Give That Man A Klondike Bar!

A couple of days ago I saw a commercial where a man and his wife were talking and a young, sleek woman sachet by and the man never broke eye contact with his wife, but just kept talking and giving her his full attention. After she had passed by without so much as a mini-second of attention from the faithful husband, the classic line was given as congratulations! GIVE THAT MAN A KLONDIKE BAR! HE NEVER LOOKED AWAY FROM HIS WIFE! Wow! What a lesson all men (and women) could learn from this as we seek to honor, uplift and cherish our own spouses. There's a great Biblical lesson we men should have learned long ago from Job in the Old Testament when he said, "I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes." Job 31:1 (MSG)

Give that man a Klondike Bar!

TVCC-Your Great Partnership Pays Big Dividends

Thanks for being such great partners in ministry by filling out your connection cards Sunday. Partners work together for a common goal or cause. As a matter of fact, not only are we partners together, we are also partners with God. Paul said it this way -

As God's partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it. 2 Corinthians 6:1 (NLT)

In other words, if you can do something to serve as God's partners, and then don't, it is the same as ignoring the wonderful gift of God's kindness and grace - but Sunday, you did not ignore it, you accepted it by serving others through your Connection Cards. The smallest things can bring the greatest growth.

Because you filled out your cards, 9 first time guests filled out theirs, along with 4 second time guests, 1 third time, and 5 fourth time guests. Also, there were 12 who want help to grow as a follower of Christ; three commitments to Christ, and 3 request for baptism. It really does make a difference when we all work in the unity of the Spirit. Why is this so important?

Because we are able to make contacts based upon the data received from those cards. So it is very, very important that each week you serve God's kindness by completely filling out your Connection Card. When guest see you do it, they'll find value in it and do likewise. Also, don't just scratch your name and stop. When guests see you stop, they figure it isn't worth the time - or they're too slow...either way, it may keep them from filling out a card and turning it in.

I believe we're to be the best stewards possible with everything God brings us; especially people! Thanks for being such great partners in ministry.

Pastor Steve

PS There were 6 baptisms Sunday. Praise God! Since January 1, there have been 109 professions of faith and 36 baptisms. The ratio is not where we want it to be, but we keep on keepin' on!

So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

Created For A Purpose

WOW! What can we say but – wow, what a great day; we’ve learned so much. God is teaching us…
About us
About you
About our job together
About what it’s going to take for us to fulfill the vision for TVCC

Folks – God has placed us here to make a difference. Every time we come here to Saddleback and revisit the vision God gave us to reach all the people we can, we’re encouraged to remember that God is on our side and He wants the best for us and from us. And when we think of our present situation, i.e. multiple services and multiple meeting sites, we’re also encouraged to remember that Saddleback moved 79 times before they had their first tent – that’s right, tent. It was some fifteen years before they actually had a place to call their own, yet they reached thousands and were nomadic doing it!

God has blessed us so much in our very young seven-and-a-half years. We’ve grown from 22 in August of 2000 to over 500 members now, not counting youth and children. We’ve seen some 300 baptisms and more than 400 who’ve said yes to Jesus Christ. We’ve taken 4 mission trips to the D.R., one to Haiti, and several others to Memphis and Mississippi. God has and is using us as a catalyst in our community to show the love and heart of Christ to a lost and hurting people in need of a Savior. We’re so proud of you all. You are truly a letter written on our hearts.

As we’ve been away, Marylin & I have prayed about the changes necessary in our own lives in order to be who God has placed us in the body to be. In the days and weeks to come, we pray that you also will be ready and willing to do whatever it takes to reach more and more people for the global glory of God.

We will see you this weekend!

Pastor Steve & Marylin

Day 2 – Purpose Driven Community Gathering

What a great day of inspiration and learning. This morning started off with Pastor Rick teaching us Part 3 of Manifesto for Renewal. Needless to say, it was powerful as we learned about our greatest responsibilities as leaders and pastors to shepherd the flock and teach the word.

Next we heard from four panels made up of pastors from the U.S. and around the world. The topics of discussions were based upon the model of Best Practices. The Best Practices we studied today were:

1. Best Practices for Global Missions – how to impact our world at home and abroad
2. Best Practices for God-honoring Worship – it’s the only thing we’ll do forever
3. Best Practices for Deepening Discipleship – we have to learn to feed ourselves
4. Best Practices for Mobilizing Members in Ministry – people are in ministry daily – we’ve just got to equip them for it

Tomorrow we will be learning about Best Practices for Engaging Business Leaders and a briefing of the P.E.A.C.E. plan. The P.E.A.C.E. plan takes on the five global giants in our world today but more on that tomorrow.

We hope you’re having a great week and we can’t wait to be back to speak to you this weekend as we begin our new series The Game Show Network. Part 1 – Jeopardy – Decisions to help you make good decisions.

Love Ya’ll,

Steve & Marylin

Hello from Southern California

Marylin & I are here attending the 2008 Purpose Driven Community Gathering. Pastor Rick has assembled a number of pastors from around the country whom God has blessed in their ministries and they are joining facilitators on stage, discussing different aspects of ministry as they talk about the five-fold function of every church: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Serving, and Missions.

