SFNAZ Newsletter 11/24/2021

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PASTORAL DEVOTIONAL

SFNAZ ANNOUNCEMENTS

THANK YOU!

Thank you to Vicki Wintersteen & Carrie Hoogstad for organizing a team to get the church ready for the Christmas Season.

A NOTE FROM EVERGREEN ELEMENTARY

Thank you, for the generous food and time donations that were given to Evergreen Elementary School. Your kindness provided 38 Evergreen families with Thanksgiving dinner. That’s enough turkey, potatoes, rolls, and other goodies for nearly 200 meals.

REFLECTING GOD DEVOTIONAL

The winter edition of the Reflecting God Devotional Book is now available at the welcome desk on Sundays or the church office during office hours.

ADVENT 2021

The 2021 Advent devotional books “Come Peasant, King” are now available. Suggested donation is $5. Pick up one for your family at the welcome desk or from the church office during office hours.

THANKSGIVING SCHEDULE

No Midweek activities on Wednesday, November 24th.
The office will be closed on Thursday, November 25th.

CELEBRATION CHOIR

The Celebration Choir will be rehearsing on Wednesday, December 1st 6:30 pm – 7:45pm. Those interested are welcome to join us as we prepare to sing on December 12th.

WINTER WONDERLAND VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – December 4th

This year our Christmas outreach event for the community is Winter Wonderland. We will have the event open to the community on December 4, 2021 from 1-4pm.
We are looking for volunteers to set-up and run their own carnival booths to support the outreach. If you would like to help support this important time please visit the All-Church Ministries kiosk to select the carnival game you would like to provide.
There are photos on the board displaying options of games you can create, games we have at the church, and even games you can select to rent. After you have selected the carnival game pull the tag from the board, write your name on the tag and place it in the basket provided.
Jordan or Pastor Hope will be contacting you with details of set up, etc. after you have selected your game.

Tree of Blessings

This Christmas season we have been given the names of children in need from our church & community. The idea is to help provide Christmas gifts for them. Beginning December 1st, you will find our Tree of Blessings (white tree w/ blue lights) with ornaments that have the child’s gender, clothing & shoe sizes, and wish list items. Over the weeks to come, we will be adding more ornaments as the needs present themselves in our community.
To participate:
- Take an ornament off the tree (Red ornaments have toys, interests, etc. Green ornaments have clothing and shoe sizes).
- Write your name on the back of the ornament labeled “sponsor name” and place it in the offering basket. You keep the laminated ornament to help you shop.
- Drop off the wrapped gift with the laminated ornament attached. Gifts can be dropped off at the church office during the week, or place in the designated shopping cart on Sunday mornings.

Please return wrapped gifts by December 16th. For more information, please contact the church office.

UPCOMING EVENTS

CHRISTMAS COMES TO FIRST CHURCH – Saturday, November 27th – 10:30am

Come and help get our church ready for Christmas. Lunch will be provided.

ALL-CHURCH BOARD GAME SOCIAL – Sunday, November 28th – 11am

Join us in the gym after family worship for lunch and board games.

WORLD EVANGELISM FUND THANK OFFERING – November 28th

Thanksgiving Missions Offering envelopes are available in the pew racks.

PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT BIBLE STUDY – Begins Tuesday, November 30th – 6:45pm

1 Thessalonians (You – Blameless at His Coming)
Hosted by Roger & Janice Long
For full details, pick up a flyer in the church foyer.
All are welcome to join us

HOLIDAY ON PIPES – Friday, December 3rd – 7pm

Come enjoy our annual Christmas Organ Musical. Theatre organist, Tedde Gibson will be performing.

WINTER WONDERLAND – Saturday, December 4th – 1pm

Invite your neighbors and friends to our FREE event to discover some winter season joy! Live Nativity Scene, Winter Carnival Games, Face Painting & much more! The last group to enter will be at 3:30pm.
This event will be held in the gym. We are looking for volunteers to run each carnival game. This year we would like each volunteer team to set up their own game and run it at the event. We will provide the prizes for each game. Also, we have the option of each volunteer team to donate money to rent a carnival game and run it instead of creating a game. Please see the All Church Ministries kiosk to see what games can be rented and ideas to create your own game. There are also a few other volunteer roles that will need filled which are listed on the sign up sheet.
The nativity scene will be outside as attendees enter the gym they will experience the Christmas story with a live nativity. We are currently working with a animal rescue organization to try to get some animals for the nativity, but if we have church members who have animals we would like to create our own without involving the rescue organization. If you have any barn type animals you would be willing to allow us to have in the nativity scene please contact Pastor Hope (hopet@sfnaz.org). The animals will not be in a “petting zoo” type setting, they will only be looked at during the Christmas story.

