We Believe What We Want to Believe

Leadership Team Report Summary Report

Issues that LT has discussed over the past month:

· Task List – The list was printed in the last Olive Branch newsletter. We’ll get a bulletin board out soon.

· Leadership Team Nominations – DC and Charlie will end their terms serving on LT. Nominations will begin on April 6 and will be open until April 20.

· 3 Year Congregational & Pastoral Review – We are in the process of preparing a tool for the review.

· Kathy Bilderback Resignation – Joyce Bowman will begin training with Kathy who has resigned this month.

· New Copier - The old copier has finally quit so we need to get something at the church for making copies.

Leadership Team –DC Whitenack, Charlie Honsinger, Ernie Bachman, Joyce Bowman, Linda Nafziger-Meiser

April Birthdays

2 Rob Hanson

2 Clay Lewis

4 Bill Ung

6 Katie Sewell

11 Jerry Catt-Oliason

11 Luke Vance

12 Lauresta Welty

12 Megan Oesch

14 Keltie Vance

18 Jon Ung

25 Tim Branam

28 Yusuf Hasnain

29 Lauren Whitenack

May Birthdays

9 Anne Burkholder

11 Andrea Bachman

12 Rick Skinner

14 Annette Hanson

19 Jemma Hatab

20 Kristin Hasselblad

20 Beth Landis

30 Atalie Oesch

New Church Directory

The new directory should be printed by April 15. Kathy is combining and updating all the information.

Thank you!

I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to have connected and worked with you over the past couple of years. I value the connections and friendships with so many of you and getting to know other new faces and persons. I will miss that the most. But it is clear to me that it is time for me to let go of this position to have more time to service the bookkeeping clients I have maintained through my business KB Business Services. Also our boys, now 12 and 10, continue to be busy and I want to have more freedom to attend to their needs, requests, and activities. This position allowed me to use the administrative skills I have acquired over the years while also being in the church setting. That has been very valuable to me. I’m grateful to all you and wish you the best and God’s peace and blessings.

---Kathy Bilderback

Joyce Bowman is New Church Secretary

Kathy is training Joyce to take over the tasks that have been a part of this church office. Kathy requests patience and grace as she learns the particulars. Change is always good and provides an opportunity to refine the roles and job tasks.

Film Showing at the Flicks – April 13

This is a benefit/fundraiser for the Ten Thousand Villages store. Please plan to attend. Tickets can be purchased at The Flicks or at Ten Thousand Villages.

From producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), What Would Jesus Buy? examines the commercialization of Christmas in America while following Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the SHOPOCALYPSE. Rev. Billy's epic journey takes us to chilling exorcisms at Wal-Mart headquarters, to retail interventions at the Mall of America, and all the way to the Promised Land on Christmas Day. The Stop Shopping mission reminds us that even though we may be hypnotized and consumerized, we still have a chance to save ourselves.

ONE SHOW ONLY!

April 13th at 1:00PM

at The Flicks

This Boise premier is a benefit supporting Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit fair trade store. Tickets are $10, available at:

Ten Thousand Villages, 1609 North 13^th Street

The Flicks Boise, 646 Fulton Street

For further details call 333-0535

Kessler-Keener Lectures – May 1

We welcome Joanna Macy to Boise on Thursday,

May 1, 2008 for an evening lecture, entitled, “The Great Turning to a Life Sustaining Society. May 2-4, Joanna will present a workshop entitled, “Taking Heart in Tough Times.” Prices, locations and times will be announced later.

Flyer on back bulletin board.

For further information, to put yourself on our email list, contact:

Ed Keener, edmakeener@cableone.net

429-0266, 3423 N. 39^th St. Boise, ID. 83703

Idaho Mennonite World Relief Festival

May 17, 2008

College Church of

the Nazarene

Planning is getting more and more exciting as we work to host the 3^rd annual relief sale here in Idaho. We ask everyone to spread the news so we have great attendance and end the sale with a large donation to Mennonite Central Committee.

Because of the recent fire at the Johnson Sports Center, the location for this year’s relief sale has been changed to the College Church, which is located on the campus of NNU in Nampa. This new venue offers large spaces for all the planned activities, a full commercial kitchen, and plenty of parking.

Beautiful quilts are showing up as well as many wood crafted items, plants, other handmade products, and fun children’s activities. It will be a grand day for all with plenty of wonderful food. A sneak peak of the items will happen Friday evening before the sale.

The deadline for having your item listed in the auction book is April 1, 2008. All other donations should be made by April 15, 2008.

Cash donations are now being accepted on line on the website at idahomrs.org. We are raising funds to create an operating balance so the sale proceeds can all be sent to MCC.

General donations Rick Bollman 378-8109

Antique items Rick Bollman 378-8109
Auction items Clint Krehbiel 397-5264

Quilts, etc.                 Betty Good       495-2826
Handcrafted items     Marj Bollman    378-8109
Food donations          Mary Leisy        397-4218
Gently used items      Leona Oesch     466-1897

www.idahomrs.org

Stories From Our Past…

A Congregational Call Interview

The circle is small, three women, and two men, most of them close to my age although there is one person who could be the age of my mom. I’m twenty-seven years old. These folks are gathered together this warm spring evening in 1977 to interview me, the new Seminary graduate. I’ve traveled, with Rebecca, from Elkhart Mennonite Biblical Seminary, to meet this group. We’re courting, so to speak. They want to know if I’m going to match the illusive pastor profile they have so diligently worked to create. And me, I’m wondering if this interview is really where I want to be. I’m still asking if I want to be a pastor? I think I do.

