God's Heart in Action

by Nikki Raichart

Our twelve year old daughter (who LOVED to save her money) had been planning to tithe her money at the end of the year. Since she saves almost everything she makes, tithing once a year in one big lump sum, sounded good to her. She knew that by December she'd have $1000 and had been planning to tithe $100 to the organization we went with this last year to Tanzania on a short term mission trip. After hearing the "Spending, Storing, or Satisfied" sermon in mid December though, she told me that we needed to stop by the bank and get out $200 instead of $100. She wanted to give another $100 to a needy family that she knew of. She said she "didn't want to be one of those people that was stingy with their money"...like Pastor James had talked about.

I love that a 12 yr old can be just as impacted by the preaching of God's word, as an adult can be...I think even more, sometimes. Because she is still a child, there is less for her to "justify" in her mind before she decides to just give 20% instead of 10%. I pray that this lesson she's learned will always "stick" with her throughout her life and that her satisfaction will come from the Lord and not from SPENDING money or SAVING money!

Into the Wounded Heart

by Sherry Green

Work in the Wounded Heart group gets to the depths of problems experienced by adults who have been sexually abused in childhood. There are no "simple" answers; the problems resultant from such a background do not go away with a simple formula. These people are wounded at heart level and the task of recovery is also one of discovery. Understanding and acknowledging feelings is key to the ability to begin to heal and live freely and fully.

Our book and workbook set is called Wounded Heart, Hope For Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse, by Dr. Dan B. Allender. The knowledge of this author is both as a doctor of counseling psychology and as a seminary graduate. He, with his unique knowledge set, peers deeply into the crevasses of these kinds of wounds and shows a path to healing. His book is a deeply thought-provoking guide in that journey--one that you will want to read more than once for its astonishing insights.

This group is led in the fashion of both a study and a support group. Openness is encouraged, safe, and healing; and no one gasps at the hardness of some things. It works the same way as a deep flesh wound--if you do not go to the depths and dig out the infection, there can be no true healing. It will flare up again and again. It does take courage, but there is support.

The leaders of this group are amazing in that they are understanding, able and willing to go into the depths that are required of such a course. Their dedication, openness and caring makes the biggest difference in the effectiveness of this study. It is acknowledged that survivors may be either male or female, but at this time the course is restricted to women so that more openness may be possible.

As a survivor I found it difficult to begin the course, but ultimately have found it to be informative, helpful, healing, and leading to more joy and freedom in living. God cares about your quality of life. Imagine how much more can be done by one who is healthy. I encourage you to dig in and begin the work on your own Wounded Heart.

Yeah God! Project Homeless Connect

The last Friday in January, every area of Sonrise Church was used to host Project Homeless Connect offering services and resources to 674 individuals with the help of 16 donors and sponsors, over 200 volunteers, and 75 organizations representing all sectors (nonprofit, public, private and faith). Services included dental, medical, vision, chiropractic, haircuts, pet care, bike care, clothing, and hot breakfast, lunch and dinner!

By the numbers:

Dental services: 97 screenings, 48 hygiene services, 86 oral hygiene instruction, 8 fluoride treatments
Vision services: 37 on-site exams, 32 pairs of glasses made on-site, 236 gift certificates for off-site exams & glasses
Haircuts: 105 haircuts
Pet care: 53 animals seen
Food: over 1000 plates of food served, 850 hamburgers/veggies burgers given out at lunch alone!

Community Thanksgiving Dinner

It was truly a Happy Thanksgiving at Sonrise Hillsboro this year with 228 traditional meals served. Well over half of those meals were for guests. We had an amazing amount of volunteers ready to serve and help our guests feel welcomed. Alliance Bible Church helped serve meals and provided a wonderful blues band for the day's entertainment.

Thanks to all of you who generously donated food for the celebration and helped serve our guests! Please keep in mind that we do another community meal for Christmas, and offer a meal nightly for our SOS guests—volunteer opportunities are available at www.sos-shelter.org.

The Life-Changing Power of Wisdom

by Kristy Minor

Greetings Sonrise Family,

I would have written sooner but we were busy hunting down and paying off bills!!

