The weeds are growing! Help us spread bark chips and beautify the Evergreen landscape on the corner of Hall and Hart! 10,000+ cars go by daily and what they see of our church is our lovely grounds. Evergreen Church and St. Stephen’s Academy are joining together to make light work of it Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m.. Call the Evergreen office for more details – 503.626.1520.

Raelene Meeker, Evergreen Kitchen Coordinator, is calling for willing hands to help to “deep clean” of the kitchen.

Perhaps you have thought of evangelism as a sprint – in a few seconds you have to share the whole gospel with a person. On Saturday, May 26 at 10:30 a.m. Pastors Nathan and Keith are coaching the steps of evangelism using the metaphor of a hurdles race, taking one hurdle at a time. The workshop begins by identifying low hurdles, initial steps in prayer, building relationships, inviting people to hear and see the gospel in action. The high hurdles are mastering all the biblical presentations of the gospel, assessing the spiritual condition of a neighbor, and appropriately asking questions and supplying answers in substantive conversation. Join the team at Evergreen! Identify one hurdle to overcome in evangelism – after all, it is God who saves! The track and field belong to him. The workshop culminates at noon with the grills hot, the sharing of burgers and hotdogs – the Costco method of Evangelism.

Evergreen is calling Jason Dalton of Jackson, MS to serve Hoodland Chapel on Mt. Hood. This May Jason, along with his wife Elizabeth and their children are moving to Mt. Hood. Jason earned a Master of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson and with Elizabeth has served with Campus Crusade for Christ in East Asia. The Daltons have been members of Pear Orchard PCA near Jackson. Jason is an effective and humble preacher of the gospel with plans to organize a congregation on the mountain. He is devoted to the ministry of the word and prayer. You are welcome to join us at his ordination and installation service on Sunday, May 20 at 2p.m.
Jason’s pastor, Timothy Dryden currently serving as the assistant pastor at Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS will preach the ordination sermon. Tim’s gift for humor enlivens his teaching and preaching. This service is a rare opportunity for us to building relationships and to strengthen ties between Evergreen, Hoodland Chapel, and Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church.

Evergreen members have been meeting Sunday mornings from 9:45 to 10:15 a.m. at The House of Prayer to learn more about prayer and to enter into a rich and active prayer in the name of Jesus. To celebrate our 50th meeting this Sunday, April 29, we are singing ten hymns collected in the Trinity Hymnal. These hymns are prayers informing our response to a holy and loving God. The singing of our prayers is our celebration of the our enjoyable dedication to grow as a congregation. We long to bask in the presence of a God who speaks and who listens to the lisping of his children. We welcome your presence and participation. We dream of a day in the near future when we would gather to pray 200 strong. Our goal is not based on a notion that the more who lend their voices will reach a volume that God would hear or that a critical mass is needed to win God’s attention. Our goal is to train and muster as many in our congregation and community as we can so that more people will discover the blessed practice of prayer.

Our dream and goals have been inspired by the Moravian’s 100 year prayer meeting.

Evergreen is hosting the Blue Grass band, Balin’ Twine, from Alabama this Friday, April 20 at 8 p.m. Invite friends and neighbors to hear some fun, down home, American music. This is a free concert at which Evergreen is collecting donations to benefit the orphanage in Camichines, Mexico.

Evergreen is partners with a growing number of churches in support of The Acostas, who receive orphans from the city of Guadalajara and the state of Jalisco rescuing them from atrocious circumstances.

If God exists, why does he allow all of the pain and suffering in this world? Where did evil come from if God made everything good? Perhaps you have asked these questions or you have heard friends ask them. How would you solve the problem of evil? At this month’s Beaverton Religion Forum, Bernie Dehler, of the Westside Science and Religion Discussion Group will present the Secular Humanist/ Atheist view of the problem of evil, counterpointing with Pastor Nathan Lewis, who will present the Christian view. We invite you to join the Q&A session and to join us for pizza prior to the presentations.

