Go Change the World

Courage is Revealed In Africa

2012-01-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

By Jenny Beard on the way back from Africa:

As I sit on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic I have a heavy heart for the country in Africa and people that I left behind. The questions I have been asking myself since my first trip are: Why me? Why Africa? Why so far away? Why couldn’t I have fallen in love with a country closer to home or even my own country?

If anyone had told me 3 years ago that I would be called to go on a Mission Trip to Africa, I would have laughed and told them “God knows how scared I am of going out of the country since 9-11, he knows that I am terrified I would end up on a plane bound for some National Monument so he would never do that to me”...Wrong. Don’t ever say or think that God won’t call you out of your comfort zone, three years later and 2 trips to Africa, here I sit on a plane crying because it was time to leave.The past 10 days have been nothing short of amazing for me and I still have lots to process. There was good and bad, things that made sense and nonsense but we went with a purpose to love on the people and share the good news of Christ and I believe we did that ten-fold.

We spent time in villages getting our socks blessed off and then we went to feed the homeless in another town. I have always had a heart for the Homeless, I remember my dad telling me that when I was a little girl and we would go to Nashville I would ask so many questions about why they didn’t have a home and I remember him telling me that I would be in tears begging him to give them money or our “take-away” if we had been out to dinner.

I stood in amazement as hundreds of men, women and children, a large part of them blind and crippled filled table after table to get probably their only meal of the day.It’s bad enough to be homeless but to be blind, crippled and homeless in Ethiopia is beyond anything I can comprehend. As they filed in and I began to serve them something that I am ashamed to say I probably wouldn’t eat, my heart became very heavy, I had to step away and take a minute because I starting to melt down. After I calmed down (with the help of Pastor Duane:) These people had the sweetest faces and biggest smiles and when I was standing among them serving the food and one of the older gentlemen grabbed my hand and said “Thank you! Jesus is so good.” I thought, “this is it, this is why I am here” If one person knows that Jesus is good and Jesus loves them, then all the preparation and hard work was totally worth it. I am honored to have that man grab my hand and Thank me but really I should have been thanking him.

Family and friends told me that they admired me, and told me that I had such courage to go so far away. I don’t have courage, courage is the men I saw that were so crippled they could only walk on their hands and drag their legs behind them, the blind that had to depend on others to help them out, the women in the countryside that carried huge water jugs on their heads back to their families, the men, women and children pilfering through the trash dump to find food for their families. That is courage. I am nothing, I only did what God called me to do and if I live my life from here on with the love and appreciation that the people of Africa showed me, then I will be a much better person because of it.
Below are some of the lyrics to a new Casting Crowns song, it was my “Battle Song” for the week:

Jesus, friend of sinners, the one who’s writing in the sandMake the righteous turn away and the stones fall from their handsHelp us to remember we are all the least of theseLet the memory of Your mercy bring Your people to their kneesNo one knows what we’re for only against when we judge the woundedWhat if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You didOh Jesus, friend of sinnersOpen our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingersLet our hearts be led by mercyHelp us reach with open hearts and open doorsOh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yoursYou love every lost cause; you reach for the outcastFor the leper and the lame; they’re the reason that You cameLord I was that lost cause and I was the outcastBut you died for sinners just like me, a grateful leper at Your feet

Her Children Will Be Mighty In The Land

2012-01-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

By: Pastor Duane Murray

This is a mom of a young African boy. Her name is Berke (pronounced Burrkah). She lives in a simple mud hut in the slums of East Africa. Just to get to her home you have to have a guide because every path looks the same. Even the huts and corrugated metal walls are all similar. Berke is not just another African mother struggling to subsist. She is a precious, daughter of the King. He has set His heart on her and is pouring out blessings to her. God heard Berke’s cry, “God, save my child from this hopeless place.” Let’s reflect on how he has answered her today.

Not long ago Father gave one young African man a vision and the faith to believe what he could not see --- the children of East Africa thriving as mighty oaks of righteousness. God called this man and other men in a church to plant a ministry for Christ in the middle of despair. They endured the early years of ridicule and rejection from the community they came to serve. They persevered for the glory of God.

Then the Father reallocated his resources. He detoured a team of preschool leaders from around the world to expose them to what was breaking his heart in East Africa. To see the hundreds of faces of the children and believe that “nothing is to hard for the LORD.” Next the Lord transplanted a family from Tennessee, who had already prepared to go. He called with them a body of believers to His supply the resources for His glory. All of this and more than I can recall was given so that God might demonstrate the greatness of his love to the most hopeless of women and children. That he might make these forgotten and forsaken people trophies of His grace. He is faithful to save even the least of these and to sacrifice many for His glory. God rescued Berke’s son and placed him in school to learn and grow in the fear of the Lord. He has regular meals and develops skills to earn a living. He has a vision for the future and hope to achieve all that God has imagined through him for God’s glory.

We had the opportunitity to bring Berke a picture of her son to show he is doing well. She cradled the digital camera in her hands and wept as she bowed over and over giving thanks to God and us just to see her son’s image. She kissed his picture on the camera and cherished the moment. We wept as we witnessed God’s love poured over her.

Berke is not forgotten or forsaken. God, the Almighty, heard her cry for help and directed his resources to show off his love for her. Then he raised a team from Tennessee and sent those three hours south of her home to bring her a picture of her son just so she would know he was doing well. God worked extravagantly on her behalf. Melissa, Colleen and I prayed with Berke, sang over her and shared this verse with her:

“Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.” Psalm 112:1-3

Prayer Requests from Mexico

2012-01-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

By Joe P:

I hope that your new year was full of joy and faith. I am sending this brief report to fill you in on this years beginning. I normally start the New Year with a vision for the church. What the Lord led me to do is show the church how to seek Him for their personal and ministry vision so they may grow spiritually. This of course connects to the church global vision. At the end of January the church will be climbing up the light house and there I will declare the year overall vision for the church. We are looking at this as a prophetic action claiming the vision over the highest point of the city. This week we are also preparing our students of our bible school (Leadership Training International) for their graduation this coming Sunday. We have with us the international coordinators Leon and Teresa Shearer. They will be present to see our first generation of 31 students. This has been an amazing accomplishment given all the changes that the church went through this last year.

I would ask you to pray for us receiving the vision that God wants.Also pray for:
Finances for the church construction and city tourism,that the violence would cease and a lot of people have the flu including myself. Thank You for your prayers and support. Blessings to all.

Children and Chicken Coops: TSC Moms Minister In Haiti

2012-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

By Ashely J :

Three ladies (including myself) from TSC are headed to Haiti on Friday morning with an organization called Visiting Orphans. I wanted to share some information on our trip with you so you could be praying and be a part of what God is doing to change the world!

Our team will fly out of Nashville on Friday. Please pray for favor for the baggage. The airline we are flying with only allows one checked bag to Haiti. We each have a checked bag plus a second 50 pound bag full of formula. There are five of us on the trip flying out of Nashville and we all have a second bag full of formula to check. My prayer is not only will they allow it, but that we will not have to pay any extra baggage fees! Total it is 250 pounds of formula!

Buildings Destroyed After the Haiti Earthquake

We spend the first 2 days in Port-Au Prince at the Well Being Orphanage. The children in the orphanage are all earthquake survivors and all lived in tents on the grounds until recently. The building was destroyed. It is my understanding that it has been partly rebuilt. We will be helping serve this orphanage and children.

After this we are boarding a Cessna (9 passenger plane) and taking a 45 minute flight to Pignon, Haiti. Our plane will be making its landing in a goat pasture! This tiny bit of information God saw fit to leave out until we all signed up. I think He knew what He was doing. Once there we will be staying at the Haiti Home of Hope. It is run by the Americans who serve in Haiti. Our plan is to do some small projects at the orphanage and even build a structure onto the orphanage that will cover their eating area. Right now there is no cover and when it rains they are forced to eat in their rooms. Keep in mind there are fifteen women and two men on this trip! Good thing I had a handy Dad growing up and a construction husband!

After the Earthquake in Haiti

On Wednesday we will be holding a community clinic. At this clinic we will be ministering to families with infants. In most cases family members bring an infant from their community (usually aunts or grandmothers) as far as a fifteen minute walk away. These infants in many cases lost their mothers in childbirth. That is why the formula we are taking is so important. Without this formula these babies will not make it through their first year of life. We will also be giving these families seed packets. We ordered seed packets from a company here in the US that specially formulates the seeds to grow in the climate and soil of Haiti. This could be life changing for the families. They will be able able to sustain themselves with vegetables and even provide a means of income, which is truly amazing.

Our other plans include home visits in the communities and loving on people at a local hospital and I have heard we are also building a chicken coop!

All of us from TSC and the rest of the team are going to be whatever God needs us to be for the next week. We would covet your prayers for our safety, and for our families. The three of us mommas are leaving home our broods of 12 total children! Thank you all... I just felt led to share. We should be home next Friday.

Nicaragua and East Asia Informational Meetings

2012-01-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Nicaragua:

TSC will be taking a student team to Nicaragua March 24-30 which is only in a few months! The team will be working with man named Guillermo and his team from Chosen Children Ministries. Due to the schedule in Nicaragua, the dates coincide with Maury County Spring Break. Therefore those who are in Williamson County schools will have to miss school.

January 22nd is the first informational meeting in room D204. Pizza will be provided so plan to eat and bring your parents! The minimum amount of members is 10 people, so invite your friends and parents are welcome to come as chaperones.

Cost will be approx. $1300-$1400 but students automatically get $250 off! If you are planning on coming on Jan. 22nd or want to go on a trip, Pastor Reagan needs to know ASAP! Email or Facebook him at rwagoner@thompsonstationchurch.org Commitment deadlines will be determined at the meeting on Jan. 22nd.

East Asia:

TSC will also be taking 4 teams to East Asia this year to work with a family serving in this area. This family is trying to reach an unreached people group called the ZZ People in which 99.98% of the people do not believe in Jesus. Pastor Reagan would enjoy having students join him July 17-26 to be on a scout team. Those who go on this team may be the first believers to ever set foot in some towns in the history of the world! If you are unable to go on the July team, please consider going June 7-17 to serve on a rec team at a student camp in East Asia or in April on a team that will be leading a day camp and ministering to orphans.

These meetings will also be held on January 22nd at 3pm in room D204! Cost will be approximatley $2,000, but you’ll automatically get $250 off of that for being a student. You will have a full 6 months to raise your funds. If you are planning on coming on January 22nd please contact Pastor Reagan at

rwagoner@thompsonstationchurch.org.

TSC Week of Prayer

2012-01-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

TSC will be hosting the Week of Prayer entitled "God is Listening" January 22nd-29th. We have created a "God is Listening" Facebook group that will be used to let you know about the ways you can pray for missions. This Facebook page will also let you find out about all of the things going on this year during our Week of Prayer. By joining you will get updates straight to your Facebook about these events! Just click the link below and ask to be added:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/265435890179631/

There is also a place to register to let others know who invited you. If Pastor Reagan invited you, this will show others you will be praying for missions around the world. You can simply say that Pastor Reagan invited you, or feel free to add what part of the world or mission God laid on your heart to pray for during the Week of Prayer!

East Africa Update

2012-01-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Jesus called them to him, saying "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God" - Luke 18:16

Update from the East Africa Team:

"Today I got to share the gospel two different times to the younger and older kids. Afterward seven kids came to me asking to receive God's forgiveness and give their heart to him. So much to give thanks for. I'm so grateful to be used for His glory!'

Thank you to all those praying for this team! Please continue to pray for them as they continue to minister to the children and help train the leaders in this area. Pray for these new believers to be encouraged and to grow their new faith. Praise the Lord for using the team to minister to both spiritual and physical needs!

Kosovo Dates Are Set!

2012-01-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

If you are interested in the Kosovo Trip the dates have been determined! The ten day trip will be from September 6-16. For those wanting to go there will be a short informational meeting January 15th in the upstairs of the EC. A firm commitment will be needed by February 1st. For more information about this upcoming trip contact Chad Whittenburg at chadwhittenburg76@gmail.com

Project 61 Prayer Requests

2012-01-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

Legessa is a 16 year old boy in East Africa who is very sick and right now the cause of his illness is unknown. Please pray for him and ask others to be praying for him. Also please pray for Emily, the medical intern, as she is trying to help Legessa and many others. Her days in the hospital can be difficult and long.

Corey and the kids as they start back in school on the 9th. Pray for them as they start a new semester.

Last please pray for a P61 team as they go to celebrate the Ethiopian Christmas at the boarding schools and also help with the Bright Hope kids in Korah. Some of the men on the team will also be doing a Bible study with the Great Hope leaders. Pray the Lord will use them in a mighty way while they are there!

