Old Paths Bible Church

A New Year, A New Drive

2011-04-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Wow! I can't believe it has been a year since I have blogged. I suddenly realized how difficult it was to have something to blog about every week. Honestly, my life is not all that exciting. :-) I am reminded of Paul, when he refers to life as a race -- it is a marathon, not a sprint.

Our church has a new Motto for this year: "It's not about me, it's about us!" We've taken this from 1 Cor. 12:14 "For the body is not one member, but many." We are all working together this year ... memorizing Scripture together ... cleaning the church together ... praying for each other ... each person takes an active part in each ministry. It has been great, and we are growing closer together as the year goes by. We are clearly understanding that the church does not stand or fall based on one person -- the body is truly not only one member.

With that said, we're starting a new support group called the "Stretcher Bearer" Ministry. It's taken from the story in the New Testament of the four friends who carried their lame friend to Jesus. Their friend had no chance for help if he did not have a couple good, close friends who picked him up and carried him to Jesus. That's what we want in our church -- there are hurting and struggling people in our churches, with no one willing to help them. We need to learn to help those within our own churches before we can expect to help someone outside our church.

One of our new ministries this year is called "Serving those who Serve us" -- every quarter we are serving dinner to the Tualatin Police Department and to the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue. We served dinner to the Fire Department tonight - I wish I had taken my camera - we had such a good time. The guys were gracious; they took our kids on a tour of their trucks, they asked us questions and answered ours -- it was so nice to sit down and get to know the men and women who serve our community in such a sacrificial way.

God has allowed us to open up and do so much this year. We have grown to a faithful 17 people so far - Praise God. We are planning a Mother/Daughter Banquet -- Memorial Day Picnic -- Annual Bible Conference (Pastor Mike Hoover - Speaker) -- Annual Camp Out -- Appreciation Dinner -- and so much more. We are thankful for the church family God has given us.

Can I please ask for your prayers for one of our Missionaries: Duane and Shellie Wilhite, in Japan. Earlier today we heard that Shellie was in the hospital, ready to give birth to baby number 9. Also, she went in with the flu. Please remember her in your prayers.

BIG NEWS: soon, you will be able to listen to recorded messages from Old Paths Bible. I will give details as we get it all ready. OR - you can keep checking our website for the update.

May God bless your ministry.

We just want to be a blessing,
Pastor Dan Zike
Old Paths Bible Church
An Historic Baptist Church

New Hymnals, 50 year Anniversary, and Vertigo

2010-03-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I trust God has been blessing you in your life, ministry and family. We have been busy here at Old Paths with building, renovating and painting. We are planning on moving our auditorium to where our S.S. class/nursery and fellowship area is. It will allow us to have a useful alter/invitation area, more space for chairs/people, and (most importantly) the bathroom wont be 5 feet from the pulpit. We are very excited with the new look. I'll try to post pics when it is done.

New Hymnals:
When we started Old Paths, we were graciously allowed to use hymn books from Town Center Baptist Church (TCBC). Since then, not only have we grown but also TCBC has grown as well. We need more hymnals and they don't have any to spare...due to growth (a nice problem to have).
This last month we have been looking at almost a dozen different hymnals, trying to find the right one. We have settled with a new hymnal called Bible Truth Hymns (from Bible Truth Publication), and we are so pleased with it...we have simply fallen in love with it.
A good friend and supporter of Old Paths offered to pay for half of them, we took a special offering for the rest and were able to order them the next Monday. God is so good. We now have enough hymnals for 50 people. Thank you Brad.

50 Year Anniversary:
We have an Eighty-nine year old woman in our church who was a missionary for Thirty-four years in South America. She really is still a missionary (as we all are), as she sends a birthday card to everyone in her Mobile Home Park and puts in the card a tract and one of our church brochures.
She announced last Wednesday night that one of her first Indian tribes, where the whole tribe accepted Christ as their Savior, was celebrating 50 years of following Christ. It was such a blessing to her, to us as fellow Christians, and to all the faithful Christians who had a part in her work. Praise God that she is still alive to witness the fruit of her labor. Thank you Lord for our Senior Saints...thank you Lord for their faithfulness and may we learn through their example.

