The Family Church
Family Connections Newsletter July 2011Issue 1 |
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18th Anniversary Events
for The Family Church |
for The Family Church
beginning:
Saturday, Aug. 13th
Family Fun Day at
Rainbow Springs
State Park in
Dunnellon
9 am to whenever
http://floridastateparks.org/
rainbowsprings/default.cfm
Church provides meat;
you can sign up for
side dishes.
$2.00 each park admission
fee,.baptism,games, sun, bugs, food, swimming, canoes, more bugs!
ALSO:
18th Anniversary
Worship Service
in Main Sanctuary
Sunday, Aug. 14th
at 10:30 am
Come celebrate with us
on both ocassions!
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| A Word From Max | |
The high temperature in Gainesville today was 102 degrees. Even for someone who enjoys warm weather as I do, that was hot! But the weather isn't the only thing heating up around The Family Church. We are getting fired up over becoming better connected in relationship within our church family. You have probably noticed some recent changes along those lines and you will be seeing more.
Some weeks ago we began asking everyone to wear a simple name tag for the weekend worship services. I have been so pleased that almost everyone has been gracious and receptive to doing so. Some have said, "I hate wearing nametags!" But even most of the people who aren't crazy about them have worn one nonetheless. I am so grateful. One person said, "I don't care whether or not people know my name!" But, the point is that others do care, and we, as the Body of Christ are in relationship with each other. Our names matter. With a church family of 1500 people no one can possibly know everyone else's name. I have heard from many of you how refreshing it is to finally know the names of people with whom you have been worshipping for years. Please, let's continue to cooperate with this effort to help us connect to each other better.
Speaking of connections, another recent change was the roll out of the "connection cards" in the weekend services. Going forward each worshipper is being asked to fill out a card each week. Some have asked why? Many have asked why each week. There are many reasons, three are critical. . .
CLICK HERE: TO READ ON
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| Whispers In The Dark |
Scripture: Luke 19:5 - "When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zacchǣus hurry and come down, because today I must stay at your house."
Observation: Zacchǣus doesn't exactly represent the "target audience" of most of our churches. Luke takes great pains to show us he is an outsider: Short, conniving, crafty, pushy, a tax collector, a man on the outside in every respect. Yet something compels this little man to want a look at Jesus. Although Zacchǣus seems to fit the mold of the kind of person Jesus is typically attracted to, this encounter plays out a little different from the norm. Instead of His usual, "Come, follow me", 'discipleship' call, Jesus says to Zacchǣus, "Come down because I must stay at your house." Three different words jump out at me from this statement: "must", "stay", and "your house". Beginning with the end, it seems that here Jesus senses that He needs to go where Zacchǣus lives, enter his world, know him there. Rather than "come to my house," Jesus says, "I'm going to yours." Second, . . .
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| Worship and Arts Ministry Larry Carpenter | 
Hi everyone! It's warm but we are having a good time adding new members to our worship & arts teams during this summer season. Great thing is, we are blessed with people who have been with The Family Church from the very beginning. Sherry Meurer is one of our singers and so much more...
 | | Sherry in India 2010 |
Sherry and her family have been attending The Family Church since the second service, almost 18 years ago. Her husband of 31 years, David, is an ER doctor at Shands and she has 2 grown children. Josh is 26 and just graduated from Florida Southern College after having spent time with the Marine Corp and the Army National Guard and 2 tours in Iraq. Sarah is 23 and works as Administrative Assistant to the Children's Ministry at The Family Church and has applied to UF.
Sherry is the office manager and Pastor Max's Administrative Assistant at The Family Church and in her spare time, she sings on the praise team and has been on multiple mission trips. Her main love is India and she is blessed to have been able to minister in India on 5 different medical/evangelism teams. She also has been to Haiti numerous times, including with a medical team right after the earthquake. And she has served in Honduras and Brazil.
Please let Sherry know how much we appreciate her & her family when you get the chance!
Come join us as we grow, Larry |
| Missions Pastor Jeff West | |
Developing a World Christian Mentality
Developing a World Christian Mentality... What on EARTH does that mean? I imagine that some of you may be thinking "Is that new missions pastor trying to wax eloquently with a bunch of foreign missions stuff that does not relate to my life, my realities, and my interests so that I will feel guilty about not DOING enough?" On the contrary, while the phrase might be unfamilar, the principle is a foundational truth of being a disciple of Jesus, right here, where we live!
One of the truths that I say to anyone who will listen is that "ministry flows from being." Who we ARE (being) influences how we THINK (knowing) and ACT (doing). Who we are is a direct result of abiding with Christ. When we cultivate intimacy in our relationship with Jesus, His BIG heart for the world transforms our hearts to be concerned about things that are important to Him. The result... a World Christian mentality.
This does NOT mean that every person will sense a call to vocational mission or go on a foreign missions trip (though the latter would please me greatly). What this DOES mean is that every believer in Jesus Christ should care and invest, in some way (giving, serving, going, praying) in reaching out to the lost with the gospel to the ends of the earth. This however does not exclude reaching out to the lost with the love of Jesus locally.
