We Believe What We Want to Believe

Leadership Team Report

Summary Report

Issues that LT has discussed this month include:

· Christmas Giving Project – LT feels that both the manger and the coat tree should be in front of the church again this season. All coats will be given to Corpus Christi.

· Directory - Most of the pictures have been taken and Russ will make announcement to recruit a volunteer to put the directory all together.

· Hymnsing - We discussed the Evergreen hymnsing in November and the possibility of doing this quarterly. We will ask our congregation if they are interested.

· LT Discernment – LT will meet with 3 persons for discernment in a meeting in December.

· Gift Discernment – We are still looking for an adult ed coordinator, worship décor, and assistant Sunday School coordinator. DC volunteered to be the assistant for winter camp.

Leadership Team – Russ Buschert, DC Whitenack, Karen Nolt, Charlie Honsinger, Linda Nafziger-Meiser

January Birthdays

1 Tyler Honsinger

4 Roger Piper Ruth

17 Justin Welty

19 Molly Haarhoff

February Birthdays

9 Pam Piper Ruth

14 Mary Whitenack

16 Pam Catt-Oliason

16 Rebecca Hauder

20 Jaafar Hasnain

24 Paula Bachman

27 Ernie Bachman

28 Zille Hasnain

28 Jonathan Bowman

Thank you for the Christmas Pageant!

Thanks to everyone and all the children who shared and were part of the Christmas Pageant performance. It was a special celebration for all of the church so thanks to those who led, prepared, made costumes, and worked to hard to make it happen!

New Books in the Library

Seven new books have been added to the church’s library:

1. Reaching Beyond the Mennonite Comfort Zone, by Will Schirmer, 2003.

2. Coming Home, a thoughtful resource for fathers, mothers and the rebirth of the family, by Sara Wenger Shenk, 1992.
3. Life to Share, Discovering a Biblical Vision for Evangelism, by John K. Stoner, Jim Egli, and G. Edwin Bontrager, 1991.

4. God’s Managers, a budget guide and daily financial record book for Christians, by Ray and Lillian Bair, 1985.

5. Money Mania, Mastering the Allure of Excess, by Mark L. Vincent, 2005.

6. Simply Health Recipes, By Kelli Burkholder King.

7. Apocalypticism and Millenialism, Shaping a Believers Church Eschatology for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Loren L. Johns, 2000.

8. video series – “Parenting by Heart”.

Feel free to check out these and other books from the library in the front office. Put your name on the check out card and leave on the secretary’s desk.

Book Review

We hope to have a book review in each edition of the newsletter. If you would like to offer a review on a book you have read, please share it with Kathy at the church office.

January 2^nd Sunday Soup – January 14

Host Piper-Ruths

Vegetables Suzie Hanks

Bread Reed Burkholder

Cleanup Reed Burkholder

Suppers for 6 – Fellowship with other households

Joyce Bowman has will organize Suppers for 6, a time of food and fellowship with three households. Each household takes a turn at hosting a meal with the other households over a period of months. If you would like to participate and get to know others in the church, contact Joyce Bowman at 761-5452.

Presentation by David Korten –

January 19, 7-9 PM

“Visions of a Positive Future” presentation sponsored by Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Idaho Women’s Network, and Idaho Earth Institute. Korten is author of the bestseller When Corporations Rule the World and he is co-founder of the Positives Futures Network which publishes YES! magazine. His newest book is The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. The presentation is at the Unitarian Fellowship at 6200 Garrett Street in Garden City with a suggested donation of $10. See back bulletin board for information.

Winter Camp –

February 23 – 25, 2007
Yes, it's that time of year - time to think about gathering for fun and fellowship at Camp Ida-Haven in McCall. Camp is the weekend of

February 23-25, 2007 so mark it on your calendar and plan to attend. And be thinking of your special talent for Saturday evening's traditional "Hyde Park Unplugged." Registration forms will be available in January. Contact Katie Sewell or DC Whitenack with questions or suggestions.

San Jose 2007 Mennonite Convention, July 2-7

San José 2007's theme, "Live the Call," is based on Ephesians 4:1-6. Our convention planning committee strongly felt God calling it toward this passage. It's a letter to the Ephesians, and it explores multiple themes that are relevant to the people of Mennonite Church USA and how we joyfully follow Jesus into the world. Our hosts for San José 2007 will be the members of Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. It’s an opportunity they’re taking to heart by encouraging as many of their members as possible to attend the event. Start making plans for your trip to San José in July 2007.

There are plans to charter a bus from Idaho, costing approximately $85 per person. More details to come.

11/5/06

"Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand." --Mark Twain

11/12/06

"I think my central disappointment with much religion is that it is so stingy in its attitudes, and actually seems to prefer a stingy god. It loves tribalism and group think. It likes to convert others more than change itself. Religions are notorious for excluding, expelling, and excommunicating. It is almost their job description.”

-- Fr. Richard Rohr

“Sin, for Jesus, is not a set of purity codes or debt codes - which he goes out of his way to flaunt- but inner attitudes which blind and bind us inside of ourselves, and away from communion and mercy.” -- Marcus Borg

11/19/06

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. --John Fitzgerald Kennedy

11/26/06

Prophets are, by their nature, inconvenient party-poopers. It is a mistaken notion that prophets can see the future. Rather, they tell us what is true right now. -- Thomas Cahill

12/3/06

Love is not a matter of what happens in life. It's a matter of what's happening in your heart.