My husband Steven, works full time and I am a stay at home mom of 3 children. One of our children has special needs and could not attend school. I had to stay home and take care of him. As a result we had to learn the hard way, how to start cutting back on everything.

My husband and I have not always paid our bills.  In fact, most of the bills that have come through our mailbox were deposited right in the trash, unopened, not even thought about. There is no good excuse for how we handled, or didn't handle, our money.

I can say that for me, growing up I watched my folks throw their bills away. I watched them hang up the phone on creditors, after having laughed and saying something along the lines of "You can't get blood from a rock!". A lot of what I saw growing up, shaped how I viewed money and contributed to my irresponsible decisions. I recognize that we are ultimately responsible for our choices and no one else is to blame, including bad examples of what not to do.

My husband and I do not care about money. It has never been a point of contention in our relationship. As a result of our not caring about money, we have had 2 cars repossessed and we have lived paycheck to paycheck for 10 years. A few years ago we bought a van from a lot and had monthly payments. In order for them to give us a loan, we had to sign an agreement and have a LoJack security system installed on our van. In the event we did not make our payment, the loan company would electronically disable the van and would be able to locate it and pick it up. We were pretty embarrassed. This got us more serious about our money. I have to say it was the very first thing we have ever paid off in it's entirety and was never late or skipped a payment on it! If we had no car, we had no job! The vehicle we are currently driving was purchased from a private owner and we paid cash for it.  

Thanks to Sonrise church and Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University we are changing our family tree with "Gazelle Intensity"! One of the first things we did was give our 3 children a commission. We set up their giving, saving, and spending system immediately! Our children are young, and this is not something we were doing prior to the class. We have had many talks with them, and will continue to speak to them about the value of giving, and saving.  

This month we have managed to catch up our electric and gas bills which were months behind. We paid off a past due garbage account from our last house. We have paid off 6 bills so far this month. But wait, there's more (isn't that the way with bills??)...we found 5 more bills that we could pay off THIS month!! Making our total paid off this month $1,487.32 and 11 victories! Yay God!! Our emergency fund is completely funded and we are no longer feeling the pressure of figuring out how to "rob Peter, to pay Paul". The stress of squeezing by has been alleviated.

This has been an exciting adventure! We love to receive paid receipts and accomplish these victories! Checking the mail is not as daunting as it used to be! It's actually FUN! I don't hide from answering the phone anymore! I answer it with boldness! We are ready to step up and take care of our responsibilities! I simply ask the person on the other side of the line to please send me a bill and then I get to have FUN checking the mail! I even negotiated one of our bills down and saved $103 on it!!

We have learned that when you tell your money what to do, it really does it! We no longer feel the stress of living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is provided for, every need is met, and we are able to pay our bills! We are blessed.  

In His Love,
Steven & Kristy Minor

Living Debt Free

By Bill Brooks

Dear Sonrise Family,

Polly and I are writing this letter to you to share our story and encourage fellow believers in their journey to financial peace.
 
For the majority of our 39 years of marriage, we lived paycheck to paycheck with no family budget to speak of. We tried to save money, but something always seemed to come up and we spent what little we managed to save. We had the “normal” household debts, car loans, mortgages, furniture loans, etc. We lived without the use of credit cards, except for one that we kept for emergencies. However, one year we started a new business venture. We used the credit card to do this and unfortunately the business did not work out. It took about 2 years to pay those charges off.
 
For 30 years I worked as a self-employed finish carpenter and Polly became self-employed in 1997. Life and work was busy and when it came time to pay taxes for the year 1999, we kept thinking we could file tomorrow. One day turned into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. The task seemed overwhelming and we couldn’t see what the first step would be, so we just kept procrastinating. Finally we realized that even though we were tithing and giving faithfully, by not paying the debts we owed, we were not being good stewards of the resources that God provided us with. After several years, we bit the bullet and filed our taxes.
 
We ended up owing about $35,000 but once the late fees, penalties and interest were added in, the total was up to about $60,000. At this time we had also taken out a home equity loan for a new work van that added $20,000 to our debt. The total was paralyzing. It was incredibly difficult to see how we could take the first step.
 
The Government would not negotiate our tax debt because our house was almost paid off. Shortly thereafter, they put a lien on our property and proceeded to send demand letters to us, 3-5 times a week! We were left with the choice to pay off our debt or lose our house.
 
During the years that this was all coming to a head, we had considered joining the Financial Peace University class that was being offered at Sonrise. We felt too busy and put it off, but when the class was offered the second time, we took the plunge and joined.
 
We started organizing our budget and making payments on our taxes owed, but realized that at the pace we were paying we would never catch up. The IRS kept sending the demand letters and the pressure was building.  
 
In addition to our financial woes, this was the time that the national economy fell apart. The housing market crashed and carpentry work was much harder to find. My work opportunities disappeared. I had to take a $10/hr. job.  Also due to the troubled economy Polly’s wages were cut by a third. Even though we were making better choices, the lower household income added significantly to the burden. We felt even more trapped.
 
I was stressed out and so embarrassed that I had let this happen to us. There just didn’t seem to be a solution. From the stress and embarrassment, I literally became so sick that I crawled into bed, pulled the covers up over my head, curled up in a ball and couldn’t move for a week. By the end of the week, I was physically and emotionally drained and had lost 15 lbs. I knew then that I had to find a better solution and get the government off my back or I would go crazy.
 
We went to the bank and told them our situation. Considering they were tightening down on loans, we were lucky to get a 10-year home equity loan, which allowed us to pay off all of our debt to the IRS and the loan for the work van. At this time, we only had about $200 to go before our mortgage was paid off, but we had to put it back into a mortgage to guarantee the loan.
 
We also had pledges to Sonrise that we had committed to God to help with the new building costs. Through what we learned from the Financial Peace University program, we never waivered from our commitment to tithing, paid our pledges and lived strictly by our budget. We completely changed our lifestyle and the way we handled our money. That meant no more extras! Golfing, coffee shops and after-dinner ice cream were now only for special occasions. As a bonus, we found that for the first time in our marriage we were seeing eye-to-eye on money issues. It brought us closer together in our relationship in a way that we hadn’t experienced before. We began to live like no one else so that we could live like no one else! All monies we had over and above our monthly budget went to pay off our loan.
 
Even though we now had a much lower household income than before, with the selling of our van, our changed money habits, our faith in God and by following the Financial Peace program, we were able to pay off our 10 yr., $80,000 loan in 2.5 years!  As of Sept. 30, 2011 we can now say we are living completely debt free! Yahoo!!!

With the burden of debt gone, the stresses and the worries have disappeared. The freedom has allowed us to put an emergency fund securely in place, contribute more to our retirement and give joyfully to others in need.
 
Even though your journey right now may seem overwhelming, we want to encourage you to continue taking baby steps and putting your trust in God. Our faith in the Lord has become even stronger because He has carried us through our journey!
 
Your brother in Christ,
Bill Brooks

Youth Halloween Party Canned Food Drive

Where do Fred Flintstone, rock stars, Flo from Progessive, cats, Frankenstein and Justin Beiber all meet together and go door-to-door "trick or treating" for canned foods and non-perishable items for Sonrise Food Pantry? Why the annual Youth Halloween Party, of course!

Our Middle School and High School Youth joined forces and collected 1,040 pounds of food to bless those families who count on Sonrise's Food Pantry for a weekly food box. Sonrise Youth are always doing life a little different!

FPU: Journal Entry

by Sherry Green

Today I went out and spent money. That's right. But you see it was different today--I used cash. It was risky because I only have a little. But I feel delighted with my efforts so far to stay on track of not borrowing to buy--or even using that darn debit card. (no touchy--no plastic). This seems such a simple concept, yet I fail again and again. There are all kinds of stories I tell myself. For instance, right now my purse is crumbling on the handles--visibly crumbling. It is still functional but I tell myself "I NEED a new purse." I look in the paper, "JCPenneys has them on sale--wouldn't it be "smart" to buy one while it is on sale, and I need it?" Of course I know, when using my actual mind about this that my credit card is 30% interest and I'd end up owing and paying more--all for a casing for my junk. What is with this attitude??? It really struck me what the FPU book said about a mark of maturity--that adults wait and plan, do not need pleasure NOW. I have lost the ability to wait.

