Foothill Focus

Some of you have had me ask you the question,"Are you a more 1st-person,2ndperson, or 3rd-person Christian?" Most of you responded initially with a blank stare until I explained what I meant. I was referring to the three persons of the Trinity -Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While all Christian churches affirm the trinitarian nature of God, most tend to put more emphasis on one person of the godhead over the others. If you had a church upbringing, you have probably adopted that church's focus. I would have to say having grown up in the Evangelical Covenant Church which I would consider a 2nd-person church, I tend to be a 2nd-person Christian. My language about, my thoughts of, my images of God tend to focus on Jesus. The focus can deepen my experience of God, but it can also impoverish it.

Because I was next most familiar with God, the Father, I could easily address God as father. However as I grew up, the Holy Spirit (or as we sometime recited -the Holy Ghost) was a mystery. With the rise of the pentecostal and charismatic churches in our lifetimes, the person and work of the Holy Sprit has become much more real to me, both as an idea, but more so as a person with whom I have a relationship.

As we approach Pentecost (May 11th) it is appropriate that we spend some time thinking and talking about the Holy Spirit. I will be preaching about Paul's command to all Christians to "be filled with the Spirit"(Ephesians 5.18). We will consider the person and work of the Spirit. How we can be filled with the Spirit. And how we can tell if we have been filled with the Holy Spirit? I hope that it will help us live more deeply in response to the voice and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

VISION TO ACTION

What's happening on our vision teams. There continues to be a feeling that we are beingtransformed even as we seek ways to be agents of transformation in our communities. Here's what's happening

Community Connections: The team will be meeting this month to evaluate the past events,including the HUNT and to look ahead to coming community events. Coming in late Julyand early August are the "mini-Music Camp" and the Neighborhood BBQ. If you would liketo be involved in these events or join the team, please talk to Mark Liedstrand.

Mentor/Tutors: Our six Foothill mentors and tutors continue to be actively involved inmentoring or tutoring at area schools. We hope to have some of our students come and sharetheir experience with over the past year. PNG has given "permission" for us to share thestory in this way.

Fourth Ministries: Kay Roberts leads a weekly yoga exercise class at Noon on Wednesdaysthat has gathered a large group of women both from Foothill Covenant and from the broadspectrum of people who make up our Bay area community. It may be one of the most diversegroups that currently gathers in our facilities regularly.

MAY WORSHIP/PREACHING -In Ephesians 5.18, Paul tells us to "be filled with theSpirit". During May, we will discover what the Bible says about thefilling of the Holy Spirit.

May 4 -"Who Is the Holy Spirit?" - Jim GMay 11 -"Who Can Be Filled with the Holy Spirit?" - Jim GMay 18 -"How Can I Be Filled with the Holy Spirit? I" - Jim GMay 25 -"How Can I Be Filled with the Holy Spirit? II" - Jim G

Sympathy - We extend our sympathy to Lisa McDaniel upon the loss of her husband, Lee, who died on April 1, 2008. Lee was a long-time member of FoothillCovenant who has suffered from cancer over the past few years. A family memorialservice has been held. Pray for Lisa and her children and grandsons as they mournthe lost of their husband, father, and grandfather. Peace be to his memory.

Welcome Home! to Helen Matthews who has recently moved back to the Bay area from Arizona. Helen will be living at Belmont Village,500 S. Winchester Blvd. Room 507,San Jose, CA 95128,408.261.9640.

MISSION SPRINGS Summer 2008 CAMPS/RETREAT BROCHURES ARE AVAILABLE!

Find out what's going on this summer at Mission Springs for children and youth at FrontierRanch and Wild Oak and for families. You'll get your questions answered and find registration information and forms. The brochures are available in the lobby and office.

MISSION SPRINGS Camps & Retreats

Family Camp June 30 - July 6, 2008

Detailed brochures and registrations information are available online atwww.missionsprings.com.

BSF International

April 2008

Dear Pastor,

Your generosity in opening your facilities for Bible Study Fellowship is greatly appreciated.We want to thank you and your congregation for your willingness to be a host church for our2007-2008 class year. It is a privilege to share with you in the Lord's service.

The work of Bible Study Fellowship continues to increase across the United States andaround the world. Your participation and support encourages us as we continue in this ministry. We rejoice when we hear of lives that have been blessed through the study of God'sWord, and we know you do as well.

It is our prayer that you and your church will be greatly used and joyfully fulfilled in the ministry God has given you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Jean Nystrand

Executive Director

Also . . .

BSF invites interested women to come to Foothill Covenant on May 6th orMay 13th from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. for an orientation about next year's class. From September 2008 to May 2009, BSF will be studying the life of Moses in the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The class meets on Tuesday mornings at FCC.If you have questions call Ann Henderson, 408.245.3638.

