OK, we led off with cookies because that’s what people care about. Now a followup question… Can you guess what this is?

Remember two weeks back when our a/c broke down and church was sweltering like a budget funeral parlor in New Orleans? People were turning their bulletins into improvised fans. One worshipper got poked in the eye by the lady next to him; fortunately, it was his wife. (Accident or on purpose?) A staff member contracted carpal tunnel and filed a worker’s comp claim. When the a/c breaks down, it’s bad. And this is the little component that is responsible—the McDonnell flow switch, just five inches across. Designed by Satan to break down just as church is starting up. Rusted out, broke off—no a/c! Like a hangnail, it is tiny but causes a whole lot of pain. There’s a parable here. Like the body of Christ (1Cor 12:21-26)—everybody’s got to do their part, including the flow switch, or the system breaks down and everybody wishes they were over in the Caffé watching the video feed.

Hey! Didn’t Jorge do a great job preaching on Sunday! Terrific exposition of the amazing faith of the Roman centurion in Matt 9. Here’s a guy who is totally ready to step up into the larger responsibility of pastoring a church. In case you missed it, Jorge announced that he has accepted a call from an area church—Oak Avenue Church in Orangevale—to be its lead pastor. And he accepted. His new ministry begins August 1st, but he will continue on staff here until the end of June to wrap up his ministry and help us plan the transition. When Jorge joined our staff, he played a crucial role in bringing stability and maturity to our youth department. His legacy includes a strong leadership core of staff and volunteers to continue the work.

Public service reminder: Mother’s Day this Sunday. I’ll be preaching a special message for everybody who has a mom or had a mom once. If that’s not you, you’re excused. The message is Jesus and his mom. You’ll be surprised the number of times Jesus’ mom appears in the Bible. 13 different times by my count. See if you can identify these scenes…

• “What! That is biologically impossible!”
• “With me? No—I thought He was with you!”
• “They’ve run out of wine. And you brought 12 people who weren’t on the guest list.”
• “Let’s bring him home—he’s off his rocker.”

These are all quotations from the virgin Mary that didn’t make it into the Gospels but were overheard by people who were present. Match each quote above to the Gospel story below:

• You will conceive the Messiah, the angel Gabriel tells Mary. (Luke 1:26-38)
• Jesus’ family does an intervention. (Mark 3:20-21)
• Joseph and Mary lose Jesus. (Luke 2:41-52)
• Crisis at a wedding party. (John 2:1-11)

By the way, the virgin Mary—how do I put this delicately?—did not remain a virgin. With her marriage to Joseph, she became a normal wife and mother (see Matthew 1:24-25). Well, as normal as you can be when your boy is also the Son of God. Catholic tradition teaches that Joseph, an aged widower, “married” Mary to preserve her reputation and offer his protection, but they maintained a celibate relationship until Joseph’s death sometime during Jesus’ adolescence. But this doesn’t jibe with the Bible’s robust view of sex and family or with its description of Jesus’ siblings—”brothers” (four named) and “sisters.”

Quiz: So how many children did Mary and Joseph have?[answer below]

Anyway, how’d we get on this subject? Oh yes—this Sunday is Mother’s Day. This is a public service reminder for all you husbands and sons who are likely to forget. No excuses. Like, “I meant to.” (I remember a Mother’s Day early in our marriage that was about to pass without any mention or observation. “But you’re not my mother,” I remember saying to Laila. That didn’t go down well.)

Parking crisis. Have you ever come to church on Sunday—you’re running late, and you see the only empty space in the entire front lot: God’s gift to you. You gun the accelerator, cut off an 80-year-old church lady, and swing into the narrow slot—only to discover it’s RESERVED FOR THE PASTOR. Your charitable thoughts about me suddenly become clouded with mild imprecations. Well, this Sunday is your opportunity to park in my space. Somebody stole my parking sign. Now I have to forage like everybody else and walk from the back-40 of our church lot in the blistering heat of May, maybe even be late to church! And some of you will think, serves him right, Pastor Privileged Parker. I’m sure the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department has made apprehending the thief a high priority. They no doubt suspect one of our skateboard hooligans, but I bet it was one of our sweet 80-year-old church ladies with a black & decker power screwdriver. At any rate, there is no sign and this is your golden opportunity. Until the next time the sign gets absconded with.

