Kickoff to summer update

Hi everyone!

First off, Hope and I want to say Thank you to all of you who have sacrificed to support Hope and I in our mission field. We are so blown away by people’s generosity, help, prayers and encouragement. You are all such a big part of Casey’s calling. Thank you all so much. The best way he knows how to thank you all is follow God’s calling on his life by serving His people, and being a blessing to those he can reach out to as you have reached out to us.

As the summer ramps up, we have a lot going on right now in the community. This upcoming Sunday, June 22, we are holding a Youth &Family BBQ before Youth Group. We are hoping that this serves multiple functions. First, for the kids, school ends on June 20^th, so this will be an official kick off to summer. Related to that, our Youth group is for 7^th graders through 12^th graders. Starting with the BBQ, those who were in 6^th grade for this school year, and will be going to 7^th grade next year will be formally invited to join the Youth Group going forward, I know of a few specifically who are very excited about this. Thirdly, this is going to serve as a chance to really get the parents of the Youth involved and invested in the youth Group. There is a direct correlation in how serious and important parents view activities to how the kids view them. IF the parents buy in, the kids are more likely to as well.

We have Vacation Bible School starting on Monday, June 30^th, and running through Friday, July 4^th. AS many of you know, Hope is immensely gifted as a teacher in general and with kids specifically. She will be running the preschool for VBS, so Finn, Rose and Caleb will all be able to be with her throughout the morning. This being my first experience with VBS, I will be assisting two different teachers and learning as much as I can to use going forward.

In early August, we will be taking kids in the church to camp. In another great opportunity for me to learn and gain experience, I will be the main teacher for the week. Our theme is “He is my King,” based on the SM Lockridge video that I shared a few weeks ago. If you have not seen it yet, I encourage you to do so.

Last week, I registered for my final semester of School. The semester will start in September and run through into February. At that point, I will be done with school and have my Masters Degree in Christian Studies!

We are anticipating finding out about our permanent assignment sometime in the winter. We have been told to expect the internship to last approximately 12 months. We arrived here and started the internship in December, so that is the time frame we are looking at.

Now comes the awkward part. Again, I want to give our sincerest thanks and gratitude to those who have been supporting us. For those that don’t know, as a Village Missions Missionary Pastor, we are to raise our own wages, our own funds. There is much biblical precedent for fund raising (1 Cor. 9, 1 Tim. 5:17-18, Luke 10:7 and Matthew 10:9-10)

Unfortunately, we have had some supporters who have had some life circumstances go on and have been unable to continue supporting us. We would ask that you please prayerfully, carefully consider whether you are able and willing to help support us financially. If you are willing and able, there are a few different ways that you can go about it.

First, you can make a tax deductible donation through the Village Missions website. You can do either a one time or an ongoing, monthly donation. Going this route will ensure that we have our minimum amount raised accounted for and will make it easier when we are getting ready to be placed in our assigned community. If you are interested in giving online, Click Here.

Second, you can send your donations directly to us, either by check or Paypal. This is considered a gift and would not be tax deductible.

Our mailing address is
160 Mulkey Lane
Ariel, WA 98603

I have included below a button for Paypal donations.

If you cannot or will not donate, please pray (or send positive thoughts) for us. We know that not all are called to give, but we want to include all in this journey of ours. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter prayerfully and considering this opportunity. We would like to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have.

Finally, please keep us in your prayers. We are doing great, but we have a lot going on. I am looking forward to finally getting out and doing some fishing in the next few weeks. I got my fishing license last week, and there are a number of men in the congregation and the community that I will be able to spend some time getting to know be joining them out on the lake. Hope is growing our garden and finding a ton of wild growing, edible plants, herbs, etc growing in the area and is having fun with that. Caleb is basically days away from walking, Rosie and Finn are enjoying being able to wake up, have breakfast and just run and play outside all day. And please let us know what we can be praying for you guys as well. We love and care about all of you and if you would like, this congregation is a wonderful praying congregation. We can either share your requests with them, or keep them for our own personal prayers. Thank you all for your prayers and support, for caring about all of this, and we pray for you that God is working in your lives and hearts, blessing you with His grace and mercy.

Love you and God Bless,

The Holenciks
(Casey, Hope, Finn, Rose and Caleb)

Thank you all for your prayers, well wishes and your moral and financial support!

Fatherhood and Manhood Part 6

I am prepping for a Fathers Day Sermon this weekend (Service starts at 10AM at PleasantView Community Church) so throughout the week I want to share some songs, tidbits and statistics regarding fatherhood.

Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments about the posts or better yet, share a favorite memory about your father!

