Lead Pastor Tyler Butenschoen gives the church an update on what we’re doing to look ahead.
Foothills Regathering Update
Dear Foothills Church Family,
As elders, we made the difficult decision this week to postpone the regathering scheduled for Sunday, August 2. As of now we haven’t rescheduled that date.
We have three criteria for regathering: 1) Gather Safe 2) Gather Large and 3) Gather Cross-Platform (you can read more about those criteria here). We have confidence in Gathering Large and Gathering Cross-Platform (online and in-person at the same time). But we are not confident that we can Gather Safe in our building at this time.
There are many reasons why we are postponing, but I’ll keep it to three main points:
First, I’ve consulted health professionals from our church body. Their unanimous counsel is that it’s not wise to regather right now. We want to follow their advice.
Second, the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in our state. It doesn’t take long for a state such as Oregon to see its COVID-19 cases mushroom to high numbers, as was the case in New York and is a growing concern in Florida.
Third, an indoor gathering with people singing is a susceptible place for transmission of COVID-19.
Because of these 3 things we think the loving thing to do, for now, is to postpone gathering in our building as a way to serve each other and our community.
In the meantime, we continue to see ways our body is living out the mission of Foothills. We have another Drive-In Church scheduled for July 26 at 7pm and plan to do more of these. We will investigate moving our Sunday morning services outside as well. Our children and youth are participating in day camps at Tadmor. Kids are enjoying a virtual vacation bible school put together by our Children’s Ministry team. And many of you have sent me photos of how you’re gathering for Sunday-sermon watch parties at your homes.
These are all fantastic things happening despite not gathering together in our building. God is not wasting this time and is still at work among us. Our church is not closed. Only the building is closed, for now.
Lastly, we’d love to pray for you as elders. We are meeting this Sunday and will spend a good amount of our time praying for our church body and reaching out to individuals. Drop us a line here if you need prayer or want us to follow up with you.
I’ll end with the words of Paul to the church in Ephesus, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Tyler Butenschoen
Lead Pastor at Foothills Church
Making Foothills Accessible With Video
This season of COVID-19 has impacted many organizations, especially the way we communicate with each other. Four months ago, many of us didn’t know what Zoom was (a children’s show in the 70’s?). Most of us would never choose to “do church” in our living rooms, the way we do now. But this ability to gather online allows some of us to attend more often or even give church a try.
These realities encouraged Foothills leaders to reconsider the ways we fulfill our mission to Glorify God, Make Disciples, and Reflect God's Love. We recognize we need to make our church services and activities more accessible for people who can't always make it into the church building. The focus of our mission remains the same, but the way we carry it out is expanding.
In order to support this new ministry, Foothills Church is creating a Video Communications Ministry Team. The purpose of this team has three components:
• Livestream the church service each week (operating cameras, the video switcher and hosting livestream chats).
• Livestream other church events that are beneficial to the church body (seminars, Sunday school classes).
• Create informational and educational video content for the church website.
If you would like to be part of a group that will 1) meet the needs of the Foothills community and 2) cast the message of God’s love to the greater Stayton community, then I want to hear from you. Prior experience is not necessary; training will be provided. I have been a video production professional for over 25 years and have taught several related courses over those years. I’m excited for the opportunity to equip believers with the skills necessary for our new outreach ministry. If this sounds like a team you would like to serve on, please contact me at david@foothillsstayton.org.
David McGinnis
Director of Video Communications
Regathering at Foothills Church
There’s much talk in our community about “re-opening.” Since our church is in Marion County, which just entered Phase I of reopening, it is very appropriate to ask, “When will Foothills reopen?” The truth is we were never closed as a church. The church building has been closed, but we never closed our mission and ministry of glorifying God, making disciples, and reflecting God’s love. We’ve still been open with Sunday services, life groups, children’s ministry, youth, and more all happening online. The church is made up of people, not things like buildings.
I prefer to use the term, “regather” in place of “reopen.” And boy, do we want to regather in person. Video is nice and it has been getting us by for now, but does not replace in-person fellowship, singing, preaching, praying, and all the elements of coming together.
During the necessary process of praying and meeting with civic, hospital, and church leaders, Foothills elders have decided to regather on Sunday mornings once we are able to meet the following three criteria:
Gathering large. We anticipate once Marion County gets into Phase II we’ll be able to meet with up to 100 people. We’ll probably have 15 people serving in some capacity from preaching, to worship/tech, to ushers/sanitation crew. With the current limitations of 25 people per gathering, we think it’s best to wait until Phase II of our county so we can get to a critical mass in our building.
Until then we encourage people to gather in a manner that adheres to Phase I of our county. It’s a great opportunity for us to open up our homes and experience our Sunday services with other believers. In some ways this is very similar to how the church started 2,000 years ago. It’d be a beautiful thing to have 10, 20, or even 50 different Foothills gatherings of 10, 15, or 25 people in houses every week.Gathering safe. We have a responsibility to do our part in protecting our church body and the community we live in as we follow the guidelines that will be included in Phase II of Oregon’s reopening plan. Right now there is nothing set in stone for Phase II, so we wait. Again, we anticipate gathering thresholds to be raised to 100 people but there will be other guidelines pertaining to social distancing, sanitation measures, and building usage, among other things we’ll need to adhere to.
