The Way, Psych 106

Hey everyone, today we meet for the first time in Psych 106 on campus at Fresno State. Hopefully we’ll see you there at 12:00 pm. Also I wanted to share this brilliant song that I will be playing for the group of students as we seek to answer the question, “Is Jesus The Only Way to Heaven?”

The 8 Bible Study tonight, New Videos, International Peace Day

Tonight, the 8 Bible Study rolls on. Co-led by Penny Murray and Rebekah Townsend, the Bible Study is open to women of all ages and meets from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Young Adults room 202/206.

Today, Sept. 21, is International Peace Day … I think it is unfortunate at times that we as Christians can sometimes leave the work towards peace (which the Bible commands) to humanitarian organizations, some of which are faith-based but many of which are driven by humanism. I don’t think that humanists should out-duel Believers on issues of Justice and Peace. At the same time, I think that we should work together with anyone that shares our goals, even if we don’t agree on everything.

Small Groups announced for Fall 2009

On the heels of a very special week for us at Northpark, we are pleased to bring you the complete list of young adults small group opportunities through the end of this calendar year.

On Monday this past week, men of all ages came to Men’s Fraternity, led by Jamal Jones and KMJ’s Paul Loeffler. Nearly 50 of us were there. The same night, Northpark’s first ever late Bible Study, The 8, debuted for women. 14 ladies of all ages attended. Additionally, The Way had 23 people and 14 attended The Group. Now, of course, numbers have very little to do with effectiveness at times, but I believe that these stats do demonstrate a real hunger for spiritual growth that we have not seen in the last several years until now.

If you are not currently in a small group or bible study, I highly encourage you to consider it. Contact info is available for all of our leaders and we are always ready to help out here in the office.

Have a great weekend and God bless.

Ryan.

Photos From The Way

We had 22 people this past Wednesday at our lunch time Bible Study at Fresno State, this week we’ll be in front of the science building again at 12′oclock sharp. Hope to see you there. Bring a friend because we are bringing more pizza.

The Way

Every wednesday i get free pizza for lunch. I get to spend time with friends. I get to hang out at fresno state and talk about Jesus. I dont go to fresno state, but im there every wednesday. Why? The Way Bible study. This week we talked about what the core beliefs of our faith as christians are. What do you absolutely have to believe to be a christian? This isnt exactly as easy a question to answer as you might think. We didnt even fully come up with an answer in the 45 minutes we were together but i know that this question definitely got the gears in all our heads in motion to figure it out. We all pretty much agreed you have to believe in God, and some sort of atonement for our sins. Because the fact is, as Miles said “I’m not ok, and neither are you.”
We have a whole lot of really awesome topics lined up for this semester, a lot of which are pretty hard topics that i know will stir up some good conversation. So come join us at 12 pm at fresno state, eat some pizza and be apart of The Way.

-Danielle Minassian

Weekly Update Sept. 6th, Happy Labor Day

Hey everyone, it may be hard to believe with the smoggy miserableness outside right now but Fall is on the way and along with cooler temperatures come a variety of new things at Northpark.

Though it’s a long holiday weekend, we will be in full swing on Sunday as Bob starts a new series. Sunday is also ICE coffee day and at The Five we will be doing several new songs and debuting a new video on prayer.

Mark your calendars now with these important dates:

Sept. 14th
Men’s Fraternity starts, 6:00 am MPR
Sept. 14th
Bible Study for young ladies over 18, 8:00 pm YA Room
Sept. 28th
Extreme Leadership with Rebekah Townsend
Nov. 7th
Lead Now conference for 20/30 something leaders

see you this weekend,

Ryan

FLOW: For Love Of Water

Flow: For Love Of Water is a 2008 documentary about the privatization of water. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I will explain. Water privatization is basically when a major corporation goes into an area, most commonly a third-world area, and basically takes ownership of all the water. More specifically: the clean water. this might not sound too bad, but once you hear the details you might change your mind. I learned a lot in watching this documentary, it was slow at times and even a little too political for me but overall, I found it good and informative.

There are many corporations in the world. Most of which are corrupt and take advantage of the poor. In watching this video I saw that it goes beyond simple sweat shops. In many third-world countries it is hard to find clean drinking water, most of which is because of pollution. These corporations install faucets, (that look a lot like the one your hose is connected to in the backyard) filter the water and then charge for it. The corporations say that they are helping the people, or at least they think they are, but the fact is they are charging more than what people can afford. Water is a necessity, like air, you should not have to pay to have drinkable water.

You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
-Amos 5:11-12

Another thing I found very interesting was a part about bottled water. Most everyone knows who Penn and Teller are. Well in Flow they showed a segment from their show.

There have been several tests done on the bottled water that we drink every day. They have found that about a third of the bottled water out there is no better than tap water. We spend about 100 billion dollars on bottled water a year. Now what struck me was that The UN said it would only cost about 30 billion dollars a year to provide safe drinking water to the entire world and we spend three times that much a year to buy tap water in a bottle.

There was a ton more information in this video but I’m not going to summarize it all for you. The fact is that God has called us to take care of the earth but most importantly to take care of the people (especially the poor) on the earth. I’m sure you may have already known that we aren’t doing the greatest job of either of these. But also know that there are people out there actually doing the opposite, they are making life even harder for the poor than it is already.

34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
-Matthew 25:34-40

7 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. 8 Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
-Deuteronomy 15:7-8

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
-Isaiah 58:6-7

- Danielle M.