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WILEY HEIGHTS COVENANT CHURCH
Yakima, WA
July
2015
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Meet Travis Randolph, Pastoral Intern arriving late August …..
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Travis is a graduate of North Park University (C’14, BA Music) and he
currently has finished his first year at North Park Theological Seminary
where he is studying Christian Formation and Intercultural Studies. Travis
recently returned from a 2 week class in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, where he and 7 other students studied alongside students from the
Protestant University L’Ubangi (UPU) learning about Reconciliation, Pardon, and Forgiveness.
Travis has served as a camp counselor at Covenant Harbor Bible Camp (Lake Geneva,
WI), and Portage Lake Covenant Bible Camp (Onekama, MI) and this summer working at
Portage Lake as a CO-SWIM Director (Student Workers In Ministry—SR High).
This past year, Travis served as a Music Intern and Tenor Section Leader at First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest (Lake Forest, IL) where he learned about worship planning and
hymnody from Dr. Tom Tropp. He also served as the Men and Women’s Cross-Country/Track
& Field chaplain at North Park University.
Travis is from Galesburg, Illinois, and has two loving parents Marshall Randolph and Jean
Main, and one older brother, Jeremy (27). He is a member of Galesburg Covenant Church.
Save the date!!
September 12-13, 2015
Centennial Celebration!!
Saturday, September 12th
Special Dinner Celebration
More activities are planned
Sharing The Harvest
The Event date is
October 31st
Be sure to mark this date
on your calendar!
Women’s Book Club
Our July meeting will be
6:30 pm Tuesday, July 28th
at Danielle Surkatty’s home.
The book for July has not
been chosen. Watch for
details in the July 5th Sunday
bulletin.
All women
are welcome
to be a
part of this
discussion &
fellowship
group.
Our Vision
Wiley Heights Covenant Church is a country church that seeks to
be rooted in Christ, growing in faith, and bearing fruit in lives and
the community.
Leadership Team Meeting Highlights
EMAIL:
[email protected]
Phone: (509) 966-2383
CHURCH STAFF
Nancy Asbury, Church Secretary
[email protected]
Cell: 833-2473
Mark E. Swanson, Pastor
[email protected]
Cell: 509-494-9850
Scheduled ‘In Office’ Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.
1:30pm-5:00pm
OFFICE HOURS:
Closed Monday
Tuesday - Friday:
9:00am - 2:00pm
Every month the Leadership Team offers some highlights
from its most recent meeting. The Leadership Team consists of Elaine Anderson (Secretary), Steve Carlson, David
Elzie, Doug Field (Co-Chair), Cindy Tissell (Treasurer),
Chuck Tissell (Vice-Chair), Lesli Shields (Co-Chair), Dan
Snipes, and Pastor Mark Swanson.

The Leadership Team concluded with its discussion
of the book Simple Church as a book to offer some
focus on future direction within the church.

Financials remain healthy.

$100,000 was invested with National Covenant Properties as was decided at the last Quarterly Business
Meeting.

Leadership Team will be holding a brainstorming
session on July 12th in anticipation of our centennial
and future direction of the church.
Getting to Know You ….
Visit Our Website
www.wileyheightscovenant.org
Some interest facts about Janet Harris …...
Q: Favorite Bible verse? Amos 6:8 & I Corinthians 13
Q: Favorite Bible Story? The Good Samaritan
Q: Where were you born and what is something we might
not know about you? I was born in New Jersey 20 minutes
from New York City. I taught history at YVCC and for WSU
where I worked with Sandy Nyberg and how I came to Wiley
Q: What do you enjoy about WHCC? How friendly & welcoming it is! Plus Pastor Mark gives wonderful sermons and
is great to talk with. There is no doubt that Wiley is a very
caring church.
Q: Favorite vacation spot and why? Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia The Smithsonian, all the other museums, battlefields, and history. Received my college degree there
from American University.
Q: What hobbies, sports, or other leisure activities do you
enjoy most? Reading, Museums, Walking, Hiking, Bikes,
Crocheting, Beading, and other Crafts
Q: One thing on your Bucket list? Write & publish a book
Q: Favorite book? Favorite movie?
Book - John Adams by David McCullough (also 1776)
Movie - The Civil War film by Ken Burns
Q: Who would you like to sit down and visit with? Why?
Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to learn
more about the times they lived through that was never recorded.
Q: Favorite variety of apple? Cripps Pink
An On-going Mission
Pastor Mark’s Perspective
Each month in 2015 my newsletter article will reflect on a piece of history from Wiley Heights
and how it, along with scripture, informs our shared life and ministry today.
When a new year came in the bell rang. The same bell that now sits in a
tower outside the church building. But that wasn’t the only thing that
marked a new year. For many New Year Eves folks in the church gathered
and brought in the New Year on their knees in prayer. It’s a picture of starting each year not with a series of resolutions, but, I presume, thanking God
for the year past and pledging dependence on Him for the year to come. It
was an activity that clearly pointed to where our trust should lie.
Prayer is a bedrock activity when it comes to our lives of faith. One cannot find an example of
faith that doesn’t include a vibrant prayer life. I think of stories of those giants in the faith from
James, the brother of Jesus, who was nicknamed “old camel-knees” because he spent so
much time on his knees in prayer to more recent examples of a set of grandparents I heard of
for whom a day did not pass without prayers for those they loved, those imprisoned, and those
who lead. And by prayer, these folks grew in their faith.
Yet at the same time, for all of us, we struggle with prayer. We feel the ache of prayers that go
unanswered. We question if it matters. We fall asleep. We get frustrated with our own lack of
self-discipline. “Oh, I know I should pray more,” we say to ourselves, but find the activities of
the day monopolize the time that we have (along with a few good time-wasters). Or at least I
do. And if you spend some time hearing or reading the stories of those for whom their lives
were marked by prayer, you’d find the very same struggles we all face.
For the rest of the summer, on Sundays, we’ll be focusing on prayer. And we’ll do so by taking
a look at one of the most used and life-giving guides in a vibrant prayer life: the book of
Psalms. We find in the psalms not only examples of prayers that we can pray ourselves, but
lessons on how to pray in the many different occasions in life.
Maybe the season of summer can not only be a season of rest and play, but a season, where
our prayer lives can be rejuvenated. Let’s pray together…
Holy Hikes! Summer Hikes for the whole family
Lake Tipsoo/Naches Peak Loop
Saturday, July 18th
Meet at 10:30 am in the Lake Tipsoo
parking lot.
North Fork Ahtanum Creek
Saturday, August 15th
Watch for more details to follow
Wiley Heights Covenant Church
12504 Gilbert Road
Yakima WA 98903-9701
Missions Update
Matt & Kristy Faber are enjoying a summer break from the Rift Valley Academy where they are
both teachers. Matt teaches 8 th grade math & science and Kristy teaches English and drama.
Their prayers are for a peaceful summer for their country of Kenya. Their neighbor to the
northeast is Somalia with active pirates who have attacked Kenyan shipping. That drew the
Kenyan army in to fight the Somali pirates who belong to a group called Al Shabab (“The
Youth” in Arabic) which has links to Al Qaida. This group retaliated against
the Kenyan army by attacking the Garissa University in NE Kenya and killing
147 people April 2nd . The Kenya army was able to subdue and eliminate all
the attackers at the university, but sadly there are many more who continue
to join Al Shabab’s ranks. Kristy asks our prayers for healing for all the
families who lost loved ones in the attack and for God’s peace to pour out
on Somalia and Kenya.