(This letter to the editor appeared in a San Jose neighborhood paper after a picture was published of the demolition of the old First Covenant Church building under the heading "First Covenant Church is Gone". Foothill Covenant is a part of the ongoing legacy of First Covenant Church having been planted by Peninsula Covenant and First Covenant Churches in the early 1960s.)

First Covenant Building is gone, but Church is not

I wanted to thank you for covering the demolition of what used to be the First CovenantChurch building at 790 Coe Ave. It was the site of personally significant events for manypeople over the more than 50 years it stood on that corner. In our attempts to share what wehad given when the property was ours, we accepted requests from countless communitygroups for activities on the site. In addition, members and friends of our own 116-year-oldcongregation have precious memories of life together inside those special walls. The end of the building's life as a place for community and congregational gathering is well worth noting.

I also wanted to correct an unintentionally misleading aspect of your coverage. There is much more left of First Covenant Church than the rubble of our former meeting place. We did not die upon the sale of our facility, but rather are in the beginning stages of a new phaseof life and ministry in Willow Glen and beyond. We have a new name - New Life Covenant Church - new offices at 1660 Hamilton, Suite 205 and a new meeting place at Willow GlenMiddle School in the choir room and library. Our new website, newlifesanjose.org, will beup shortly, but our transition website, newlifefcc.com, has been up for about a year.

In accordance with the vision that lead to the sale of the property, we are in the process of relaunching our church with a new emphasis on community ministry, assisting with needs inour community in a targeted way, and sponsoring the formation of multiple new church congregations that can more effectively serve various components of our increasingly diversepopulation.

Church buildings are an important part of the ministry of many churches, but they are just atool for the work of God and the congregation. We concluded that our assets previously represented by the facility could be more effectively used for these purposes at this time of transition for our congregation and the community and culture at large, so we sold. We are not dead or dying in any sense.

Kevin Budd

Senior Pastor

Women's Bible Study

Class continues on Wednesday mornings at 9:45 am in the Fireside Room. Marian Ecklund will be leading us in "Experiencing the Passion Of Christ." Everyone is welcome to this continuing study, which will go until May 28th, the last day of our study year.

Women's Lunch Bunch

We will meet at the Country Gourmet in Sunnyvale for lunch on the first Thursday of each month at 11:30 am, in this case May 1, 2008. Please call Ona Avent (408-984-7625) for more information.

Stretch Yoga Class

We continue our Stretch Yoga class on Wednesdays at Noon in the spring. Call Kay Roberts (408-255-7817) for more information.

Men's Breakfast

Men's Breakfast: Come on May 17th at 8:00 a.m. to the Fireside Room. We'll be talking about "dealing with anger". Please join us to eat a hearty breakfast in good fellowship.

Per, Doug, Lyle and Stan

Men's Lunch

Men of Foothill, please join us for lunch and informal conversation on Thursday, May 1st at Noon. However be aware that we've moved from our old meeting place in Palo Alto to Brian's Restaurant in Los Altos in the Rancho Shopping Center on Foothill and Magdalena.. Please call Jim Gaderlund at 650.967.7447 with any questions

BOOK NEWS

We never tire of meeting together and talking books! So an unusually warmSunday afternoon did not deter thirteen book lovers from gathering once again.

Here is a brief sampling of some of the books our page-turners have enjoyed. Four lighthearted books fun to read are Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man;" "The Welkening," a fantasyby Professor Greg Spencer; "Eyre Affair," set in England by Jasper Fford; and Anne Tyler's"Digging to America" where an Iranian and an American family have a chance meeting at theairport while waiting for the arrival of two babies they have adopted from Korea.

Non-fiction "The Zoo Keeper's Wife" is a courageous story set in Warsaw, Poland in WWIIduring the Nazi occupation, where the zoo became a hiding place for jewish refugees. The author is Diane Ackerman. "The Distant Land of My Father" is an intriguing novel by BoCaldwell set against a backdrop of pre-war Shanghai. Los Angeles Times called it the bestbook of the year.

And for the amateur psychologists among us you might find "It All Goes Back in the Box" byJohn Ortberg to your liking. "Bird by Bird" by inspirational wordsmith Anne Lamott, a N.Y.Times best selling author who chronicles for us what she calls her "erratic" journey intoChristianity. "Home to Holly Springs" by Jan Karon, her latest book about Father Tim, nowretired, and his return to his home town with surprising results.

"Ninety Minutes in Heaven" by John Piper is a non-fiction N.Y. Times best seller - a ministeron the otherworldly experience he had after an accident. "A Memo to the President Elect" byMadelaine Albright, former Secretary of State under the Clinton administration, with someinsights acquired from her years as a Washington D.C. insider.

We also enjoyed hearing author Phyllis Lynch read from her recently published children'sbook "GiGi, the Funny Little Dog." And Becky Mulder shared two of her paintings from theart class she is taking at Foothill.

I trust this will tempt you to join us next time with some of your suggestions.