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The RockFebruary/March/April 309 Roosevelt Rd Pella, IA 50219

Spring Issue 2016

TWO THINGS I WANT TO MENTIONpastor stevepg. 2

Federated is a tender-hearted church committed to reaching our world near and far with the Gospel.

We care more about where you’re going than where you’ve been.

FPUjeremy pacepg. 3

MADE WITH LOVElindsey o’dellpg. 6

AUTHOR OF LIFEpg. 4

THE ABANDONED HOUSEmatthew bellpg. 5

EVENTSpg. 7

CONNECTION GROUPS sean panknenpg. 2

SAVE THE DATEpg. 6

Connections Groups by Sean Panknen

Federated has been blessed with growth! However, with expansion comes the difficult challenge of maintaining quality relationships and doing so in a manner that generates a sense of community. As we become bigger, we must also become smaller.

In February, we kicked off a ministry known as Connection Groups. The purpose of the ministry is to foster and develop connections with the intent of growing personal and spiritual relationships while expanding the Federated Fellowship community. Connection Groups are a great way to care for people within our church and encourage deeper relationships.

Connection Groups are not only a great place for building relationships, but also for spiritual growth. Our belief is that this ministry will enable people to take what is heard and taught on a Sunday morning and apply it to how we live, through accountability and prayer within the groups. Groups will have the option to dig into studies and interact, fostering a deeper understanding.

Our hope is that you have learned, from hearing and reading about Connection Groups, that the value of connections is really two-fold. The ministry will provide opportunities to learn and grow as a Christian while supporting and loving one another as we live life together in our community.

If you are interested in joining a Connection Group and have not signed up, please contact the church office.

Hello everyone,

There are two things I would like to mention in this newsletter.

First, I want to thank everyone who signed up to help Lincoln School move. It went great and the teachers really appreciated our help. I apologize for the evening shifts not getting an opportunity to move boxes. The first shift hit the ground running, worked very hard and got everything moved. Again, thanks for signing up and being willing to serve.

The second thing I want to mention is the Connection Groups that many of you signed up for. As our church grows we must get smaller at the same time. By that, I mean by getting involved in connection groups or Bible studies. I think you will enjoy getting to know other people in our church and doing stuff together. If you have not

Two Things I Want to Mention by Pastor Steve

signed up there is still time to get involved in a Connection Group.

Again, I appreciate all the work you do in the church and for the church.

Thank you,

-Steve

Thank You

For everythings you do!

The Impact of Financial Peace by Jeremy Pace

Financial Peace University is a 9-week class in which the ‘students’ go through lessons from Dave Ramsey on how to manage money and pay off debt. Currently, 61 people signed up and are going through this 9-week class. The class is a wide variety of individuals all in different parts of their lives, for example entrepreneurs, farmers, stay at home mothers, families, couples, singles, engineers, people entering the workforce, and those close to retirement. The class also covers a wide variety of subjects: budgeting, paying off debt, purchases, insurance, retirement, college funding, real estate, and giving! The class starts by giving people an outline (Dave call’s them the baby steps).

Here are some comments from the class members:

The class is great! I think Dave Ramsey does a fantastic job and I really enjoy the biblical approach he has in all his sessions. I do have more financial peace because the class has taught me to know where my money is going, and that way I can see where I am overspending and make adjustments. The hardest part of the class is not applying Dave’s principles, but when looking at something in the store thinking, “what would Dave think?” and not buying something I want because either it doesn’t make sense for the time being or I truly don’t need it and my money can better be used elsewhere.

Although there is no dramatic change in my debt level in this short of time (it took a while to accumulate the debt so it will take a bit to get out) I have paid off two or three smaller bills and will now apply more to the next bill. The class has given me clear direction on where to start and how to proceed. It is presented in such a way (baby steps) that one does not get overwhelmed with how to get started and how to stay on track. Dave has a good sense of humor and is very open and honest about the spot he used to be in. It helps to hear the stories of others as it gives hope.

What an awesome opportunity to get some Godly perspective on my wife and my finances. It has helped us to create a budget to pay off debt and overall increased our communication on our finances, an area we have struggled in the past. I have already, and will continue to strongly encourage others to go through this class.

