches 30 below zero in New Mexico!) We are going to miss Hui Min immensely, as she added so much to our group and had great leadership qualities that helped make YAMS what it is today. Please pray that God will bless her in her future endeavors and help us cope with the loss of such a great friend.

While the LIFE Group portion of YAMS is taking a break this summer, we are planning a few events in the upcoming months and hope that we can continue to be a blessing to all who are involved. We are also asking God to continue to increase not only the size of our group, but also the impact it has on those directly involved: the BCF congregation and our entire community. We are excited to see what God has in store for us!

Please pray that God will continue guide this great ministry and that He will use YAMS as a catalyst for enriching and blessing many lives. Thank you!

--Casey Dzieweczynski

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worship LLLLIIIIFFFFEEEE Praise for God’s Bounty (Editor’s note: The following article, by Norm Anderson, introduces the theme song for 2006, BCF’s Year of Bounty. We trust that the following words will call forth more bountiful worship of God in your life.)

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled. O You who hear prayer, to You all men will come. Psalm 65:1, 2

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Psalms is known as The Book of Praises. As the “hymnbook” of ancient Israel, its verses express the entire range of worship and prayer, from thanksgiving for God’s power and favor to prayers for His mercy, to adoration of His majesty and beauty, to pleas for the vindication of His righteousness. Psalm 65 is a psalm of gratitude and trust for God’s goodness and bounty, as seen in His lavish care for the earth and His provision of sustenance for His people. This psalm is all the more remarkable when you consider that the Israelites lived a much more precarious existence than we do. For example, a hailstorm today would barely rate a mention on the evening news, and, except for the distress to local farmers (whose crops are likely insured, anyway), such an event would be forgotten the next day. But for the

Israelites, a hailstorm at harvest time meant famine. They needed no persuasion that their lives depended on God’s blessing and favor. For them, bounty was not just a nice-sounding concept, but a miraculous assurance of life. Kara Tupy’s beautiful adaptation of Psalm 65 was written, and chosen, as the theme song for 2006, Bethel’s Year of Bounty, and its opening lines perfectly illustrate the heart of believing faith: “From the place of quiet and trust, praise awaits You, O God…” The heart that trusts God and is able to rest in His character and His promises is the heart that is able to praise Him. This truth is also echoed in the Lord’s call for repentance, given through the prophet Isaiah: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” (Isaiah 30:15). But physical blessings, and material bounty, are only shadowy illustrations of the real bounty the Lord wants to pour on His children. The apostle Paul, writing to the believers at Ephesus, offers this prayer of thanks:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ… In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. --Ephesians 2:3, 7-8

--Norm Anderson

From Psalm 65 by Kara Tupy

From the place of quiet and trust, praise awaits You, O God, For when we were powerless, You forgave all our sin. Blessed are those You choose, and bring near to live with You— We are filled with the good things, all the good things of Your house. O God, our Savior, the hope of all the earth— You who formed the mountains by Your power and Your strength— You stilled the roaring seas, and the turmoil of the nations; Those living far away fear Your wonders and Your name. So we’re calling forth the songs of joy, calling forth songs of joy, songs of joy. You dwell in the earth, You care for the land. Your streams are filled, filled with water and life. For so You have ordained the riches of Your grace— Drenching the furrows, leveling the ridges, You soften the ground with rain. You have crowned the year with Your bounty, O God, Making in the desert a place of overflow. All of the earth, rejoice in the goodness of God! Break forth in songs of joy, come and sing to Him! So we’re calling forth the songs of joy, calling forth songs of joy, songs of joy… How great, how great, how great is my God, is my God! How great, how great, how great His provision for me, for me…

Journey with Jesus At the beginning of this year, Pastor Carol asked me if I would consider teaching the spring session of the Kids Club on Sunday nights. I’m glad that I

