Friends,   I continue to work with your administrative committee regarding our closure. Although we have not set a specific time for reopening, we continue to monitor new developments, regulations, and recommendations for meeting together. I will continue to provide updates via the Touchstone as we move forward with our planning. Please reach out to any member of the administrative committee with concerns or needs you may have. I pray that each of you feel God’s presence near you and that his light will shine from you during this time. Lena Anderson

From the Stewards    Even though we are not meeting together yet the maintenance of our building and grounds goes on, as does our worship service through streaming. A special thanks to:

Steve and Myke Wilson for keeping up most of our lawns and to Steve for all of the extra time he has put in on the sprinkler system.

Terry Wilson for keeping the church office functioning in these difficult times.

Chris Tappero for all of the extra time he has put in helping to maintain the yard at the parsonage.

Chuck Taylor and his family for keeping up on the cleaning of the inside of the church building.

Pastor Jesse and Emily Davis for keeping us connected

electronically by streaming the worship service.

The worship team for adding music to the streamed worship services and for all of the time they spend in practice.

And everyone who continues to support the ministries of Medford Friends Church with your prayers, gifts and efforts.

As we think about these days my mind is drawn to Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”                        

Right now, one of the best ways to honor and show love to one another is by not inadvertently sharing a virus that could bring harm to someone else. One day we will be meeting in person again, and although we don’t know exactly what that might look like yet, we can uplift our church community in the meantime.

We can do this by reaching out to one another with phone calls, texts, e-mails, notes and prayers, to honor one another, and share the brotherly love we have in Jesus.

Mark Burton

Financial Update    Many businesses are struggling financially in these days and we want you to understand how we are doing as a church. Year to date, we have a positive general fund cash flow of approximately $4,000. We thank God for His generous provision to us through the years and we thank everyone who continues to give to the ministry of the church. Your gifts have allowed us to avoid cutting pay or staff, as many other churches and businesses have had to do, and to help some who have struggled due to job loss and other needs. It is good to know that we will be ready to reopen when the time comes! 

NEWS FROM OUR CHURCH FAMILY:

Birthdays Being Celebrated in August include:

Evan Hayes, Kitty Collins, Mandie Milam, Rita Bingham, Judy Swingle, Melody Kaufer and Gabriel Cadd.

We are trying something new for our MFC Church Family, if you have news that you would like to be included in the monthly Touchstone newsletter please  email terry@medfordfriendschurch.org  or call the office with the information you would like to share.

I want to give a big THANK YOU to the worship team that has been providing music for the services each week.

• Cheryl Nicholson, singer & keyboard
• Deanna Mann, singer & guitar
• Richard Mann, bass guitar
• Trisha Mann, singer
• Matthew Mann, sound & trumpet
• Dale Pickering, singer & keyboard

I also want to THANK Emily Davis for helping with streaming each week.  It would not happen without her.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! Your time and effort is very much appreciated.  Phyllis Krupp

Congratulations to Cody & April Taylor and family on the arrival of Baby Daughter, Willow Taylor, on July 23, 2020.   We would like to welcome Willow with a gift card shower from their MFC family.  Some gift card ideas would be:  Amazon, Walmart, Fred Meyers and Papa Murphy’s.  Please mail cards and congratulations to:

Cody & April Taylor, 291 Harrison St., Ashland, OR 97520

From the Anderson Family:

Richard Anderson recently accepted a position at Billings Clinic as a Laboratory Assistant. He moved to Montana and starts July 27th. His new address is:  Richard Anderson, 639 Miles Avenue, Billings, MT 95101

George Fox University made the decision to start the academic year one week earlier this year. Classes begin August 24th. Please keep William Anderson as well as all of the other students and faculty in prayer.

From the Wilson Family:

Thank you for your continued prayer for me (Terry) and my brothers and sister as we share responsibilities in caring for our parents, Gordon and Dorothy Just. At the present they are in their home and doing well.

We are excited to have Josh, Audra and grandkids Raeleigh and Gabe in the U.S. They are transitioning to their next assignment with DOOR International and there are a lot of unknowns at the present time, please keep their family in prayer. July 31^st we will have survived the quarantine period and will be able to greet them with hugs and be able to be in the same house, we are so thankful.

Raeleigh has been accepted at George Fox University. As this is being written, the University will allow her to live off campus with her Great-Grandmother, Helen Cadd.

Clynton Crisman, former pastor of Medford Friends Church, passed away June 25, 2020.  He was 100 years old.  Clynton and his wife, Marjorie, ministered here during the 50s, 60s, and 70s leaving Medford to serve in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

Ladies! The Answer Is Yes! Pass it on, did you see the flyer or hear the announcement at Yearly Meeting that the annual Friends Women’s Fall Retreat will be VIRTUAL…More details to come. Questions please contact Nadine Brood.

Let’s Work Together to Reach Out!

