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New Service Schedules
The NEW worship schedule begins on Sunday,
August 19th:
8am-
Traditional
Service
9:30am-Contemporary Service
11:30am-Contemporary Service
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 The Family Church Women's Ministry Will Be the Host September 15th SAVE THE DATE! |
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August 2012
The Family Church
'Family Connections' Newsletter
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A Word from Max
"Where there is no vision, the people perish!" These words were written by King Solomon, a man given an extra measure of wisdom from God. He understood that vision is a picture of who we are trying to be, of God's preferred future for us. And he understood that in a community of faith, vision was essential for success.
Over the last many months, the elders of the church and your church staff have been undergoing a long process of seeking God's vision for our church and beginning the process of bringing all that we do into alignment with that vision. We have worked with consultants, wrestled with theology and the Word of God, sought the Lord through prayer and fasting, and engaged in hours upon hours of conversation. And the Lord has spoken! I am pleased to let you know that the elders have adopted the following as the vision of The Family Church:
"To Love God and Make Disciples Everywhere"
Elegant in its simplicity, this vision statement gets at the heart of what it means to be a Christian community of faith. It contains both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It calls us to become who God has called us to be. At the end of the day, however, this statement is just words. The only power those words have is if they are used to shape our community, our actions, our ministries and our lives together. It is that to which we will devote our energies in the coming months and year.
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The Family Church's19th Anniversary
Celebration coming August 12th
10:30 am - Anniversary Service
12:00 Catered Lunch and Activities
Cost for lunch is $7/person or $30/family. The day of the lunch, the ticket price increases to $10/person or $40/family.
Activities include:
Chili Cookoff Contest and Annual Dessert Bakeoff
(Sign up sheets for both of these are
on the round table in the lobby.)
Water bounce house, sprinklers for the little ones, water balloon activities, balloon maker, music, snow cones, and horse shoes (adults)
We may need the following help!
>volunteers for the set up crew to begin at 9:00 am,
> to work a 30 minute activities shift from noon to 3 pm
>and a clean up crew at 3 pm.
Please contact Paula Drury, Children's Activity Coordinator for Anniversary Service at paulajdrury@hotmail.com OR call her at 352-463-3528 to sign up to help!
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Whispers in the Dark
Scripture: II Chronicles 15:29 - "As the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Saul's daughter Michael looked down from the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart."
Observation: Here is a beautiful picture of a man who is fully invested in the presence of God. David is celebrating God and life with a joy that borders on reckless abandon. He is not just worshipping, he is celebrating! This is the same man who wrote "I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord!" David gets excited about the things of God. His worship is genuine, free, joy filled, exuberant, and heart felt. But notice how his wife observes and despises him. I notice two things. First, in the presence and fullness of God, David doesn't feel the need to concern himself with his reputation in the eyes of others. His celebration is not for show, but an outward manifestation of his enjoyment of God and gratitude for God and all God has done for him. Second, when it becomes evident that his own wife disapproves, David doesn't allow her disapproval to alter his celebration in the slightest.
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Worship and Arts Ministry
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Larry Carpenter
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Hi everyone, hope your summer is going well. Normally this time of year is considered a quieter period for ministry. But with our Global Leadership Conference, our Anniversary Celebration, and our new added service beginning Sunday Aug 18, 2012, just around the corner, we remain very busy. Fortunately we have very talented people sharing the load serving in many different positions. Katie Spillman happens to be one of our tech team members and serves as the Administrative Assistant to Angela Renick, our Children's Pastor.
 Katie is currently a student at Liberty University, participating in and studying for the Master of Arts in Religious Education. She has worked with children in various avenues of service since she was a senior in high school including Sunday School teacher, missions teacher, preschool worker, after school coordinator and children's and youth director and has also worked in the mission field to train others to teach and take care of children. She also has experience working with children with special needs through Meridian Behavioral Healthcare and The Children's Home Society of Florida . In her spare time, Katie enjoys spending time with her nephews and with her chihuahuas, Tiny and Sassy. She appreciates the outdoors and outdoor activities and she also enjoys nature/wildlife photography. God has been challenging her to trust Him more in her daily walk with Him, to grow deeper in Christ, to practice and experience a more passionate prayer life, to use her gifts and talents to reach others for Christ and to develop relationships with others.
Again, we are very blessed to have Katie wearing different hats...thank you Katie. And the good thing is there is still room for you! Please let me know how we can get you connected?
Come join us as we grow,
Larry
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Missions Ministry
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Jeff West
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Ramadan - What comes to mind when you hear that word? Do you even know what it means? You probably have some concept of the term since, in recent years, the religion of Islam has received much press attention. For those who may not know the specifics, Ramadan is the month, in the Islamic calendar, in which every devout Muslim engages in a "fast." Based on the lunar calendar, Ramadan shift slowly backwards each year, so does not have a corresponding fixed time on our calendars. The fast during the month of Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
What Takes Place? Every good Muslim (it is a religious requirement - in Muslim countries it is forced) abstains from food & water from sunrise to sunset. There is generally feasting in the evenings. This occurs every day during Ramadan, the 9th month.
What is the Significance for a Muslim? . . . .
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Death, or Not!
Stephen F. Larner, PhD
Death holds a morbid fascination for many people. We spend are lives and even our fortunes to avoid it, yet we are still drawn to its unexplained mysteries. This would explain why we are drawn to those animals that seem to be able to avoid death, at least for a time, under the most extreme circumstances. Through various forms of suspended animation, some creatures appear to die or, due to our limited understanding, should have died, only to return to life hours, months, or even years later. God designed amazing variability into the genes of His creatures giving them amazing tools to adapt to different environments as they obey God's command to fill the world. What we must remember is that adaptation is not "evolution" in the sense of creating new kinds of creatures. It is rather evidence of a loving God supplying His creatures with all that they need to "be fruitful and multiply," to fulfill their purpose as designated by God in this fallen world, yet survive in extraordinary environments. Let us look at some of the more interesting of these "death defiers".
Water Bear
Figure 1: Water bears can survive without water for decades.
Perhaps one of the more dramatic examples of these death-defying
creatures is the tardigrade, more commonly known as the water bear. As their name suggests, water is important for the survival of the 400 species of these very small (most less than 0.5 mm long), specialized animals. Most of these live in the films of water that surround the leaves of terrestrial mosses and lichens and some between sand grains in marine and freshwater layers. Their bodies are short, plump, and cylindrical, with four pairs of legs that end in claws or toes. They can live for nearly a century without water, which they do by "killing" themselves.
CLICK HERE TO READ ON
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Orphan Care Ministry 
Bethany is a sweet twelve year old girl who longs to please others. She has been living with relatives since she was removed from her home three years ago when her father took her mother's life. She had grown up in an abusive and neglectful environment, and sadly, her new home did not offer her the love she so desperately needed. Last week, in the middle of the night, her guardian decided she was "done" with Bethany and woke her up and told her she had to get out. A social worker was called and Bethany was driven to a parking lot in the middle of the night and dropped off. She entered a new foster home wearing only the clothes on her back, all of her possessions left behind.
As the social worker who picked her up described all of this to me, my heart broke for this child. She was described as a kind girl who had been made to feel as if she deserved nothing and was worthless. This social worker decided to take Bethany out a few days later to get some clothes. She smiled as she related how Bethany told her new foster mother fourteen times that morning that she could not wait to go shopping and have new clothes of her own! She was very timid at first about purchasing anything, but really began to shine as the morning went on.
CLICK HERE FOR TO READ ON
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Discipleship Ministry
 | | Aaron Read |
I would like to introduce you to the Discipleship Council. Our vision is to "love God and make disciples everywhere." If you have any feedback, input or constructive criticism in regard to discipleship as it relates to Family Groups, Adult Enrichment Classes, Internships or Making Disciples, please feel free to give your input to any of us on the Council.
Now, read on about the couples who have come together to be on this Council by clicking the link below.
CLICK HERE TO READ ON
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Men's Ministry Events
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Bob Welch
Men's Council Point Man
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The M.O.B. (Men of Brotherhood)
Don't forget our
FISH FRY KICKOFF
August 30th
Men's Bowling starts back on August 20th at 6:30pm Show up a few minutes early to get shoes etc. Cost is $10/week and includes bowling and shoes. The 10th week is FREE and will include a FREE buffet! Contact Mark Ulmer at 871-3925 OR Bob Welch at 332-1126 for more info.
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"I am the way, the truth, and the life
No one can come to the Father except through me".
John 14:6
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes YOU who were once so far away from God.
You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body.
As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.
Colossians 1:19-23
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The Family Church
2022 SW 122nd Street
Gainesville, FL 32607352-332-6459
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