Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A New Year, A New Drive

Hello everyone,

Wow! I can't believe it has been a year since I have blogged. I suddenly realized how difficult it was to have something to blog about every week. Honestly, my life is not all that exciting. :-) I am reminded of Paul, when he refers to life as a race -- it is a marathon, not a sprint.

Our church has a new Motto for this year: "It's not about me, it's about us!" We've taken this from 1 Cor. 12:14 "For the body is not one member, but many." We are all working together this year ... memorizing Scripture together ... cleaning the church together ... praying for each other ... each person takes an active part in each ministry. It has been great, and we are growing closer together as the year goes by. We are clearly understanding that the church does not stand or fall based on one person -- the body is truly not only one member.

With that said, we're starting a new support group called the "Stretcher Bearer" Ministry. It's taken from the story in the New Testament of the four friends who carried their lame friend to Jesus. Their friend had no chance for help if he did not have a couple good, close friends who picked him up and carried him to Jesus. That's what we want in our church -- there are hurting and struggling people in our churches, with no one willing to help them. We need to learn to help those within our own churches before we can expect to help someone outside our church.

One of our new ministries this year is called "Serving those who Serve us" -- every quarter we are serving dinner to the Tualatin Police Department and to the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue. We served dinner to the Fire Department tonight - I wish I had taken my camera - we had such a good time. The guys were gracious; they took our kids on a tour of their trucks, they asked us questions and answered ours -- it was so nice to sit down and get to know the men and women who serve our community in such a sacrificial way.

God has allowed us to open up and do so much this year. We have grown to a faithful 17 people so far - Praise God. We are planning a Mother/Daughter Banquet -- Memorial Day Picnic -- Annual Bible Conference (Pastor Mike Hoover - Speaker) -- Annual Camp Out -- Appreciation Dinner -- and so much more. We are thankful for the church family God has given us.

Can I please ask for your prayers for one of our Missionaries: Duane and Shellie Wilhite, in Japan. Earlier today we heard that Shellie was in the hospital, ready to give birth to baby number 9. Also, she went in with the flu. Please remember her in your prayers.

BIG NEWS: soon, you will be able to listen to recorded messages from Old Paths Bible. I will give details as we get it all ready. OR - you can keep checking our website for the update.

May God bless your ministry.

We just want to be a blessing,
Pastor Dan Zike
Old Paths Bible Church
An Historic Baptist Church

Monday, March 15, 2010

New Hymnals, 50 year Anniversary, and Vertigo

Hello all. I trust God has been blessing you in your life, ministry and family. We have been busy here at Old Paths with building, renovating and painting. We are planning on moving our auditorium to where our S.S. class/nursery and fellowship area is. It will allow us to have a useful alter/invitation area, more space for chairs/people, and (most importantly) the bathroom wont be 5 feet from the pulpit. We are very excited with the new look. I'll try to post pics when it is done.

New Hymnals:
When we started Old Paths, we were graciously allowed to use hymn books from Town Center Baptist Church (TCBC). Since then, not only have we grown but also TCBC has grown as well. We need more hymnals and they don't have any to spare...due to growth (a nice problem to have).
This last month we have been looking at almost a dozen different hymnals, trying to find the right one. We have settled with a new hymnal called Bible Truth Hymns (from Bible Truth Publication), and we are so pleased with it...we have simply fallen in love with it.
A good friend and supporter of Old Paths offered to pay for half of them, we took a special offering for the rest and were able to order them the next Monday. God is so good. We now have enough hymnals for 50 people. Thank you Brad.

50 Year Anniversary:
We have an Eighty-nine year old woman in our church who was a missionary for Thirty-four years in South America. She really is still a missionary (as we all are), as she sends a birthday card to everyone in her Mobile Home Park and puts in the card a tract and one of our church brochures.
She announced last Wednesday night that one of her first Indian tribes, where the whole tribe accepted Christ as their Savior, was celebrating 50 years of following Christ. It was such a blessing to her, to us as fellow Christians, and to all the faithful Christians who had a part in her work. Praise God that she is still alive to witness the fruit of her labor. Thank you Lord for our Senior Saints...thank you Lord for their faithfulness and may we learn through their example.

