Meet the Interns...

A year or so ago Brent, Steve and I were discussing the fact that God had brought, to our church, an amazing group of talented, dynamic, creative individuals that were each beginning a journey of finding a place to serve at Silver Creek Family. These 20 somethings were seeking more and more opportunities to plug in, dabble in various (and multiple) areas in ministry, were desiring to impact the direction of Silver Creek and were ultimately wrestling with the question as to whether God might be calling them into full time ministry.

During this same time we have been working towards building our ministry teams, raising up leaders of leaders and developing ministry in all areas. We feel that we have the potential to greatly impact our community and so we wanted to create an environment where people could be trained, coached, mentored and given an opportunity to be involved on a deeper level. We met with Brian Muchmore, the director of Youth For Christ, Metro Area, and he had some great advice in developing an internship program. His experience both inspired and scared us. Ultimately we felt this was an area that God had called us to develop and so we moved forward and diligently starting putting wheels on the program.

I am happy to report that, as of today, we have FIVE amazing interns that have agreed to journey with us on this first step. In exchange for their weekly time, we have offered a room in our intern home (former parsonage). We believe that by living together, working together and being involved in ministry together that we can help to create a spiritually rich and fulfilling opportunity from which our interns can launch into ministry.

We desire to invest in them and coach them towards their calling while still accomplishing our mission at Silver Creek. It is one of our Core Values to SERVE and so we provide opportunities for kids from 4th grade on up to adults to plug in and offer their gifts in all areas of the church. This is just another step towards making that a priority, not only in our church, but in the hearts of individuals that attend Silver Creek. It is an investment that is not just for today but for our future.

Now that you know some of the background, allow me to introduce each of them to you!

Ashley Gingrich
Mid-High Student Ministries Intern

Ashley is a fun, committed, loving and energetic leader. She has had a passion for student ministries and has worked in ministry for many years. She stepped into the role of directing our 5th-8th grade student ministries in 2009 and has been involved with Leadership, Creative Team, FUSiON, Base Camp and Worship. You name it, she has done it! It wasn't until recently that she stepped up her role in Student Ministries and she was brought on as an official intern in May. Ashley coordinates a team of amazing individuals to pour into the lives of students on Wednesday nights and she prepares curriculum for Summit 56 as well a Gen 78 on Sundays. She is also on the lookout for new faces in our 5-8th grades and will be doing contact work in developing relationship with those kids.

Mandy Ingraham
Student Development Intern

Mandy is a wonderful, sensitive, highly driven firecracker. She has worked as a coach for our ISA camp for 5 years and has been involved in some capacity for 10. She has now joined our ISA Leadership Team. She is creative, organized and incredibly capable. Mandy is able to connect with students in an amazing way. She reaches out to those hurting and she knows exactly how to connect with their hearts. Mandy will be working closely with our students, 4-12th grades, that volunteer on a regular basis at Silver Creek. She is overseeing our Asst. Coach team for ISA this year and she will be spending time connecting with kids throughout the year that serve in various roles in the church. She works with kids on Wednesday nights in addition to both Summit 56 and Gen 78 on Sunday mornings. She desires to be a liaison between students and leadership and will help in connecting and plugging new individuals in to ministry.

Paul Charles
ISA Head Coach
Summer Intern

Paul is back in the area for his 10th year with ISA (International Soccer Academy). Paul has just finished his third year at Eastern University and spent his Spring Semester studying at Jerusalem University College. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Silver Creek Family Church during his summer breaks. We have enjoyed throwing Paul into working with the Students and Kids and he also has been able to preach from time to time. Paul will be returning to Eastern University in mid-August but we encourage you to get to know him during his short stint here. He loves to debate and discuss all sorts of biblical issues and he has a real passion for the next generation and connecting them to the heart of God.

Travis Gingrich
General Ministries Intern
Webmaster

Travis is a bright, witty, renaissance man who has a special gift with technology. Travis is a man of many talents. He is intrigued by the challenge of solving problems and he is absolutely committed and driven by opportunities to show excellence. He is generous with his time and resources and is wanting to dabble in many areas of ministry, this is why his title is less than specific. Travis recently launched our new Silver Creek Website and he is constantly looking to improve the way we market and show ourselves to the community. Travis also loves to read and is constantly driving us to look at who we are and what we want to accomplish through the eyes of those outside our church. Travis has started a connect group with some young 20s and has found it to be fulfilling and challenging.