Start collecting school supplies, small toys, hygiene items, and other fun things for our annual school supply and Operation Christmas Child Shoebox drive! Now, more than ever, the world needs to feel the love of Christ. These projects provide practical ways for us as a church to reach out to those in our community and around the world. Start watching for sales on school supplies (Fred Meyer and Staples tend to have great specials)! Grab one little item for a Shoebox each time you shop. Set aside a dollar a week to use toward shopping costs. Pray for the lives that will be touched. Details on collection will come later, but start gathering  items now!
Ideas of things to keep an eye out for: crayons, colored pencils, pencils, pencil sharpeners, markers, pens, spiral notebooks, small note pads, small coloring books, scissors, water colors, glue sticks, erasers, pencil boxes/pouches, combs, brushes, toothbrushes, washcloths, hair accessories, play jewelry, balls, stuffed toys, jump ropes, cars, socks, etc.
Thank you!

Hello Friends, 

While we haven’t been meeting in person for worship on Sundays, there has been a lot of effort behind the scenes. I want to thank the members of the Administrative Committee who have spent many hours in research, discussion and prayer for our Meeting. Those members are: Carla Tappero, Mark Burton, Drew Krupp, Phyllis Krupp, and Patsy Burton as well as Pastor Jesse and myself. Our focus continues to be on the well-being of the entire meeting. We have not set a specific time for reopening, but continue to monitor new developments, regulations and recommendations for meeting together.

It is difficult, in a time such as this, to have a good “sense of the meeting”. Feel free to reach out to me with any thoughts or concerns you may have. We are also exploring some different ways to gather feedback from all of you. Look for updates in the Touchstone.

                                           Lena Anderson

There are copies of the July, August, September 2020 “Fruit of the Vine” Barclay Press publication, Friends Daily Devotional Readings available in the office at MFC.

I thank my God every time I remember you, In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.                                                            Philippians 1:3-6   While we are not together in body we certainly are together in our faith, love and hope. Let’s continue to stay safe, praying for one another, knowing we will be together again. In the meantime, please know that the Elders and others in our church are holding you up in prayer. We all look forward to a time when we can be together at church in the safest way.                               Blessings to each of you, From the Elders of MFC

Registration and a daily schedule for Annual Sessions will be available soon!

Overnight Summer Youth Camps Canceled
We are deeply saddened by the news that the State of Oregon will not permit overnight camps for children and youth to operate during summer 2020. Our hearts go out to our campers, as we know that this will be disheartening for each of them (and our staff!), as we continue on this long and arduous COVID-19 journey. That said, we are grateful for the care for

camper safety identified by those at the Oregon Health Authority and Governor’s Office. For more information or updates see the camp’s website.

Celebrate Their Achievements!

We are so proud of our MFC youth and want to celebrate those passing a major educational milestone.  Please offer your congratulations to:

Promoting into 1^st Grade: Phoebe Archibald & Kaleb Mathieson

Promoting into 7^th Grade:  Evan Hayes & Payshens Cichy

Graduating from High School:  Nate Krupp

Graduating from George Fox University:  Richard Anderson

Hurray for these awesome young people!                 

Easter in May??!! Yes it Was!! The CE Committee is delighted to report that while we may have missed having an Easter egg hunt at Easter, we were able to help our church families celebrate in May.  We put together baskets with Easter eggs filled with toys and candy and delivered to our MFC Kids and to some families who came to our carnival last fall.  All baskets were received with surprise and appreciation!

Thank You Tasty Treat Tippers!  The Friends Women group would like to extend a huge Thank You to everyone who supported our Father’s Day “Bake Sale.” Even though we were not able to provide you with treats this year, donations still came in, and $200 was raised to help support various outreach ministries! (We are still accepting donations if you happened to miss the opportunity.) Thanks again so much!

From the Stewards These have been interesting times and as the Stewards, we thank everyone who continues to support the ministries of Medford Friends Church through your financial gifts, prayers, and reaching out to on another. It is a blessing to be a part of such a loving church family.

While we haven’t been meeting, a variety of projects have been completed – including some repairs, cleaning of rooms, some deep cleaning and general organization. While some of these may not be obvious we are so thankful to have them done.

When the time comes and we know what our reopening will look like we will review all of our cleaning procedures and add new cleaning protocols as needed to ensure that we provide as safe of an environment as possible for all who can gather for worship. In the meantime, may God bless you richly and keep you safe and at peace as you trust in Him.

Eagle Scout Recognition Four (4) more names have been added to the Eagle Scout Recognition Plaque for BSA Troop 10, chartered by MFC and on display in the main hall.      

Andrew J. Rambo-2018, Edmond L. DePlois-2018, William Anderson-2019 and Logan Z. North-2020

Congratulations for the commitment to earn this Top Rank in Scouting and for the leadership efforts within the Troop, District, and Crater Lake Council, BSA. We say thank you to the Adult Volunteers who have faithfully served as members of Troop 10’s Committee and the scouts’ supportive family members as well. Submitted by Rita Bingham, CR for Troop 10.