By the way, why is the email blast out so early? Because Laila and I are flying down to LA Friday-Saturday to visit our son Matt, who would like to introduce us to a girl he would like to marry. (Can I say girl? She’s 27.) We’re trying to be cool about it. But it’s a very big deal.

A few quick pieces of news:

• Our summer Arise! service starts in June—Sundays at 8 am in the Chapel. Tim will do most of the preaching there. He’s going to preach through Colossians.
• Memorial Day weekend we’re having a bluegrass group lead worship—in both services. (John’s away on honeymoon. Now for something completely different!) Dress code is bluejeans and t-shirt. After SML the youth are hosting a barbecue-fundraiser for Hume Lake on the plaza (12:30-1:30), followed by a special bluegrass concert at 1:30 in the Chapel.
• We’re three Sundays away from summer Sunday School—and we still need three more volunteers to teach or assist. The Holy Spirit has been nudging three of you out there—and you keep brushing him off. That’s like a flow switch that decides to break down. Sign up at the Children’s Ministry office or their table in the Caffé.

EPC Presbytery meeting. Last weekend a dozen or more of our elders and pastors went up to Nevada City for a meeting of the Presbytery of the Pacific—a gathering of our 40 EPC churches located in Washington, Idaho, California, and Oregon. Great time! Beautiful location. Seemed like we were praying every 30 minutes. A lot of people who love Jesus, believe the Bible, and are committed to mission and ministry. Jon Holmes, an elder and member here at FOPC, was “taken under care” for ordination—a yearlong process that will likely culminate in his being ordained for pastoral ministry—probably as a professor of theology and family therapy. (He is a licensed family therapist and on the faculty of Western Seminary in Sacramento.)

Palau festival. Oh! One last thing! We’re just five weeks away from the Luis Palau Festival. This is the biggest evangelism event in Sacramento since the last Billy Graham Crusade. What do we do?

• You attend the festival—on Friday and Saturday, June 16 and 17 at the Cal Expo fairgrounds. (It’s free.)
• You sign up to staff the fair; they need several hundred festival volunteers.
• On Wednesday May 30 FOPC hosts an evangelism training. We want to train everybody to share their faith, using a gospel tract and leading somebody in a prayer to receive Christ. At the festival, they need hundreds of us to “counsel” the thousands of people who come forward to receive Christ. Every Christian should know how to do this. Let this be like CPR training—even if you “know how,” this is an opportunity to refresh your training. So please mark your calendar and come to our evangelism training—just one short evening session—on Wednesday, May 30.

Stop and smell ‘em. Have you noticed our rose garden has burst into bloom? You can see it from the back parking lot, facing south. Thanks to the gardening team who have spiffed it up!

15 Minutes with God. Now that the Easter crunch is over, I’m sure everybody is back into their daily Bible readings. This past week we had some great Bible passages—like the story of the very fat priest in 1Samuel 4 and the golden hemorrhoids in 1Samuel 6 (seriously!), one of the all-time great psalms (Ps 103—”all that is within me bless his holy name”), and Jesus’ “Bread of Life” discourse in John 6.

That’s all, folks! See you in church!

—Pastor KirK

[Answer to quiz: How many children did Mary and Joseph have? At least seven! according to Matthew 13:55-56. Five brothers including Jesus. The brothers are named James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. And at least two sisters. "All his sisters" sounds like more than two, so I'm thinking Mary and Joseph had eight or nine kids in their family.]

NEXT POTLUCK – Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Our featured speakers for the month of June will be:

Carey & Holly Holmquist -

Gary Fox -

Luis Palau Festival -

Moments with FOPC Military -

Their data indicates a markedly irreligious generation of 50-69 year olds, best characterized as hostile to religion. This generation is now beginning to retire from influential roles in the media, politics, education, and the arts. The havoc that these “lost generations” have wreaked – in constructing a narrative of hard secularism – may finally be waning.

