God is Working in the Pacific Northwest

by Dean Walker, Area Rep for the Pacific Northwest

Thank you for your prayers and support, we are blessed to have such wonderful and encouraging fellowship caring for us as we seek God’s heart for the Pacific Northwest. There have been some exciting events taking place since my last report. I will focus on what God is doing in our churches in the greater Spokane area in this issue.

We have experienced a wonderful infilling of the Holy Spirit as we have learned and begun practicing Biblical Peacemaking. Garfield Christian Fellowship (GCF) in Garfield, Washington; Plymouth Congregational Church (PCC) in Spokane, Washington; and Community Congregational Church (CCC) in Thompson Falls, Montana have begun the process of Church Development. We began our journey with a combined Peacemaking seminar, and since have had a follow-up seminar at GCF and CCC. We have seen how challenging and rewarding peacemaking is as we have taken to heart Jesus words, God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9 NLT) God has shown us the fruits of peacemaking at GCF as we have experienced practical church discipline. Through the heart of peacemaking the involved parties’ relationships have been fully restored. This process took dedication and work, and the end result was absolutely beautiful. Praise God through whom all blessings flow!

All three churches have completed the Vista Assessment and have discovered their respective areas of weaknesses and strengths. We will be holding our first Hub (Infusion) meeting May 23 and 24 at PCC. One side note: Plymouth Congregational Church has been so wonderful and gracious since they joined the CCCC family. They are providing us a place to have all our combined Church Development meetings, hubs, and conferences. We are so excited to have them join us in the work God is doing in the greater Spokane area and in the PNW. We are looking forward to a challenging and encouraging time as John Kimball and Rich Cook come and bring more teaching and understanding of the Church Development process our  Conference provides. We are grateful for all your prayers as we continue to seek God’s heart for all three churches.

The next exciting news is that God has seen fit to provide a PNW Regional Conference June 20–21, 2014. We are very excited to have the opportunity to provide a conference in Spokane, at the Plymouth Congregational Church. Our theme for the conference is “Our Identity in Christ” and the Scripture is: Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (NLT)

God is blessing us with CCCC guest speakers — Conference Minister Ron Hamilton and Ed Rinehart from the Church Development Team. The theme came to us while attending the Family Conference last summer, coming to a greater realization that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is one of power, might, and glorification of our Heavenly Father. How exciting it would be for Kingdom work if we starting walking in our Christian faith as if we are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. (1 Peter 2:5).

We are encouraged as we continue to build relationships and live life together. We have never been more blessed, as the CCCC has been a wonderful support for all of us here in the PNW, and around the Conference.

We ask for your continued prayers and want you to know we are praying for you continually. May you have the power, through the infilling of the Holy Spirit, to know the great and wonderful depths of our heavenly Father’s love (agape).

Loving God, loving others, and making disciples along the way. Lots of hugs to you all from the Pacific Northwest.