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Northwest Baptist Witness Communications Team Leader/Editor: Cameron Crabtree Managing Editor, The Witness: Sheila Allen Graphic Design & Production Assistants: Jennifer Logue and Beckie Bruhn Circulation Services: Twyla Outhier Churches of the Northwest Baptist Convention provide the Northwest Baptist Witness for their individual members through the Cooperative Program. Individual subscriptions are available: $12/yr. in U.S. | $18/yr. int'l Published each month by: Northwest Baptist Convention Phone: 360-882-2100 | Fax: 360-882-2295 | E-mail: ISSN 0745-2195 Circulation: 14,000

Jericho Project Impacts Mount Baker Region
By Cameron Crabtree

SEDRO WOOLLEY, Wash. - In the northwest corner of Washington, the 19 congregations of the Mount Baker Baptist Association stepped outside the confines of their ministry routines for a week to share the message of God's love with the 500,000 people who live in the region.
"I found all of the churches to be working much beyond their normal output," said Jim Harvey, evangelism strategist for the Northwest Baptist Convention. "Jesus Christ was honored through all his churches in Mt. Baker Association."
The July 12-19 ministry emphasis marked the eighth Jericho Project sponsored by the Northwest Baptist Convention. Jericho is a week-long effort aimed at breaking down barriers between churches and neighborhoods in a focused area through multiple evangelism endeavors.
"Churches from Oak Harbor to Maple Falls were deeply involved and focused on their neighbors and communities," said Harvey. "Most all of the churches were doing outreach, block parties, and door to door contacts with their neighbors seeking ways to serve them and help them with acts of kindness projects."
This year may have marked the last of the Jericho efforts, at least for a while. There are no plans for the project next year or in 2010.
The effort included inevitable last minute changes and responding to needs as they arose, according to director of missions John Hobson.
"We tried to our best to help churches do whatever they could if they were willing to get out there and try to reach people," he noted. "We wanted to try and support that."
Part of Jericho's success, Hobson said, is in churches seeing future ministry possibilities.
"I'm hearing really positive reports from the churches," he said. "Several of our churches have commented that they want to do these kinds of activities even without a Jericho. Two churches have told me that they were really excited about their door-to-door activity and that their people want to do more of that."
That's the kind of impact that makes a lasting difference, Hobson said.
"Because so many of these areas had not really been worked before there was a lot of seed planted," said Hobson. "The lasting effect on the actual churches that participate and then the excitement that the volunteers take back to their churches is what all together makes a huge difference."
Mary Davis, a longtime Northwest Baptist volunteer who has helped coordinate events at each of the Jericho Projects, stressed the need for churches to follow up with the people who participate in Jericho's multiple events.
"That's really where Jericho begins, on the follow up," said Davis, a member of Kitsap Lake Baptist Church in Bremerton, Wash. "That's one of the things we really stressed this year."
She noted the enthusiasm churches have experienced for hosting community events in the months ahead.
"The block party kits are booked through the fall," she noted.
Besides introducing churches to community residents, the various efforts allow church members to share the message of Christ with others.
"As the week has gone on we've heard reports of people coming to Christ," said Davis. "Even if it's just one it's all worth it."
One church leader highlighted the cooperation among churches of the association.
"It's been tremendous," said Victor Cline, pastor of Skagit Valley Baptist Church in Sedro Woolley. "One of the things this has done is made us appreciate how we can cooperate as churches in this region."
Besides conducting religious opinion surveys and prayer-walking, members of Cline's church held a free car wash for residents.
"I think we're going to do it every year," said Cline. He noted the church made it a point to set up the car wash in such a way that people wouldn't think it was just about getting them in church. "We just wanted it to be a blessing," said Cline.
As it turned out, church members had plenty of opportunity to talk with people about their lives.
"People just opened up and started sharing their stories," said Cline. "We had one woman who spent some time talking with us and as we went on you could see her countenance just brighten up and she said, 'I just feel so blessed.' We saw a lot of that."
While many of the church-sponsored events didn't draw large crowds, they nevertheless made important inroads into various communities, said Audrey Smith of Sedro Woolley's Valley Baptist Church, where her husband, Mike, is pastor.