Breanna Hemingway
High School Ministries Student Intern

Our most recent addition to the intern program is Breanna Hemingway. Breanna is passionate, creative, incredibly extroverted and loves life. She has been involved with ministry since she was in high school both as a student and worship leader. She desires to know people at their core and she pursues relationships with everyone. Breanna is rejoining us after being away for a year. She returned to the Lynnwood area in December '09 and has been involved at South Everett Foursquare in both serving the students, Wednesday night homework groups and also recently having the opportunity to preach to their congregation. Breanna has also spent time on the mission field in Ghana working with Child Evangelism Fellowship and is passionate about reaching those that have yet to meet Jesus. We are excited to have Breanna joining us in the beginning of July in working with our High School Ministry. She will be moving into the role of leading the HS team, she will be preparing talks for our students and she will be doing a lot of contact work to build relationships.

I hope that you have spent a little bit of time reading these short paragraphs about these young leaders. They each, individually, are gifted and will be incredible assets to their areas of ministry in which they serve. If you see them in the halls, I encourage you to take the time to get to know them a little bit better. They are around Silver Creek all of the time and we are blessed to have them as a part of our growing community.

Thank you for your support in helping to make this ministry opportunity a success!
See you in church on Sunday!
Elizabeth Volz
Executive Pastor Silver Creek Family Church

Upgrading from Spaghetti

I just left a meeting that involved eight of the eleven home owners on our street and a representative from the City of Lynnwood's Water Department. As home owners on our street, the water meters for all of our houses sit at the top of the street. The water line we are each responsible for runs along the street under our neighbor's yards, until it reaches our house. My water line is close to 300 ft and some neighbors have lines over 600 ft. This is called a spaghetti line water set up. It is a set up, because when there's a leak anywhere along the line, the home owner it belongs to gets to dig up the other neighbor's yard to repair the leak. Our meeting with the city is an attempt to get a water main, operated by the city run down our street, with meters being placed directly in front of our houses.

This is ultimately what all of the home owners desire but according to the city, we are each looking at a bill of $2,000 to $5,000. We've currently got water, it's a pain sometimes when you're the house with the leak, but we've got water. To change it and make things better it's going to take a serious investment, we'll still have water. We just won't have as much water line to potentially have to repair. What's interesting is that not every house on the street has to buy into the new water main system. Once the new system is in, those that have opted in and those who haven't will basically still be getting the same water. The quality will be the same, the cost we pay is the same, the pressure will be basically the same but I tend to think that those who make the investment will have better water.

Here's why I think that. If we consider what Silver Creek offers as "water" being provided to those that consider Silver Creek their church, the "water" available is all the same. Whatever type of "water system" you've used to connect, the "water" is there. What I have discovered is that those that buy in and are invested are still getting the same "water", but it's better "water". When you or I invest in anything, the result or benefit that we experience always seems to improve. The "water" doesn't change, the message that is preached is the same, the worship team plays/sings the same song, the family camp, block party, KidFest or bunko night events are the same, the facility location is the same. But for those that have invested, that have made things happen, that have a deeper passion for the "water", to them their is an upgrade from a spaghetti water system to a water main system.

Summer at Silver Creek has a distinct emphasis on our Core Value of CONNECT. Staff and leadership plan events strategically aimed at helping individuals CONNECT at a greater level than where ever they are currently. Those that know just about everyone at Silver Creek will hopefully know everyone a little better. Those that are relatively new and don't have many connections, will have the opportunity to get to know a few more people. In order for connections to happen, it will take an investment by individuals . The investment may be a few dollars, will certainly include time and a willingness to develop relationships at different levels with other people.

We recognize that summers are busy, so we add lots to our calendar. Not to make summers busier but so that when your schedule doesn't allow you to attend one event, you'll hopefully be able to catch the next opportunity to connect and you won't go all summer without seeing other people from Silver Creek. Let me highlight some of the ways you can CONNECT and invest this summer.

• Join a CONNECT group or plan to join one in September.
• Make sure you get to at least one of our summer Family Camps (July 30-Aug 1 or Sept 3 - 6).
• Be at our Block Party on July 4th, from 5-9pm and listen for ways that you can be a part of making that event a success.
  
• Whenever you're in town, come to the Park It's immediately following Sunday morning services on July 11, Aug 8 and 11. Everyone brings their own lunch and we spend time together at North Lynnwood Neighborhood Park on 44th Ave.
• Bring your family to our movie nights out on the new grass field behind the church, July 2nd and Aug 27th.
• There are also events all summer for 5th - 12th grade students, do what you can to get you kids in those grades to these events. Sign up now and save $5.
  
• Those that enjoy riding motorcycles have several options for group rides as well.

All of these events are listed on our new web site and can be registered for there as we get closer to each particular event. Take a look at Events & Calendar.

I believe that Silver Creek offers tremendous ways to connect relationally and grow spiritually and both will happen at the rate that individuals chose to invest of themselves.

Looks like the sun is coming out this weekend, hope you get a chance to enjoy it,

Brent

Everyone has a story...

