CHURCH LEADERS:  What’s the Prize for Submitting Your 2021 Ministry Information Form FIRST?
Maybe the coveted notoriety of being mentioned in next week’s memo!  And if that’s not enough, maybe you will have the satisfaction of knowing you have made my job as area missionary a lot easier this week.  The Church Ministry Information Form located here, is my way of keeping us all up to date on the contact information for InFaith: Northwest Oregon fellowship churches and their members.  I ask that one representative from each fellowship church complete the form.  In addition to keeping my address book current,  the form gives me some data to help show the InFaith home office the scope of our work here on the mission field.  This morning a pastor asked me if this information is being used by InFaith to evaluate individual ministries.  The short answer is: NO.  I use the attendance numbers and the names of the churches in my annual report (due February 15), and then I occasionally use the data to look for trends in the ministry in this area.  I don’t get extra money, or even “brownie points” for reporting bigger numbers.  So please give me your best estimates as soon as you can, and call me if you need clarification.  To make things simpler this year, I have posted only one form.  To fill it out by hand: please print a copy (found here), fill it in, then mail or email it to me.  My contact info is always at the end of this memo.  To fill it out on computer: download or copy the form here .  (It works best with Microsoft Word) Then I believe you can just “tab” from space to space on the form and type in the data, save it under whatever name you want and attach it to an email to me.  I could get fancier with a full-online process that automatically tabulates the data for me…but last year that process only confused people!  And if I didn’t put the link in enough places in this paragraph, you can also just click on the picture of the form.   Thanks for your help. 😊

Summer Ministry Intern Looking for a Mentor

InFaith missionary Jim Webb is praying we can help one of his students find a great summer ministry internship this year.  Here is what Jim shared with me today – “I have a wonderful young woman who is passionate about Jesus and serving Jesus.  She is graduating this year and plans to attend Ecola in the fall and then head out with YWAM after that.  She wants to explore being an intern with InFaith, both to learn more about being a missionary, planning outreaches and ministries, leading teams, etc.  So, I need to know if there are InFaith connected churches in that area and in particular a pastor's wife or female InFaith missionary she can work with during this internship?”  This is a great opportunity to mentor someone in the pursuit of the Lord’s calling.  I don’t know much more except that Jim Webb has had a great deal of success with ministry interns in the past.  If you have any interest in working with an intern this summer, give me a call and we can discover together whether this opportunity is the right fit.    

Prayer Update: Pastor Dan Wentworth

Pastor Dan is doing much better and was scheduled to be transferred last week to the Marquis rehabilitation facility in Newberg – not far from his home in Dundee.  As you pray for Dan’s recovery, please also pray for elders Victor Madsen and John Abraham who are keeping ministry going at Mountain Home Community Church in Dan’s absence. (And thanks to Robert Thomas for helping Dan get in to the rehab near Dan’s home.  That was a blessing!)

Recruitment Update: Garfield Community Church

Garfield Community Church has extended the application deadline for their open pastoral position until January 29th.  That gives an extra four days to get in those last minute applications.  For information, contact David Alllinger, thellingers2@msn.com or check out the listing on Western Seminary’s placement page. 

And these words of the apostle Paul to Timothy seem to be especially applicable to American Christians this week: First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. – 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Tom Hiscox, NW Oregon Area Missionary thiscox@infaith.org