Monthly Newsletter

I want to start my first article here at UBC by saying that Molly and I feel so blessed to be a part of this local body of Christ. You have welcomed us with opened arms, and we are amazed at how natural it feels to be here in Boise after just a month of living in our new home. Thank you for all your help in getting us moved in, settled, and most importantly acquainted with you all! We look forward eagerly to putting down roots here and becoming more and more integrated into the family of Ustick. And we are so grateful that God has led us to join up with you!

My first month as the Pastor of Young Adults and Worship has been a busy one! Although there is much to talk about on the Worship side, I want to take a bit of time to let you know specifically what’s been going on with the Young Adults. A few weeks ago we had the great privilege of serving dinner to some of the “older” ladies of the church. It was a fantastic time to get to hear some of their stories and to be reminded that we are part of the larger, diverse body of Christ. Multi-generational integration is one of the things I am passionate about, and I look forward to seeing how we can continue to foster interaction and fellowship across generational lines in the future.

Our Sunday School class continues to go through the book of Luke, and I’ve been encouraged to learn under the teaching of a number of volunteers in our group. My thanks especially go out to the Canfields and the Hillmans for leading the group faithfully over the years!

As we begin this new era in the Young Adult ministry, one of the main goals that I have is to engage with those people at Ustick who haven’t felt like they have a place within the Young Adult community up to this point. For me, this means doing a lot of “fishing” for names, email addresses, and phone numbers so that I can invite people to our events. So far we’ve had a couple of “get to know you” events, one with all the Young Adults and another one targeted more towards the college-age demographic. Both events were a great opportunity to put some names with faces and to make connections with our new friends in the ministry.

That said, I know that there are many Young Adults out there whom we have not yet had the privilege to meet. Maybe you’re a Young Adult and you haven’t gotten my email invitations to the events we’ve held so far. If so, please let me know how I can get a hold of you for future events! Or maybe you know of someone who might be interested in joining up with us. If so, please let me know and we’ll try to contact them about getting involved in our ministry. As we slowly get the ball rolling, we are relying heavily on word of mouth and personal invitations to make people feel welcome in the group. So please do your part and spread the word!

Going forward, we are prayerfully considering what shape the Young Adult ministry will take in the future. My prayer is that God will show us clearly just how to reach this essential demographic in our church. I’ll keep you posted on the latest developments, and I look forward to sharing with you how God is working in this area of thebody. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns. God bless!

Daniel Reider
Pastor of Young Adults & Worship

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart”
Luke 18:1

For the past week I have had a condensed version of the above verse on my desk at church. My version simply reads, “Pray and don’t lose heart”. I have had it there to daily remind me of a great truth taught by our Lord Jesus and addressing something that we are all tempted to do in our Christian lives which is to “lose heart”. This is true not only in the area of prayer but also in serving the Lord in various ways and “doing good” (cf. Galatians 6:9). [click to continue…]

“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:23-24

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” James 1:17

So I am leaving a breakfast meeting this week when I spot a car in the parking lot with a bumper sticker that says, “Enjoy this day—compliments of God!” As I read that I found the Lord “preaching” to me through that bumper sticker! (As He so often does as you know if you are a regular reader of this part of our church newsletter!) Once again I was “brought up short” by a profound truth from an ordinary and innocuous bumper! “Enjoy the day—compliments of God!” Indeed I was immediately reminded that this is a truth clearly from Scripture. That day and every day and all of life is from God. The Psalmist is telling us the same thing in Psalm 118. “This (day) is the Lord’s doing…the day the Lord has made.” James picks up the same truth in reminding us that “every good gift” (and this day is one of them!) is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (God). The day I still have on earth is God’s gift to me (and you).

The significance of this truth is not only our recognition that God sovereignly gives life and days to live but also it reveals our response to the gift. Again as the Psalm says, “I will rejoice and be glad in it” and I will see it as “marvelous in my eyes”. I’m reminded of a slogan from, of all things, a coffee commercial:
“We should treat each and every day like a gift that comes our way.”

