Haiti Mission Trip Parent Info Night

      We are excited to announce that Saturday, November 21st through Saturday November 28th of 2015 we will be traveling to Haiti on a mission trip. We will be going through an organization that’s already planted in Haiti to make sure we have direction, our time is fully utilized, and our group stays safe. The total price of the trip will be determined once we reserve our airfare in January but should be between $1600 and $2000.

      We will have three main projects for the seven days that we’re serving. The organization that we’re working with, Restore Haiti, is a child-sponsorship program so some of our time will be spent serving and visiting with sponsored children. Haiti is also recovering from the massive earthquake that hit in 2010, so one of the projects we will be helping with is building houses. This will be a very different process than what we’re used to in the United States as we will not have a local Home Depot to run to, we will making our resources from the earth. The third thing we will be doing in Haiti is a project of our choosing. This can be putting on an event, performing at their church service, doing a distribution of some kind, our options are open to what gifts and talents we have in our team.

       When planning this trip, we were very selective in which organization we chose to go through because while we want our group to get a sense for life in a third-world country, our top priority is safety. Restore Haiti has been in Jacmel running weekly missionary teams since 2005 and has multiple precautions in place to make sure we stay healthy and safe the entire time. We will discuss these safety precautions more in depth at our parent informational night.

       Our Parent Information Night will be on Monday, November 17th at 6:00pm at RiverView Community Church (6325 Old Pacific Hwy S Kalama). Any teenager that will be in High School in the 2015-2016 school year is welcome to come with their parent or legal guardian. This meeting will provide your family all the details you need about this trip. You will then have through the holidays to decide if this is something you are interested in being a part of and we will begin forming our team in January. We will discuss fundraising in more detail at the meeting as well, so please don’t let the initial shock of a possible $2,000 keep you from coming to hear more! 

       We’re looking forward to everything the Lord has prepared in advance for us to do in these following months and hope you will join us in a couple weeks to hear even more about this trip. I've attached multiple links below if you're interested in looking up more about the organization.
  
Restore Haiti Website       Restore Haiti Facebook Page      Restore Haiti Mission Reviews 

Nou pral an Ayiti!

 

Creole to English Translation: We're Going to Haiti! Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere with 78% of Haitians living on less than $2 a day and more than half, 54%, living in extreme poverty surviving on less than $1 a day. Electricity is intermittent, a 2-3 bedroom home houses an average of 6 people with over 60% of these homes having dirt floors and no access to sanitized water or restrooms. For haitians, cold water isn't a challenge for ALS it's a daily reality. 

 Youth Pastor's Robbie & Karissa Neal have been feeling called to take the teens on a mision trip for a few months now and last Friday felt God's leading to Haiti. "We will be partnering with a ministry that's already in Haiti and that has experience organizing Christian volunteer teams in Jacmel (about 50 miles West of the Capital, Porte-au-Prince). In this way, we will make sure we have direction, our limited time is fully utilized, and our group stays safe."(Karissa Neal)
Our group will be working with hundreds of sponsored children, serving them their daily meal, playing soccer with them, sharing the love of Christ with them, and getting to know them and their culture. We will more than likely be helping with a construction project of some kind and will have a project specific to our group to complete. This is normally an event that we host, such as a dinner or VBS. 

Many details are still in the works and dependent on when we are needed most. Our goal is to plan for a week in December of 2015 or Kalama's Spring Break dates in 2016, but again, this could change. Our cost will be kept very attainable at $1100-$1400 (depending on airfare and time of year). As soon as we've confirmed our travel dates, we'll send out the date of our first informational meeting for interested teens and their parents.
We're sharing this before we even have dates set so you can be praying with us for the Lord's direction and direct intervention in the planning, fundraising, traveling, and participation in this trip. Follow our blog, facebook page, twitter page, and website to stay updated, it's going to be an awesome opportunity for our teens.

Find us online!

Facebook

Following or Liking our Facebook page is a great way to keep up to date on what's going on but also to receive reminders about upcoming events. Facebook is also where the majority of our photos get uploaded from services and events so is a more visual representation of the church.

Click here to visit our Facebook Page 

 

 

 

Our Website

In the past, our website has been pretty bare-bones and only used for our address and contact info. It is now however, updated constantly and has everything you could want/need to know about the church and different ministries going on. We have information about all of the children's, youth, family, men's, & women's ministries and the pastor's that lead them. There's a calendar with all of the events marked out. Weekly sermon PowerPoints and Podcasts are uploaded and available. You can reach this blog from the website. You can find out how to get involved with the church and you can even securely give your tithes & offerings through PayPal. So, add us to your toolbar for quick access or just click on the link below to check it out. It's a great place to go to find out everything about what's going on with the church!
Click here to visit our website

Twitter

New as of this month, we also have a twitter page you can follow. This is an excellent way to get short reminders and updates on what's going on at the church. Occasional photos are also uploaded to twitter.

Click here to visit our Twitter Page 

The Power of Prayer

Those who have been attending RiverView this past week, will admit it's impossible to not recognize that the Lord is doing something incredible in our body. Wednesday night at Youth Ignite Club, approximately 50 teens gathered at the altars, huddled around friends praying for one another, or found a place to worship during altar call. Sunday morning, at both services, the altars were overflowing as church members came forward in the physical act of surrender. This desperate hunger for the Lord in the youth and adults is something new to this community, so why now? If you ask Youth Pastor Robbie Neal or Senior Pastor Rob Neuschwander, they will both answer in the same way: Prayer.

