News & Happenings

A note from Pastor Gary…


“While He (Jesus) was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say,
“Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what
they said, Jesus said to the lead of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”
(Mark 5:35-36)


Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
For us as humans, and even as Christians, we usually get annoyed when we get interrupted. It breaks
our concentration on whatever we are working on, and many times get upset and take it out on those
who have interrupted us. “Don’t they know that I am busy” or “I have better things to do than listen to
them.” But let’s take a step back and take a deep breath. Those interruptions are the ministry of the
church. “Learning to handle interruptions in a Christlike fashion,” say the author’s of “Before Burnout”,
“will take us a significant distance down the road of handling life’s circumstances.”
We can learn from Christ on how to handle these interruptions. For He was always being interrupted
by people.

  1. Christ always responded graciously. He never conveyed the attitude that people did not have a
    right to interrupt him.
  2. He made people a priority. For the most part, those who interrupted Him were not prominent
    individuals, yet Christ treated them as important.
  3. Although frequently interrupted, Christ did not allow those interruptions to deflect Him from His
    ultimate purpose. For an example, after dealing with the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus
    immediately went on to raise Jairus’ daughter.
  4. On occasion, the Savior actually initiated an interruption himself. He interrupted His teaching of
    the multitude to call Levi the tax collector to follow Him.
  5. When important priorities made it necessary, Christ isolated Himself from interruptions.
    We all have interruptions that take place in our life. Many times, it seems like they take place in our
    life at the most busy times or when we have so much going on. But instead of looking at it as an
    inconvenience, we should look at it as an opportunity to do Christ’s ministry. That may change our
    whole attitude about the situation, and we become more Christ like.
    Another thought is that maybe that interruption might keep us from doing something that we should not
    be doing and possibly change or save our life.
    God’s Peace & Love,
    Pastor Gary

Bible School and Confirmation Class Notes


January started off with class resuming on Wednesday, January 4th. The Bible School kids started learning
about some of the amazing things Jesus was able to teach us and the miracles he performed, like the Parable of
the Two Builders, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man
who built his house on the rock,” and Jesus’ first miracle, Turning Water into Wine!! Amazing! Thank you to
Pastor Gary and Carrie Becker for teaching on January 18th. The will be no class on January 25th because there is
no school at Gibraltar.
On February 15th we have our annual bowling event at Apple Valley Lanes. No class on February 22nd and
rather, the Bible School and Confirmation kids will host the Ash Wednesday Soup Supper. There are still
opportunities to sign up to be a classroom helper and bring snack. Sign up sheets are in the fellowship hall or
contact Laura or Jolynn.
Laura & Jolynn