First Annual Growth Group Picnic

If you looked on a calendar for June 30, 2012,
it was a day like any other day but to us it was
anything but ordinary! It was the day that we had
a chance to say "Thank You" to a special group of
people who faithfully opened their homes and lead
a group in study each week during our Growth Groups
Spring quarter.

Since our half-time huddle had been rained out, we
were filled with excitement and anticipation and
what a day God provided! Yes, it was hot but
the beautiful, refreshing breeze helped keep us all
comfortable as we gathered for some fun!

Before long, everyone started arriving! New friends
and old friends gathered to share time of  'fellowship',
and some great food!

Charlie has such a servant's heart and he made
sure that everyone had plenty of tasty food to eat!

The kids had a great time together running, playing
and just doing the things that kids do! What's not
to love about the squeals and laughter of kids just
being kids!

Growth Groups provide an opportunity for
relationships to develop as we grow and are
stretched spiritually. Until our Growth Groups
ministry was formed, many would say that we
were a church filled with 'friendly strangers'.
Thankfully, that's a thing in the past and we're
excited about the great plans that God has in
store for our future!

Our church family agreed with our Pastors that
it was time to shake things up a bit and Growth
Groups have provided that safe place for people
to gather, get acquainted and to allow friendships
to grow! What an exciting adventure! Actually,
this picnic is a model of what we do in our own
Growth Groups! Every week we enjoy a time
of food, fellowship, prayer and study with one another.

After enjoying plenty of  food and lots
of laughs, it was time for us to officially
express our 'Thanks' and to learn about
what worked  and what didn't work!
What better way to evaluate and make any
needed adjustments! 

We weren't surprised to hear that our Spring
DVD/Discussion series "The Blessed Life" was
in fact a life changing experience for most and an
eye opener for many!

Thank you for sharing about what was learned in your
Growth Groups and how your Growth Groups reached
out, perhaps were stretched to help others!

A Service For The Lord!

If you look back in our blog archive you'll realize that we
had our very own Growth Group long before Growth
Groups become a Ministry focus at New Life Church!
God brought a group of us together, already as friends,
to grow those friendships as we explored the wonders
found in God's Word.  In His perfect timing, the
'charter members' of our In Line With The Word team
moved on and a door was opened for us to fully embrace
the Growth Group experience and new friends.

This Spring quarter we welcomed some 'new' and some
'familiar' friends. Just like the original team, we grew
spiritually as we learned how to live the joys of "The Blessed
Life"  through an exciting DVD/Discussion series by Pastor
Robert Morris! We learned that when God changes your heart
from selfishness to generosity, every part of your life-
journey is affected. With our hearts open, the roots of
friendship were planted and thrive. We learned something
valuable every week and we agreed that this was truly a
'life changing' experience!

Over the years our group has reached out to serve!
This quarter, as we tried to create a project, God
revealed His plan. Let me give you a little background.
A long time friend & client 'Jane' has for the last few
years had to face many challenges with her health and
finances. Things that you and I take for granted, the
ability to walk and breath with ease and comfort, 'Jane'
struggles with and that means that every day chores like
getting the trash collected and out for pickup or keeping
her yard clean and mowed are impossible for her. Since
her medical conditions have exhausted her finances she
can't afford the luxury of hiring help!

 One day recently, when I picked her up to take her grocery
shopping, I noticed that her yard looked particularly neglected.
Now 'Jane's' yard has been in need of some help before and I've
offered before and she's always turned away my offer
to help. Last week when we pulled back into her driveway
and I began unloading her groceries, the words of help
almost got stuck in my throat but that little familiar voice
from inside told me "go ahead, don't be afraid, offer to
brings some friends to help with a clean-up before the
4th of July!' A miracle happened that day because without
a moments hesitation, she accepted and a plan to reach
out and to show the love to God to someone lost in this
dark cruel world, was born.

Our group was smaller than usual but we were determined
in spite of 90 degree temperatures and high humidity, we
forged ahead. We loaded the truck with mower, blowers,
weedwacker, rakes, and more and were on our way to 'Jane's'
house. The photos that follow will give you a bit of an idea
of the Before & After!

As dusk was descending, we wrapped things up for the
evening. We had pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, picked up
downed branches, hauled away dead branches, picked
up the trash, swept the driveway and left the trash by the
road ready for pickup! The yard isn't done but 'Jane'
was thrilled and so happy and appreciative.

While 'Jane' and I chatted later in the evening driving
to and from the store, she couldn't get over the kindness
of 'strangers'. As one of our team said to me on Saturday,
the best part of her (birthday) day was the service project.
As she said, "I felt so blessed. Not only to help someone
out in need, but also to be doing a service for the Lord.
I had a smile on my face and in my heart for the rest of the
evening. Even today it makes me smile. It truly is more
of a blessing to give than to receive."

We strive to always live In Line With The Word!
Posted by Sally

Stephen Ministry

I've wanted to do a posting about this terrific group
of people for six months and now is my chance!
The group is made up of men and women who have
the gift mix and calling to become Stephen Ministers.
Ephesians 4:12-13 reveals the purpose of Stephen
Ministry. "To equip the saints for the work of ministry,
for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come
to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature
of Christ."  In other words, the Stephen Ministry is
God's love in action. It's our congregation's one-to-
one care giving ministry.

