Reading and the Brain

This past week, Tami and I attended the Pacific Northwest Conference Pastor/Spouse Retreat at Cascades Camp. It was a wonderful time with old and new friends, a beautiful setting, great worship, and an impactful speaker: Keith Ferrin. Keith is a speaker, writer, and cheerleader for actually enjoying reading the Bible! As a part of his time with us, he "performed" the book of Philippians from memory. He's also memorized other large portions of scripture which he shares with groups all over the country.


One of the things Keith advocates is to spend 15 to 30 minutes reading scripture each day. He shared that the brain needs at least 10 minutes of continual reading before you become immersed in the story. Unfortunately, most of us approach reading the Bible in tiny bits at a time. The average devotional has us read a few verses that only takes about 60 seconds. Reading a chapter takes about 3 or 4 minutes. As a result, 80%-90% of us never get to the point where our brains enjoy it!


We've begun our IMMERSE: PROPHETS Bible Reading Experience this week. The daily reading plan has us reading about 12 pages a day, 5 days a week, which takes around 20 minutes. In addition to the extended time in the scriptures, the IMMERSE volume has removed the chapter and verse breaks so that the reading continues uninterrupted. This week we read the books of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. Each Sunday over the next 8 weeks I'll select my sermon text from the previous week's reading. This Sunday, October 6th, I'll be preaching based on the book of Hosea.


I'd like to encourage you to join us on this journey through the books of the Old Testament Prophets. You can just start up with us this coming week as we read the first half of the book of Isaiah. Copies of IMMERSE: PROPHETS are available at church for $10 or you can order one from Amazon (including a Kindle version). Let me also put in a plug for the free podcast audio version (just look for and subscribe to "IMMERSE: PROPHETS" wherever you get your podcasts). You can also listen along on the website immersebible.com/prophets 

By the way, if you're interested in learning more about Keith and his ministry, you can find more at Keithferrin.com

The Potty Project

Last Spring a group of men from the Methow traveled down to Mexico to work on an addition to the "Ninos Con Fe" orphanage. The additional space has allowed them to take in 20 more abandoned children - at least 5 of whom have accepted Christ in the past few months!

However, the additional bathroom facilities (including showers) have not yet been completed due to a lack of funds. So we've begun the "Potty Project" to rectify this problem. During the month of October we're collecting donations with the goal of reaching $5000. We're off to a great start with over $2000 already raised!

We invite you to prayerfully consider making a contribution to this effort. Checks can be made payable to "CCC" with a note indicating the "Potty Project" and mailed to the church or deposited in our special "Outhouse Bank" near the photo board in Fellowship Hall. There's a toilet paper tower indicating our progress towards the $5000 goal. Thanks for joining us in sharing the love of Jesus with these precious children in a VERY practical way!

Legacy Children's Ministry Workshop is Returning

A year ago we hosted a workshop led by Steve Burger from our denominational headquarters in Chicago. During that time together, we brainstormed and prayerfully set a course of action to strengthen our children's ministry and help to equip parents to become spiritual nurturers for their kids.

Steve will be returning for a time of evaluation and next steps on Thursday, October 24th. We'll begin the evening with dinner at 5:30 followed by the workshop from 6:00-8:00. All adults are invited to take part in this informative and exciting time. More information will be coming.