Vertigo:
The worst nightmare of any young or old pastor....I have not been able to preach the last two Sundays. Two Sundays ago, I went to bed late Sat. night with the start of the famous 24 hour flu, and was able to ask my very good friend, Pastor Jerry (from TCBC) to fill in for me. And then last Sunday I woke up so dizzy that I could not make it out of my room without holding on to the wall to stay up. After a few visits to the bathroom (I will spare you the details), I had to make the very difficult decision to not go to church. Instead, I had to go to the ER, where they diagnosed me with vertigo.
I have been blessed with a retired pastor/evangelist in our church, who is 86 years old. He has offered to fill the puplit when needed but could not do too much due to his health. I asked him (ten minutes before S.S.) if he would take over the S.S. lesson, and then they could just go home for the day. He took over the S.S. hour and told the folks that they were already there so they might as well stay there for the morning service and he did it all. He filled a need. In fact all of our men filled needs that day. Delbert even did the song leading. :-)
God has blessed me with men who are willing to fill in the gap. What a blessing. Thank you men.

Please pray for me. I have the same messages that I believe God wants me to preach...and I want to preach them sometime soon. :-)

We are excited with our move and with our new hymnals. We are having our very first evening service at the end of the month: a singspiration to really get to know our new hymnals. We are all looking forward to it.

Thank you for your prayers.

We just want to be a blessing,
Pastor Dan Zike
Old Paths Bible Church

First Communion

2010-02-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

We had the privilege of having our first communion service a couple Sundays ago. It was a very special moment for us. Thanks to Town Center Baptist for lending us their communion set. It is wonderful when a church can partake in remembering Christ's death...and do so in unity.
I thank God for allowing us to have a church full of love and unity...I pray it stays that way.

The Lord has blessed us with visitors for the last three Sundays. Some have come and gone but others have decided to stay. Those that have stayed have inserted themselves into the ministry of our church. Last Sunday, we had reached 21 people. It was great having an almost full church building.

We have a praise...a good friend and servant of the Lord has offered to purchase new hymnals for us. We are jumping up and down with excitement about that. God has been so good to us. It is exciting, once again, to watch how God takes care of our needs.

Some prayer requests: we are planning on changing things around soon; moving the auditorium to a larger room. Doing so requires some small renovating. Pray we are able to make the move soon, safe, and inexpensively.
We are also in the need of a communion set, and a sound system.

Please be praying for two very dear Pastor friends of mine. Pastor Ben Townsend and Pastor Robin Wright have had some serious health issues. They are both recovering, and doing better. But I ask you to continue to pray for their health, strength, and recovery.

Thank you for your support through prayer. God has been answering prayer and working in ways that we have yet to see.

We just want to be a blessing,
Pastor Dan Zike

God gives us what we need

2010-01-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

What an exciting Sunday...WE HAD FIVE (5) VISITORS!!!

It was such an exciting service...everyone was happy, the song service seemed to be more exciting, and God dealt with some folks that day as well.

Please pray that God keeps send us people who need HIM as well as people that we need. I am finding that people are looking for a church that simply loves them and shows honest concern for who they are. People have come who have been completely ignored at their church.
Pastors, be sure to hug your flock the next time you see them and tell them you really appreciate and love them.

I just had to write and share with you our great news and invite you to be praising God with us.

Pastor Dan Zike

What a busy month(s)

2009-12-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Well hello! I know, it's been a long time. I can't believe this month marks our 5th month in Tualatin. God has been very good to us here. Every week HE seems to reveal His will and reminds us that HE alone is in Control.

November went by quickly. We were planning on and looking forward to a very special Thanksgiving Eve Service -- which went very well. We had a candlelight service -- singing praises and thanksgiving to our Great God, as well as spending time in His Word, and giving testimonies of His great love and care for us. And of course, afterwards we enjoyed pumpkin pie and cookies. God blessed us with a couple visitors that evening as well.

Speaking of Thanksgiving -- God has been very good to us with providing for our rent every month.

We started a couple activities and ministries in November: Our ladies enjoy going out every month for a ladies luncheon, our men have been meeting every month for a prayer breakfast, and we have been enjoying other activities outside of church as well: we've gone out for dinner, went to a Christmas Concert, and tonight we will be going Christmas Caroling.

December has proved to be a very exciting month. God just keeps blessing us. I don't know if it's because of the season, but everyone seems to be excited in church these days.

Among other things, God has blessed us with a functioning nursery, an almost functioning S. S. class room, doors to separate the two rooms, room dividers, tables for fellowship after church, a proper and inexpensive way to heat the auditorium, a new family of four, the restoring of a marriage, and so much more. Wow! When you put it all out there like that, God has done a lot for us.

And this is what happens when you decide to bring your coffee into the Auditorium for services -- and then spill it:

Pastor Zike giving Scott his gift
from the church family...

