You've Just been slammed

Due to popular demand. My weekly announcements for the church are now on the website. Go to www.truenorthchurch.com and one of the slides on left will say Announcements. Click on the link and you will see some EXCITING News. This week we have Chris Tomlin, Lou Giglio and Matt Redman - see them with the TrueNorth Band.

Winter Retreat 2006

The Tanner's (Betsy/Walt) and the kids from Element Student Ministry just got back from our first big trip together. We took 50 students up to Sugar Mountain for a little ski action. The stats where against us. With all those students on the slopes I was sure to lose one to the hospital. Our only incident was a middle girl, Stephanie, busted her nose and got blood on the pretty white snow. So we beat the system this time.
I (Walt) believe this trip was my last snowboarding experience. I am hanging up the snowboard and reaching to the old faithful skis. I have determined that I don't board enough to stay good. It takes me half the day, and my entire thresh hold of pain to get back into the grove to only do it one year later. Skis are like riding a bike. You always know how to work those babies! Yes Norie I am sure that makes you sad!

Hard two weeks.

This past two weeks have been very long and turbulent. In the past two weeks our church, TrueNorth Church, has seen two back to back tragedies. Two weeks ago we received news that two young boys (4 & 7) in our church were killed by their father - who also then took his own life. Their mother had recently separated from their father and has been an active part in the TrueNorth Family. So this tragic news not only hit our local community, but our church fellowship as well. After a very moving candle light vigil, funeral , and special Sunday service where we dealt with the questions we had for God - we thought we were ready to move forward.

Later that Sunday night we got a call that one of the guys in our student praise band had been killed in a car accident with another boy. This effected more of my students (high school). Again the same questions came up: How? Why? Does God care?

These past two weeks we have had an up front stage to tell others how we as Christians can get through these hard times. Our pastor, Steve Davis, was on the News several times sharing about our church and they even put my ugly mug on the screen to talk about our candle light service. After the double murder and suicide we had counselors on hand and God opened up his arms to bring over 1100 people to come hear gospel. AMAZING. Yes that is our largest crowd ever. We continue to look at how God can use these tragedies to bring people to his saving knowledge.

Please pray for the Young family, Kotz family and Katsings family. And TrueNorth Church as we are smack dab in the middle of a Storm of Life!

The Kids

Here is the much anticipated pic of Chloe.

Chloe and Bowden remain peaceful sisters in the Tanner household. Bowden too often forgets that she is MUCH larger than Chloe and smacks her with her big ol' paw.

Montana Outting

Our trip to Montana was a good one. We enjoyed spending time with my (Betsy) brother, Ben, my sister-in-law, Ginger, and my two nephews, Blaine and Cade. Ben works on a ranch in Melville, Montana. He is a true cowboy! Everyone asks if it is cold out there, and the answer is yes. But, the temperatures were pretty mild. The highs most days were in the low 40s (normally the highs are in the 20s). The ranch did not have any snow or get any snow the whole time we were there. But, we did get to see snow when we took a trip to the nearby mountains and when we went snowmobiling (you can see some pictures by clicking on the link). We went snowmobiling in West Yellowstone. This was a first time experience for Walt and I and we had a lot of fun! It was hard to leave the family on our final night in Montana knowing we won't see them again for a long time, but we are very glad for the opportunity to spend a few days in beautiful Montana.

2000 lbs of Stuff

First entry in 2006! Betsy and I have tons to report to everyone. We have had an enjoyable, busy, amazing, and stressful couple of weeks. A lot has gone on. We have been in several states and been around thousands of people and been on a roller coaster of emotions. In the next couple of days we will be filling you in with all the stories and experiences - we even have pictures. Stay tuned for more details! Happy new year.