We survived Family Camp! Actually, we more than survived! It was a fantastic weekend! We had a group of 66 at camp and an additional 9 that joined us at the lake on Saturday. We had the opportunity to build new relationships, reconnect with established relationships and get to know each other as a family. We played games at camp and at the lake, we ate together, we laughed together, we worshiped together...it was a great weekend! God was bigger than our last minute cancellation. He took care of our camp and we grew as a community. If you weren't able to join us, I hope you can join us for our Rasar State Park camp at the end of July or our Labor Day camp at the end of August! It is always an enjoyable experience!

One activity we did as a group was that we each had a special fun fact about ourselves that we had listed anonymously. We got that collective list at the beginning of the weekend and our job was to do some detective work and strategically ask people about their facts and try to figure out who belonged to which fact. It was great to see how this activity gave us all a chance to learn things about everyone, even those we are closest to! There were facts about travels, special skills, interesting experiences, funny stories...you name it, we had them on our Fun Fact sheets. At the end of the weekend we knew some fun things about each other, we were able to share stories and understand each other on a new level.

Through this activity I remembered an important detail. We each have our own story. God created us with unique qualifications, skills, abilities, experiences. We each have our individual stories that make us unique, intriguing and amazing! Sometimes we might feel like our stories aren't significant or maybe we feel our stories are shameful and we run from ever being truly understood or sometimes our stories might seem overwhelming to us and those that happen to hear them. We all have feelings about our own stories but the reality is that we have an opportunity to reach and understand people better through our stories. We were created so that we could in turn share our stories and relate to people around us in ways that are unique and powerful. I heard so many stories being shared this weekend and there are hundreds more that are represented in our church. Tell those you come in contact about the impact and difference that GOD has made in your life. What makes you different from the world and how can God change your heart? What is your story? Who have you told lately?

Brent challenged us to reach out to those in our neighborhoods. He encouraged us to throw a BBQ, spend a little extra time chatting while mowing or gardening, bake a plate of cookies and deliver them to a neighbor...find a way to reach out and share life with those around us. This is a tough challenge, what if our neighbors are shy or what if our lives are just too busy to take the time? How do we fit it in? It is a challenge to me as well but I am encouraged to know that I have the opportunity to know God and share his love with those in my life and who am I to decide who it is that God is trying to reach? I just need to be willing to be available and open to what He is trying to accomplish. I am going to do my best to open my eyes, be available to opportunities to reach out to my neighbors and see what God does.

We all have a story to share and I challenge you to share it...

Elizabeth

bombers in the car

So I was at a meeting with a friend today. The weather was nice so I left the sun roof open. Not a bad idea. When the meeting was through we got into the car so I could take him back to his place of work. As I was driving on this little country road outside of Snohomish with a fresh cup of coffee in my hand I was attacked by a bumble bee who apparently was laying in wait for a victim. He was like a World War II bomber. I could hear him but I couldn't see him until he hit me in my right temple. All I can say is the coffee I had just purchased now was on the dash board and windshield as well as on all of the front half of me. I would have been able to pull over if it wasn't for the car behind me tailgaiting and the fact that there was NO place to pull over! I almost went into the ditch but was able to catch myself by some very nimble moves I learned in college football. Tuck and roll took on new meaning. It reminded me of a time I was hiking in northern Idaho and found a really cool cave to camp in. In the middle of the night I had to turn my light on to look for something and found a heard (I don't think that's correct) of bats on the ceiling. They came to life the moment my light went on. Problem was, I was the only thing between them and the opening to the cave. When the light came on they all made a mad dash for the cave opening. The dance moves I made would have impressed John Travolta!

At any rate, after pulling over and getting the bomber out of the car I sat laughing at what life throws at us. We are never free from unscheduled events in our lives. We seem to always find new adventures. Well this week has been one of those weeks. With the Entiat camp ground canceling our family camp, Brent, Elizabeth and I have been working to pull something together. The good news is, WE HAVE A CAMP! We will be meeting at a camp near Leavenworth for our Memorial day camp. There are about 70 of us still going. Though its about half of what we would have had, we will still have a great time together. We will also have a family service at 11:00 on Sunday at the Lynnwood campus. I encourage all who are still in town to come. I will be teaching on the miracle of Peter's release from prison in Acts chapter 12. It was totally the result of the church praying. I will be teaching on that as well. I hope to see you all there on Sunday (unless you are camp). Look out for the bombers!!!!

Great Days Ahead!

Pastor Steve

Rain, Rain, Rain!

Have you ever noticed that when you want rain you don't get it and when you want sun it doesn't seem to stop raining? well, that's the story of our week. We just hydroseeded the 33,000 sq ft field in the back of our property. The cost was substantial and so we attempted to time it so we would have rain in the forecast, to help with the watering process. Every weatherman in town said rain. I have found that being a weatherman is the only position you can be wrong 90% of the time and still get a raise at the end of the year.