Scott now gets to use a sippy cup to put his coffee in. :-)

We are now off to go Christmas Caroling...a chance that we were given to reach out to a 55 and older community (behind our church) that does not allow anyone to come in and go door to door....but they have allowed us to come in and reach them through song. So please pray that we use this opportunity for God's glory tonight.

Thank you for your prayers. Keep praying. God is doing a work here. People are growing spiritually, and God is blessing their faithfulness.

Praise God!

Pastor Dan Zike

Moving forward

2009-10-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

God often puts us in circumstances that force us to step out on faith and trust HIM!
We have been renting one side of a two sided storefront since we began in August. The landlord has been gracious enough to allow us to use a small portion of the other side for a nursery and S.S. class. He approached us, letting us know that someone was interested in the other side, so we had to make a decision. We made the decision to move forward. We need the extra space for the kids, and we hope to move the sanctuary to that bigger side as we grow. With that, are rent will double starting in February. We are excited to see how God is going to show Himself real to us during the next couple months.

We have been in Tualatin now for 3 months. We have gained a couple more folks, and have about 16 people for our Sunday services. It seems we have someone call every week asking about our church. We keep waiting for God to bring them all at once. :-)

We were blessed to have our first Guest Speaker a couple weeks ago. Kevin Marshall, Pastor of Rocklick Hollow Baptist Church in PA, came to visit family and was willing to preach for us. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with a good friend and godly pastor.

Our folks have remained strong, encouraging, and very supportive. They are excited about being apart of the ministry of church planting.

We were in need of a set of "french doors" for our church, estimating about $450.00. I made the announcement that we were taking a special offering on Nov. 1st for doors when one of our new folks told me to stop by his house the next day and he would hand me a check for the total amount. Praise GOD! It has been experiences like this that keep us excited and looking forward to moving forward.

Keep praying for us.

So many new and exciting things happening

2009-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been!!!
Last Friday, we went out and passed out 80 fliers and had a very good response. The next Sunday, 6 visitors came, 3 adults and 3 kids. The adults were younger folks, and their children were all under the age of four....and a nursery was suddenly born! Praise the Lord!
After church we had an activity planned. We all went to our house for lunch and then out for some miniature golf. One of our visitors went with us, and then his whole family came back to our house for dessert. We had a really good time of fellowship.
Wednesday night, we had another exciting time...we had one more visitor, an older gentleman who is a retired minister of 50 years. Also, I had asked Scott if he would handle the song leading on Wednesday nights. Last Wednesday night was his first time. He really did well. It also freed me up to deal with other issues.

It is wonderful watching God do so many things, and we are looking forward to see what He wants to do next.

2009-09-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

I see it's been a while sense I have written. Sorry about that.
Tonight was our visitation night. Two of us went out, not sure how it would turn out, but it was one of our most exciting nights out. We had several people express interest in coming to church and trying us out. A number of them said that they have recently moved and were looking for a church home. And some were elderly ladies who like going to church but have no way of getting there.
Which bring us to our next prayer request: we may have to start our first "bus ministry"! :-) We already have one elderly woman who needs a ride when it rains (which happens a lot here), and if these others come, it will make Sundays interesting. Oh well. The Lord knows, and if He wants them there, He will figure out a way to get them there.
We are rejoicing over what God is doing. He is working in each individual's lives, changing all of us. Some are breaking out of their shell, others are getting more involved with service, and others are getting into their Bible a whole lot more.
Our motto is, "We just want to be a blessing", and we are learning that the best way to be a blessing is to have a personal relationship with Christ.

We have our new chairs, and the folks just love them. It makes the sanctuary seem like a sanctuary.
We have gained one person sense we started. She is 89 and spent 34 years as a missionary in South America. She is a wonderful Christian woman, who keeps us all on our toes. We love her dearly and thank God daily for sending her to us.
We have our first church activity this Sunday. We are having a potluck at the Pastor's house and then going out to play miniature golf. We hope for nice weather and good fellowship.

Thank you all for your prayers. Keep praying that we will be able to reach every home and apartment around us and find those who need Christ as their Savior.

An Exciting Day

2009-08-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

It has been really exciting watching God work through some of our folks. They have been obedient to God, and He has blessed them with answered prayers, and showing Himself in their lives.
This was our fourth Sunday. We had 14 people today; three of which were visitors. Our services were good. We had good outcomes, and people were making decisions.
Today was really exciting, and a service that we needed.
A note of praise: we received the money needed to purchase new chairs!!! We will have them before next Sunday! You have no idea how much this means to us! We all are thanking and praising God for this.