The Ultimate Sacrifice

2011-12-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

by Branden:

It was a cold snowy morning in Central Asia; we had gathered students that had been coming to our English classes from several universities around the city. The students had the day off for celebrating the Muslim holiday Eid-al-Adha, which is their most honored holiday because it is the day they sacrifice sheep for the forgiveness of their sins they have committed over the past year.

As I walked into our English center I was amazed by all the students that had come that morning to meet with us! They had two days off for the holiday. The previous morning we had a "game-day" in order to lighten the mood for what we had planned for this particular morning, when we would be talking to the students about the five languages of love.

When men walk into a room it is cultural to shake all the other men's hands. As I glanced around the room I recognized all the other guys, except one. His arms were crossed and he was slouched in his chair with a light blue toboggan on; he seemed as though he had been drug their unwillingly. I usually approach new people first to make them feel as comfortable as possible; so he was the first person I greeted that morning.

As I made my way around the room shaking the others hands I ended up at a different table from the new student who had caught my attention. When we transitioned into the main topic we realized the groups were too big. After splitting up the groups, I ended up, unintentionally, at the table with the student who I had met earlier. As we walked through the five different points each person in the group had a chance to share something in the last week where they had shown love or been shown love. When the time came around to this young man he sad up in his chair and said "You probably won't believe me, but I killed fifty sheep on Sunday for Allah and we gave more than half of the meet away to the poor"

As he sat there in his self righteousness, I began to ask question as if I had no idea about this holiday. After he finished, I felt the Lord pressing so hard that I couldn't keep my mouth closed when it was my turn to share. Respect is a big deal here; so my first words were, "I respect what you did and giving to the poor is a great thing." Then I shared how I experienced the forgiveness of my sins on a daily basis because of the ultimate sacrifice for me when Christ hung on the cross and I no longer have to kill sheep to earn my way and favor with God.

Although there was some tension in the air, I was prompted by the Spirit to respond to what this student had said about his faith and forgiveness of sin. Four students were able to hear about ultimate forgiveness and having a personal relationship with the living God. Opportunities like these are bringing us closer to all the nations hearing truth.

MMDR Opportunities!

2011-12-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

Every month Mobile Medical Disaster Relief sends teams to Africa or Haiti. So far MMDR has impacted on several areas accross the world. They focus on helping the oppressed, neglected, and medically vunerable. Currently they are in need of Nurses and Doctors to come on the trips to Haiti each month and have asked for help from Thompson Station. For those interested in learn about getting involved with MMDR click here:

http://www.mmdr.org/

The Gospel is Worth the Danger

2011-12-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Approximatley 57% of all the personnel working for the International Mission Board live and worked in Security Level 3 environments. (Level 1 is like Canada, Level 3 is like Afghanistan and China). Eric Reese is missionary who lives in a level 1 but his ministry is a level 3.

Currently Eric Reese is taking many risks by ministering in the slums of Brazil to drug dealers and gang members. Although he is serving in one of the most dangerous areas, he believes it is worth the cost. He recognizes what the people need most is to hear the gospel. In this video one man gives a detailed experience of a night with Reese and captures a night where they encountered the leader of a gang. You won't want to miss his story! To watch this video and learn more about the work going on in Brazil click here:

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=36672

December Project 61 Prayer Requests

2011-12-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Sumer and the kids are all coming to the States for a few weeks. Pray for safe travels as they leave on Friday. Pray the boys will sleep and travel well on the flights.

Pray for Corey while they are away, he will be there alone for three weeks. He is very grateful to have some good friends at the school that he will spend a lot of time with.

Pray for those who will be working for Project 61 and as they run things while Sumer is away. Pray that it will be an uneventful three weeks!

Bibles For Africa

2011-12-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

During the Global Impact Conference many heard about the lack of Bibles available for African Pastors. Some are using Bibles that are missing whole chapters or more! Thompson Station church is privileged to partner with African Leadership by providing Bibles for these pastors.

How to Get Involved:

If you are interested in helping our fellow believers accross the world African Leadership would greatly appreciate any Bible donation. More specifically African Leadership is looking for NIV Study Bibles. If you have bible's to be dropped off and need to be delivered please contact Bill Sullivan at:

Bill Sullivan

African Leadership

Adziwa Sponsorship Coordinator

(615) 533-2402

billy@africanleadershipinc.org

Bibles can also be dropped off at the World Cafe as long as they are labeled to Bill Sullivan and for African Leadership

There is also a great need for NIV Study Bibles to be translated in several of the National Languages, these can be purchased for $20.00. Checks can be made out to:

African Leadership Inc.

PO Box 2888

Brentwood, TN 37024-2888

Payments can also be made securely online at http://www.africanleadershipinc.org/pastor-training by clicking on the “Donate Now” link and writing “Bibles” in the note box.

African Leadership is a Christian education and development organization that trains pastors and church leaders in Africa and funds relief and development projects in their communities. It is also the parent company of Mocha Club and Refugee Ministry. Currently, African Leadership is training approximately 11,800 students in 22 African countries and is supporting over 50 projects in 9 countries.

Global Impact Conference

2011-11-03T14:47:00.001-07:00

To learn More Click Here: http://www.thompsonstationchurch.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=29599

First Time Experiences Bring A Burden For The Lost

2011-11-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

by Zach Bridges

Wow, words cannot explain what this trip to East Asia taught me.. but I will try. This was my first time for many different things. I had never been on a plane and flying both ways was close to 40 hours! That was an experience but that was not what mattered. Another new experience was travelling overseas and being among an unreached people group. I was told ahead of time that this people group was very lost and had little knowledge of the gospel. I knew that there would be people who did not know the name Jesus but, I had no earthly idea that almost EVERYONE did not know his name.

The fact that I had the chance to meet these kids and share what I could with them was a life-changing experience. There were several kids and one teacher that were already believers. One girl particularly stood out to me, for security reasons I will call her B. During an English Corner she pulled out her cross necklace and said " I believe in Jesus and so does my family." When she said that my jaw dropped.. I was honestly in awe. That would have been the last thing that I expected to hear from anyone.

We also had a teacher who had previously heard about Jesus. After several conversations he told us he had many questions about God and the Bible but NO one to answer them. Although I had hoped to one day return, hearing him express his questions just made me want to stay even more.

Many people often ask after a trip" How many people were saved?" Honestly, from our trip I have no idea. What does matter is how many seeds were planted in their hearts and how are we going to help in some way to water those seeds to help them grow. I know I'll be back for sure. When you live in among a group of people that does not know Jesus' name it takes time for people to believe. This is the reason we as followers of Christ should help in some way, shape, or form. It really helped me realize how much I had and how selfish I was and how selfless I need to become. This trip was a life changing experience and I learned a lot. Thank you everyone who could help in any way and thank you to my team as well.

Student Center Opens in Central Asia

2011-11-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

From Branden and Annie

Last week we said good bye to some wonderful friends. A group from TSC came and helped work at the student center. Click on the link to watch the video of our work here. Last week was our official opening of the center. Also last Friday I taught them pumpkin carving. They had never seen it or made jack-o-lanters. We all had a blast! If any of you are interested they are planning trip in 2012 maybe in Feb we will keep you posted.

http://animoto.com/play/iHePDngWmzWFNjXxORc0zg

Blessings

Branden Annie

Be A Warrior

2011-10-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

By Steve Chamblee:

Greetings from beautiful Vail, AZ!

I hope this email finds you completely satisfied in Christ! God continues to bless us out here in the desert. Just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary as a church plant! It just seems like yesterday that we pulled into Vail with no more than two families and a heart full of a vision from God. We praise God for all He has done thus far...is doing...and will accomplish in His time for His great name.

In just over 2.5 yrs, we have seen God bring over 100 people to faith in Christ....we have baptized around 70 of those... we have seen many discipled and become potential leaders in His kingdom... we have experienced 2 international mission journeys...and seen many plug into community transformation in Vail, AZ! We have also seen God provide us with a piece of property that will accommodate what we believe to be His vision of building a community center for Vail. Speaking of which... one way you can continue to pray for us is that we would be able to pay off the remainder of our debt on the land - approx $380K... our desire is to pay for this land and begin construction on the community / worship center.

Several of our men just returned from our 2nd annual men's retreat where the theme was to be a Warrior. We had 17 of us from Grace join up with 12 from Thompson Station Church for a men's retreat just north of Tucson, AZ. Boy did God move! Below is a brief testimony from one of our guys. Please continue to pray for us! And thank you! We rejoice with you b/c you are part of what God has done and is doing in Vail!

Testimony:

It’s amazing how God works. Just a few months ago I thought my marriage was over, my carrier was in shambles, my relationship with my children was anything but good and my walk with God was no where to be found. He led my wife to Grace Fellowship. A few months after that God changed my work schedule (which I fought). I no longer had the excuse that I had to work to keep me from going to church. The moment I walked into the service I was convicted. I knew that my life was in tatters and that I needed to call out to him. I spent several of the services holding back tears or fighting with the Holy Spirit, knowing full well I would not win that fight. I knew that I had to make things right with God but I didn’t think I was worthy. I thought that I had strayed to far too ever be able to come back to him. After a few more weeks I called out to God. He worked through Pastor Steve and Grace Fellowship which led me to repent and begin walking with him again. I didn’t tell anyone at first, pride was and is a monster I continue to battle. A short time later, 2 weeks to be exact, God put me in a situation where I thought my life, as I knew it, was over. I had confessed my sins to God and to those needed and work things out (a miracle for sure). God has given me peace and even at work things have gotten a lot better. He is leading my children to follow God and involving them more and more in Godly functions. He has begun to open doors to other believers in my place of work and given me the opportunity to share with non believers. During this weekend I discovered that I was not giving God his due attention. My quiet time with God was during my drive to work. While that was better than nothing, (my thinking) it was not what the God of the Universe deserves. He deserves my full attention and in turn I will be able to receive his will for me with clarity.

2011-10-28T06:06:00.001-07:00

Global Impact Conference

2011-10-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

To learn More Click Here: http://www.thompsonstationchurch.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=29599

Project 61: October Prayer Requests

2011-10-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Prayer Requests:

Pray for the kids as they adjust back to school, and their families as the re-adjust to them being away
Pray that this year those working with P61 can be very intentional about their counsel and discipleship of the children.

Praises:

There are over 260 kids at two different boarding schools. Also there are 70 students in the Bright Hope program and they are almost all sponsored. Praise the Lord for providing for so many children so that they can further their education!

Future Trips To Kosovo and Georgia

2011-10-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

After returning from a Vision Trip in September, TSC is excited to include Kosovo and Georgia as future short term trips! TSC hopes to provide these opportunities by partnering with International World Changers. To learn more about IWC click here: http://thetask.org/iwc
To find out more about the possible trips to Georgia and Kosovo come to the Global Impact Conference November 16-20.

Simple Gifts Reach Millions

2011-10-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

Operation Christmas Child is a worldwide children's project of Samaritan's Purse that uses simple gift-filled shoe boxes to let hurting children know that they are loved and not forgotten.
To read more about OCC click here: Fact Sheet
For a list of what to pack click here: OCC Instructions

In 2011, Operation Christmas Child will reach more than 8.5 million children. This year Thompson Station Church has a goal to collect 1,ooo boxes! We will be collecting boxes starting October 9th. All boxes need to be brought by October 30th or to the Fall Festival, October 31st.

Operation Christmas Child began in the United States in 1993 with 28,000 shoe box gifts. Since then, this Samaritan's Purse project has collected and hand-delivered more than 86 million shoe box gifts to needy children in more than 130 countries, including:

Young earthquake and cholera victims in Haiti (2010)
Kids in China who were vivtims of the 2008 earthquake (2008 & 2009)
Young children in the war-torn Republic of Georgia (2008)
Hurting children stricken by poverty in war-ravaged Sudan (2007)
Children in Iraq, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries (2006)
Young survivors of the horrific tsunami in Southeast Asia (2005)
School children attacked by terrorists in Beslan, Russia (2004)
Ugandan children devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic (2002)
Children in Honduras and Nicaragua left homeless by Hurricane Mitch (1998)
War orphans in Kosovo (1999), Bosnia and Croatia (1995-1996), and Rwanda (1994)

A Young Girl In Search of An Answer

2011-10-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

Recently members of TSC traveled to Europe to see about possible opportunities of partnering with families serving in European countries. One man and his family have been faithfully serving in an highly Muslim area. He has asked for prayer for a young lady who has been asking about Christianity. Here is an update and prayer request from Georgia:

We have met a young girl who is a Georgian but she practices the Hindu faith. She came over Saturday and we shared with her the message of Jesus Christ. She is in need of prayer as she learns more. Please read about this young lady and our visit with her at our ministry blog www.tellgeorgia.wordpress.com

Also, we started 4 new Bible groups this Sunday; find out where at www.tellgeorgia.wordpress.com

Report From Summer Guatemala Mission Trip

2011-09-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

This past summer a team was able to travel to Guatemala and reflect the love of Christ people of all ages. They loved on children in an orphanage, helped with a family day at a school, and encouraged local believers in a church. To read more about this incredible trip click here: Guatemala Update

Jacklyn Vanderpool... A Fearless Teenager

2011-09-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Jacklyn Vanderpool is an example of what it means to live by faith. Few would know she is only 17 years old! She has been able to serve God through MMDR to those living in broken places and struggling through extreme poverty. She is humble, willing to make sacrifices for the kingdom and an example for many.

