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Before my friend Leonard called me, I wasn’t aware of the spiritual conditions in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. Leonard asked me to go with him and teach at a pastor’s conference for 50-60 Nigerian pastors during the first two weeks of June. I have decided to go!

I have learned that in the year 1900 there were ten million Christians in Africa. By 2012 this number reached five hundred million. I have also learned that 20% of the Chrisitans in the world are Africans. According to one study, in ten years time they will be the largest continental bloc within Christianity, outdoing Europe and the Americas.

Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. The pastors there are facing opposition from Muslim extremists who would seek to eliminate Christianity. Churches are being burned and people are being killed just because they are Christians. The spiritual future of Africa will be determined in large part by the ability of the Nigerian church to stand fast in the face of this persecution.

I will be going to an area in the south of Nigeria that is not controlled by the extremists. These pastors will gather to be encouraged in their work. Many of them have very little education or pastoral training. It will be a privilege for me to share with them some of the training and experience that I have gained over the years.

Will you join me on this journey through prayer? Safety for all involved and God’s blessing for the Nigerian pastors would be my requests.

As far as CNC services are concerned, I will be gone the first two Sundays in June. I will look forward to sharing with you on the 16th when I return.

There are ways to donate to the Cordova Neighborhood Church Youth Program and the Respite CLUB Program without writing a check!!! As you go about your routine of grocery shopping at either Safeway or Belair/Raley’s, you can also support the Youth and CLUB Programs.

Safeway’s “eScrip” and Belair/Raley’s “Something Extra” card allows shoppers to designate Cordova Neighborhood Church programs as “their” charity. So, when you shop at Safeway or Belair/Raley’s they will send CNC about 1% of your purchases to support the Youth and Respite programs.

It is easy to sign up! Go to the church website, www.cnchurch.org and click on the “Safeway eScrip” and/or the “Belair/Raley’s Something Extra” icons. These links provide complete information on how to sign up for the Safeway and Belair/Raley’s programs and to designate CNC as your charity.

If you need any clarification, call Sydney Cooley at 635-5992 and she will assist in completing the sign-up process.

It’s hard to believe but summer is almost here. A lot of people take summer to relax, work on personal projects and spend time with family. Summer for our youth ministry is a jam packed time with summer camps, mission trips, rafting trips, barbecues and swimming. Don’t you wish you were still a teenager?

I have recently come into a lot of information concerning High School Summer Camp & Mexico Mission trip and I wanted to share it with you. Look for info on our Middle School’s summer camp trip to Camp Alta July 7 – 10 in our June Crossroads.

High School Xtreme Camp 2013 (promo video here)
Information Brochure: PDF

Dates: June 16 – 21

Cost:
Early Bird: $300
($75 deposit turned in before May 1st)
Regular Cost: $350 ($75 deposit turned in before June 1)

Late Fee: $25 (deposit turned in after June )

Where: Alliance Redwoods outside Occidental, CA
Departure Info: June 16 at 1:00 p.m.
Return Info: June 21 at 3:00 p.m.

Worship by: Jeff Schneeweis
Morning Worship By: The Way West
Speaker: Duffy Robbins

Mexico 2013 (promo video)
Information Packet: (PDF)

Dates: July 20 – 27

Cost: 
$450

Where: Ensenada, Mexico (Los Bonitas community)
Departure Info: Early Morning on July 20
Return Info: Afternoon on July 27

For up-to-date info on both of these major events, check out the events page on our youth website (cncyouth.org/category/all-events/).

If you would like to make a donation for scholarships for our students who may not be able to afford to attend these spiritually impactful events, you can do that using a regular offering envelope and putting “youth scholarship” in the “Other” line or by making at check out to CNC with “youth scholarship” in the memo line. Make sure to specify a specific student if there is one in particular you want it to go to.

I, Bryce, hope to post regular blogs of the happenings at camp and in Mexico. They will be readable through the Cordova Neighborhood Church Facebook page so make sure to like that page to keep up-to-date!

Once a month I have the privilege of leading the children’s program during the second service. My focus for the current series of lessons is on unreached people groups (UPGs) in the world today.

These UPGs are also illiterate – part of the 4 billion oral learners—people who can’t, don’t, or won’t take in new information or communicate by literate means. That’s two-thirds of the world’s population. Yet an estimated 90 percent of Christian workers present the gospel and discipleship teaching in literate forms. They use the printed page or expositional, analytical, and logical presentations of God’s Word. In most cases, this requires or assumes the ability to read and makes it difficult, if not impossible, for oral learners to hear and understand.

