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Courier
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The
Vol. 66,
Christian
No. 8
Courier The
Bellingham
Christian
FirstCourier
Christian The
Church
Christian Courier
August
The
2016
C
Worship in the Park
& All Church Picnic

Event: Golf FORE Good!

Sunday, August 7
10:30 a.m.
Cornwall Park
Bring salad and/or
dessert to share, a
chair or blanket to sit
on (if so desired), a
sweater to wrap up in (just in case),
and be ready for a day of fun, as we
worship in the picnic shelter and then
break bread together.
(Hotdogs, buns, condiments, chips,
drinks, a hot dish, and beans will be
provided by your Nurture Task Force.)

Someone Cares!
Community Meal
Sunday, August 14
2 p.m.

This months
community meal will
feature a barbecue.
Hosted by our
community meal task
force and the many volunteers who
make the monthly meal happen on a
regular basis, we are celebrating two
years of happy people with happy, full
bellies. Thank you to all the many
volunteers who made this possible.
Please note that we will need three
BBQs brought to the church to prep the
food for this Sunday. Please contact
Brenda Riseland if you are able to help.

Friday, August 5
9 a.m. shotgun start
Shuksan Golf Course
Golf FORE! Good tournament!
4-person scramble 9:00 am shotgun start
Join us for a fun tournament and a great cause: helping
local kids.
Your day on the course helps children with developmental
delays, physical disabilities and provides school readiness
programs for disadvantaged students.
For more information, visit http://www.oppco.org/event/
golf-fore-good/

Welcoming Gamers to Our Church

What does Pokmon Go have to
do with church? As you may be
aware, people who have never set foot
in churches are now visiting in droves,
trying to collect highly valued Pokballs
and enter exciting battles.
What does this have to do with First Christian
Church of Bellingham? We have been designated as a
Pokmon gym, which means players are already visiting us.
So, if you see people wandering around, staring at their
phones, remember to welcome them. (And remind them to
be aware of their surroundings and stay alert!)
Now, go Team Mystic!

Shoes News

First Christian Church

Shoes News

(Disciples of Christ)

Its a Balancing Act

495 East Bakerview Road
Bellingham, WA 98226
360.734.6820
office@bellinghamdisciples.org
www.bellinghamdisciples.org
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

A movement for wholeness in a fragmented
world. As part of the one body of Christ, we
welcome all to the Lords Table as God
welcomed us.
All of Us
Ministers
Rev. Gary Shoemaker
Pastor
gary@bellinghamdisciples.org
Rev. Tamalyn Kralman
Director of Ed. & Community Outreach
Courier Editor
tamalyn@bellinghamdisciples.org
Amelia Nye
Accompanist
Katie Ramstead
Childcare Provider
Rev. Sandy Messick
Regional Minister
Rev. Sharon Watkins
General Minister and President

Sunday Schedule
10:20 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
11:45 a.m.
Noon
2 p.m.

Office Hours

Gathering Time
Worship
Fellowship Time
Out-to-Lunch Bunch
(4th Sunday)
Someone Cares! Community Meal
(2nd Sunday)

Monday - Friday
9 a.m. - noon
Our staff are in and out of the office throughout the
week. Please feel free to stop by during their office
hours or make an appointment that fits your
schedule.

Officers
Renee Hoemann, Moderator
Don Hoffman, Vice Moderator
Cheryl Perry, Treasurer
Melissa Henderson, Secretary

