Update 10.26.09

Thank you for your prayers! 

Kelly is working towards becoming ordained in the EFCA.  He has written his licensing paper and last week he met with his licensing council.  They asked him questions for a little over two hours.  He did a great job, and they are recommending him for full licensing.  Up until this time the EFCA has given him a one year license (and they have renewed that).  This license will last for three years.  We're not sure on the timing... but either sometime in that three years... or at the end of the three years... he can turn in an ordination paper and go through an ordination council (both are more in depth than these were). 

We both have stayed healthy (yeah!) and were able to enjoy our time at the Talbot Alumni Retreat.  Mick & Rolane Boersma run Talbot Support Ministries (and do an amazing job!) and put on this retreat (used to be funded by a grant, now it's by donations).  It was a wonderful time of connecting with Talbot Alum and their wives!  We both really enjoyed it!  We are thankful for Kelly's time at Talbot AND for their continued investment into our lives and ministries!

Bishop Creek Community Church has had a study stream of visitors over the last couple months.  It's exciting!  Several have chosen to stay and make Bishop Creek home (yeah!).  We've also seen some people that we haven't seen in a long time... and that's also very exciting!  God is on the move!  PTL!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we focus on preaching the Word and ministering to those God brings our way. 

We have a women's Christmas brunch on Dec. 12... for our women and an outreach to the community.  Please pray that everything will come together for this. 

In case you didn't know... we have a church website... and on that website we post all of Kelly's sermons (Creekside Semons)... and also the articles (By the Creek) that are printed in the Inyo Register each week. Feel free to check them out and enjoy them!  www.BishopCreekCommunity.org

We continue to be so blessed by our body here in Bishop, and are still amazed that the Lord has allowed us to minister here!  Thanks for your prayers an support of us!  We are so thankful!

Licensing Council

Kelly will be meeting with the EFCA Licensing Council on Tuesday, October 20.  If all goes well, he will have completed his first step towards becoming ordained.  Please pray for him as he prepares, and as we have a four hour drive go get to the meeting.  Kelly has put a lot of time and effort into this.  My prayer is that he would have recall of all of his information, and clarity of thought, mind, and speech... and that he would have favor with those on his council.  Thank you for joining me in prayer!

Fall 2009

It's September already! WOW! We have a lot of great things planned for Bishop Creek Community Church, and many of them begin this month!

Our Women kick of their Fall Bible Study on Tuesday, September 15. We will have morning and evening groups, and Laura Talbot will be leading both of them. The Study is "The Way of Agape," The book is by Chuck & Nancy Missler, but the DVDs are by Nancy. Several have already done this study, but are excited to do it again. Those of us (including me) who have not yet done the study are encouraged that even those who have done it want to do it again! We will meet on Tuesdays and will finish up the study on November 17. (Our Women's Bible Study meets on Tuesdays... 9-11am and 7-9pm.)

The Fall Midweek Study kicks off a on Wednesday, September 16. The study is "Answers in Genesis" and the DVD teaching is done by Kenneth Ham. Craig Barrett will be leading this study which focuses on preparing Christians to stand firm in, and defend, their faith. (Our Midweek study meets 6:30-8pm on Wednesday evenings.)

Saturday, September 19 will be our fourth Men's Breakfast, which meets at 7:30am. It's been a great time of food, fellowship, and the Word... and we look forward to more of the same! (The Men's Breakfast meets on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 7:30am.)

"Mistaken Identity" is an amazing book (true story). It is the story of two college age girls who were in an accident... one buried under the wrong name, one in a coma being cared for by the wrong family. The testimony you'll read is amazing! You won't want to miss this book! Our Women's Book Club will meet on Monday, September 21 at 7pm to discuss the book. It will be a powerful discussion! Kim Kost came up with the idea of having a book club, and she is our point person for this outreach. (The Women's Book Club meets on the 3rd Monday of the month at 7pm.)

Kelly had the honor of being asked to baptize Mike Derichsweiler (Kelly's niece, Kirsten's husband)! So, he will be doing just that on September 25 at Newport Beach. What a blessing that will be! We have been thrilled to watch Mike & Kirsten live their lives for Christ, and strive to raise their daughter up in him as well! (And, they just found out that they're pregnant, so keep this new baby in your prayers!) We're exited to be able to share this special memory with them!

