Christmas Poem by an Algonquin Neighbor

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

His star was shining brightly
High in the eastern sky,
A sign from God to tell the world
The Savior had arrived.
Born of the Virgin Mary,
He came to us in love,
The prophecy had been fulfilled
God sent His only Son.

The Wise Men came to see Him,
They showered Him with gifts
Of gold and myrrh and Frankincense
Fine treasures they did give.
The people gathered round Him
And praised the Holy One,
Great hope He brought
For peace on earth
And everlasting love.

The Son of God a teacher,
Was known throughout the land
His lessons taught, His message heard
He shared the Father’s plan.
He mentored to the chosen,
They walked with Him, they prayed,
They lived the Word and shared His love
With passion every day.


The Son they called Messiah,
Lives in our lives today,
He touches every heart and soul
He guides and leads the way.
The blessings He has given,
To each and everyone,
A symbol of His love for us
We celebrate the Son.

©2001 - Linda Jeanette Liverett - Algonquin, IL

Memorial Service for Bob Buhrow of East Dundee

Today I was part of the memorial service at Willow Creek for Bob Buhrow who passed away December 12 after a long battle with cancer. Bob served in Guest Ministries along with his wife, Marti.

It was such an honor to be part of the day, seeing all the friends and neighbors come together to celebrate the life of Bob and his love for Christ and the church. Blessings to Marti, Beth, Patrick, Sara, and the entire family. Bob is will be missed here but he is enjoying his new home.

Cards to:
Marti Buhrow and Family
8 Summit Drive
East Dundee IL 60118-1028

REVEAL Study - Weekend Message

See Willow Creek's Senior Pastor Bill Hybles and Executive Pastor Greg Hawkins talk about the book REVEAL and it's relevance to the church:

http://www.willowcreek.org/weekend/Reveal/default.html

Algonquin - Cedarwood Christmas Table Event

Here are our friends from the Cedarwood Neighborhood having a great Christmas celebration.

Great job on the video!!

Imagine Christmas Tickets at: 82,000!!!

There have been more than 82,000 ticket requests for Imagine Christmas!!! It seems that there are people who may have made multiple requests. Can you please check with your friends and Willow neighbors who may have extra tickets to turn in so that we may be able to accommodate more people.

Ticket Exchange/Return

Dundee Crown Women's Basketball - Bringin the Noise

If you are a women and want to help our area women's basketball team make some noise, join them in the new year on Friday nights for fun, exercise and connection with other ladies from the area. Click: Dundee Crown Women's Basketball to sign up.

The Story in 2008 -A New Approach to the Bible

The new year is almost here and with it comes the start of a brand new series at New Community. On January 9, we’ll begin a study of The Story, taking us through the entire Bible in the course of one year. The Story is designed to read like a novel, telling the overall story of God’s great plan and love in a clear and compelling way.

Using Today’s New International Version (TNIV), The Story takes actual Scripture passages and pieces them together chronologically to convey the essence of the Bible from Genesis through Revelation. In doing so it allows the Bible’s stories, poems, and teachings to read more like one complete narrative full of intrigue, drama, conflict, and redemption.

It’s a study that’s designed to help you grow in your understanding of the Bible overall. Toward that end, the church will be providing curriculum for personal study, group bible study, group discussion questions and a monthly family activity.

There’s also a version for children, The Story for Kids, so that your entire family can learn together. Both versions will be available (at discounted rates) in Seeds in December. New Community meets on Wednesdays from 7 - 8:30 p.m. in the Main Auditorium. If you’d like to join me and others from our area, we sit 207.

Hope to see you there!

Bringing Your Light to the Table

Thanks to everyone who brought their light to our Neighborhood Christmas Table last Wednesday night in room 100 at church. It was a great night of food and stories and connecting of lights for your neighborhood.

Advent Christmas video message for you!

A couple weeks ago we handed out some orange Advent DVD's at the services. There are 4 DVD clips corresponding to each week of Advent on the DVD. This clip below is a special clip of the second week of Advent and it is just for you. It's about 2 minutes long and make sure to watch to the end....

