Gage Family Missionary Care Trip 2022

Written by Lauren Gage

Trip Purpose

Since 2017, Andy and I have loved and cared for the missionaries at Beyond through Biblical counseling (my vocation), physical therapy (Andy’s vocation), and friendship.

Although I am able to meet with our missionaries online throughout the year, the rest of our ministry happens at annual Beyond conferences in Southeast Asia. I have attended three of these, and Andy has been to one. He was busier than I was while doing Physical Therapy! This year our kids will be able to join us for the first time, along with the help of Zach and Madelynne Starbeck (Park College Staff and Park Students Intern).

What is “Beyond?” What is this conference?

Beyond is a missions sending organization that works solely to bring the Gospel to unreached people groups (accounting for two billion of the people in the world who have never heard about Jesus). In addition to regional conferences that happen annually, Beyond has a global, all-staff conference every 3 years in Southeast Asia. Neither have happened since 2019 due to the last several years of crisis and trials. This July will be the first time their missionaries have been able to gather together for encouragement and equipping since then. We hope and pray that our work and friendship with them will restore, heal, and comfort them.

Specific Missionary Needs

I have been volunteering as a counselor for the Southeast Asian group of Beyond missionaries for the past five years. A lot has happened since 2019, some good. However, a lot of pain and confusion has been experienced during these past few years as well.

This year we decided we were going to make the trip after our friend Andy, one of the leaders of this group, suddenly passed away (he’s on the far left in the picture above with the “best pop ever” shirt.) It was a tragic loss, and we decided that we should go there to care for them.

I’m also excited that our kids are old enough now to join us so that they will be there to become better friends with the missionary kids. They know some of the missionary kids from when they’ve visited the States. I pray it will be a great encouragement to these missionary kids to to have other kids come to them!

Our Need

We are asking you to prayerfully consider supporting us with a financial gift to help cover the travel and hotel expenses to attend the conference and get face-to-face with this group in July. You can contribute with a one time or with a monthly gift that will help us continue to serve missionaries through Biblical counseling past the three sessions possible at the conference.

Please, if you have any questions, let me know. To give financially, please use the button below, selecting “Support for Lauren Gage and Missions Care Trip under “Gift Category.”

Give

 

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Psalm 121—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Alison Harshberger

Hey, I’m Alison. I do product marketing and graphic design and live in Denver, CO with two amazing roommates and a dog. I studied marketing and graphic design in college and fell in love with digital art and design.

Piece: Digital Artwork

Digital illustration made on Procreate (shout out to the iPad and the Apple Pencil).

Process:

There were a couple things about God’s character that were revealed in Psalm 121. First, God’s consistency (though things in this life are so temporary), and second, His protection and permanence. As a Colorado girl who loves the mountains, they have always been symbol of the gift of God’s consistency and permanence. Nature is also a common place for many of us to meet God and experience His love, so I tied that in with a stained-glass style throughout.

in Blog • Christ in the Psalms Artwork

Psalm 120—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Isaac Beaverson

Isaac is an artist and designer from Indiana. After graduating with a BA in Graphic Design from Taylor University, he and his wife, Sarah, moved to Denver for a new opportunity with an e-commerce startup. Outside of digital design, he enjoys working with his hands through sculpture and woodworking.

Piece: Digital Artwork

I wanted this piece to feel peaceful. Despite our distorted dwelling place, we can reach for the Lord, confident in His daily and eternal deliverance. Our world and hearts are broken and often result in pain, but by the Holy Spirit we have access to Christ as our Savior.

Process:

While reading over this psalm, I began considering how these words could apply in the context of our culture. We are not often in literal exile or fighting physical wars, but we are in a broken world fighting daily spiritual battles. Through this process, I reflected on the need for deliverance from physical enemies, but also from the world and from myself.

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Easter Sunday 2022

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In response to the wonder of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over death and the grave, Easter stands alone as the most joyful, boisterous day we observe each year.
in Blog • Gary McQuinn • Holy Week 2022 • Sermons

Good Friday 2022

Happened Friday, April 15

We allowed the Scriptures to take us to the scene of our Lord’s betrayal, arrest, trial, crucifixion and burial, setting us up for a deep celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.

in Blog • Holy Week 2022 • Neil Long • Sermons

Men’s Seminar 2022: The Love of the Father

The past couple years have sucker punched many of us. A persistent anxiety seems to lurk in the corners. Old strategies of survival often fall short. Impulses from within and deceptive delights from without attempt to steal our ability to commune with God. Lingering temptations drag us down. New patterns often leave us lacking the joy we ache to experience.

