While writing my Ministry Report and thinking about my job here, I thought about how It involves planting seeds in tiny hearts and minds. Little bits of spiritual knowledge mixed in with a lot of fun and play. God placed me here to sow, knowing it will be a few more seasons before some of the seeds are watered enough to take root and grow. More than likely, it will not be me that sees the finished work. 

Isn’t that true about so many things in life? We sow seeds, and then we wait. And while we wait, we trust. Faith and works go together, and God works in the waiting, whether we see it or not.

The Bible gives us many metaphors where we are likened to farmers sowing seeds, and it also tells us we will reap what we sow, but it doesn’t tell us when we will reap it! I think that is where faith comes in, we sometimes have to just take God at His word. 

Whatever our roles are in building God’s Kingdom. Wherever He’s placed us, He has given us seeds to sow, and we are all spiritual farmers; planting, watering, and harvesting for His Kingdom. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the results you are hoping for right away. Seeds take time to grow!

The hidden things belong to God, and He is working. Just keep going…keep sowing, and He will take care of the growing. Don’t give up! 

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Other references: 
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” 1 Corinthians 9:6

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 9:10

Hello beautiful ladies of Cold Springs Church! 

It is with both sadness and excitement that our family finds ourselves in a season of transition! I’ve been so blessed to be your Women’s Director this last year, and interim Worship Director prior to that! This year working for Cold Springs and in ministry has been nothing short of a miraculous, blessing me and my family in big ways. It’s been my honor and pleasure to dream and pray about the future of Cold Springs, to gather women in different capacities and listen to what the Lord would bring for our community. I’ve had many great relationships develop over this year, and loved seeing people come together in the name of Jesus to be there for one another.  

That being said, my husband and I have been praying for a full-time position where I am better able to mirror my children’s schedule. I am blessed to say the Lord answered that prayer and I have the great honor of teaching 3rd grade this year on their school campus! This is a huge blessing for our family at this time and I know God will use it to bless others. To say I’m sad about stepping out of ministry at our church would be an understatement. However, our family is still anchored, very much invested and will be involved heavily at Cold Springs moving forward, just in a volunteer capacity!

I’ll be officially stepping off staff this August, allowing for another amazing Godly woman to take the reins in this next chapter! It’s going to be wonderful! I’m available to answer any questions anyone may have. I have the utmost respect for our leaders at Cold Springs Church. They are God-fearing, God-loving servants, who want nothing more than to love like Jesus and further His kingdom. Thank you for investing in me, and allowing me to lead and learn with you this last year. See you soon!

Kate Gilbert

Hello, my name is Dana Bringolf and here’s a little about me. I have been a passionate follower of Jesus Christ for over 30 years and I love His Church! I am married to Walter (33 yrs) and mom to Isaac, Joel and his wife Alexis, and Abigail and her husband Shane. I love to teach, and have 12 years of teaching experience in elementary schools. One of my favorite parts of teaching has been collaborating with parents in their parenting journey. I especially love supporting moms! Currently, I am a full-time caregiver and advocate for Isaac, our son who has special needs. 

While I have served churches in many different ministries over the past 30 years (children’s, missions, worship, prayer team…), the majority of my years of service has been in Women's Ministry, and I can truly say, I love it!

My heart’s desire for all women (including myself), is that we would recognize our value as image-bearers of God and grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ as we live out each day. I believe one way we can accomplish this is through gathering together to create an authentic, Jesus-centered community where we encourage one another in our faith and God-given gifts and callings. I am excited to join in the work God is already doing in our community and look forward to this new season of adventure in leadership. 

Dana
dana@coldspringschurch.net

In the video below, Frank Turek gives a 4-point summary of how we can know that Christianity is true:

• Truth exists and can be known.
• God exists.
• Miracles are possible.
• The New Testament is historically reliable.

If you'd like to dig deeper into the philosophical and scientific evidence, you might want to take a look at the book that Frank Turek wrote with Norm Geisler: I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.
You can find it on Amazon here.

Interested in digging into apologetics with others from Cold Springs Church?  Pastor Steve teaches an online course starting again this fall!  Email Pastor Steve if you are interested. 