The youth group, Ignite's, leadership team usually meets an hour before clubs and has one person pray for the evening and then starts going into roles and scheduling. This week however, leaders gathered in a circle and spent the majority of the leader meeting seeking God and praying for different aspects of the night and different teenagers that may walk through the door. The result of the leadership team humbling themselves and surrendering every aspect of the night to God meant freedom of the Spirit to fill the place.

Our first Sunday morning service begins at 9:15am. However, this week, doors to the sanctuary opened at 8:00am with the words "Seek First" showing on the main screen while the band rehearsed for the morning. The church staff and leadership paced the church or found a place to sit or kneel and pray. The result of the leadership surrendering all to Christ was again, unbelievable.

Continue praying for your family, friends, the church body, this Community, and the world. Your prayers are powerful!

Grand Opening & Harvest Fest

Our Grand Opening & Harvest Party last Saturday was a blast! We saw old church members, current members, and new faces all join together for the festivities.

The hay ride was always packed with people and made many trips around the town. Lunch was delicious, as was the homemade hot cider made directly from Pastor Rob Neuschwander's Antique Cider Press. Pumpkin decorating in the main sanctuary turned out to be a great family event as everyone any age could participate in decorating a pumpkin. The bounce house was a blast for all the children and was always crowded. Lastly, the Sumo Suit Wrestling was a hit as Children, teenagers, and adults piled into a fat suit and wrestled friends and family out of the ring any way possible.

We hope you got the chance to join in on the fun but if you did not, consider joining us on Sunday or for one of our mid-week ministries-while bounce castles and sumo suit wrestling aren't always on the agenda, we always have a great time together.

Hay ride led driven by Chris Syvertsen

Harvest Fest lunch BBQ'd by Mike & Marie

Debra & Becky visiting over lunch

Pumpkin decorating

Preston (blue) & Rio (red) Sumo Suit Wrestling

Sumo Suit Wrestling

Sumo Suit Wrestling

Weekly Ministries

Interested in joining a study but unsure of when everything is? Here is our run down of the different ministries going on throughout the week at RiverView.

Wednesday

Men's Bible Study 

Men meet Wednesday evenings at 6:30 at Nathan Burke's House (537 N 3rd Place, Kalama) and go through the study "Wild at Heart." Men are encouraged to bring a bible, pen, and a notebook.



Youth Ignite Club

Youth grades 7th-12th meet Wednesday evenings from 7:32-8:45 at the church building for Ignite. There's music, games, food, game tables, and a message about Christ.

 Thursday

Family Night

Families are invited to join us on Thursday evenings from 6:00-7:30 at the church for a soup and bread dinner, worship, and message delivered by Pastor Rob Neuschwander on the topic of Spiritual Warfare.

 Friday

Women's Bible Study

Women meet Friday mornings at 10:00 at the church to go through a study on 1 John led by Denise Burke. Women are encouraged to bring a bible, pen, and notebook or journal. Childcare is provided.

Sunday

Church

Two services are available every Sunday morning. One from 9:15-10:30am and another from 11:15-12:30pm. Both services are identical in format consisting of worship and a sharing of the word. Free breakfast is also available between 10:45am and 11:15am.



Choir

Everyone ages 12+ is welcome to join in the preschool room at the church for choir practice on Sunday evenings from 6:30-7:30.



You can also visit http://www.kalamariverviewcommunitychurch.com/ministries.html to get more details on all of these ministries and the Pastor's that lead them!

Our First Family Night!

Pastor Rob Neuschwander sharing on Spiritual Warfare

Our first week of Family night entertained about 25 adults and their children. It was a fun evening of breaking bread (and delicious soup-thank you Allen) and fellowship. The group engaged in 4 worship songs lead by Mark, Chivalo, & Rob and then dove into the first week of studying the series "Spiritual Warfare" lead by Pastor Rob Neuschwander.

Small Group Break-Out

Following the shared word, adults broke into small groups and discussed personal application of the word.
It was a great first meeting providing a chance to connect with one another and start to uncover why the devil is still causing chaos and how we can fight back. We're meeting every Thursday evening at 6:00 at the church through mid-December.




If you missed our first Family Night, check out the PowerPoint Notes on our website: www.kalamariverviewcommunitychurch.com 

Welcome to Ignite!!!

Teens joined together in worship

Cheering, clapping, and shouting filled the parking lot creating an exciting atmosphere as leaders welcomed teens back into the groove of Wednesday night clubs. The doors to the building were opened at 7:15pm, with club starting at 7:30.
Clubs were kicked off in a different format than has been done in the past. While past clubs were very heavy in YouTube videos and games, this year clubs are more focused on longer messages, live worship, and teens coming up front sharing words to their friends.

This is not to say, however, that games weren't a part of our programming. There was still a level of added craziness with Picture Telephone, Balloon Jousting, and Mermaid Soccer. Mermaid Soccer (pictured) was our highlight game of the night. Three teens had their ankles taped together and had to race to get their balloon down the room. This game made for lots of laughs as the volunteers hobbled around bumping into one another.

After all of the worship and hobbling around, Pastor Robbie took the stage to share a message with the youth. He shared the story of The Bleeding Woman and about Jesus wanting us to be Free. The contingency being that in order to be truly free, we have to accept and live out what God has called us to be, not what the world has.



Last night made for a great kick-off club and we're excited to see what God has in store for the rest of the semester!