ComfortZone

I go to church with my family every Sunday in a large his­toric brick build­ing in the center of the older part of Newberg.

I know that “the church” is really the people, and that we would be the church even if we met in a school gym­na­sium or a coffee shop, but when I think of my church, I think of this build­ing. It has been a large part of my life and I am extremely thank­ful for it.

Here are some mem­o­ries and impor­tant events that have hap­pened to me at New­berg Friends Church:

• In Junior High I sang in the youth choir led by Dennis Hagen. We got to wear those awe­some purple choir robes!
• In the early sev­en­ties I remem­ber the older high school kids “rebelling against the estab­lish­ment” by daring to wear Levis to church. I remem­ber won­der­ing what was going to happen to them…
• I loved to sit with my bud­dies in the back row of the bal­cony. My dad often sang in the choir, and when his eye caught mine—that was enough for me to start paying attention!
• I knelt at the alter as a young high schooler during some spe­cial evening meet­ings, respond­ing to God’s voice. I was already a “believer,” but I made an impor­tant com­mit­ment to Christ there.
• Also as a high schooler, our youth group was in charge of a ser­vice one Sunday, and believe it or not, I preached. Really! My sermon was from John 3—Jesus’ con­ver­sa­tion with Nicode­mus on being “born again.” (It was a pretty short mes­sage!  )
• I lis­tened to my pas­tors’ ser­mons through the years, Fred Lit­tle­field, Richard Foster, Ron Wood­ward, Dick Sartwell, Gregg Koskela and many others. They preached, taught, warned, encour­aged, reminded, guided, and over­all just pointed me to Jesus.
• I have sat in silent open wor­ship well over 1500 times there, and gazed at the beams, the stain glass win­dows, and the wood­work, as I lis­tened to Christ… or just sat… and waited.
• Deanne and I said our vows to each other there on March 22, 1986, in a cer­e­mony that brought together many friends and family. My grand­fa­ther, Oscar Brown, and Deanne’s pastor from Hills­boro friends, Earl Per­isho, officiated.
• Deanne and I had each of our kids ded­i­cated to God pub­licly there.

I often wonder how those early Friends pulled it off over 115 years ago. How did they decide where to build and when to build? How much to spend? What it would look like and how big it would be? They cer­tainly had a vision for the future.

I have a great love for NFC, and am excited about what God is doing among us, the people that meet there these days.

Here is a list of things I am thank­ful for today:

• We have an incred­i­bly gifted, com­mit­ted and caring staff
• We have many won­der­ful people from a wide vari­ety of back­grounds and places
• We have all ages well represented—babies, chil­dren, youth, young adults, young fam­i­lies, middle-​agers, and retired people
• Our focus is on fol­low­ing Christ. We are His friends.

Thank God for NFC!