We have begun preparing ourselves for what this looks like for our church. We have several of the necessary supplies on hand and more on the way. We’re working hard to make sure we’re doing everything we can to provide a safe place for everyone who chooses to worship with us. There is a lot to consider. Just like grocery stores and restaurants have had to adjust, we are also adapting to new guidelines and best practices.Gathering cross-platform. We will gather in person when we can simultaneously live-stream our services online while we meet in person. This is a significant undertaking but is necessary. There are many people in our church who will be slow to come back to gather in person for very valid reasons. We need to continue our online ministries indefinitely. In fact, we see that being part of our ministry moving forward with no end date in mind.
We are on our way to making this happen. We have several pieces of equipment in place and a few more ordered and on their way. One of the trickiest elements is getting quality sound of our live music pushed out onto the web. Churches often spend exorbitant time and money to pull this off. We’ll be doing this in about a month’s time with limited but adequate resources. If you’d like to be part a tech crew on Sunday mornings to aid in our live-stream, please let me know.
Ok, so, I didn’t give you an exact date for regathering. For you type-A’s or detailed oriented people, this has been a test of your patience! If we are able to meet the three criteria above, we could hold in-person gatherings in mid- to late June. If not, it’ll be early July or later.
Again, we want to meet as soon as we can, but not sooner than we feel is appropriate. Thank you to all who have reached out to us with kind words. We have a very supportive and encouraging church. We are living out the call of Paul to the Ephesian church, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” What great characteristics for a church in our current circumstance: humility, gentleness, bearing in love … all in order to maintain a unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
In this together with Jesus as the lead,
Tyler Butenschoen
Lead Pastor, Foothills Church
Love This Book: Part 2 Resources
New journals are available for Love This Book: Part 2
Cost: $5 per Journal
To get your own copy of the journal you can pick one up at one of the following locations:
Foothills Church Sundays 10am-1pm
Postal Connections 1740 Shaff Rd SE in Stayton
M-F 10am-4pm, Saturday 10am-2pm
One page printable reading plan can be found HERE.
Access the reading plan on the YouVersion Bible App HERE.
Foothills Church Update
Foothills Family,
We trust God is up to some great things as we all adjust and look to Him as our peace and refuge in uncertain times. We’ve been hard at work figuring out what church looks like as we follow the restrictions of social distancing in light of COVID-19. Below are ways you can stay up to date and involved at Foothills.
Sunday morning service: we’ll post our service “live” at 9:00 AM and 10:45 this Sunday morning on our church’s Facebook page.
Youth Ministry: Geoff has put together some new resources that will connect and engage students with teaching, social media and personal reaching out via phone or video chat. Details are here.
Children’s Ministry: Judy and Tammy have put many resources out online and are encouraging downloading an app that has tons of content geared towards our younger children. Details are here.
I need help, I want to help: we want to make sure those who are vulnerable to the virus can still get their essentials from the store without risking their health. If you are needing help because of the risk of COVID-19 please fill out this quick form and let us know how we can serve you. Alternatively, if you’d like to serve someone, fill out this form.
Prayer and Connect: you can share a prayer request anytime here or reach out to us with a digital connection card (“blue card”). We’d love to know how we can pray for you and serve you.
We are finding a new groove as a church staff and will keep you in the loop as we unveil new ways to stay connected. Until then, I leave you with the words Aaron was charged to bless the Israelites with,
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26
Tyler Butenschoen
Lead Pastor at Foothills Church
Children's Ministry Update
Foothills families,
We’re sad to not be meeting right now. We miss being with all of our young ones and their families. Until we meet again we want to help resource parents and kids to keep them journeying in their faith. We encourage you to download a great app, follow us on social media, and get signed up for emails we will be sending out regarding how parents can be equipped to disciple their kids, right at home. Check out all that information right here.
Judy Buss and Tammy Henderson
Children’s Minister and Early Childhood Director
Youth Ministry Update
While we’re on break from meeting together we wanted to share how we’re trying to stay connected. Check out all the details below.
What we are doing
Sending regular updates via Facebook and Instagram.
Posting 10-15 minute weekly teaching on available Wednesdays at 7:00pm, starting next week.
Create a central online gathering space for students using Discord.
Call or video chat with your student.
Ways to get involved and stay informed.
If you are on Facebook (www.facebook.com/fcyouthgroup) to ensure our content is delivered to your feed.
If you are on Instagram follow us @fcyouthgroup.
Bookmark https://vimeo.com/foothillsstayton for our youth messages. Our youth messages will also be cross posted to our Facebook account.
If you are a student in our student ministry, join our online gathering space: https://discord.gg/zQcUck4. (bit.do/fcyouthgroup).
