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The Family Church
Family Connections Newsletter
August 2011
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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 | |
I hope you are all having a great summer. It has surely flown by in a hurry. Please mark your calendars and plan to be with us at Rainbow Springs on Saturday, August 13th as we celebrate our 18th Anniversary as a church, and again on Sunday morning, August 14, at 10:30 as we hold our annual anniversary worship service. You will want to be a part of both.
As we move into "adulthood" at The Family Church, I want to lift something up for everyone's consideration. William Booth, a Methodist preacher who went on to found The Salvation Army, made this prophetic statement in his lifetime: "I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell." My goodness, how accurate Brother Booth's words look today. It breaks my heart to see how true all of that is.
Yet, despite my admiration for William Booth, I think he may have left out one other thing. Are we also trying to live lives of faith without faithfulness?
CLICK HERE: TO READ ON
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| Whispers In The Dark |
Scripture: II Thessalonians 3:11 - "For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work." "Do not be weary in doing right."
Observation: Paul is concerned that there are some who want the rewards of the Church without contributing any work. Apparently they thought they had found an angle. Maybe they thought Jesus was coming at any day, so why bother to do anything. Maybe they were 'idle wealthy'. Maybe they thought they were retired. Whatever their deal was, Paul isn't for it. He says that idleness and loafing in the Body are to be avoided. It is interesting that this passage is on the same day as the Temple building passage of I Kings with Solomon building the Temple. The battles were over. Peace reigned. Times were good and Solomon was rich. In fact he was the richest man the world had ever seen or has seen since. Solomon, however, didn't see the peace of the times, his wealth and his security as reason to eat, drink and be happy. Instead, he saw the blessings of his life as an opportunity and leveraged the moments for service and God's greater Glory. Idleness and loafing would have to be for another day.
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| Worship and Arts Ministry Larry Carpenter | 
Hope your summer is going well. Again, we are so blessed to have talented "heart of worship" members in all of our teams. This month I'd like to feature one of our musicians and a good friend who has shared his time and talent long before I came on board here at Family.
Keith Singleton has always carried a passion for music, primarily focusing his time and attention on drums. Born and raised in Newark, DE, he briefly attended Delaware Tech. and the University of Delaware before moving to Atlanta, GA where he majored in percussion at Atlanta Institute of Music. Following graduation in fall of 1997, he moved to Gainesville, FL to temporarily play with a locally based touring band. What was intended to be a temporary situation blossomed when he met his wife, Angela (from MI). Together they have chosen to settle in Gainesville permanently. Now a true Gator with a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Florida (2008), he aspires to be a local business owner.
Keith and Angela have been attending The Family Church since 2001, sharing life's joys and sorrows with various family/small groups along the way. They have two children, Emily (8) and Luke (5). As a family they enjoy field trips, homeschooling, flying kites, biking, cooking, science experiments, playing with model trains, playing worship music together, dancing through December nights to their musical Christmas Lightshow (which Keith designs and displays for the community to enjoy), and so much more.
General Manager of a local family owned business, Alan's Cubana Inc., Keith has found time to serve on the worship team for weekend services, Celebrate Recovery and Marriage Retreats for most of the past 10 years. With a heart for serving through music, he lives for the opportunity to play drums for our church.
When you get the chance please let Keith & his family know how much they mean to us. Come join us as we grow, Larry |
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FSM Team | |
Join us in welcoming our new
youth pastor,
Pastor Mark Hubbard,
and his family to the FSM team!
Hello FC Family!
You know that feeling you get perched 400+ feet in the air with your toes dangling over the ledge of a small platform...there's nothing between you and the rocks below except about 4.3 seconds and a giant rubber band tied to your ankles? Ever felt that? Neither have I! Like most of you, the very thought of bungee jumping makes my legs jiggle like jello.
However, mixed in with all that trepidation over trusting your life to a big elastic cord is a level of excitement that, for those who dare brave such an adventure say, cannot be described...it can only be experienced.
