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Worship Service Schedules
8am
Traditional
Service
9:30am
Contemporary Service
11:00 am Contemporary Service
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July 2013
The Family Church
'Family Connections' Newsletter
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A Word from Max 
For years the great champion of the local church John Maxwell has stated, "Everything rises and falls on leadership." Although his idea may be debatable, it is certainly true that leadership matters...everywhere...and nowhere is it more important than in the church! The Church is, after all, the hope of the world today. Our mission is the only one with eternal consequences!
Despite its importance, our culture is leadership challenged. There are several reasons for that. Our education system teaches a lot of important things, but typically concentrates very little on leadership. Many are of the mistaken impression that "leadership" is something people are born with. (No one is truly a born leader...leadership is learned and leaders can be made.) Further, many people simply don't see themselves as leaders. But the reality is, everyone is a leader somewhere. And all of us could lead more effectively with the proper training and practice.
For these reasons, I am so excited about the opportunity we have at The Family Church to be a Premier Host Site once again this year for The Global Leadership Summit. This two day leadership conference is the finest Christian Leadership conference in the world. Last year, over a quarter of a million people, in countries all over the world, experienced this amazing opportunity to grow and learn. Among them was a group of people right here at our church. Indeed, The Family Church is the only place in North Central Florida to experience the Global Leadership Summit. And once again this year, those of us from The Family Church get an amazing special discount rate.
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Scripture: Galatians 1:11-12 - "I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."
Observation: How do we come to know the truth of God? There are so many different, competing claims. Even within Christianity there are so many contradictory streams of thought. From Paul's letter to the Galatians we know this is not a new problem. Paul will use the letter to build the basics of his case for justification by faith alone. He will develop the idea more fully in his letter to the Romans. But in this introduction a few key ideas begin to come to the fore:
1) The Truth of God is a person. That person is Jesus Christ. We know that Truth when we know Jesus Christ. We can never know the truth of God fully, in all its richness and promise, apart from knowing Jesus Christ. And knowing Jesus is a huge difference from knowing about Jesus! Paul, says, "The gospel I preach to you isn't learned. It isn't man made." His gospel was received through a direct encounter with the living Lord. Granted that encounter was the end result of a whole string of events that led Paul to be ready to receive Jesus, not the least of which was the faithful witness, testimony and even martyrdom of the early disciples. Further, Paul would move forward from his "encounter" into intense and lengthy times of learning, growing and preparing to better understand the events of his Christ encounter. But, with all this in mind, it was still that personal, revelatory, life changing encounter with Jesus that would form the basis of his gospel, and would be the measuring stick he would use for all truth claims by men. He would willingly challenge not only Hebrew Christian evangelists, but even Peter and James and Barnabas if their message was inconsistent with his personal experience of the living Christ.
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The Family Church
20th Anniversary Service
To be held on
Sunday, August 25th at 10am,
followed by
church-wide picnic.
More details to come as far as price of tickets
for food and games for kids and adults.
There will only be ONE service this Anniversary Sunday so please,
mark your calendars and plan on joining us!
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Men's Ministry
Low Hanging Fruit
Most of us have heard the phrase low hanging fruit. We use this phrase to indicate that someone is not giving much effort or is taking the easy way out. Purportedly, this phrase originated when people convinced themselves that the fruit higher up on the tree was rotten. Being convinced of this, they gave no effort to reach for any fruit that was not on a lower branch. Thereby, they did not think they were missing out on anything by not picking the fruit higher on the tree.
Do we do the same thing when it comes to things in the Christian faith? Do we not join a family group because we have convinced ourselves that we won't get anything out of it, or that it will be a waste of time? Do we not share our faith with someone because it will be ineffective and they probably won't change anyway? Do we not get involved in activities or opportunities that the church offers because of a preconceived idea of what it will be like or what benefit it will have?
Take a chance! Make the effort to reach a little higher. Visit some family groups; share your faith and reach out to someone that God has put in your heart. Come out to the men's fish fry in August or to Promise Keepers in October. You will find that the fruit that you strive for will be the sweetest of all.
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Discipleship Ministry
Big Hairy Audacious Goal
Would you join the Discipleship Council in praying for 50 Family Groups next year? This past year we had 20 Family Groups. Therefore, we are believing God to raise up 30 more groups and leaders. If you have any interest in leading a Family Group or opening your home to host a Family Group, please contact Pastor Aaron. Training of new leaders will begin in late July.
Family Group Spotlight
Kent Young's Family Group
In the fall of 2007, our lives took a decided turn into trouble and difficulty. I had taken a job with a small company that turned ugly when we found they had committed fraud against me and did an excellent con-job as well. Even though I filed a police report, the damage had been done which led to declaring bankruptcy.
CLICK HERE TO READ ON
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Missions Ministry
 | | Jeff West |
Our Newest Missionary Partners
As many of you may be aware, we had guest missionaries attend our 2013 Global Impact Celebration (GIC) last February that either, were, are, or will be ministering to unreached people groups internationally. When we invite guests to attend our GIC event, it is with the understanding that there is no implicit or explict commitment to a ministry partnership. Their participation provides an opportunity for the missionary to receive encouragement by being in an environment where their service to the Lord is honored and appreciated. It is also an occasion to minister to Christians, cast vision, and share about the greatness of God in their lives. In all of these things, God is glorified and, we trust, His Kingdom purposes will be advanced.
Your strong response and "GIC Faith Commitments" of financial support this year of $270,950 gave us, not only allowed us to increase support to our current ministry partners, but also afforded us the possibility of considering new partnerships. Following GIC, we received applications from various missionaries seeking a partnership with The Family Church through prayer and financial support. Our guests from this past GIC, along with others who did not attend GIC were carefully and prayerfully considered. The Mission Council evaluated each potential ministry partner in light of both previously established critiera and a future sense of direction toward unreached people groups among other factors. All of the candidates were highly qualified.
It is with great joy that I announce The Family Church's new missionary partners. . . . .
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Youth Ministry
75% FULL 
SIGN UP @ www.tfcsummer2013.eventbrite.com
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CLICK HERE:
To Read The Kidz Venture Newsletter
Hear ye!!! Hear ye!!!
I send 'THANKS!' to all who served in our June VBS, giving of their time and talents to serve these children and families. God was certainly GLORIFIED by welcoming over 20 children into his Kingdom that week. Plus I have had several more ask since then. You are a terrific team to serve with. Your leadership and passion for serving these children came out in so many ways. May the Lord bless you as you serve Him faithfully.
Loving God and Serving Him Faithfully,
Angela Renick
Children's Minister and Nursery Coordinator
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Radiometric Dating - Unreliable
by Stephen F. Larner, PhD 
Does radiometric dating prove a 4.5 billion year old earth? Most scientists believe in the value of the technique and that the "calculated" dates represent reality. In actuality, the dates are only interpretations of the data and these are influenced by the assumptions used. As we will see these assumptions must be accepted on faith because they are not supported by science.
The ages assigned to rocks are based on the assumption that rock layers lower in the strata were deposited before rock layers that are higher. Determining the relative age of a rock layer is based on the assumption that you know the ages of the rocks surrounding it. Certain types of rocks, especially those formed from magma contain radioactive isotopes of different elements. It is possible to measure the ratio of the different radioactive parent isotopes and their daughter isotopes in a rock, but ratios are not dates or ages. The dates must be inferred based on assumptions about the ratios. Three of the most common isotope pairs used are Potassium (K)->Argon (Ar), Rubidium (Rb)->Strontium (Sr), and Uranium (U)->Lead (Pb).
CLICK HERE TO READ ON
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