Geoff Pfeil
Parenting With Purpose
Foothills’ Children's Minister, Judy Buss, is heading up a team of individuals to host a parenting seminar this Spring. The seminar is called "Parenting With Purpose" and will take place at Foothills Church on Saturday April 4, 2020. Judy shares some of her thoughts about why she is offering this seminar:
”Family is my passion. Being a mother of 5 and Nana of 8, my heart is full. And although parenting (and grand parenting) are my favorite professions, they have also been some of the hardest for me. Children don’t come with a User Manuel.”
“Over the years, my circle of influence has continued to grow. From parenting my own children….to influencing many. It has been an amazing journey that has taught me many life lessons. I have organized a teaching co-op, been a teacher/family educator for Head Start all while getting my degree in Early Childhood Education. I’ve had the privilege of teaching parenting strategies in China, Haiti, and here in our neck of the woods with the Strengthening Families organization. I’ve settled in as Children’s Minister here at Foothills and Administrator at All Star Preschool the past 15 years, and continue to seek to influence families around me.”
“One thing that has stood out to me on this amazing parenting journey is it really does takes a village! Parenting is something done better in the company of community. Let’s come together and learn from each other, encourage one another, and prepare for what’s ahead!
Rejoice With Us
Jerry and Lynda Neuman -- serving with ABWE in Brazil since 1984, preparing Brazilians for ministry since 1996.
The following is from Jerry and Lynda's January 23rd Newsletter.
"This six month furlough has been busy. We have had meetings in churches almost every week and lots of wonderful fellowship with friends and supporters. And now to see that the Lord has supplied all our foreseeable needs! We have seen a total of $1,254 new monthly support pledges! A record for a veteran missionary couple of ABWE. We have received gifts large and small, all from the hand of the Lord blessing and directing His people. Our support account is full and running over! We have funds for a new bed which will be nice (after 19 years). We will have funds to travel to Guyana in July. We will have resources to share with others.
Before we leave here, we have a number of important things to take care for. If all goes as planned, we leave this Tuesday shortly after noon for a hotel near LAX. Early Wednesday morning we get a shuttle to the airport and fly out at 6:20am. We travel to Miami and then directly to Fortaleza. On Friday we will travel to Natal, Rio Grande do Norte where we will attend the wedding of a Brazilian couple. We also will have time with both Nate, Rachael, Pedro and our grandkids.
Classes at SIBIMA will begin shortly after we arrive. There is a special service at the seminary for the beginning of the semester. Two weeks later, my Hebrew classes begin. Please pray with me about the preparation as it has been a few years since they had me teach this subject. Lynda will be observing counseling sessions each Tuesday afternoon and auditing several counseling classes as well as seeking God's guidance in regard to one or two women to mentor. She asks your prayers for diligence in study as well as wisdom and guidance as to whom God would have her mentor."
Rejoice with Us,
Jerry and Lynda Neuman
A Note From Pastor Tyler on Genesis 1
As we begin teaching through the Bible on Sundays we also want to provide you with some additional resources from time to time. Most of what’s below is dealing with Genesis 1 and trying provide us context on either the science and faith of the text or giving us insight into the original audience and intent of the author.
Not all of the content below is in agreement with each other. However, I think it will provide good fodder for further conversation and investigation by you, the reader, listener or observer of the content. There are good godly men and women looking at the intersection of faith and science who hold to biblical authority and yet understand and appreciate what the text is saying in different ways.
Enjoy! And, please reach out if you want to discuss this over some tea or coffee sometime.
Tyler
Interpreting the Bible’s Creation Stories
Tim Mackie | January 20, 2016 | Audio 1:43:00
Answers in Genesis Creation Videos Page
Ken Hamm & others | Various dates | Various lengths
https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/creation/
Christianity and the Questions of Origins: Major Positions Along the Creation/Evolution Continuum
Dr. Jeff Hardin | March 4, 2017 | Video 51:20
http://www.blackhawkchurch.org/connect/media-resources/event-archive/
click on “Science and Faith 2017” to get to the video.
Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople
Tim Keller | February 23, 2012 | Long Article (8,000 words)
https://biologos.org/articles/creation-evolution-and-christian-laypeople/
Origins Today: Genesis Through Ancient Eyes
Dr. John Walton | March 1, 2014 | Video 1:06:54
http://www.blackhawkchurch.org/connect/media-resources/event-archive/
Joy is a wonderful gift from the Holy Spirit.
Foothills Family Member Bonnie Taylor tells her story during a recent Advent service at Foothills Church.
Hello, I was asked to talk about my testimony as it pertains to Joy.
I would like to start with the thought that having the hope in Jesus Christ is what really helps to have true Joy in the Lord. Joy is a wonderful gift from the Holy Spirit. In a world where we have suffering and hard times, it is good news to hear that joy is possible. In Nehemiah 8:10b it says “ Do not sorrow, for the Joy of the Lord is your strength.
Many of you know bits of my story of the last 16 months, but many do not.
We all saw the tree and knew what was about to happen.
