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Our History
adapted from the LifeSource
first annual Christmas Letter Winter - A Season of Preparation
Our inaugural year together began as we worshipped and fellowshipped
together for the first time in the Celebration Hall of Community United
Methodist Church (CUMC) with some thirty to forty people, mainly of core team
families, friends, and relatives. In addition to planning upbeat worship
services each Sabbath, we opened the Rhino Cafe, designed to create a friendly
place to meet for fellowship and delicious breakfast refreshments on Saturdays
at 10 am. We had previously decided that our "official" public launch
would be Easter weekend in April, but we had much to do to get ready to invite
the community to join us for worship.
The first few months, we focused on troubleshooting the "how to's" of our new
worship environment and enjoying many new faces who came to explore what
LifeSource church was all about. Our first outreach event was to deliver a
beautiful rose and chocolate kisses on Valentine's Day to nearly three hundred
neighboring homes, introducing ourselves house by house. By March we were
grappling with how to be fully prepared to participate in the "40 Days of
Purpose" national campaign. We purchased some much needed PA equipment and
prepared our advertising in local papers. Spring - A Season
of Growth
On Sabbath, April 10, (Easter Weekend), which came more quickly than we
expected, LifeSource opened its doors and welcomed over two hundred people to
worship with us. We were stunned! That God could bring that many
people to us, through us, left us in awe of His mighty drawing power.
Worship on Easter also featured our first baptism, one of our own LifeSource
youth! Hallelujah! Upper Columbia Conference President Elder Max
Torkelson blessed us that day by leading us in prayer.
The following week we launched the 40 Days campaign, which involved coordinating
worship with weekly small groups in homes. We were stretching and growing
in new ways. The organizational obstacles were overwhelming, but God was
leading. What more could we say? In May, we invited our community to
a specially planned worship aboard the Coeur d'Alene Resort's large tour boat,
Mishinock, to accommodate our host church, CUMC. Over one hundred and
eighty people gathered on two decks for worship during a spectacular day out on
the lake. Some even came from as far away as Montana to be with us!
Summer - A Season of Renewal
No sooner than it had begun, the 40 Days came to a swift and exciting
conclusion in June. Our weekly worship attendance was still averaging over
one hundred, in spite of folks heading out on vacation and welcoming summer
guests to this beautiful area. As God provided answers to our prayers, we
located a suitable church office in Hayden and hired a capable and gracious
secretary, Carol Nord. In August, we held our second baptism on a
beautiful day at a LifeSource member's home on the Spokane River. Praise
God as He added to our fellowship!
Fall came early with a sudden change in the weather. But that didn't deter
us from planning another outreach to our community at the North Idaho Fair.
In spite of the rain, our booth featured kid-friendly activities and
opportunities to pass along information about one of the newest churches in the
greater Coeur d'Alene area. Some visitors even asked if we would pray for
them! We were overjoyed!
One of the truly obvious blessings of God was Jesse Jarnes decision to become
our youth pastor at LifeSource. For several years he had been considering
this option (his grandfather was an Adventist minister), but now the invitation
had officially come from LifeSource, our young people would be blessed and
honored for him to serve on our team. As they say, the rest is history.
Jesse's ministry continues to grow and flourish under God's care and provision.
Fall - A Season of Recommitment
As the Fall season unfolded, our small groups ministry, which we call
LifeGroups, began to form again. We discovered a number of folks who were
eager to receive the blessing of leading these weekly gatherings in homes for
personal and spiritual growth. Parenting skills, re-marriage, spiritual
growth, God's character and Bible study were among the topics offered.
Once again an alternate location was needed in October for worship due to an
annual event at CUMC. And again, God quickly provided a wonderful and
unique opportunity for LifeSource to meet at a local theater in our area, which
had awesome room acoustics for our praise band and big screen sermon. The
theater management graciously allowed us to offer our Rhino Cafe ministry that
day.
Monthly outreach plunges into our community through servant evangelism events
have included passing out over two hundred 9-volt batteries for smoke alarms at
local shopping plazas one Sabbath afternoon, preparing and delivering six
beautiful Thanksgiving baskets to special families in need and remembering those
police, fire, ambulance and hospital personnel who missed Christmas Eve at their
home by bringing them delicious donuts and a short note of appreciation and
cheer that day. God has honored us indeed! This is but a
short list of blessings we have experienced in the past 365 days. As we
continue to build up this new community Adventist church, LifeSource will value
our members' personal commitment of time, energy, creativity, compassion and
sacrificial financial support. Above all, it will require our collective
prayers that God, by His grace and power, will continue to make LifeSource a
prevailing church, faithfully sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the greater
Coeur d'Alene community. |
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