We must return again to the love of the Father. He runs after us. But to truly see Him, we have to relax our defenses and tune our hearts again to hear His voice singing over us.

Let’s fight together to abide in the pursuing love of God our Father. At this year’s men’s seminar, we’ll gather the men of Park Church over wings and drinks to hear from pastor and author J. Kevin Butcher (Choose and Choose Again, Free). We’ll seek to learn to live as sons, purchased by the blood of the perfect Son. Life and freedom await.

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Parking on Sundays

Before each service on Sunday, more than a hundred of our cars must find a spot in our neighborhood. While we take immense joy in this weekly re-gathering of friends and family, we don’t want it to be at the expense of Park Church’s physical neighbors in any way, lest we become a poor representation of the family of God.

For this reason, please consider the following when you park a car at the Park Church building on Sundays:

  1. Street parking is ideally not for Park Church. Our area is not designed to accommodate this volume of street parking. Although we are legally allowed to park on the street, doing so consumes all parking for local residents and their guests for most of the morning. Neighbors have expressed frustration at this many times over the years.
  2. The large parking lot at the Masonic building is reserved for Park Church. Our generous neighbors at this building have offered their high-capacity lot to us on Sundays. We’re so grateful to have this resource. You can cross Federal at several places, but the safest option is the signalized crosswalk at 35th. Have young kids? Keep reading.
  3. The small lot directly across 37th from the Park Church building is reserved for visitors, families with young children, and those with accessibility needs.

 

Thank you for helping us consider our neighbors!

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Advent & Christmas Eve Artwork 2021

Our artwork for Advent and Christmas Eve this year is by Noel Shiveley. These pieces complete the series Noel has done for us this year within the church calendar (also including Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter—see below). But what does the artwork mean?

the series as a whole

In each piece, including Advent and Christmas Eve, a wide “landscape” is pictured. From the outside edges in, rolling hills, jagged deserts, or the ethereal cosmos center a symbolic item and a celestial body. The symbols each focus on life as it is traditionally considered in its liturgical season. For example, Ash Wednesday depicts ashes blown from a censer (life as temporary, fleeting; Psalm 90:3, 10), while Palm Sunday shows a budding tree in front of a gate cracked open (new life imminently coming; Mark 13:28).

“the weary world rejoices”

Our series for Advent this year has been “The Weary World Rejoices.” Our intent is first to make space in our hearts to feel the tension and dissonance of our weary world (this will be easier for some than for others) while also looking to Jesus as the one who took on flesh to secure the promise of a better future here: a future where the disillusioned can have hope, where the divided can find peace, where the suffering can experience joy, and where the self-centered and outraged can know love.

Advent

A shadowed world is centered low, hung in a mostly-empty cosmos. Space is clouded, and the space dust is somewhat serpentine, covering stars. Sources of light are partially obscured, but clearly coming—a dark world, but not for much longer (John 1: 9). As the four weeks of Advent progress, the artwork depicted on our bulletins and screens changes to show a rising moon and star. The symbolism for life is somewhat direct: the world is conflicted and gloomed, and all life therein waits for the light. Even more directly, the Bethlehem star is depicted. Though it was a symbol in the sky to guide those seeking to meet Jesus, it was not a “symbol” in that it was a real celestial event—baffling the experts then as it may even now. Such was the first coming of Jesus.

Christmas eve

A depiction of Bethlehem is shown under complex light—the tops of towers are lit; the streets are dark. Feelings of sunrise are suggested (one who considers the last art piece might say, “at last!”), but the barren desert hills around still depict a cold nighttime. John writes that “the true light which gives life to everyone was coming into the world,” but also that “the light shines in the darkness…” (John 1:4–5). As we now know, “the darkness has not overcome it,” but what tension on that night! Why such squalor for this King? Who is this family? Did these shepherds really get a personal invitation from angels?

The artist

Noel Shiveley was born in Pasadena, CA. He first started sharing his graphic design work on Instagram in 2012 under @noeltheartist. This account is now a favorite to many, using his design to blend fun social commentary, Gospel snippets, random illustrations, and his professional portfolio. This is how we found him for this project! Noel now lives with his wife Bethany in Colorado Springs where Noel serves as Worship Director for YWAM Colorado Springs.

The series to date

Click an image to enlarge. All images Copyright Park Church 2020–2021.

Ash Wednesday

Palm Sunday

Good Friday

Easter

Advent

Christmas Eve

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Advent Hymn Sing 2021

From Wednesday, December 8

A night of singing, reading about, and longing for Jesus, our coming King.

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