On August 17th of 2018 I was camping at Big Lake with my extended family and friends: the Burns and Richardsons. This is a trip my family has been doing every year since I was 8 and is something we all look forward to. There are about 45 people in our party, and we hike, bike, swim, boat and eat big family meals together. It was this afternoon that Janci Burns, Sarah Richardson and I decided to go tubing before we made dinner. The tube was a couch style tube that you sat up in and it held all 3 of us. I was on the right side, Janci was in the middle and Sarah on the left. None of us like crazy fast rides, so Jason Burns was doing such a great job making sure we had the “ right amount” of thrill. I can honestly say I was laughing like I hadn’t laughed in awhile. Such JOY! During the ride the boat, got a little too close to shore. Jason corrected a little so that we would head back into the lake, but the momentum sent us arching to the right and closer to shore. This part of Big Lake is littered with large boulders and trees that have fallen into the water. We all saw the tree and knew what was about to happen. Our tube collided with the tree. Since I was on the right side, I made first contact and sustained more injuries than the others.
Let’s see what we can do with this.
I love that we were able to see how much God’s hand was in what was to follow. I have a very vivid memory of those few moments between impact and the chaos that was about to happen. I was laying near the shore looking up into the sky and God just smiled down and whispered, “ Let’s see what we can do with this.”
As I lay there, I assessed my situation. Can I wiggle my toes? Yep, not paralyzed. I had a searing pain in my right thigh and my chest hurt really bad. I assumed I had broken ribs. It was hard to breathe and nearly impossible to talk. I slowly reached up and grabbed a branch to try to keep from drifting into the boulders as the waves from other boats were coming in. Sarah came to my side and then stayed with me as long as she could.
The medics were concerned that my broken ribs might puncture my lungs.
The first boat that came to help had a nurse and a police officer in it. Isn’t God so good? They triaged the situation and then started to come up with a plan. Their boat had a swim deck, so they moved me onto the deck and stabilized my body as best they could, then drove very slowly to the camp across the lake where the ambulances were headed. Once in the ambulance, I drifted in and out of consciousness. The medics were concerned that my broken ribs might puncture my lungs. It was decided that I needed to be life flighted to St. Charles Hospital in Bend. Once the tests were complete and my injuries were totaled, it was determined that I had a shattered pelvis, a broken sacrum, a fractured L2 vertebrae, and 7 broken ribs.
God saved us with that submerged tree. Without it we would have collided with the boulders instead or crashed onto the shore on the other side of the cove and our story would be much different. I later found out that the tree was covered with dangerous branches. God made sure we hit it in the right spot. None of us had cuts from impact. Later when camp was cleaned up, they realized that what had popped the inner tube was a thick branch that punctured the tube right behind where my back was. Again, isn’t our God so good? My daughter Courtney made an ornament for our Christmas tree with part of the branch that they dug out of the tube so we can celebrate it. We are joyful for that tree and for our wonderful God.
The next week was a blur of physical therapy and pain meds.
The accident happened on a Friday afternoon. I had to wait till Monday morning for surgery where the doctors screwed pins into my hips and attached an external metal fixator to hold everything into place till the bones healed. The next week was a blur of physical therapy and pain meds. I had to learn how to get out of bed (at first the nurses would just spin me); I had to learn to stand up and pivot, then later to walk, which was really more of a hop. There were so many obstacles to overcome. Through it all I had my husband, friends, family and God by my side. The following Friday I was moved to Bend Transitional Care for almost 3 weeks so that I could learn enough skills to return home.
It was our first night at BTC (after a traumatic moving experience) that my husband Shawn and I were humbled and prayed to God thanking Him for letting us be his vessels to show others His love and goodness. Since then we have had many opportunities to talk and pray with people who tell us that the thing they most impacted by is our lack of anger at the situation and the joy that we have had through it all. We have only been able to respond this way because God is by our side and the Holy Spirit is within us.
I am a child of God!
Through my healing process, it felt like everything that defined me was taken away— my roles as mother, wife, friend, worker, and church helper. Through this, God reminded me that the most important “title” I have, did not and will not ever change. I am a child of God! I am so joyful for that reminder.
I had the external fixator on for 9 weeks. After it was removed, there were months of physical therapy and healing. My family and I have learned to be joyous through it all. The path that we are on is not always the path that we imagined, but it is always one we can find joy in with God by our side.
"I am bigger. Trust me."
Erik Anspach
Recent Foothills Family member Erik Anspach gave his testimony at the December 8th Advent service.
My wife, Christy and I moved to this area from Montana about six month ago. We were high school sweethearts. We got married, went off to college, graduated, and then the child spigot turned on and we had three boys in a 5 year time span. That was really good, but we turned that spigot off. We were content as a family of five.
We became aware of a local adoption and family support organization
Fast forward eight years. We became aware of a local adoption and family support organization called Intermountain, an organization that works to place abused and displaced children in permanent homes. We began financially supporting this organization, but soon felt we should do more.
We started asking ourselves what exactly that would look like. We contacted a person who worked at Intermountain and asked how we could get more involved. That began the whole process of taking adoption classes, getting registered and certified to qualify for adopting a child.