On October 13 Kelly & Suzanne will be hosting a table at the Young Life Banquet. Young Life is hoping to start up a club in Bishop starting in February, 2010. Kelly & Suzanne have been asked to be on the team (board or leadership), and are prayerfully considering.

The following week Kelly & Suzanne will be attending the Talbot Alumni Retreat. They are looking forward to this time to fellowship with others who are also serving the Lord. It will be a time of rest, reflection, and refreshment.

December is a busy month! But we are excited to host our first Women's Christmas Brunch Outreach on December 12 at 10am! The theme is "Prince of Peace," and Laura Talbot will be our speaker. Jessica Burchett will be doing worship and our special music. The Women's Ministry Team has asked Suzanne to give a bit of a presentation of Heritage Makers as a Christmas craft idea. We are excited about this outreach to our community, and pray that it will be an encouragement and a blessing to all who attend! We also pray that people will come to know the Lord... either for the first time, or in a deeper and more personal way. Please join us in praying for this event and all that goes into making it happen.

The Lord is good! We are so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing here in Bishop! Please continue to pray for the Lord to bring in the people and the finances that are needed for our church to continue ministering to our community!

Thank you for your prayers and support! We are so thankful for you!

Summer 2009

This summer was full!

Our buddies from the Southern Baptist Church (the pastor and his wife) moved back to Hesperia... he is now the assistant pastor of their home church. We thought the church was going to dissolve and come to our church, but they decided to continue meeting.

We had a HUGE Rummage Sale to raise money for the church... it was a success! We raised over $1,500 (tripled our goal)! Praise the Lord!

The Men's Breakfast (once a month) continues to be a success! It's a great time of fellowship and sharing of the Word. (And, of course, food!)

In August we started a Women's Book Club. We read "I Dared To Call Him Father." It was written by a Muslim Woman in Pakistan who became a Christian. It was a great book, and we had a wonderful discussion!

Our focus for our midweek study during the summer was "Can You Hear Me Now?"

Towards the end of August we had a Family Campout... and camped out at Bishop Creek Group Campground. Tent camping! We had s'mores, campfire, singing, fellowship... a fun time was had by all!

We're excited to see how things go in the Fall... lots of stuff planned!

I always have great plans for keeping this blog updated. I'm so sorry that I fail at those plans... consistently. Please forgive me for not keeping up with this better!

Prayers Requested

We received word yesterday from Ken Cluff that Kyle, a young man (22) that had been working at Cardinal Village for the last several summers, was killed in a rock climbing fall.

Kyle was a vibrant young man who loved the Lord deeply, and was quick to fill in wherever he saw a need. He finished strong... his actions and attitude are an example for us all!

We grieve the loss to this world, but celebrate Kyle's entrance into the presence of his beloved Lord.

Please be praying...
... for his brother, Chris, who was with him when this happened
... for his parents and the rest of his siblings, who are up in northern Washington (near Spokane).
... for Ken as he takes care of the details on this end
... for the Cluff family as they comfort their close friends and try to continue to run Cardinal Village in the midst of this loss... and of the fires (they were evacuated and are supposed to be let back up there today)
... for the Cardinal Village staff as they mourn the loss of their friend and co-worker
... for all those affected by the loss of Kyle
... for all the details that need to be taken care of
... for the memorial service that will probably take place in Washington this weekend
... for the memorial service that will take place at Cardinal Village (date not set)

For those who have been praying for Jaco... the young man who was injured in an accident in June... he is back in Holland... we haven't received much information since he was transported back there... but here is the blog... check for updates... http://www.prayforjaco.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your prayers!

July 1, 2009... our one year anniversary in Bishop!

July 1, 2009 is our one year anniversary with Bishop Creek Community Church, so I thought we’d give you an overview of some of what’s happened during that time!

On July 1, 2008, we moved to Bishop, California. Kelly was the new pastor at Bishop Creek Community Church, an Evangelical Free Church. We went up to Bishop for the first time in January and had been voted on in February, but between Kelly’s finishing school and Suzanne’s finishing teaching, we couldn’t move up until July.

Bishop Creek Community Church is made up of an amazing group of people! They had been without a pastor for 16 months (when they voted us in), but they had held together… because they felt the Lord had told them to! We are SO thrilled and blessed to be a part of this family!

We spent the first few months getting settled and getting to know people in the church.