Their findings also suggest that the current generation of 20-29 year olds is less hostile to religion. But who is going to give them guidance?

Study after study tells us that Europe’s young people have only a few opportunities to talk about spirituality with an older and more mature person. This reflects a deep disconnect with older generations as well as with the churches.

The need for a spiritually mature generation to be available to such young people is a strong argument for churches to support older people in working among young people with spiritual questions. A 2010 study by the European Baptist Federation suggested that a biblically faithful and missionary lifestyle is crucial for relating to young people in this way, as they share their questions about the meaning of life, belonging and identity, human relationships, and the reality of Christ.

The January 2011 Vista Bulletin provides some examples of diverse ministries to European youth:
1. The extreme sports ministry Christian Surfers has been active in Europe for over eight years. Their core activity is to be a Christian presence and witness in the surfing communities. For example, in Holland a group of approximately 60 Christian Surfers run their own events and also work alongside the Dutch Surf Association. The surfers range from the young, keen surfers, to those who have been surfing for 20-30 years.
2. The word became flesh – and moved into the neighborhood. Eden began in 1997 as an initiative of the Message Trust in Manchester, UK. Young people from tough urban communities were becoming Christians through their schools ministry, but found it difficult to settle in a church to be discipled. So rather than take young people out of their context, the Message began to work with young people where they were, in partnership with local churches. Eden teams aim to bring God’s love and transformation to some of the most deprived areas of the UK. Their approach includes living in the community, and building relationships and trust with the young people in these areas.
3. The New Wave movement in Bulgaria began in 2001 for as an initiative for Christian youth, and most of those who attend are aged between 15 and 25. “Our main goal is to gather young people together and help them have passion for God,” explains Peicho Muhtarov, one of the organizers. “In Bulgaria we have very good praise and worship teams, with live concerts where the young people’s heroes are on stage. If you can give the young people their music they will stay together with you for hours and hours to praise God nonstop.”  The annual Summer Wave, attracting 600-700 young people, is held in the Black Sea area. The week-long event focuses on teaching, music, and groups where young people meditate about the Word of God and pray as well as praise God in music. Pray that God will provide the youth of Europe with mature and caring Christians who will provide answers to spiritual questions and nurture them in the Christian faith.

For more information:
Vista Bulletin published by Redcliffe Bible College of Gloucester UK: http://europeanmission.redcliffe.org/.
http://www.europeanvaluesstudy.eu/
Jenkins, Philip, God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis

One of the key areas where the effects of  the revolution are still felt in France is in the notion of  tolerance. During the revolution’s reign of terror, all tolerance came to a sudden end. Revolutionary thought police began enforcing what we now call “political correctness.” Around the middle of the last century, tolerance gradually ceased to be understood as permitting that which one did not personally accept. Instead, it began to mean actually accepting ideas, values and practices that differed from one’s own. Since it is now an act of intolerance  to call anything wrong or immoral, Christians who hold to the Biblical standards are constantly finding themselves accused of intolerance. The result was described succinctly by Janey DeMeo, former missionary in France of 22 years and author of Heaven Help Me Raise These Children!: “They tolerate everything — except Christians. Unless you have actually lived in France, it is hard to understand just how challenging this can be.”

Laïcité is what the French call their principle of church/state separation. While separation of state and church promises freedom for religion, it can also be a means to attack Christianity. Because the world views of agnosticism and atheism are not considered “religions” the government can be outspoken in advocating these views while not compromising its commitment to laïcité. State schools are explicitly atheistic in their world view. Degrees awarded by Christian educational institutions, including doctorates issued by the Catholic Institute of Paris, are not recognized by the French government.

Janey DeMeo says that the hardest thing about trying to raise a family in France is helping children not to feel that being a Christian is strange. She goes on to say that the French educational system reinforces the idea that Christianity is weird by constantly telling children that only idiots believe in God.

