For your calendar:

Men’s Bible Study will begin our second section on Wednesday night, March 17. We’ll go from 7 - 8 p.m. sharp. This time our focus will be on Gideon, that unlikely hero from the Book of Judges. We’ll meet in the Fireside Room at the Wigwam unless there’s something going on there, in which case we’ll move out by the pool or…. Bring a friend.

Out to the Ol’ Ball Game Sunday, the 21st. The Cincinnati Reds take on the Cubs at the Goodyear ballpark. The game starts at 1:05 and we’ll get lawn seating ($8). More details this Sunday.

Good times at Pathway!

Sunday was good. I talked today with one of the visitors and got very good response. They’ll be back soon.

Remember that being a good host means being there a few minutes early to greet visitors! Start thinking about moving your Sunday morning routine up a brief 5 minutes. That’s all it will take.

A couple of prayer requests:

1. Pam’s boss, Kelly, is away from work because of congestive heart failure. She’s young and has two kids at home. Her condition is serious enough that she’ll probably be put on a heart transplant list. Kelly and her husband are believers. Please pray for her physical health, the issue of a transplant and for the obvious complications her condition presents for the family.
2. The husband of one of Shannon’s friends back east was killed in a car crash last Thursday when an erratic driver crossed the center line and hit his car. Besides a wife he leaves behind a 7-year old son. They are not believers, which makes this especially sad. Pray for the wife and son, and for God’s grace in their lives.

I met with a rep from the Wigwam today and we will indeed be meeting in a different room this Sunday. Enter by the door closest to the parking lot and follow your nose (or the signs we’ll have up) to Aztec C. It’s a little smaller than our normal room but we’ll make it work.

Thanks for your help with our efforts to start on time. If you are there by 8:55 you’ll have time for some visiting and still be ready to begin worship right at 9:00.

This week: deacons and their wives (the second half of 1 Tim. 3). But as with last week’s passage, this section speaks with equal power to everyone in the church, especially those who are married.

Hope your week is going well!

(do you know that phrase? it’s from a famous sermon)

“We Gonna Have a Good Time” this Sunday. Get up 30 minutes early or have an extra cup of coffee - just make sure you’re ready to begin worship at 9 a.m. We’re not going to start slow and rev it up. Nope. Not this week.

And again, being there a few minutes early is also helpful for greeting visitors. Thanks for doing a great job of being there on time last Sunday.

Sunday is also Valentine’s Day. Our thanks to Hallmark for creating this additional opportunity for husbands to mess up. But whatever else you do to mark the occasion this weekend, give God thanks for the mate he’s given you.

God bless!

How’s your week going? If your names are Jeff & Brandie, not so good. They’re wrestling with all kinds of issues as they try to buy the house they’d decided on. They’ve just learned the house they’ve been living in (her brother’s) will be going into foreclosure. So the clock is ticking on getting into their own place. Please pray for them and for a resolution to the issues that are running them ragged.

If your names are Josh & Tami Burgard you’re havin’ a pretty good week. Soon there will be three little Burgards runnin’ round the house. Congrats, guys! God’s blessing on mom and the littlest one.

You could read ahead for Sunday if you wanted. The first section of 1 Tim. 3 is all about elders. As you read it ask questions. “What does this mean?” “Doesn’t this imply that…?” Don’t just read words. Interact with God’s Word.

God bless!

Again, thinking back to last Sunday and our look at 1 Tim. 2:1-7…

The government of North Korea views Christianity as a Western religion and therefore dangerous to the state. Because N.K. is a closed state it’s impossible to have good information about what goes on there, but reports from refugees and international organizations with contacts in North Korea report the arrest, torture and execution of Christians as “enemies of the state.” There are two state sponsored churches in the capital but the “pastors” have no religious training and sermons glorify the virtues of the state and it’s leader, Kim Jong-il. Any practice of Christianity outside of those two churches is punishable by death.

Pray for the underground church in North Korea and the believers who literally risk their lives to remain faithful. Kim Jong-il has been in very poor health lately and many experts expect a power vacuum when he dies. Pray for a change in the government’s attitude toward Christians and greater freedom for them to worship and share their faith.

Pray for Christians living in places where they suffer for their faith. In China churches are burned, pastors are imprisoned and tortured, and the possessions of believers subject to confiscation.

China wants very much to be a major player on the world stage. Accordingly, leaders of democratic countries have leverage on matters like religious freedom there. Pray that our leaders will have the wisdom and courage to press China to grant that freedom so the gospel can be spread there.

We return this Sunday to our series in 1 Timothy. Our focus this week will be on the first 7 verses of chapter 2, a section particularly interesting right now. Paul writes to Timothy about the church’s relationship with the government. What does God want the State to do? What does he want the church to do with regard to the State? The answers to those questions suggest something a lot different than much of what goes on today.

See you Sunday!

And by then they say the weather will be back to Phoenix normal.

Will you come to worship or to watch others worship? Pathway is a place for participants, not spectators. So come expecting to worship actively!

And make sure Dan and Mary Sue get a warm Pathway welcome.