I have heard for decades that we are living in the last times and if we gathered anything from our study of the book of Revelation last year, the bible is very clear and the road signs that point us to the return of Jesus are getting bigger and closer togehter. In other words, we appear to be closer to the return of Jesus than ever before.

With that said, the bible tells us that life around us isn't going to get less challenging. In fact, Jesus told us that in this life we will encounter difficulty. Fortunately, Jesus promised His presence with us during this lifetime and He has also given us His word to guide us. The letters from Peter give us hope and direction in life when things aren't seeming to go the way we would hope.

Come join us as we work our way through the letters from the Apostle Peter. I'm sure they will strengthen your walk the same way they do mine.

Pastor Lee

If there was ever a topic of study that both excited and struck people with sense of dread at the same time, it would be the study of the book of Revelation. In the church world, this book is probably the least talked about and the book that is least preached through because there are a lot of things inside the pages of this book of the bible that are easily misunderstood and there are a lot of things inside these pages that speak to future events that we cannot fully comprehend because they have yet to happen.

We at FCC are going to take some time and work our way through this wonderful book of the bible. While the gospels show us the Lord Jesus in His savior role, the book of revelation shows us Jesus in His glorified and conquering role.

While the good news of Jesus' life, death and resurrection are transformative and provide us with a blessed hope of and eternity in Heaven, it is in His glorified position as the King of Kings that we can rest in the power of our own victory over sin and death through our personal relationship with Him.

Come Join us as we work our way through the book of Revelation.

Pastor Lee

We are in the middle of our Advent season and quickly approaching Christmas! This year, we are taking a closer look at the characters of the nativity to see some of the story behind the story.

We are going to see how the

• Magi were inspired by HOPE

• Shepherds were evidence that PEACE was extended to all men

• Mary and Joseph had a FAITH that inspired JOY

• Jesus made the LOVE of God something that we could all live inside

Please join us for our weekend services. We meet at 10 am on Sunday's and if you can't make it to church in person, our services can be accessed online through Facebook live or our YouTube link on our website homepage.

We look forward to seeing you at church,

Pastor Lee

Hello Faith Community!

As we are approaching Easter and life around us begins to thaw out from winter, the trees are going to be budding out, we are going to start seeing more birds, the weather will be warmer and more people will begin to start coming out of their homes to be in the fresh air. This is a unique time in the year when we have the opportunity to reengage our friends and neighbors in relationship and start to do life together again!

As the world emerges from it's winter slumber, it's also time that we engage the world around us and let our neighbors, our friends and our community know that we are as concerned with what goes on outside the walls of our church building as we are with what goes on inside. With this in mind, we intend to find meaningful ways to build relationships with people who are not currently connected with Faith Community Church. This isn't meant to be a scary thing. We just want the people around us to experience the love of God in a real way and in our experience, that's done best by doing life inside our community.

So, here we are, stepping out of the four walls of our church building and getting our "church outside the box". We look forward to meeting you.

Blessings,

Pastors Lee and Shannon Hitchcock

Hello Faith Community!

Shannon and I are excited to come up and join you as your new Pastors! We wanted to take a minute and pass on a little information about ourselves. We each felt called by God into ministry as teenagers and pursued that calling to college. We attended Northwest College (now NW University) in Kirkland WA right out of high school where we met and soon after married. Shannon and I have continued to serve God in various ministries over the years, most recently as the Lead Pastors of a Church Plant in the NE part of Spokane, a neighborhood known as Hillyard. That work came to the end of its life cycle after 5 years of serving our community and we have recently been waiting on God as He prepared us for our next chapter in ministry.

Shannon and I have been married for 30 years and have lived in the same house in Spokane for the past 24 of them. We have 3 adult children, a son named Matthew (married to Naomi), a daughter named Danielle (Married to Matt D.) and a daughter named Nicole. We have 3 grandchildren and as you might imagine, we love spending as much time with each of them as we can.

We are so thankful that you are welcoming us in and we look forward to seeing God do amazing things in each of our lives, the lives of the people of our towns and the world beyond our region.

Blessings,

Pastors Lee and Shannon Hitchcock

FAITH COMMUNITY CHURCH (FCC) STATUS UPDATE: 3/17/20

Dear FCC Saints:

Based on the latest federal and state guidelines concerning public gatherings, and the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), we have decided to suspend our church service for this coming Sunday, March 22^nd. We intend to review the details and information that is presented on the coronavirus each week and make a decision on meeting together based on the current virus threat level. Although we will not be located in the same building this Sunday, we are considering some electronic options for delivering a message this week. We will let you know about the options as the plans take shape since we want all of us to remain “connected” during this fellowship sabbatical.