This caused us to consider what type of child we would want to adopt.
This caused us to consider what type of child we would want to adopt. Unfortunately, there are many options available. So I encourage all of you to consider adopting. I considered the fact that Anspach men, produce Anspach men who produce Ansapach men. And you have to go back three generations to get an Anspach girl, and she looked like a dude, and never got married. So maybe we should adopt a girl. That became the first and foremost thing on our list. We wanted a girl. We also decided we didn’t want an infant. We didn’t want to do bottles, diapers, late nights again.
We also gave a good amount of consideration towards the financial aspects of adopting a child. We were currently operating with an extreme budget to pay off our home quickly and expedite our goals of retirement and financial security. We didn’t think a girl would cost that much, since you don’t have to buy them real jewelry until they’re much older. The fake bling would do.
After completing the classes and receiving the proper certification, we were ready to adopt. The only issue was, Intermountain didn’t have a child that was available for us. So we waited.
They saved the baby’s life, but her life was in danger.
During that time, there was a young lady at our church who was making very bad life decisions. She had starting taking drugs, drinking heavily, and eventually got pregnant. Because of a three month premature labor, she was rushed the emergency room. The doctors at the hospital made the decision to deliver the child through a c-section. During the operation, the young lady died of a pulmonary embolism. The medical team made every effort to resuscitate her but were unsuccessful. They saved the baby’s life, but her life was in danger. She wasn’t breathing; she barely had a pulse, and she was having seizures as a result of being oxygen deprived for at least ten minutes.
They gave baby Ember a chemical cocktail to jumpstart her system and ended up life flighting her to Seattle to safe her life. She did survive, but her prognosis was not good. She had brain damage, and was diagnosed as most probably having cerebral palsy. This would mean advanced personal care in order for her to survive. To complicate matters, the birth father was in no position to provide care, and neither were the parents of the baby’s deceased mother. So the baby Ember was put up for adoption.
I’m a very blunt person and simply said, “No.”
Our pastor’s wife, who knew we were considering adoption, asked us if we thought Ember would be a good candidate for our adoption. I’m a very blunt person and simply said, “No.” That was an emphatic no, because baby Ember didn’t meet our criteria. We didn’t want an infant, and we didn’t want a child with huge medical needs and expenses that would totally mess up our retirement plan.
This set in motion a long argument with God. God was working in our hearts, but we were not prepared to say yes to His leading. My wife and I agreed that we would pray about it, but we didn’t. We knew what would happen if we prayed, and didn’t want that to happen. A few days later, I had to make a five hour trip to one of our satellite offices. I decided this would be a good time to hash this thing out with God. I thought I would take about fifteen minutes and make a final decision. Three hours later, I was crying and arguing with God about this decision to adopt baby Ember. I told God I could not handle this kind of adoption.
I’ve only heard God clearly speak to me a few times in my life. It wasn’t an audible voice, it was more like a text message to my soul. The message I received from God was, “I am bigger. I can handle this. Trust me.”
“I am bigger. Trust me.”
I continued to protest, but God just kept giving me the same message. “I am bigger. Trust me.” Finally I shouted defiantly, “FINE!” Not a humble, “Yes I will obey,” but a defiant, “Fine. I give up. I surrender.” At that very moment, my cell phone rang, and It was my wife telling me that she had come to the same conclusion to adopt baby Ember. It was a difficult decision to make for both my wife and me, but we experienced an incredible peace, knowing that we were in God’s will. We had peace, knowing we could trust God. Having that peace didn’t mean that God fixed everything or made everything easy because we had lots of struggles, but God in His grace decided to heal our baby Ember. Today she is a fully functional eight year old girl.
One hundred precent of my story, is God’s story.
This past Sunday, Foothills family member, Stephen Carroll, shared the following testimony of hope.
“One hundred precent of my story, is God’s story. I had the opportunity to live through it, to experience it, but it’s all God’s story. Before I tell you this story, I want you to consider Romans 15:13 which says, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.’ Jesus Christ is our hope in every situation. Also I want to share with you one of my life verses, Philippians 4:13 which says, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’”
“I want to tell you about the day I had all of my hopes and dreams taken away from me.”
“Have you ever been in a situation that had an unexpected outcome? I have. I know exactly what that feels like. I want to tell you about the day I had all of my hopes and dreams taken away from me. As a result I had to think of things in a different way.”
“By the time I was fourteen years old, I was a pretty accomplished soccer player. I was also good at wrestling. I lived and breathed playing sports. I would wake up in the morning thinking about playing soccer, and that’s what I would think about all day. I would go through the school day, and then participate in whatever after school sport there was, basketball, football, and then I would come home, grab my dinner and eat it on the way to play soccer for two hours. Then I would come home, do my homework and go to bed. That was my life.”
“From my perspective that was the best phone call of my life.”
“In June of 1992 I received a phone call from the US Youth Soccer, asking me to come and play in the Olympic development program. From my perspective that was the best phone call of my life. So at age fourteen, I had the opportunity to train for playing soccer in the Olympics.”