In August we had two major celebrations! The first was Kelly’s installation service… Steve Elliott (who had been working with Bishop Creek Community Church since the pastor left and had even helped get the church started several years ago) and Wally Norling (Kelly’s mentor, and previous EFCA Superintendent) were able to come up and be a part of the service and celebration. It was great (you can see it online… there are links on our website)! Afterwards we all went over to David & Sherrin Pratt’s home for a BBQ. A great time was had by all!

A few weeks later the whole community was celebrating! Kayla Talbot, a 19 year old member of our church, had gotten sick in April… which had caused her whole body to go septic, and she ended up in a comma for 10 weeks, and in the hospital for several months. She was well enough to leave the hospital and come home! We literally lined the street she lives on with people, posters, balloons,… and it was a BIG deal for our community! So many, from so many churches, had been praying for her! We enjoyed the anticipation… the phone calls seeing how far out they were, the excitement of seeing the car turn onto the street… and even how excited her dog was to see her after so many months! This was a real, live miracle… and we were ALL witnesses to it! PTL! (You may have been one of the many who were praying… if so… THANK YOU!)

In September Kelly started writing a weekly article for the Inyo Register, the local paper here in Bishop… it’s called “By the Creek.” Kelly writes the articles every week or two… others from the church (mostly) submit them the weeks Kelly doesn’t. (These are posted on our website)

Later on that month we had our first child dedication... it was such a blessing when Kelly brought Anthony down the middle of the aisle and the whole church gathered around and prayed for his life!

In October we had a baptism... Kelly was able to baptize 7 of our youth! It was a great time of witnessing what the Lord was doing in each of their young lives, and listening to their testimonies! We followed it up with a potluck... something we always love to do... food and fellowship!!

The Southern Baptist pastor and his wife (Chuck & Terri Stone) moved up to Bishop a couple months before we did. We became good friends and do stuff together often. In October or November of 2009 we started leading worship at their church (as they had no one to do it and it was a serious need).

In November, we started “The Truth Project” (put out by Focus on the Family) for our midweek service. It met in our living room (starting the week we moved in to the house we’re renting), and had up to 29 adults each week (and up to 10 kids!). It was sure a full house (literally)! We had chairs everywhere! We had no idea it would be so well attended! If you have not had an opportunity to view “The Truth Project,” we would encourage you to do so! It’s very well done, and those we’ve spoken to have really enjoyed it (including us!).

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Bodes down in Huntington Beach at George & Peggy Tous’ house… it was fun to hang out with everyone and catch up! The next day we celebrated it with the Larsons in Fullerton at Mike & Kirsten Derischweiler’s house… more fun and catching up! After family time, we drove up to Green Valley Lake to spend the rest of the weekend up there. We were able to catch up with friends there and attend the annual GVL Tree Lighting party. This was the first time we’d been to Green Valley Lake for a LONG time!

Christmas was spent in Bishop… Christmas Eve dinner at Tom & Laura Talbot’s, followed by a late evening visit to Craig & Robin Barrett’s. Christmas afternoon at Robyn Wisdom’s, and Christmas evening with the Krugers and the three generations of Pratts at David & Sherrin Pratt’s. We were truly made to feel like family at each place!

After Christmas Chuck & Terri (Southern Baptist church) approached us about having our church move in to their building. They average 5-10 people, so they called us the “mega church.” (Our church was averaging 40-45… including kids.)

There is a group of pastors that meet once a month… the Bishop Ministerial Association… in January Kelly became the secretary. Some of them also meet weekly to pray together. One of the pastors… of a Lutheran church, has a local radio show on Sunday mornings that Kelly has been invited to occasionally help with. It’s called “The Pastor’s Round Table.” Recently, Kelly was asked to be a part of the show about every other week! (Sierra Wave 8:00-8:30am on Sunday mornings).

The last week of February the Women’s Ministry of Bishop Creek officially started up again… with Beth Moore’s “The Patriarchs” study. There were two groups… Tuesday evening and Thursday morning. Suzanne attended both, and facilitated the Thursday morning study. This is a great study, if you haven’t done it!

In February, Suzanne also tried to start up a ministry to Ministry Wives in Bishop… but after two months of meeting, it seemed like the timing was not right, and this idea is on hold… for the moment…

In March Bishop Creek Community Church had its annual meeting. Steve & Elaine Elliott were there to celebrate our one year anniversary as an official EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) church. We were voting in new bylaws to our constitution (which included the updated EFCA Statement of Faith), elders, budget, partnership (their term for membership… we were starting fresh, so everyone was becoming a partner/member that wanted to, even if they had been before… there were 30 in all… including us), and whether or not to move to a new building (at the Southern Baptist church our sign could be up all week long and we could have midweek meetings, and the Seventh Day Adventist church only allowed us to be there on Sunday afternoons and was raising the rent). Each item passed unanimously. Praise the Lord!