CLICK HERE to read on
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| Missions Ministry ~Jeff Webster |  Your GIC Faith Commitments at Work The joy of giving cannot be underestimated. It is truly exciting to to see how our investments are having an impact for God's Kingdom purposes. The Missions Council recently made a decision to fund two special projects. As you may know, the GIC financial commitments are the basis for our annual missions budget. The overwhelming majority of that money goes directly to supporting our missionaries and ministry partnerships. The other portion of the budget, as the Missions Council has sensed the Lord's direction in a very unified sense, is used to help mobilize The Family Church in missions and ministry, develop missionary care strategies, connect the congregation more personally with our mission partners through our annual GIC (Global Impact Celebration), respond to emergencies and help fund special project opportunities that are presented by our partners throughout the year. Presently the Brazil Team (11 members) is "in country" and will remain there through mid August. One of the special projects ($3,000) was to fund much needed improvements to the New Horizons Youth Ranch. I know that this investment will have a big impact in the lives of the boys and the ministry there. How do I know? Well, even as I am writing, I received an update from Chauncey Fagler, the team leader, informing about how successful a special project TFC funded last year is doing. The talipia fish pond and the hen house are reducing operation cost for the Ranch in a sustainable way that allows for an increasing spiritual impact in the lives of needy street children. CLICK HERE to read on |
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Programmed Instincts By Stephen F. Larner, PhD | |
Builtin basic programming or blank slate? Do newborns enter life with hardwired instincts or do they to have to learn everything they need? The perception that living organisms are born devoid of any knowledge, ready to absorb everything, is inaccurate. Like every computer you buy, even the most stripped down version comes with a basic operating program preinstalled enabling it to function on an elementary level. At that level it is still open to accepting new programs and data (memories).
These very basic programs in living things are called instincts. Instinct or innate behavior is an inherent inclination of a living organism toward a particular behavior. A simple instinctive behavior is a fixed action pattern - short action sequences carried out without variation in response to a clearly defined stimulus. Instinctive behaviors can also be variable such as when responding to environmental cues. Any behavior is instinctive if performed without being based upon prior experience, that is, in the absence of learning. Therefore, instincts are innate tendencies to performances elicited by external stimuli, unless overridden by intelligent reasoned actions that are creative and more versatile.
Examples of behaviors not based upon prior experience include reproduction, feeding among insects, animal fighting, animal courtship behavior, internal escape functions, and nest building. Instinctive behaviors have been demonstrated across a broad spectrum of life, down to bacteria that propel themselves toward beneficial substances and away from repellent substances. Without instincts, living organisms could not function much less begin a life-long learning process. How are instincts passed down from mothers to their offspring? How is this knowledge, so critical to life, transferred through molecules to a single cell? Despite years of research, scientists still do not have clue.
CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
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Opens September 30 | |
CLICK HERE: to find a theatre near you.
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An Adoptive Father's Perspective by Bob Flynn |
For this month's article, we asked church member and adoptive father, Bob Flynn, to share his story with us. We hope you'll be blessed at seeing God's hand at work in forming his family!
November of 2005 was a turbulent time for my wife and I, having just retired, sold our home in Miami, and moved to High Springs where we were in the process of having a new home built. My wife Edna added to the turbulence when she came to me and asked me if I still had a vision to adopt a girl. Years ago when we lived in Connecticut, we had tested the waters of adoption and were handed a defeat by the State of Connecticut. They had openly lied to us concerning the availability of babies and our ability to adopt one of them. This had left a bad taste in my mouth for years. Since I loved my wife and wanted her to be happy, I said that I would look into it with her. I can honestly say that I was scared and was not sure that I wanted to start over with a young child. We decided to pray first and to seek Gods 'Will' concerning becoming adoptive parents.
We started by attending an informative meeting at the Children's Home Society office in Lake City. We had tried the previous month to attend a meeting, but found the advertised office in Trenton 'Closed' with only a few prospective parents waiting outside. At the meeting in Lake City, we were the only prospective parents that attended. Lauren, a Children's Home Society Case Worker, spoke with us about the procedure and requirements for adoption thru the State of Florida. In February, we started attending mandatory MAPP Classes at the Children's Home Society office in Gainesville. We went in with a belief that we wanted to adopt a normal white four or five-year-old daughter, who loves being a girly-girl, but can also be a tomboy. The classes quickly informed us that a child like this was not normally available in the system. Most children were interracial and had a number of physical or mental disabilities. Through this process, God was working on us, and He expanded our vision of a daughter to include a number of disabilities, any race, up to 14 years of age.