Now I confess that there are some days when it is easier to do that than others! When things are going smoothly at home or work or school; when you seem to hit the green lights and people are actually paying attention while driving around you; when the sun shines, the A/C works and “it’s summertime and the livin’ is easy”; you bet you “rejoice”! But what about the days when home, work or school is one big stress; every light is red for you and every driver around you seems to have conspired to go slow when you are in a hurry; the sun shines but burns, the A/C breaks and the livin’ is burdensome?! Then what?

Well, it is still the day God has made. It has come from His hand, His perfect gift of His will tailored to and for us, and I am called as His child to “rejoice and be glad in it”. I may be doing so by faith (what isn’t by faith?), yet my feelings may be contrary. I suspect, though, that when we remember to rejoice in the day as from God; from His hand, “compliments” of Him – my attitude will change. I can stop and see that “the Father of lights with whom there is no shifting shadow” has graced me with another day of life. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, “God grants us the gift of a day, why are we allowed two”? I can approach the day then to “enjoy” and not “lament”; to “embrace” and not “whine”; to “experience” and not “escape”.
All I know is that as I drove away from my meeting and after seeing the bumper sticker, my attitude and heart were affected! I felt the Lord reminding me to praise Him for the day He had made! A day “compliments of God”! Enjoy your day!

Serving with you,
Pastor Greg

Summer time at Ustick Baptist Church can be… well… a little “different!” Different than the rest of the year’s scheduled activities, that is, in some ways. Its kind of an in between time when we “sort of” take a little break from some things. Or at least we try to take a break or make a change in our lives. There are a lot of people traveling to family reunions (we have two of them this month in the short span of about two weeks!), there are camps and camping, retreats, vacations and so much more going on! Right now we also take a short break from our weekly Growth Groups or some Bible Studies and resume them in the fall, even though some are still meeting on an occasional basis. Though we change and our seasons change some, we can praise God that He does not change, nor does His Word! I want to encourage each of you to remember what God says in Hebrews 10:23-25… “ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promises is faithful, and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the day drawing near.”

Here are a few “summer time things” to mark on your calendars and keep in prayer please.

• Family Camp: July 1-4
• New Tribes Missionaries—Josh & Shannah Beaudin: July 10
• UBC Men’s Softball Tournament: July 9 and 16
• Worship 101: Each Wednesday night leading up to August 28 worship services!
• Youth Group nights and camps (see church calendar!)
• Vacation Bible School: August 1-5
• AWANA Camp: August 7-13
• Ministry Fair: August 21-28

We will be having our Ministry Fair again this year and hope you will be a part of it! The theme will be… “The Harvest is Plentiful…”. It is a real FUN time that we’ll be having together as we promote our church’s variety of ministries! We’ll be covering two weekends so you can leave your booths set up during the week in between. It is a GREAT way to connect with what is happening here at UBC. It is also a great way to help serve with some of the dynamic ministries that will be represented at this year’s Ministry Fair. More to come next month!

• 8-8:30am on Aug 21 & 28th (Krispy Kreme donuts/coffee in the Activity Center!)
• 9:50-10:50am during the Sunday School hour on Aug 28 only
• 12:30pm on Aug 28 only will be an all-church special event with a Harvest theme!
  (This will be an all-church potluck and we will be providing catered BBQ meat.)

As part of our Worship Goals for 2011 and 2012, we are encouraging the youth of our church to grow in their heart of worship and develop the gifts God has given them. With this in mind, we are offering Worship 101 throughout the summer (we offered it for the first time in the summer of 2009). Our Worship Intern, Ryan Bear, is leading Worship 101 this summer. We asked him to be our Worship Intern because we recognize him as a young man who has a passion for Jesus and a heart to serve the church (not to mention that he also possesses some amazing drumming and musical skills). He has proven to be a faithful member of the worship ministry, and we are excited about what God is doing in his life. Read what Ryan has to say, and be blessed!

