This week's Tidings is written by Susannah Kellogg
Dear Trinity,
Let me tell you a bit of my story...
The church has not been a safe place for me. The church taught me to believe that I needed to be a "perfect" Christian to earn God's love. The church spiritually abused many of my younger siblings even worse than that. The church tore my dad to shreds, was an unsafe place for my mom to voice pain and abuse, and became an institution I wanted nothing to do with.
Even so, I loved Jesus and, after graduating high school, I enrolled in Bible College. I was going to do what the "elite" Christians do and leave this American version of Christianity to become a missionary in Africa. That's the healthy way to work through pain, church hurt, and abuse, right?
It just so happened that there was this homeschooled guy who dressed in camo cargo shorts, red flannel shirts, and a horrible homemade beanie in most of my Intercultural Studies classes who was also planning on spending his life in overseas missions. This nerdy kid was a little much for me but, after two years of friendship, Nate finally weaseled his way into my heart and we began dating.
Nate was the worship director at a church in downtown Portland and spoke incredibly highly of his pastor. Since I was serious about this guy, I knew I needed to understand where he was at with the church and get to know the people he respected.
The first day I stepped foot in Grace Church Portland, I had my guard up. We arrived early so Nate could get ready for that morning's worship set and I made myself comfortable on a pew with a book. Books are usually great walls to put up if you don't want people talking to you. Unfortunately, this book apparently wasn't a good enough deterrent that morning. Instead of reading in peace, this warm man with a goatee rushed over to me, introduced himself to me as Pastor Ken, and asked if I wanted to walk with him to the Starbucks a few blocks away to grab coffee while Nate and the band were practicing.
The walk through the downtown Portland streets that morning started the process of the Lord softening my heart to the church and began healing me of deep seated wounds. Seeing Ken stop to talk to a man just waking up from sleeping on the streets, turn around and introduce me to an obviously drug addicted woman whom he considered a friend, and then greet the Starbucks baristas by name shocked me. Seeing many of these people then come into the church building for service that morning confirmed it for me - This was how a leader of church should love others. This was someone being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Through our years at that church and under the influence of Ken, I fell in love with the church again. I saw what the church could be and it gave me hope. This church taught me to love and welcome someone who came to service after a Saturday night binge. This church taught me to not blink an eye when someone walked into the Good Friday service, marched straight up to the front, grabbed the communion bread, and walked out the door. This church taught me the Bible wasn't as cut and dry and legalistic as I was raised to believe. Most of all, this church taught me to lay down my protective wall of "perfection" and accept the Grace that God so freely gives.
Nate's and my friendship with Ken and his wife Sharon has been a blessing from the Lord. Ken has mentored us, processed with us through huge decisions, and loved us through horrific heartaches. We were blessed to have him marry us and we even gave our second son, Josiah, the middle name Garrett in honor of Ken.
We are absolutely giddy that Ken is coming to speak at Family Camp this year and know he's going to impact each of your lives... Maybe not as much as he's impacted our lives... But pretty significantly. ;-)
So... What are you waiting for? Get yourself registered for camp NOW!!!!! You aren't going to want to miss out!
In His Love,
Susannah
Scripture: 2 Samuel 5 Chapter: Chapter 13 - Growth: David and Jerusalem Preacher: Andrew Ray
The history of redemption as seen through all the scriptures is in essence a story of friendship. God created us to join into God's fellowship. But we turned away from God and became lost. However, Jesus becomes one of us to save us. He becomes lost so we may be found and he lays down his life for us so we can have access to the Father. By faith, we can become friends again with God.
Service Times: 8:30 and 9:45
Conversational Spanish and Culture Group Thursdays 12:00-1:00 pm @ Trinity Church July 7 - August 4
For the next five weeks, Ingalls Creek Fellows, Meredith Navarro and Isaac Price, will lead a lunchtime lesson about Mexican culture and basic conversational Spanish. This is a drop in group but coming each week is really beneficial. Please join us for this wonderful opportunity!
Custodian Position Available
Hours: Up to 20 hours per week Status: Permanent, Part time Start Date: By mid-August Summary: The Custodian at Trinity Church keeps the building/property clean and well‐maintained, inside and out, so that our church can be a place of hospitality and welcome. If you are interested in this position, or know of someone that would be, please email carson@trinitywenatchee.org
Change in Address
A lot of changes have come along with the purchase of the building. We will now be receiving our mail at the church address and are shutting down the post office box as of August 1st. Please update your address for anything being sent to the church as soon as possible. The mailing address is now: 535 Okanogan Ave Wenatchee, WA 98801
Ladies, You're Invited!
Thanks for Making it Great!
Thanks everyone for coming to the BBQ at Walla Walla Park last Sunday and bringing yummy side dishes and desserts! We had over 100 people show up and it was fun spending the afternoon chatting, playing, and eating together.
Family Camp at Tall Timbers
August 12-14
Registration for Family Camp is now open for August 12-14th at Tall Timbers. Registration will be closed on July 31st so please be sure to register online before then. Here are a few things to consider about the weekend:
- You do not have to have a family or bring your family to come to the weekend.Singles, married folks, and families are all welcome. During the three teaching sessions there will be childcare provided for kids ages 2-10.
- The sleeping arrangements are somewhat flexible: you can request to have a cabin with only your family, you can ask for a room just for yourself, or you can let us know if you don’t mind sharing. We will try our best to work with your requests.
- We also want to share with you that we think family camp is so important that the church is covering half the price for everyone. Once you register, the prices reflected are half the actual cost of the weekend. We value this weekend and we want to make it as affordable as possible for all to come! If this price is still too high for your family please let us know and we will gladly help out! If you would like to sponsor a family to come who may be having financial difficulty please also let us know.
Key Info for Church this Summer
Our services are at 8:30am and 9:45am.
- Live stream our 9:45am services HERE - Watch past services on YouTube - Listen to Sermon audio