September 2005 Editor: Robin Wagganer

I Got Coffee at Dunkin Donuts Today!

Our prayer thoughts are filled with sympathy and hope for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. For those who wish to contribute toward assistance and want to do so through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries you can find all the information by going to the www.NCM.org and go to the section on "news."

- Rev. John Calhoun

Welcome New Pastors!

Please join The Bridge in welcoming our newest ministerial families:

Jerry & Ruth Patton - Alameda

Richard & Cheryl Gatlin - Fortuna

Joe & Margie Shreffler - Fremont Central

Ken & Donna Rowley - Napa

Rev. Jerry & Ruth Patton, Alameda

SSM Update

by Rev. Tim King, Salinas

Weekly Emphases & Activities

September 25 Preparation Sunday

October 2 Bless the Babies

October 9 Promote the Preschoolers

October 16 Cherish the Children

October 23 Treasure the Teens

October 30 Focus on Families

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

As I'm sure you are aware, this is a critical time in history for reaching out to children and youth. Demographically, more than one-third of the world's population is children and youth. Statistics show the prime age to win a child to Christ is the "4/14 window" - the ages between 4 and 14. However, the number of young adults who profess to be Christian is decreasing markedly. Pluralism and postmodern thought are influencing many young families today.

Growing out of a mutual concern for children and youth, Children's Ministries, Nazarene Youth International, and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries have partnered in a Decadal Emphasis on Children and Youth - "Connecting a New Generation," an emphasis that will run until January 2012.

The selected theme for the 2nd 2005 Sunday School emphasis is Connecting a New Generation 2005: A Sunday School Emphasis for the Local Church.

This website is intended to help you plan for this emphasis, which has been designed to help refocus attention on the 2002-2012 decadal emphasis.

As always, thank you for the valuable role that you play in the mission of the Sunday School! Your Sunday School Ministries staff exists to serve you. Please let us know how we can assist you in your ministries!

David W. Graves

Director, Sunday School Ministries

I Got coffee at Dunkin Donuts Today!

by Rev. Kristy Winfield, Walnut Creek

Greetings from Korea!

I arrived here safely on Tuesday night (but that early Tuesday morning for most of you). I was put into a very nice one bedroom apartment and it was quite sparce but later I found out I will be moving to the building where all the other Americans live in a nicely furnished studio apartment like I had anticipated. So I am in exile for the moment. This is actually a good thing in some ways. The apartment I am in has central air and that is a huge, massive blessing. It is hot and humid here. Hotter and more humid than a bad day in KC. I think that I won't see the sky or the sun until the beginning of September. I highly anticipate it.

So yesterday was my first day. It was big fun. I changed money, was given a tour of my neighborhood, and took a bus to lunch.

And today has been fun so far. I am the first one up. Yeah, I am a morning person here in Korea (just because of jet lag, but I hope it holds). And so I ventured out on my own today. I was in search of coffee. There is a little coffee place on the first floor of my building but it was not open at 7am. Ok, so this is weird to me. Not open at 7am. Isn't morning when we want to drink coffee. What the heck. So anyway that meant I had to venture out further than my building. I went out to find the grocery store too. I need food. So along the way I found the Dunkin Donuts. And it was open. Halleluja! And I got a small coffee. And I used no Korean because I know no Korean yet. Except I thanked her in Korean, thats easy.

So this is what I have learned so far. Don't panic until you have had a good nights rest. Koreans don't appear to be morning people yet. And unlike my other adventures into the world this time I am so much more comfortable with being on my own and taking care of myself.

Thanks for reading my rambling. Please write if you want. Or if you just want to read when I write that is okay too. And if you don't want to recieve these, feel free to ask me to take you off my list.

Here is my contact information:

Kristine Winfield

c/o Korea Nazarene University

456 Ssang-yong Dong

Chonan City

ChoongNam 330-718

Republic of Korea

Check out my space at http://myspace.com (search for me by my name!)

Coming in October...

NMI Update

by Rev. John Wilcox, Santa Cruz

Now As Much As Ever: Your Alabaster Offering is Important!

The Alabaster offering taken in September and February provides monies for property and buildings around the world. It shows the folks in a community that the Church of the Nazarene is here to stay when a permanent building is erected. Eighty percent of the money given is used in world mission areas and twenty percent goes to the multicultural churches in the United States and Canada. Almost all of the Work and Witness projects started with the purchase of land with Alabaster funds. This offering goes to build churches, schools, medical facilities and homes for our missionaries and national workers.

Since 1949 through 2004, 7,018 buildings have been built or land bought with Nazarene Alabaster Offerings. Here is the breakdown:

Churches and Chapels: 3,166

Bible Schools and School Buildings: 335

Mission and District Centers: 295

Missionary Homes: 35

National Workers Homes: 963

Land: 1,270

Miscellaneous: 626

Do Not Forget the 90th Anniversary Project!

Why is it so important to give to this project?

* God is calling men and women to full-time ministry in large numbers on the mission field.

* With books to education them along with hands-on experience these men and women can be properly prepared for ministry in their own language.

* Pastors need to have their own library to equip them for ordination, to develop sermons, and to prepare materials to disciple the people in their language.

Who is your LINKS missionary?

Every church has a missionary to be responsible for, to pray for and send cards, letters and an occasional gift to. This is an important facet of our missions program so that for those of us that cannot go "into all the world", can support with love and prayer those that can. This is encouragement for our missionaries as well as the Lord using us to bless them as they serve in another culture and language.

Guatemala Here We Come! Work and Witness Project 2006

Would there be 10 Teens and 10 Adults that would like to travel to Guatemala next summer as a part of the Northern California District Work and Witness Team? Guatemala has 356 churches that meet under a tree with little protection from the weather. Our team wants to help 2 - 3 churches get a building started so that the church can have a roof over their heads. The date has been set, August 11 -20th, 2006. The cost is yet to be determined, but it will be approximately $1500.00. If you have any interest at all, please email bobknaz@yahoo.com. Our district Work and Witness coordinator is Bob Kilpatrick and he would like to hear from you.

Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf

Wondering what you can do for our Nazarene neighbors in the Southern United States? There is a tremendous need for Crisis Care kits right now, a little bit of comfort in a devastating situation. Many thousands of kits will be given away this week, so what has been in storage will need to be replaced before the next hurricane, earthquake or tsunami arrives somewhere in our world.

Send 6 kits in a banana box , each kit needs to have the following items packed in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag.

* One medium size bottle of shampoo

* Two bars of soap

* One medium toothpaste

* Three toothbrushes

* One box of bandaids

* One fingernail clipper

* One sturdy hair comb

* Two hand towels

* Four travel size facial tissue

* One beanie baby size stuffed toy

Label each box: Crisis Care Kits

Send kits to : NCM, Inc.

c/o Fawn Grove Church of the Nazarene

Attention: John Borgal

5300 Fawn Grove

Pylesville, MD. 21132

For every banana box with 6 kits that you send, send $12.00 to NCM to cover the cost of getting the Crisis Care Kits to the area in need.