Vol.049.September.2008

Dr. John H. Calhoun, District Superintendent, E-mail: jcalhoun@norcal.org

Northern California District Church of the Nazarene

1866 Clayton Rd., Ste. 200, Concord, CA 94520,

Editor: Kay Clark, E-mail: kay@norcal.org, 925-680-0538 (District office)

Web page: http://www.norcal.org

Contents

Pages 1-2 Dr. John Calhoun, Centennial Celebration

Pages 3-6 Camps & Nazarene Youth International

Pages 7-8 NYC Kyiv 2008 (Ukraine)

Pages 8-9 Point Loma Nazarene University News

Page 9 Up-Coming Calendar of Events

Dr. John H. Calhoun, D. S.

We are now celebrating 100 years since some small holiness groups gathered in Texas and agreed to unite in mission.   There were a couple hundred churches with less than 10,000 members in 1908 who already shared a vision to reach the world with Holiness Evangelism.

Now 21,000 congregations around the globe and nearly 2 million persons will give thanks to God for blessing this early vision of the past and will look with hope toward the future. 

I urge each of our churches to find some way to join in this celebration in your own way.  All of us will be at The Lord's Table on Oct. 5, 2008.  We believe He still wants to use us a means of reaching lost and broken people to invite them to receive His love.

Here are two links that will give more information on the Centennial Celebration and also some historical essays:

http://www.nazarene.org/ministries/administration/centennial/display.aspx

http://www.nazarene.org/ministries/administration/centennial/history/display.aspx

Thankfully,

John Calhoun

The focus this year for Clergy Appreciation Month is “prayer”. Check out the additional resources that are provided for the local churches at www.NazarenePastor.org. You can contact Clergy Development, if you need more ideas or wish to share a story with the staff.

There are many ways to honor your pastoral staff by honoring them with a special service. You can present them with plaques of appreciation, gift certificates to a local bookstore, their favorite coffee house, or restaurants. I am sure that your congregations are full of wonderful ideas to share with each other.

NEW dates for *Kid's Camp: Sat., Sept. 20-21 Sun.

Camp will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday through Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  We will be at Redwood Glen in Scotts Valley (near Santa Cruz).

Camp will cost $80.00 per camper (after Sept. 1^st).

Please contact me for questions or forms.

Carol Kibler
650-424-0425
cjkib@sbcglobal.net

Eureka First Church sponsored three sport camps this summer: soccer (20 campers), basketball for the younger kids (25 campers), and basketball for the older kids (25 campers).

There was Kid’s Kamp (2^nd through 4^th graders) that had 43 campers. The guest speaker was Rev. Brad Edgbert from the Petaluma Hillside Church.

The Youth Camp (5^th through 9^th graders) had 54 campers.

The guest speaker was Rev. John Ford from the McKinleyville Family Church.

They also had a couple of “day” camps. Pastor Paul Harris said, “It was a good God-filled summer for us!”

I can’t believe that another summer has come and gone. Thanks to you to each of you that have prayed and supported these camps. The students I know had the most wonderful time. This year we had well over a hundred campers go to the camps combined with both returning and first time campers. The theme of this year’s camp was “H²0 Thirsty?”

Jr. High Camp was again, for the fourth year at Rock N’ Water in Coloma on the American River. Thank you Pastor Amer for directing this camp! We had a blast hiking and whitewater rafting. The food was great and the camp site activities were enjoyed by all. Our speaker spoke to us about loving others with no exceptions, she was incredibly caring not only in her language and words but in her actions as well. The best thing about this year’s camp was the relationships that were built between the students, the adult sponsors and the camp guides. God was there drawing people to each other and to himself.

Houseboats/Sr. High Camp #15, I think. It might even have been going on longer than this but people don’t seem to really know when we started this camp. We had a great time this year. The students and some adults went water skiing, tubing and wake boarding and every one came home safely. Derrick our speaker, challenged the students in his sermons in the evenings and was able to talk about them during our family/church groups. It was there that the students were able to talk about the challenges and how they apply in their daily lives. Every year at this camp we see who our student leaders are, they always step up not in flashy up front sort of ways but in humility, service, compassion and most of all in love. Please continue to pray for our students, that God will use them in the church, in their communities and even in their own homes. Also, pray that each of us who were at camp will remember to live out the challenge of being like Jesus.

“Thank you” for your continued prayer and support of NorCal NYI.

