Posts by Billy Arnold (Page 2)
Who Do You Say That I Am? – Mark 1.1–11
We have officially begun our academic year teaching out of the Gospel of Mark. Last Sunday Alvin laid out a bit of an overview and some background to better get a grasp of this book. It is of course the 2nd of the four Gospels that we find in the Bible. It is often the least read of the four as well. But we are jumping in and I can’t wait. This Sunday I have the privilege of focusing on…
History of LifeWay (Part 9)
This is my 9th ‘chapter’ or installment of the 40 years of history that we have been blessed with at this church. From 1984 when Patty and I moved here, until now. Thank you for reading along and indulging with me in this reflective journey. In the last couple of articles I have already spoken of our work in Bryansk, Russia a few times and how that international missions had already made such a huge impact in our personal lives…
The Promises of God: Proverbs 3:5–6
If you’ve been around awhile you might recall that frequently have told the story of how I came to memorize Proverbs 3:5-6. As I was pledging a college fraternity at Baylor in 1976 one of the members of the fraternity was a Christian and forced me to memorize this verse before he would vote for me to be in the club! It might seem strange to you and not match your view of fraternity life, but I will tell you…
History of LifeWay (Part 8)
I am continuing to write out some personal reflections and the missions’ history that my wife and I have experienced over these 4 decades of ministry. Today is part 8 of this story. After the merger of Palisades and Calvary and the significant partnership with Don Turner that I wrote about last week, there were in the days to follow some adjustments for sure. From 2003 at the merger until around 2008/2009 there were some wonderful victories, but we…
The Promises of God: Matthew 28:19–20
This coming Sunday morning August 18 I am honored to have a relatively new friend with us, Brad Schneeflock. Brad is relatively new to the Northwest as he moved here with his family over a year ago from Arizona to lead a collegiate outreach ministry in the Puget Sound Region. He led a great collegiate ministry outreach in Arizona for years, but now brings his expertise and experience to our area. This is of special interest to us at LifeWay…
History of LifeWay (Part 7)
LifeWay Church honored Patty and I this summer for our 40 years of history here. It has inspired me to write out some meaningful moments and people over these four decades. Today I write part 7. Don Turner and the “Merger” that became LifeWay Church: It’s been more than two decades now, but for the most of the early 2000’s here in our church people would often ask about the merger of churches that occurred in the year 2003. Yes,…
History of LifeWay (Part 6)
Today is part 6 of my ongoing recollection of the last 40 years here. Again, I write this out for the sake of ‘missions history’ and I hope you find it interesting and maybe inspiring. The Russia Report: For those who are ‘old-timers’ here at this church (those of you who have been around for 20+ years) this expression “The Russia Report” usually brings up a laugh and reminder of something I gave as a report to the Church family…
The Promises of God: He Always Finishes What He Has Started!
The top of this article is from me (Billy) and the 2nd half is from Scott Jackson. This Sunday, August 4, we are honored to have our own Scott Jackson bring us a message in our summer series we call… “The Promises of God.” Scott and Diane serve in Eastern Europe and have been workers on the international field now for over 14 years. And LifeWay is their home church (and of course Diane is our daughter!! — and sweet…
Reflection on the 40 year Journey (Part 4)
I am continuing my reflections of 40 years of history that highlight specific people that have been part of this journey, but also special events and places. 40 years is a fairly long time and there has been a great deal of ‘water under the bridge.’ This series of articles is my way of recalling and recording missions history. Today is part 4 of my reflections and remembrances. The Living Nativity Tours: In the early 1990’s not too long…
The Promises of God: He Gives Strength to the Weary
A few years back Patty & I met a family while on vacation. As is common with my wife and I we began to enter into a conversation with them as we are often intrigued by people’s stories. Not only where they had been on vacation, but what they’ve seen and what interesting places they have visited. At some point the conversation turned a bit more personal and we began to ask talk about family things. We were certainly not…
History of LifeWay
In my continuation of the review of our 40 years here at Palisades/LifeWay, each week I have taken some time to thank God and remember some very special people and very special organization. This week this is part 3! I am thinking through the 1990’s and those very special years right after we had built the building where we now worship weekly. My wife and I had now been at this church for just about eight years and we were…
Reflection on the 40 year Journey
Two weeks ago this Church family recognized Patty and I for 40 years of ministry here. Thank you once again for this. This led me to do a great deal of historical thinking of this journey. So last week I decided to do a walk down memory lane by writing out the people who stand out to us over those 40 years. Essentially… our story here at this church and the significant people who stand out to us in this…
A Remembrance Walk among Heroes of the Faith
Part 1 of a few more to come. Last Sunday June 30th, the family at LifeWay honored Patty and me for our 40th anniversary of being here at LifeWay/Palisades. As many of you know we were The Church at Palisades for 19 years, then LifeWay for the last 21 years. We came together with Calvary Community Church in 2003 and re-formed and moved forward as LifeWay. That too is a wonderful story that needs to be told sometime. But either…
Where are the Promises of God when the Crops Fail?