SENIOR LUNCHEON – Wednesday, December 8th – 12pm
Join us at Old European. Call Roberta to RSVP 509-325-0711.

CHRISTMAS NIGHT OF WORSHIP – Sunday, December 12th – 6:30pm

Come enjoy a night of music to celebrate the Christmas season! We will have multiple generations presenting their talents and sharing the spirit of the season. **Childcare is available for infant through 3 years old.**

LADIES HOMEMADE ORNAMENT EXCHANGE (Holy Grounds)

This is a great time for us moms/ladies to get together and have some holiday fun & fellowship! If you have Jr. High or HS daughters who like to craft and would like to make their own ornaments to exchange they are welcome to attend. If you want to come and fellowship and not make any ornaments to exchange, we would love to have you! Bring an appetizer or Christmas dessert to share. We will provide coffee, tea, hot cider.

Homemade Ornament guidelines:

Each person brings 12 completed homemade ornaments. The ornaments can be as simple or as complicated as you would like.
At the party each person will share a story about their creation. Whether it was a Pinterest fail and we have a good laugh, or the ornament represents a childhood memory, etc.
Each person will pass out their ornaments. By the end of the night each Lady will leave with 12 different homemade ornaments.

Questions?? Contact Pastor Hope Terhaar (hopet@sfnaz.org )

SFNAZ MUSIC & DRAMA PERFORMANCE – Sunday, December 19th – 9:30am

The SFNAZ Music & Drama Club will be presenting “An Out of the Box Christmas” by Celeste & David Clydesdale. You are invited to come and watch the children come up with some unique, comical, and heartfelt ways to share the Christmas

Sunday, November 28, 2021

First Sunday of advent – hope

This Sunday is Family Worship! Join us in the sanctuary at 9:30am for an intergenerational service as we worship together. We will share in communion together after Pastor John’s sermon. Following service, we will have our Community Life Gathering that consists of lunch, fellowship, & board games in the gym. Online worship is at 9:30am and you’ll connect the same way you have in the past via both Facebook and YouTube (Be sure to follow us on Facebook or subscribe to our YouTube Channel – SFNAZ Media to know when we are live). Log on a few minutes before 9:30am and look for the LIVE notification.

Tithes & Offering

Thank you so much for your faithful support of our church! Here are a few options available to continue with giving tithes & offering.
1. Online giving is available here.
2. You may mail your check directly to the church
Spokane First Church of the Nazarene
9004 N Country Homes Blvd.
Spokane, WA 99218

3. Give By Text – Text the dollar amount to (833) 948-2179 and follow the prompts.

Faithfulness in giving

Raised Expenses +/-

General $ 404,500 $ 431,700 -27,200

Missions $44,900 $ 44,100 +800

(As of October 31, 2021)

Thank you for your faithful giving.

Pastoral connection phone line

By calling (509) 239-7849 you can reach a 24-hour voice message service which will allow you to reach the pastoral team directly. You are encouraged to call with:

Prayer requests & praises
Grocery needs
Medication pick up requests

We will do our best to return your calls in a timely manner.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRAYER

Prayer Chain by Email – Contact the church office to receive prayer requests by email (office@sfnaz.org).

Prayer for District Churches – Pendleton & Pilot Rock

Missions Prayer Requests – Colombia & Congo

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pastor Bill Vaughn & family
Pastor Gary Woodroof
Amanda Cote

Bereavement

Jeannie Carson’s mother passed away last week. Please pray for Jeannie and her family during this difficult time.

Adult ministries

Adult Learning & Growth – Sundays at 11am

“Connecting Christmas Carols with the Scriptures and singing them too!” (Sanctuary – Led by Charlie Scott)
“Whisper” by Mark Batterson (Fireside Room – Led by Chris Terhaar)

Men’s Group – Tuesdays – 6pm

The Tuesday night men’s group would like to again extend an invitation to join them on Tuesday nights at 6pm IN PERSON in the Conference Room. The group rotates weekly between topical discussion, marriage, church history/apologetics, and scriptural study.
For further information or questions, please contact Randy Coffey at (509) 570-4026.