To learn more about about how God is usingJacklyn Vanderpool click here
http://laurakurk.com/2011/09/09/live-like-you-believe-with-jacklyn-vanderpool/

To read an article by Jacklyn click here:
KatharosNow

A Reminder Of God's Purpose

2011-09-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

By Carrie Grace Congdon

A few weeks ago our group of five returned from our trip to East Africa in partnership with TSC and Project 61. I wanted to share a little about each day that we spent there. The first day we arrived we went to visit the orphanage which was started by a friend. She explained how bad the conditions were when she first started, how the babies were starving and how they lay in their urine and feces for most of the day because there was no one to wash the diapers and bedding. There was little hope. Then God spoke to her and through her obedience people started donating items and money to bring these children to where they are today. Now most of the babies were very healthy, even chubby with smiles and giggles.

There was a new baby that had come in the day before, they named him Levi. He was 4 months old and only weighed 6 pounds. He was sick with a terrible cough. I held him for most of the afternoon but it felt like I was holding an empty blanket. He had an amazing story about how he was found that let us all know that God was using him even in his poor condition. We were blessed to see the work of God.

Saturday we went and met with several other non-profit organizations in the area. It was amazing to see how many different organizations were working with the orphans and widows to try to make their lives better. The most important was their willingness to share the hope and love of Jesus. We were humbled.

Sunday we attended a local church and had our cups overflow as we experienced the Holy Spirit move in the worship service. It was wonderful to see these people who live in poverty that we cannot imagine, worship with all their hearts. For rows of single young men to sing and sway and cry without concern for what others might think. Oh....how they loved him so!

Monday morning we arrived in another city to find that most of the children had not come to the church due to the pouring rain, so we went to find them instead. We met most of them while walking along the streets and followed them home to see where they lived or were staying while home from the boarding school. My heart breaks every time I hear one of their stories of hunger, sickness, and loss. We prayed with each family before we left and heard many thanks for giving their children a future by helping them go to school. These visits are always a favorite of mine because I know God has a plan for each of these people. I am filled with hope and anticipation for what good He will bring to their lives.

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings we spent teaching Bible lessons to the children in the summer camp program. I am amazed that in the year that Project 61 has been influencing how much they know about the Bible and Jesus. Often, when you meet a child for the first time, their first questions is "what is your name?", but the second question is "do you know Jesus?" How I wish that we were more like them. What if when you met someone new you said, "Hi, my name is Carrie, what's yours? Do you know Jesus?" Isn't that how it should be?

Thursday morning we traveled to the boarding school, to help the Ordinary Hero team paint and clean in the boys dorm. On Friday we finished painting what we could of the ceilings before the paint ran out, cleaned up and started the road trip back to where we were staying. A protest started so we took a detour. It was a blessing to see the African landscape from the top of the mountains. I was reminded of who God is and that He is always there in the big things and in the details.

Saturday we had to say goodbye to everyone. We talked, played, held hands, kissed cheeks and finally waved goodbye one last time. God called baby Levi home as we were traveling back to the states. For a short time I questioned why... but God whispered that His plan was bigger than I can understand. Baby Levi had already made such an impact in his short life that it was time for him to be home in the arms of Jesus. Not my will but yours...

As always the team left part of each of us behind, we learned about God and ourselves and we saw God's plan and purpose being worked out in many ways. We were humbled to get to play a small part and everyone is looking forward to the changes that will occur in our lives as a result of this mission trip. I encourage everyone to listen and be obedient. Your blessings will be abundant!

Two Teams, Two Trips, One Purpose

2011-09-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Recently a team from TSC returned from a 10 day trip to East Africa. While there they spent a few days partnering with another team from Ordianry Hero. Together the teams were able to paint the halls and rooms of a boys dorm at the boarding school. Although it was a large amount of work they completed all that needed to be accomplished. Members of Project 61 were also overwhelmed with the generosity of Ordinary Hero after they donated a significant amount of money to help supply the children with school supplies. Thank you Ordianary Hereo for your support of Project 61! For more information about these teams and the donation click here.
http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-power-team-in-ethiopia-day-2.html?spref=fb

Fundraiser Opportunity!

2011-09-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

By Branden and Annie:

Dear Friends,

Our family is doing great and are excited about this short term team that will be coming in October to work with us! This team will help us launch our new student center, teach English classes, coordinate recreational events and bring supplies. Here is some information on how you can help support our ministry, the team coming in October, and have fun while doing it!

There is a great local event called Sodium in Franklin. This event will be a blast for the whole family - with live music, face painting, balloon artists, climbing wall, video games and more. Pizza, drinks and desserts will also be for sale. You can attend this event and also help with a fundraiser for the short term team coming in October. We hope that you can make it and thank you greatly for your support! Click here to see more details on facebook about the event:

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161940827219088

September Project 61 Prayer Requests

2011-09-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

1. The Y family kids will be going back to school the second week of September. Pray for a smooth transition and that the Y family gets all that needs to be done between now and then.

2. Corey Y has started a new job and is still adjusting to the schedule and work. Pray for him and the adjustment!

3. Denae, who has come alongside the Y family to help serve has been a huge blessing. Pray for someone else who can fill her role in November. The Y family has grown to love her and it will be difficult when she leaves.

Philemon House: A Vision Becomes Reality

2011-09-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

The Philemon House is ready and soon this house will become a home! TSC is excited to finally meet the missionaries from East Asia who have arrived and moved in. The house has been stocked with a few staples for food and baked goodies to give it the final touches.

This project’s vision was birthed last November and many members of TSC are glad to see an idea come to fruition. TSC has watched God bless in a mighty way! Here are some examples of the amount of the work done the past few months. TSC had $800 of cash donations, $10,000 of goods and supplies, and free labor (we had a number of free professional services-painting, plumbing, HVAC) ranging around $5,000. It is estimated that TSC's Philemon House was blessed with a benefit of around $15,000 to $20,000!

God gets all the praise and glory for all that has been done. The family coming this week will hopefully be the first of many more families to come. TSC's prayer is to bring about a place of “rest” for the many, many missionary families that will occupy this home. Thank you to all the members who worked tirelessly to accomplish this task!

Project 61 Ministries Child Sponsorship Program

2011-08-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Thompson Station Church has a child sponsorship program called Project 61. This ministry started when 3 ladies from our preschool ministry staff (Sumer, Alicia & Angela) went on a mission trip to Africa in January of 2010. While in Ethiopia their mission team visited children who spent their days searching for food at the landfill in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was a life changing moment and Sumer knew that she had found her calling…

From Sumer: In the trash dump, there are fires burning and ash covers everything including the children. After leaving, God reminded me that in Isaiah 61 He says that He will bring beauty from the ashes. Those verses go on to say “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, for the display of His splendor.” That is my vision for these children who spend most of their time in the trash dump, and for the 100,000 plus people living in the adjacent community, that their lives would glorify God. That they would be a testament to His promise that He will not leave us as orphans, and that this generation would be a planting of the Lord.

She returned home with a passion and a hope to find sponsors for these children and Project 61 Ministries was born. By June of 2010, Sumer and Corey sold their house, gave up great jobs, sold all of their possessions and moved with their 3 preschoolers to Africa. God’s provision was evident in all the details and by September 2010, 250 children had sponsors and were headed to boarding school! They have spent this last year sleeping in dorms, eating 3 meals per day and receiving a Christian education.

From Sumer: I am blessed to interact with our sponsored children daily, and the change in their lives and hearts is tremendous. I cannot imagine a more drastic example of God’s grace than moving from the trash dump to boarding school. Thank you for loving a child and meeting a need!

The Y Family

Project 61 needs additional sponsors for the 2011/2012 school year and monetary donations to help purchase school supplies. If you would like to sponsor a child or make a donation, please contact Erin Allen at erin@p61.org.

Tizita

Lengero

Arizona Church Goes International

2011-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

By Steve Chamblee:

Greetings from beautiful Vail, AZ!

Wow... where do I begin? God continues to bless and move in our city. As we continue to seek His face and make His name great in this place, He continues to move! This October we will celebrate our two year anniversary as a church launch. God has certainly brought us a long way from the days of meeting in my living room, next to our garage and now moving to the Vail Middle School. The eleven that began in my living room has grow to an average of 160 meeting on Sunday mornings!

We have seen God gloriously save over a hundred people and we have had the privilege of baptizing over sixty of those new believers. In fourteen years of ministry experience, I have never seen the hand of God like I have here. That is an absolute and complete testament to Him...not us!

God has opened the door to a relationship with a church and an orphanage in Naco, Mexico. Naco is a border town in Mexico which is about 1.5 hours from Vail. We are working on a partnership with the orphanage and men's alcohol/drug rehab facility. Working with a local church, we will be seeking to build the orphanage a new building. The present building is in terrible condition. The rehab facility wants us to come down on a regular basis and hold worship services for the residents. There is also some opportunities to do some pastor training for local pastors. Please be in prayer as we are seeking to extend our boundaries of His influence to Naco. We have prayed from the beginning that God would weave within the beginning fibers of this church a missional heart. It is exciting to know that you can drive an hour and be involved in international missions.

We have begun our third semester of connection groups (small groups). We have eight this semester going on during the week. Our students are now meeting in the library of the High School on Wednesday nights...we believe this new place and time will open new doors for our students.

Please pray for our upcoming men's retreat (Oct 21-22). I am very excited about our retreat this year! Our theme is "Warrior"! Pray for our men! Continue to pray with us and our vision for a community center. We have leased to purchase 6.2 acres of land. Our vision is to pay this land off and to construct a community center. God continues to sharpen this vision. This fall we will begin a capital drive to pay this land off. Please pray that God would provide the partners to help us do this. Thanks for all your prayers and please continue to keep these prayer requests in mind.

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief Provides Medical Care In Cholera Stricken Haiti

2011-08-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

Update from MMDR:

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief, http://www.MMDR.org, based in Brentwood, TN provides medical care in Port au Prince, Haiti to patients affected by the recent cholera outbreak. This is the 19th time that Mobile Medical Disaster Relief has returned to Haiti since the earthquake devastated the Caribbean country on January 12, 2010. During this time the non profit organization has brought some 600 medical personnel and building teams to Port au Prince and the surrounding area.

Dr. David Vanderpool, CEO of Mobile Medical Disaster Relief, reports, "we always go to areas that have little or no access to health care so that we can help the people in greatest need". This trip includes 34 health care workers, clean water experts and college students who will provide medical and dental care, water purification systems and construction expertise to the people of Thomazeau, Haiti. Since Tropical Storm Emily drenched the island earlier this week, the outlook for the worsening cholera outbreak is bleak. Bethany Luckey, Chief Nursing Officer at Mobile Medical Disaster Relief, says, "since we previously sent a large shipment of cholera medications to Haiti, we should be in good position to help many people suffering from this terrible disease".

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief provides medical and logistical support during disasters in which the country's medical infrastructure is damaged such as occurred in the Haitian earthquake of 2010. In between disasters, Mobile Medical Disaster Relief builds and supports medical clinics, provides clean water initiatives and implements micro finance projects in the countries which have suffered disasters. Active in fourteen countries worldwide, the doctors and nurses of Mobile Medical Disaster Relief treat tens of thousands of patients per year who otherwise would have no access to health care. Mobile Medical Disaster Relief's clean water initiatives provide pure, fresh clean water to those who have only contaminated water to drink. Dr. Vanderpool reports that the micro finance projects are some of the most exciting projects that Mobile Medical Disaster Relief participates in. He says, "these projects basically start small businesses which provide sustainable income for impoverished people worldwide." He further states that micro finance projects are key to improving living conditions in the developing world.