Sunday, April 22
6:00 p.m. – pizza and drinks served gratis to promote conversation
6:30 p.m. – presentations followed by Q&A

“Certainly a great part of the problem of suffering lies in the fact that our suffering is drawn out in time. We cry out to God, and he does not seem to hear. Or, rather, he in effect tells us to wait and wait and wait.” John Frame

“In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, and other people are going to get lucky; and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music.” Richard Dawkins

Evergreen’s Surveyor Spring 2012 begins Wednesday, April 18. Dinner is served from 6-7p.m. followed by classes for all ages. Pastor Keith Thomas is teaching a class for teens and adults titled: The Dangers of Digital Deity: When Tools Become Masters to help us with the proper and efficient use of our technical gadgets. More and more, from those who create, produce and market our smart phones, laptops, and wireless treasures, we are hearing about the need to use them wisely. Pastor Keith Thomas is prepared to apply biblical principles of stewardship to this important aspect of our lives.

Elder Charlie Meeker is teaching a class for adult titled, “Keys to the Confession: Understanding the Westminster Standards.” Evergreen is a confessional church, meaning that we print and use statements of faith and practice that we believe best summarize and apply the infallible word of God found only in the very words of the Bible. While we may take exception to details of our confessions, we nevertheless know what we have collectively agreed to as a church as a starting point and guide for our following after Jesus. Charlie Meeker knows this material well and will serve to be a fine teacher for those who are interested in what our church believes and how one might apply the Bible more and more to daily living.

Tiffany Breckenridge is teaching 4th to 6th Graders the Book of Genesis. She is using a fine textbook for this age group and every student receives a copy and is encouraged to bring his/her Bible to class.

Cathryn Maule and Debbie Beeman are teaching the Shorter Catechism to Grades K-3. At this level of education, memory of doctrinal data is important to developing an interpretive grid for the understanding and application of the Bible to all areas of life. We desire our young children to be well-grounded in the word of God. Our children’s minds nearly photographically imprint the stories of the Bible. The greater challenge is to retain concise doctrinal truths taught through those stories. The Shorter Catechism is a fine tool toward this retention.

At 7:00 p.m. on Good Friday, April 6 Evergreen is hosting its annual Tenebrae Service.

Join us Easter Morning, April 8 as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
8:00 a.m. House of Prayer – an interactive hour of prayer in light of Jesus rising from the dead.
9:00 a.m. Breakfast – share the joy and hope of the resurrection.
10:30 a.m. Worship – “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”

“I accept the resurrection of Easter Sunday not as an invention of the community of disciples, but as a historical event. If the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on that Easter Sunday were a public event which had been made known…not only to the 530 Jewish witnesses but to the entire population, all Jews would have become followers of Jesus.” Pinchas Lapide, Orthodox Jewish scholar, Germany

Secular Humanist, Bernie Dehler and Pastor Nathan Lewis will answer the question: “Can modern science disprove the existence of the human soul?” at the next Beaverton Religion Forum, Sunday, March 18 at 6:00 p.m. If you are a typical Christian without many opportunities to interact with non-Christians toward substantive conversations concerning truth, then the forum is a fine opportunity. With our atheist and agnostic neighbors we are making space for such conversations. At 6:00 p.m. pizza and drinks are served to encourage discussion around tables. At 6:30 p.m. the forum begins with brief presentations followed by a Q&A allowing you to participate. Not only is this an opportunity for Christian apologetics, but it is also an opportunity for you to grow in your knowledge and application of the Bible. There is nothing quite like an agnostic quoting a difficult portion of Scripture asking Christians for an explanation or defense to sharpen one’s understanding and faith. The forum attracts Christians of many stripes, traditional atheists, “soft” atheists, “new” atheists, agnostics, new age enthusiasts, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. If you are accustomed to entering a church building to join Christians who mostly believe as you do, then you need to visit the Beaverton Religion Forum to participate in a room full of a cross section of our community. The forum concludes at 8:00 p.m. but a good number of people linger for much longer and in these informal conversations, more opportunities abound. After two years of the forum, we are beginning to know each other by name, forging friendships across philosophical lines. It is Evergreen’s hope that the forum will prove to be good for the church and for the larger community.

Read Bernie Dehler’s article in The Oregonian about the most recent forum answering the question: “Must a person believe in God to be a genuinely moral person?”

On February 12, 2012 Keith Thomas was ordained and installed Assistant Pastor of Evergreen Presbyterian Church. His first privilege in administering the sacraments was to baptize Alex Lyons upon his profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Alex has been worshipping with us on Saturdays at Reconciliation as well as on Sundays at Evergreen. He recently received a scholarship to study at St. Stephen’s Academy, our classical, Christian school.