pressed through the fog of my first response: “Are you kidding? When would I prepare? What would I teach? How many weeks?” I originally consented to cover either three or five weeks of the designated time frame. But when I went searching for a curriculum and settled on Journey with Jesus, I started to get excited. The material was comprised of twelve lessons intended to teach kids where Jesus went, what He taught, and how it is relevant today. I found that I was disappointed to have to decide which four lessons NOT to cover, since the planned instruction time was only eight weeks. I reluctantly decided to cut out the beginning (Bethlehem and Cana) and the end (Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives). The last two months, I have been on a journey with about twenty elementary students, and we have had a wonderful time together. We have learned so many interesting things about the terrain and topography of Israel. For example, did you know that the Jordan River is about seventy miles long as the crow flies between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea? Yet, if you were to stretch it out straight, it has over two hundred miles of shoreline. Jesus lived in the village of Nazareth for many years before beginning His ministry. His neighbors watched Him grow from a little boy to a teenager and then to a full-grown adult, and they were quite taken aback that He would claim to be the fulfillment of a well-known scripture from the Book of Isaiah. They were so angry that they wanted to throw Him off a cliff, but God knew that His ministry was just beginning. Nazareth was not the place, and this was not the time for Jesus to die for the sins of the world. Near the Sea of Galilee are the twin towns of Capernaum and Bethsaida, which were a little bit like St. Paul and Minneapolis and had lots of water nearby. Jesus did many miracles in Capernaum, but the people of Bethsaida had their priorities all mixed up. They were only interested in Jesus because of the things He could do for them. Many of them were probably present when Jesus fed the five thousand. When Jesus came to Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to heal the man. However, Jesus was not interested in satisfying their thirst for excitement, and He drew the man aside and privately made paste and anointed his eyes. When the man could see, possibly for the first time in his whole life, Jesus sent him home, not back into town to celebrate with everyone. Later Jesus identified Bethsaida as a town that had not repented or heeded his words. He said that if such miracles had been done in the pagan cities of Tyre and Sidon, those people would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. The people wanted His miracles but not His message. Did you know that Caesarea Philippi is a town that has had twenty different names over the course of its existence? It was not a Jewish community, but rather was home to Greeks and Romans who paid homage to many false gods, including Pan—as in panic—the god of fright. Can you imagine worshipping the god of fright!?

It was in Caesarea Philippi that Jesus first asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” and then continued, “Who do you say that I am?” When Simon responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” he was given a new name. In the place where the names of so many false gods had been honored, Simon made his bold declaration and was given the new name Peter. In a place built into the side of Mount Hermon, the birthplace of the Jordan River, Simon stepped into his destiny as “the Rock.” Did you know that Jericho, the hometown of the taxman, Zacchaeus, was also known as “the city of palm trees”? It was a beautiful oasis, surrounded by lots of wilderness and desert. That’s a bit like Zacchaeus’ heart until he met Jesus, for the beauty couldn’t be expressed until all the dry, dusty surrounding was removed. Don’t you wish the Bible had recorded the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus when they had lunch together at Zacchaeus’ house? We all know that Jesus didn’t own His own home, or even rent an apartment with a roommate. But He did have some very good friends who lived in the town of Bethany. Whenever He was passing through the area, He loved to spend time at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. But when Lazarus became very ill, Jesus purposely stayed away. What kind of a way is that for someone to treat his friends? When Jesus finally did arrive, He performed one of His most powerful and exciting miracles ever. He raised Lazarus from the dead! Jesus’ timing is not always our timing. His methods are not always our methods. But everything Jesus did then and everything He does now has a purpose. That purpose is to restore us to relationship with His Father. We had a wonderful journey with Jesus as part of the Kids Club this spring. And even though Kids Club ended in May, the most exciting thing is…our journey is not over! --Liz Kimmel

growingLLLLIIIIFFFFEEEE Nursery, Growing Church, & Kingdom Kids

� Each traveler created his/her own passport, stamped with the week’s date. Several children chose to write notes in the pages of their passport to remind themselves of the things we learned in each location.

� We looked at photographs of each town as well as satellite pictures of the region. One of the boys (his dad happens to be a pilot) even correctly identified an airport north of the Sea of Galilee from a vantage point of twenty-two miles above the earth’s surface.

� Whenever travelers had to miss a leg of the journey, they insisted on “catching up” with the rest of the tour group.

� We became traders along the busy trade route in Capernaum, exchanging tools and food items with our fellow travelers.

� We made money pouches during our week in Jericho and filled them with yummy chocolate coins.

� We learned lots of great Bible verses using worksheets, the overhead projector, the white board, and some really fun games.

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Marianna

Ernst Wayzata High School

Plans for the fall:

Hillsdale College, Michigan

High School Graduates:

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Leton

Sam-Viko

Park Center

High School

Plans for the fall:

University of Minnesota

International Marketing

Michaela

Beyer White Bear Lake Area H.S.