Dr Meg Meeker wrote the following as a guest blog at Dave Ramseys website. You can view the original here. She wrote this, apparently addressing Moms but we all need to read this. Culture has waged war on Biblical Masculinity and Biblical Fatherhood, addressing Dads as either Dumb goofs as addressed here, or macho, disrespectful, womanizing jerks.

Great Dads vs “Dumb” Dads

Ray Romano, Homer Simpson and Adam Sandler (aka Big Daddy) need to go away.

Sure, these dumb dads give us a few laughs, but don’t think that’s all they do. Their funny stupidity, buffoonish mannerisms and lack of spine teaches us—and our kids—that dads don’t really have anything of value to offer their families. No wonder our fathers feel unappreciated and disrespected.

This Father’s Day, let me take a moment to set the record straight. Here’s what solid, scientific research tells us about the profound impact fathers have on their children’s emotional, physical, mental and intellectual growth:

Toddlers who are securely attached to their fathers are better at problem-solving.
The most effective way to boost a girl’s self-esteem is for her father to give her physical affection.
Kids who have fathers in the home are dramatically less likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and learning disorders.
Kids with fathers at home are more likely to get better grades, graduate from high school, and go on to college and grad school.
According to a study that looked at 90,000 kids, the number-one factor operating in teens’ lives that kept them away from sex, drugs and alcohol was “parent connectedness.” In other words, when dads were engaged with their sons and daughters, the teens were much more likely to stay away from high-risk behaviors.
Dads, not peers, are the primary influence in a daughter’s life regarding the decisions she makes about sexual activity.

Children are connected to their fathers by a need-based love. That means that the child needs his father to love him, so he will search his father’s expressions and body language to figure out what his father thinks about him. Does his dad see how he throws a baseball? Did dad notice the “A” on the top of his essay? A young girl reads her father for cues as well. When she walks into a room, she wants to know if her father notices that she’s there and if he thinks she’s beautiful. This sounds elementary to us, but we’re not kids looking up to the man we love who is an integral part of our identity development.

His Unmatched Authority

Every father has an authority in his child’s eyes that is unmatched. Mothers don’t want to hear this, but it is true. We are equally important, but we bring different strengths to our parenting. A father has this authority because children need their fathers to answer a few simple but life-changing questions: What do you believe about me? How do you feel about me? What are your hopes for me? The child will find those answers from his father, because he needs to know if he is important to his dad.

If he doesn’t get those questions answered from his father, he will answer them himself. If dad is never around, he will believe that his father doesn’t think much of him or love him. But if his father is active and present in his life, he knows that his father thinks the world of him. If his father is affectionate and affirming, he feels he is loved. When his dad talks to him about his potential to be great at something in the future, he knows that his father has high hopes for him. The answers that a child finds change who he becomes.

How to Give the Respect They Deserve

This Father’s Day, let’s do a little more than change the channel on Ray Romano. Let’s work to help our children show their dads the respect they deserve and give them the love they also crave from their kids. tweet this The dumb dad image needs to die, so let’s make him go away. The best way that we mothers can do this is to speak well of our husbands. If we aren’t married to our children’s father, that’s no excuse not to treat him with respect. These men are the ones who will determine the future health of our children.

What can you do today to show gratitude and respect to the father in your life? If your own father is alive, write him a note of thanks for giving you life and then for every good thing he gave you. If you are married, show your appreciation to your husband, not just for his sake, but for the sake of your children. Remember, every time you do something to encourage him, you help your kids.

The truth is, one of the best things that a mother can do for her kids is to help their father. Because strong fathers make strong kids.

Casey

Fatherhood and Manhood part 4

Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments about the posts or better yet, share a favorite memory about your father!

Adam Mitchell’s Speech for Fathers – Courageous

As a law-enforcement officer, I’ve seen firsthand the deep hurt and devastation that fatherlessness brings in a child’s life. Our prisons are full of men and women who lived recklessly after being abandoned by their fathers, wounded by the men who should have loved them the most. Many now follow the same pattern of irresponsibility that their fathers did.

While so many mothers have sacrificed to help their children survive, they were never intended to carry the weight alone. We thank God for them.

But research is proving that a child also desperately needs a daddy. There’s no way around this fact. As you know, earlier this year, my family endured the tragic loss of our -year-old daughter, Emily. Her death forced me to realize that not only had I not taken advantage of the priceless time I had with her, but that I did not truly understand how crucial my role was as a father to her and our son, Dylan. Since her passing, I’ve asked God to show me, through his word how to be the father that I need to be.

I now believe that God desires for every father to courageously step up and do whatever it takes to be involved in the lives of his children. But more than just being there or providing for them, he’s to walk with them through their lives and be a visual representation of the character of God, their father in heaven.

A father should love his children and seek to win their hearts. He should protect them, discipline them and teach them about God.
He should model how to walk with integrity and treat others with respect and should call out his children to become responsible men and women who live their lives for what matters in eternity.