Click Here to read on
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| Focus on Pastoral Care Patrick Callahan |  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you - John 15:9
My command is this, love one another as I have loved you"! -
John 15:12 One of the four pillars of the stated mission of members of The Family Church is to leave a legacy of love. One of the most effective and lasting gifts that we can leave our children is a picture of mom and dad, who are invested in love as God has loved them. The word of God calls this type of unconditional love "Agape". We strive to love in an agape fashion when we look beyond behavioral imperfection and actively renew the covenant promises which are the fruit of surrendered lives to Christ. There is something very special about the couples who renew their commitment to purposeful marriage evaluation each year at the annual Family Church Marriage Retreat. This past memorial day weekend, one hundred and forty six people gathered at the World Golf Village Renaissance Hotel in St. Augustine to focus on the picture of the existing love and respect in their marriages and to seek Holy Spirit intervention on a pathway purposed by God. Some couples came in anticipation of refreshment, some to seek the biblical guidance of the conference presenters, and some frankly came with relationships in critical condition and without much hope of restoration. None left without a renewed commitment to live out the covenant promises of their wedding day. It was a weekend filled with lots of laughter. . . CLICK HERE TO READ ON |
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Distant Starlight By Stephen F. Larner, PhD | 
The BibleThe Bible's approximate 6,000-year history of the universe is one of the most difficult issues to reconcile with the apparent multi-billion year age of the universe due to distant starlight. How long does it take light to reach the earth from the farthest galaxy? The answer, surprisingly, depends on your assumptions. Einstein's theory of relativity opened up a new way of looking at this question.
The Problem: Scientists have known for around 100 years that the universe is enormous, galaxies are extremely distant, and even light, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, appears to take billions of years
to travel that distance, at least from our finite understanding. Since we see these galaxies, their light must have traveled from there. If the light truly took billions of years to get here, then the universe would apparently be billions of years old. However, this interpretation conflicts with the simple reading of Genesis, which indicates that God created the universe only a few thousand years ago. Do we need to
compromise the plain teaching of Genesis? (Do not be fooled by the problem, evolutionists have their own light-travel problem to be reviewed at a later time.)
The Solution: Contrary to popular belief, it is now scientifically reasonable to postulate a theory in support of light traveling the distance from the farthest galaxies instantaneously, in zero time. Albert Einstein discovered this principle. Basically, the light-travel problem is more about the underlying assumptions. It is not based upon evidence observed and studied using empirical science. If you are unfamiliar with Einstein's Theory of Relativity be prepared to think outside the box!
CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
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| Orphan Care Ministry - Scott and Haley Long | |
Heart Gallery of Florida
"It's too risky..."
"It costs too much..."
"I'm too old..."
As I think of the many conversations related to adoption I've had with people over the past few years, these are just a few of the comments I've heard. At the heart of these and other comments is that the challenges and unknowns that exist with the journey of adoption seem simply TOO BIG for us to handle. The good news is that we're not the only people in this human existence to have been faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Gideon. The Bible is literally filled with examples of the seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by our spiritual forefathers. What I love especially when I think of these and others is that the challenges they faced were usually due to the fact that they were following God in faithful obedience. Of course, they had doubts and fears. Some of them even questioned God's wisdom in selecting them for the task at hand! Yet our God, our Father, our Abba "daddy" proved himself over and over again to be faithful, patient and mighty.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6
CLICK HERE: TO READ ON |
| Women's Ministry ~ It's Not too Late! Vivian Sawyer |
Summer Siesta Book Club
Read first 20 chapters of Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
and meet at Tioga Starbucks, Wednesdays 7pm - Easy read but fascinating book.
Making Memories
I Thessalonians 3:6..."He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us"...
Summer is here...kids out of school...can't afford an expensive (or even not so expensive) vacation...what to do??
CLICK HERE TO READ ON: |
| On The Home Front with Connie Reid | |
Let's Hear it for the Dads!
I am writing this on Father's Day and thought it appropriate to focus on them in July as well.
A recent book release called The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It, incorporates the results of several studies. Dads are far more likely to relate with their children through roughhousing than women. No one is surprised here, men are just more physical. The study showed that children who roughhouse with their dad are more likely to make better grades, have better social skills, be less violent, and develop physical confidence. They also develop a good sense of physical control as they see Dad with his superior strength letting his child win the wrestling match. Also emotional control is promoted as they learn to calm down when the parents declare that it is time to move on to a quieter activity. The best part though is the pure joy, love, and sense of family that results from the play.
I always held my breath a little when the children would pile on Randy on a Saturday morning with the laughing and wrestling soon following. No one ever got hurt or anything broken much to my amazement. When they got a little older, they built pyramids in the water at the public pool yelling for me to look before Randy rocketed them off into the water. Later in their early teens I remember being at a park with a hand ball wall. They all lined up against the wall and encouraged their dad to . . .
CLICK HERE: TO CONTINUE READING
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 Cling to Liberty: Independence Day
July 4th, 2011
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." I Corinthians 3:17b
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