July 23, 2008 If you’ve been anxious to see them, our team shirts are in. Check it out and tell us what you think.
Team members can pick-up their shirts before the 11:15 service this coming Sunday as we will all wear them in church and for our commisioning (send-off) during the service. Let me know if you have any questions.
Posted in The Life 
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July 16, 2008 Ok I know Adam just posted a blog about Shalom camp, but I just felt like I needed to let you guys know about whats goin down on Thursdays! So Thurdays have been great so far, every week more people are coming! We have lots of fun just hangin out and playing the Wii. If you need a visual of what goes on, I could help you out a little with that……..
So, if you want to join in on that kind of fun, come hang out with Me, Adam and Ali and we’ll have a good time. We’ll be there tomorrow (7/17) and next week (7/24). Don’t miss out -btw This week we have a SLUSHY MACHINE 
!!!!
Arty Contreras
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July 16, 2008 So, if you were there on Sunday night, then I know that you had a BLAST. If you weren’t, sorry you missed out, but I just thought I would let you all know of a couple important awards that were given out. Well, actually everyone received an award and for some of them, let’s just say we can’t exactly explain the whole story. So, here they are: for those who left early and for those who didn’t come - here are your awards (if you were there and you feel proud of your award, list it in a comment):
Congratulations to all of the proud recipients, awards were granted courtesy of Belinda.
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July 15, 2008 The only way I can describe my experiences these past few weeks is, “overwhelming.” 
The week at Mt. Cross for Shalom camp was a wonderful experience (hopefully some of you who were there, will share your thoughts in a comment). I got to spend time with a bunch of awesome young people and just hang out. The experiences that we shared gave us a frame of reference for our relationships with each other. It was just incredible to see how much all of our group could get along and how much fun we could all have with each other. From climbing in trees to sleeping on the ground, from long sweaty hikes, to splashing in the water during creek soccer, it was good to be together and to see how our faith can unify us.
After returning from this amazing week with Jr.High students, I joined “the Way” for an awesome event of their own. We swam, we played crazy games, we ate dinner, we swam some more and we worshipped God. This time of worship was so sweet because it was great to see these young kids, eager to have fun with each other and unafraid to express their faith in wild and crazy ways.
The very next day, I was able to join the high school youth and members from the Easton group for a Mexico team reunion party. We knew that something powerfull happened to us in Mexico and this was evident by the nearly 40 people who came back together to celebrate and remember. Personally, I just want to say that other than the fellowship, my favorite part was the slushy machine.
All these events just overwhelmed me with the relationships that are sprouting and flourishing among the youth of our church, with each other, with me and our youth staff and with their God. God is indeed blessing us in amazing ways and I scarcely have the words to express my gratitude.
If all of this wasn’t overwhelming enough, I came into the office this week to learn that our fundraising goal for our Youth Intern Positions had been met and exceeded for the entire rest of the 2008 year. God’s grace simply amazes me. What do you think? Have you been amazed by grace?
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July 5, 2008 
So, getting ready for an exciting week at Mt. Cross for SHALOM camp with about 10 of you wonderful Confirmation students makes me start thinking. Are there some of you who have been to Confirmation camp before that have a favorite memory to share? Let’s here it. OK?
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June 27, 2008 So the question is “why worship?”. It’s a question we ask from being a little kid and asking your parents, to being a teenager and sitting there wondering “why am I even singing these songs?” Well, before I talk about why we worship, we should talk a little about what is worship. Worship is an amazing thing because you can do it in many ways. The most popular is through music, but really you can worship doing anything. While brushing your teeth, to helping out the elderly, to even cleaning your room. The worship part is doing it for God. I know that sounds funny: brushing your teeth for God? Cleaning your room for God? Just think though, God created you and who you are, so you brush those teeth thanking him for making you into something beautiful. Or even the privilege of having a room, a home to sleep in. You are blessed by God to have something like that.
So now we have an understanding of what worship is, why do we do it? Well first of all to show our thanks and love for God! You ever just look outside listen to the birds, look at the stars, listen to the ocean in the morning? God created all of this for you, just for you and everyone! And there is no better way to express how you feel, than to worship! It’s like you give something or do something nice to someone really close who has done a lot for you. You want to show them how much you appreciate them, right? Well worship is our gift to God, a way of thanking him for everything and for him giving us the best present you could ask for, being set free by him dying for us! Secondly worship is a way to connect with God. God has picked leaders to lead us in that, to help us connect with him. He wants to be in your heart, he wants to connect with you. And by worshiping that connection comes across and you are filled with a love you can’t explain and through that love you connect with other people. What happens when you go to a camp or retreat? You do a little thing called camp fire in a huge group of other Christians, all singing the same songs, worshiping the same God! But you also connect with people making new friends, sharing tears of joy, making that connection! That’s what makes worship so great! Doesn’t matter what language, what country, worship brings all together!
It’s a start to that one day that every tongue will confess that he is God! Worship is something I have always loved growing up! Its where as a teenager I turned through those tough times! It was my escape from the evil of the world, my place where I felt safe and at peace! Worship is important, especially here with our youth! Our youth comes from many different schools but when we worship we’re all from the same church and it brings everyone together! And that’s the importance of worship, coming together to give our love, thanks, to give it all to God!
Arty Contreras
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May 14, 2008 
So, here you go - a little update. Not trying to make you jealous, just trying to share a bit with all of my friends. My family and I are having a blast, we’re enjoying the weather and each other. It’s a pretty good day when the most difficult and frustrating challenge is finding ways to get all of the sand cleaned off after a morning at the beach.
By the way, while we are over here - ministry at Hope continues to role along. I’m excited to announce that beginning June 1st our youth ministry program will have TWO SUMMER INTERNS: Alison Quinn and Arthur (Arty) Contreras will be joining the team. Alison will help with programs, activities and building relationships with all the ladies in our groups. Arthur will also help with programs and activities and will help to lead worship and worship experiences for many of our gatherings. I’m really excited to have them join us and hope you will join me in welcoming them. I will talk to you all later, feel free to comment me and leave me messages here or on myspace.
<><Adam
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April 29, 2008 
OK, so by now you’ve probably heard that Adam’s taking off for a few weeks to Hawaii. He’s going and his family is going with him. That’s right, we’re out of here, but I DO plan on coming back. unFORTUNATELY I can’t take any of you with me, but I was thinking about it and wondering, “What if I could? Who would I take?”
So, here’s the deal, let’s pretend that my family and I could take one person along. Comment to this post with your reason why you would be the best person to take along (I’m not going to take you - I’m just curious). Whoever makes their case in the most persuasive way will win. You won’t win a trip to Hawaii, but I just might bring you something back.
Posted in Adam's Whatever 2 Comments »
April 29, 2008 So, we’ve got a new website - do you like it? do you love it? do you hate? (You better not hate it!) Anyway, let me know what you think and what you’d like to see more of or whatever and that would be wonderful!!!
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April 24, 2008 I hope that you all enjoyed and were blessed by the report made by the Mexico Team in Worship on March 30th. The testimonies were powerful, the music was uplifting and it is evident that the Spirit of God is at work in the hearts and lives of many members of this congregation. If you weren’t able to attend the services you missed out, and if you only attended one service, then there were other testimonies you probably didn’t hear. Fortunately if you go to the church website and follow the link under “Worship & Music” to “Sermon Downloads” you can read the Testimonies, the Sermon and the Statement of Faith from the March 30th services.
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Hope Lutheran Church
364 E Barstow Ave / Fresno CA, 93710
559.439.4320
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