Adult Bible Studies – Wednesdays 6:30pm – 7:45pm

Join Charlie Scott for an in-depth study of Mark in the Fireside Room. Visitors welcome! This class is also available via Zoom. Click here for Adult Ministries Zoom link or enter the meeting ID 8713955701 after tapping “Join a Meeting” in the Zoom app.
Women’s Bible Study “Anxious” in the Holy Grounds, led by Laurie Richardson
Men’s Bible Study – The Book of Matthew in the library, led by Ed Richardson

YOUNG ADULT BIBLE STUDY – Thursdays 8pm (Fireside Room)

Bible study geared towards young adults (approximately ages 18-30) and includes seniors in high school.
This study on the Book of Luke, will be co-led by Pastor Shawn and Patrick Herbert (a recent Whitworth grad).

children’s ministries

CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We have been so blessed to have a growing children’s ministry department. With that growth in the ministry we are in desperate need of volunteers to continue the ministry to our children and pre-teens. If you can give of your time (one or two times a month) for the following areas, please contact Pastor Hope at hopet@sfnaz.org

Check-in Counter: Wednesday Night
Nursery: Sunday Morning & Wednesday Night

SUNDAY SCHEDULE

9:30am

Nursery-Toddlers (Infant through 3 non-potty trained years old)
3 & 4 year old Class (3-year-old must be potty trained)
Kindergarten & 1^st grade Class

11am

Nursery-Toddlers (Infant through 3-years-old not potty trained)
PreK – Kindergarten Class (3-years-old potty trained through Kindergarten)
Learning & Growth: 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, and 5th/6th grade classes

Wednesday Night Schedule:

6:30pm – 7:45pm

Nursery: Infant through 3 years non-potty trained
Preschool/Kindergarten Bible Buddies: Children ages 3 – 5 year old! Each week the children will have hands-on learning, bible concepts, games, and snack.
Wacky Wild Wednesdays (Kindergarten – 6th grade): During the months of November and December on Wednesday nights we will be preparing for our Christmas musical called, An Out of the Box Christmas.

As many of you know, for many years on the 4^th Wednesday of the month the children Kindergarten- 6^th grade have participated in a ministry called Hands and Feet. This is a way for them to minister and give back within our church, the Spokane community and even outside the US. There are so many ways to serve.

We are reaching out to you, our church family for help. How can you help?

Would you like to spearhead one of these evenings? Commitment would be one Wednesday 6:30-8:00, and whatever time it takes to set up and clean up. Be in charge. (We will make sure you have plenty of help)
Do you have a great idea of a way the kids can serve? Please share your ideas and we will find someone to take the lead.
Show up to help in any way needed! No planning needed. Just come and be a light to the kids.

Dates needed
January 26th
February 23rd
March 23rd
April 27th
May 25th

Please email me jrroth99@msn.com

STUDENT MINISTRIES

Wednesday Series
Back to Basics

Our conversations will revolve around big questions like, Who is God?, Who is Jesus?, Who is the Holy Spirit?. These talks will take us through the start of Advent. 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

Progressive Dinner moving to Dec 11

In talking with a number of families it has become clear there are a lot of schedule conflicts with the original date set aside for the Progressive Dinner in November. For this reason we are rearranging the schedule. We are now planning the Progressive Dinner for Sat, Dec 11. This will be instead of ice skating as the calendar indicates, we will move ice skating to the new year.

This will be an evening event, the exact schedule is still being finalized. The idea is that we will travel from one home or location to another for subsequent meal courses. For example: appetizers at one house, dinner at another, and dessert at a final destination. If you would like to host one of the meal courses, help with cooking, or help coordinate this event, please contact Pastor Shawn or Pastor Hope

Guys and Girls Small Group Bible Study

Small group bible studies have resumed. The girls are working through a series called “Anxious,” and the guys are working through a lesson called, “Surrender” with Francis Chan.
We meet every first and third Sunday from 4pm to 5pm. On the third Sunday we stay later for a hangout time from 5pm to about 6:30pm.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

Nov 24 – No Regular Youth Group meeting – Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 28 – Family Worship – No Sunday School and one service at 9:30am
Dec 4 – Children’s Winter Wonderland – Sign up to help with this children’s community outreach event.
Dec 22 – Teen Christmas Party – Be on the lookout for your best ugly Christmas sweaters. White elephant gift exchange (gift value ~$10).
Dec 24 – Family Christmas Eve Candlelight Service – 7pm
Dec 29 – No Regular Youth Group meeting – Happy Christmas Vacay!

INFO UPDATE TEXT MESSAGES & EMAILS

To automatically join the SFNazYouth info text messages, simply text “ADDME” to (509)790-4048. If this doesn’t work or you are still not receiving the text messages or have questions, please contact Pastor Shawn (shawns@sfnaz.org)

In addition to regular text updates, there are also periodic email info updates with more details about upcoming events and youth ministry happenings. These come out monthly. If you (or someone you know) isn’t receiving these emails, you can sign up to receive the emails at http://sfnaz.org/youth