Hello All! As mentioned before my name is Ryan Bear and I am working over the summer with Jeanelle as the Worship Intern. First, I will never be able to say enough about how loving and mighty our God is! Just by being in this intern position the Lord has taught me a lesson in trusting him. Three months ago the thought of interning didn’t even cross my mind. I didn’t even know that the position existed! What was crossing my mind however was the financial cost of going to school next year and little flashes of anxiety concerning how I would be able to afford it. I will confess that I was worrying about this and was highly stressed. Eventually I knew that this lack of trust in God and faith in his plan for my life sickened my relationship with God and was a cancer to my faith. I got on my knees and gave it to the Lord, asking for a change of heart to put complete trust in him in all I do. Later that week I was offered this position. While this may not sound like a major event or anything super dramatic I can honestly say that it has changed my life. I’m not saying that I’m better than anyone or “holier than thou,” the Lord has worked on my faith and trust just from the offer of the internship. The verse Isaiah 26:4 comes to mind, “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD is the Rock eternal.” What a mighty God we praise!

The Worship 101 program that is my major responsibility this summer has been such a blessing! Worship 101 is a program for the youth to discover what real, passionate worship of God is, and to also work on specific skills in order to lead the church in Worship on August 28. The program has had a great start and we are going through
the book Wired: For a Life of Worship by Louie Giglio. The book has truly been a great insight in teaching that worship occurs every second of every day not just on Sundays, and that God designed us to worship and in life everyone worships something. Our group discussions have been encouraging and a blessing as we hear how the Holy Spirit is working on hearts and minds. It has also been convicting as we have tackled the question of what we are sincerely and honestly worshiping and the truth that what you worship you will become.

Lastly I would like to thank everyone who signed up to be a sponsor for the Worship 101 students. It has a great impact on the experience for each student as they can be in the program free of charge and the encouragement, prayer and support they receive from you. I sincerely thank you for volunteering for this and making this program such a positive experience for each student.

Thanks to the congregation for your prayer and support for the Worship 101 program. God has really brought this plan together and we give him the praise and glory He deserves. Psalm 9:1-2 says “I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” What an awesome God we serve!

Worshiping with you,
Ryan Bear

“And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.’” Luke 11:1

We have just had an amazing weekend in our congregation with our Good Friday service, our prayer vigil, our Easter reception time and our Easter Sunday Celebration! I still have a smile on my face from all the joy of celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus! We owe a debt of gratitude to the many, many people who made these special times with the Lord and each other so wonderful! I would especially like to thank our Director of Worship Ministry, Jeanelle, for the great focus she and all the worship folk brought us in songs, special music and Scripture. The hours of preparation, practice and the godly presentation by her and so many others made for blessings beyond measure! Thank you to everyone who contributed to last weekend’s events from those who prayed to those who prepared to those who presented. May the Lord richly bless you as you have blessed us! [click to continue…]

“For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up. So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

Some time ago I received an email from a young adult woman in our church and she closed with a wonderful and uplifting word of encouragement. She wrote, “May you be astounded by His beauty and glory today!” I loved that line and it was indeed an encouragement for me to think about being astounded (not just mildly moved or barely affected or hardly touched!) by God’s beauty and glory around me!
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God’s Word, the Bible, says in Psalm 100…

“Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanks- giving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth to all generations.”

Here is a picture of Pastor Greg serving the LORD with gladness at his new members’ class we like to call the “Discovery Class”. He finished it up just recently and will be starting a new one on Sunday, April 10 in Room #214.

This is a nine week Adult Sunday School class that covers the basics of Christianity (two weeks), Lessons on Assurance (five weeks), and then church information (two weeks). If you are new to the church, or not so new, and want to join our church as a member, then this class is just for you! Please contact the church office at 938-2121 to sign up.

The pictures below are from about a week and a half ago when our Growth Group went down to the Boise Rescue Mission’s River of Life facilities at 13th Street in Boise. We went to serve the meal alongside Cecilia Harrison who is our churches’ Outreach Coordinator! We also found Tom Porter and Bob Powers from our church family serving the Lord there with gladness and joy, they both had smiles on as they did!

If you want to join in serving the LORD in this ministry, great, simply contact Cecilia Harrison and she can connect you with a date and time!

Serving the LORD with gladness! Together with YOU!
Pastor Mike