Plans for the fall:

Bethel University

David

Englund Armstrong High School

Plans for the fall:

U of M Institute/Technology

Engineering

Rachel

Oestreich

Henry Sibley

High School

Plans for the fall:

Bethel University

Ellie

Petschl

St. Paul Central

High School

Plans for the fall:

St. Cloud State Univ.

Special Ed Major

Jonathan

Underwood

St. Paul Central

High School

Plans for the fall:

Hope College, Michigan or

Seattle Pacific University

Music Performance

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This is what the LORD says:

"Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is,

and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.

Jeremiah 6:16

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♫ Take Me Out to the Ballgame . . . ♫ As I considered the theme of this LIFEline issue, “Crown the Year with Bounty,” it was easy to see how this year’s picnic fit in. Children are a clear picture of the Lord’s bounty to us—and Bethel is bountiful! This year, in addition to having another Bethel Saints Softball Game, we are going to honor the children in our midst. We even have a theme verse to guide the picnic: “Unless you become like a little child, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mark 10:15). So, grown-ups, get ready to join our children in fun and play! There will be many surprises and activities to bring out the child in you during the game and between innings. If you don’t have young children of your own, remember that God “sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6), and many children in your Bethel family would cherish another aunt, uncle, or grandparent to love them! If you know of children who don’t attend Bethel but would like to come, you are welcome to bring them. Last year’s Older Men vs. Younger Men softball game was such a big “HIT” that we decided to play another game this year. This year’s game will have a different twist, featuring Marrieds vs. Singles on the field. Ladies and gentlemen, get out your spikes! (If you haven’t signed up yet, please

contact Jill Attwood.) It will be a game you won’t want to miss . . . although you might find yourself a little distracted by all the other activities happening off the field and between innings! All you need to bring is a picnic blanket or lawn chairs and plenty of cold drinks. Bethel will provide stadium-style food (including veggie burgers!). So come one, come all, and PLAY BALL! --Jill Attwood ALL CHURCH PICNIC/ BETHEL SAINTS SOFTBALLGAME

Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009 Time: After church until 4pm Location: North Dale Recreation Center: 2 miles

north of I-94 on Dale Street and Arlington What to bring: Picnic blanket or lawn chairs and

plenty of cold drinks Activities include: Little League warm-up innings Marrieds vs. Singles softball game Concessions provided by Bethel Mini-Triathlon

FUN for the kids: Playground, moon-walk, fair hair, and more!

Drawing for Bethel original creations Lots of great fellowship and many surprises!

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internationalLLLLIIIIFFFFEEEE News from Katie Iacarella (Editor’s note: In January, BCF’s Katie Iacarella went to Southeast Asia on a sixteen-month internship with Bethany College of Missions. The following excerpts are from Katie’s April newsletter, in which she reports on what God is doing in her life.)

Hey friends and family! Wow! How fast my time here is going! I cannot even believe that another month has passed. I am still working on the language…I spend a lot of time out speaking with the people… [Although] I have learned a lot, I still have a limited vocabulary and at some point or another, we run out of things to talk about… When we arrived here on the island, there were eight senior interns. They had already been living here for one year. Our first four months were their last four months. Within those few months, we junior interns were able to get to know them. We also were able to ask for their advice and hear their stories. All eight of these interns loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him… They encouraged me more times than I can count.

[Katie’s newsletter included an elephant story that was told at her church.] One day a baby elephant was captured and tied to a tree. It tried to run and break the rope, but the rope was too strong. As the elephant grew bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger, it tried everyday to break away from the tree. But no matter how hard the elephant tried, it could not get away from the tree… It was ignorant of its strength. We are like that sometimes. We do not realize the strength we have in our God! In the next three weeks, we will start ministry. I would like to ask you to join me in prayer as I ask the Lord what He wants me to do. We have many options, and I want to walk in the plan the Lord has for me here. There are a lot of things I could do. I just want to do what I am meant to do. And I know that the Lord is faithful to show me what He has called me to do. With the love of the coming King, Katie Iacarella