Click Here to read on
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| Men's Ministry Devotional |
 | | Jeff Friend. |
Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
-Hebrews 2:11 (NIV)
As I watched the homeless man huddled up against the building, I noticed people giving him a disgusted look and keeping their distance from him. They wanted nothing to do with him and considered him as someone worthy of scorn.
Then I realized this man probably had brothers or sisters. Did they know how he was living? Did they care? Had they tried to help him? Or did they just consider him an outcast like everyone else?
My thoughts turned to my own brothers. How would I act if that man was one of them instead? Would I be embarrassed to admit he was related to me? Would I be afraid what my friends would think if they saw him?
Jesus knew us when we were at our worst, yet He refused to turn His back on us and walk away. He showed us true love, and proudly calls us His brothers and sisters.
Ocala
October 22, 2011
CLICK HERE for more information
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| Women's Ministry |  The Women's Ministry would like you to get to know our Council. We hope that as you identify with them, you will be more interested in participating in our events. Introducing Vivian Sawyer, Women's Ministry Director Hello, I am Vivian Sawyer and I am one of those rare "Native Floridians". I was born in Lee (not sure it's even on the map), lived in Live Oak until my early teens, then moved to Miami...what a cultural shock! I attended Trevecca College in Nashville, Tennessee, moved back to Miami, then West Palm Beach, then Toronto, Canada...an even greater cultural shock! After 6 freezing years, I moved back to Orlando. After my marriage to Horace, we decided I was "portable" (being in real estate) and he wasn't (Chair of Rehabilitation Counseling at UF), so I sold my real estate company and moved to Gainesville in 1996. Horace and I have a blended family; between us we have 6 children (all married) 14 grandchildren, and 3 greats! Christmas breaks the bank!! CLICK HERE: to read on
Introducing Bobbie Robbinson, Council Member
Born in Brunswick, Ga., I grew up in Gainesville. My husband Randy and I have been married 35 years this coming February and together we work as a team in our company R.E. Robinson Remodeling (formally G.W. Robinson Remodeling). Our son, Jay, is a Captain in the Army and daughter-in-law, Sandi, is a Dental Hygiene Instructor at Santa Fe College. Sandi and Jay presented us with a grandson, Luke Emerald, who will be one year old in September.
Since joining the Family Church in 2007, I have been involved with the New Visitor Ministry, The Food Pantry Ministry and The Greeter Ministry. Through much prayer I joined the Women's Council in 2010. Hebrews 10:24, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds", is exactly what is in my heart... to serve others in Christ. In addition to events at church I enjoy cooking, entertaining, fishing, traveling and mostly spending time with my family and friends.
Be sure and check our schedule of upcoming events at:
Women's Ministry
or our blog at tfcwomenblogspot.com
Women's Ministries Blog
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| On The Home Front with Connie Reid | |
I had taken on the task of resurfacing our pool deck and had run into many unforeseen delays: House guests, trouble arranging for pressure cleaning, 100° plus temperatures, unexpected post repairs, rain forecast and indecision on the color. Finally I was painting in the last square foot of area. Soon the paint bucket and I were outside the screen door and I looked with satisfaction on a completed job. Not a speck of green algae or surface cracks in sight.
For some reason all that sun and time while I was painting around the pool had me thinking about the baptisms that were held up at the springs several weeks ago. The pictures on the Family Church Facebook site were beautiful and gave a sense of how special that was for everyone who participated. As I looked at my spotless deck, I remembered how I felt at eleven when I was baptized at church camp. I knew I had a clean slate and was determined to stick so close to God that I would not have to worry about committing any more sins. I do not remember at what point I had to admit that my quest for perfection had failed, probably day three or four after being back home with my family. Maybe I had too much sun working on the deck, but the analogy seemed pretty clear to me. Just like the algae that will return to my spotless deck and the comforting knowledge that some industrial strength clorox will take care of it, God knows we will fail from time to time and He provides the opportunity to be spotless again with the application of the blood of Jesus. I am glad He judges our heart and makes allowances for our failings.
Click Here for a recipe your family and company will enjoy for breakfast.
Sour Cream Waffles Serves 4 (Waffle Iron Necessary)
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| Faithfulness | |
So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught, whether in personal conversation or by our letter. May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.
2 Thessalonians 2:15-17
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