Spiritual work in France is, hardly surprisingly, very slow and there has been no real breakthrough. It would be fair to say that France is the largest western nation that has not felt the power of the gospel. You might even say it is the largest “unreached” western nation, since there are large tracts of land and many cities with no evangelical witness.

Please pray for the young people of France. That they will hunger to know God in spite of what they are taught in school and that they will find reliable people to mentor them in the faith.

For further reading:
http://www.ecmi.org/133135.ihtml
http://atgsociety.com/2010/02/christianity-under-attack-infrance/

Bob preaches in their local church and trains laymen to serve as leaders. He is preaching a series on the riches of the Gospel from the themes of “The Prodigal God” (Luke 15).

Veronique is a bi-lingual secretary and oversees the biblical training of the children in the church.

One of their methods for sharing the gospel is through a combination of theater and mime.  They are grateful for our prayers. Pray that God will send others to help them in their work, that they will have power for working in a strongly secular country, and that they will be encouraged and protected.

They are on facebook if you would like to send them a message.

Trips to the following locations for 2012 are in the planning stages and monthly meetings have begun:
International – Romania, Romania/Spain, Malawi summer, Malawi fall
Mexico – Rancho Santa Marta, La Esperanza
Domestic – Missouri or other disaster area, San Francisco (YWAM Jr Hi trip)

Angel Tree is a ministry of Prison Fellowship and is provided to the children in our community.

The goal is to reach children who have an incarcerated parent(s) with the love and touch of Jesus Christ. Each child is provided with a gift of clothing item, toy or personal item, which is purchased by a member of our congregation and given to the child on behalf of the incarcerated parent. Along with the gift, a personal note from the parent and gospel items are included in the packages.

For more information or to volunteer for 2012, contact Lauri Balbi at 967-4784 ext. 830.

Next Boutique: Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 8:30am – If you are able to help with this boutique, setup begins Friday, June 1 at 1:00pm.  Or if you are working on Saturday, please be here by 8:00am on June 2.  To volunteer for those days, please call Kara Poole at 916-973-8798 or the Missions Office at 967-4784, ext 836.

Provides clothing and furniture for expecting and new moms who would not have the resources to purchase these items on their own. Each family can choose a bag of clothing (sizes Newborn to 6),and one big ticket item such as; strollers, cribs, toys and other baby items.

• 2012 Baby Boutique dates:
  Saturday, March 3
  Saturday, June 2
  Saturday, September 1
  Saturday, December 1

Help from the church and the community is needed. How can you get involved?
We will gratefully accept your donations in the Missions office during the week or at the bin in the back parking lot on Sundays and of course, in Caffe Presse on Sundays.  We are still in need of clothing (ages newborn – 5 years), furniture, toys and accessories.  We are looking for people who will help us sort the bins on Sundays.  This does not have to be every Sunday, we will take volunteers once a month or even once a quarter, we just want to give our leaders some much needed time off.  You can also help by washing, cleaning, sorting, and stacking donated clothes.  Other areas to help are setup, tear down, and minister to the families on the weekend of the boutique. Contact the missions office at ext 836 for more information.

Thank you to Dennis & Peggy Chilton, John & Janet Gong, Kara Poole, and all of our wonderful volunteers who have worked so faithfully on the past Baby Boutiques.  You truly exhibit the love of Christ as you serve the needs of those in our community.

THANK YOU!!   GRACIAS!!   MERCI!!

Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. Each fall the children in our Sunday School classes gather items such as small toys, school supplies, hygiene items, etc. and pack them in a wrapped shoebox. These items are then sent to children around the world who have been affected by civil war, extreme poverty, or natural disasters. These shoeboxes not only provide a gift for a child in need of joy and hope but more importantly they provide opportunities for local believers to tell children about Jesus Christ through Gospel literature and evangelism programs. For more information or to help with our 2012 Shoebox ministry, contact the Missions and Outreach Office at (916) 967-4784, ext. 836.

Independence Day Celebration Concert
Saturday, June 30 at 6:30PM
in the Worship Center
A free-will offering will be taken.