February 2016 Newsletter

 MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2016
way to celebrate
What an awesome
Valentines Day weekend!
Bethel hosted our
4th annual marriage
conference
simulcast
with MarriageToday’s Jimmy and Karen
Evans. An amazing event filled with
amazing truth to encourage and edify our
marriages. This year’s conference included
guest speakers Dr.
Henry Cloud, author of
the book “Boundaries”
and Pastor John
Gray, associate pastor
at
Lakewood Church
and comedian.
With Jimmy and Karen Evan’s testimony of
has been to transform
hope, their mission
marriages across the globe. The Lord took
Bethel
february
Looking Back:
Upcoming Church
Events
•
Training at the church
9-11am
•
their dead marriage and breathed life into it.
They now minister this life to those around
them. Jimmy says, “Every marriage has a
100% chance of success if you do it God’s
way.” And this year’s conference was one
more way they conveyed this message.
A special thanks to Josh and Fara Mills for
all of their hard work and dedication in
making this conference available for us; and
to Nicole Stipp for faithfully administering
her God-given gifting of hospitality. It’s too
bad we have to wait another whole year to
do it again! Can’t wait for February 2017! Current MORE Project:
March 19th – Volunteer
$96,820
March 25th - B Men’s Locker
Room/6am
•
March 27th - Easter
•
April 1st – God’s Not
Dead/Harkins Theatre
Chandler Fashion Center/
7:20pm
•
April 17th – New Member
Class
•
April 21st – Rice Broocks
Lecture at ASU
•
April 22nd – Rice Broocks
Speaking in Chandler
• April 29th - Chica
American Idols
“”When we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing. We worship anything.” -­‐ G. K. Chesterton. We had the privilege
of Pastor
What is an idol?
Paul Barker kicking
off our
What do idols do?
February series,
How do we identify them?
“American
Idols.” He showed
us that the
How do we destroy them?
essence of every problem in the
world at its foundation is simply
He went on to share that
a refusal to worship
God. We
problem emotions are good
were created to worship and if
indicators of idols in our life,
God, we will
we don’t worship
but that every problem emotion
worship something
else.
has a root beneath the root.
Identifying these deeper roots is
Pastor Barker addressed 4
the key to finding our freedom.
questions:
Once we know what specific
idols are in our life we can then
But grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To him
be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18
Sunday service is awesome and
word together and walk through
we love worshipping together
life together.
corporately, but we are called be
with other
in relationship
If you are not currently plugged
believers in a way that Sunday
into a group, that’s okay. You
service cannot
can jump in to most of our
alone provide. At
Bethel, one way
groups at any time throughout
we do this is by
being part of a small group (or
the semester. Just visit us in the
several). These groups are
lobby before or after church or
where we grow our friendships
contact Anna Carnes at
as well as our spiritual walk. We
(623)202-1038 for information
pray together,
laugh together,
about our current groups.
study the We recently had an explosive blessing of babies at Bethel! This
month we had the honor of dedicating 2 of Bethel’s newest
members to the Lord:
Benjamin John Zwaschka
And
Small Groups
repent from them and rejoice in
God’s faithfulness to provide for
our needs through Christ Jesus.
Pastor Mike continued to
explore this subject of idols over
the next weeks. He went
deeper into specific idols and
their deeper roots. He spoke
about how comfort, approval,
power and control are often the
driving force behind the idols in
our life. When we recognize
that idols will keep us striving
and working to meet our needs
while God is calling us to rest in
His finished work and receive
all we need through Christ, we
will then be ready to repent and
trust God to truly provide for
our deepest needs.
Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your
needs according to the riches
of his glory in Christ Jesus.
John Piper: “God is infinitely worthy and honorable, but sin says the opposite. Sin says that other things are more desirable and more worthy than God…” $FPU$
“Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else!” Dave Ramsey.
Do you live paycheck to paycheck? Do you find that there’s more
month than money? Do you wish you could give more to bless
others? Can you imagine what the church could do if we were all
debt free? Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University is a biblically
based financial plan to get people out of debt, financially prepared
for the future and able to give like no one else. We are called to be
out of financial bondange and stewarding what God has provided
God’s way. Bethel has two FPU classes this sememster with others
to come in the future. If you’re sick and tired of being sick and
tired, keep a look out for our next round of classes.