Last Summer Simon Adu, Bernadette Oinonen
and I traveled to Pittsburg, PA for a week of arduous
training to become Stephen Leaders. One of our goals
for 2012 is to train a 'cohort' of Stephen Ministers to
serve our church family and the community.

For the last several months, our Pastoral Care team
has been attending weekly Stephen Ministry training
and friendships have blossomed and existing relationships
have been strengthened.

Last night we celebrated a job well done as we
finished the initial phase of training consisting 50 hours
which covered 18 study Modules. After a brief break
in our schedule, Stephen Ministers will be assigned a Care
Receiver, someone who is experiencing a difficult time,
perhaps due to the loss of a loved one, illness, divorce,
job loss, etc.. Bi-weekly Small Group Peer Supervison
sessions and Continuing Education will follow for the
duration of their two year commitment.

Let me introduce you to our team....
Above from left to right is Charline Crocker, Betty Watari,
Ruth Hart and Faye McCullough.

You can't have a party without some tasty treats.
Betty, Ruth, Simon Adu, David Centeno and Jackson
Toxla had fun just trying to decide what to sample!

Pam Gionet ( who is a part of our Spring Growth Group)
and Charline enjoyed few minutes to visit. As I looked
around and saw the smiling faces, I remember back to our
first class when everyone was a bit guarded and tentative!

Michael and Sona Klimowicz are all smiles! Could it
be that the ice cream was that good? Maybe it's because
they won't have double duty on Wednesday evenings,
attending SM and driving their boys to and from baseball!
I guess the smiles = relief!

Check out Simon! I noticed that Simon didn't
eat anything but he had fun watching everyone
while they ate theirs. Pam Farnsworth looks
like she's ready to give it a thumbs up.

What a good looking group! Meet Paula Butler,
Bernadette Oinonen and Marissa Gulliver. In case
you're wondering, they're just as beautiful on the
inside!



Every once in a while, Pastor Paul drops in. He always
seems to know when the team needs a bit of
encouragement! We appreciate it and him so much!

I think that he may have heard a great idea because he's
taking notes!

Since 1975, nearly 500,000 Christian men and women
from all walks of life have trained and served as Stephen
Ministers. We know that God has amazing things in store
and as our SM serve others- they will quickly discover
the amazing blessings God will give them in return.

Sally

"Remember"

Pedestrians out enjoying a walk, parents bringing
their children to school or people driving by were
probably curious about what had been 'planted'
yesterday on the front lawn of New Life church.

Once they got closer, they could see that the
lawn was dotted with American flags.

Each of the 6,431 American flags represents
the life of an American who has died in Iraq
or Afghanistan and are arranged to spell out
'REMEMBER'.

WE MUST REMEMBER that our freedom
isn't free! It has been paid for with the lifeblood
of many who took an oath to serve, defend and
protect us! As this Memorial Day approaches,
stop to Remember and say a Prayer!

New Life....New Group

New Life Church!!!  That's our new church name. We've officially changed our name from Leominster Assembly of God to New Life Church.  God is transforming our heart and our church body and we are so excited to see what He is going to do next.  For the past 4 years, we have met each Friday night at Sally's house as friends to study God's word. We've had tons of fun developing our friendship; however, many have changed churches or moved to different small groups.  Don't worry...we are all still friends and will still get together regularly for fun.

Tonight, we began our "Blessed Life" small group with NEW friends!  Welcome to In Line With The Word to:  Dan and Julie Nichiow (Rylie too), Nancy Morin, Brenda Brashears, and Paul and Pam Gionet.  Sally, Brian and me will continue with this group. We're keeping our fingers crossed that Charlie might join too!!!

So even though we are changing the look of our group...we remain....
In Line With the Word

Puzzle Maker

I love when I look back and see how God puts the pieces of a puzzle together just perfectly...even a 5000 piece puzzle!  Most of those close to me know that I am a control freak...and it's been a struggle for me to completely trust God and just let go.  Last summer, I gave control of my job, my livelihood, my finances, my security to the Almighty and left a job that I had worked at for over 16 years.  I didn't have another job lined up but knew that leaving was the right thing to do. It felt like dumping a puzzle of of the box...and starting from the beginning.

Of course, God had already begun to work on my puzzle a few months before. He had laid it on my pastor's heart to have me work on a committee at church using my administrative skills. God is always working on our behalf!!!

I found myself with plenty of free time so I decided to volunteer at my church a couple times a week in the office. I figured I could spend some time hanging out with friends, volunteering and enjoying the summer. I hadn't had summer vacations in a long time so this would be great!  God was perfectly fitting those puzzle pieces together.

A month or so later, I mentioned to my pastor that if they were ever going to expand the staff at church, I would be interested.  But leave it up to my Lord and Savior who had already spoken to our pastor about this ...get this...6 months earlier!  He was probably finished with the border back then!!!

Wait...and get this...the night the church council was to discuss my employment, I had the opportunity to do a presentation to the entire board (remember the committee I was on?)  More puzzle pieces being added to the puzzle.

I get excited when I think about how my puzzle is fitting together and how my puzzle fits together with the puzzle He is creating for our church!!! He is such an awesome puzzle maker!!!

Until He is finished with all this puzzle making...
I remain...
In Line With the Word!!

Happy Birthday Sally and Brian!!!

We have been so neglectful in updating this blog.  Last month, we celebrated Sally and Brian's birthdays.  It was a small group but we never let an occasion go by with celebrating.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SALLY AND BRIAN!!!