Even in the first class last Sunday evening. My kit was not there--what? I need it NOW! Then I prayed about that saying something to the effect that it must be His will that I not get what I want NOW. "This is good for me." And you know--it was. Everything comes out in the end just as it should. We need to work, AND we need to trust. Today is a good day, and my broken down old purse isn't going to change that.

Everyday Idols: A Letter to Pastor James

by Anonymous

Pastor James,

Today you preached about "idols" and stated you could not find the aisles for idols at WalMart. Being the helpful person I try to be, I went to the Woodburn WalMart to see if I could help you out.

I walked in the east door confident I could find the aisle. I turned left at the main aisle and headed past the pharmacy. As I looked, I heard an elderly couple talking, they must have been hard of hearing, for they were talking loud enough for me to hear. "I need my prescription dear. Once I get it, everything will be all right." I continued on, looking for idols. A little farther , I stopped at the hair color aisle and glanced down it. Over hearing two women speaking, on said to the other, "this color! It will make me acceptable to him." I continued on with my search.

At the garden section, a man and woman were looking at a bird bath. He said to the woman with him, "this is the one, we can sit and watch all the birds on our bird bath. They will all come to ours, because it's bigger." I turned right and walked towards the back of the store. Walking past the toy section, a child was whining, "I want this one, I have to have this one." The parent responded, "OK. But you will have to be good."

A couple of aisles farther toward the back, another couple was looking at camping gear. The man said, "With this tent and those chairs, and a new cooler, we will ahve the best set-up of the group."

Farther on, I found myself in the automotive department, just in time to hear a young man telling another, "with this on my car, it will be a chick magnet. They all will want to ride with me."

Feeling a little down hearted, for there still was no aisle of idols, I turned right and headed to electronics. I found a wall of big screen TVs and multiple people looking at them. Some were standing in awe, some were begging with a parent or spouse to buy one--the biggest one and it had to be 3D.

Continuing on between the food section and the clothing department, I continued my search. As I walked, on the right, kids were telling their parents how they had to have these clothes for school to look as good as the other kids. On the left was a discussion of how they wanted their party to be the talk of the town and they would only buy the best.

I am sorry Pastor. I did not find the aisle of idols either, so I left the store. Maybe I was looking in the wrong WalMart. Or maybe the store was full of them. I guess it depends on who was looking and which god they were seeking.

Yay God! Sonrise Forest Grove's First Service

When we gathered for the first time in Forest Grove to practice for the launch of our new campus, I shared with the team these words from Genesis 12: Leave your country, your relatives, your father's house, and go to the land I will show you. In a very real sense that was what we were doing as we set out from the security of our house in Hillsboro, the comfort of the familiar friends and family we had worshipped with for so long and headed to a new house in a new city to do something we were not completely sure of. There was a great sense of expectancy because we knew God was leading us to a new land that He would reveal to us as we followed. I suspect most of us decided to make this "journey" because of the adventure that comes when we are following God into unknown places allows us to see Him do things we would other wise miss.

Our first Sunday was certainly evidence of a whole lot of unexplainable God things that took place. People came in off the street that didn't intend to go to church. Others came who had quit attending church but wanted to give it another try. Many more came because they wanted to be part of what God was going to do in their home town. It was a really great day, better than anyone could have imagined. The biggest obstacle we faced was outgrowing our facility before we have even met a second time but already God has given us a space for our children and we know He will lead us to a bigger "home" when the time is right.

Thank you all for your prayer support. We are one church meeting in two locations but we are still all family.

Pastor Greg

Click here to see all the Forest Grove photos on Facebook!

Forest Grove Campus Launches THIS Weekend!

On Labor Day weekend, the Forest Grove Launch Team did a trial run in preparation for this weekend's Forest Grove Campus launch! After Campus Pastor, Greg Scandrett focused our thoughts and hearts on the historic moment we were all experiencing in the life of Sonrise Church, we set about our set-up tasks with great anticipation! Once chairs were set, banners hung, and coffee brewed, the Worship Team lead us into the powerful presence of God.

As we all eagerly await this coming weekend's first "official" service, please be prayerful for the town of Forest Grove. May Sonrise Church continue to be a safe place to hear a life-changing message and may the hearts of those in Forest Grove be ready to hear and receive!

See more stories from previous months