Many have heard about what God is doing on the campus of Asbury University through a spontaneous move of the Spirit on the student body there. Even this past Wednesday in The Gathering at 7:00 pm we discussed the conditions that bring about a renewing of this kind. And while we all wonder, “What would that look like here?” I just want you to know… it already is.

 

Just this past week I spoke with someone else who is surrendering her life to Christ. Then, over lunch I heard the story of a Community Group guest that gave his life to Jesus during the opening question of the study. Two weeks ago I had the privilege to lead someone to Christ in my office. And let’s not overlook the baptisms of Joshua, Coco and Gage a few weeks ago.

 

And that’s not all! After Coco was baptized a few Sundays ago she and her now-husband Jerrell reached out to me saying that they wanted to follow Jesus the right way. So we married them in the lobby of the building just this past weekend.

 

There is also a small group of young adults that are sensing a move of God so they have developed a time of Bible study together—not as a church program but just so they and other young people can grow closer to the Lord.

 

God is doing great things in the life of His church! And all of this is the perfect environment to begin discipling each one who is now following Jesus. Now we can model what it looks like to be changed by Jesus and on mission with Jesus. We can display what it looks like to produce fruit in keeping with salvation (Matthew 3:8). Let’s all work together to turn the spiritual renewal into long term Christian maturity that multiples as we become disciple that make disciples.

In Him,
Pastor Tim

Lately, the Lord has been challenging me with disciple making, especially when it comes to our youth ministry. I cannot disciple all of our students by myself because discipleship is all about investing time, energy and even money on someone. Discipleship is all about modeling to someone what does it look like to walk daily with Jesus.  Discipleship is inviting someone into our lives so that they can also learn to walk with Christ, and eventually, they will disciple and model all of that to someone else.

 

God is leading me into making sure all of our students are being intentionally discipled by someone, and I need your help to do just that. I am creating a “Youth Disciple Network” . In reality it is just a white board with all of our students names and the name of the person who is discipling them. I need the help of people that are willing to invest in them, to love them, to be there in their good and bad moments. I need disciple makers that will be there when they have doubts about their faith.

 

I cannot do this on my own, but I know that together we can make sure our students will have a future where God is their everything. I would love to sit down and talk to you about discipling or becoming a disciple maker as well as serving on our Youth Disciple Network. Remember Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commanded us.

 

Give me a call (832)405-2917or send me an email pastordavid@hfcog.org I would love to talk with you about next steps and how you can make an impact.

 

With love,

Pastor David

What an amazing weekend we had in celebrating new life in Joshua, Gage, and Coco! God is forgiving, restoring and restarting each of them. If you would like to see their testimonies and baptisms again be sure to check it out on our Facebook and YouTube pages.

 

Maybe God has been speaking into your life too. Maybe you have decided to follow Jesus and now you want to get baptized as well. Almost every time someone gets baptized someone else will talk to me about baptism. Maybe this time it is you! I would love to talk with you about it. Email me at PastorTim@hfcog.org and we can set something up today!

 

“But do I really need to be baptized?”

 

Well, the short answer is yes simply because the Bible instructs us to get baptized. To be clear, baptism doesn’t save us. We can only be saved by grace through faith. Baptism then is the public declaration of what God has already done in your life through your faith and submission to Jesus. And it is really important to celebrate together as a church because it shows everyone how God is still working.

 

I would love to talk to you about getting baptized. Email me at PastorTim@hfcog.org and let’s set up a time to get together. God is so good! Let’s celebrate!

 

In Him,
Pastor Tim

Yesterday, I received an invitation to go with two girlfriends to get my nails done. I was so excited to have some girl-time, down-time and yes, some me-time. We arrived at the nail shop, picked out our nail colors and were seated. We had such a rich conversation of what was going on with each of us, laughed, told stories, and learned quite a few things about each other. My friend that invited me was intentional about who came, where we went and leading the conversation as her other friend and I are still getting to know each other.

 

1 John 1:7 – If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

Walking with the Lord is another way of saying how we live or how we conduct ourselves – in my time yesterday, I was able to see the love for Christ they both have in how they shared their lives with me, included the ladies working at the shop and other customers in our conversation and asking them about themselves. The authenticity of what they were sharing and the genuine interest in others created a safe relational environment.

 

As we are disciples who make disciples – we need to be intentional leaders, creating relational environments and show a reproducible process. What I’d like for you to take away from my experience yesterday is that there was an intentional leader creating a relational environment (the place can be anywhere). The environment that was relational was her.

 

As we are being relational – remember that it is us driving the relational environment. Are you relational? For those that you are discipling what do you know about their story? I want to encourage you to invite someone along with you this week – do life with them. I would love to hear from you – send me an email and share how you were relational this week.

 

Your Sister In Christ,

Naomi J. Dingle

I am so excited to see how God is going to challenge you to give to support the work of His kingdom through our Faith Promise ministries. If Faith Promise is new to you, check out hfcog.org/faithpromise. Let me quickly explain here…

 

We encourage all those who are members of the church to give a 10% tithe of their income to help support the work of God through HFC. However, we also want to support about a dozen ministries over and above what we give with the church. Each January we pray through what God might want us to commit to give by faith to him. These funds might come to you in unexpected ways throughout the year, or they might be intentionally set aside to give. