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| Family Connections |
The Family Church Newsletter
September 2009 |
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A Word From Max
As you read this we will be coming to the end of the "Right On the Money" sermon series here at TFC. We have been looking at what God has to say about our stewardship of the resources He has entrusted to our lives. I hope by now you are realizing that God is not only intimately concerned with how we manage our money, but also has a plan that is designed to lead us to the abundant life He has made possible for us. The current economic crisis is helping us to see just how far from that plan many of us have strayed.
I hope that many of you now want to know more about how to bring your personal finances in line with God's plan. For months we have been preparing. Beginning the second week in September we will launch multiple Crown Ministries small groups throughout the week. This ten week study of God's Word related to stewardship will deepen your understanding of what we have been talking about and give you practical tools to help you sort out your own finances. If you have never completed the 10 week Crown course or if you have done it but never applied the principles I encourage you to sign up this weekend. There is still a place for you!
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Man in the Mirror
Weekly Bible Study
Parkview Baptist Church
Every Friday
6:30 - 7:45 a.m.
Iron Sharpens Iron
Conference in Ocala
with Dr. Bruce Wilkinson
and Reggie Dabbs
October 3rd.
Stay tuned for new activities coming this fall for the
Men's Ministry
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Women's Ministry
Women's Ministry
"Choose Life"
On any given day driving through Gainesville, I can count on seeing a myriad of bumper stickers on vehicles. Some can be "cute", some may be down right crude, others may truly have a message worth pondering. As a Christian, the one that catches my eye most often is the one that states "Choose Life." The meaning behind this bumper sticker is obvious, as usually there is the symbol for the beating heart along with the words - the sticker most often refers to the abortion issue. No, this is not where I am going with this article.
My mind takes this statement down another road; the road of thinking about the life God originally intended for us to live; the abundant life. Think about it, when He created the earth and man and woman, they were placed in a luscious garden, THE Garden of Eden. And though we have some pretty awesome places in this country/world to visit, I can only imagine what that place must have looked like. Life probably couldn't have gotten any better than it was right then. . . .
by Renee Stephens
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To see Church Calendar or Birthday List
click on link or image below:
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Another New Addition to the Nursery
Joshua has arived!
He came into the world on Friday August 28th at 2:01pm weighing 6lbs 12oz and 20 inches long. We are so blessed to be parents of four wonderful boys!
Love, John and Jennifer Prior
Congratulations, John and Jennifer! | |
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Whispers in the Dark
Scripture - Jeremiah 52:33-34 - "So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate at the king's table."
Observation - Imagine what Jehoiachin's life was like. Having lost not only his kingdom and the prestige of the life he had as king because of his own faithlessness, disobedience, and evil decisions, he had also been placed in absolute bondage to an evil king. But a new king rose up and through the sheer grace of this man he was given the opportunity not only to have freedom, but to be clothed as a king again. He was even given the right to feast at the king's own table! The new king gave the fallen one a whole new life!
Application - Like Jehoiachin every human being finds himself or herself caught in bondage to Satan as a result of our faithlessness, disobedience, and evil decisions. But like Jehoiachin as well, we have been rescued from that bondage by the grace of our new Lord and King. He not only clothes us in new life, but invites us to feast with Him in His Kingdom. The only appropriate response to this grace is gratitude, joy and obedience to our gracious King. Only when we realize the utter despair of helpless bondage can we fully appreciate the joy and wonder of unmerited grace. Then, and only then, will we truly commit ourselves to God.
Prayer - Lord, help me to remember what the grace by which I stand is all about. Help me never forget what you have done for me. The price you paid, the debt I owe that I can never repay, and the joy that I have in knowing your grace...these are the things of life. Please help me to walk in the joys of your grace rather than the memories of the dungeons of old. Amen.
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Operation Christmas Child
is right around the corner
See the display in the lobby beginning the weekend of
September 19th/20th
Start saving your shoeboxes and shop for all those items to put inside your shoeboxes to bless those children.
Love offerings will be accepted until October 31st.
OCC Wrapping Party will be
Oct. 10th from 10am-2pm
Deadline to drop off shoeboxes is November 8th.
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Ongoing Support Groups
Healing Prayer for Women
A ministry for Women in need of physical, emotional, or spiritual healing. Prayer times are held individually with a member of our Prayer Team and everything is kept confidential.
Contact person-Terri Straughn
at 332-6459 ex 33.