Advent DVD clip

Doug Yonamine's Reflections on last Weekend's Baptism Service

Doug and Jen Yonamine are Community Coaches in Algonquin (Eastview Ele. Neighborhood Area)

Dear Friends,

Did you sense the undeniable presence of the Holy Spirit during the baptisms at Willow during this weekend’s services? My wife said it was the closest she's come to experiencing a revival. We could not stop talking about it on the drive home (and neither could the people we ran into later that evening!). I loved the way Gene Appel gave the Holy Spirit space to move in the program and in people’s hearts – and the Holy Spirit moved indeed! Watching dozens of people on Saturday night step forward to be baptized in the moment -- without advance sign-up or an extra set of dry clothes -- was a powerful sight to see! I still can't explain it (other than saying it was a God thing), but I was literally weeping for joy as I sat in my seat watching each person declare their faith to Christ. I will never forget what I saw and experienced deep in my heart. How great our God is!

As we enter into the week of Thanksgiving, I pray that you are doing well. I’ve been encouraged to see people connecting and building friendships both through our Table Groups as well as by other means and opportunities.

November 2007 Baptism Numbers
Registered 129 Walk-up 167 Total 296

So, with 296 for November, that brings South Barrington baptisms for 2007 to a grand total of 1,013 for the year!

Spiritual Conversations / Open Table Training

Do you want to learn how to have spiritual conversations with your neighbors? Or have your non-Christian neighbors over for dinner and know what to say? My friend and spiritual conversation dynamo, Garry Poole, is having a training class that will help you engage those around you.
Spiritual Conversations / Open Table Training

Neighborhood November Table Talk from Randy Frazee

Here is the latest "Table Talk" from Randy. In this volume Randy addresses many of the questions that came up at our August Neighborhood Gathering. It is also listed in the "Grow" section of this Blog.

Monk-e-Mail

Hopefully you all got your Monk-e-Mail from me, just a little holiday fun! Send one to your friends and family for a good laugh!

FUEL - Week 5 - Manna From Heaven

This week’s FUEL study is on Exodus 16-17 and continues with the adventures of Moses. We see water from a rock and manna from heaven. I love how my study notes talk about manna being the Lord’s “unique provision” for His people in the Desert.

Have you ever thought about how the Lord is your “unique provision” for your life today? Moses was Israel’s deliverer from Egypt, God’s instrument to provide water for thirst, give laws to live by, and bread from heaven but how does that help us?

Jesus called himself “the true bread from heaven” (Jn 6:32) and the “bread of God” (Jn 6:33) and “the bread of life” (Jn 6:35, 48).

Jesus said, that “whoever drinks of the water I give him will never thirst again” (Jn 4:14).

When asked about the greatest of God’s laws and commandments Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments (Mt 22:37).

Moses writes in Deut 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.” And at the transfiguration we see Moses appear with Jesus (Mt 17:3).

The parallelism between Jesus and Moses is powerful! And seeing the links between the Old and New Testaments show us that Jesus is the ultimate Moses who has come to deliver the whole world.

Now that is FUEL to live on!

FUEL - Week 4 - Exodus 20 The 10 Commandments

This week’s FUEL study is on Exodus 20 and the 10 commandments. It is so great to have the whole church studying the same thing from the message in the main auditorium to my kids in Promiseland! Click here for an inspiring 4 minute video done by Promiseland kids explaining the 10 Commandments:
mms://media2.willowcreek.org/weekend/LoveGodLoveAll1024073.wmv

As I am focused on the 10 commandments this week I thought it would be fun (or not so fun) to have a Commandment Quiz. I figured I am a decent person so I should be able to keep most of the commandments, how about you?