Vertigo:
The worst nightmare of any young or old pastor....I have not been able to preach the last two Sundays. Two Sundays ago, I went to bed late Sat. night with the start of the famous 24 hour flu, and was able to ask my very good friend, Pastor Jerry (from TCBC) to fill in for me. And then last Sunday I woke up so dizzy that I could not make it out of my room without holding on to the wall to stay up. After a few visits to the bathroom (I will spare you the details), I had to make the very difficult decision to not go to church. Instead, I had to go to the ER, where they diagnosed me with vertigo.
I have been blessed with a retired pastor/evangelist in our church, who is 86 years old. He has offered to fill the puplit when needed but could not do too much due to his health. I asked him (ten minutes before S.S.) if he would take over the S.S. lesson, and then they could just go home for the day. He took over the S.S. hour and told the folks that they were already there so they might as well stay there for the morning service and he did it all. He filled a need. In fact all of our men filled needs that day. Delbert even did the song leading. :-)
God has blessed me with men who are willing to fill in the gap. What a blessing. Thank you men.

Please pray for me. I have the same messages that I believe God wants me to preach...and I want to preach them sometime soon. :-)

We are excited with our move and with our new hymnals. We are having our very first evening service at the end of the month: a singspiration to really get to know our new hymnals. We are all looking forward to it.

Thank you for your prayers.

We just want to be a blessing,
Pastor Dan Zike
Old Paths Bible Church

Sunday, February 21, 2010

First Communion

We had the privilege of having our first communion service a couple Sundays ago. It was a very special moment for us. Thanks to Town Center Baptist for lending us their communion set. It is wonderful when a church can partake in remembering Christ's death...and do so in unity.
I thank God for allowing us to have a church full of love and unity...I pray it stays that way.

The Lord has blessed us with visitors for the last three Sundays. Some have come and gone but others have decided to stay. Those that have stayed have inserted themselves into the ministry of our church. Last Sunday, we had reached 21 people. It was great having an almost full church building.

We have a praise...a good friend and servant of the Lord has offered to purchase new hymnals for us. We are jumping up and down with excitement about that. God has been so good to us. It is exciting, once again, to watch how God takes care of our needs.

Some prayer requests: we are planning on changing things around soon; moving the auditorium to a larger room. Doing so requires some small renovating. Pray we are able to make the move soon, safe, and inexpensively.
We are also in the need of a communion set, and a sound system.

Please be praying for two very dear Pastor friends of mine. Pastor Ben Townsend and Pastor Robin Wright have had some serious health issues. They are both recovering, and doing better. But I ask you to continue to pray for their health, strength, and recovery.

Thank you for your support through prayer. God has been answering prayer and working in ways that we have yet to see.

We just want to be a blessing,
Pastor Dan Zike

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

God gives us what we need

What an exciting Sunday...WE HAD FIVE (5) VISITORS!!!

It was such an exciting service...everyone was happy, the song service seemed to be more exciting, and God dealt with some folks that day as well.

Please pray that God keeps send us people who need HIM as well as people that we need. I am finding that people are looking for a church that simply loves them and shows honest concern for who they are. People have come who have been completely ignored at their church.
Pastors, be sure to hug your flock the next time you see them and tell them you really appreciate and love them.

I just had to write and share with you our great news and invite you to be praising God with us.

Pastor Dan Zike

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

What a busy month(s)

Well hello! I know, it's been a long time. I can't believe this month marks our 5th month in Tualatin. God has been very good to us here. Every week HE seems to reveal His will and reminds us that HE alone is in Control.