Years of Progress

2011-08-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

For years TSC has been partnering with those in Nicaragua and has had many opportunities to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people. Many lives have been impacted simply by church members who have sacrificed their time to show the love of Jesus. Through the support of an organization called Chosen Children Ministries, TSC has been a part of bringing the gospel to Nicaragua and helped in the process of raising up leaders. Here is a summary of what has happened in various cities the past few years:

In October of 2007 a team added on a mission house at Casa Mepheboseth Orphanage in Juigalpa, Nicaragua. A year later another team was able to construct a kitchen and staff quarters at Mission complex in Leon.

In May of 2009 a Bible institute was built on the Mission complex to help equip local leadership. In the following year of 2010 TSC members were able to build a church in another town called Emmanuel. This team not only provided a building but a Pastor of this church was provided a salary for an entire year!

This past year in May of 2011 a team built another Bible institute at CCM headquarters in Masaya. Hopefully this institute will be a blessing to those who wish to have further training the the Bible. TSC would like to thank all of those who were willing to go to Nicaragua and meet the needs of fellow believers who do not have church buildings or places to meet. It is truly amazing to see how simply providing these needs could change lives.

Why Me?

2011-08-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

By Bryn

As I sit with my wife on the seemingly endless 15 hour flight from Los Angeles to China, tears streaming down both of our faces, I come back to this theme that God has so graciously revealed:

Why me?

God used the 5 weeks I was in the United States to do some wonderful things in my heart. The climactic moment was when I walked out of Grace United Methodist Church last Sunday and said my first set of family goodbyes. As Courtney and I were driving to Johnson City to do the second set of goodbyes, I was awestruck once again by the resplendent beauty of the mountains. My natural response was warm nostalgia, especially in regards to the wonderful people I had just left behind for the second time. Thinking of my church family in particular, they are some of the most genuine people I've known - "warts and all" - and for several of them life in Erwin and its surroundings is about all they have known. Why would God choose me from among their number to experience His love, grace, mercy, and passion in ways that many long for.

With these realities pounding in my brain, eyes moist with tears, I was again confronted face-to-face with my own sinful nature and desperate need for a Savior. Since I left for Southeast Asia, God has consistently been bringing me to my knees with grief for how unfaithful, untrusting, and sinful I can be - yet, from that place comes the overwhelming flood of joy when I consider the price my Father paid for my ransom. From that place comes a respectful, fearful familiarity with Jesus Christ, who is my personal Shepherd and Friend.

As Courtney and I look forward to a new school year of living in God's provision and following His will, I want to make it clear to all those who support us and pray for us that in no way do I consider myself worthy of the call God has given to me. Truthfully, I have no answers at all to the question "Why me?" But I will tell you this: even though difficulties have come and ever loom near for the future, I wouldn't trade anything for this life of walking step-by-step in faith.

Summer Months Fly By

2011-08-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

By Branden and Annie

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:5
The summer months have flown by and the school year is quickly approaching; we still have a lot preparation and foot work that needs to be done in order to get our new academic center up and running! Please commit to pray for us as we undertake this enormous project! Our director left for a year in the States and has given this task over to Branden. Our goal is to have five hundred students become members of our center and be coming on a regular basis.

SUMMER PROJECT

We were privileged to have a team from a church in California come the second week of July and help kick
off the promotion of the center. For nine days we spread ourselves among seven universities and
passed out around fifteen hundred brochures to up-coming freshmen. In the afternoons we invited students to come visit free English clubs in order to create interest in what we will offer full time in the near future.

OUR VISION

We want our center to be unlike the other academic centers around the city that only offer high priced grammar classes. Our vision is to be more like a club, where there is an upbeat environment to practice speaking English. We want to attract students with interesting topics, guest speakers, and special events! Each day we will offer something different; for example on Mondays we will have cultural day where we will invite individuals to come speak on their native country (there is an international church with several countries represented, we also have a Chinese team and a Korean team here long term). On Tuesdays we will have our usual fun filled interactive English clubs. On Wednesdays we will offer grammar with preparation for test like similar to the SAT. Thursdays will be career day. We will discuss topics such as resumes, interviews, business etiquette, etc. We will also have guest speakers come from around the city and speak on their professional experiences such as doctors or embassy employees. On Fridays we will open our doors for anyone to come and check us out. On these days we will show films in English that we will discuss afterwards.
Our goal is to build a place for the students to get connected and feel a special identity. We will not have any clear spiritual meetings at the center that would destroy our platform. But as we build relationships with these students and their friends we feel that we will have many “open doors” to present the gospel.

OPPORTUNITY AWAITS YOU!

We also have an opportunity for you to be a part of this project! Our home church,
Thompson Station Church, in Tennessee is coming here October 7th-16th and we want to invite you to come along!!! If you are interested, here is an opportunity to come and serve with us! Please pray and consider if God is leading you to come! We are excited to have some of our ministry partners come be a part first hand in the kingdom work they have been praying for and financially giving towards! For more information you can contact Brandon Akers at bdakers@gmail.com.

MORE TEAMS!

Please also remember to pray for us during the month of September. We have two more teams coming from other states to help jump start the semester and the grand opening of the center! We are thankful for this timely help and are praying for the students to be further interested due to the presence of foreigners! We love you all and are thankful for your partnership with us! Hope you are enjoying your summer months!

(TSC supports the work of Branden and Annie through GOCTW offerings and will be sending its first team in 2011! For more info on how to join this team, go to http://www.goctw.org/.

This summer...

2011-08-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

This summer one young lady, name Bekah, from TSC has moved to Hawaii for the summer to be a part of Youth With A Mission. After training in Hawaii she and her teammates will be sent to help in other parts of the world. Bekah has been making new friends, learning life lessons, and experiencing more about the Lord. Here is a quick glance at Bekah's blog when she learned the Lord will provide:

Provider!

Good news!!! Jesus is Alive!!! Jesus is King! and Jesus Loves us!!! But really! I have good news! I have the $2,500 that was due today for outreach! However, there is something else that came up in the meeting today. The outreach is going to cost $6,000 instead of $5,000 and the money will be due in 2 weeks. But that's ok! God has brought in $3,000 for my outreach in just a couple of weeks! He CAN do it AGAIN! He promised to provide- so He will! He wants us to go out into all the world proclaiming His name without fear, without shame, but boldly and with JOY! I am longing to do this! I think this ministry is supposed to be my profession and God holds my paycheck. He is just waiting to give me EVERYTHING I will ever need! I love Him so much! I trust Him so much!

God you are worthy of my praise! Even if you never do a good thing for me ever again! You would still be SO WORTHY! I love you and I know you hold all the money I need. Bring it forth Father!

A Warrior for the King,
Bekah

For more blogs written by Bekah click here http://bekahmezera.blogspot.com/.

Project 61 Prayer Requests for August

2011-08-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you for praying for Project 61 and those working in East Asia! Here are a few requests and praises from the Project 61 Team.

A team just returned on Saturday from a week of summer camp. Things went very well and they had great things to say about the kids in the boarding school. They look great physically and they were impressed with how much they've learned in just a year.

Another team just left. They are taking half a load of brand new tennis shoes to East Africa. Pray for favor with custom's agents. We are praying they will not have to pay taxes on these shoes. Some previous teams have dealt with this issue. Another team in August will be taking the rest of the shoes. Pray for them as well.

Corey starts in-service in a week for his new job at a local school in Addis. His children also start school in a week. Pray for all of their transitions.

Continue to pray for the summer camp and the interns in East Africa helping this summer. (Boarding school starts again in September).

Please pray for good health for the family working in East Africa and for strong relationships with church leaders. Most of all pray that God's glory would be shown over in Africa!

Pilgrim Journey

2011-08-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

By Bryn

I am so excited to be going back to Southeast Asia. I cannot even describe how much, to my own surprise, I missed it while I was home. Don't get me wrong, I was so thrilled to see family and friends, understand the things that were going on around me, drive a car, eat, eat, eat some more, and eat some more!

Yet, amidst all of that, I found myself missing the climate, the people, the crazy traffic, the language, the school, the students, and even the rice of this land that has become my home.

However the moment is quickly coming when Courtney and I will step foot in Southeast Asia, get settled in our new home, and I'm going to be longing for people and things from the land of my birth and my developmental years. Now, please don't mistake what I'm saying as something fickle. I'm talking about a very real sense of grief that God has blessed me with - a grief that sees His beautiful hand at work in my present location while also longing for the people and places of blessing that God has used in my life before.

I'm on a pilgrim journey, and neither the United States nor Southeast Asia (nor anywhere else God may lead me and Courtney) is truly my "home." Indeed, the longing and anguish of "goodbye" are simply gifts that point us to another place - a Heavenly place that is being prepared for us by the Bridegroom. And from this knowledge comes the strength to savor and mourn that which is gone, embrace that which is new, and ultimately to know that no matter why God has chosen me and Courtney, where He decides to send us, what difficulties He allows to come our way, and what victories He lets us taste along the way -- through it all we run the race towards our Heavenly home, where we will walk with our Lord and cry no more, where we will "understand it better by and by."

In the meantime, I close in rejoicing with these words written by my mom to me and Courtney:

"What a privilege to let go of you to honor the Father in the collection field of little lambs for Christ!"I love you all dearly. Please never forget: He is faithful, and Courtney and I look forward to sharing more with you this year about our King of Kings.

Cooking for Campers

2011-08-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

By George Moran

Recently I went on a trip to East Asia. I started off my trip with many flight challenges. At the end of the flights I had been up for fifty hours! It was a long hard day but I was filled with excitement for what God was about to share with me.

While I was overseas I cooked meals for kids attending a camp. There were 110 campers who were children of missionaries in East Asia. My kitchen was an outdoor patio area consisting of a sink and a grill. The biggest challenge was the flies because cooking area was about 100 yards from a pig pen. To say that there were a lot of flies is an understatement. I prayed that first night and the next morning asking God to help keep my focus on why I was there and to get over my circumstances with the flies.

The first three days of camp were focused on fine arts. On the third night we took the kids into the local town to the dancing park. The kids performed Christian songs and skits that presented the truth of the Gospel that they had been learning at camp. They performed for a crowd of about 200 locals most of whom had never heard the name of Jesus. It was inspiring to see these kids do what a lot of us “adults” fail to do and that is enthusiastically sharing their faith!

Throughout the camp I felt drawn to one young man. He had just graduated high school and will be returning to the states for college. Later in the week the young man shared that he had felt lost in his life for a long time. He said that he could not see God’s purpose for his own. Although he was a Christian he felt alone. Then God revealed Himself through his Word to this young man. God showed him that he is loved, that he is valued and that God does have a plan and purpose for his life. The last night of camp this young man shared his experience with the other campers. It was amazing to see God use him to help others. My prayer is that we will follow the example of this young man and use our own stories as opportunities to impact others as God presents them to us.

When we traveled back we gave thanks for the opportunities God provided us to share His word and serve His people. We prayed lives were touched while we were there. I know that I will never be the same. My plans now that I am home are to continue to seek out opportunities to serve God and His people. One of these ways includes making a cooks training program that will give the homeless or unemployed training in the proper techniques of cooking. My hope is that this will give them the skills needed for long term employment. My wife Ann and I are planning on taking our children on mission next year. I would love to go back to East Asia and continue to spread His word and love but I will go where He leads us.

(For more information on how you can join a TSC mission team, go to http://www.goctw.org/, and check out the Missions at a Glance page for all future trips. All work done in East Asia is supported by the GOCTW yearly offering, which aids in providing food, supporting and sending workers, and whatever else is needed to minister to the community there.)

Making a House Feel Like A Home

2011-07-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 23rd many volunteers came to help renovate the church's new mission house. Several College aged students helped by staining the deck, pressure washing, and sanding/cleaning walls. Although the day was successful, TSC still has painting to do inside the house and hopefully some volunteers will come throughout the week as well. A full work day is scheduled for Friday the 29th from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pressure washing and painting the house are the final projects left to do.

The house has furniture coming from multiple places and the hope is to clean and setup furniture on Saturday the 30th. The largest concerns at this point is getting the house ready to move in furniture and it still needs a significant amount of houseware items. Although several items are still needed many people are giving above and beyond. For example, Second Nature put in over $500 of their own money and 2 ½ days of work for the beds out front. They graciously donated all amounts over what the church allotted them for a budget!

The plan is to get all the work done by end of day Friday the 29th. If all the work is done the volunteers can clean and setup on Saturday. Overall TSC wishes to make the house feel like a home. Volunteers are still needed! Please come and help during any of the work days or ask about the much needed houseware items!

For more photos click here http://www.facebook.com/groups/100787280016240/

First Time Visits, A Birthday Party and Summer Camp

2011-07-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

The team in East Africa is having a great trip so far! Over the weekend they were able to visit the village of Korah and make several home visits. Many TSC team members were able to meet and visit with their sponsored child. For some it was the first time to meet the child they are supporting.

