The storms of life – it’s not if they’ll hit but when. Disappointment, loss, relationship problems, financial crises, depression ― they can make us feel like everything around us is dark.  At BranchCreek we offer a ray of light.  We’re having a series called “Weathering the Storms of Life.”  While we can’t keep a storm from hitting, with a spiritual shelter prepared, you can find meaning, hope and strength to endure even the darkest days.  Join us for these intriguing topics.

01-08-12          Is There Shelter from Storms?

01-15-12          Shelter Against Wind Storms at Work

01-22-12          Shelter Against Rainstorms in Relationships

01-29-12          Shelter Against Mall Storms with Money

02-05-12          Shelter Against Hail Storms With Habits

02-12-12          Shelter Against Hurricanes in Our Homes

02-19-12          Shelter Against Cyclones with Our Children

02-26-12          Shelter Against Firestorms in Our Faith

All messages may be downloaded from our website.  Just click on MESSAGES/Audio & Video at the top of this page.

We would love to hear from you.  Please post any questions about this series or examples from your life about how this series applies to you,  and we will publish it on the web.

I found out about Branch Creek through a co-worker who was coming to Compassion Corner. Her mother was attending the church. She would share  bread and food and such with my sister and me. Meanwhile, my nieces and nephew were invited to BranchCreek in 2010 by Anthony Delaware to see the Christmas play . Well, they did not make the play, but he kept inviting them to come to church.  So they started coming in February 2011.

I decided to come with them on Easter Sunday, and it was such a warm atmosphere. I believed it was the Spirit of the Lord. I had been praying for a church to fellowship in and to serve.  Maybe three weeks went by, and I came back because the kids were coming. I wanted to hear what they were being taught. The worship was different from what I am used to, but the message was good.  I came back the next week, and as I was driving towards the church, I heard the Lord say,  “You are going there to work and to give back what you were taught all these years.”

I said to God, “OK — but I miss the worship.”

He showed me there are all different ways to worship, and it’s all apart of His Kingdom; they are a part of the body (of Christ).

I continued to come, and I met Michael Allebach.  I asked him a lot of questions. He got me connected. I started serving in Compassion Corner. Lo and behold, I got put on the schedule with my late mother’s best friend in high school. I hadn’t seen her in 17 years. She is a member of Branch, and she loves the church. It was like God ordained that to happen.

Then I signed up for a small group and met some great people. I got a chance to do service days and fill in as leader, and now I’m interested in leading a small group.

I have been asked to become a greeter, and there are other ministries that have contacted me. Now I have gone from 3 1/2 yrs of doing nothing to having to ask God where he wants me to serve. He showed me that He would do a new thing in me, a quick work; He would renew the years that the enemy tried to steal from me. My latter years shall be greater than my past, and the best is yet to come.

Durben Update December 2011
Peace to men…to those far and near, says the Lord. And I will heal them. Luke 2:11; Isaiah 57:19

We’re thankful that Jesus came to give us Peace with God, as well as the Peace of God that we can know even in unsettling circumstances. Recently we have also seen God calm people’s physical pain as we prayed Jesus’ peace over them.

Liz: I’m happy to have a new co-worker in Accommodation, though I will miss Pam very much. Her name is Tess and she is volunteering at WEC till March when she goes overseas for a short term mission experience. She is a real blessing.
Dec 16th is our 5th Annual ‘Christmas at the Castle’ for college-aged MKs in the area. Sarah and Judson are helping me. Please pray that the evening will be a blessing to all who come.
We have no special plans for Christmas, but we enjoyed having different ones over during Thanksgiving weekend, so we’ll try to do that again.

Dan:This month in the finance office will be difficult because we’ll be short staffed till mid-January. Please pray for the end of year jobs to go smoothly. The two main ones are producing the W2s for our members and annual giving reports for our donors.

Joelle & Beth in Jordan: This is a recent video-cam snapshot taken on a Skype call from their (cold) classroom. These days the students often ask if they can do their work close to the heater! (Deserts, I remember, have extremes of cold and heat.)
Joelle and Beth are looking forward to a 2 week visit from their friend Irene, who is serving in Asia. They will spend Christmas at the clinic in the south and help with Christmas open house for neighbor ladies. Please pray for: 1. a wonderful visit and safe travels; 2. the Christmas outreaches;
3. Beth learning Arabic; 4. next years plans for themselves, the school and the children, who will need to be taught; 5. permission for the ‘baby house’ (where sick babies can be cared for) to open at the hospital.

Jonathan & Renée: We are praising the Lord this month that He has provided a house to rent and a group of midwives to work with, for Renee and Baby (both of whom are growing and doing very well). Pray for us as we settle into our new neighborhood and continue to look for a church.

Renovations: Work on our future apartment continues. We can definitely use more help, so let us know if you would like to come!

Home Staff Needs: Please pray for people with skills to help us in Maintenance, IT and Reception.

World Focus: Christmas Outreaches
All over the world, Christmas is a time when Christians have a special opportunity to talk about Jesus and to invite friends of other religions to church or other Christmas programs. For example, in S. Asia there are programs for the families of children that come to 2 centers on Dec 15th and 17th. Let’s pray that over this Christmas season many will understand for the first time the true meaning of Christmas and will commit their lives to Jesus.

Thank you for your prayers.
Dan and Liz, Joelle, Renée & Jonathan and Beth Gabrielle

Please join us this Saturday morning from 8:00-10:00am in the cafe for our Monthly Men’s Breakfast.

This month, in addition to the great food and fellowship, we’ll be talking about what happens when life throws you curve balls. We’ll take a look at Joseph, a Godly man whose life was forever changed one day when he finds out his young fiance is pregnant. Have you had unexpected challenges in your life at some point?  Come join us and we’ll explore how God sees challenges in our life and how he wants to help us grow through them.

