The River Church Community

Dear River friends,
 
In our staff prayer gathering yesterday, we had a wonderful time praying for you – that God would be your comfort in anxiety, that He would supply you with all you need (spiritually, relationally, and materially), and that He would fill you with courageous faith as you seek to follow Jesus in the stewarding of your finances.
 
In the midst of these days of financial stress, we (the staff) would like to serve you as best we can.  So, we would like to remove every financial barrier to your participation in this weekend’s Lenten retreat.  Please come.  Pay whatever you can . . . and if you can’t afford anything at this time, then let the entire retreat be God’s gift of grace to you.  Just email Angela () to let her know you’d like to come.  More than anything, we want the people of our church community to have a place to rest and receive in the presence of the God who created us and loves us with an everlasting love.
 
Lent doesn’t have the kind of “pizzazz” that Advent seems to have.  Even as a young unchurched kid, I remember friends telling me what they were giving up for Lent.  Needless to say, it didn’t get me too fired up about visiting a church.  But, Lent is not about self-flagellation.  It's certainly not about proving our love for God.  It’s about welcoming the Holy Spirit to prepare us to see and experience the power of God who is pouring out His new creation.  This is the water for which my souls thirsts.  May all our souls be satisfied more deeply in Him this season.
 
Peace,
 
Brad Wong,
Lead Pastor

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Hello River!

Join us for our monthly all-church intercessory prayer time at The River's Ministry Center on Tuesday, March 3 from 7:00 - 8:30pm.

We had 29 people come out for the Bone Marrow drive last week!  Jocelyn is very grateful for everyone who came out.

Check out the website for a new story about the Kids' Community visit to the Homewood nursing home during the holidays!

Also, online giving is now available.  Click here to check it out.

And a reminder if you want to be kept up to date on all of The River's blogs, you can simply subscribe to this feed.

Dave

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Announcements from Sunday, February 22

BudgetWatchers Informational Meeting

• For the Spring Session of BudgetWatchers, we will be studying Matt Bell's new book "Money, Purpose, Joy: The Proven Path to Uncommon Financial Success".  The book has a good mix of helping the reader reflect on financial and life values while also providing guidance on practical matters of budgeting and getting out of debt.  Join us for a brief informational meeting after church next Sunday, 3/1 where we will give an overview of the topics and present some options for meeting times.  Contact Dave Kwok for more information
  

Juvenille Hall Info meeting

• Come explore ministry opportunities at Santa Clara County's Juvenile Hall, a neighbor to The River's Ministry Center.  An informational meeting will be held next Sunday - 3/1, after service.  Contact Tony Traback for more informaiton.

Welcome Dessert on Friday, March 6th from 7:30 - 9:00 pm.

• If you have recently starting attending The River or are looking for ways to connect deeper into the life of our church, we invite you to a Welcome Dessert at the home of  our Lead Pastor, Brad Wong. We will provide a brief history of The River, explain our values as a church, offer ways for you to get involved, and answer any questions you may have. But mostly, we just want to get to know you over some delicious desserts and drinks in a relaxing, friendly environment.
• Please let us know if you can make the event so we can provide you with address and directions. Email Angela Aviles at ,  call 408.252.5500 x106, or RSVP here.