Our elders are Ed Kruger (who is 91 years old, but full of ideas and love for the Lord and our church… his family is well represented in our church… four generations!) and Craig Barrett (who is in his 50s and is a businessman… he and his wife have two adopted daughters in 4th grade). Both are godly men who are a blessing to our church!
We “tried out the potential new church building” the last week of February and the first week of March, and then voted on it the second week of March. This building is the home of the Southern Baptist Church in Bishop. The Southern Baptist church meets in the morning, and ours meets at 4pm in the afternoon, so there was no conflict in schedule. We were also excited about being able to use the church for mid-week studies!

The week after the vote Suzanne’s parents came up for a visit (and to celebrate her birthday). It was a busy few days, but very enjoyable! Kelly & Suzanne drove her parents home (they had flown up… to Mammoth). They were heading south to LAX to fly out to Kauai… so the timing worked out perfect!

After a year and 3 months without Kauai, Kelly and Suzanne were excited to get there and see everyone! (They had been going three times a year for several years, so this was culture shock!) It was wonderful to be able to see old friends and catch up with everyone! We spent LOTS of time with John & Vera Blalock… mmm, good cooking and good fellowship! Kelly preached the first Sunday for Matt… and we got to spend some time with Matt & Ruth Victor, Nate & Leah Aiwohi, Cliff & Patty Furtado, Mike & Sarah Lagana, and Robert & Amy Cremer. Yeah! Not too much down time… but lots of good catching up time! ☺ It was so good to share with everyone what was going on in Bishop, and all the Lord had done since we last saw them! (Three days after we were last in Kauai we visited Bishop for the first time.)

The Sunday that we got home was Palm Sunday. The next week was Easter… and we had a joint service with the Southern Baptist church. We had several visitors from down south on Easter… Chuck Van Allen was up with Kelly’s brother, Scott, doing floors for one of the church families. Chuck’s wife, Debbie, came up with the kids and her mother for the week and to celebrate Easter. And, Floyd & Libby Spangler (and son, Chris) showed up too! It was fun introducing our “Generations” friends to our Bishop Creek friends!

The week after Easter, Kelly started a sermon series in Acts. (Perfect timing for right after Easter!) Did you know that all of Kelly’s sermons are posted on Bishop Creek’s website? You can also get them off iTunes (“Creekside Sermons,” Kelly Larson, Bishop Creek Community Church… there’s no logo yet… still working on that). Check them out!

In May we were able to go down to Don & Marcia Bode’s house in Lake Arrowhead to a Bode family party for Paul & Dimmy Bulthuis, Suzanne’s dad’s cousin and his wife… who were visiting from Holland. It was great to meet them, and to hang out with all the family! Dick and Barb Bode came in from Texas just to join the party!

May is a big month in Bishop… Mule Days is the biggest event of the year! It is the week before Memorial Day… so we celebrated Kelly’s birthday (a small surprise party over at David & Sherrin Pratt’s house) and Mule Days in the same week! This year was our first time to be a part of the Mule Days festivities… and we did enjoy them (much to our surprise). We teamed with the Southern Baptist church to pass out hot dogs/cookies/cupcakes/water to those on the Mule Days parade route! That was a fun outreach to our community! We also helped the Southern Baptist church with their “Block Party” the following week… which was supposed to be an outreach to those in the neighborhood, but turned out to be a party for believers from other churches in the community… not what we expected, but still good. ☺

In June, Suzanne invited several women to be a part of the Women’s Minsitries Leadership Team… and they met for the first time. It was a good meeting, and they plan to start a Book Club in August, and decided on Bible studies for the fall and January! (“The Way of Agape” by Chuck & Nancy Missler in the fall, and “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper in January.) We’ll meet again in July to contemplate other ideas and get organized for the fall.

Kelly started a men’s breakfast in June as well… a monthly meeting… several showed up, and they all stayed at least an hour longer than planned. Yeah!

A few days ago we found out that Chuck & Terri Stone (Southern Baptist), will be moving back to the Victorville area to be on staff at their home church in Hesperia. They will be in Bishop until September. We do not know what will happen from there… both churches need wisdom and direction, please join us in praying for this new chapter. We know God is in control… and that he has a plan… and we want to be a part of His plan!

Right now we are in Minneapolis… just finished at the annual EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) National Leadership Conference. The conference started Tuesday… and we really enjoyed it... good teaching and fellowship! Kelly met with Paul Schleip to talk about the process of getting licensed or ordained through the EFCA… please pray that this process will go smoothly… that he will have wisdom and favor!

Friday (June 26) we will celebrate our 10th anniversary. This weekend we will go to Wisconsin to see Kelly’s uncles and attend Kelly’s parents’ high school reunion. We are excited to get to see the family… Suzanne had never been to Minneapolis or Wisconsin… What a great opportunity!

We are loving being involved in Bishop! Thank you for your continued support… whether it be financial or prayer! If you would like to partner with us financially, please contact us. The support (tax deductable) allows Suzanne to continue working with the church… doing the website, administrative support, women’s ministries, and coming alongside Kelly to visit people and set up the church schedule/activities... The financial support has allowed Suzanne to join Kelly in investing time and energy in the church during this first year in ministry… it has been a blessing!

All of your prayers have been invaluable to us! Through them the Lord has protected us and provided for us. He has opened and closed doors. He has drawn us nearer to Himself, and used us to touch others for His glory! Please continue to lift us, and our church, up to our Heavenly Father! Pray for us to be able to clearly hear what the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts, and for the boldness to step forth in that. Please pray for growth in our church… growth in the depth of relationship with the Lord and then growth in the number of people we are able to minister to and with!

We are so excited to be able to share with you the things the Lord is doing, and are thrilled to have you partner with us in this amazing journey we’re on… serving our Lord!!!

Hope to hear from you!

Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement!

Kelly & Suzanne Larson ☺
church website… www.BishopCreekCommunity.org
church email… BishopCreek@mac.com
Larsons4Jesus@gmail.com
P.O. Box 1271
Bishop, CA 93515

Bishop Creek Update

January through March, Bishop Creek Community Church had a sermon series on the Evangelical Free Church of America's Statement of Faith. It went very well, and was a great way to get the whole church up to speed on the Evangelical Free Church beliefs (kind of a mass church membership class!).

On March 8 we finished up the series, and had our annual church meeting. It was a big day for Bishop Creek! We were making decisions on the Bylaws to the Constitution, Membership, Elders, Budget, and whether or not to move to a different building. The Bylaws passed, 30 members were accepted in, we now have two elders (Ed Kruger and Craig Barrett), the budget passed, and we decided to move to a different building!

We had been prayerfully considering sharing the Southern Baptist's church building, and are now there full time. Their service is in the morning, and our church continues to meet at 4:00pm in the afternoon on Sundays. Kelly and Suzanne are good friends with Chuck and Terri (the pastor of the Southern Baptist Church and his wife). The four of them are like-hearted... very committed to the Word and being a Light in the community for Christ! They love talking about ministry things, and the Lord has blessed their friendship!

Bishop Creek has now celebrated it's first year anniversary as an official Evangelical Free Church. Steve Elliott was able to join us on March 8... he gave the last message on the Statement of Faith, was there for the annual meeting, and then we all celebrated by feasting at our potluck! A wonderful time was had by all! Check out the pictures!

We are so thrilled at all the Lord is doing at Bishop Creek Community Church! If you are ever in the Bishop area (or driving through), please give us a call! We'd love to have you come to church... or at least meet for coffee!

We're going to be doing the One Year Bible this year... and found some neat!

Since Kelly is preaching out of the ESV (English Standard Version), that's the version we're reading.

CHECK  OUT  THIS  LINK... http://www.esv.org/biblereadingplans 

We are doing "Every Day in the Word" (which is the format of the One Year Bible), but there are many to choose from.

Also, once you pick the one you want you can...

~ read it on the WEB... or have it read to you (click LISTEN)!

~ RSS (which I think subscribes you to it like subscribing to a Blog)

~ have it EMAILED to you each day

~ iCAL (have each day's reading put on your calendar)

~ MOBILE (I don't know, but I'm guessing this puts it in a text message??)

~ or you can PRINT it out

If you want to do ESV with us, that's great, it was fun to see how many options were available!  

There are a lot of other versions out there in this format if you prefer.  Don't know if they offer as much online.  

Happy New Year!!!

Suzanne  J