Some men will hear this and mock it or ignore it.
But I tell you that as a father, you are accountable to God for the position of influence he has given you.
You can’t fall asleep at the wheel only to wake up one day and realize that your job or your hobbies have no eternal value but the souls of your children do.

Some men will hear this and agree with it but have no resolve to live it out.
lnstead, they will live for themselves and waste the opportunity to leave a godly legacy for the next generation.

But there are some men who, regardless of the mistakes we’ve made in the past, regardless of what our fathers did not do for us, will give the strength of our arms and the rest of our days to loving God with all that we are and to teach our children to do the same, and, whenever possible, to love and mentor others who have no father in their lives but who desperately need help and direction.

We are inviting any man whose heart is willing and courageous to join us in this resolution.
In my home, the decision has already been made.
You don’t have to ask who will guide my family, because by God’s grace, I will.
You don’t have to ask who will teach my son to follow Christ, because l will.
Who will accept the responsibility of providing and protecting my family? I will.
Who will ask God to break the chain of destructive patterns in my family’s history? I will.
Who will pray for and bless my children to boldly pursue whatever God calls them to do?
I am their father. l will.

I accept this responsibility, and it is my privilege to embrace it.
I want the favor of God and his blessing on my home.
Any good man does.
So where are you, men of courage?
Where are you, fathers who fear the Lord?
It’s time to rise up and answer the call that God has given to you and to say, “I will. I will. I will.”

Casey

1 Cor 16:13

Fatherhood and Manhood part 3

Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments about the posts or better yet, share a favorite memory about your father!

Fathers, you wont get quality time with your kids with being intentional about it. You cant create quality time when ever you want. It takes being there in the slow times, when nothing is happening all the time, for the quality time to come up naturally.

Quantity time creates quality time.

Casey

Fatherhood and Manhood Part 2

Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments about the posts or better yet, share a favorite memory about your father!

This one is modified slightly from a blog post I wrote on a different site about two years ago…

Why is it important to be a father? And to stayed married to their mother?

Chew on this…..

*63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (US Dept. Of Health/Census) — 5 times the average.

*90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes — 32 times the average.

*85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes — 20 times the average. (Center for Disease Control)

*80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes — 14 times the average. (Justice and Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26)

*71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes — 9 times the average. (National Principals Association Report)

*75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes – 10 times the average. (Rainbows for All God’s Children)

*70% of youths in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Sept. 1988)

*85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes — 20 times the average. (Fulton Co. Dept. of Correction)

*Students living w/out Biological Fathers:

36 % overall (complete population)

28% of white students

39% of Hispanic Students

69% of Black Students

*63 % of students living with no biological father live in a households with income of $25,000 or less

Now, am I saying that if you are divorced that you are a bad father? Of course not! I know many great dads who are not married. But there are a few things that I am saying.

If you are a divorced father, you need to work harder to be an active part of your child’s life. These stats are not saying that the kids will be a part of these numbers, but the likelihood increases by a lot.
If you are still married to the kids mother, this is not an excuse to not work hard at being deeply involved in their lives. Statistically, an emotionally absent, physically present father is not as bad as a physically absent father, but it is much worse than an emotionally present, physically present father.
If you had a poor or non existent father, do not use that as an excuse. Use him as an inspiration to do better for your kids than he did for you. Look to your father in heaven as an example of how you should be as a father.
If you had a good or great father, use him as an example. Learn from him and ask him advice. Do the same with your heavenly father. He has already written some of it down for you.
If you are not involved in your kids life, why? MAN UP! If you are not being a father you are not a man, you are a boy who can shave. The Good News? There is still time to change and repent and ask your heavenly father for help

Casey

Deut 11:9

Fatherhood and Manhood, Part 1

Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments about the posts or better yet, share a favorite memory about your father!

Casey

Who is HE?

This video was shown at the end of Pastor Robs sermon a few weeks ago and it has really struck with me. IT is from a conference message from a man named SM Lockridge. Apparently, the SM stands for Shadrach Meshach from Daniel 1-3. It is from the 70’s and apparently no actual video exists from the message, just the audio.

Give it a chance and let me know what you think.

Casey

2 Corinthians 9:15

Memorial Day

So, I want to say this with all due respect to living Veterans, and Ive spoken with many of them, enough to know that many 100% agree with the statement Im about to make.

Memorial Day is not designated to thank all those who have served our country. We should be doing that everyday anyway and they have Veterans Day as their national Holiday. Memorial Day is to remember those who have given their lives in service to our Country.

This weekend is not about BBQs, camping, shopping, fishing, remember loved ones who have passed (again, should be doing this everyday). I say once again:

Memorial day is about those who have died for our country.

