Greetings Church Family,
We have lived in Boardman now for 16 months. We are all settled in and consider this our forever home (from our lips to God’s ears, right?). We are so grateful to be a part of a church that held together during the Covid-19 pandemic, continued meeting, and obeyed the command of Hebrews 10:25.
Things continue to be busy at the church and in our community. Sundays are filled with two church services, flag-pole prayer, and youth group.
On Mondays we volunteer at the food pantry in the morning. At night, we typically drive out to support a youth group in Irrigon. We were able to join with them for a bonfire, burning our Burden Boxes. We also enjoyed filling toiletry bags that were later donated to a ministry that helps those who are homeless.
Every other Wednesday I meet for lunch with a few area pastors for a time of prayer and encouragement. On Wednesday nights we attend Awana. Shara and I generally use that time for fellowship, catching up with some of the other adults.
On Thursdays Shara is a part of the praise team practice and on Thursday evenings we have Bible Study and Prayer group. At this time, I am teaching from the book of Zechariah.
Every Saturday is Men’s Breakfast and then we do chores as a family at home. Every second Saturday of the month we host Adventure Club. We are really enjoying that and appreciate all the help from others who plan the fun events with us! The newspaper recently printed an article that Shara wrote about an Adventure Club scavenger hunt that supported the food pantry.
In early March, I attended a two-day seminar for pastors in Gresham. While there, I was interviewed about the food pantry by a reporter from the NW Baptist Witness magazine. That article will be printed soon. I have also been a part of a search committee that hired a “pastor to the pastors” for the Eastern Oregon area.
We have really enjoyed our near-monthly Hymn Sings and appreciate Rebecca’s faithfulness to play the piano and Peter Law’s faithfulness to drive up from Sandy to run these fun events. Peter is Shara’s father. (continued)
Our kids will be doing 4H again this year and we plan to purchase two goats in April. We also added a dog to our family this year! Her name is Aravis (from the CS Lewis book “A Horse and His Boy”). The kids are enjoying the dog, crafts, reading, sports, and time with friends. We are all happy to see the sun shining again.
We would like to thank the Skeens and the Sowas for their kind nominations. We were recently awarded the “2020 Citizen of the Year” award (through the Chamber) for the town of Boardman. That was quite an honor. Thank you. It was our great pleasure to serve alongside so many of you during the pandemic both inside our church doors and outside in the community.
Several of us enjoyed a wonderful meal, and fellowship time, at the Valentine’s dinner. Julie did a wonderful job of cooking and we all loved the food and time together.
The women of the church had a great time meeting for dinner at the River Lodge a couple of weeks ago. Eighteen women attended the dinner. Another fellowship meal will be scheduled this Spring.
We have lots of events coming up and hope you are now well acquainted with the Faithlife website. We post there often, keeping everyone informed and updated.
Stay tuned: The Luis Palau festival is coming in August! You won’t want to miss that. This grand event will be held in Hermiston and will bring together area churches, businesses, and residents. Mark your calendar for August 28. Shara and I have agreed to help with the follow up committee. We will also be attending this event with our children. We hope many of you will join us.
If you have seen lots of cars using our church parking lot lately, it is because the clinic employees are in need of additional parking spots while administering Covid vaccinations.
Regarding our church service times, our prayer is that we can return to one service after Easter. We will keep you posted on that.
Thank you for all that you do, for all those you serve, and for faithfully giving to the church so we can continue helping others. We are blessed to be here. We love our church family.
Pastor Rick, Shara, and Kids