On Saturday they visited two different orphanages. While they were there they showed love to several sweet kids simply by playing with them. During this time they even had a birthday party for a lucky two year old. The party was complete with party hats, balloons and cake! On Sunday they attended worship at Great Hope Church in the morning and had some downtime for shopping in the city during the afternoon.

Monday they headed back into Korah to start summer camp (games, crafts, bible stories, songs, etc) with all the sponsored children. Later in the afternoon they went to visit another orphanage. Everyone on the team seems to be feeling well and is in good spirits. Praise be to God for all He is doing in the lives of these children and the TSC team members!

(For more information on how you can join a TSC mission team, go to http://www.goctw.org/, and check out the Missions at a Glance page for all future trips. All work done in East Africa is supported by the GOCTW yearly offering, which aids in providing food, supporting and sending workers, and whatever else is needed to minister to the community there.)

Mission House Opening In August. . . We Need Your Help!

2011-07-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

In the book of Philemon Chapter 1, verses 1-7; Paul praises Philemon for using his home as a Church to bless the hearts of the saints after their long journey. Philemon used his home as a place of “rest” for the saints to be refreshed so they could go back out and do what God called them to do in a mighty way. Our desire is to turn TSC’s third house into a house just like Philemon’s House. We need the TSC family to join us in this worthy vision by donating time, labor, supplies, design elements, furniture, fixtures, and equipment to prepare TSC’s first ever mission house. Please help us with this process!
For more information click here House Announcement

For a complete list of home furnishings needed, click here Missionary House Items Needed.

Marriage, Honeymoon, and Southeast Asia

2011-06-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

By Bryn:

The recent days have had few significant time markers for me. I thought, therefore, that it would a great time to kick off my update. This was the second week of mine and Courtney’s marriage. We already feel so incredibly blessed by God and from the encouragement that has come from our supporters. I was humbled to see many people supporting us at the wedding and realize the amount of people lifting us up in prayer. That means more to me and Courtney than we can say.
I also my first opportunity to attend a worship service as a husband. What a blessing it is to worship the Triune God – perfect in His independence and His unity – with my wife, knowing that our relationship is now my top ministry responsibility. This is going to require a radical paradigm shift in so many areas from last year, yet I couldn’t be more excited to make them as I strive to love Courtney as Christ loves His church.

           Our current circumstances, of course, are not the easiest of ways to start our marriage. It is a time of intense transition. I’m finding that this transition time is somewhat welcome. I’m gaining an abundance of wisdom from God – wisdom that gives me perspective about this past year and also offers foresight into the year to come. Though Courtney and I have a pretty active travel schedule for the next month, I’m finally able to take a break from what was an incredibly intense first year of teaching and live out the Scripture: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
           Speaking of our schedule, the other significant time marker is that tomorrow Courtney and I will be traveling to Southaven, Mississippi for NICS’s Pre-Field Orientation. I’m looking forward to being back and connecting with contacts in other schools and leaders of our organization. It’s also going to be good to make connections with the experiences I had at BAIS and to support Courtney as she takes a lot of this information in for the first time. Please be in prayer for me as I am one of two people in charge of leading music during the next two weeks.
           The next update should come at the end of July after Courtney and I are back in Southeast Asia. We’re excited to submit and serve the One, True God – Yahweh, our ever-faithful and merciful Father. We hope you’re excited to continue following the journey through these updates, and we appreciate your continued prayers.

Support Those Going to Mexico!

2011-06-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

A team from TSC leaves for Mexico July 1st. Keep updated by reading this blog and continue to pray for them as they serve!

tscstudentmazatlan.blogspot.com

Update From Las Vegas

2011-06-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on what God has allowed Turning Point Experience to accomplish over the last 34 months.

(1) TPE's cell phone app is now being used to help parents and students in 34 countries with thousands of downloads. Constantly we hear from parents and youth that are being helped with resources and the scriptures offered to change their lives.

(2) The "The S.P.I.R.I.T." (Suppression-Prevention-Intervention-Referral-Intelligence-Tool) software project is in the final stages of development and will begin it's pilot on July 1st. This software will be used by multiple organizations in the area and because of this there are more than 350,000 students being impacted from this project. The system will connect hurting teens to available local help and chaplains/mentors in dealing with teen issues through this hand-held cell phone device. The system will also follow-up on every teen entered into the system to make sure they receive the help they need.

(3) Last, TPE has been given the open invitation to host one weekend service per month inside two different Nevada's Youth Correctional Facilities. They are allowing us to present the full Gospel message and give an altar call inside these youth prisons. This is an incredible harvest field as we will be assisting these youth transition into the community after they serve their time by connecting them to a Christian mentor, church and school. This is important in leading kids to Christ and being directly involved in their lives. Last Saturday, we had over 1/3 of the inmates make a decision for Christ and now we are going to disciple them and get them connected into a local church as they are released from prison by using the Spirit System.

Guatemala Blogs

2011-06-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here are the links for the blogs for each Guatemala team in July. They will be uploading pictures and blogging every night.

Team 1: Thompson Station
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team1/

Team 2: Brentwood Baptist
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team2/

Team 3: 1st Baptist Nashville
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team3/

Clean Water Team
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011cleanwater/

During the week of your team, this link will be on the home page as well – http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/

We will also be keeping facebook updated
Www.facebook.com/shalomfoundation

How Will You Change The World?

2011-06-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

Many lives are being impacted by those working in East Africa. Watch this short documentary to see how Project 61 and other organizations are impacting lives and learn more about getting involved. http://vimeo.com/22937650

Volunteer Opportunities At The World Café

2011-06-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

This is a great opportunity to raise funds for missions, especially for those who make a long term commitment to serve. This year one family has raised over $770.00 in six months. Another group of three raised over $900.00! If interested here are the times:

Five volunteer opportunities in the World Café on Sunday Mornings:

· 1 opportunity for 8:00 – 9:30

· 3 opportunities for 9:30 – 10:45

· 1 opportunity for 10:45 – 12:15

(The World Cafe is in the Equipping Center Building at Thompson Station Church.
Breakfast available every Sunday!)

Bibles For Russia

2011-06-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

One of the Perspectives speakers from this past spring, Alfred McCroskey, helps to lead an organization entitled “Bibles for Russia.” He has a son, Mark, with a ministry to orphans and street children in Russia. He just left for 2 months to help the local workers with summer camps. A child can go to camp for just $10.

There is a website, www.biblesforrussia.org, that tells more about the various aspects of their ministries. They take about 3 teams a year to different places in the former Soviet Union.

The address for any contributions is: Bibles for Russia, P.O. Box 69, Florence, AL 35631-9969. Be sure to indicate it's for the orphan/children's ministry.

Project 61 Prayer Requests

2011-06-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

By Alicia Jordan

1. The kids return from school at the end of the month. Please pray for all of the kids as these next few months are going to be an adjustment for them and their families. Please pray for the teams that will be coming to spend time with them this summer, that it is a time of growth in their relationship with Christ above all else. If you sponsor a child, please pray for them as often as you can during these next few months.

2. Corey and Sumer are moving to a new house soon; please pray for this transition as it comes during a busy season for them. They are supposed to sign a contract this week!

3. Corey and Sumer are applying for work permits at the end of the month, pray that we find favor and that the process is quick and easy.

4. Pray for a girl named Heaven who recently came to America. Pray for the doctors and that she will get the treatment that she needs.

5. Wendemneh, one of the sponsored children, has been having a rough time. I know this sounds crazy but we are convinced that he probably has a demon and is dealing with some serious spiritual warfare. His behavior is significantly worse when he drinks. The last episode he was laying on the ground turning in circles and making crazy noises and his eyes were rolled back. His mother has possibly been involved in some serious spiritual stuff and worshiping of trees etc. PLEASE pray for him. Wendemneh has said "something bad is inside of me, like Satan." I said "what do you want to do about that Wendemneh," and he said go to church and change his life. I got Pastor Antenah to talk to him and they are going to meet every day so Pastor Antenah can begin sharing the gospel with him. Please believe with us that this young man will hear and receive!!

New Facilities

2011-06-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

by Joe Pacheco

We are now having services in our new facility. You will see that it is not all complete but we are happy to be there. We finished our last march around the property divided in generations from young children first, the youth second, and the adults last. At the finish I climbed up the prayer tower and blew the shofar and everyone shouted. It was an awesome moment of joy and dancing. We are already receiving new people from the neighborhood. This last Sunday I was able to dedicate my granddaughter to the Lord. Athena is the first child of my generations to be dedicated in the new church. It is exciting to see my son being raised up in the church and now my grandchild. We greatly appreciate your prayers and support.

(Joe Pacheco is one of our TSC-sponsored missionaries through the GOCTW Offering. TSC teams have also participated in part of the building of the church you see in the pictures above in the Mazatlan area.)

Easter Update

2011-06-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

By Steve and Shari - Tucson, AZ

Wow! Praise the Lord! What a great Resurrection Sunday the Lord gave us at Grace Fellowship as we gathered, as you did, to celebrate a living hope in our risen Savior! The last count that I heard for our attendance was 223. It was a beautiful resurrection Sunday and we saw several people respond to the Gospel. One of those who prayed to receive Christ was a friend of mine and fellow football coach. Please pray for us as we will be following up with these new believers over the next few weeks. We also celebrated the ordinance of believer's baptism, which always has special significance on Resurrection Sunday!

Narrow Is The Gate

2011-06-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Branden and Annie - Central Asia May Update

(TSC supports the work of Branden and Annie through GOCTW offerings and will be sending its first team in 2011! For more info on how to join this team, go to http://www.goctw.org/.

Real Expectations

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

Wow, this verse has carried us many days since we last wrote. Our goal as we said in our last letter was that our team would give five hundred students an opportunity to hear the gospel before the end of the semester. Annie and I personally had several opportunities this semester to share. Annie shared with thirty eight students and I shared with thirty four.

We are very thankful that twenty nine came to faith, but it showed us the reality of this verse that the gate is small and the way is narrow and real expectations are that few will find it. Even though it is so hard to see students reject this, we continue to spend time with them if they want to be with us and come to our classes and student meetings.

Another time Annie and the girls were planning a time to bring in a local cosmetologist to share about make-up. Afterwards they would share about the more important topic: inner beauty. Annie took the stage and shared about how important inner beauty is and Father’s love. Two girls kept interrupting. One kept talking about her viewpoint of the topic and was not giving Annie an opportunity to share what was fully on her heart so girls could hear this important message. Annie came home and said how hard it was because of these two girls. You just never know how God is moving; the very next day some of the staff girls followed up with these two girls and both of them came to faith and are really walking in a relationship with our Father.

Our plans for the summer

Next week we leave for a southern city of our country. There we will have a week of seminary classes. We are required to continue our education and have requirements to fulfill in order to stay on staff. Our organization brings in a teacher for that time and we have exams at the end of the classes.

Our student center is finally finished and we will be preparing to open it in July! Right now we are meeting and discussing how to use this new tool to gather students for the fall semester. We will also be giving aid to the families left without homes from the war last June.

We want to end by saying thank you for your continued support as we work together and these stories couldn’t happen without your support

Marked Hands

2011-06-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

By Wade Bartlett

God has marked every one of us. He does this as a personal reminder of his love for us. God chose to mark his own Son's hands. But why? Does he do it so we will recognize Jesus in heaven? Did God do it for Jesus' disciples? Thomas could not believe in the resurrection until he physically saw and touched the marks in Jesus' hands. James was a pillar for Jesus only after he saw him alive after the resurrection. God gave us his laws through Moses, and then sent his Son to not only teach, but be sacrificed as the perfect lamb across the alter of atonement for our sins. He was marked, and killed, in order to make us holy in God's eyes.

He marked my hands over 2 weeks ago on a mission trip. I was humbled enough to be God's hands for him in Nicaragua. In turn, he marked my hands with blisters and scars as a permanent reminder of God's love for me. The wounds have yet to heal, but do I want them to. When I rub my hands together, I feel Christ's suffering for me, and for those, who do not know him. Jesus' marks were not healed through the resurrection. Do I want mine to heal? Should we ever want God's marks to heal? God made a commitment to me on a Cross and I made a commitment to him in prayer and baptism. Only through Christ's marks, can we come to God. So I ask again, do I want my hands to heal. I say no. Remind me daily Oh Lord to never forget the love you have for me. You allowed a sinner to go and be your hands and feet in a far away land. Scar my hands forever, if it is what I need as a constant reminder to live for you.