To those I know that have served, you all know friends, fellow service members, etc. who didn’t come back. All of you out there, if you do ot know someone who gave their life for your freedom, then you know someone who served with someone who did. If the veterans out there are willing and able to talk about them, ask them abut those friends who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

This weekend is about their memory.

The Holencik Family

Ephesians 6:12

Great things are happening!!!

Hi! We wanted to give you all an update about what God has been doing in our little valley in WA. And, it was recently pointed out to us that we have not been posting or updating as much as we could/should be, so this is the first step in fixing that, thanks for the patience and understanding… now, on to the cool stuff!!!

I (Hope) have been teaching an after school bible club for the elementary kids every week, and this Thursday is our last day. It has been wonderful teaching and learning from these kids the last 4 months. One of our little guys, he comes faithfully, though his parents don’t come to church. He is eager to learn, has the answers, and loves participating. Recently, I got to have a great conversation with him about how when we are forgiven of our sin, God takes it away, never to return, as far as the east is from the west. He was so happy to know that he didn’t have to keep asking for forgiveness over and over again. What a great lesson for us all.

Another of my boys, who hadn’t liked coming, though he was encouraged by his mom, is now loving it, excited about the bible lessons and going home to share them with is parents, and is actually the encourager to his whole family to get up on Sunday mornings and get to church on time. He is eager to hear about Jesus and His word.

Another girl, she just loves God. She knows every answer, all the time, and melts my heart. She hasn’t gotten the best hand in life, but she is leaning on her Heavenly father and trusting Him with a child’s pure faith that I pray carries her through her life, because life doesn’t always get easier.

When I started, there were siblings that came, but didn’t enjoy it as much. Wouldn’t participate, sing with us, or anything else, for that matter. now they are answering questions, smiling as they come in the door, and are right in the middle of the excitement. I could go on about every one of these precious kids, but that would take forever. Needless to say, I have been so blessed to work with them, learn from them, and be a better GNC teacher next fall when we start it all up again! So during our final party on Thursday, if you hear some noise an mayhem, just know it’s us, celebrating another Good News Club year on the books!

We also have lots of amazing things in the adult world! We have a weekly prayer meeting with seperate men’s and women’s groups. One such prayer has been for relatives of one of our dear friends here. They have recently been contemplating a dangerous faith road. Casey had the opportunity of making a connection with the man, invite him to bible study and church, and he has come to both!!! And tonight, brought another of their relatives!!! He is searching and we are excited, knowing that God will meet him and do amazing things in his life and his family. As an aside, the Men’s bible study, which normally runs about 10 guys has been growing, and is now at 16!!! They are a really great bunch of guys, as Casey says, and loves that part of his job is to simply be with them, studying with them, encouraging, teaching, and learning from them. Especially when it’s about smoking meats or learning where all the good fishing spots are.

With the sweets comes the sour. It seems like everyone nowadays is touched by cancer one way or another. We have a couple members of our church battling this and it is devastating to see such wonderful people suffer. And yet in this hell they are going through, we can still see God working. It has made our time with them all the more precious, and it reminds me of the Apostle Paul, when he talked of running the race and finishing well. It’s easy to start strong, but these women are choosing to finish strong as well, showing faith and Grace in spades. They are a constant testimony of God using evil for good, and trusting that true healing can only come through Christ, and physical healing may be here on earth, or when they walk with Jesus in heaven. One of Casey’s aunts is fighting this battle as well, and is taking an aggressive faith filled and naturopathic approach, showing that only God knows when to stop fighting, and God, being the great physician, can heal us inside and out.

We are also blessed to continue working with the youth group, seeing the depth of faith and maturity in young men and women, being shown how old we really are when they don’t know who Sienfeld is, or thinking Def Leopard is classic rock. We are getting our summer schedule together, and it is going to be awesome~ we are contemplating a weekend Christian rock concert with great speakers, as well as a overnight lock-in at the church. We have been doing service projects around the community, weather permitting, and are about to kick off a prayer walk/ stretching our faith activity, asking people in our neighborhoods for their prayer requests, reguardless of church affiliation, belief in God at all, or anything else. It’s part of what the ladies prayer group is doing in their individual streets, doing personal prayer while walking, praying for those around us. We are excited to see how it challenges the kids and the neighborhood impact.

We are so blessed to be put here to help, encourage, grieve with, and serve our church and surrounding community in the Lewis River valley, and thank you all for supporting us in this, knowing that through your prayers, this is your ministry, as well as ours. Thank you so much for all you do, helping us here, and in your own communities.

Love in Christ,

Casey and Hope

Prepping for my next Sermon

So Im am prepping to do my next sermon on May 18th and I will be preaching on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I will post the passage here from Luke 10:25-37. What do you take from this? I want to hear the obvious as well as the deeper, not so obvious…