Donabel Martin, NorCal NYI President

Vallejo First Church of the Nazarene

Nazarene Youth Conference - Kyiv 2008

Yes! You are reading it right. It was NYC 2008 in Kyiv Ukraine. I was invited to go to Ukraine along with four other people from our Point Loma Field/Region to attend Eurasia NYC that was held in Kyiv, Ukraine from August 2-7 of last month. It was such an amazing experience to worship with brothers and sister from all over the Eurasia Region which is one of six World Mission Regions; Eurasia encompasses 93 sovereign nations or distinct areas across Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union (called the CIS). Just imagine that at our first night there I was sitting with my new friends who were singing songs in Russian and Arabic as I sang the same songs in English.

The theme of the conference was “One Mission: the Kingdom of God is Near”. All week the speakers, seminar presenters and students alike tackled what it means to be the Kingdom of God now, what it needs to look like and how we can more towards that direction. The conversations were challenging, thought provoking, centered on compassion, justice and most of all the love of Christ. It was so good to see the church talk about these things openly know that we have made a difference but we need to continue making a difference. A highlight for me at the conference was the night we worship in the same fashion as the Underground church; it was prayerful and silent. We need to be in prayer for our family across the world. Another highlight was meeting and hanging out with our leadership there. I am blown away by each of them especially those who are volunteering in youth ministry. I promise to pray for them.

After the conference, I along with eight others headed to Odessa, Ukraine on the Black Sea. There were about 30 of us from the conference who stayed behind to participate in ministry teams. One team went to Valin, a small town, there they held kids club for eight days. The other team went to Kosatin where they worked at a drug rehab facility. Our team in Odessa did lots of hanging out. We hung out at an Aids/HIV hospice where there were men and women who were dying but some had hope of life here and many with hope of the life to come. We also hung out with boys who were homeless and sniffed glue, but because of mobile phones our contact would easily call their group and let them know that we were coming. Therefore, they were not high when we came. We found ourselves also hanging out at the hospital where we had to take one of these boys, because he had a very high fever and at the hospital we were told that he has pneumonia and now I am waiting to hear from our contact via e-mail to see what the results are for his blood test concerning HIV. We hung out with the lady that lived down stairs from us, she was hilarious! She had loads of stories from her youth and the funny thing was that she kept telling us the same stories that when she was young, she was beautiful and that they wanted to put her in the movies. And my favorite place to hang out was at our “home” with the family that we stayed with.

Our host was Natalia, her two girls Tasha and Victoria. Living with her to help with the cooking were two ladies Luba and Anya and children from the Children’s Center. We enjoyed their company lots. We played UNO, sang songs, walked to the park to throw the Frisbee and kicked the football (soccer ball) and to buy gelatos. Also with us often was Pastor Peter, he, Natalia and the rest of their leadership team just started the church in Odessa this past November. I know that they are a blessing in that community and in the lives of so many others. I am blown away by their partnership with the Eastern Orthodox Church and other churches in Odessa to bring the Kingdom of God in their midst.

Please remember to pray for Ukraine and the entire Eurasia Region.

Donabel Martin, NYI Pres.

Smee Hall held an open house on Wednesday, September 3^rd. The open house was for students, faculty and staff. There were 300 in attendance and attendees were given tours of the new building. The building is home to the Center for Pastoral Leadership, the School of Theology, and the Wesleyan Center. The official building open house will be held during homecoming in November.

Upcoming Event - Worship Summit 2008

October 23-24, 2008

Join PLNU for the 4^th annual worship summit. This is a two-day event for

worship leaders and pastors to discover new worship techniques and tools

to integrate into current worship services.

For more information on upcoming events, visit their website at:

www.pointloma.edu or call (619) 849-2545.

Mark your Calendars 2008

September Alabaster Offering, started in 1949

Bring your alabaster boxes full of change and dollars to your church. This offering goes to help purchase supplies and to provide for properties and buildings around the world.

October 5 Centennial Celebration Sunday

October 18 “A Forum on Compassion, Justice and Love, sponsored by

Norcal Sunday School Ministries and NYI

Where: Vallejo First Church (Sat.)

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: $7 for lunch

October 25 Church Health Implementation (Sat.)

Where: Concord Christ Community Church – Second in a series of

training events with Rev. Lonnie Bullock, New Church Specialties.

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: $5 for lunch

Here are some immediate steps to conduct a new Church Health Survey if your last one is more than 12 months ago.

1. Contact Lonnie Bullock for a new packet at Lonbullock@aol.com. The cost is $225. (There is some financial assistance, if needed.)
2. When you contact him, discuss the time element.
3. R.S.V.P. to Kay at the district office is you are planning on attending. You can e-mail kay@norcal.org or call (925) 680-0538.