E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Newsletter- Jan 2011

Do you ever feel you're like you're not good enough, or righteous enough, to be of any use to God? Jacob, son of Isaac, is a great example of someone who was deeply flawed and yet was promised great things by the Lord. Learning about Jacob's life has provided our middle and high school students an opportunity to experience God as He reveals Himself to us in the Bible: a keeper of promises, a designer of perfect plans, and One who loves us unconditionally. Here are a few fun ministry highlights from the last couple months:


Our annual E.P.I.C. Christmas party at Garth and Kathy's house


Freeze!



Pizza and Playstation 3 at Garth & Kathy's house



Patrick and Jackie (pictured with Ben and Will's mom, Janelle) portraying Joseph and Mary in our church's annual Christmas Extravaganza


Two wonderful student plays from our Aloha High School students: "Reckless," and "The Uninvited."

Happy New Year!
Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

Here are a few bonus pics for this online version:


Cheering for the Aloha High School Warriors, who captured the Oregon 6A State Football Championship 34-13!




Student pile-ups on Wednesday night

Ben making his debut as the service "flow person" in Big Church


Rocking out to the "Nothing and Everything" tour with Disciple, Red, Brian "Head" Welch, and Silverline (concert photos by Cameron Heilman)

Catching Up With the Hamilton Kids

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Originally uploaded by gkhamilton

A lot happened to the grown up kids of our family in 2010… Kathy and I bought our first house, Kathy’s brother Tony (pictured below with Tom, Kathy, me, Lora, and Cheryl) continues to excel as a C.P.A. who audits federal spending for the General Accountability Office in Washington D.C., and Kathy’s sister Cheryl is still enabling Marion County clients who are mentally ill to live on their own, outside of an institution.

(Photo by Moneey Munni) But the biggest news from last year was that Summer, my little sis, got married!


A couple of years ago when Girl told the family that Mike Sorensen was her new boyfriend, we were excited for her. It turns out that I had already met Mike at a Yale Lake boating trip with the Bridge singles group from Crossroads Community Church. This is the earliest photo that I have of Mike and Girl together in a photo, both watching from the boat as I water tubed at Yale Lake that day. I came to discover that Mike is a fun, caring, committed Christian who works at his uncle’s classic Volkswagon auto shop.



Mike is also a very talented artist, and our family caught our first glimpse of his water colored paintings on display at the Haystack Gallery in Cannon Beach. I would recommend checking out his artwork at www.michaeldavidsorensen.com. After hanging around town with my parents and some of their friends for a while, the four of us drove south.


Later that day we hiked up a short trail from Devil’s Cauldron (south of Smuggler Cove), across Highway 101 from Neahkahnie Mountain, for a wide open cliff side view of the sea.



The four of us kids try to get together occasionally, like when Kathy and I hooked up with the Crossroads gang for some lively music in downtown Portland after seeing a rock concert.

Mostly though, we just meet for the occasional coffee or lunch with our parents.



Distance and my leg injury prevented me from seeing much of them last summer, but we did squeeze in a couple of back to back family camping trips to Banks Lake, Washington and Morrow Bay, California (I’ll be featuring more photos from these trips in my upcoming Blogspot posts).

I look forward to getting to know Mike better. And of course, I miss spending time with Girl. One thing’s for sure, though… God brought those two together. Mike and Summer Sorensen are a fantastic couple!


Coming to www.garthhamilton.blogspot next month… pictures from Mike and Summer’s wedding!

From Our Newly Expanded Family... Happy New Year!!

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Originally uploaded by gkhamilton

Happy New Year!!