Baby Dedications
Olivia Rose Molleo
Welcome to our family, sweet babies!
Every Nation
Student Conference
Honestly, I was going because of this girl I like. I
had no idea what God had in store for me. It was the
most intense encounter I have ever had. About three
weeks earlier
I was in a car accident that should have
killed my friend
and me. He used the experience to
prepare my heart for what he was about to do at the
conference. The first night
I was worshipping but was still
shielding myself
from total surrender. The next night
I heard his voice
inside. He asked, “What have I
your cold shoulder? Did I not caress
done to deserve
world crumbled around you? Do I
you when your
It was at that moment that I couldn’t
not love you?”
hold up my shield any longer. He rushed over my
life as a flood. His love and devotion poured over
me.
Later that night I was prophesied over and received
clear direction. All I had to do was dive head first
into God. My
life is forever changed. That’s what
the Every Nation
Student Conference did for me. I
can’t wait to go back!
By Kyle Crowley
Ignite Winter Retreat
GG
God is at work
in a mighty
way!
What do you get when you send 22 students and 7 leaders on an
Ignite Winter Retreat à REVIVAL!
One of the highlights of our Ignite Ministry is the Ignite Winter
Retreat. This year, Bethel junior high and high school students,
along with their leaders spent 3 days in Prescott where they played,
ate, sang, danced and were fed some amazing spiritual food!
The topic: REVIVAL.
Pastor Jeff spent his time challenging these students to move. He
said that we often ask the Spirit to move, but that the Spirit is
actually asking US to move! He said that many nations across the
globe are experiencing revival and if we want to be a part of it that
our students could be the initiators of it. With their hearts open and
ready, the students began to experience the presence of the Holy
Spirit personally. They prayed over one another and prophesied
over one another. These three days were jam-packed and ended all
too soon.
Oh, and one more thing…the Bethel Girls (Team Groot) won the
team award AGAIN! Two-time belt champions. Thank you,
Lauren and Wiyun for your leadership (and screaming and yelling
in a super encouraging way).
Calling All Volunteers!
For a church our size we have an amazing number of
people that volunteer each week in all the different
ministry areas. And we know that the church builds
itself up in love as each member does its part
(Ephesians 4:16). So our heart’s desire is to be a
church body that stewards our giftings and brings life
to our church family, individually and as a whole.
With that in mind, we will be holding a volunteer
training class for our Sunday morning ministries on
Saturday, March 19th, 9-11am, at the church.
These ministries include:
• Greeters
• Ushers
• Audio
• Video
• Café
• Counters
• Prayer Team
fits into and reflects our overall church vision and then
spend time introducing specific duties and practicing.
If you are interested in being a part of any of these
ministry teams, we would love to have you join us for
training day.
Please contact Anna Carnes at [email protected]
or call (480) 626-4026 for more information.
Coffee and light refreshment will be served.
We will be discussing the Kingdom vision we have
for each ministry, why we do what we do, and the
call to excellence. After a general overview, each
ministry will have time to break off, talk about how it
Upcoming Events
Friday, April 1st
Bethel has rented out a movie theatre at the Harkins at Chandler Fashion Center on
Friday, April 1st, to show the premier of God’s Not Dead 2. With a $2 million
production budget, the first God’s Not Dead, grossed over $64 million. The word
on the street is that God’s Not Dead 2 is even more fantastic. This is a fabulous
opportunity to invite your family and friends out to a non-traditional church event.
Who doesn’t like movies?!? Tickets will go on sale soon, so keep on the lookout
because you won’t want to miss this amazing sequel.
Thursday and Friday, April 21st and 22nd
Dr. Rice Broocks will be with us for two very special nights! Thursday, April 21st,
Dr. Broocks will be lecturing on the ASU campus and Friday, April 22nd, he will
be with us at Bethel . This is an awesome opportunity to invite your ‘normally we
don’t go to church’ friends out to hear an amazing speaker and apologist.