So, Brent and I have been water boys this week. I don't know what it is about Lynnwood and weather. It rained in virtually every surrounding town this week. Lynnwood? Not so much! Oh well, we are well on our way to a great field and a bunch of fun on the grass. The youth are already planning several summer activities. In the evening of July 2nd we'll have an outside movie on the grass. Brent is salivating over the possibility of having a field for deerbase. If you don't know what deerbase is I can't explain it in writing. I can barely explain it in person. Needless to say it is high energy and a blast!

On another note we are really excited about our Memorial Day Family Camp. We have 111 people signed up so far, many are new families. It will be a great time to be with old friends and to make new ones. If you are in town that weekend we will have one service at 11:00 am. I'll be coming back to teach that day. I'll be teaching on another great story out of the book of Acts. I hope you will join us.

I just looked outside. IT'S RAINING!!!!!!

Great Days Ahead,

Steve (The water boy)

We all need some Amazing

My wife Julie is so amazing. After we attended the Financial Peace University class that was held at Silver Creek in the the fall, we determined that to reach our financial goals she would need to head back to work. She has now been working at Starbucks, in Mukilteo, for close to four months. She has consistently been getting scheduled for the opening shift, which means she has to be at the store by 4am. Which has her getting out of bed a touch after 3am.

I love Julie, but she is not naturally a morning person. The good news is, she's not actually getting up in the morning, it's still the stinking middle of the night. When I say she's amazing it's not because she is able to get up at this time but her motivation to get up when the alarm clocks blares it's ugly noise. She's committed to the future of our family. She cares about our three kids and sees the benefits for them if we are able to get ourselves completely out of debt. If we get out of debt there's a good chance that we can help each of our kids with college costs, hopefully more than the $150 we currently have saved up for their college education. Getting out of debt will give us the freedom to be more generous with others that we see in financial need. It will also mean that someday we can retire. Ultimately, she goes to work for the betterment of her family.

Julie is often tired in the afternoon and is certainly wiped out by around 8pm, following those early morning shifts. But she is sacrificing in a tremendous way for us, she is truly an incredible example of a loving and caring, wife and mother. In the same way that I started this note, she is amazing.

This got me thinking, we all need amazing people in our lives. We all have so many shortcomings or areas where we could just use some help or a little extra care and attention. The problem is that it's not really practical to hold up a sign requesting someone to be amazing for you. Here's my solution.

Rather than any of us holding interviews for amazing people, what if all of us watched for and took opportunities to be a little bit of amazing in other peoples lives. When we see an area of need or something we could do to make someone's life a little better, let's do it. If all of us would commit to being amazing for those around us, think how incredible our community would be. Both as a community within Silver Creek and the community in which we live.

Thanks Julie for being so amazing and an example for the rest of us to consider being amazing for each other.

Brent

It's May? Really?!

Well, its been about a month now that I have been resisting the fact that, as much as I would like to pretend its warm, it is still WINTER out there! I know the calendar says its May but rainy and 50 degrees doesn't exactly qualify as shorts, flip flops and tank top weather...that being said, I am a true Seattle-lite and if I waited around for the weatherman to tell me what to wear, I would never get out of my fleece and winter boots. SO, I continue to live in denial, wear capris and short sleeved shirts and freeze!! I am looking forward to sunny 70-75 degree days! I don't need HEAT...just warmth! The school year is wrapping up, kids are still engaged in school and projects but are starting to realize that days are getting longer and sun might be in our near future (ever the optimist).

The beginning of summer is always marked by a few key events. The first major marker is our Memorial Day Weekend Family Camp. Our family has had the privilege of celebrating the past 3 Memorial Days in Entiat. Our kids know the routine. We put away school books, pack the car to capacity and head over to Entiat for some warm weather and an amazing weekend of fun with a church family that we love. We spend days at Lake Entiat, evenings are spent back at camp by the campfire, reconnecting with friends and new acquaintances, enjoying Margo's cooking and taking a break from the daily grind. Kids team up for tent sleepovers, parents stay up to the wee hours of the night playing ridiculous games and acting like kids again. Sunday we get to spend time worshiping together at the lake and baptisms are celebrated. Entiat marks the beginning of summer for our family. We know that we will return to one final month at school but for now...on that weekend...we get to spend time doing nothing but enjoying each other's company and spending time with so many that we love.

I hope that you will consider joining us in Entiat over the Memorial Day Weekend. It is a few hours away, the traffic can be crazy, camping can be an experience in and of itself but ultimately, you will look back with fond memories and build relationships that will last a lifetime.

Looking forward to getting away! Hope you can join us! Sign up at the info kiosk this weekend! Cabins are limited but campsites are still available.

See you Sunday!
Elizabeth Volz
Executive Pastor