| Marriage Retreat Photo Gallery |  |
Click on Hotel Icon to see Photos from 2010 Marriage Retreat
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| Family Student Movement |  | |
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| Newborn Arrivals | |
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Many Happy
Congratulations to the Parents of our New Babies :
To: Adam and Laura Basford on the birth of Weston Denham Basford
on May 26, 2010.
To: Michael and Rebecca Burns on the birth of Gavin Michael Burns on May 27, 2010
To: Jonathon and Andrea Derringer on the birth of Noah David Derringer on May 30.
Noah David Derringer |
To: Collin and Stacey Outerbridge on the birth of
Emma Grace Outerbridge
on June 14th. Born a little early, Emma weighed in at 3lbs 4oz and 17" long, but she is doing well.
Emma Grace Outerbridge |
To: Steve and Crystal Cutler on the birth of Noah Allan Cutler on June 18th weighing in at 8 pounds 2 ounces and 20 inches long.
Noah Allan Cutler
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Welcome
Family Church
Newborns! |
| Featured Article |  |
Enjoy our July 4th Celebration of Freedom and Declaration of Independence.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it". -- Thomas Paine
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to"
do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke
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The Family Church Newsletter |
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A Word from Max. . .
. . .will be continued in the August newsletter as Pastor Max is on sabbatical until that time. |
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First Things First with Pastor Patrick Callahan
As a young lad, I was what many would describe as hyper-competitive. I would get so furious with my dad when he would show favor to my sister in our family game of softball. Even as an adult, my dad would take me golfing and try to offer pointers about relaxing to enjoy the game but I was determined to do it my way while secretly wondering how in the world was I to play this complicated game of golf. My dad could vicariously enjoy a good shot of mine when I really cranked one down the middle of the fairway (OK cranked might be a slight exaggeration) but his goal and my goal were not in unity. My dad's first goal was to be with his son and build deep relationship while my primary goal was to take the relationship for granted as I stubbornly attempted to master a complicated game independent of instruction that was readily available. All I had to do was ask.
At the recently completed marriage retreat, we played a game at the Sunday night party whereby four men were seated at the back of a room, blindfolded by their wives. At the front of the room a pile of socks awaited the contestants, with a prize awarded to the couple who could negotiate their way safely through a maze of close to 144 people and tables and place socks on their feet. Their only means of safely arriving to the front of the room was the accurate and loving voice of their spouse (who could instruct but not touch their spouse). I was amazed how each of the husbands carefully listened to the instruction of their wives to turn to the left or the right and delighted in the encouragement as they correctly heard and moved toward the goal. It's amazing how connected we can be when we are desperate and helpless. Why does it have to get to that point?
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The Academy Preschool is planned to open August 2, 2010. We are completely certified by DCF and we pray that the Lord will bring in the children; otherwise we cannot open.
Contact Suzanna Sargent at:
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Worship Through Creative Arts with Larry Carpenter
Hi everyone, I hope your summer is going well. As I've said many times, we are very fortunate to have talented people with a servant's heart in all of our teams. So, here is the latest update on one of our lead players, Bill Jones...
Bill auditioned as Lead Guitarist for the Mercy Mountain Boys in April of last year and signed on shortly after. MMB has been established for a few years with a recording label Morning Star Records in Nashville as a Country Christian group. After four records / CD's and many concerts, they now have a video out that has been nominated into the top 5 for 'Video of the Year' at the Branson Diamond Awards. They are scheduled to perform with the Gaither's, Hinson's, and Jason Crabb in Branson for the shows and award ceremony June 29-July 2, 2010.
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 Well that was random...
This is an expression my kids use from time to time... I feel a little like that as I approach this month's newsletter article! I just have a handful of "random" things to throw out there related to Family Groups and discipleship at TFC!
First, The Truth Project is going well. We have several of our Family Groups attending the large group gathering for The Truth Project on Wednesday Nights. After each video, they are breaking out into small groups to discuss things further and figure out ways to apply what they just learned. We also have some of our Family Groups who have maintained their normal meeting schedule "on their own" but are doing The Truth Project videos at those group meetings to be on the same page as where the rest of the ministry is right now. Occasionally, it seems like something like this comes along and it is just "the right time." This Truth Project video series just seems to be the right idea for the right time. I pray that it will NOT just be another source of good information, but that we will actually do something about what we are learning. I know for my own Family Group, I am asking that question to them pretty much after every single session - "So why does this matter? What difference is it going to make tomorrow, or the next day, for having been here and sat through this?"