I've always been fascinated by those who display incredible

balance. I remember watching a man do a handstand at the top
of a precarious stack of 8 chairs. Partly I'm fascinated because
I don't have that talent. I'm sure that if I worked very hard, I'd be
able to stand on one foot for more than a minute (maybe).
Balance takes practice!
The same can be said for keeping our lives in balance. How
many times have you stopped to realize that you haven't done
anything for pure fun and joy for as long as you can
remember? How many times have you discovered that you're
in a pattern of just going through the motions... work, eat,
sleep, work, eat, sleep? That's not a good balance. Life is too
precious to let days, weeks or months go by stuck in the same
routine. Life is better when we balance out the workaday reality
with a bit of surprise and fun.
In the life of a church, there's a tendency to fall into a pattern.
Sometimes that's good, sometimes not so good.I think we've
started falling into a pattern, an off-balance one at that.
Over the past several years, we've become a more outwardly
focused church community. We've started a number of projects
that are geared towards those outside our congregation. Now,
that's definitely not a bad thing! In fact, it's a wonderful thing!
But it needs to be balanced with some fun and fellowship for
those within our church community.
I know that there are a couple of fun activities coming up in the
next few weeks. We'll have some time to sit together, eat
spaghetti together, worship and laugh in the park together. We
need time to relax, talk, laugh and just be together. We need
some family time.
So, I invite you to participate in these opportunities. I want to
you think of other ways that we can regain some of the fun and
fellowship that we really need to have a good sense of balance
in our church life. Perhaps a monthly game night, bring your
best joke to coffee hour, maybe a Sunday where we all wear
the most inappropriate church apparel to worship. Put on your
thinking caps!
Life's too precious to let days, weeks or months go by stuck in
the same routine.
Come, let us have some fun together!
Pastor Gary

August 2016

Thank Yous Received

Thank you from Interfaith Coalition
Children from homeless families have a different attitude about summer break
from school: their predictable,
supportive routine of going to school, being with friends, being normal, is
now gone. Camping is not a
family vacation it is an everyday situation for many children who would give
anything to have a home and
routine.
Thank you for serving families through Disciples House. Through your partners
hip and generous support, we are
reaching out to children and families in Whatcom County and giving them
a chance at being normal again at
Disciples House and the other homes in our network. One of the newest
families in Interfaith Family Housing is
a grandmother raising her six grandchildren. They had been living in her
van or on the floor for two years! We
cannot adequately describe the intense joy on the grandmother's face when
we recently dropped by to see how
things were going. It felt like if it were translated into electricity it could power
all of Whatcom County. YOU
MEAN THAT MUCH TO THEM - and to many other children and adults.
Thank You for your congregations on-going support! Because somewhere
out there is a child who is praying for
someone, somewhere, who will help his or her family. We are grateful that
you are here to help us be there for
them.

First Christian Church,

Thank you so much for donating your time to
stuff brochures and put together hygiene bags!
The brochures are going out around town to
community organizations and the bags are going
straight to new residents at our safe shelter. The
volunteer work you did was so helpful and
means so much to so many. Thank you again!
Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services

Place:
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August 2016

1st Christian Church,

for the special things you do!

yers, delicious dinners, and

Thank you friends for your pra
concern for Amys Place youth.
From all of us at Amys Place
Thank-you!
Heidi & Kids

First Christian
Church,
Thank you for
the letters writ
ten on behalf of
Amnesty Intern
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the July 31 Jesu
Has Left the Bu
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behalf of the 13
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in Cameroon,
to support mat
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care issues arou
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to send the lett
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Your Outreach
Ministry
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Whos on First?!

Joys and Concerns

August
Sunday, August 7
Elders: Jane Kletka (O), Brenda Riseland (C)
Lock-Up: Melody Hoffman
In Home Communion: Gregg Heyne
Leslie Pinkston
Deacons: Kathy Wheeler, Lynn Plancich
Reader:
Greeters:
Flowers: TBD
Fellowship Time: TBD
Sunday, August 14
Elders: Don Hoffman (O), Joe Plancich (C)
Deacons: Renee Hoemann, James Becker
Reader:
Greeters:
Flowers: TBD
Fellowship Time: TBD
Sunday, August 21
Elders: Leslie Pinkston (O), Margaret Brown (C)
Deacons: Ardythe Hannah, Connie Page,
Linda Heyne
Reader:
Greeters:
Flowers: TBD
Fellowship Time: TBD
Sunday, August28
Elders: Kelvin Smith (O), Melody Hoffman (C)
Deacons: Lois Oswalt, Alexis Pinkston
Reader:
Greeter:
Flowers: Esther Group
Fellowship Time: Esther Group
Please sign up in the Fellowship Hall to
participate in these important ministries.