It’s been a real blessing to take part in FPU from a leadership role. I’ve found a lot of joy watching the conversations take place between couples and among the small group members. The participants have sunk their teeth into the material with zeal and fortitude. A few weeks ago a couple came to class and the small group discussion after missing a couple weeks. The wife apologized to the group for their absence and shared that they had been dealing with a family emergency. She admitted they were a bit behind on their “homework” but they were looking forward to getting caught up. After small group discussion, another woman came to her and said “I just want you to know a couple years ago I went through the exact same thing. It’s hard, I know, but if you ever want to have coffee and talk about it or the FPU content you are getting caught up on let me know. I would be more than happy to meet with you and talk.” The two woman had no prior connection but they exchanged phone numbers. I was blown away by the way I saw the hands and feet of Jesus extended that night and I’ll never forget that brief, but heartfelt exchange.

This outline is as follows:

1. $1,000 in an emergency fund2. Pay off all debt with the debt snowball3. 3 to 6 months expenses in savings4. Invest 15% of income into Roth IRA’s and pre-tax retirement plans5. College funding6. Pay off your home early7. Build wealth and give!

Within our class we have $840,123.99 in non-mortgage debt, this could be credit cards, student loans, medical bills, etc. There are 59 credit cards open and accounted for within our group. Our class also has collectively $248,385.44 in available cash. We will take another ‘financial snapshot’ coming up in a few weeks, but these numbers show what all Americans are facing right now and how a class like Financial Peace University is needed and helpful. I’m excited to see what the 9-week turn around brings for each of our class members and how the tools have helped put them on track to financial peace.

Seated at the great desk, the Author opens the large book. It has no words. It has no words because no words exist. No words exist because no words are needed. There are no ears to hear them, no eyes to read them. The Author is alone.

And so he takes the great pen and begins to write. Like an artist gathers his colors and a woodcarver his tools, the Author assembles his words.There are three. Three single words. Out of these three will pour a million thoughts. But on these three words, the story will suspend.

He takes his quill and spells the first. T-i-m-e.

Time did not exist until he wrote it. He, himself, is timeless, but his story would be encased in time. The story would have a first rising of the sun, a first shifting of the sand. A beginning . . . and an end. A final chapter. He knows it before he writes it.

Time. A footspan on eternity’s trail.Slowly, tenderly, the Author writes the second word. A name.

A-d-a-m.

As he writes, he sees him, the first Adam. Then he sees all the others.

The Author of Life-The God who Dreamed

In a thousand eras in a thousand lands, the Author sees them. Each Adam. Each child. Instantly loved. Permanently loved. To each he assigns a time. To each he appoints a place. No accidents.

No coincidences. Just design.

The Author makes a promise to these unborn: In my image, I will make you. You will be like me. You will laugh. You will create. You will never die. And you will write.

They must. For each life is a book, not to be read, but rather a story to be written. The Author starts each life story, but each life will write his or her own ending.

What a dangerous liberty. How much safer it would have been to finish the story for each Adam. To script every option. It would have been simpler. It would have been safer. But it would not have been love. Love is only love if chosen.

So the Author decides to give each child a pen. “Write carefully,” he whispers.

Lovingly, deliberately, he writes the third word, already feeling the pain. E-m-m-a-n-u-e-l.

The greatest mind in the universe imagined time. The truest judge granted Adam a choice. But it was love that gave Emmanuel, God with us.

The Author would enter his own story.The Word would become flesh. He, too, would be born. He, too, would be human. He, too, would have feet and hands. He, too, would have tears and trials.

And most importantly, he, too, would have a choice. Emmanuel would stand at the crossroads of life and death and make a choice.

The Author knows well the weight of that decision. He pauses as he writes the page of his own pain. He could stop. Even the Author has a choice. But how can a Creator not create? How can a Writer not write? And how can Love not love? So he chooses life, though it means death, with hope that his children will do the same.

And so the Author of Life completes the story. He drives the spike in the flesh and rolls the stone over the grave. Knowing the choice he will make, knowing the choice all Adams will make, he pens, “The End,” then closes the book and proclaims the beginning.

“Let there be light!”