Last weekend several of us as church leaders took a group of wonderful teens to camp in a remote part of Washington, a ranching/logging/mining part of the state called Wauconda. As part of our “Camp Wauconda” long weekend experience we joined in worship at the Wauconda Community Church. It was delightful. We met some wonderful Christ followers, and even a couple of the families joined us in the afternoon for a picnic at the nearby lake. You might wonder what…
The Promises of God: 2 Corinthians 12.9–12
Officially welcome to summer and the longest days of the year! I love it! But it means for us at LifeWay a shift in what we will be teaching on Sunday’s during the summer. Of course we just went through 30+ Sunday’s in Romans from September to last Sunday. Beginning this Sunday, June 23, we will begin our summer series called… “The Promises of God.” Every Sunday from June 23 to Labor Day, (11 Sunday’s), we will focus on a…
The Gospel Truth: The Final Words of Farewell
This time of year is graduation speech time. There are some fun graduation speeches, some ‘boring and lame’ speeches for sure, but occasionally there are some amazing graduation speeches to challenge and charge graduates. But I think the best speeches are the farewell speeches because they are the ones that lay out the most critical things to live for. Dwight Eisenhower gave a great one when leaving the presidency. George Washington gave a great speech when he left office. Paul,…
The Roman Road to Salvation
2000 years ago the Roman Empire dominated everything that was Europe, North Africa and the fringes of western Asia. This Empire was unlike anything that the world had ever seen, and in some ways it has not seen anything like it sense. It amazes me that we have been studying this incredible New Testament letter that we casually call the “Book of Romans,” and it was to a Church family there in that was living out the Body of Christ…
Why Can’t I?
One of the most popular and repeated phrases of a young child when they become around 5 years old is….. “WHY?” When you tell a child to stop playing on the high bars of the playground, their response is… “Why?” When you tell them to stop being so loud when you are a restaurant, their response is… “Why?” When you tell them to eat all their vegetables instead of the ice cream, their response is… “Why?” Even as a teenager…
How Then Shall We Live as Citizens of This Nation as a Christ Follower?
There is a bit of common bit of advice that is passed around every year at Thanksgiving time. Now I realize that it is May and we are all ready for summer, but let’s think about what happens at Thanksgiving time for many of us. It is a season when we gather with family that often we have not seen each other for some time, so we do a lot of catching up with one another. There are many topics…
Our Commitment to Authenticity
Romans 12:9-21 Recently Patty and I took off some time to celebrate her birthday by going to the beautiful state of Hawaii. Of course we had a grand and beautiful time on that gorgeous Big Island. We swam a lot, snorkeled the corral coves, hiked many of the hills, and we shopped! One of the days we took a long hike that began about 1000 feet above sea level and proceeded down the lava flow areas all the way down…
Commitment to a Higher Calling
Romans 12:1-8 We are now on what I have categorized as the last section of the book of Romans. This whole year we have studied Romans and Our Calling this series the gospel truth. The theology of what the gospel is in full detail is so well explained in the 1st 11 chapters of the book of Romans. But around the 12th chapter of this amazing letter in our New Testament we begin this section which is often considered to…
Romans 10:14–21
In January 1925, Nome Alaska was very, very cold! Now this should be of no surprise to anyone as Nome is that little Arctic town that sits out near the Bering Sea and essentially looks across to the far East tip of Russia. It is a native Alaskan settlement that expanded a great deal in the early 20th century due to the gold rush and other economic reasons. But a crisis had emerged in this Arctic village. And it is…
The Mystery of God revealed
When Apollo 8 was launched in December 1968 it was the very first ever manned flight to reach the moon and they orbited the moon on that mission. They did not land on the moon (that was Apollo 11 in July 1969). But it was the first ever to have flown out of earth’s low orbit and circle the moon, which they did 10 times and were within 60 miles of its surface! This mission set the stage for the…
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
When the Seattle Seahawks have their season opener this coming September at Lumen Field, everyone in the downtown region will know there is a game about to happen because the Seahawk blue jerseys, shirts, hats, and even face paint will be everywhere! The shouts from the crowds of thousands of people who were all strangers to one another just an hour before, are now all yelling in unison — “SEA —- HAWKS!” They are all high fiving one another and…
What Would You Paint Jesus to Look Like?
About ten years ago Patty was asked to paint about 25 portraits of famous people who would be considered ‘peace makers’ in the world. Individuals who stand out as people who brought something better for a nation and the world. She was asked to do this by a missionary who served in a difficult place in Asia to be put into a coffee shop there. It was actually called the “Peace Café.” The intent was to foster conversations among the…