Friends Women Fellowship To our church family, The Friends Women Fellowship says, “THANK YOU!” for your faithfulness in partnering with us in the missionary support programs of Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Women Fellowship, which includes global and local endeavors.  We once again met our pledged support. The July meeting is scheduled as “on call” after the yearly meeting business session is concluded. As usual, we do not meet in August, the next scheduled meeting will be in September.

This year’s Annual Sessions, like many events you likely had on your calendar, will be moving to a virtual platform.  The dates have changed slightly, moving to July 19-21st.  We will open our time together (virtually) on Sunday evening with a message from our general superintendent, Dr. Jim Le Shana.  We will hear from Dr. Joseph Clair as our main speaker on Monday and Tuesday.  There will be business sessions, workshops, and opportunities for fellowship and learning for each age group.  

We know that this change will be hard for some to hear.  It was not a simple decision to make.  But, we trust that in making this unprecedented decision, God can meet us where we are at, and move in ways that are fresh and new.  Our theme for this year’s conference is Thriving.  When this theme was picked, we had no idea of the changes that would be happening.  And so, given our current context, we are able to ask questions like; “what does it mean to be a thriving church in a new world for churches?  How can technology advance our mission — what parts of our shared life cannot and should not be replicated through technology?” In the days ahead we will have more specific information, including a schedule and details for participation in the conference.

The Friends Women fellowship group has made it our tradition to hold a bake sale on Father’s Day. This is an easy way to give dad a treat and for us to raise funds to support both local and overseas outreach ministries. Given our current restrictions on meeting and other regulations surrounding meetings, it is not feasible to hold a Father’s Day bake sale this year. Outreach ministries, however, continue to need support, now more than ever. Would you consider continuing your generosity and partnership with our Friend’s Women group? There may not be any Goodies in exchange for your donation, but the Good your donation does will continue!

Checks can be made out to Friends Women and sent to the church! (525 DeBarr Ave., 97501) Thank you so much for your generosity and support!

FYI: Ministries supported by our Friends Women group include (but are not limited to): our EFM missionaries all over the world, DOOR international (Josh and Audra Cadd), Child Evangelism Fellowship (think “Good News Club”), Samaritan’s Purse (Shoebox gifts), NWYM projects, and more!

Thanks!

Janelle Ralph

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)  ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Elders would like you to know we continue to pray for you, our people. We pray God’s love shine on each and everyone in these difficult times. Blessings until we are together again and of course stay safe.

Twin Rocks Camp Information At the present time, Twin Rocks Friends Camp is planning on a full summer of camps. However, knowing it is possible that a camp may be cancelled due to Coronavirus restrictions, they will give a full refund for all prepaid campers if their camp session is cancelled. Registration and up to date information on the camps may be found on their website, twinrocks.org and we strongly urge parents and family to check out the Twin Rocks website regularly to stay up to date on any changes.

Camp Dates:

Boys Camp, entering grades 4-6, June 28 to July 3

    Registration due June 15, 2020

Girl’s Camp, entering grades 4-6, July 6 to 11

    Registration due June 22, 2020

Tween Camp, entering grades 7-9, July 13 to 18

    Registration due June 29, 2020

Surfside Camp, completed grades 8-12, August 2 to 8

    Registration due July 20, 2020

Any registrations after the camp’s due date will be assessed a $30 late fee.

This year we will again be offering a 50% scholarship to kids who are part of our church family. To access that scholarship please contact the church office. If no one is in the office you may leave a message or email Terry Wilson at terry@medfordfriendschurch.org.

From the Stewards

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.     Romans 10:23-25

As the Stewardship Committee, one of our tasks is to maintain the building where we gather for worship, encouragement, fellowship, teaching, supporting one another and spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. We are thankful for all of the resources God has entrusted to us for the good of his church body and we are thankful for all of the people who give and serve so faithfully in the work of God’s kingdom as part of our church family.

We know that this has been a difficult time for everyone as we haven’t been able to meet as we normally would and I suspect we are all ready for this season of social distancing and isolation to end. However, we are thankful that taking those steps as a community has protected so many people in our area from catching and dying of COVID-19.

Prior to the social restrictions that were put in place, the Stewardship Committee was working toward putting in place the technology needed to stream our worship services, We are thankful that since April 5, 2020, we have been able to stream the Sunday morning message. Many thanks to Pastor Jesse for his diligence in getting all of the pieces in place.

We don’t know when the restrictions to meet will be lifted, but as soon as they are we will be ready to open the doors so we can meet together again. In the meantime, you can watch the message on Sunday mornings on the Medford Friends Church YouTube channel and you can even catch up on what you missed. We can also continue being the family of Christ by encouraging one another with phone calls, emails and notes to one another.

This time of social distancing will one day end and it will be a wonderful day when we can gather in person once again to worship, encourage, support and spur one another one toward love and good deeds.

God’s Grace and Peace, Mark Burton

Clerk of the Stewards

Friends Women Fellowship, unless otherwise notified will plan to communicate in alternate manner.  The Spring Rally continues to be on hold, we are projecting a September date.