"When you look at the statistics it's been a hard week," Smith said, as musical chords from the band Delirious pulsed across the church lawn. "But when you look at the people who are here, none of them are in the church."
And most of them, she stated, are struggling.
"All of our pastors have started to understand that families are really having a hard time and they can't do it all by themselves," said Smith, who has focused a major part of her ministry on counseling families.
The week-long emphasis gave some churches the opportunity to do build on typical ministry efforts.
"We've started doing outreach this year for the first time in at least a decade," said Jym Cook, pastor Emmanuel Baptist Church of Arlington, Wash. "We talked about stepping out, we talked about evangelism, but we never did it."
With Jericho, the church enlisted volunteers to conduct religious opinion surveys throughout its surrounding community. On the first night of the efforts, nearly half of the church's 40 or so regular attenders showed up to participate.
"It's going to be neat to see what God has in store for us," said Cook, a native of the area. "I told our people this is not an event that will just open and close, but it will be a catalyst for what we're going to be doing in the future."
Cook noted the effort allowed people to experience an easy way to discuss their faith with others in the community.
Among the many volunteer groups assisting churches during the week was the youth group from Tammany View Baptist Church in Lewiston, Idaho. The Jericho Project has been an instrumental part of the church's ministry teens, according to youth pastor Clay Richardson.
"It's become a part of our youth ministry," said Richardson. "It's challenging mentally, physically and spiritually. It's the kind of thing that challenges them and pushes them in a good way.
The north Idaho group has volunteered to serve at each Jericho emphasis over the last eight years.
"It's been really great because our kids come away sad to leave," Richardson added. "It's been such a joy."
Jericho included a mid-week evening dedicated to teenagers at a school in Sedro Woolley. The students played outdoors before moving indoors for an evangelistic rally featuring the band Noon Day Sun from Yelm, Wash., and Pastor Mark Evans of Oregon City Baptist Church.
Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the stark message "A Blood Donor Saved My Life," Evans cited the Old Testament story of Elijah in asking the teens to surrender their lives to God.
"God says to you and me here tonight, 'I love you and I want all of your life'," Evans said. "Very simply, what I want you to do tonight is to place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ."
On Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor Southern Baptist Church invited community residents to an evening block party on the church's campus.
"It's the first time our church has done something like this and it's been great because the community really responded," said Lemuel Villano, associate pastor at the church. "We were able to talk with a lot of people and hand out some materials."
Jim Harvey spent most of the week working with volunteers from First Baptist Church in Clearlake. Besides prayer-walking, conducting religious surveys and hosting a block party, the church cleaned and painted a nearby school during the week.
"(The) church received much respect and appreciation from the principal and several of the teachers," noted Harvey.
Harvey also praised the involvement of John Hobson, director of missions for the Mount Baker Baptist Association. "John Hobson was the most involved and very helpful to every church," Harvey said.
New churches in the association also took part in the week's events.
Norm and Amanda Swihart had begun praying fervently for people in Sedro Woolley when they sensed God speaking to them about starting a new ministry.
"We just started to walk through Sedro Woolley and God just really laid a burden on our hearts about this community," said Norm Swihart. Strolling through a portion of town populated by taverns, they felt burdened for the people hanging out in the area.
"We wondered about it since there were already two Southern Baptist churches in the area," said Swihart, "but we were definitely interested in reaching a young adult crowd and I just couldn't see it any other way than through a church plant."
The couple, natives to the area, started a Bible study late last year to reach working class families and young adults who weren't likely to participate in any of Sedro Woolley's existing churches. About two dozen people have now become the nucleus for The Reach.
"God's been building in us a lot of cohesiveness," said Swihart. "He's really been growing us and knitting this family together. We're just one day at a time but God began to grow us a vision for what's on our hearts."
The name of the church, according to Swihart, speaks to its four commitments:
Reaching up. "That's loving God."
Reaching in. "We really want to build each other up."
Reaching out. "We want to connect with our community."
Reaching beyond. "That's influencing the world through service and mission."