November went by quickly. We were planning on and looking forward to a very special Thanksgiving Eve Service -- which went very well. We had a candlelight service -- singing praises and thanksgiving to our Great God, as well as spending time in His Word, and giving testimonies of His great love and care for us. And of course, afterwards we enjoyed pumpkin pie and cookies. God blessed us with a couple visitors that evening as well.














Speaking of Thanksgiving -- God has been very good to us with providing for our rent every month.

We started a couple activities and ministries in November: Our ladies enjoy going out every month for a ladies luncheon, our men have been meeting every month for a prayer breakfast, and we have been enjoying other activities outside of church as well: we've gone out for dinner, went to a Christmas Concert, and tonight we will be going Christmas Caroling.

December has proved to be a very exciting month. God just keeps blessing us. I don't know if it's because of the season, but everyone seems to be excited in church these days.

Among other things, God has blessed us with a functioning nursery, an almost functioning S. S. class room, doors to separate the two rooms, room dividers, tables for fellowship after church, a proper and inexpensive way to heat the auditorium, a new family of four, the restoring of a marriage, and so much more. Wow! When you put it all out there like that, God has done a lot for us.



And this is what happens when you decide to bring your coffee into the Auditorium for services -- and then spill it:


Pastor Zike giving Scott his gift
from the church family...











Scott now gets to use a sippy cup to put his coffee in. :-)






We are now off to go Christmas Caroling...a chance that we were given to reach out to a 55 and older community (behind our church) that does not allow anyone to come in and go door to door....but they have allowed us to come in and reach them through song. So please pray that we use this opportunity for God's glory tonight.

Thank you for your prayers. Keep praying. God is doing a work here. People are growing spiritually, and God is blessing their faithfulness.

Praise God!

Pastor Dan Zike

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Moving forward

God often puts us in circumstances that force us to step out on faith and trust HIM!
We have been renting one side of a two sided storefront since we began in August. The landlord has been gracious enough to allow us to use a small portion of the other side for a nursery and S.S. class. He approached us, letting us know that someone was interested in the other side, so we had to make a decision. We made the decision to move forward. We need the extra space for the kids, and we hope to move the sanctuary to that bigger side as we grow. With that, are rent will double starting in February. We are excited to see how God is going to show Himself real to us during the next couple months.

We have been in Tualatin now for 3 months. We have gained a couple more folks, and have about 16 people for our Sunday services. It seems we have someone call every week asking about our church. We keep waiting for God to bring them all at once. :-)


We were blessed to have our first Guest Speaker a couple weeks ago. Kevin Marshall, Pastor of Rocklick Hollow Baptist Church in PA, came to visit family and was willing to preach for us. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with a good friend and godly pastor.

Our folks have remained strong, encouraging, and very supportive. They are excited about being apart of the ministry of church planting.

We were in need of a set of "french doors" for our church, estimating about $450.00. I made the announcement that we were taking a special offering on Nov. 1st for doors when one of our new folks told me to stop by his house the next day and he would hand me a check for the total amount. Praise GOD! It has been experiences like this that keep us excited and looking forward to moving forward.

Keep praying for us.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

So many new and exciting things happening

What a week it has been!!!
Last Friday, we went out and passed out 80 fliers and had a very good response. The next Sunday, 6 visitors came, 3 adults and 3 kids. The adults were younger folks, and their children were all under the age of four....and a nursery was suddenly born! Praise the Lord!
After church we had an activity planned. We all went to our house for lunch and then out for some miniature golf. One of our visitors went with us, and then his whole family came back to our house for dessert. We had a really good time of fellowship.
Wednesday night, we had another exciting time...we had one more visitor, an older gentleman who is a retired minister of 50 years. Also, I had asked Scott if he would handle the song leading on Wednesday nights. Last Wednesday night was his first time. He really did well. It also freed me up to deal with other issues.

It is wonderful watching God do so many things, and we are looking forward to see what He wants to do next.