Forward in Faithfulness

   by Kent Young,  Administrator

The Family Church was founded on July 18, 1993 when seven families joined their lives together in prayer, waiting on the Lord to birth what would be called The Family Church. 

The church was granted a 501(C)(3) status on November 20, 1995.  The church purchased 35+ areas of land and built a 22,518 square foot building which housed the original sanctuary, offices, and classrooms.  In 2002, two modular buildings were purchased for the children and youth ministries.

As the church grew, the need for additional classrooms for children and youth necessitated the construction of our new Family Student Ministry building located directly behind the sanctuary (24,666 square feet).

Two capital campaigns to raise funds for this building have been held - the first (All Things New) in March 2006 and the second (Forward in Faithfulness) in November 2011.  At the time of Forward in Faithfulness, the loan for the FSM building totaled $5.35 million.  With the Lord's blessings, the church was able to refinance the loan at significantly lower interest rates.  

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International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

However, I would much rather place the emphasis of bringing the persecuted church to you in such a way that their experiential reality will touch your heart. I must warn you that this can be emotionally painful, yet it will also enlighten you about God's heart for His hurting people. Imagine for a moment that by coming to church on Sunday morning, you are likely to be cursed at and spat upon. Imagine that if you refuse to go to the mosque or stop to pray five times daily because you have pledged allegiance to King Jesus and consequently your property is damaged, you are fired from your job, or prohibited from gaining access to educational opportunities. Imagine what if would be like to have to hide to read your Bible, if you had the rare blessing to own or have access to it, for fear that if your were caught, you would be beaten. Imagine that, if out of the joy of knowing Christ personally and love for your fellow human beings, you shared the good news of eternal life in Jesus, at the risk of being thrown into prison or even being executed. If you are the boldest of people you might honestly be able to say, "I could and would do that." Now imagine that all of those things, and possible worse, would happen to those you love....your father and mother, your husband or wife, your children, and your friends all because YOU decided to follow Jesus! That is the reality of OUR brothers and sisters in Christ who are "the Persecuted Church."

Jesus in Running Shoes

For a couple of Sundays in October, you may have seen two women in running attire in front of the church when you walked into church. Carol Hamilton and Jennifer Arnold were advertising a new affinity group, Running by THE BOOK (RBTB), for anyone who is interested in training to run either a 10K or half marathon in February.  They will be using Corinne Baur's book to provide a blueprint to develop them both physically and spiritually. If you have any interest in this group, please email Carol Hamilton at carolbr@ufl.edu.

An affinity group is a group formed around a shared interest or common goal. This is a powerful means to reach out to those outside of the Christian faith. What do you like to do that you can do with others? Golf, bowling, fantasy football, couponing, shopping, frisbee golf, workout, scrapbooking, riding motorcycles, etc? If you are interested in using your hobbies to expose other to the gospel, contact Pastor Aaron at:

  aaronr@thefamilychurch.net. 

 Women's Bible Study

'Slaying Your Giants'

At The Greens at West End
(across from Town of Tioga)

If you are interested, call Joanne Young (331-1306) for more information.

Sorry, there is no child care available.

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Unfossilized Dinosaur Tissue

Stephen F. Larner, PhD

Figure 1: Soft tissue with branching blood vessels and red blood cells. Left: The flexible branching structures in the T. rex bone were identified as "blood vessels". Right: The microscopic structures were able to be squeezed out of some of the blood vessels, and can be seen to "look like cells" per the researchers.

When is a fossil not a fossil? Evolutionist Dr. Mary Schweitzer reported in 1997 that a piece of T. rex bone was unfossilized and contained red blood cells. When examined more closely, immunologically and spectroscopically, there was evidence for the presence of hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying protein that gives red blood cells their color1. Evidence of hemoglobin and the still-recognizable shapes of red blood cells, in unfossilized dinosaur bone is powerful testimony against the whole idea of dinosaurs living millions of year's ago.2 However, to the true evolutionary believer that is unacceptable.