Swihart, a heavy equipment operator, acknowledged the simplicity of those values.
"I know these aren't particularly unique," he said. "I see these things as vital for every church. We've got to love God and reach out to others."
That simple credo points to the way Swihart sees others.
"Most of my evangelism takes place on the job site," he noted. "The other day I led one of the guys I work with to the Lord in the ditch where we were working."
Swihart credits two other churches in the region - First Baptist Church of Clearlake and Trinity Baptist Church in Mount Vernon -- with grounding him in his faith.
In this new venture, he noted the importance of fellow pastor John Batts in helping think through the nuts and bolts of the new work. "He's been kind of a mentor," Swihart said.
He also cited help from the Church Planter Basic Training offered by the Northwest Baptist Convention.
"I think every pastor would benefit from going through it," said Swihart. "It really helps pastors get a focus. It helped us to think beyond Sedro Woolley to think even globally."
The church plans to formally constitute in coming months.
"I'm really excited to get that stuff because it's going to define our personality as a church and what we're going to be about," said Swihart.
The Sedro Woolley native expressed concern for specifically reaching men in the Skagit Valley. "We have to just figure out what they love to do and go do it with them as long as it's godly and appropriate," Swihart said. In fact, he and other leaders at The Reach are exploring the possibility of entering a car at a local raceway.
"It will help us build a bridge with the guys who are part of it," predicted Swihart. "They can do 'church stuff' and use the things they can do and like to do. "And it's a chance to have fun doing it."
During the Jericho Project emphasis, members of The Reach spent most of their efforts prayer walking a 9-mile route throughout Sedro Woolley. The group divided the route into one-mile sections and prayed through the town of 9,400 people over the course of the week. They also prayed for the ministries of two other Northwest Baptist congregations in town, Skagit Valley Baptist Church and Valley Baptist Church.
"I see Jericho as a means to an end, not the end itself and it is my prayer that God will bring an awakening to his people in this valley starting with us," Swihart said.
The Commons, a new church in Arlington, conducted their series of outreach efforts the week prior to the rest of the Jericho Projects.
A core group of about 40 people, along with volunteers from three churches in Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas, conducted a week-long sports camp and hosted block parties at eight different parks scattered across the city.
The week's events helped build on similar efforts last year that reached about 70 people.
"It really helped us concentrate on meeting a few people and getting to know them and building relationships," noted Corbin. "We had a whole year of pursuing avenues for relationships in the community, so this year we ended up serving 160 people at the sports camp."
A celebration to cap off the sports camp drew about 300 people. Providing quality event such as sports camps and block parties allows the church to meet people in ways that matter to them and introducing them to the church, Corbin noted.
"I'm committed to loving people on their terms," he said, noting the lesson he learned in a small church in Alabama while pursuing seminary studies.
"Our biggest focus has been relationships," said Pastor Tim Corbin. "I know it's a cliché, but my heart is to develop an authentic Christian community."
For Corbin, that's more positive motivation than just starting another new hip church seeking to differentiate itself from other churches in the area.
"I want to develop a community of people who accept each other, challenge each other and grow together in Christ," stressed Corbin. "I'm really not here to start a church in the sense of an organization. It's not a matter of church programs."
Why the name, The Commons?
"I wanted something that spoke to the commitment to community," Corbin said. "I wrestled with using a house church model but didn't want to give up the value for also being a worshiping community."
The group meets weekly in Corbin's home for Bible study and monthly for a worship gathering.
"My small group is a hermeneutics class where I teach them how to read the Bible and how to apply it," said Corbin. "We've created an environment to be a meeting place to bring any baggage or belief they have and deal with what the Scriptures say."
Corbin recently led the group through the Gospel of John.
"It was great because they were open to discovering who Jesus was," Corbin noted. "They got a real picture of who Jesus is."
Besides strengthening bonds of friendship, Corbin said he is watching God make a difference in people's lives."
"With the fellowship I feel like we're achieving authentic community," he said. "God is moving in people's lives and I'm just a part of it. People are on different parts of their journey and we're here to help them along."