(In May, TSC sent a team of guys to build a Bible Institute. They finished in 3 days. TSC has partnered with Chosen Children Ministries since 1999 to share the Gospel in Nicaragua, and will continue to do so by sending a team in Fall 2011, through the GOCTW offering which provided over $10k for trip costs and construction, and by sponsoring kids individually who need our help.)

For Lack of Knowledge the Children Perish

2011-06-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

By Pastor Duane Murray

Recently I was allowed to go teach English at a school where hundreds of children are lacking the relationships they need. Elementary age children throughout East Asia are sent to school to live at this school during the week and then they go home on the weekend. We heard it is simply another way that the government tries to minimize the family. They want the people to see the government and not the family as their provider. It broke our hearts to see children this age living away from their mothers and fathers.

While in East Asia we also ran health checks in a different village. In this village, over half of the 30+ children we checked were malnourished. Most of these were girls. It wasn’t for lack of access to nutritious foods. The parents just didn’t know what a balanced diet included and how it affected the children.

Community Transformation Training in villages like this is a strategy that overseas workers are using to demonstrate value and build trust so that they can earn the right to share the Gospel. On the follow-up visit to the village, the local believers will go house to house checking the childrens’ health stats and the parents’ implementation of what they were taught. During these visits the team will share that they are followers of Christ and offer to pray with the family. Opportunities to share the gospel often result from these follow-ups. The next steps involve training a team to teach the rest of the community. Elements of the gospel are also included as the community training is taking place.

The Lord is using this strategy to reach the people of East Asia, but there are still thousands of people in this area who have never had an opportunity to hear the Good News. Pray for endurance for those working in this area, but also pray for the next generation of children. Pray for the Lord to raise up believers and leaders so they will no longer perish.

(TSC is in partnership with East Asia, and will send 5 teams in 2011. Be praying for our teams and the work they contribute to this effort!)

Forever Changed

2011-06-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

By Andrew Holt

In December and March I had the opportunity to go and serve the people of Haiti. For almost a year I had heard of the devastation from the earthquake, but it was so much different when I was standing in the middle of the devastation. Driving through the streets and seeing not only destroyed homes but realizing that each home represented a family who no longer had a home, and probably had little hope of getting a new one. However when you look in the eyes of the people there is hope, believers in Haiti believe that revival is coming to their nation as do I. The entire time I was in Haiti I could sense the LORD saying that HE wanted HIS people to return to HIS arms. While playing with children and walking through orphanages I could feel the LORD’s hand on them. These children are the future of Haiti, and I believe they will be an army that brings revival to their country. My life was forever changed by this trip, and I believe GOD has put Haiti on my heart for a reason. I pray that by reading this you begin to ask the LORD what HE would have you do for the people of Haiti.

(TSC supports our work in Haiti through the GOCTW offering and also by supporting MMDR. Find out more about how to help at http://www.mmdr.org/)

Being Blessed in the Process. . .

2011-06-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

By Robin Spychalski

In January of this year I went to East Africa with a Project 61 team. This was my first mission trip. Over the last four years the Lord has shown my husband and I the importance of missions and has made it clear for us to be a part of taking the gospel around the world. In April of 2010, with the Lord’s direction, my husband and I decided to sponsor a young girl through P61 and by June I knew the Lord was calling me to go. To be honest, agreeing with the Lord that I should go 8,000 miles away was very hard for me. Actually, the hardest part of my journey to East Africa was actually answering the call - being obedient and saying “yes”. Leaving my family seemed beyond my ability. And beyond my ability it was… but not beyond His!

The trip itself had so many amazing moments for me. Like meeting the beautiful, young girl my family gets to sponsor. To see first- hand how she has hope, loves her school and knows and loves Jesus! Or, sitting inside the amphitheater with the boarding school kids and in spite of a language barrier be able to worship the same Savior through old gospel hymns. I remember watching the beauty of that- Africans and Americans, young and old and thinking this is a glimpse of what heaven will be like when every tribe and every tongue comes together to worship our king! Also, a moment of understanding first-hand the scripture in James 2:5 "Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?" Wow! The people of Korah and the church leadership is so rich in faith! According to worldly standards those people have nothing. And yet, I found myself wanting what they have- a rich, deep faith.

If the God of the universe is requesting your presence to be a part of changing lives- say YES! Say it with excitement, with courage, and with an understanding that our God is trustworthy and faithful. It will be a journey you will not want to miss! And when you think you are there to bless others you will see that our amazing God is blessing you in the process.

(For more information on how you can join a TSC mission team, go to http://www.goctw.org/, and check out the Missions at a Glance page for all future trips. All work done in East Africa is supported by the GOCTW yearly offering, which aids in providing food, supporting and sending workers, and whatever else is needed to minister to the community there.)

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief Team Needs Items Donated

2011-06-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

An MMDR Team leaves on Saturday, June 25th for Ghana. They will hold medical clinics on remote islands in the Lake Volta region where an estimated 7000 slave children reside. On their last mission in April, they were able to aid in the release of 6 children. In addition to the medical clinics, they will hold workshops on how to make fuel efficient, low smoke cook stoves and initiate a clean water project on one island. Please pray for this team of 19 as they travel and work.

We are collecting gifts to take back to the Village of Life Children's home in Kete Krachi, Ghana. There are 28 children (20 from 13-18 yrs old, and eight (8) 5-7 yr olds). If you would like to donate any of these items, please bring them to Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (833-3002) by June 23rd.

· Inexpensive, waterproof digital watches

· Paperback books (classics and easy readers, some children's books)

· Bibles and Bible story books

· Silly Banz (those colorful rubber bands that are in shapes.)

· Under Armor Shirts (for the workers)

· New Testaments

· Soccer Balls

· Bike Pumps

175 Kids + Hundreds More Cared for in East Africa

2011-04-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

Our East Africa team was busy at the boarding school! While there they were able to care for 175 kids. That is a lot of kids to see in one day! They were able to treat minor illnesses, infections, and problems with kid's teeth. I believe they were also able to slaughter an ox for the kids to eat! I’m sure that was a great treat for them. The kids always enjoy visits from the teams so I know it encouraged them.

It is such a miracle that these kids had no hope just a short time ago, but now they are in a boarding school with three meals a day and receiving a Christian education.

While in back in the major city after serving at the boarding school, the team went to serve in the local community TSC partners with to setup a clinic to treat 100 people. They also did some home visits and evangelism and Bible Study with the church leaders.

(TSC Partners in East Africa through GOCTW funding, short-term trips, and long-term support.)

Sharing Jesus with the East Asian Mafia

2011-04-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

by Ryan Wagoner

Recently, I was able to travel to the home town of one of our new believers. For security purposes, we will call him "Cal". Cal's family is literally the mob in his city, led by his older brother. They have many illegal and shady practices, and in my first hour in the town I was offered women, the finest alcohol, and drugs. His family has become very rich and powerful by gaining from immoral practices, and all of that is obviously enticing to a 20 year old kid. While Cal knows what is going on is not right, it's not only hard to say no to money/girls/alcohol/drugs, but I think it's even harder to say no to his older brother. They are close, and Cal doesn't want to disappoint.

Cal and I shared two evenings at a coffee house talking for over 3 hours about Father and life...as we had declined the offer from his older brother to go to the downtown clubs in the big city. These hours of conversation were very revealing about the inner turmoil inside of him. We talked alot about grace and forgiveness, the rich young ruler in the Word, and how short this life is. He knows that none of the things this world has to offer truly satisfies and that eternity really matters more in the long run, but yet I still can't put myself in his shoes. Saying no to his older brother in participating in the things of the world would undoubtedly cause a family rift of some sort. I shared some with his older brother, and his older brother knows Cal is a believer, and at this point he is ok with it because he doesn't know really what being a Christian really is.... probably because he thinks all of America are Christians, and all he knows about American are drugs/alcohol/women/casinos so he doesn't see much of a difference.

Please just continue to keep Cal and his brother in your prayers.

(TSC continues to support and partner with workers in East Asia through GOCTW funding, short-term trips, and long-term support to reach Cal and others like him who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

8+ New Churches Planted in South Asia

2011-04-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

by Hank Techentin

In November 2010, we traveled with a group to a city in South Asia. God used 16 North Americans and 40 native pastors and Christian interpreters to proclaim the gospel. We were invited to partner with Indian national believers as they prayerfully appoached a population of 100,000 people scattered among 169 rural villages, or "thandas" . Fewer than 100 Christians were estimated to live in these villages.

The state in the country we went to was very populated. If it were a country, it would be the 10th most populated country in the world, with more than 113 million people! In rural areas surrounding the city we were near, the devastating poverty and spiritual darkness is among the worst in the world.

Our plans were to visit about 45 of the 169 thandas. Sharing the gospel openly is not legal in this area, so we had to be invited to each village by someone. Praise God that many of the villages we were invited to were home to family members or friends of our native pastors and translators. There were no believers in many of the thandas we visited. They had never heard the name "Jesus" before. God's favor was great as we were welcomed into every village, and treated with great respect and wonderful hospitality.

We had the opportunity to share the Good News with many who responded enthusiastically to the Gospel message. Members of our team saw entire villages profess faith in Jesus Christ! Men and women of peace (people who offered us hospitality; see Luke 10) were discovered in each thanda.

The word of God was given in their language as we studied together. It is stunning to see the faces of new believers as they read the word of God for the first time, and to see the conviction in their hearts, and to watch as they have understanding immediately, by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord permitted us to participate in a great harvest in India: More than 1,600 people heard the Good News. 768 adults professed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, as did many more children and youth. Eight new churches were established - where a person of peace is willing to have the new Christian Community meet in their home.

Within days of our departure, follow-up with new believers by our national pastors revealed that fellowships were thriving in 15 other villages our team visited, in addition to the eight new churches we identified! Our national partners have a renewed commitment to ministry among their people, having been encouraged greatly by the work God did among us in November.

Please pray with us that every one of these new fellowships are examples of the seed falling on good soil.

(The trip indentified above was a TSC partnership trip with E3 Partners. TSC believes in the work of E3 Partners around the world as they share the Gospel with those who have not yet heard. For more information on E3 Partners, visit http://www.e3partners.org/)

5th Grader at TSC Helps Provide Water for Thousands...

2011-02-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

My name is Elizabeth, and I am a 5^th grader at Thompson Station Church. In late November, I went to the Global Impact Conference at my church. I thought it was going to just be pretty boring. That definitely was not the case.

That night my heart was opened when a guy named Spencer got up to talk. He told us all about how the water people drink in some parts of the world is basically mud and how people walk miles just for water. But what really pulled on my heart was that so many little children were dying every day from it.

That put the worst thought in my head. If my little sister, Emily, was living there she would most likely die. I couldn’t imagine seeing her one day and her being gone the next simply because she had unclean drinking water.

God must have really wanted me to hear this message because the next morning Spencer showed up in my Sunday school class too. This time I knew that God was trying to tell me something.

That is when I told everybody… my family, my friends and even my school. It had a major impact on my life.

Within a few months this was a major project that my school became interested in. My school is now working to pay for the cost of at least two wells but there is certainly no limit to what God might do as more people get involved.

It also had a great impact on my family. I asked my parents if we could not take our usual trip over Christmas break and use that money to fund a well. After praying about it, we knew what the best use of that money would be and our family funded our first well for people in India.

It has been a really cool experience to see this whole project go from something I just heard about at a conference and in my Sunday school class, to now something that my family and whole school is taking part in.

I am so glad I am at a church where I get to hear about organizations as awesome as Neverthirst. God has put me in a very special place.

(For more info on NeverThirst, go to http://www.neverthirstwater.org/. In 2011, TSC plans to also build at least three wells in Northern India and also in Sudan through GOCTW funding.)

I Saw Hope in Haiti

2011-02-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

Thousands of tents lined the countryside… Millions of souls searching for clean water… devastation and despair was all around me… but there was also hope in the midst of this destruction.

…Our interpreter Ron was one of the hardest working men of God I have ever seen. Ron believes in ‘putting feet to his prayer’. He not only works for World Orphans, Haiti Customs, and Sweet Sleep, but he also devotes his free time to working with orphanages through all of Haiti-not just in Port-Au-Prince. He gives 10% to his church, 9% to an orphanage in poverty, and many other venues that have slipped my mind. This man away basically all that he receives, and finds joy in doing so! I will never forget Ron…

…Our first orphanage we visited was in the hills of Port Au Prince, and a palace compared to those we saw later. Nearly 35 children found shelter here from the leadership of another godly man. Through the eyes of a comfortable American, this would seem life threatening, but through the eyes of a little Haitian boy-this was a safe haven… this was his ‘promised land’. Ouid Va was his name, and he was 7 years old…

…During one of the days Ron was able to give us a tour of the land of Providence. Through the rain forests, mountains, and thin and muddy back roads, we discovered an extremely poverished orphanage that held nearly 30 children. As we arrived, their voices started singing praises to our Creator! Tear’s started flowing as their voices became louder!