We don't have any of the original writings of any of the books of the New Testament (the original writings are called autographs).  What do do have is many, many copies.  Textual criticism is the science of determining the original words by looking at the numerous manuscripts.  Here are few of the important facts:
1. We have about 5,600 Greek manuscripts.
2. There are over 400,000 textual variants in these Greek manuscripts.
3. 99% of these variants are either not meaningful or not viable… and therefore inconsequential.
4. The fewer than 1% of the variants that are meaningful and viable do not affect or call into question a single Biblical doctrine.

If you want to learn more about textual criticism, here are some short videos below. 

Today, someone many would refer to as a “spiritual giant” (rightly so), went home to Jesus. According to Wikipedia, Timothy James Keller (September 23, 1950 – May 19, 2023) was an American pastor, theologian, and Christian apologist. He was so much more. He authored many books and publications. His wisdom and continuously relevant insights will be sorely missed wherever people seek to learn about loving God and others. 

I think about Keller’s family taking time to grieve and thousands who mourn him. Yet we envision a heavenly homecoming celebration taking place too. His powerful and poignant final words have made the rounds on social media. Reading those caused me to reflect upon death, eternity and storylines…

Just because you write the end to one story, doesn’t mean you don’t get to start another. Although, it’s often best to pause a bit… no need to jump ahead of the introduction to your next story. 

That’s really a majority of life’s journey isn’t it? Stories written. It could be as visceral as the death of a loved one. Yet it could be the ending of a relationship, job, career, home or family situation. Death, literal or figurative, is the loss we grieve in life as we go on living. Because on a soul-deep level, we are made to desire life… life everlasting. 

And in the adventure of following Jesus, we do so with spiritual intentionality. Yes, we are made for life. And in Christ, we are offered it in eternity, which starts… now. 

“Simon Peter replied, ‘Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.’”(John 6:68-69 NLT)

5/19/23 
esther@coldspringschurch.net  
3G Faith: intentional, meaningful, spiritual conversations

Are there contradictions in the Gospels? J. Warner Wallace writes, "Reliable eye witnesses never agree on every detail."  In fact, he asserts that if they did agree in every detail they would not be considered reliable but instead guilty of collusion. 
The Gospels complement each other, and their differences authenticate them as legitimate eye witness testimony.
Check out the short video below with J. Warner Wallace.  
There's also a short video with RC Sproul on Bible contradictions in general - see below. 

Want to dig deeper?
Check out J. Warner Wallace's website: coldcasechristianity.com/
And if you'd like to read an article about errors in the whole Bible, Norm Geisler has a great article online here. 
Another great resource is a book by Gleason Archer called Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties.  You can find it on Amazon here. 

Is Christianity based on a made-up Jesus?  Or a historical Jesus?  
The early Christian Church actually existed (and was thriving!) well before ANY of the New Testament was written.  The Christian faith exists not because of the Bible, but because of the resurrection of Jesus.
Want to dig into the historical evidence for Jesus outside of the New Testament?  Here are a few videos below.  And if you'd like to read an article by J. Warner Wallace, you can do so here.

​Did Jesus really rise from the dead? 
Is the resurrection of Jesus an historical event? 
What is the evidence?

William Lane Craig writes: 
“There are four facts agreed upon by the majority of scholars who have written on these subjects which any adequate historical hypothesis must account for: Jesus’ entombment by Joseph of Arimathea, the discovery of his empty tomb, his post-mortem appearances, and the origin of the disciples’ belief in his resurrection.
Now the question is: what is the best explanation of these four facts? Most sholars probably remain agnostic about this question. But the Christian can maintain that the hypothesis that best explains these facts is “God raised Jesus from the dead.”

The Apostle Paul wrote: 
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
-1 Corinthians 15:14

The historicity of the resurrection of Jesus is absolutely essential to the Christian faith. If Jesus was raised from the dead, all the promises of God are true, for Jesus has proven Himself to be the none other than God in the flesh.

If you’d like to read a fascinating article by William Lane Craig, you can find it here. 

​What a perfectly timed message Sunday. Early morning I questioned how I relate to the Lord so differently than I did several years ago.  "Lord, I wonder why there's not the height of emotion I used to feel. Does it mean I am slipping away?  Do I need to do something?"  The Lord answered, "No. It means you don't need hand holding like you used to.  Knowing I am real is different than believing or hoping I am real."  It came to my mind how He shows up when I am encouraging people who are in hard predicaments or crisis. Routinely, I feel completely inadequate to be of any help.  But I show up, and step up, and He does the rest. 

I love that He is a Living God. 

-Kathie Jermstad