The Alliance has entered into a strategic, dynamic partnership with OneStory which works with mother-tongue speakers to develop and record worldview-sensitive, chronological Bible “story sets” for specific unreached groups — typically 40 to 60 stories in a two-year period. Mother-tongue speakers spread the stories to others. These story sets form the beginnings of an “oral Bible” to be told and retold for generations.

Along with the development of story sets, other essential outcomes for a two-year OneStory Quest project include:
* Training mother-tongue speakers to tell the stories within their people groups
* Audio recordings of the stories archived for reference
* Documentation of the project results.
* Planning for follow-up ministry

OneStory’s goal is to be a catalyst in initiating such work in more than 5,500 UPGs by the year 2020.

Dr. Gary Benedict, President of the CMA says, “I am delighted that The Christian and Missionary Alliance is a part of getting the good news about Jesus to oral learners in ways they can understand. When I think of the millions upon millions of oral learners in our world today, I see this as absolutely strategic for the advance of the Kingdom. We embrace the OneStory method as a way God is at work in all of this and are excited many of our international workers and partners are being trained in it. May increasing honor come to Christ as more and more oral learners around the world become His disciples!”

“Where do you spend most of your time?: Past – Present – Future?” When I read this in a book I thought, “How silly, of course the present.” Then it dawned on me that most of us spend a lot of time in the past
We doubt decisions made in the past – The “what if”s” get us. And we grieve for people or events that are long gone. The point is there is not much we can do about it.

Of course not everything about the past and the future are hurtful. There are good memories that cheer us now – past lessons that inform the present – hope that Christ is preparing a future for us that helps us through today. The important matter for us is today – the present. This is where God is actively interacting with us.
This is brought home in a beautiful picture the Greek language paints. It is much more expressive than English. Take Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith…” The Greek perfect tense used here pictures a past completed action that has active results in the present.

So for Christians the picture is that we were given the gift of salvation in the past when we believed in Christ’s salvation. As a result God is working in us right now. Thank God for his dealing with our past; thank Him for the hope He gives for the future. But the action is now!
“My grace is sufficient for you” is what the Lord told the Apostle Paul. The same grace that saved you is actively working in you today. There is enough grace to meet the opportunities, pain and challenges of today. Every moment has a purpose and should be experienced in the light of grace.

Join me in this prayer: Remind me Lord, you have matters under control. Your grace is still sufficient. So, Lord, each moment, let me experience the beauty of your grace all around me. Teach me to rest in your grace.

The next Circle of Friends reading group will meet May 14 at 2:00 PM at the Waffle Shop located on Zinfandel just southeast of Folsom Blvd. This months selection will be Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Next month’s meeting will be June 11 and the book Nearing Home by Billy Graham.

Everyone is invited, even if you weren’t able to read the book. Also, at the May meeting we will be adding several books to our reading list, so please bring favorites for our consideration. We look forward to seeing all of our Circle of Friends!

Questions? Ask Edward Strom at 916-812-5290.

About 500 million people speak Hindi in India and abroad, which makes this one of the most spoken languages in the world.

“Namaste!” (Hello).

July 25- August 10, Jenny and Kadie Arnez, Annie Callen and I will be surrounded by Hindi speakers. We will be in northwest India with LINC Ministries to encourage and help women and children in the name of Jesus.

One thing I am especially excited about is raising money for and then buying 60 sewing machines. We will buy them in India. Can you believe they only cost $60 each?

LINC Ministries operates four sewing centers. At these centers battered women are given a new chance at life. They are taught the skill of sewing. Upon graduation they receive a sewing machine of their own so they may provide an honorable living for themselves.

In order to buy the machines and pay for the other expenses of the trip we are having another yard sale. This one will include a car wash. The date is Saturday, May 18 at Cordova Neighborhood Church. We are still taking yard sale donations!

For other fundraising opportunities check this link: http://lincministries.com/india2013/.

I don’t know how to say “Thank you” in Hindi (yet). But I can in English, “Thank You!”

I thank you in advance for your prayer and support. You are helping make it possible for us to assist children and women in India and to do so well.

For those interested in learning New Testament Greek, we will be starting a class in May.   The goal will be to pass on a study tool that will help you know and love the Living God. We will go at a pace suitable for working adults.  I anticipate meeting twice a month in the evening but the pace will be flexible.

The class will use materials by Mounce.  The base cost for books available at Amazon is $58.79 (New), and about $37 + shipping (used).  There are a ton of additional resources available; some at additional cost, many are free.

If you are interested, please contact Ray Miller at RayMiller916@Gmail.com, or 916.606.9869.