Paradigm Shift and what it means for BranchCreek

A NOTE FROM PASTOR CRAIG . . .

In the 1960’s Thomas Kuhn wrote a book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Its main premise was that at the core of every noteworthy advance was a break with an old way of seeing the world—in other words, a paradigm shift.

A decade later a small band of faithful pray-ers would seek a new paradigm for “doing church” and ask the question, “What if our old way of thinking about church was off the mark?”

What if church wasn’t about being a fortress of safety for those inside but about being a force of hope for those outside?

What would a church built for others look like?

Of course, on this anniversary we can look back on what was—but join me this Sunday on BranchCreek’s 36^th Anniversary to see not only what we’ve become—but what we might yet be. We will share in a message entitled: “Just Imagine”.

(By the way, I’ll be disguised in 70’s attire. See if you can spot me. How about you?)

See you Sunday,

Pastor Craig

Now that my wife and I have found a home at Branch Creek CC, we are determined to become more connected to our church community. We both have physical limitations so joining the church softball team was not going to happen. Praying first, we asked for God’s guidance to lead us in finding ways to connect. There are so many people here! Where could we start? Here are some ways that we have found extremely helpful in our walk towards connecting at the Creek.

Make a point to meet  Jeb Shore (Pastor of Belong).  Jeb’s amiable personality and knowledge of what’s available at Branch Creek is a fantastic resource for anyone looking to get involved.  We attended the “Getting Connected “workshop. Here you can meet the pastors and key people of our church family. It’s where my wife and I found out about the Peach Festival, which sounded tasty.

The best part about Getting Connected is just realizing how the Holy Spirit is so visible in the smiles and friendly greetings we received here at BranchCreek. Everyone we asked for assistance has exuded grace and a genuine eagerness to help.

We checked out the Kiosks in the church lobby. These are managed by helpful volunteers. They each offer their own unique areas of interest. Here Jeb introduced my wife and me to Eugene and Martha Herold, the Peach Festival team leaders. We prayed with Martha the first night we met her; so I was confident my wife was in good hands.  Martha assigned her to a manageable task, and she had a blast working in the festival’s balloon preparation room.

I also volunteered to help at the Peach Festival. This is where Eugene introduced me to Rich Childs, the festival parking team coordinator. As a parking, flag waving guy, I sat in on the logistical meeting with Rich and his team. There were Google satellite maps spread over a table with walkie-talkies and spirited discussion. It was here that Rich invited me to the Men’s Ministry breakfast. I very much enjoyed listening to Eric Holmquist, Men’s Ministry team leader. I highly recommend it to any man in the church community that is looking for some good Christian fellowship and more than decent French toast.

We joined a small group. Our “Simple Life” group leaders are Pastor chuck faber and his lovely wife Joanne. In this class we met twelve brothers and sisters in Christ. Our meetings start with a lunch and continue with Bible based suggestions on how to move closer to Christ in our lives. Rev 12:11 says “We overcome the enemy with the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies.” We have been blessed with some awesome testimonies shared by our group.

We joined a ministry. Sally Bishop, Pastor Craig’s wife, spoke with me after the Getting Connected workshop. She referred me to Bet Hambleton and the After Care Prayer Ministry. We have met Kathy Muldoon, Elizabeth Adeyi,  and others through this ministry. Here we can offer to pray with and for those requesting it. What a joy it is to assist someone with prayer.

It’s been wonderful to meet all of these brothers and sisters in Christ.  If I missed your name, I must apologize, but we have been overwhelmed with help “SIMPLY” by asking and offering the same.

Let me not forget Mike Allebach who gave me the opportunity to tell about our journey to and ways in which we are connecting with our Branch Creek Community Church family.

Gary Burkard

Join us this Saturday, November 12, for our Monthly Men’s Breakfast, 8:00 – 10:00am in the cafe.  This month, in addition to the usual awesome food and fellowship, we’re going to spend some time talking about SIMPLE HOLIDAYS!

What could possibly be more exhausting than the holiday season? Isn’t it ironic that sometimes our biggest stress comes from our own family. But as men of faith we need to remember that God is bigger than feasts and football and family. Our job is to be a blessing in the midst of all of this.

Come, bring a friend and enjoy a great time of fellowship.

I tried to get to it this summer . . . that overgrown and disproportionate 30′ tree in my backyard. I planted it when I was a young man. I was sure it would fit nicely in an opening between a fir and mulberry tree. I liked the way the leaves contrasted with the trees around it. I was pleased with the outcome until recently. It began to overshadow the smaller trees around it whose branches were dying because of a lack of sunlight. All the other growth had filled in nicely and it wasn’t much to see anymore. I needed to cut it down or severely prune it. I decided to prune. I kept telling myself I should. Three summers ago, last summer, and now this past summer. But I just didn’t get to it and now . . . well, God took care of it for me. That unexpected snow brought it down, along with damage to everything around it. There’s a gapping, unsightly hole in the canopy of my backyard. I wish I would have been more proactive.

 Our lives require periodic pruning—and if we don’t get to it—well, unsightly and unnecessary damage can occur.

 Join me this Sunday as we talk about the factors that influence effective service to others—and bring your saw—we may have some pruning to do.

 Pastor Craig

Join us this Saturday, October 8th, for our next Men’s Breakfast.  This month we’re going to continue with the Simple Church theme and talk a lot about  ways to simplify, ways to focus and ways to avoid feeling overwhelmed when the world seems to be falling apart. Come and join us for great food, fellowship and a time to look at God’s word.  (And, no, we’re not having cold cereal.)

8:00am in the BranchCreek cafe. Come hungry and bring a friend!