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Walking with Jesus in LifeStreams Prayer I have been asked to write about my vision for LifeStreams Prayer Ministry, and I must start with a simple story of a young girl who grew up in a small Wyoming town. This girl always wanted to be a nurse and, at the age of twelve, joined Candy Stripers, a group of girls who volunteered at the local hospital once a week and were allowed to sit and talk to patients, accompany them on walks, and do small tasks such as filling water glasses. As she served in the small-town hospital, this young girl was allowed to be present when people went through hard life experiences. She was there when a lady died from cancer, and she was able to comfort her family. She even stood outside the door and watched the birth of a baby born with Down’s syndrome. She had sat with the mother while she was in labor, and after the birth, comforted her when no one else was with her. At the mother’s request, she informed the father, who was not present, that something was wrong with the baby. I was this young girl. My parents were very poor and I decided at fourteen that I would be a secretary because they would never be able to afford sending me to nursing school. Yet, in the back of my mind, the longing for nursing clung like a forgotten dream. At sixteen years old, I went to Senior High Camp for a week, up in the Bighorn Mountains. On Friday, we finished the week with a bonfire, and, seated on logs around it, we stood one by one to tell what we thought God was calling us to be. From a fagot, a pile of small, cut branches provided to keep the fire going, each of us took a branch and threw it on the fire as we spoke. My turn came, and the inner excitement of God’s presence came upon me. I rose, threw my little piece of wood on the fire, and said I thought God was calling me to be a Christian nurse. There! It was out in the open in the presence of witnesses. My dream had arisen into words. I knew it was true! Right here I wish to insert a comment to the youth: When you go to God-events and say things in front of people, those times and words are recorded in God’s book, and He is activated to move upon them. Do not doubt that they are true. They are held secure in His mighty hands! I worked and saved from the time I was twelve years old. My graduation from high school secured scholarships, and after help from an aunt in St. Paul, I was registered and on my way to nursing school at Minneapolis General Hospital. God had secured my way, and I was incredibly happy. I became a Christian nurse. From the beginning I preferred one-on-one assignments and enjoyed the hardest, most critical care best of all. This

evolved into my love of cardiology and taking care of sick hearts. I was good at it, for it was my special place in all of nursing. Toward the end of my career, I worked in an ambulatory surgery center and was known for sitting with those who were going into surgery and having intimate conversations with them. My love for hearts was focused on the “heart” of the whole person, and so many hearts were sick. Finally, it was time to retire. This Christian nurse was finished with her occupation, but her love for the broken-hearted still revved at full throttle. God took that love and raised up the LifeStreams Prayer Ministry from the grassroots birth I told about on this page a few months ago in the March LIFEline. And now, here we stand eight years into our prayer ministry, and the future—God’s future—is before us. Do I have a vision for what’s ahead? Not really, but I do have God’s promises and prophetic proclamations in my heart. Speaking to me through strangers, He has said that my influence would spread out to the east, west, north, and south and to the nations of the earth. Therefore, the greatest vision of my heart is to keep training and forming the ones who will take our prayer ministry there. Many have come and walked with LifeStreams Prayer Ministry for a season and have then gone on to be missionaries or to be married and move to new places. Some have entered other ministries and are working there. Learning to do what Jesus did is an incredible thing. He preached, healed, showed His authority over everything, and loosed the bonds of injustice and sin. When we give ourselves to these things, powerful meetings with God happen on behalf of the brokenhearted. I always wait for God to take us higher, never working from my own ambition. I will never allow us to charge anyone for this service. We have freely received, and we will freely give. This policy alone advertises for us. The word goes out to other churches and in the workplaces because it is free. God has given us opportunities to teach other congrega-tions and train people from other churches. We went to Germany via Sharon Willson, to Kenya through Tiffany Good, and to Tanzania through Brenda Sund and Tiffany. We will go to the Romania this summer through Alina Weidell. In May we went to Haiti through Pastor Lidovick. There is so much more! Within our group of less than twenty people are those who speak nine different languages. There are at least three missionaries in preparation—Heidi and Tim Chase, Tiffany Good, Sam Holmgren—and more who don’t know it yet. We go vicariously to the nations and receive the nations through those who impact them directly. The Latino community is being reached by Naomi Ryman, and the Somali community by Karen Underwood. We go to technological businesses through Dave Sandquist and Ching Wang, to the emotionally disturbed community through Marie Wang. We are sent to the