1. Have no other gods before Me
2. Do not make any idols
3. Do not misuse the name of the Lord
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy
5. Honor your Father and Mother
6. Do not murder
7. Do not commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not lie
10. Do not covet (like envy – instead be content with what you have)

So, how did I do? Well, at this point I’m thinking it’s none of your business… LOL!!! Let’s just say in my life I have struggled to keep less than half of them. And if you factor in Jesus’ teachings (Mt. 5:21-48) of “if you think of doing it, it is a sin,” I’ll have to offer up a big mayday, mayday, I am going down, can’t hold her together captain, I am taken on water.

This seems like a bit of a downer but in actuality it helps me understand myself better and the Bible better. If everyone kept these 10 simple principles what kind of world would this be? These principles are a window into the very heart of God. Know these and you will know Him deeply. I also realize that these commandments show how sinful I really am (Romans 7:7). This really clarifies things – The Father’s ways are incredibly wonderful and would make the world the right kind of place but we can’t live by the Father’s ways. So there is clearly a dilemma. Enter Christ. It is through Christ the gap between us and the Father is crossed and through Christ we can begin to live like the Father wants us to. The key is you have to know Christ.

The 10 commandments show us the problem of sin and how God would want us to live. Christ is the answer to our sin problem and He is the power for living God’s way. See this weekend’s message for an in depth explanation: http://www.willowcreek.org/fuel/videostream.asp

This week drink in divine octane and you will have the strength to live it out!

Algonquin Neighborhood Toy Sale Benefits Africa

Last month we had an amazing outpouring of God's love and compassion in the Dundee Crown Area. This was the fourth year that area Home Schoolers had their used toy sale to benefit kids in Africa. We have gone from earning $670 the first year to $1765 the second year to $3500 to help orphans in Africa and… Drum Roll please...... this year’s sale of toys as well as concessions and raffles raised over $4500!!

All of this money will go directly to Bright Hope International Kenya Refugee Project. This project aims to help 28 refugee children attend school by paying for the fees, books and uniforms for each child. The annual cost for a child to attend school in Kenya is $350. With the help of your contribution, we are able to send 13 of these refugee children to school this year.

Over 45 families donated thousands of toys, 20 adults and over 30 children donated their time and energy to the running of the sale. A prime location, great weather and a large community of shoppers made the toy sale a success. We give God the honor and the credit for blessing this event, and we are filled with thanks to Him for giving us the opportunity to make a difference!

Way to Go Barb Olsson, Jodi Gustafson and Friends!

FUEL - Week 3 - Exodus 13-14

This week’s FUEL study is on Exodus chapters 13-14. In this passage we see the Israelites are caught between the Egyptian Army and the Red Sea! Their backs are up against a wall! Pastor Hybel’s message this week gave us a great application of this passage. His message mentioned 3 things that tend to happen to us when our backs are against the wall:
1. We become scared
2. We get sarcastic
3. We start to think of Worst Case Scenarios

But God would rather we:
1. Fear not – for God is with us
2. Stand firm and face what is before us
3. Expect God to help

At the end of the service anyone whose back was against a wall was invited to stand to be prayed for, hundreds of people stood. There are so many people in our church and communities whose backs are up against the wall. Maybe you are one of them.

The FUEL of God’s word and time spent in it can propel you from being up against the wall to finding the deliverance God has for you.

You can view Pastor Hybel’s message at:
http://www.willowcreek.org/fuel/videostream.asp

Have a great week!

Ryan Boldt – Willow Creek Area Pastor for Dundee Crown
224.512.1325

FUEL - Drink it in... live it Out!

Hi Dundee Crown Area,

Don't forget about the FUEL Series/Study starting this weekend on the book of Exodus. This is a great 5-week study that will bring your church, devotional, and group life together in a powerful way. The church will provide great teaching, the study guide provides great devotional direction and group discussion.

Forming a group maybe easier than you think, Shoji and I decided to host a study for those who live on our street! Whether it is 2 people or 12 people, this is going to be a great opportunity to explore God's word and the Life of Moses. So take a risk and ask someone to join you for 5 weeks.

FUEL guides are available FREE at this weekend's service and $6 in the Seeds Bookstore thereafter.

Drink it in… Live it out,
Ryan Boldt - Willow Creek's Pastor for the Dundee Crown Area.