Dear Friends,

By now you have probably seen the pictures of the devastation from the tornado that hit Joplin. I was raised in Joplin and personally know of numerous families who have lost everything. One hundred and twenty people are confirmed dead, with the tornado leaving a swath of devastation one-half mile wide and six miles long, with winds of 200 mph. The City Manager of Joplin says that one-third of the city has been destroyed.

How can you help?

Pray: For those who have suffered the loss of family and friends, had their home/business destroyed, may temporarily lose their job, and for the relief workers who are on site. If you have family or friends who are in need of special prayer, submit your prayer request, and we will pray for those needs at the Prayer Meeting on Wednesday evening.

Give: Money. At the bottom of this email is a link that will allow you to give money that will be used to purchase the supplies necessary for relief and reconstruction, as well as, to assist families who are in need.

Go: As soon as Emergency Management officials give us the go ahead, we will be sending cleanup and construction teams to the Joplin area.

https://donate.convoyofhope.org/sslpage.aspx

Bryan & CaRanda Thiessen

To help with the expenses of our Teen Bible Quiz families that are traveling to the National Bible Quiz Finals in Dallas in July, we’re creating Journey Church t-shirts to sell! They’re $20 each and all proceeds above the actual cost of the materials and printing will be used for the travel expenses of the four familes making the trip. We have a sign-up form in the church lobby, or you can email us if you’re interested in purchasing one (or two or ten). The photos above are a good example of what they’ll look like. We have men’s crew, women’s scoop, and youth styles. “Yellow Haze” is the color, with black lettering.

This may be the start of an annual tradition, with a new design and color each year, so make sure you get the first edition now to start your collection!

Designed by Dana!

This past weekend our Teen Bible Quiz (TBQ) team took third place (out of 13 great teams) in the Northeast TBQ Regionals in Binghamton, NY! As such, our team qualified for the TBQ Nationals which will take place in early July in Dallas, TX. Dana Warnock and Colton Bononi each placed in the top ten of individual scoring!

Congratulations team!

Beginning this Sunday, May 1, and for the whole month of May, Pastor Bryan will be teaching a Basics class for new Christians from 9:30 am to 10:30 am. If you’re a new believer or have recently returned to the Church, this is a great opportunity to grow and be discipled. Child care will be provided as needed.

And on Sunday morning, May 15, we’ll be having a baptismal service for new Christians and for “old” Christians that haven’t yet taken this important step in their journey. Contact Pastor Bryan if you’d like to be baptized. Jesus commanded us to “make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” So we are!

I’m reading Francis Chan’s 2009 book Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. It’s an excellent book about why the Holy Spirit exists. I highly recommend the book, and since I can’t capture it all in a simple blog post, I’d like to quote a few things that he says in chapter 6, titled ”Forget About His Will for Your Life!” My hope is that it might get you interested in reading the entire book:

“God wants us to listen to His Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day, as difficult and stretching moments arise, and in the midst of the mundane. My hope is that instead of searching for “God’s will for my life,” each of us would learn to seek hard after “the Spirit’s leading in my life today.”

“I think dwelling on God’s plan for the future often excuses us from faithful and sacrificial living now. It tends to create a safe zone of sorts, where we can sit about and have “spiritual” conversations about what God “might” have planned for our lives. Thinking, questioning, and talking can take the place of letting the Spirit affect our immediate actions in radical ways. God wants to see His children stake everything on His power and presence in their lives.”

“You don’t need the Holy Spirit if you are merely seeking to live a semi-moral life and attend church regularly. You can find people of all sorts of people in many religions doing that quite nicely without Him. You only need the Holy Spirit’s guidance if you truly want to follow the Way of Jesus Christ.”

Join us for a Palm Sunday service Sunday April 17 at 10:45 am. Pastor Bryan will be talking about Jesus’ final week with His disciples. We’ll also be serving communion.

We’ll also be having a Good Friday service on Friday April 22 from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

And our “Resurrection Day” service will be Sunday April 24 at 10:45 am.

This past Sunday was Pastor Bryan’s first one as our pastor. Bryan and CaRanda arrived from Missouri last Wednesday night and are temporarily staying in the Robinson Township area while they look for a house. They’ve already purchased their first Terrible Towel and have opted to skip the formal language courses and to learn Pittsburghese through total immersion. 

Welcome to Pittsburgh n’at, Bryan and CaRanda! Yinz ‘r in for a rill treat! Happy haus huntin’.

Bryan Thiessen (pronounced “tee-son”) was most recently on staff as the associate and youth pastor at Kingsport First Assembly of God in Kingsport, Tennessee. Prior to that, he was the associate and youth pastor at Edina Assembly of God in Edina, Missouri. He is originally from Missouri, and CaRanda is originally from Arkansas. They both have degrees from Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Texas, where they met. He is ordained with the Assemblies of God and is currently working on his Masters of Divinity degree. Bryan loves to teach God’s Word. He has had a calling on his life to be a pastor from the time he was a boy, and it’s obvious to us that God has prepared him for it.

Welcome Bryan and CaRanda!