Just trying to please HIM,

Pastor Dan Zike

Visitation

2009-08-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

We went out for visitation tonight. We had better turnout than most churches: all but one showed up. :-)
We knocked on over 100 doors, had a good reception at almost every door, and a couple folks who said that they would be in church on Sunday. Only the Lord knows their hearts, and all we have to do is remain faithful in going out and spreading the Gospel.
Thanks to all those who came and offered their support...keep going strong.

Let's not forget to be praying for Sunday's services.

Tomorrow night is our Beaver's Baseball game outing...
our Annual Church Camp out is coming up, over Labor Day Weekend...
and lets not forget that we will be having our first Special Guest Speaker on the last Sunday in September...Pastor Kevin Marshall will be here. I'm looking forward to hearing him preach from God's Word.

We'll see you on Saturday, when we are going out again to finish the doors we missed.

May the Lord bless you,
Pastor Dan Zike

Pushing Forward

2009-08-16T00:36:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I have written. I would like to say that a lot has been happening, and we have been having visitors every week, and have had people at the altar getting saved. But, God has it all under control...we just have to remain faithful and sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, and HE will accomplish what He wants done.

We have had a regular visitor on Wednesday nights. His name is Ed. He usually brings his wife, but she was ill last time. Both he and his wife have been playing the piano since they we children. They are a blessing to have apart of our Bible study and Prayer service.

Our Outreach at the Annual Crawfish Festival went very well. We were able to hand out over 100 fliers, with a personal invitation for each. We prayed that God would bless and convict every person that received one.
We are losing one of our members (which is not good when you only have 9 to begin with) on Tuesday. Josh is headed for Florida for 5 months. He will be greatly missed.

We do have one major prayer request: we need comfortable chairs. Right now we are using medal folding chairs. They are a hindrance from getting people to come back. So please pray that we get replace them soon.

To our own folks: don't forget your challenge for Wednesday night - to find in Scripture how God relates to us as our heavenly Father. Also, don't forget to come prepared to give a testimony as well. We look forward to listening to what God is doing in your lives this past week.

Tomorrow: in Sunday School, we will be dealing with God's Command to Follow Him. And in the Morning Service, we will be back in Nehemiah, chapter three: Simple lessons from Simple people.

I look forward to seeing everyone there. May God bless you.

Pastor Dan Zike

More Visitors

2009-08-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord! We had a great Wednesday night service. The Lord even blessed us with a new couple who may start coming on Wed. nights because their church does not have a mid-week service. I think we are going to find a lot of that in our area.

Delbert, Scott and myself hung our big sign out front on Tuesday! We are not able to be seen from 99W, Pacific Hwy. So, 1000's of cars a day will be passing right by our building and can now see a sign.

We are going to Tualatin's Crawfish Festival this weekend to participate in their festivities, but more importantly to pass out church fliers and do some witnessing. We pray that the Lord will bless our efforts with souls saved and with more visitors on Sunday. Now if we could just get our visitors to return.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Our First Service

2009-08-03T15:47:00.001-07:00

WOW! What a rushed week it has been! God had provided for us a store front that we could start using on the first of August (our first service was August 2nd), but we only had one week to get everything together. One week to turn a completely empty 600 sq/foot room into a functional church building. We worked hard. The basic rule of thumb was, if Noah came home with black feet, it wasn't clean yet. Twice over with the vacuum, twice over with the mop, and after 5 "swifter sweeper" pads, the floors finally came clean.

The week that we started to clean and prepare, it was the hottest it has been in decades in Portland, OR. We're talking 106 and 107 degrees. On our first day of cleaning, the A/C broke! The Lord has provided us with generous folks who have donated the funds to replace that A/C (Praise the Lord). Also, someone donated the funds to have a sign built.

Our first service was on August 2nd. We had 10 people for Sunday School, and 6 more showed up for our morning service. The song service was great: our folks sang loud. So loud that the used car salesman down the way said he could hear us. Which he loved because he had to miss church that day. There was really a good spirit throughout the whole day.

My wife and I decided we needed to have a celebration for our first service, so we bought an ice cream cake and had a good time of fellowship afterwards...praising God for what He has started and for what He is going to accomplish through His ministry here.

We praise the Lord for His goodness in getting His work started. It has been a blessing and an encouragement to be a part of it. We ask for your prayers. We need God's guidance, strength, love, and patience.

Thanks to all who have been praying for us already: may the Lord bless you.