The interview begins. “Welcome Larry. We’re glad you’ve decided to come and visit. Each of us will ask you a question. Just relax and consider us all part of a big family.” Already I’m thinking, “a big family”, what does that mean? A family wouldn’t be interviewing a son, father, cousin or uncle. No sir, I know some relatives that if they had been interviewed they wouldn’t be part of a family. This group definitely does not feel like family. A boy visiting his girl friends parents for the first time is a better comparison. I’m really nervous.

“Do you speak in tongues?” “What’s your opinion of the charismatic movement?” These were my first two questions I stuttered to make an intelligent response, and have no idea how I answered. If I wasn’t convinced before, I for sure knew now, this wasn’t a typical family gathering I was used to. My family had leaned in to leave well enough alone and never talk about religion and politics.

At this point I knew my Seminary classes, enjoyable as they were, would not be helpful in answering many of these interview, “get acquainted” questions. What did speaking in tongues have to do with a call to pastoral ministry? Much later I did find relevance in the question, but probably not the relevance intended by the interviewer. I learned that speaking in tongues allows a pastor to be bilingual, and a good pastor can speak many spiritual languages. The church is full of religious language groups and each group relates to the pastor through their experience. For instance, the member who asked tongue question was speaking with a strong Pentecostal dialect. Pity the pastor who is linguistically challenged and cannot easily speak different spiritual languages. But, at the time, in 1977, I heard only the question “do I speak in tongues” and gave little additional thought to the theological implications of being a bilingual pastor.

Rebecca and I still have the journal we kept as we visited Boise for the first time. When I read it now it seems like we fell in love with the town almost more than the people. Boise’s North End was quite different from Elkhart, our home for the past 2 years. The sun was bright with no overcast skies. The humidity of the East was nonexistent. The walk to Camel Back Park and hiking up the hill to overlook the community was inspiring. We were obviously ready for a return to the West where we both grew up, and Boise had captured our hearts.

After the interview and spending a few days meeting people and touring the area, Rebecca and I returned to Indiana and was later notified that the small group in Boise wanted to invite us for a three-year assignment as pastor. I still have this letter of invitation signed by Richard Garber. It didn’t take us long to make the decision. Within a couple of weeks we called Richard and said, “we accept the invitation to come to Boise.” In July 1977 Rebecca, our two-year-old son Nathan, and I moved to Boise. My first sermon was in August. There were 15 people sitting in a circle at that first service.

I resigned as pastor of Hyde Park Mennonite in May of 1992 to become the full-time Conference Minister for the Pacific Coast Mennonite Conference and the Pacific District Mennonite Conference, now unified and called the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference.

October 2007 Zambia Tuition Assistance............................................................. $90

November Ten Thousand Villages.................................................................... $225

December Sister Church (through 12/23/07).................................................. $3,300

January Zambia Mission Project.................................................................. $875

February Corpus Christi House...................................................................... $250

March Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference....................................... $250

Special Mission Focus – April

Community Ministries Center 3000 Esquire Drive

Boise, Idaho

378-7774

Serving small families and elderly home-bound persons. People can access the agency every 30 days. Food bags provide 3-days worth of food. Special diets are available for those with conditions such as heart problems, diabeties, and hypertension. Community Ministries Center also provides bus tokens and other transportation as funds are available. Transportation to and from doctor and dentist appointments for the elderly with 24-hour advance notice. Agency also provides screening and referrals.

Open: M-F, 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  Serves EVERYONE

Recipe Sharing – If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share, please forward it to Kathy to include in a future issue of the Olive Branch.

Conrad’s special request - Strawberry Cheesecake (created by Linda)

Beat together until fluffy:

2 8-oz pkgs Neufchatel cheese (at room temperature)

1 8-oz pkg Philadelphia brand no fat cream cheese

½ cup sugar

Add and beat until well blended:

3 eggs

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

2/3 of a 10-oz. jar of good quality strawberry jam (I use Smuckers all-fruit spread)

2 tsp. vanilla

Pour over graham cracker crust firmly pressed into bottom of spring-form pan.

(I lightly toast 1/2 cup sliced almonds or finely chopped pecans in 1/3 cup real butter in heavy skillet, then add 1 cup of fine graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. If you don’t want nuts, use an extra 1/2 cup crumbs.)

Bake the cheesecake at 325 for about 35-40 minutes. Watch it carefully the last bit; the middle should still be jiggly but the edges get a bit puffed up. Try not to let it crack, even around the edges.

Take out of the oven and cool for 10 minutes; then top with:

1 1/2 cups reduced fat sour cream blended with

remaining 1/3 of the jam. Slip back in oven for another 10 minutes.

Cool thoroughly, then refrigerate for at least 15 hours, preferably 24 before serving. Fresh strawberries as garnish make this really special. Enjoy!

The Olive Branch

April/May 2008 Edition

Leadership Team Report Summary Report