The Family Table

Dear LEFC Parents,

Here are some key items to set the table for disciple-making in your family in the week ahead:

Thank You for Coming to Family Bible Week

What a great time we had as a whole church family at “Breaker Rock Beach!” We are so grateful for all of the people who made our time together a big success.

Praying for Our Malawi Mission Team

This morning, we prayed for the team going to African this week to serve alongside our ReachGlobal Missionaries Fred and Cindy Cressman of Community Impact in Lilongwe, Malawi. All 3 of the members of the team are parents of LEFC kids whose families are sending them far away for over a week. This is a great opportunity to teach our children about trusting God, missions ministry, and the gospel at work in the world. Please pray for both the team members and their families and prepare to hear about their experience when they return.

Director of Family Ministry Update

This morning, the LEFC Elders announced that they are presenting Jordyn Skacel to the congregation to be our very first Director of Family Ministry. Jordyn has been a part of the West Branch Community for her whole life and is a graduate of Penn State University. For the last seven years, she has been serving as a missionary with Cru, along with her husband Abe, making disciples for Jesus at PSU. She the mother of Spurgeon, Wilson, and a baby due in December.

Jordyn has been volunteering as a leader on the Family Ministries Team since November of 2023. Jordyn would love to talk with you about her vision for future ministry to children, youth, and parents. The congregation will be making a decision together on August 18th. We’re excited for this development as we’ve been praying and working towards this new position for nearly two years.

LEFC Fall Retreat

Join your LEFC church family for a weekend getaway on October 18-20! The Family Ministries Team is excited to invite you to our Fall Retreat, where we will hear teaching and grow spiritually, build community, experience rich fellowship, share meals, and have lots of fun! All ages are encouraged to attend and will have a place to engage during age-specific breakouts. You’ll have opportunities to play games, eat a s’more around the campfire, chat with old friends and get to know new ones!

The camp is just one hour away and transportation can be provided if needed. The cost is $25 for an individual and $50 for couples and families, which covers housing, food, and activities for the weekend. We’ll even be back in time for church on Sunday! See Jordyn Skacel, Holly Crumrine, or Vicky Albert with questions. Registration information is online or on the table in the foyer.

Challenge Continued…

The group that went to Challenge is planning to start up new Bible studies [and more!] to help all the teens in our church (and their friends!) grow in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Talk with Cody and Holly Crumrine to find out what is coming up and how you and your teen can get involved.

Bonus: Listen again to the Challenge Crew’s report, watch their fun video, and watch all the videos from Challenge to remember what they learned in Kansas City.

The Gospel Project at Home

Today’s Bible Study is “Paul Preached in Rome” (Volume 12: Unit 35: Session 5). You can find a family devotional you use with your kids at this link.

Snack and Yack Resumes Next Week

When the auditorium empties after worship, girls and boys (grades 3ish-7ish) who listened to the sermon (remember to fill out a handout!) are invited to Pastor Matt’s office for a tasty treat and a brief discussion with an LEFC elder couple about the message.

And for dessert… 

Our recommendation for family discipleship this week is a unique comic book by one of Pastor Matt’s favorite theologians.

In the “other adults” class at Family Bible Week, I (Pastor Matt) was teaching on the biblical doctrine of God (See Article 1 of our EFCA Statement of Faith), and each evening I gave recommendations to the students of resources for going deeper. On Tuesday night, I said, “Read, listen, or watch anything and everything by Professor Fred Sanders including Dr. Doctrine’s Christian Comix On the Trinity.”

Fred Sanders is a theologian at Biola University whose special focus is on the doctrine of the Trinity. He has written many scholarly books on the subject that I have found incredibly helpful. One of the reasons is because Fred is a really good teacher able to make complicated doctrines much easier to understand. And he’s very funny, too! I love to listen to him teach because I’m both entertained and educated at the same time.

Before he became a theologian, Fred was initially training to be an artist. Several years ago, he combined those two interests to create a set of comic books featuring talking sheep that teach theology (yes, it’s kind of weird). We have the entire set of Dr. Doctrine’s Christian Comix in our church library.

In the comic book on the Trinity, Fred explains (through his weird talking sheep) how Christians have understood the doctrine of the Tri-Unity of God throughout church history. He introduces three leading theologians. And he surveys the history of Christian art on the Trinity illustrating the dangers of trying to depict something that defies analogy while also using it to teach what is true. The most helpful chapter is on what he calls “Trinity Math,” how, as our class learned this week, God is one WHAT with three WHO’s.

These comic books are not for everyone. Fred himself jokes: “So far ahead of their time that the world still isn’t ready for them, these theological comic books from the twentieth century are long out of print. Too many words for kids, too many talking sheep for adults.” But for someone who is intellectually curious and a bit weird, they are very interesting to read. Parents and older teens may especially appreciate them.

If comics aren’t your thing, I recommend listening to Fred instead. I got to know him as one of our regular speakers at the EFCA Theology Conference, and I highly recommend any of this past messages from there, especially:

The Doctrine of God: The Trinity and Classical Theism
Approaching the Doctrine of the Trinity
God is Blessed and Glorious

If you’d like to read a full book by Fred Sanders, I’d recommend starting with either The Deep Things of God (see my review) or The Holy Spirit: An Introduction (his latest and most readable book yet). I have most of them in my library, if you want to borrow.

We hope your family eats it right up!

Matt Mitchell, Pastor
Holly Crumrine, Family Table Editor

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