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The Impact of Godly Mentors Let me introduce myself. I’m Dale Brady, my wife is Melinda, and we have three wonderful daughters, Erin (7), Kristen (6), and Kaitlyn (4). We’ve been at BCF for almost four years now. About a year ago, Ken Holmgren asked if I’d be interested in taking the boys of the youth group rock climbing. I love to climb, and I love to teach it as well, so I accepted the offer. I went with the boys (along with BCF’s youth director, Andrew Gross, and leaders Jake Reis, Josh Oestreich, and Seth Anderson) on an overnight climbing trip last September, and we had a great time. A few months later, I volunteered to take them cross-country (X-C) skiing, and Andrew asked if I’d be willing to help lead the boys’ ministry at BCF. After prayer and discussions with Melinda, I said I would. Boys’ ministry is close to my heart, and it has impacted my life for several reasons. First and foremost, I believe that God uses men as mentors to boys in powerful ways. I have seen the impact of godly mentors on my life. During my junior high and high school years, a man named Kenny took me on many trips to the boundary waters. Kenny loved to fish, but he loved God even more. On those trips, we did a lot of fishing, but we also experienced a lot of godly love and bold proclamations of Jesus Christ. Kenny was not shy about proclaiming the gospel to anyone and everyone, and he especially took advantage of his captive audience of boys around the campfire! Kenny instilled in me a love for the BWCA, fishing, and, most importantly, a relationship with Jesus.

I’ve had a passion for climbing ever since I can remember, and a man named Dan taught me how to rock climb and ice climb through Christian ministry programs for young men and boys. Because of this, I have been able to take many kids climbing and use it as a tool to teach the love of Jesus. Dan’s mentorship was one of the keys that created in me a desire to touch the lives of others with God’s love. While I was working as a junior counselor at Camp Nathaniel, a CSB camp in Hinckley, Minnesota, I met a man named Mark, who was my Christian Service Brigade (CSB) leader. CSB is like a Christ-centered Boy Scouts program that trains boys to be godly men and leaders, and I love its motto: “We don’t separate the men from the boys.” Mark and Camp Nathaniel had a profound impact on my life by providing activities that I loved to do with godly men. Time does not allow for all that I could write about this, but I still frequently apply the godly principles and spiritual lessons I learned from it. This is a very brief glimpse of some of the mentoring relationships that have impacted me. I believe in this ministry because I know how strongly God has used it in my life. He has placed within me a love for the outdoors and activities such as rock climbing, camping, X-C skiing, and canoeing, things that often complement the boys’ ministry. Using my gifts and talents in these capacities is one of the ways that I believe God uses me to bless others. I’m thankful that BCF is allowing me to use my gifts to minister to the youth, especially to the boys. --Dale Brady

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laborers through Stan Burlager, to the bank through Matt Sund, to homecare nursing through Vicki Ellis-Myhrom, to Metro Transit through James Underwood, to colleges through Gene VanVeldhuisen, Marian Williams and Joan Krey, to Teen Challenge through Ken Holmgren, to the socially needy through Anne Ferguson, to offices with Jennifer Lint, and to those with learning disabilities in public schools through Peg Gaitan. This listing of prayer ministers does not mention those who function in other churches or in other ministries at BCF. Each of them is incredibly significant to God and strategi-cally placed by Him. God’s ways are mysterious and lovely. I am trying to help you understand this: Our vision begins with a dream in our hearts. The passion of the dream energizes the vision. God takes the vision through many transitions, but the dream remains the same. Within the dream, He brings us out into a wide and spacious place that is pleasant to us. Just as that young girl had a dream of taking care of others in the field of nursing, God changed the focus into caring for damaged hearts, both through her vocation and avocation.

God has shown me that He holds my dream, and He tells me that I can do the things that Jesus did as I care for the brokenhearted. Those who work with me hold dreams too, and He shows them how to do “Jesus stuff” wherever their dreams take them. This seems to be a very long answer for the question “What is your vision for LifeStreams Prayer Ministry?” doesn’t it? Succinctly, God takes my dream and gives us the vision piece by piece, letting it evolve naturally. You will not find a planner in my hand, nor a calendar. Following God into every workplace and to the nations is so much better. The capacity found in our little group that ministers Monday nights is profoundly large. Only God can manage the increasing capacity. Doing what Jesus did means walking with Him moment by moment. When He opens an opportunity, we step into it with Him and are awed by what He does. LifeStreams Prayer Ministry may change or transition into something else, but what we learn walking with Him will be with us always. That is the only vision I have. May it bring life to your dream. --Jean Ramphal

