Trinity Bible Church

As we begin 2014, Trinity Bible Church of Lynden WA (trinitybiblelynden.org) is eight months old. It’s a small church, about 12 families representing about 40 people ranging in age from toddler to retired. I am the pastor.

We meet for worship each Sunday at 10am at the Barn Youth Center at 9273 Guide Merdian north of Lynden. Our singing is a mix of hymns and newer songs. And I generally preaching directly from the word, often following the text verse by verse. We recently started a new sermon series on the Gospel of Luke. And on most Sundays, we share a mid-day meal following our worship service.

We also have several mid-week Bible studies, in homes or in coffee shops in Lynden. We gather periodically for fellowship in homes. And once a month, we have a children’s fun night at the Youth Center with pizza and games.

We are a community church in the sense that we don’t belong to a denomination. We are Baptists in that we practice baptism by immersion of the believer. And we are reformed in many ways in that we hold to the biblical doctrines that were recovered during the Reformation. Our Statement of Faith (trinitybiblelynden.org/about/beliefs/) is available on our website.

If you are looking for a church where Christ is honored, the word is preached, and the people truly love and care for each other, we would love for you to visit and see what we’re all about.

by Philip Bovenkamp

Starfish Ministries

My parents founded Starfish Ministries, a ministry to the needy people of Haiti, so I suppose I’m a little biased toward it. But I believe I would be a supporter even if I didn’t have any connection. The thing that impresses me more than anything about Starfish is the commitment to the gospel.

Starfish is involved in a lot of different things in Haiti — from an orphanage to several schools to a child-feeding program to disaster relief to well-drilling to a medical clinic. But they have never lost sight of their primary purpose, to preach the gospel of Jesus. Everything else is second to that.

I’m excited about 2014. Starfish is hoping to sponsor an evangelistic crusade in the village of Moinville in the spring. Moinville is a village not far from the village of Tricotte, where Starfish is based. We’ve been praying for Moinville for a long time, but the doors just haven’t opened the way they have in other villages. But that may be changing as the Starfish Ministry Newsletter for January 2014 explains.

by Philip Bovenkamp

Back in the Bay

I wrote a children’s book a few years ago.

When my parents founded Starfish Ministries, they took the name from the Starfish Story, a story about a boy who finds thousands of starfish stranded on a beach after a particularly high tide. Although he can’t save all of them — not even close — he does what he is able to save the ones he can.

I expanded on the story and put it into verse. Here’s a sample:

There was one purple starfish much smaller than most,
as starfish named Simon stuck there on the coast.
He wondered what happened or what he’d done wrong,
till a hermit crab happened to bobble along.
“Oh sir,” shouted Simon, “a word if I may,
do you think you could help me get back in the bay?”
But the hermit crab grunted and bobbled away.

It’s available from Amazon.com Back in the Bay or from CreateSpace.com Back in the Bay.

by Philip Bovenkamp