Pastor Rick began with an overview of the conference and then taught us about the first necessary renewal in all of our lives and that is PERSONAL RENEWAL based upon 2 Corinthians 4. Why not open your Bible and read the chapter and then focus on the following points:

1. Learn to enjoy the grace of God - verse 1
2. Be authentic - Be yourself - verse 2
3. Remember - It's not about you - verse 5
4. Accept your limitations - verse 7
5. Do everything out of love - verse 15
6. Renew daily - verse 16
7. Live in light of eternity - verses 17-18

After lunch we heard three panel discussions involving Evangelism, Fellowship and Preaching - can anyone say "drinking from a fire hose!" Today we will be studying the state of global missions and the the panels will discuss these topics:

1. Best practices for Global Missions
2. Best practices for God-Honoring Worship
3. Best practices for Deepening Discipleship
4. Best practices for Mobilizing Members for Ministry

Pray for us today that we will do as the wise King Solomon did:

"I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw." Proverbs 24:32

Till Tomorrow,

Steve & Marylin

May 18th-TVCC Potluck & Mission Prep

Come join in the food, fun and fellowship as we enjoy lunch and then assemble the welcome kits our team will take with them on mission to the Dominican Republic. Don't forget to bring your items! (See list below)

Who: TVCC Members & Attenders!
What: Potluck Meal & Assembly of Welcome Kits
(TVCC will furnish the meat and drinks)
Where: TVCC Mineral Wells
When: May 18th 12:30 p.m. (Approximate)

Items to donate for Welcome Kits: Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Shampoo, Deodorant, Soap, Lotions, Razors, Washcloths, Zip Lock Bags, Baseballs, Baseball Gloves, Kick Balls, Soccer Balls (Non-Inflated)
Remember: Bring as many items as possible in travel size!

May Newsletter Article

WHAT’S YOUR FOCUS ON?

Many times I’m afraid we focus on the wrong things. Things such as, what’s going to happened tomorrow, will I be able to make it until payday, what will I wear, what will I eat or drink? But as the chief demon, Screwtape, tells the imp and lesser demon Wormwood, in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, “If we can just keep them worried about yesterday and the future, we’ll keep their minds off of eternity and today.”

When we allow ourselves to worry over those two periods of time, one which is ‘locked away’ and the other we have no control over, we lose the essence of life which must be lived in today. How do we bring ourselves to do that? Realize, believe, and trust in who God really is. Jesus said it this way, Then he (Jesus) said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NLT)

As Oswald Chambers said in My Utmost for His Highest, “The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just of what He is going to do next.” Let me illustrate this in the life of one of our own members who had planned on going on the mission trip to the Dominican Republic this month but didn’t know how they would get the money to do so, and neither did we. But God showed up through anonymous donors who’ve paid for four such trips. This was the response upon being notified they had received funding:

“I had been worrying a lot about how I would pay for the mission trip and still be able to pay my bills when I got home. But I was going to do it anyway and trust GOD to take care of me. You know I took Pastor Steve’s challenge a few weeks ago on tithing and have been giving more without running out of money like I thought I would. You don’t know how hard it was for me to put my prayer request on that connection card; I have a lot of foolish pride and its hard not to be the "strong one" or to ask for help - even for prayer, but God takes care of all his children and I finally realize I have no power over my life and I need to stop fighting His grace and His plans; don’t know who to thank for this wonderful gift so I will just thank God and you for keeping me in your thoughts.”

It’s like this: whatever I FOCUS on is what I’ll see. When I see my problems against the backdrop of the Cross, Christ’s provision becomes my daily supply for all Eternity.

Keep your FOCUS!

Pastor Steve

TVCC-Your Generosity Was...

FANTASTIC! For the Ugandan Orphans Children's Choir

I'm always proud to be your pastor. I brag on you and how Christ is impacting your lives and the lives of multitudes around you as a result of His love being seen through you. But I've never been more proud than yesterday as your love overflowed to help hundreds, maybe thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands to come to know Christ in a personal relationship by your generous gifts. The byproducts of your gifts such as education, health care, orphanages, and especially hope, will be eternal as well.

Eric and his wife Savannah said they had visited churches two and three times our size and not received the outpouring of support they did from TVCC.

You gave $5,167.65 as a love offering and we had 38 sponsorships. Only eternity will tell the impact your gifts have made. AND our weekly tithes & offerings plus Building For Life were great also.

New Hope Missions International

I also want to let you know that as a church we gave a $1,000 love offering to Project: Hope to help buy food for the missions work we are helping to sponsor in Haiti with New Hope Missions International. Pastor Renaund, the national who is over the four churches and schools, said that the death rate from starvation there is worse than he has ever seen in his lifetime. Brent Baird, who is director of NHMI, has landed in Haiti today along with Mark Elliot, pastor of Hope Christian Church in Murfreesboro, TN and President of the Board of Directors of NHMI, to purchase food and work out the distribution to the schools this week. Be in special prayer for success and God's favor on them as they minister there during this time of crisis and starvation. Some $10,000 has been received in the Project: Hope fund to date. 100% of the monies go to purchase rice and hopefully beans.

Thanks TVCC! You're the greatest!