“Two days later, my brother and I were playing basketball in the driveway at home. I was winning of course, because that’s what big brothers do. At that same time, a sixteen year old girl was coming home from getting her driver’s license. She turned on the corner of the road we lived on too fast and lost control of the car. Being inexperienced, she over corrected the car and ended up pressing her foot on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal. She came through the driveway we were playing basketball on at 60 mile per hour. The car hit me, sending me flying through the air, and I landed between two horse trailers that were next door. The car kept going and hit our well, causing the car to jump over a two foot rock wall and hit me again, pinning me between the car and a horse trailer.”
“I was in a coma for seven weeks.”
“I was pretty messed up. I was in a coma for seven weeks. I had a broken neck with a C1 fracture (topmost vertebra of the spinal column). I had a bruised heart, a bruised lung, a bruised liver, and a shattered leg. Because of possible infection from gangrene, they amputated my leg two days later. I also had a broken clavicle and broken knuckles.”
“As you can imagine, because of all those injuries, there was a lot of rehab ahead of me. I had to relearn how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat all over again.”
“I had the phenomenal opportunity to place my entire hope in Christ.”
“I had the phenomenal opportunity to place my entire hope in Christ. I remember vividly lying in bed in the dark. I couldn’t do anything but just lay there. So I prayed. I just prayed to Christ and got closer and closer to Him. And I learned how to trust Him. I learned that there was nothing I could do, zero I could do, on my own.”
“We don’t know what’s coming next.”
“We don’t know what’s coming next. We make plans about what we’re going to do or what we’re going to accomplish, but we don’t know what God has in store for us. God taught me that at an early age, and to this day I know I can do nothing on my own power. My hope is completely in Christ. I used to have the hope of playing soccer, now I have the hope of being used by God as I share my life story. And I have had the honor to share my story almost on a daily basis.”
What a powerful illustration of how God wants to fill us with joy and peace and how by the power of the Holy Spirit, He grants us an abundance of hope.
God Made Me For This Purpose
Katie Walters grew up at Foothills. “My dad helped build this church,” Katie said. “My earliest memory was bringing my dad a lettuce sandwich because it was the only thing I could reach in the refrigerator. We would sit on the plywood stage together and eat lunch.”
“I wanted to go to a place where I felt recognized.”
When Katie reached high school age, both she and her twin sister, Abbie, explored going to different churches. They were looking for confirmation that Foothills was not just their parent’s church. “I wanted to go to a place where I felt recognized and that I was doing something important,” Katie shared. “When I came back to Foothills, Judy Buss was integral in getting me plugged in to children’s ministry and making me feel like an important part of the team.”
Katie went on to earn an Associates Degree, and a certification to be a licensed massage therapist, but her heart was leaning heavily towards missions work. “I put therapy work on hold and became an AWANA missionary for about four years.” But that door abruptly shut when she was informed by AWANA that she needed to become full time or leave the work. “That was one of the hardest things to work through when you think God has called you to a work.”
“For years I let someone else decide what God’s calling for my life was.”
Katie had part-time support raised, but she wasn’t ready to be a full time Awana missionary, and so she dropped out, feeling that perhaps God wasn’t calling her to missions work. “For years I let someone else decide what God’s calling for my life was,” Katie shared. “Recently I took a trip to Israel with an organization called The Daily Audio Bible. During one of the tours, they talked about the lies that we believe when we let someone else interpret what God wants for our lives. I didn’t realize that I had let that incident with AWANA dictate to me how I should serve.”
God really has called her to work with kids.
Being discipled by Children’s Minister Judy Buss has also played a big part in convincing Katie that God really has called her to work with kids. As a result, Katie devotes much of her life to doing just that.
I asked Katie if there was a specific point in time that sparked the desire to work with kids. “I was working in Martha Wilson’s 5th and 6th grade girls class,” Katie said. “I remember this one girl who walked into the small group I was leading, and she was a mess. I asked her what was going on. She told me that the day before, she had come home from school and found that the father figure in her life had hung himself in their back yard. She was the first person to see him and report it. In my inexperience as a teenager I asked her, ‘Why are you here?’” Katie didn’t mean to be abrupt, but she was curious why after such a traumatic event, the young girl would choose to come to church instead of staying home. “This girl looked up at me,” Katie shared, “and said, ‘I know this church is a place I can go where you will tell me about Jesus, that you love me, and I can come here no matter what.’” At that point, Katie was convinced she was doing a very important work.
God made me for that purpose.
Katie’s dedication to working with kids is a clear example of the Foothills mission to glorify God. “I have never felt more like I was doing what God has put me on this earth to do. Judy Buss has given me a platform at Foothills to teach on a weekly basis the timeless truth of the Gospel in a way that is relevant to kids today. God made me for that purpose, and to walk in that purpose each week gives me great joy.”
The Benefits of Life Group.
This sounds like a life insurance sales pitch. It's not. It's more of a life assurance pitch. See what I did there? I know, I know, I’ll keep my day job.
