The Pastor’s Blog

Notes, news, information, lessons, and updates from the Pastor’s desk and others.

One Bite at a Time

Posted on Mar 29, 2025 in Community Outreach, Pastor's Blog | Tags: Acts of Service, New Beginnings, Overcoming Challenges

Mar '25

In one of our recent “Scrappy Church” sessions we talked about small actions and how they can have big effects when added together. The author calls this concept eating an elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Sitting down with the idea to eat a whole elephant is kind of crazy. You would be eating for weeks and weeks. But sitting down to take one bite at a time doesn’t seem so bad. You can make small progress. The goal may be the same, eat the elephant, but the pressure of doing it all right now doesn’t have to be there.

As we look at ways to make an impact for Jesus we can get overwhelmed by the number of things there are to do, the people that need to be helped, the changes we need to make and allow God to make within us, the cost financially, time, and energy which can all stack up and seem insurmountable. In that moment we can remind ourselves to take one bite. To make small incremental progress, day by day, and allow those changes to compound to get us to the place we are called to be.

One bite at a time gets us there in a much more manageable way than trying to unhinge our jaws and swallow the elephant whole. But we do all this all the time, we look at the world and its problems and think, “well, if I can’t fix it all, what is the point in trying?” It matters to the one person you got to help today, in whatever measure you got to help them, and, if we have 50 people doing small things to bless those around them every day, that will add up pretty quick. So, grab your fork and get ready to take one bite at a time. We will get this elephant eaten, slowly but surely.

Service, March 23, 2025

Posted on Mar 20, 2025 in Bulletins, General |

Order of Service:

Welcome and Call to Worship

Song: “Come Let Us Worship and Bow Down”

Song: “He Is Exalted”

Greeting Time

Hymn #428: “I Need Thee Every Hour”

Song: “How Can I Keep from Singing”

Prayer for the Offering

Hymn #275: How Firm a Foundation”

Koinonia Kids Dismissal (Fellowship Hall)

Today’s Message: “Jeremiah: A Major Prophet” (Selections from the Book of Jeremiah)
Pastor Jesse Davis

Closing Song: “Mighty to Save”

Question for Reflection: Do you live in vital relationship with God, trusting in Jesus Christ as your saving Lord and obeying the leadings of the Holy Spirit? Is Christ’s presence evident in your life?

Benediction & Open Worship

Next Sunday: “Lamentations: A Prophet’s Prophetic Mourning”

Events & Notes:

Mark’s mom, Bobi Burton, went to be with the Lord on Monday morning. Please keep the family in your prayers. Service details to be determined.

Prayer Meeting – Please come join us for Monday Prayer Meeting at Noon in Conference Room 8. We pray for our community and congregation far and wide.

Prayer Group – Tuesday, March 25th at 10 a.m. at the Fields’ home.

The Friends Women Fellowship invites you to join them this week in prayer for the following requests from the EFM prayer letter:

PRAISE:

EFM Office: “For a strong wave of generosity for God’s work as we begin 2025.” And, “For a growing sense that God is at work in our churches, communities, and world.”

EFM Five-Year Goal: “For new potential missionaries who have raised their hand, saying, ‘I’m praying about going!’” And, “For a growing conviction that God will use each local gathering of followers (the local church!) to complete his work both here in local neighborhoods and around the world.”

Our Missionaries in Bangladesh: “That we could start six youth group partnerships with a local disciple-making ministry in January. Pray that these young people will transform so that they will take responsibility for leading their local church.”

PRAY:

EFM Office: “That the Lord would send workers into the harvest from every local congregation (see Luke 10:2). And, “That the Lord would make his people One (see John 20:20- 23).”

EFM Five-Year Goal: “For financial support for several missionary households who are raising funds so that they can either deploy or return to their field of work.”

Our Missionaries in Bangladesh: “An on-field discipleship training and outreach is now going on in one field. Pray that through these on-field training, young people, as well as local church members, will be motivated, challenged, and equipped to multiply churches in Bangladesh.”

Worship in Giving – There’s a time of offering during service. You may mail your offering, or select the “Give” button at the top of this website and enter your information. Thank you.

We would like to join you in prayer or help you in any way we can. To help us do that, we invite you to fill out the contact form on this website or make use of our Prayer Wall in the Menu at the top. Thank you.

We believe in the unity of the body of Christ. To that end, please pray with us this week for Lincoln Road Baptist Church in Grants Pass and our missionaries in Nepal. May our Lord bless these brothers & sisters as they serve Him.

Feb '25

A Message From Emily 2/28/25

Posted on Feb 28, 2025 in Christian Living, Pastor's Blog | Tags: Encouragement in Faith, Everyday Faith, Scripture Reflection

Feb '25

We just finished a Spina Bifida Clinic in Portland for Thatcher. They are able to have all his specialists come to us in one location on one day. It is super helpful for us since we need to travel to Portland, but it does make for a very long day of appointments. But really, it is the work put in during the in-between that makes progress happen in Thatcher’s life. The PT and OT appointments at home, therapies we attend, the individualized care he receives daily to keep him healthy.

This week as we finished clinic it made me think about how the same applies to our spiritual lives. We often can try to cram it all in one day a week spiritually and hope for good progress, but it is the daily spiritual tasks that are really making progress possible.

1 Corinthians 3 talks about spiritual food and the progress from spiritual milk to spiritual meat. How do we becomes more mature believers? We spend time with Jesus daily. We learn about Him, practice how to live more like Him, and study what His word says. We don’t wait for the day with the specialists like we do for clinic, but rather press forward making progress in the between.

May we continue to seek Him moment by moment.

Feb '25

Small Ships, Big Impact

Posted on Feb 1, 2025 in Faith in Action | Tags: Acts of Service, Community Outreach, Encouragement in Faith, Everyday Faith, Faith and History, Miracles, Trusting God

Feb '25

There is a story about a naval expedition to rescue soldiers from an embattled town on the coast of France during World War II. The town’s name was Dunkirk. Over the course of eight days, more than 800 ships, many of which were small private vessels of fishermen and other everyday people, rescued over 300,000 soldiers. This amazing occurrence is sometimes called the “Miracle of Dunkirk.”

Why do I mention this? Because so often we consider the actions that we take to not have an impact. Without those little ships, it is very likely that many of the soldiers rescued would have been captured or killed. It mattered a great deal that those ships were there, even when they weren’t large enough to ferry the whole contingent waiting on the beach or in the surf.

Any that were taken away were that many saved. If you had been on the beach that day, you wouldn’t have asked for a bigger ship, you would have been grateful to get away. These small ships had a big impact over the course of the rescue effort. I wonder, what small efforts can we do to make a big impact for God’s great rescue mission?