Kids say funny stuff

I really like being with our youth during the youth sermon. They always surprise me and say wise and funny things. What a blessing to have youth that worship God- and that are listening to the Holy Spirit's guidance at such a young age.

I got to see some of our youth play basketball this week. Of course I go to to a lot high school games, but I haven't really been to many of our youth league games. This last Saturday our family got to watch a combination of a games- it was pretty cool. I was really impressed that even in third grade the kids are playing on the full-length full court and a regulation 10 foot rim. It was a lot of fun to see kids and parents having a good time. I have to say we did sit next to some parents from the opposing team during one of the games that weren't having a good time. Everything was the ref's fault to them- using inappropriate words they described crudely how the officiating wasn't good enough, and how we were evil and they were good- and this is how they act when they win, I would hate to see what they say when they lose. Anyways, it reminded me that in life sometimes we find it difficult to look at life from another's perspective. The much easier, and less satisfying way, is to label a person without ever trying to understand their perspective. No one team is always right and the other team always wrong- though when we are unreflective and thoughtless we live life that way.
Anyways- besides the crude language and complaining of a few fans, the games were really fun. Hats off to our church youth who played. I was impressed. Keep up the good work.

Worship on Sunday was good- as usual. I have some exciting news that I can't yet share publicly- but hope to soon. I guess that's what you call a teaser- so you'll have to come back to find out more.
On another note- we will be introducing 8 "new" members to the congregation next Sunday. We are excited that quite a good sized batch has decided to commit to membership at the same time. We are, of course, always open to new members joining and people beginning relationships with Jesus as well as seeking Christian baptism.
There were 83 in worship Sunday morning. There were 20 youth and 7 parents Sunday night (not counting Danny and Zoe).
in Christ, pastor Corey

Youth-Parent Ministry a blast!

I had fun tonight at our youth/parent ministry. Well- it was hard not to have fun- I mean I was riding high after the Seahawks won their way into the Super bowl. But, more than that we had 18 youth there and 8 parents- we had a fun night. We played foosball, a card game called "mow" or something like that. We also watched a nooma video called "Rain." It is an awesome video about how much God loves us. The parents also watched a nooma video called "Flame." It is a video about relationships.
Our parents are great. They do a wonderful job pitching in and taking care of all the hard work. They allow me to be with the youth and do the teaching.
Our youth like to have fun, but they also know Jesus is their rock. Our scripture for the evening was Matt 7:24-29- Check it out.

Well earlier today we had Sunday morning worship. It was also a good time. We sang "Fishers of Men" which is old time fav of mine. Children's sermon we talked about what it means to repent- and how that relates to listening to your parents.
Our "Give and Take"= was on forgiveness- again. We read from Matthew 6- the Lord's Prayer. I was convicted this week, again, that in order to be a person that really practices forgiveness and asks for forgiveness from others, we must ask God for help. I am convinced that's why Jesus put forgiveness in the Lord's prayer- because he knew we need help in this area.
Anyways- we had good worship- and there were about 82 of us there.
We followed up worship with our annual soup and bread dinner. Excellent soup. Wonderful bread. We followed up the meal with our annual ministry/business meeting. It was full of good news- and it was brief. We thanked our devoted board members who are ending their service, Casey and Bill- thanks so much.
It was kind of an eventful sunday.
Go hawks.
Pastor Corey

Learning Leadership

this is a picture of a pastor's group I meet with in Spokane once a month.
The group is called a Learning Leadership Community.
We each read a book every month, in between meetings, and come and discuss it at the meeting. We also share ministry challenges, successes and ideas. We pray for one another and our families and churches. We also spend some time in worship.
Clint from Oak Harbor is our fearless leader.

It is important for me to keep learning- I want to stay fresh and up to date for the church's sake. This group really helps me a lot. The third back of the head on the right is a pastor named Bill. Good guy. He was also once a pastor in Palouse.

Pastor Corey is strange...