Oregon Coach Merges Sport and Faith
By Sheila Allen

CORVALLIS, Ore. - With ponytails bouncing high and water bottles in hand, girls jog onto the field ready for another evening session of Soccer Spirit. Coach Erik Hass is ready for them, directing the elementary school-age girls to drills that promote quick thinking.
"Good job, well done," called out Hass as he watched young athletes mastering basics of the sport.
He is just as responsive to those whose skills are not quite hitting the mark.
"Almost there, keep trying, you just about have it," said Hass as he implored his young students to remember the finer points of soccer.
But these evening sessions are not just about sport. Hass has a passion for people of his hometown that is greater than his love of the sport. Born and raised in Corvallis, Hass grew up playing soccer, but did not grow up going to church.
"My future wife invited me to a college group associated with Grant Avenue Baptist Church here in Corvallis when we were both Oregon State University students," Hass said. "I got my parents to take me to church a couple of times when I was eight to ten years old, but I did not genuinely go to church until I met her."
As he grew, Hass not only played soccer but began coaching consistently throughout middle and high school. Highlights included joining the varsity soccer team at Corvallis High School and making it to the state playoffs. While he considered trying out for the OSU team, his studies for a degree in software engineering took priority.
Continuing to coach, Hass helped out with the Corvallis High boys team, played himself in an indoor soccer team in Salem and Corvallis and is certified by the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). Two years ago, Hass was involved in sponsoring a soccer ministry during Jericho in the Valley, an evangelism blitz that Grant Avenue Baptist Church participated in. Hass took note of the high interest soccer skills had on the community when 55 children took part in the clinic.
"I took that week off from work to devote to the clinic, but after it was over I thought I could continue this throughout the summer if I did it in the evenings," Hass said. "God has gifted me in soccer, but a couple of injuries keep me from playing now. I felt he wanted me to focus on coaching. But the biggest key for me is that it's not just doing soccer, it is also a bold and direct message about God's love for us that I can share."
Hass offered the free clinics held throughout the summer through email and flyers, and formats the sessions to allow the girls to get as many touches on the ball as possible. With strains of Christian hip hop artist tobyMac playing in the background, he spends time on skills development and fun tricks.
Hass gathered the girls together for a positive message about David and Goliath read from the Bible as shadows lengthened over the field. Each week he focuses on and repeats the motto he is trying to instill in his young charges: love the Lord your God with all your heart.
"Eric is a great soccer coach and that makes what he is doing possible," said Don Reeves, pastor of Grant Avenue Baptist Church. "The girls are getting the very best instruction in soccer techniques for free, and that allows Eric the opportunity to speak to them and their parents about Christ. He is passionate about Jesus, his family and soccer. Soccer Spirit is who he is. He is teaching his daughters whom he adores and their friends the sport he loves while telling them about the God he worships."
Parents are willing to allow their children into this setting because of the trust level Hass has built with them over the years his own daughters have been playing soccer. The girls are responding to this message.
"This has given me an opportunity to build more relationships with the girls and their parents," Hass noted. "I have taken to heart what God has done for me with sheer gratitude. I encourage people to use whatever skills God has blessed them with and get out there and do it."
Hass has planned a soccer and popcorn event for the girls on the Grant Avenue campus that will allow them to play and practice moves in the church gym, allowing them to get to know each other better and become familiar with the church. He is able to tell the families of other events sponsored by Grant Avenue that might interest them.
"I want these girls to gain character traits that will help them in life," Hass said. "But ultimately I want to share the gospel with them. Teamwork, soccer, everything else is secondary to that."

New Church Births Ministry to Older Adults
By Sheila Allen

PUYALLUP -- As young parents along with their children stream into the commons area of a local high school where High Pointe Community Church gathers each week for services, booths ring the area highlighting ministries that appeal to the blue-jean crowd that makes up the bulk of the church's attenders.
But another important group is rising up apart from the daycare set typical in many newer churches. Primetimers, a High Pointe ministry for those 50 and up, is flourishing in a church that would not automatically appeal to that age group.
Kathy Cunningham began attending shortly after the church began services in an elementary school in the area.
"It was like coming home to me," Cunningham said. "Even though initially my husband didn't want to go to a small group, we eventually did make our way there. I had been away from church and I felt truly cared for here. Pastor Kevin (Sullivan) knew our names when we came back the second time."
Cunningham began recognizing a need she sensed was from God to reach out to the couples and singles over the age of 50 that were coming to the church.
"This is a young church," Cunningham said, "But we began the ministry with four couples and started out with a mission statement, which encourages those in the fellowship to participate in activities that foster spiritual growth and outreach, develop connections with younger folks and promote service opportunities. In 2006 we had a formal meeting and out of that people committed to join in."
Meanwhile, Mary Green and her husband moved to Puyallup from Idaho, and spent 10 months checking out two dozen churches before they found High Pointe in 2006.
"Even though we have been Southern Baptist for 40 years, we did not agree with the traditional stand of Southern Baptist on women in ministry," Green said. "Otherwise, we were theologically in line. Here we found a church that embraced women as directors of ministries such as spiritual growth, missions, evangelism and children."
The couple was hooked, and Green then received a call from Cunningham asking her to be the spiritual growth leader for Primetimers, the moniker given to the fledgling group. The group helps people connect with a weekly small group that can be age-specific or intergenerational. An active group is emerging, with outings include dinners together, sing-alongs, ball games and sponsoring a blood drive.
"We regularly mail a newsletter to goes out to 120 people," Cunningham said. "I feel God has allowed us to reach out to those to encourage them in something other than 'seat time.' There is opportunity in old age to bear fruit, as we can still serve rather than being served."
Many in the group are still working, and the church has found a significant resource in this sub-group. Many of the Primetimers serve in other areas of the church such as Kid Zone, hospitality and prayer time.
"We want to be an intergenerational church," Cunningham noted. "We have a lot to contribute to the worship services and the church family."
The group has a regular presence now by hosting a booth in the commons each week. Many are attracted by pictures of ministries enjoyed by the group that is showcased on a changing digital picture frame at the booth. Primetimers have now joined forces with a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group as "mentor moms." The group encourages members to bring friends to recreational outings as a means of outreach into the community.
"We are an important force that gives stability to the church," Cunningham said. "It also gives us insight to younger folks. The church leadership has been wonderful to give us resources and we now have a regular budget to work with."
While not everyone in the older age group that visits the church embraces the current style of music the church uses in worship, others truly enjoy it.
"It definitely can be a challenge for some, but we are seeing some music being introduced that is a blend of what we have known in the past," Cunningham said. "Modern music draws us more emotionally and the hymns of old give us more theology."
Many in the group are adapting to a style of church different from the ones they may have known. And they're teaching fellow High Pointe members how to age with grace.