…Pastor Emmanuel was his name, and he had been praying for God to send someone his way. Pastor Emanuel has been working in the ministry for over 35 years. He has an old three room rock hut with one light bulb powered by a battery. 15 children live with him in two of the rooms while he and his wife sleep on the rugged cobblestone dirt floor in the third. When asked what his calling was, he replied: “The LORD has commanded me to suffer for the children,” and that “in his suffering, he finds the joy of the LORD.” He works as much as he can to help feed these children and keep them healthy.

I saw HOPE in spiritual leaders… I saw HOPE in the eyes and voices of little Haitian children… I saw HOPE in the midst of poverty… I saw HOPE in Haiti.

(TSC took its first vision team to Haiti over New Year’s. Jon was on this first team. TSC also partners with Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (www.mmdr.org ) and Baptist Global Response (www.baptistglobalresponse.org) in Haiti.)

Feeding the Leaders...

2011-02-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

from John Owen

Since becoming a Christian, I’ve been that guy that sits with his family in the church pew for an hour or two depending on the Sunday, at times gives of our resources (time and money) to the church and/or the needy, prays, reads the bible, has a quiet time daily, and am considered the “Christian guy” at work.

So basically for the past 21 years, I’ve been comfortable believing in the gospel “period”. You know, the “Jesus died for my sins so I may have everlasting life.” (Period). I assumed that after accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, my public affirmation of faith and my subsequent baptism and living “good”, that I had received my “get out of hell free card”.

Recently, I’ve gone through quite an ordeal health wise and God opened so many doors through it for me to be able to make a mission trip to East Africa:

Here is a quick synopsis of my personal road to serve in East Africa:
• Weighed 230lbs on 1/20/10, BP 160/100, high stress job….doctor very concerned
• Started walking & dieting in Jan per doctor’s orders…. weight starts dropping off
• My wife has minor surgery and I decide not to go to church on a particular Sunday
• Daughter really wants to go, wife says go. Turns out to be the Sunday of the "Beautiful Things- East Africa" video.
• I sit in the back of TSC, tears streaming down my face… totally convicted – all in.
• Doctor says I must get down to 195 lbs, and get my BP down to go to East Africa in Aug.
• By March, walking 5-7 miles a day. When I don’t feel like walking, I think of East Africa.
• Friday night, July 9... wake up thinking I’m having a heart attack
• Emergency surgery Sat 3am for ruptured gall bladder and chest infection.
• Sunday, a 2nd procedure to get .75 inch stone from liver (liver beginning to shut down)
• Pancreas lacerated while stone is removed…full blown acute pancreatitis.
• 28 days in the hospital, miss the Aug East Africa trip and am told no Africa for at least a year.

I was heartbroken to miss the Aug trip, and truthfully confused over God’s will for me. The doctors did tell me that if I had not lost the weight (I was 195 lbs when I entered the hospital) that there was a good chance that I would not have survived the ordeal. Although disappointed and confused, I was beginning to acknowledge that this wasn’t about my health issues and belief in going… This was all about my learning to listen, trust and to faithfully submit to the Lord.

I had gotten to know the August trip leader, Derek. He visited me in the hospital and continued to stay in touch afterward. I knew if I could get well enough, that going on Angela’s January trip was a possibility, but I really felt strongly that the Lord was leading me to go before that and in a much smaller group. There was a pull to go and to work with the church leaders at Great Hope Church in East Africa. Feeding the children today is very important, but feeding the leaders so that the Gospel is shared in that community daily, feeds those children for eternity.

Too many things had fallen into place for all this to be coincidental. This trip was ordained by God from the beginning. It was as it was supposed to be, without intrusion from the planning of men. From my health, to Derek’s schedule, to this being literally the only time that the pastor there and all nine church leaders could gather for two hours a day, four consecutive days to be refreshed in the Lord…..and so on.

As you might expect, this trip definitely changed my life, but so did the road to it. I learned that our God is big, really big. I learned that “awaiting God’s will” was a cop out for me, a way to avoid true action for the kingdom. Its plain what God’s will is for us - just read John 3:16-21, Matthew 22:36-40, Matthew 25:31-46, James 1:27 and Matthew 28:16-20. But read them with your heart, just like it was the first time.
In my study for this trip I noticed that throughout the Bible very seldom did the Lord tell the believer that he sent the entire itinerary for the next month or year of their life… He simply said “Go”.

This trip is the most important thing that I’ve ever done. Not just because of what God accomplished through us, but also because maybe for the first time in my 53 years I trusted and obeyed. I learned that all blessings have a purpose and a cost. And that I am not to ever again be that “comfortable Christian” that feels that I need not be actively seeking God’s will for me each and every day.

Please pray today for the church leaders in East Africa, and in all places around the world where people are in need and the gospel is not known. And please prayerfully consider just “believing and going” when nudged. God Bless…

John Owen

Grace Fellowship Buying Land, TSC Gives 10K

2011-02-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Steve Chamblee, Grace Fellowship
www.gracefellowshipaz.org

Greetings from beautiful sunny Vail, AZ!

We are so grateful to be serving Jesus here! He has blessed us in so many ways! He continues to draw people to Himself out here in the desert as we seek to make disciple who make disciples...

God continues to open new doors of ministry here in Vail/Tucson.... On Thanksgiving Day we partnered w/ Old Vail Middle School to feed the community Thanksgiving Dinner. What really jolted my heart was to see our people step up and serve. We had a huge amount of Grace people come out with a desire to bless & serve their community. For me that we so affirming that God really is transforming people's lives.

Most of you know by now that we are in the process of acquiring land.
God has opened the door to purchase 6.2 acres just across the street from where we presently meet at Old Vail Middle School. Our vision is to build a community center whereby the community of Vail, especially children can come and be ministered to in a variety of ways. This facility would also function as our worship center on Sundays. We are asking our prayer partners to really pray that God would provide the funds for this purchase. The cost of the land is $500, 000. Our goal is to bring at least $200, 000 to closing in March. God is blessing...and we have raised aprox $50,000! Would you pray that God would provide the funds in His own way for His own glory? We are absolutely confident that God is going to provide. If it His will...He will provide! We do believe that..but we also want to be faithful on our end to allow you the opportunity to be a part of His process.

I often argue w/ myself about asking for financial help from friends & partners beyond what they are already generously giving. But this is an exciting endeavor and a great cause! When I think about what God has already done in these last two years...and what He is going to do, I can hardly contain myself. I look at that piece of property and envision:

- a facility where kids can literally walk across the street after school and be mentored
- a safe environment for kids to do homework and receive tutoring ( in my city only 1 out of every four children live w/ both parents)
- a facility that will house a community food bank for hurting families
- Kingdom headquarters for Vail, the West and the World!

(Through GOCTW funds, Thompson Station Church is giving $10,000 to help Grace Fellowship buy land in Vail, Arizona. TSC will also be sending two mission teams to partner with Grace in 2011.)

Merry Christmas from East Asia

2011-01-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

I hope this holiday season finds all of you doing extremely well and anticipating the celebration of the birth of Jesus with many friends and family! Things are very well on this side of the world, and the holiday season gives all of us living here the opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with all of the locals who inquire about Santa Clause, Christmas trees, etc....

Things are going to be extremely busy for us here during the next two weeks. I am personally done with my college classes for the semester and I am geared up in our Cultural Sharing Project that is going on during the holidays. We have two different groups of friends coming from Ohio and Missouri that arrive today here in our town and they will be with us through New Year's Day. In all there are 14 people coming from the states. Tomorrow will be an all day training day to prepare with the group to do a Christmas Program at 10 different schools in 4 different cities over the next 10 days. It will be an exciting opportunity to communicate the real meaning of Christmas with thousands of students in our area. The program will be an explanation of many Christmas traditions such as Christmas trees, Santa, lights on houses, Christmas foods, etc.....as well as teaching them many secular Christmas songs (jingle bells, rudolph) as well as some of our favorites such as Silent Night, O Holy Night, Joy to the World, etc...and then being able to tell them that all of the gift giving we do at Christmas is to remind us of the best gift that has ever been given when Jesus was born 2000 years ago. It will be many of the students first times to ever hear. We will get to perform this on average to over 1000 students, sometimes more, most every time we perform and it will most likely be the first time most have ever heard of the true meaning of Christmas. We will use some drama, singing, and special music as well.

As far as my guys in my room go, they are having finals the next 2 weeks before going home. There have been no other new brothers as of yet, but I am not discouraged as I know Father is the one who ultimate does the work. There has been much progress in many of their lives and there are about 5 who I believe Father is really working on. The two that are brothers are growing and I have been able to meet with them weekly to help them grow in the Word. These next two weeks are very important to everyone on campus as they prepare to take finals, so I have been helping them a ton lately with their English study as another way to show the love of God with them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ryan

(Ryan is currently serving with an unreached people group in East Asia that has been adopted by Thompson Station Church.)

Update from Central Asia

2011-01-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Wow! What an incredible month it has been in Central Asia! It is always an awesome blessing for our Creator to use us to spread the life changing news of His Son to others! He has given us so many opportunities to do just that this month!

Student Meeting

On Friday afternoons we have a “social club” for students to come
hang out and listen to presentations on different topics. At the
beginning of November, Branden was asked to speak about
relationships at this meeting. After sharing stories from his own
life he had each table discuss their thoughts to three questions.
There were four tables of about eight students and one of our
staff, who led the conversations. We heard afterwards that three
of the tables were able to share the gospel as a result from the
questions Branden presented.

At one table our staff girl asked her group, “Do you know anyone
who would not just forgive their enemies, but would die for
them?” To which several responded in astonishment, “No, why would anyone die for their enemies?!” Another believer responded, “I know someone who would; and actually did die for their enemies.” The entire table was intrigued. The girl continued and shared what Christ had done on the cross. Because of this, the staff was able to set up a time to show this group of girls the Jesus Film the next week.

English Club

Annie started teaching an English club one day a week beginning this month. During her second class she played an introduction game in order for the students to get to know her better. After the game she allowed the students to ask any other questions they wanted to know about her. To which one girl asked, “What is the highlight of your life?” Annie had the opportunity to share that the highlight of her life was when she accepted Jesus as her personal Savior and friend and that she continues to have a personal relationship with Him daily.

Ministry on the Universities
Branden has also been going to the universities on Tuesday afternoons with Nate (named changed for security), our team leader. They have had several opportunities using the tool Soularim to have life conversations with students and present the love of Christ to them. This past week he and Ethan (named changed for security), another staff guy, were able to sit in
the cafeteria with five students for over an hour and discuss the meaning of life. Branden
shared his personal testimony of how God changed his life and what Christ means to him.
Before they left he challenged them that if what he had said to them were from God and not just from him they would know in their hearts it was truth.

These are just a few of the stories from this month of the opportunities we have had to spread the news of Christ to this city in Central Asia. It still amazes us that for many of these students it is the first time they have heard that there is someone who loved their enemies enough to die for them. A fact that is so common in our country comes as a surprise to many here.

Our director challenged each of us to share the gospel with fifty new students before the end of the year. We have not yet reached that goal, but between the two of us we have had the privilege of sharing with forty seven students in the past two months! Continue to pray for the hearts of these students to be enlightened to the Truth. We love you and are incredibly thankful for your prayer and financial support! God Bless!

Branden and Annie

(Branden and Annie are serving with an unreached people group in Central Asia. They are supported monthly through the Go Change the World Funds of Thompson Station Church.)

"Josh F" Home from Turkey

2011-01-03T16:04:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to thank ya’ll so much for all of your prayers and support. I could not have done this without ya’ll. This season of my life was an incredible blessing that I was honored to be blessed with and I was happy that you all could join me.

I got home very late on the 9th of December, which was last Thursday. To be honest I wasn't ready to come back to the states. I was really starting to get more involved and was easily ready for another month. However, if I continued with that logic I would never have come back to the States. I was incredibly happy to be used in the ways that God saw fit. I couldn't be any happier in what I have experienced and learned.

I would love to return to Turkey one day and maybe as a full time worker. I have been told by several of the people that there is a ministry waiting for me there. All I can do now is take every day as God gives it to me and live a life that honors Him. He will lead me back if it is his will. There are also many other places in the world including here in the states that I can work. Every day is a gift and everyday is full of ministry opportunities. Please pray for me to actually be able to act this out.

Please continue to pray for the all of the workers and ministry in Turkey.

