Men Being Men of God and Churches Helping Churches
Dear Friends of InFaith: Northwest Oregon,
We’re back from Men’s Roundup! I say “we” because this weekend I was in the company of several godly men. You may know some of them: Jim Van Voorst, Forest Teele and their friend Dillon from Hudson Park Bible Church, John Abraham and bass player Bob Bedient from the John Abraham Worship Band, John’s son Phillip and my sons Will and Jacob – along with eleven hundred other guys worshipping Jesus together. We were challenged and moved by speaker Jeff Vanderstelt as he coached us to let our relationship with God be reflected in our relationships with others. We also took the opportunity to attend workshops led by Dr. Gerry Breshears, who asked the question: “Should we really follow our hearts?” Taking us through scripture after scripture, Gerry showed the significant difference between following our old, unredeemed heart and following our “new heart” given by Jesus.
An added bonus to our Roundup experience was a spontaneous bluegrass jam session in our campsite Saturday night, featuring John and Bob on guitar, Forest on mandolin, and Dillon amazing everyone with his incredible skills on the banjo. I can only imagine what it would have been like if he had also brought his bagpipes!
I will see Jim and John again Tuesday night at the Sunday School Fellowship trustees quarterly meeting, along with Pastor Thomas Robinson of Church on the Mountain, Pastor Seth Lewis of Carver Church, Pastor Robert Klukas and Bonny Klukas of Columbia Bible Church, and Scott Brownlow of Shiloh Basin Community Church. It is indeed a blessing to have such a dedicated group of leaders working behind the scenes to support the InFaith ministry in this area, and the ministries of the twenty small congregations we serve. SSF is really churches helping churches: financially through interest-free loans and emergency pastoral assistance, and spiritually by helping with our Annual Advance conference and other ministry projects over the years.
Speaking of the Advance conference: when I saw Dr. Breshears at Men’s Roundup he readily confirmed he is looking forward to being our speaker at Advance 2026. Pastors, church leaders, missionaries and spouses, please mark your calendars to join us January 9-11 at Twin Rocks Friends Camp in Rockaway Beach. We hope to have promotional materials ready and registration open in November.
Other gatherings on the InFaith: Northwest Oregon ministry calendar this month include:
· NWXNW ministry leaders fellowship, 3 PM, September 16th at Farmhouse Coffee in Clatskanie
· InFaith Sandy Fellowship Breakfast, 9 AM, September 17th at Tollgate Inn in Sandy
· InFaith Pastors’ Prayer, 10 AM, September 18th at Woodland Park Chapel, Portland. This is a date change, so please check your calendar and plan to join us!
Caroline will be leading music in the worship service at Aims Community Church, Sunday September 21, then the Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to take a break. We will be on vacation and mostly out of communication September 22 through October 2nd. We continue to pray for the loving churches we serve and lift up their leaders before the Lord as we work together to spread the good news of Jesus Christ! May he bless you today and always.
Tom Hiscox, NW Oregon Area Missionary thiscox@infaith.org