Happy Birthday
Kim Naidu
Cheryl Perry
Marian Overcash
Diana Linayao
Emmett Shoemaker
Rowan Shoemaker
David Fairchild

Happy Anniversary
Margaret & Lee Brown 8
Megan & Zach Shoemaker 10
Brenda & John Riseland 18

Joys and Concerns

Please submit written requests
to update this list.
Medical concerns:
Tamalyn Kralmans sister Taryn
Kathy Wheelers grandson Andrew
Bob Dawes
Betty and Marlins son, Steve Erickson & grandson Matt
Nelson
Harmon Woodworth
Leslie Pinkstons brothers, Stan and Marvin Streubel
Bob Fishers brother Allen
Mary Ann Teeters
Chloe Gibson
Donna Fairchild
Bill Pribilsky
Joanne Harrell
Beyond Our Walls:
Disciples House Residents, past, present and future
Iglesia de Dios, as together we share Gods love
Raices Culturales families in their gardening program in our
field
Kristine Tissinger, missionary partner in Ghana
Rev. Sandy Messick, Regional Minister
Rev. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President
Our General Church ministries
Yakama Christian Mission
Victims of hatred, injustice, violence, poverty,
disease, and disaster worldwide
All troops involved in world conflict
Peacemakers worldwide

Read the Regional Newsletter

Click here to read the current issue of
Northwest Passages, the
newsletter of the Northwest
Regional Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ).

4
9
16
18
24
24
25

Courier Submissions are Due Aug. 15

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To unsubscribe: Contact 360.734.6820, 495 East
Bakerview Road, Bellingham, WA 98226, or
office@bellinghamdisciples.org.

August 2016

August calendar

August 2016
Sunday

Monday

Wednesday Thursday
Wednesday

Tuesday

Friday

Saturday

Bulletin
deadline

10:20a Gathering Time

10:30a Worship
11:45p Fellowship Time

9:30a Sun. School

10:50a Gathering Time
11a
Worship
2p
Someone Cares
Community Meal

7:30a Mens
Breakfast,
Dennys

10

15

16

Courier
Deadline

17

9:30a Sun. School

10:50a Gathering Time
11a
Worship
12:15p Fellowship Time
12:30 p Out-to-Lunch
Bunch
7p
Book Group

August 2016

18

19

Bulletin
deadline

22

23

13

24

25

20

7:30a Mens
Breakfast,
Dennys

5:30 p.m .
Prayer Vigil
for Peace in
the Middle
East

6:30 p
Stewardship
Meeting

9:30a Sun. School

10:50a Gathering Time
11a
Worship
12:15p Fellowship Time

28

12

7:30a Mens
Breakfast,
Dennys

11:30 a.m.
Esther Group

21

11

Bulletin
deadline

14

26

27

7:30a Mens
Breakfast,
Dennys

Bulletin
deadline
5p Checking
in Group

29

30

31

Bulletin
deadline

Save the Date:

Sunday, Sept. 11
Sunday School Kick-Off
9 a.m. Continental Breakfast
9:30 a.m. Sunday School
10:50 a.m. Gathering Time
11 a.m. Worship - with Bible Presentations
and Blessing of the Backpacks

First Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)
A church of grace and welcome for all!
495 East Bakerview Road
Bellingham, WA 98226-9168

GLAD Alliance

PERIODICALS POSTAGE AT
USPS 0589-870

Setting a place at the table for persons

of all gender expressions and sexual
identities

There's a Building an Inclusive Church Training Coming to Seattle!

Dear Christian Church in the Northwest You can help us build a church where are all welcome in Washington!
How?
By attending a Building an Inclusive Church Training in Bellvue and encouraging members of your
congregation and friends in other congregations to attend also!
Building an Inclusive Church trainings are for leaders in congregations that are interested in growing their welcome.
A church doesnt have to be ready to become O&A before attending this workshop this workshop will give you
tools and resources that will help any congregation move on the journey to more welcome.
This training will hone your skills and give you knowledge about how to guide your congregation through those tough
conversations toward a more fully inclusive church. The training is an in-depth hands-on look at the tools and process in
the Building an Inclusive Church Toolkit.
The training starts the evening of Friday, August 19, and finishing up the afternoon of Saturday, August
20 at Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, WA.
Find more information and registration links here.
Help us by passing the word, and register yourself, too!
And as always, don't hesitate to contact me at mark@gladalliance.org if you have any questions about the Building an
Inclusive Church Training or about Open & Affirming ministry.
Rev. Mark Johnston, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Open & Affirming Ministry Program