Joshua F

(Josh F was supported through the Change the World Funds of Thompson Station Church on his semester service in Turkey by an organization that desires to reach the least reached.)

250 Bibles Sent From TSC

2011-01-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

250 kids that were rescued from an Ethiopian dump now not only have a place to sleep, a school to go to, and food to eat… they also all have a Bible. It is our prayer that every child would not just have their physical needs met through Project 61, but in 2011 we would begin to see child after child give their lives to Christ.

All Bibles were funded through Go Change the World funds of Thompson Station Church.

Cell Phone App Heard Round the World

2011-01-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

By Monne Nidiffer

I thought you all might want to see this TV report on the phone app as TSC has been a key to what God is doing through TPE (Turning Point Experience)!

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/13627883/smart-phone-application-tackles-complex-teen-problems

You should be able to click and view. The app is now being used in 29 different countries world-wide offering the Bible scriptures as the answer to life's destructive issues. TSC is reaching the world as a part of making this app possible!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

Merry Christmas and know how special you are to us!

Monne

(Monne Nidiffer and his family are supported monthly through GO Change the World Funds. They currently are serving in Las Vegas with Turning Point experience doing whatever it takes to reach students around the globe through cutting edge technology.)

Haiti Update... How TSC Can Help...

2010-01-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

(click on the underlined links for more information)

Haiti Update
Video message from IMB missionary in Haiti

Watch a video message from Mark Rutledge, IMB missionary to the Haitians, who traveled with a media team into Haiti following last week’s quake.

News
IMB missionaries, Dominican Baptists provide aid, counseling to quake survivors

As Southern Baptist disaster relief officials were heading to Haiti Jan. 19 to assess needs, IMB missionaries in neighboring Dominican Republic were providing immediate relief supplies, medical aid and spiritual counseling to survivors of the earthquake that rocked Haiti the week before. “We have asked almost all of our IMB missionaries in the Dominican Republic to set the majority of their other work aside and focus on the Haiti response,” said Adam Hammond, the IMB’s strategy leader for Central America and the Caribbean.

Haitian congregation perseveres after loss of four church leaders

A few dozen families from Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, are living under a tarp attached to what’s left of their church building. They lost their pastor and three other leaders in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Out of 2,000 members, they can account for only about 100 so far. “We don’t know where our future leaders will come from,” said one member. But those gathered under the tarp are holding services every day.

Read more on the death of a leading Haitian Baptist pastor in Port-au-Prince.

How TSC Can Help

Give
Give to Haiti relief

Financial contributions for the Haiti relief efforts should be sent through the IMB’s Haiti Response Fund or through gobgr.org.

Contributions will go 100 percent toward relief efforts. Baptist Global Response (BGR) is a Southern Baptist relief and development organization working with other Southern Baptist entities to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

Those interested in helping also should contact their state convention disaster relief office for more opportunities.

Go
Vast need for short-term volunteers helping Haiti

Southern Baptists interested in volunteering in the Haiti relief effort — in medical care or other ways — are urged to send an e-mail to haitiresponse@imb.org. Indicate your name and contact information, what skills you have and when you are available. Southern Baptists interested in donating supplies or offering other assistance also can send an e-mail to this address.

Pray
CompassionNet: Watch for daily prayer updates.
Twitter: To watch for latest updates from Haiti follow @IMBconnecting.Use #haitiprayer for your updates and prayers.
Blog: Join those adding their prayers to the IMB Prayer Director blog.

Missing the Rains in Africa...

2010-01-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

The other day, I was talking with Angela Spencer, our preschool minister, who just experienced her first-ever mission trip. She traveled to Ethiopia and Uganda along with four others from Thompson Station Church, including Alicia and Sumer who also serve on our preschool staff. As we were talking, her phone rang, and her ringtone was of course the song I alluded to above!

I could try and describe for you or summarize what all our team experienced, but thought it might simply be better to link you to their blogs. Check out below what Angela, Alicia, and Sumer are saying about their trip to Africa and the huge task of caring for 147 million orphans wordwide... btw, I love these ladies, and thank God for them and their ministry to our kids here at TSC!

-Pastor Reagan

Angela- http://www.bignannyshouse.blogspot.com/

Alicia- http://thejordansdna.blogspot.com/2010/01/broken-heart-once-again.html

Sumer- http://www.sumerwithonem.blogspot.com/

Helping Haiti...

2010-01-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

the people of Haiti were hit with a magnitude 7.0 earthquake this week. Our TSC relief efforts will be to give to Baptist Global Response. The money given there will be used to aid Haiti through Florida Baptists who are receiving the assignment to go. Once it is clear what Haiti will need, Southern Baptists will be as always one of the first groups in. If you would like to help, go to either gobgr.org (Baptist Global Response) or to www.imb.org/main (International Mission Board).

The article below from the IMB website explains who is going, and the latest on how the funded relief efforts will occur:

Southern Baptists are mobilizing to assess disaster relief needs after the largest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti the evening of Jan. 12. The initial Southern Baptist disaster relief effort will be led by Florida Baptists, who have had ministry relationships in Haiti for more than 20 years and currently have six staff members who live and work in the country, said Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development organization. The International Mission Board does not have long-term personnel stationed in the country.

Initial funding for the relief effort will be provided by the IMB’s disaster relief fund. You can contribute to the relief effort at gobgr.org. The North American Mission Board’s disaster relief office is organizing an emergency consultation with state disaster relief directors to coordinate response to the catastrophe, Brown said.

Disaster relief teams in Mississippi and Kentucky are on standby for immediate response. An assessment team is being organized by Baptist Global Response, IMB, NAMB and state convention disaster relief directors to enter the country as soon as possible, Brown said. They will work with Haitian Baptists to identify immediate needs that must be addressed and will draft mid- and long-term plans for an ongoing relief effort.

Preschool Team in Africa/Student Team in Tucson

2009-12-30T10:23:00.000-08:00

Please be praying this week for Angela Spencer, Sumer Yates, and Alicia Jordan as they go to minister to orphans in Ethiopia and Uganda. One of the many organizations they will be working with over the next week and a half includes Amazima Ministries and Katie Davis. Katie Davis is a 21 year old Brentwood girl and started Amazima Ministries just a couple years ago. I'm attaching a link to her blog because it's just a good read when you have some time...

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/2009/08/it-is-my-16th-birthday-and-i-am-eating.html

Please also be praying for our Tucson Team led by Pastor TJ and Pastor Jason. TJ and Jason will be working with Grace Fellowship in Tucson this week to put together several outreach opportunities centered around reaching students in the Vail, AZ area. Please pray especially for TJ as he gets to share in the open air in Tucson on New Year's Eve at a block party being put together by our team!

Updates hopefully coming on both of these teams this week!

Update from the Other Side...

2009-12-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

An article from Branden and Annie...

As the fall semester is coming to an end here in (our city) we are remembering all the conversations and new students we have met. This past semester our team held seven classes a week ranging from twenty to thirty students in each class; so just this semester alone our team met about two hundred new students. Looking forward into next semester, we have examined what did or didn’t work well as we tried to get deeper into the lives of the students. One thing we are very thankful for today is that the Korean couple on our team saw a (national) university girl make a decision to follow Christ. It has encouraged us greatly that the Lord is moving here; we
need to just keep proclaiming and leave the results up to him.

Also, about two months ago I met a (national) guy and spent a few days getting to know
him. What made our friendship so unique is even in this far away land his sister is doing a workstudy abroad in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, of all places. During those days I spent with him he was very interested in what I was doing here and why I seemed so happy. This opened a door
for me to share my personal testimony about how God met me and changed my life on those
railroad tracks one summer in Iowa. He works at an internet club where lots of students go because they don’t have computers in their homes like we do. I stopped by there one Friday to see if I could take him to lunch, unfortunately, he could not leave because there was no one to watch the store. In this culture anytime you leave someone they always walk you out, though, and as we were departing on the street he looked at me and said, “Branden, I have been thinking a lot about what you said about your life and I think I might want to accept this Jesus.” I stood shocked and filled with excitement, but not surprised. I told him I wanted to talk more about this with him and that what he was considering is very important. Even though Annie and I's primary focus right now is to learn language so we can explain things clearly in their native tongue when given the opportunity, it is exciting to know that we are and will
be used when we yield ourselves to investing in
peoples’ lives.

Brandon and Annie,

Central Asia

Update from new Church Plant in Vail, AZ

2009-12-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Sunny Vail, AZ!

Its another beautiful day in Southern AZ! The weather is optimal for me! Cool brisk days (upper 50's...low 60's) and crisp cold nights! When you go outside and look to the Northeast, you can see the snow which is now covering the top of Mt Lemmon....beautiful! God's creation shouts His praise here in the desert. Everywhere I look around I'm reminded of Psalm 65: 8, "They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy."

The sad reality is that many in my city see the wonder and beauty in creation and worship the creation instead of the Creator to which it points. But God is good! And He is granting His favor to us. We continue to see lives changing for His glory. Last Sunday we had just around 90 in attendance at Grace Fellowship...many of which were brand new faces...we continue to see new people every Sunday....its very exciting!

We will be hosting our second "Discovering Grace" class this Sunday for prospective members. Please pray the God would grant direction in the lives of many who are contemplating and praying about making Grace Fellowship their home.

I have to share w/ you what God is doing in J.T.'s life and ministry through Grace Fellowship. As most of you know, Jonathan Taylor (J.T.) has joined us as our worship leader. He is also involved in working with our youth. The Lord has opened a door for J.T. to volunteer coach Freshman Basketball at Cienega H.S., where I coach Freshman football. The other day, they had to travel two hours to Phoenix for a game. After the Freshman game, while watching the varsity, J.T. was looking through some of his discipleship material. A player on the Jr. Varsity was sitting nearby and began to inquire.....Long story short - J.T. had the chance to share the gospel, not only w/ that student, but, with many sitting around listening. There was a group of people in the stands totally oblivious to the game going on - they were honed in on J.T. The following day, upon the request of the player J.T. witnessed to, J.T. gave a Bible, a copy of the Passion Of Christ, and some other materials for the student to read. I believe that God is starting something among the b'ball team...they are beginning to see something in J.T....wouldn't it be awesome to see a move of God happen in Vail that begins in the local public school? Please pray for this b'ball player who is really eager to hear more about Jesus!

Speaking of J.T., we are rejoicing w/ J.T. who today received in the mail from an anonymous friend a brand new lap top computer. It was a real need and it is so cool to watch God do His thing! Whoever you are...if you get this...Thank You!

God is good! He is worthy to be praised! Please pray for the hearts of the people of Tucson/Vail, AZ, that there may be more praise given to His name here!

Blessings,

Steve Chamblee

http://www.gracefellowshipaz.org/

TSC Christmas Missions Offering

2009-12-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

Please let everyone know that through the month of December we will be collecting our annual Christmas Missions Offering for the International Mission Board, the organization we support that facilitates the work of over 5,000 missionaries around the globe! Their main purpose is to reach those who have never heard, engaging unreached people groups around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every penny given to this offering will be used to support Southern Baptist missionaries as they share the Gospel overseas. This one-time offering represents over 50 percent of the International Mission Board’s total income.

One such missionary that is supported by this offering is Pete Thoni, who is currently serving a two-year term in South Asia. Pete gave his life to Jesus through the TSC student ministry, surrendered to ministry here at TSC, and is now working to reach unreached people groups in South Asia with the love of Jesus Christ. This annual Christmas offering is what supports Pete’s ministry. Another missionary family that is supported is my sister’s family, who have been serving among an unreached people group in Southeast Asia for over a year and a half now. I watched my sister, her husband, and their two precious kids sell their home, give up everything they had, and move to the other side of the world with the clothes on their backs and three suitcases a piece. TSC will partner with them this next year on three mission trips, but it is also our financial giving that makes their ministry to the unreached possible.

It is IMB missionaries just like these all over the world today that started 24,650 brand new churches in 2009, and baptized over 500,000 new believers. That’s an average of 100 new believers per missionary! Sadly, in 2009, a net loss of 300 missionaries had to come home without being replaced because churches like ours did not help the International Mission Board reach its financial goals last year. For the first time in the history of this offering, there are now more missionaries waiting to go than there have been funds to send them.

This Christmas, what will you give so that our missionaries can stay in place to reach those who are missing out on knowing Jesus? It is our mission at Thompson Station Church to reach one more people group with the Gospel of Jesus through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. As many of us budget to buy gifts for friends and family this Christmas, what gift will you give that others may know the love of Jesus in 2010? May we learn to give to the world as God has so richly blessed us, as TSC gives outside of itself for this great cause, that one day all nations might come to know Him!

For more information about this worldwide missions organization and offering, go to: http://www.imb.org/