Grief Share
Grief Share begins again on November 3rd for 13weeks from 7-8:30pm in room 118. Contact Janice Hamilton if more information is needed at rham7233@aol.com
Divorce Care Ministry
Divorce Care is off for the summer and will regroup in the Fall.
DC4K
Divorce Care for Kids Ministry
Contact: Tom and Holly Nelson
386-462-4997 or 352-318-1204
Forgiven and FreeMinistries
►Men, women, and student support group meets off campus on
Mondays. Contact Marie Rucker at 352-278-0057 or
forgivenfree@hotmail.com.
►Parent and Spouse support group meets at TFC on Monday. Contact Carol Cooper 352-356-2055 or
forgivenfree@hotmail.com.
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BabyzVenture Heather Haynes
What is Happening in the Nursery,
Baby Dedication Dates and
This Month's Parenting Tips.
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 Summer Showers
of Blessings
Congratulations to:
Brent and Natalie Ransom
on the birth of
Siara Grace Ransom
July 25th.
Reggie and Lori Harris
on the birth of
Zaccai Harris
August 2nd.
and Chris and Lori Porter
on the birth of
Savannah Grace Porter
August 16th.
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GO! Missions and Evangelism with Jeff Moody 
"Baby On Board!"
That was the Facebook "status" posted by Sondra Watson the day after making their announcement at our family group (last week as of this writing) that Baby # 1 is on the way! It has been neat to be a part of Tom and Sondra's lives. I first began to connect with Tom and Sondra when they asked me to do their premarital counseling. During one of our sessions, it came out in our conversation that neither of them had been baptized. So, I had the privilege of baptizing Tom and Sondra a few months before the wedding! Then in July of last year, Kem and I travelled to Rhode Island to perform their wedding ceremony. It was a wonderful time.
A few months later, Tom's sister Jen came to live with them. Yes, these brand new newlyweds moved the groom's sister into their apartment! . . .Read on with Full Article |
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Focus on the Family Groups by Patrick Callahan
"My (Jesus) prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17: 20-21
Wow! Jesus says that the whole credibility of His ministry rested on our oneness. Last Saturday, I committed to ejecting myself from the bed at O'dark hundred in order to spend the day with the smell of dead fish, while I watched people hurl their breakfast from the decks of a deep sea fishing boat. I don't eat fish, in fact I'm allergic to fish, but I love doing life with my son, Michael. There are few opportunities in life to make lasting memories and I cherish our time in fellowship together. I realize that I could much more easily go to Publix and purchase a nice Salmon filet for Linda (she loves that) but it's not about fish; it's about "doing life together".
Jesus had a plan to change the world; community! Jesus started with a group of twelve ordinary, sometimes oppositional very different people and taught them how to do life together and then commissioned them with the responsibility to make it happen. In a talk to the American Association of Christian Counselors, John Ortberg offers this tongue in cheek analogy: "I (Jesus) want you to follow me. I'm putting together a little band of disciples and I want you to be one of them. But I know you're busy. You don't really have time to be part of a small group; plus some of the disciples can be kind of a pain. Peter talks way too much; Thomas is pretty negative; Judas... don't even get me started on Judas. They're (the disciples) not normal like you and me; so you can follow me offline. You can skip the Community part. Just make sure you read the text; make sure you attend the lectures; you can do discipleship on the "Self-Study" plan."
Read on with Full Article 
Lancia Family Group
Messersmith_Rhea Family Group
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| Children's Ministry "Summer's Edge"
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School is into full swing and with that come a lot of activities, homework and all kinds of opportunities. Opportunities to do great things, and opportunities to get involved with not so good things, opportunities to reach out and opportunities to be apart of what God is doing. Here at FUZE we want to aid students to grab hold of the opportunities that God presents to them, to participate in community, to reach out to those who don't know God, and to learn about all that He has created them to become. Our desire is to provide opportunities where students can learn those things and can grow up in a true knowledge of who Jesus is. FUZE meets on Wednesday nights @ 6:30 for worship and small groups. Don't miss this opportunity to become who God has created you to be.
