Saturday, February 11th, will be our next Men's Training Day in just over two weeks! As Pastor David reminded us on Sunday, this will be our 7th Men's Training event, and there aren't many good excuses to miss out!
This year, we're looking at God's good design for men as his image-bearers, from Genesis 1-3—what it looks like for us to become godly men who strive after Him, growing in Christlikeness. While growth in godly manhood is a perennial need, we live in a moment where confusion abounds about what it means to be a godly man. This training day will help us in our daily discipleship as we live as brothers, friends, fathers, husbands, and sons of God.
Our training day will include two main sessions covering Godly Masculinity and Godly Sexuality, we'll have breakouts on Discipleship and Relationships, and we'll have opportunities to make and deepen relationships with others in our body. There will also be times of worship, prayer, and pastoral Q&A. These six hours on Saturday, February 11th, will encourage, challenge, and strengthen your walk with the Lord. You won't regret spending this time together with brothers pursuing our King and His everlasting kingdom!
Who should attend?
Men of DCC! Whether you've been a Christian for decades or for days, there'll be something to stir your mind and faith. Whether you're brand new to DCC or have been around for 10 years, there'll be good opportunities to connect and deepen your relationships.
What is unique about this event?
A training day is a cross between a retreat and a boot camp. There is an aspect of refreshment as you are reminded of what is true of you in Christ and encouraged by the friendship of brothers in the gospel. And there is an aspect of training and equipping for our fight of faith.
Why should I attend?
For the sake of your spiritual health and the good of your brothers at DCC. "Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." (1 Tim. 4:7-8)
Will Cornerstone Kids be provided?
Unfortunately, no. While we understand that this can be a sacrifice for your family, we encourage you to consider this time as an investment in your spiritual health, which will undoubtedly pay dividends in your spiritual leadership and service to your family.
Okay, I'm in! What are all the details?
When: Saturday, February 11th Where: DCC Building – 2333 Western Ave, 98121 Time: 9 am to 3 pm. Doors open at 8 am for registration and light breakfast. Registration: $25 covers a light breakfast, coffee throughout the day, lunch, materials for the day, parking, and a book giveaway. If this presents a financial hardship—just let us know in the registration form, as scholarships are available! Lunch: Lunch is included with registration. Parking: Parking is included with registration in both lots next to the building. Register Here
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at .
In Christ,
Justin Keogh
Pastor of Communities & Mercy Ministries
This Saturday, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, we've got the opportunity to partner with our neighbors around Seattle in Together Washington's Day of Service. This Day of Service is a great chance to meet others while we bless our city through tangible projects of cleaning, graffiti removal, and light landscaping. Read more and register HERE.
Living As Faithful Exiles
During Israel's exile in Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles reminding them of God's sovereign purposes in their exile and his faithfulness to all of his promises. Jeremiah called Israel to do good while they wait for the Lord's redemption:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."
– Jeremiah 29:4-7
Jesus and the apostles apply this theme of exile to Christians in the world. Jesus says "I chose you out of this world" and prayed that we would remain faithful in the world, but not be of the world (John 15:19; 17:15-16). That is, because of God's grace to us in Christ, our earthly lives are not our ultimate end—when God adopts us, we become heirs to an eternal kingdom—and our hope is set fully on our eternal dwelling with God in heaven.
Yet this does not cause us to withdraw from the world but rather motivates us to love and serve others freely, knowing God has purposes for our faithful living as exiles. The Apostle Peter writes:
"Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation…For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."
– 1 Peter 2:11-12,15-16
So as exiles in this world, we are to do good and seek the welfare of our city, declaring and demonstrating the love of God, found preeminently in the person and work of Jesus as our Savior.
Serving The City
We have often served in tangible ways around our city, and we have an opportunity to do so again this Saturday by participating in Together Washington's Day of Service. Like many of our Serve the City events, this will be a family-friendly time to come together and bless our city. But in addition to this, we will be serving alongside our neighbors outside of DCC, which we pray will create opportunities to declare the good news of Jesus as our motivation for loving the city as we do.
No specific skills or training are required; simply register, bring friends and family, and show up to help on the 21st! Register Here
For the glory of our King and the good of many,
Pastor Justin
The letter to the Philippians is so full of theology and encouragement that we may not notice it is a ‘thank you’ letter from a missionary to a church. Paul goes as far as calling his relationship with the church at Philippi a ‘partnership in the gospel’, and he thanks God for it. Consider these words that the Apostle uses:
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. – Philippians 1:3-5
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance… – Philippians 1:19
I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need… – Philippians 2:25
And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. – Philippians 4:15-18
As noted in the passages above, this partnership entails giving and receiving financial resources, prayer, exhortation, rejoicing together, and much more.