The passages below are taken from Max Lucado’s book “A Gentle Thunder,” published in 1995

The Abandoned House

The knock at the door echoed through the emptiness.My mouth went dry, my eyes dampened with emotion.Who would want this abandoned old house?

I walked down the dust covered stairs andafter a moment’s hesitation and a couple of pullsthe creaky old door rattled open.

He said “tell me about the place”.

We entered the empty family room.“This is where family loved and laughter rang out,where sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews,and parents and children would reconnect,where memories flew about like uncaged, beautiful birdssinging refreshing songs of blessing,keeping family bonds alive. A sanctuary. Now it is just an empty cage, the dirty old newsprint harkening back to days gone by.”

As we stepped into the kitchen I remembered the smells,the sweet fragrance of love that would permeate the entire house, each clanging pan or dropped dish calling out “I love you”;the light accompaniment of a song, unnoticed by the singer,saying to my heart ‘joy, joy, my life is full of joy’. He opened an old cookbook he found on a shelf,stirring up little stars of dust that took turns glowing as they meandereddownward through a shaft of light.Each recipe had been altered, an ingredient removedby an ugly black mark where “love” once had been.No wonder life had lost its taste.

We entered a room with an old cedar chest, open and empty, the lock broken with apparent violence, the hinges barely hanging on.He gazed at the chest and then at me with questioning, sad eyes.I obliged his unspoken request.“This simple box was a keeper of dreams,of innocence and trust, of hope and joy. Promises of ‘forever’ and the anticipation of tomorrowwere safely stored here to be shared for a lifetime, to bring blessing. These things have been stolen, lost forever”.

An old rusty box spring was in the next room.No words were spoken.He knew. I had lost my best friend.

We completed the tour.

I could tell he loved the old house but I couldn’t see why.The broken windows.The damage and decay.The mildew smell of despair hanging in each room.Why would anyone want this place?So many times I had been tempted to burn it to the ground myself.

How could he see value?

He said “I see beauty.I see hope.I see beyond the dirt and brokenness.I see strength, and blessing, and a sanctuary.I see a foundation that cannot be moved, that I built.I see joy.

I have plans for this house,plans to prosper and not to harm,plans for a hope and a future.

I am the builder and this house, you, will be restored.You will be mine forever.”

by Matthew Bell

Copyright © 2015 Matthew L. Bell

Made With Love by Lindsey O’Dell

It all started a few years ago when I stayed at home taking care of my first born son. I wanted to learn how to do and make things in my spare time. I started to crochet, garden, make scrapbooks, and sew. Then came Pinterest, and with it, many cool ideas and crafts to make. A friend and I had “Pinterest Days,” where we put ideas/crafts together. From that experience, I found that I enjoyed creating things for other people.

I had “Made With Love” written in a notebook dated back to April 2015. I wrote down ideas about things that can be made for each occasion: wedding, housewarming, moving, babies, get well, and deaths. I also had written down the things I had made thus far. Those ideas stayed in the notebook until the beginning of August. That was when the first women’s Bible study I had participated in at FFC was ending. The group wanted to see something good

happen as a result of the study. I decided to give it a shot! I asked a couple people and was pointed in the right direction to get started.

Made With Love so far has created gifts to help welcome newborn babies and a few other events within the church. Through this ministry, we would like to see God move in individuals in a way only He can. Our purpose is to show people inside and out God’s love and

Celebration Day 2016 Save the date!

The date has been set for our 2016 Celebration of Family & Friends! So mark your calendars for Sunday, June 12!

As in years past, the day will begin with our worship service at 10am followed by food, games, and activities. This year the event will go until 2pm in order to fit in more fun!

Returning favorites:• Photo Booth• Rock Wall• Dunk Tank• Archery

New activities:• Indoor Laser Tag• Inflatable Obstacle Course• New Backyard Games

We look forward to celebrating our family & friendships with you on June 12!

to show that FFC is a place that cares more about where you are going than where you have been.

This ministry is still new and our goal is to have a few gifts ready for every occasion. So far, workshops have been held once a month at FFC. Projects include things such as sewing, painting, making cards, and overall crafting. There is always room to grow and we could use more help and ideas.

Upcoming Events

Spring Issue 2016

The Rock