Oregon Church Strives to Engage Community
By Cameron Crabtree

HILLSBORO, Ore.- There are times when the desire to make a spiritual difference in the lives of others runs in the family.
That's the case for Keith Harris and Brent Pound, both of whom spent the last several years on the ministry staffs of two Portland area churches with their pastor fathers. Now, the two men have set out together to start a new congregation to reach non-Christian residents in Hillsboro, Ore.
"Life Connections Church is a gathering of regular people striving to connect with each other and with God in a way that will change our lives," according to Harris, the church's lead pastor. He and Pound, the associate pastor, are working to launch the church officially Sept. 21.
To help introduce city residents to the new church, members of the core group canvassed the neighborhood around the elementary school where the church will hold weekend services and prayer-walked the area.
"Just by going through the neighborhood I could see so many people hurting," said lead pastor Keith Harris during a recent preview service. "We can see that all around."
Leaders of the new congregation aim to foster a casual, come-as-you-are environment, complete with a breakfast hub where early arrivals can pour a cup of coffee and select a snack.
Following the worship gathering, church leaders encourage attenders to participate in Life Groups, small groups where participants can discuss in-depth the lessons taught during the sermon.
During the most recent preview service, Harris encouraged participants to view Hillsboro as a place full of people with needs.
"We need to see the city as people," he said. "We usually see the city broken up into regions but we need to see the city as people. When we look out at our city we should see people."
Harris cautioned against making snap judgment about people because of external factors or differences, noting that God values all people.
"The good things we want for ourselves, we should want them for our neighbors," he urged. "When we see things that bother us, it may be God revealing that to us because he wants us to be part of changing it."
But that takes more than just words, according to Harris.
"I can talk and I can talk and I can talk, but if I don't do something it's useless," he said. "I think in the world today, people are tired of people talking about stuff. I want us to be the kind of church where people say, 'There's a church that actually does stuff'."
Becoming "fully engaged" with God and others requires the willingness to get involved in what God desires, noted Harris.
"A lot of people go throughout life without ever really stepping out of their comfort zones," he said. "God's not going to just come down and fix everything in our lives. God has chosen to work through the people of his kingdom."
Too many people, he observed, busy themselves with activities that don't have lasting effect.
"You can achieve a lot of things but doing the work of God is what ultimately matters," Harris said.

Clint Ashley Named Interim Associate Exec

VANCOUVER - Clint Ashley, former Northwest Baptist pastor and retired director of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary's Pacific Northwest Campus, has been named interim associate executive director for the Northwest Baptist Convention.
"His background and knowledge of the Northwest will be an invaluable help to us in this critical time of change," Bill Crews, NWBC executive director reported to the convention executive board.?"I am thrilled that he would agree to assist us during this important time in our history."
The post has been vacant for several months following the departure of Roy Belcher, another retired Northwest Baptist pastor who served in the capacity on an interim basis. Crews noted the importance of having someone to assist the convention as it considers major reorganization in the months ahead.
"It has become apparent to me that we need some additional help as we formulate the strategies to pursue the direction we adopted at the recent board meeting," Crews stated.?"Personally, I feel the need to have someone who knows the NWBC, is known by the NWBC and someone I feel comfortable working with in this endeavor."
Ashley, who recently relocated back to the Northwest from a pastorate in Germany, most recently chaired the convention's executive director search committee which ultimately recommended Crews for the position.
Ashley will assume the position Aug. 1 and continue in the role at least until the end of 2008.
Crews noted the role has two important areas of focus: "He will relate directly with the directors of missions, especially to help them as we prepare to move into the new structure, depending on the action of the board and NWBC.?He will also work with me in drafting the documents needed to flesh out the suggested new structure and have that information ready to be shared with the convention in advance of our meeting in November."
Besides serving in the Northwest, Ashley served as a missionary in South America, where he taught at a seminary, and in Canada, where he served as president of a seminary.