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The Grace and Goodness of God The first Bible verse I memorized after I became a Christian was 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (New King James Version). I was not only saved from eternal damnation; I was a new creation! I had been born again! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you too are a totally new creation through the creative act of God! Funny thing with scripture memorization is that we tend to pick and choose individual verses in a Bible passage and leave the rest; some-times we miss the whole point of the total passage. For example, it took me a few years to read the next verses in 2 Corinthians 5. In verses 18-19, the apostle Paul wrote that we are not only new creations but we have been given “the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (NKJV). We are now God’s ambassadors to this world, “as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God”. (verse 20, NKJV). Sadly, it took me many years, perhaps decades, to come to the next verse in 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 21 is perhaps one of the greatest Bible verses that talks about the grace and goodness of God:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (NKJV).

The Amplified Bible puts it this way:

For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with him, by His goodness].

In my own words, verse 21 says: “For He (the Heavenly Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin (to miss the mark) to be sin for us (to miss the mark and so not share in the prize, that is, (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin: for your faults, offend, sin, trespass) that we might become the righteousness (innocent, holy; absolutely or relatively; just, meeting the some total requirements) of God in Him (Jesus Christ).” In reading this verse, my first question is: “Did the Father make Jesus take on the sins of the world?” The answer is yes, when He died on the cross for us. My second question is: “If that is true, then what does that make us?” The answer is that we are declared righteous in the eyes of this Holy God—in Jesus Christ. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7, NKJV). Say out loud, “I am the righteousness of God IN Christ!” Do you believe that? You should! Glory to God!

You see, God didn’t overlook our sins; Jesus paid for our sins by His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus died that we might live, and He did it BEFORE we knew about, while we were still sinners. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV). And he also said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and put their complete faith and trust in Him and His complete work on the cross are brought into right relationship with God. This righteousness is unattainable by simply try-ing to completely obey the law, by a person’s own merit, or by any con-dition other than faith in Jesus Christ. The person who trusts in Jesus Christ becomes “the righteousness of God in Him”; this person becomes in Jesus Christ all that God requires a man to be, all that he could never be in himself. That is the grace and goodness of God! In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul told us to not take this grace for granted because TODAY is the day of salvation:

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. —2 Corinthians 6:1-2, NKJV

Paul is saying that you can become a new creation like I did. If you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior (accept His payment for your sin) and Lord (submit to His will for your life), you, too, will become a totally new creation through the creative act of God! You too will be brought into right relationship with God! Today is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off for one more moment.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:8-11, NKJV

New King James Version © 1984 Thomas Nelson Amplified Version © 1987 The Zondervan Corporation --Tom Oestreich © 2009 River of Hope Ministries All Rights Reserved

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God’s Level is Abundance From its Latin origin, the word abundance speaks of “a wave that overflows.” For instance, a swimming pool has abundance when it overflows. Your sink has abundance when it spills over. Something that holds or contains another substance has no abundance until it overflows. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). When your heart overflows, it overflows through your mouth. The level of God’s provision for His people is abundance. One of the most powerful verses in the New Testament states this truth:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

Notice that it is by grace, not by law. The principle of grace is stated in 2 Corinthians 8:9:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Second Corinthians 8:9 speaks about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that on the cross He became poor with our poverty so that we might, by faith, share His riches. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 Paul described the level of the grace that is released to us through the cross. Two key words appear in this verse: the word abound is used twice, and the word all or every five times. (In the Greek, the word every is the same word as all.) If you have all you need in all things at all times to abound to every good work, there is absolutely no room for unsupplied need anywhere in your life.

Notice in 2 Corinthians 9:8 that the purpose of abundance is “every good work.” It is not selfish indulgence; it is being able to do good works. Why does God want His children to have abundance? His specific, practical reason is given in Acts, where Paul quoted Jesus in Acts 20:35: “The Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Receiving has a blessing, but giving has a greater blessing. God makes His abundance available to us so that we may not be limited to the blessing of receiving, but may also be in a position to enjoy the greater blessing of giving. If you want this kind of abundance--which comes by grace, not by law--you must act in faith. This means you must give first. The words of Jesus in Luke 6:38 express this idea:

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

If you want a “good measure” to be given to you, you must give first. This is faith. If you aren’t willing to act in faith, you will not set in motion the processes that will bring God’s abundance into your life. A time interval generally occurs between sowing and reap-ing. The farmer does not sow one day and reap the next. He first has to let the seed fall into the ground and apparently die. Then, after it has fallen into the ground and died, the harvest comes up. This important lesson was expressed by Paul: “Let us not become weary in doing good [and that includes doing good with our money], for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9) Paul was saying that we must wait for God’s appointed time for the harvest. It will come if we do not give up. We must live and act in faith in every area of our lives, including our money. -- Pastor Carol Warner

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poetic The Alpha and the Omega Everything has a beginning. Everything has an end. And in between there are many things With which we have to contend. In the beginning God made the sun; It gives heat and light to everyone. In the end we’ll need it no more, For the light of God’s glory will shine evermore. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree They hid from the Lord so He wouldn’t see. When time is no more He’ll invite us to stay In His presence forever, and never to stray.

When Eden was young Satan’s victory was great. The children of God became reprobate. At the end of this age, as every saint knows, Satan’s reign on the earth will come to a close.

When sin entered in there was much to spoil – With the curse came pain and unending toil. There will come a day when the curse is no more And the blessing of God flows from shore to shore. When Eden was lost and our fellowship dead There was sorrow so deep and many tears shed. But someday we know that our Lord will appear. He’ll soothe every sorrow and dry every tear. Everything has a beginning. Everything has an end. And on Jesus, the Alpha-Omega We know we can always depend.

--Liz Kimmel

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There is an easy way to raise money for BCF Missions just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com. It's simple. You use GoodSearch.com like any other search engine — the site is powered by Yahoo! — but each time you do, money is generated for BCF. The more people who use this, the more money will go to the missions program here at Bethel.

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address: http://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop.aspx

A Life-Changing June Evening It was a Tuesday night in June 1959, the second meeting of a two-week evangelistic tent crusade in a northwestern Iowa farm community. As the evangelist concluded the meeting, he asked everyone present to stand and invited anyone who did not personally know Jesus to come forward and receive Him by faith. Among the people at the meeting were a nine-year-old boy and his father. As the boy stood beside his father, a thump-thump-thump pounded heavily within in his chest. He recognized it as the same convicting call of the Holy Spirit that had come to him the night before when the evangelist had also given an invitation to come to Jesus. The boy had resisted the gentle, persistent voice of God the previous evening because he did not want to step out and publicly acknowledge his need of Christ. In the preceding year, God had been speaking to the boy about his need to be saved from sin. Indeed, he had become fully aware that he needed to receive forgiveness of sin and the saving presence of Jesus. The practice of his church was that everybody knelt and prayed after the Sunday night sermon, and in these times, the boy, at age eight, had cried out to God, “Save me! Save me!” However, he just had not understood how to take the simple step of faith in Christ. But now, on this second night of the tent meetings, the boy did know how to turn his life over to God so he could be saved. And while he could have chosen to once again, with a proud heart, resist God’s call to salvation, he made the wise decision to humble himself before God. Stepping out from his seat, he walked to the front, where the evangelist was standing. As the boy went forward, the heavy thumping within his chest subsided. He began to feel the relief that came from knowing he had begun to do what God wanted him to do. But as he stood at the front, waiting for the evangelist to conclude the altar call, he wondered what would happen next. What would happen to him in the next few moments? After the evangelist prayed briefly with the five or six people who had come to receive Christ that night, the boy went through a curtain to a side room of the tent to talk further with a young man named Henry, the husband of his older cousin Lillian. There he

walked through the steps of turning from sin and trusting Jesus to forgive him. When Henry asked him to pray, either audibly or silently, and invite Jesus into his life, the boy chose to pray to God silently. Only God heard the boy’s prayer that Tuesday night in June, but that was enough. When he went home from the tent meeting, he was no longer struggling with the conflict that had troubled him just a short while before. Instead, he now had a precious sense of God’s peace. He knew that he was in right relationship with God. The next night, the boy looked forward to going to the tent meeting with his father. And when he heard an announcement about a Bible study that was held each morning of the tent crusade, he expressed an interest in going. He had a hunger and desire to learn more of God through His Word, and his first Bible showed the fruit of it in the wear he gave the pages in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, the section of Scripture that was studied in the morning meetings. I was this nine-year-old boy, and I am so thankful to God because He saved me that June night fifty years ago. Have you given your life to Jesus? Won’t you do it today? Then you can join me in the words of Fanny Crosby’s hymn “Blessed Assurance,” which I often sang when I was growing up:

--Ken Holmgren

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.