Hello. For those of you in worship Sunday- I thank you for tolerating my attempt at rapping scripture. I appreciate your patience.
For those who weren't there- keep your eyes open for me [not] getting a recording contract very soon.
Anyways we started worship with a call to worship from one of my favorite psalms, #139. We talked about this psalm in the children's sermon- how God can see us wherever we go, even on our really bad days.
People who were there had an opportunity to make commitments following the sermon- commitments like: accepting Jesus, being baptized, being confirmed in your baptism, seeking church membership, and making commitments to practice forgiveness, faith sharing, service to others and. We had a great response. Several folks are seeking membership in our local church. We have a couple that would like to do confirmation. One seeking baptism this Sunday!
It is exciting to see God work.
I really don't know what's happening- I think God is starting to call people back to church. Not just in our town, but I am hearing things all over the place. I know there has been lots of talk in recent years about small churches dying out and christianity declining in the US- well that talk is soon to be yesterday's news, if it isn't already.
I am running into a lot of people who WANT to be back in relationship with God- people who WANT to be back in a worshiping community.
Anyways- Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
There were 81 of us in worship this Sunday.
Pastor Corey
PS Email me thelaugers@yahoo.com if you want a CD recording of today's service.

Pictures (and much more) from Worship!

Hi there!

I had a little extra fun in church today. While illustrating a point about how moments in time have potential to last for eternity- I took a picture to capture the congregation. You'll have to visit my sermon notes for the whole sermon if you weren't there (the link is on the right hand side of this page). Or you can request a CD of the service- we are recording the worship service on to CD now. Just send me a comment, or email me: thelaugers@yahoo.com if you want a CD. Maybe someday we will figure out how to get the service recordings online. Would you out of town/out of country folks like that? Let me know. Maybe someone knows a way of doing that for free, I can't believe this blog is free- so who knows.
My apologies to the far left and far right sides of the congregation- my camera can only handle the middle of the road! This is a great picture for people to see what I see every week- including that microphone.
The top picture is of the younger youth that came down for the children's sermon- Holly is on the left, Lyssa is in the center and Tyler is on the right. Good looking kids, with great smiles! We talked about baptism and what it means.
This Sunday was Baptism of Our Lord Sunday- so there was a lot of baptism talk. There was an invitation to receive baptism- no takers yet, but I am going to ask next Sunday too. I also encouraged the congregation to remember and reclaim their baptisms.
My sermon started out kind of funny. I went up to the pulpit and realized I had no sermon notes. I had taken extra care to review them one last time at my desk in the office- and there they sat. Thank you to Betty for suggesting we sing, as I searched for the notes. Thanks to the congregation for having a sense of humor. They sang the "Alleluia" chorus- hallelujah indeed- I found my notes.
Well there about 78 of us in worship- praise God. It was good to have Tyler (USMC) and family with us before he heads back to San Diego for more training. What a good family.
I musn't (musn't is fun to type and say) forget the wonderful donuts that we had during fellowship time- I only had one- your prayers for my self control are beginning to be answered.
The adult Sunday school finished their series on Paul's Journeys- we are beginning something new next week.
Have a blessed week- and please remember that God loves you!
Pastor Corey

The First Day of the Year

Is it 2006 already? My goodness.
Well, Tina, the kids and I had a good week between Christmas and New Years. We were able to spend some time with friends and family. We were also able to watch our Gar-Pal Basketball teams play in a tournament in Reardan.
Staying a few days in Spokane gave us a chance to have a few visits with Robert, our friend who is fighting sarcoma (cancer). Robert took time out of his schedule to woop me in Playstation2, NBA basketball. His spirits are picking up and we are praying and hoping that he will get to spend some time at home soon- and get a break from the hospital.

Well today was my first day as the full-time (and fully compensated) pastor of Palouse Federated Church. It is an exciting honor to have this calling- to this community. Things are humming right along.
I am starting a new Bible study for women on Wednesday's at 1pm- they had been reading the Purpose Driven Life. We are going to do a summary overview of the whole Bible in 6-8 weeks. Then we will weekly be studying the scriptures in depth that we use in worship on that given Sunday.
We are also starting baptism and confirmation classes for any and all that would either like to be baptized or confirmed. If you have questions please contact me.
Adult Sunday School will be starting a new series as soon as we finish our video series on the journeys of Paul- we should finish next Sunday.

Worship today was fun and celebratory. It was our Lord's Supper Sunday- always a blessing. I was expecting a low turnout, being that it was New Year's Day- but we had 65 blessed worshipers in attendance. So much for my expectations.
Thanks for reading the blog. If you do read it- drop me a comment- I really have no idea if anybody reads this blog.
Peace,
Pastor Corey