But what makes it a partnership in the gospel? The fact that both Paul and the Philippians have the advance of the gospel as a common desire and goal, and that their partnership is centered around that goal. This explains why Paul talks about the advance of the gospel rather than the discomforts of his imprisonment (1:12), why he rejoices when the gospel is preached even by hypocrites (1:18), why he repeatedly calls the Philippians to strive together for the gospel (1:27; 2:1-4), and why he emphasizes that Timothy, Epaphroditus, Euodia and Syntyche all worked with him in the gospel (2:22; 2:25; 4:3).
This partnership of mutual encouragement, prayer, and support for the advance of the gospel is a model for our own partnerships with other churches, church planters, and missionaries. While we may not have the same depth of relationship with all of our partners, our aim is to get as close to this model as possible. For this reason, I am including a few updates from our partners below, to give us all a chance to pray and rejoice together with our fellow workers in the gospel, and to stir in us a desire to work diligently towards this goal, either as senders or as goers.
As you read the names below, remember that these are not just names, but real people and real churches—our fellow laborers in the kingdom of God. Please join me in prayer for them. (You'll also find more information about our next Global Missions Meetup taking place on Sunday, February 5th.)
Your partner in the gospel,
Pastor Marco
Local, National and International Partnerships
ACTS 29
Our church is a part of the Acts 29 church planting network, which provides a great structure and vetting to help us support a variety of church planting and pastoral training efforts around the world. In addition, we recently also voted to give significant one-time gifts to a pastoral training school in Ecuador, and to the building funds of churches in Albania and closer to home in Oregon.
In addition to our Acts 29 partnership, we are also supporting the following individual churches/planters:
Radiant Church Matsu Valley | Palmer, AK
(Caleb Richardson)
By God’s grace, Radiant Church installed their first elder other than Caleb, and are about to install another in the next few months. The biggest area of growth they have seen as a church in the last year has been in the area of authentic community. Some prayer requests they sent us:
They need to find a new meeting space in the next few months.
For boldness in sharing the gospel.
For the addition of a new elder.
That the core of their church will grow and own the mission of reaching their city for Jesus.
Sufficient Grace Church | Puyallup, WA (Noah Winningham)
“We are so very appreciative of your support of our ministry!”
Sufficient Grace just hit their 2 year birthday and are rejoicing with what God has done. By God’s grace, they have 2 elder candidates this year, and have added 13 families into their communities. They expressed deep appreciation for our support, and asked for prayers for continued growth and for more people to step into leadership, in order to support such growth. Noah would also appreciate prayer, as he balances his time being bivocational.
Soma Fuchu | Tokyo, Japan (Yoshito Noguchi)
Our brothers and sisters at Soma Fuchu are deeply focused on prayer, and in sharing the gospel with unbelievers (of course, those go hand in hand). Please join them in prayer for their work, both as a congregation (e.g. evangelism at the park) and individually (in the workplace).
Antalya Protestant Church / Reach Turkey | Antalya, Turkey (Kerem Koç)
Reach Turkey received some unexpected large gifts, which allowed them to rent a building and start the ‘Academy’, a 3-year long program for church leaders. Antalya Church is praising God for a variety of visitors, and two new brothers who joined their church in October via baptism. They had many visitors over Christmas, with 15 people hearing the gospel for the first time. Please pray that they would come to faith and repentance!
Restore Brazil (Jay Bauman)
In 2022, we supported Restore Brazil in the “Projeto Plantador” church planting cohort (residency) with 11 men, representing 11 new churches. We also supported twenty one church plants which are less than 3 years old, as well as various missionary endeavors in underprivileged areas and in the Amazon.
DCC Global Missionaries
We also equip and support our own members as our Global Partners in taking the gospel to the nations. Due to security reasons, we are unable to publicly list them here. However, if you are interested in learning more about our current Global Partners serving in Southeast Asia, email us at
Learn More And Get Involved
Have you considered how you can work towards the advance of the gospel, for the good of all people and the glory of God? Here are a few ways to get involved:
Pray: Start here. Paul is confident that he would be delivered through the Philippians’ prayers. Similarly, we can actively participate in all of the above by asking our triune God to work for his glory. Further, pray for guidance on how you can join this work as a sender or a goer.
Join our regular Global Missions Meetups: Our next meetup will be on Sunday, February 5th, at 12 pm. In this meetup, we will meet with Andi Dina, who is a church planter in Albania, and also leads a ministry to equip pastors and churches in that area. This is a great opportunity to think about how the unchanging gospel goes into very different and ever-changing cultures, and to pray for church planting in parts of the world that have fewer resources. Register here.
Consider taking a more intentional role: We’ve developed a Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide practical pathways and training for engagement in missions. This is both aimed at people who think they may be called to be missionaries, and those who want to grow in becoming better senders. In order to successfully send a church planting team, all kinds of needs must be provided for: accountability, prayer, sending leadership, finances, business mentorship, and other types of practical support. Thus, there are many ways to be involved. You can read more about our Global Missions Development Pipeline and how you can begin taking next steps here.