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Mark Your Calendar!
Iron Sharpens Iron Conference in Ocala
October 23
Teenage sons (biological and spiritual) have free admission
Great father and son day together
For all men of all ages to go together
More details to follow
The new men's ministry of The Family Church is in it's final stages of development. Stayed tuned for more information to soon follow about the exciting new ministries for men beginning this fall.
A Devotional for Men
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Just What Is God Doing In YOUR Life?
God is at work in the lives of His children all the time! No question about it. Are you seeing His hand in your life? Just what is He doing? How is He planning to prosper me and not harm me? This month I have asked a few women to share what God is doing in their lives that you might be encouraged. I am confident had I put a call out to more women, I would have received more testimonies of what God is doing. These are but a few. It is my hope that you will be encouraged by what your fellow sisters have to share. Be blessed by these words.
v Besides an intimate and personal relationship with God, He LOVES to answer prayer and give us the desire of our heart. Prayer is about faith, love and relationship. Sometimes He answers after forty years, three years, three months, three hours, and even 365 days. Are you building your house on the Rock? He is faithful. Are you? Remember, He is a jealous God who keeps covenant. He wants you to partner with him and give him your whole heart. Will you? When you want to stop praying, remember, "You will reap a harvest if you do not give up." Be blessed in Him today.
Jean Rye
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Biblical Astronomy, Part 2 - No Contradictions Necessary
By Stephen F. Larner, PhD
The Bible and astronomy, are they compatible? The Bible written under the Holy Spirit's guidance and inspiration, as mentioned last month, conveys the true history of the universe. It is not designed to be a science textbook, but it does tell us how the universe began. Let us look at some additional facts about astronomy.
Expansion of the Universe:
The Bible indicates in several places that the universe has been "stretched out" or expanded. For example, Isaiah 40:22 teaches that God stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. This suggests that the universe has actually increased in size since its creation. The universe certainly does not look like it is expanding. In fact, secular scientists once believed that the universe was eternal and unchanging. In the 1920s, astronomers discovered that virtually all clusters of galaxies appear to be moving away from all other clusters; this indicates that the entire universe is indeed expanding. The Bible recorded the idea of an expanding universe thousands of years before secular science could catch up.
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 On The Homefront by Connie Reid
As the old song goes, "School is out for the SUMMER!" It always amazed me that the poor little prisoners of the school system so happy to be free of their confinement could be found playing "school" within the first few days of their release. Eventually, they are going to be dragging through the kitchen saying they are bored unless you have made some plans to keep their minds and bodies active. Fortunately, we have a lot of free or inexpensive activities available to us in this area. A trip to the museums at the University (especially the Butterfly Museum). Tubing down the Ichnetucky River is a lot of fun and a great way to cool off, you might even see a river otter, or get together with another family and play board games. I will never forget when one of my sons was introduced to the board game "Risk" on a camping trip. We stayed up until 2 AM to finish the last battle where he finally conquered the world. He wanted to play again, right then. We all told him to forget it and went to bed.
Speaking of camping, I will share our favorite place to go. Black Rock Mountain State Park in Georgia. The kids liked it so much they still take their friends back there for camping trips. My 25 year old just took some work associates there and they were duly impressed. There are a lot of waterfalls, rushing streams, and swimming holes in the area as well as the famous Dillard House just down the road. At the Dillard House you can eat all you want of locally grown and prepared dishes served farm style. Dillard House sits in a beautiful valley and gives a nice break to campfire cooking. You can tent camp or trailer camp at Black Rock and some cabins are available for renting up at the very top. There is also a playground up on top of the mountain and it is a great place to go and star gaze.
Here is a fun recipe/project for you and your family - ice cream in a bag.
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A New Way of Doing Missionary Support
In a recent worship service on the weekend, we showed a recap video of this year's Global Impact Celebration - our Faith Promise Missions Conference this past February. One of the "culmination" moments at our GIC is when we all make our "faith promise commitments" - the amount of money that we believe the Lord is asking us to commit to give to The Family Church's missions fund. This past year, the people of The Family Church committed to the Lord to give roughly $240,000 to missions.
You may have wondered before, "So what happens next?" After we have all made our faith promise commitments, and the tallies are totaled, what happens when the money starts coming in?
We have an experienced Missions Financial Team in place to make those decisions. We pray, we assess our missionary partners, and we seek to appropriately invest the resources that the Lord is entrusting to us.
This year, God led our Missions Financial Team to a new way of doing the missionary support.
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