September Events:9/2: Fuze Worship Service - 6:30pm-8:30pm 9/6: No Fuze410 - Labor Day Weekend 9/9: Fuze Worship Service - 6:30pm-8:30pm 9/11-9/12: Rock the Universe @ Universal Studios 9/13: The Edge (for 6th graders) 10:30am AND Fuze410 - 4:45pm-7:15pm 9/16: Fuze Worship Service - 6:30pm-8:30pm 9/20: The Edge (for 6th graders) 10:30am AND Fuze410 - 4:45pm-7:15pm 9/23: "See You at the Pole" Youth Service @ Westside Baptist Church 9/27: The Edge (for 6th graders) 10:30am AND Fuze410 - 4:45pm-7:15pm 9/30: Fuze Worship Service - 6:30pm-8:30pm Got questions? Want more information? Contact Brittany Jones at Brittanyj@thefamilychurch.net
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Milky Way Galaxy at Center of Universe
By Stephen F. Larner, PhD
We ARE at the center of God's universe! New evidence has surfaced that reestablishes humanity at this central place. Astronomers have long observed that light from distant galaxies is usually redshifted. That is, their light spectrum is 'redder' (i.e. a longer wavelength) than light from similar light sources near Earth. According to the law developed by astronomer Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble telescope is named), the redshifts are progressively larger for galaxies increasingly further away. The common explanation is that the greater the redshift the faster the object is moving away from us.
Over the last few decades, astronomers have discovered that the redshifts of the galaxies are
not evenly distributed as expected if the galaxies were just randomly placed in space. They are 'quantized', i.e., they tend to fall into distinct groups. In the early 1970s William Tifft after examining galaxy redshift data noticed a surprisingly strong clustering around very specific values with equal spacings between them (See Figure 1 below). This suggested that the galaxy groups are equal distance from one another. In 1997, a study of 250 galaxy redshifts by William Napier and Bruce Guthrie confirmed Tifft's basic observations and added: '... the redshift distribution has been found to be strongly quantized in the galactocentric frame of reference...' What they mean is the data suggest the clusters are centered on our own galaxy after taking into consideration the Earth's motion around the Sun and the Sun's motion around our galaxy's center. Other evidence shows this redshift clustering extends out to distances of billions of light years.
Read more with Full Article
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 On the Home Front - Hurricane Preparations
by Connie Reid
The biggest part of most people's food budget is meat. Yet there is a way to still get all the protein you need and cut down on that part of your grocery bill. The secret is to mix complete proteins with incomplete proteins or two different incomplete proteins. A complete protein (complete in the essential amino acids) is any milk product, eggs, or meat. An incomplete protein (missing one or more essential amino acid) is found in plant foods containing grains, nuts and seeds, and beans. You can create a really inexpensive complete protein for your meal by matching foods from these three categories of the plant proteins. For example, beans and cornbread create a complete protein for your meal full of all the essential amino acids. Beans are from the plant sub-category A and cornbread from sub-category B (see chart below). Black beans and rice is another example. Just mix the subgroup foods of the plant proteins to get a complete protein or mix them with an animal protein to stretch your food dollars. While we may think of this as depression era meals, it is actually healthier than our usual steak on a plate cuisine. Group 1 Plant Proteins (missing one or more essential amino acids)
Legumes - Dry beans: black, red, pink, pinto, navy, lima, mung, garbanzo, chick peas, black-eyed, dry peas, peanuts, lentils, and soybeans.
Grains - Barley, bulgur, corn, oats, rice, rye, wheat, pasta, and triticale.
Nuts and Seeds - Walnuts, pumpkin, almonds, sesame, pecans, cashews, coconut, pine nuts, pistachios, sunflower. Group 2 Animal Proteins (complete in essential amino acids)
Milk Product
Eggs
Meats Here is a favorite family recipe that is easy to make and combines animal proteins with the incomplete proteins found in pasta and corn. Tuna Casserole
1 pkg. of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese cooked according to the directions. While this cooks, mix together: 1 egg 1 6 ½ oz. can of tuna 2 Tablespoons mined onion 2 Tablespoons of parsley Add this mixture to the prepared macaroni. Put all in a baking dish and pour ½ cup milk over the mixture. Cover with cornflake crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until bubbly. |
 Worship Through Creative Arts with Larry Carpenter
"Welcome back" to all the students! I look forward to things ramping up during the fall with more creative ways to tell the story each weekend. And you have to consider it a great summer when the overall attendance is down church-wide but we continue to have new people come on board in our different teams. Again, welcome to Dawn, Bobby, Klynt, Jeni, Debbie, and Neil.
Our Anniversary "Sweet 16" Service was a celebration and a reminder that God is still working in peoples lives. Thanks to everyone that made that weekend special. Great thing is, we still have room for you to come and worship with us while you use your craft and talent. Come join us as we grow.
Larry
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