A life group is a small gathering of about eight to twelve people. The focus of the group is to encourage and pray for each other. It’s also an opportunity to discuss the Sunday morning message and dive a bit deeper in to how that message specifically applies to you.
There are many benefits of belonging to a group,
I will only touch on two.
First, a life group puts getting to know people and being known by people on the fast track. Foothills isn’t a mega church, but it’s big enough that you can remain fairly invisible if you wish. During a Sunday morning service, you will be greeted at the door and maybe a few people will say “hi.” If you’re not feeling especially social however, you can walk into the auditorium, find a seat, sing some songs, listen to the message, and leave. You can’t do that in a life group. Actually, you could, but that would be awkward. By virtue of being a small gathering, your participation and interaction is welcomed and encouraged. That’s a good thing.
Truth sticking in your brain.
The second benefit of belonging to a life group relates to how people learn. Information you have an opportunity to talk about, sticks in your brain longer. When you passively hear information and don’t respond to it, write it down or talk about it, there is a good chance you won’t retain that information. It will be out of your mind in a week or two. Probably a day or two. I was being charitable.
No life insurance. Honest.
There are many more benefits, but I think I’ve given you enough information for you to decide to join a life group today. Why not? Click on this link right here: Life Group, I’m Interested! Once you do that, Discipleship Pastor Rob Baddeley will contact you about what the next step is. I promise, he won’t try to sell you life insurance.
Glorifying God Every Day
I spoke with long time Foothills family member, Darren Shryock, to get his perspective on how to achieve the church mission to Glorify God, Make Disciples and Reflect God’s Love.
Darren, an Elder at Foothills Church, is also an educator. He taught high school English and coached boys basketball for 25 years until 2014 when he took the position of Athletic Director and Assistant Principal at Stayton High School.
Darren is daily faced with the task of reflecting God’s love in challenging and often intense and volatile situations. “What I’m dealing with this morning,” Darren said, “are parents who were ejected from a football game Monday night, a coach who was ejected from a game last night and a kid who yelled a racial comment from the stands.” Darren shared that this was uncharacteristic, “It’s not who we are; it just all happened at once.” To intensify the matter, the parents, who were ejected from the game, came to his office a couple days later to let off steam. “They came to my office, very upset."
The number one thing I try to do is stay composed.
How does he handle the anger? “The number one thing I try to do is stay composed. I’ve had people standing over me screaming at me. And I always try to keep my voice calm and stay as composed as I can. I hope that is a reflection of God’s love.” Darren said he recognizes that this ability to be even tempered isn’t because he’s just a “cool customer” and really disciplined but because he is depending on God’s strength.
Darren shared that avoiding angry speech means rejecting the verbiage that comes with it. “I never swear.” He said, “That’s an anomaly in today’s society -- to never engage in profanity with anyone in any circumstance; you very rarely see that.”
Stop you’re making me feel uncomfortable.
Darren has light hearted tricks to keep conversations from becoming demeaning or inappropriate. “Early in my teaching career, I was at a training seminar and they had a rule that if someone was saying something or doing something that made you uncomfortable, you were instructed to put your hand up and say ‘stop you’re making me feel uncomfortable.’ People make fun of me, but jokingly I still do that today.” He does it in fun, but it gets the point across.
Daily interaction with colleagues and students keeps Darren constantly vigilant to be a reflection of God’s love. Darren has found that his involvement in service at Foothills has also been a strong motivator to personally grow and to make disciples. “One of the reasons I’ve stayed an Elder all these years is because it helps me grow and I’m able to help others grow in Christ. Over the years, people have come to me to ask for counsel on matters because of my position as an Elder. That keeps me centered.”
I’m too busy not to pray.
While his job demands much of his time, Darren still feels committed to be involved in small groups and mentoring relationships. How does he make it work? “Obviously I have shortcomings and need to get better. We all need to get better, but it starts with personal devotional time. If I’m grounded and focused on God’s Word, things seem to go better. Like the old adage says, ‘I’m too busy not to pray.’”
The danger is when we lose relationship either with others
or with Christ.
Darren feels that small groups are important to fulfill the mission of Foothills. “As long as we are grounded in a relationship with Christ and with each other, then much of that [Glorifying God, Making Disciples and
Reflecting God’s Love] will play out. The danger is when we lose relationship either with others or with Christ. That’s when people become isolated, and get offended, thinking, 'No one cares about me.' But as long as we keep connected to fellow believers and to Jesus, we should grow. If my relationship with Christ is strong, I’m going to want to spend time in the Word, spend time praying. If my relationship with people in the church is strong, I’m going to want to spend time in a small group and will want to take steps to be in a servant role.”
"All creation points back to Christ."
The mission of Foothills Church is to glorify God, make disciples and reflect God’s love. I sat down with Jacobe Croff to get his perspective on this mission.
"I’ve been going to Foothills pretty much since I was born."