-- Ken Keyes

12/10/06

Peace does not come with the violent victory of one over another. Peace does not come when the bombs stop falling. Peace does not come when the dissenters are silenced. True peace is about reconciliation not victory. True peace is the fruit of justice. -- Elenie Poulos (minister in the Uniting Church in Australia)

12/17/06

The choice between love and fear is made every moment in our hearts and minds. That is where the peace process begins. --Paul Ferrini

“I wish for you good.” -- Jaydn, on one of the leaves on the banner for Puerto Asis.

12/24/06

When you love people, you see all the good in them, all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, His Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else, and love them. There can never be enough of it. There can never be enough thinking about it. --Dorothy Day

12/31/06

"The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination."

--John Schaar, sociologist and professor emeritus at the University of California Santa Cruz

November Ten Thousand Villages.................................................................... $400

December Zambia Project................................................................................ $1,340

January Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference

Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference is the mission focus for our church for January. This organization helps to Connect, Encourage, Lead and Teach almost 40 churches in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. In addition to the pastoral support and guidance for our leadership team provided by our Conference Minister, Sheldon Burkhalter, your donations to PNMC provide support for growing Hispanic communities and nurture for new churches. A small group in Bend, Oregon is currently forming a church, for example. Please consider an extra gift toward the work of PNMC this month.

And if you have more questions about the work and the contribution of PNMC,

please don’t hesitate to ask.

--Janet Buschert

And here is a specific opportunity to give to help a Hispanic Pastor in the PNMC:

To PNMC congregations:

I'm writing on behalf of the PNMC Board.

At our September meeting the PNMC board was made aware of a Theological Studies Certificate Program in Spanish which Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary is holding in the Great Plains area, and that pastor Samuel Moran of our conference is planning to participate in this program. As a board we affirmed this opportunity for Samuel and want to do our best to encourage him.

For the past six years Samuel has been teaching classes to Spanish-speaking congregations and pastors in PNMC through EBAFOM. (In English: "The Anabaptist Biblical School for Ministerial Formation.") Over 75 students have taken classes with a current enrollment of 15. Classes range from Biblical studies to Anabaptist History and Theology. For Samuel to complete this Theological Studies Certificate will greatly

strengthen his teaching. It will also strengthen EBAFOM, and our Spanish-speaking congregations of the PNMC.

But here is the catch. The 8-course program, which takes two years to complete, will cost $8,000 in tuition and travel alone. Samuel does not have this money. CIHAN has agreed to help as they are able, but most likely cannot cover much of this expense. So, the PNMC board agreed to stand behind this venture financially. Unfortunately, it is a need not anticipated in the conference budget.

Therefore, we are soliciting financial donations from conference individuals and congregations to cover these costs. For now, the board has authorized the payment of the registration fee so that Samuel can begin. We are hoping that donations will bring this money back into the conference treasury.

Please find a way to let people in your congregation be aware of this opportunity to help Samuel and, in the long term, help in the theological development of our Spanish congregations. Donations can be written to "PNMC" and sent to PNMC treasurer, Don Bacher, 1650 SE Main Street, Albany, OR 97322.

Thank you,

Jeryl Hollinger

Charlotte Hardt, PNMC Moderator

Duncan Smith, PNMC Conference Minister

Church Calendar

January 7................... Communion Sunday

January 9................... Leadership Team meeting

January 14................. No Sunday School, 2^nd Sunday Soup

February 11............... 2^nd Sunday Soup

February 18............... Communion Sunday

February 21............... Ash Wednesday

February 23-25......... Winter Camp in McCall

February 25.............. 1^st Sunday of Lent

Dream Bars Recipe

1-9X13 pan 375degree oven to start, finish at 350 degrees

Preheat oven to 375 while mixing up crust.

Crust: Work together into fine crumbs as you would for pastry dough:

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp butter (no substitutes for best product)

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

Press evenly into bottom of 9X13 baking pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or

until lightly browned--watch carefully; if your oven is a little on the

hot side you can end up with scorched spots. While crust is baking, stir

filling ingredients together:

Filling: Beat together with large French whisk or electric mixer:

2 large or extra large eggs (or substitute 3 medium; needs to be at least ½ cup total)

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup flour mixed with 1 tsp. baking powder

Stir in with wooden spoon or spatula:

1 ½ cups coconut

1-12 oz bag chocolate chips (for chocoholics, use 1½ bags)

1 cup chopped walnuts or sliced almonds

When crust is ready, turn oven down to 350 degrees, and then carefully spoon filling over the hot crust as evenly as possible. Bake for another 22-25 minutes, until top is golden brown but still a little moist looking in middle, not dry. Ovens vary and these cookies seem more sensitive to variations than some; check often for the last 10 minutes or so as they are disappointing if overdone.

If you like, immediately on taking them out of the oven, sift a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar over them. Let cool enough to cut into bars or squares. (I usually slice a thin strip off around the edges first, as when I worked as a baker for EMU’s Snack Shoppe I discovered that the middle pieces are snapped up quickly leaving the edges to get stale.....but when I cut the edges off, for some reason—maybe because they are still warm and free--they are a hot item; no one minds eating them when they aren’t attached to a bar!)

Variations: These are also very good made as a wheat-free version with barley flour instead of unbleached or white wheat flour, both in the crust and filling. In fact, I often still use at least half barley flour in the crust as it yields a chewier and better -flavored cookie. You can find barley flour at the Coop and health food stores.

Another variation is to put the nuts in the crust for a more toasted nut flavor. In fact, I sometimes make the crust alone (with nuts) as a shortbread type cookie, just sprinkling the dough lightly with sugar before baking.

From My Story as Told by Recipes, Linda Nafziger-Meiser

The Olive Branch

January/February 2007 Edition

Leadership Team Report

9 Pam Piper Ruth