We want to encourage you to continue praying about the many issues confronting us in today’s world. Of course, the coronavirus threat and its world-wide impact is of paramount importance for the foreseeable future. But we need to also keep our church’s pastoral transition in prayer. We are continuing to seek God’s will concerning our new pastor(s) selection. We are praying for clarity on who will lead Faith Community Church as we move ahead. We certainly appreciated Lee Hitchcock bringing us the message this past Sunday. And it was a great opportunity to meet Lee’s wife Shannon and some of their family; daughter, Danielle and son-in-law, Matt.

As we close this communication, here’s a Scripture that can bring us encouragement during the challenging and unexpected times in which we are living: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ROMANS 8:35-39

Let’s continue to support and love one another! Even though we might not be together physically because of the mandate for “social distancing”, let’s be creative in the ways we stay together spiritually. Let’s use the internet and our phones in new ways. Instead of distancing, let’s ramp up our connecting to new heights and in new ways. Stay tuned!

May our God continue to grant us His all-sufficient grace, FCC Church Council

Resting on solid things

Circumstances are unreliable things to set our hopes on. We need to look to something that is solid.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

We like singing the song, "It is well with my soul." It's a powerful reminder that God can be trusted no matter what we're going through. One line in the song goes like this, "Through it all, through it all, my eyes are on You, Through it all it is well. So let go my soul and trust in Him. The wind and waves still know His name."

We can read scriptures like the one above or sing songs like this, but the real test of our faith is if we will put our trust in the Lord when we are personally going through a storm. The transition we are going through as a church feels very "stormy."

Be reminded, Jesus is still in the business of calming storms, plus He walked on water in the middle of a storm one time and know this, He still can. So, like Peter, let's keep our eyes on Jesus. He's been there for us in the past, He'll be there for us in the future. And He is right here with us now! Rest on Him, He's solid!

~Pastor Steve Archer

Foursquare Missions

Foursquare Missions International—https://www.foursquaremissions.org/

THE MISSION OF FMI

The core mission of FMI is to partner with the Foursquare family to evangelize, disciple, plant churches, and multiply national Foursquare church planting movements around the world. It is to see a global family of Foursquare churches, leaders, and missionaries who, as fully devoted followers of Christ, are healthy, growing, and making disciples of all nations.

OBJECTIVES

Equip – Help prepare and train global leaders and FMI missionaries for the expansion of God's Kingdom through the Foursquare Church.

Cultivate – Cultivate church planting movements among new nations and people groups in

partnership with national churches.

Coach – Coach national leaders through the four development stages.

Care – Co-coordinates field-care for FMI missionaries from the U.S.

Network – Partner and network with the Global Foursquare Church and National Leaders.

Connect – Connecting people to missionary opportunities.

Reach – Taking the Gospel to the Unreached

For more information on how to pray, give, go, or send please visit the FMI website.

Northwest District Foursquare— http://www.thenwd.org/missions

Missions are supported, and sent, from a district level. For

more information on forming teams, and how to support missions specific to our Foursquare District, please visit the website above.

You can also keep a pulse on current happenings by following these groups on social media.

Next Sender's Call- February 11th 9am PST. Spread the word: intercessors, missions councils,

future missionaries, pastors and those praying daily over the unreached here & there!

Must register: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/825245452886264843

Faith Community supports FMI missionaries Ken & Linda Stapleton - Czech Republic

Faith Community also supports the following missions and missionaries: Locally CareNet Pregnancy Center Grand Coulee, Care & Share Food Bank, Young Life, and out of the area Bowels of Mercy—Uganda, Didasko—Orphanage in Honduras, Colin Ovenell—Faith Baptist Mission in Benin, George & Crystal Nita— I CARE 4 U in Papua New Guinea, Living Waters International—Kenya, Abby Williams—Ethnos360 and Chris & Jeannette Sheeran—Wycliffe.

Bright Sunshiny Day

Back in 1972 Johnny Nash's song was at #1 on Billboard Hot 100.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (bright)

Bright (bright) sunshiny day

It's gonna be a bright (bright)

Bright (bright) sunshiny day

As I read those words the tune naturally accompanies. Those of you old enough to remember this song might also remember that President Nixon was impeached the following year.

Our polarized country is going through a very difficult time politically. Frankly, it's hard to sing a song with the lyric, "It's going to be a bright (bright) sunshiny day." My next thought is "We can only hope." That phrase can sound like a weak consolation. But, for the Christian, hope is extraordinarily substantial. It's not weak or flimsy. It's solid and lasting, and most of all sustaining. For us who follow Jesus it's in our backpack where we carry our field ready K-rations.

We learned recently that the world's optimism is based on wishing that circumstances will work out, but Christian hope is based on a person. His name is Jesus. We can put our hope in Him always in every circumstance, no matter how bad it may be, because He will always keep His promises. We can sing "It's gonna be a bright (bright) sunshiny FOREVER!"

Pastor Steve Archer