Jacobe might be considered a “lifer” as it relates to the church. “I’ve been going to Foothills pretty much since I was born, besides a couple of years in Montana,” Jacobe said. “I went to children’s church and then attended youth group with pretty much the same group of kids, which was kind of cool.”
You might not see Jacobe on a regular basis on Sunday morning, but you definitely hear his drumming skills, as he plays regularly in the worship band, tucked behind the drum set. Volunteering his time to serve was instilled in Jacobe as a child. “Growing up under the influence of my family and watching other adults in the church volunteer their time was a big reason I serve.”
"All creation points back to Christ."
Jacobe loves the outdoors. His passions include hiking, biking, and rock climbing. His love of the outdoors is how Jacobe identifies opportunities to glorify God. “I did an internship this last summer with Youth Dynamic Adventures,” he said. “It was a lot of taking students on rafting, rock climbing and ropes course trips and being able to use those experiences to share the Gospel and talk about life and how all creation points back to Christ.”
As it relates to reflecting God’s love, Jacobe talked about his commitment to stay in regular contact with his non-Christian friends. “There is this one friend in particular that I am in contact with a lot,” Jacobe shared. “I want to keep a conversation open with him about who Christ is and what I believe. I want to reflect God’s love to him so that maybe some day he would see it.”
As a Foothills family member, Jacobe is definitely making a big impact to advance the mission of the church.
A Note From Pastor Rob
When I came to Foothills in 2015, I was given the auspicious title of “Pastor of Discipleship.” I had never been called that before! I had several pastoral titles, youth, worship, associate, but never…Discipleship Pastor. It was a great time for me to settle in and really think about what it means to help shepherd people, to help people “follow Jesus.”
We have all been focusing on what I have been pondering the last couple years.
During our current sermon series we have been investigating what it means to glorify God, make disciples and reflect God’s love. We have all been focusing on what I have been pondering the last couple years. If you’ve been in church for any length of time or have ever committed to following Jesus and trusting Him for salvation and the forgiveness of your sins, then whether you know it or not, you have been discipling and have been discipled. What do I mean?
Once we step forward as a Christ follower, that changes things.
Once we step forward as a Christ follower, that changes things. Our relationships change. For one thing, our relationship with the Bible changes! It goes from being a mysterious, time-honored book to being the living, active Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). When Jesus calls people, “follow me,” He shows us what and how to follow with His Word. Our response to and affection for that Word is key to how we go forward. I know people often have mixed feelings when it comes to the Word of God. I get it. My feelings for God’s Word vacillate as well – I want to do what it says, but I don’t always like what it asks me to do.
I want to pass along a couple key ideas about the Word and discipleship.
A disciple must master the Bible.
First, a disciple must master the Bible. That’s a tall order. Personally, I’m humbled by how little I know and have internalized! By “master,” I don’t mean we totally figure it all out, and then move on to the next challenge. What I mean is that we have to continually wrestle with it and learn what it is saying— about me, about God, about sin and my world. Then we have to figure out how we’re to navigate all that together. The more we wrestle with God’s Word, the more we grow in our mastery of it. God’s Word is alive — a new challenge awaits us with each reading. Our task as disciples is to read the Bible and then let the Holy Spirit show us how to apply it to our life.
While we must master the Bible, we must also be mastered by it.
While we must master the Bible, we must also be mastered by it. Often our only focus is wrestling with God’s Word, but a disciple submits to God’s Word, recognizing that God doesn’t bow to our opinion or our will. As we meditate on God’s Word seeking His guidance, we are made wise. “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” Psalm 19:1. That type of wisdom can be defined as someone who knows how to apply God’s knowledge to their life accurately. This takes a supernatural infusion of humility. Unfortunately, we are often better at collecting wisdom than applying it. It’s for this reason I am so excited about Life Groups and the opportunity they present to discuss the application of God’s word in small group settings. The teaching we get on Sunday morning certainly offers us challenges from God’s Word, but doesn’t it make sense to spend some time with our fellow disciples to apply those challenges? Sunday mornings don’t give us that opportunity – so we make time to do it in smaller groups.
Don’t let it pass you by! Master and BE mastered!
A Note From Pastor Andy.
I love to see people engage with God in worship. There is something supernatural that happens when we yield our hearts to Him and give an offering of praise. As we are emptying ourselves for our King, we reorient our attention and affection off of ourselves and toward Him. As we open our hearts and glorify God in song, we put Him in His rightful place and our hearts are in a posture to receive. As it says in James 4:6, “…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
My heart for Foothills Church is that we would be known as people who are worshippers. That when we gather every Sunday, we would be a church of people that worship our God freely and deeply, people, that if you were to take away the instrument and microphones, would still be fully sold out, in worship.
For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9
He brought down the walls of Jericho with the blowing of trumpets and a shout of praise. He changed Saul’s heart through worship, as he hunted David. He defeated the enemies of Jehoshaphat and Judah without lifting a spear, as the army sang praises to Him . Paul and Silas were supernaturally freed from their prison chains, in the midst of singing and prayer. I firmly believe that God still moves in worship today.
I can’t wait to worship with you this Sunday!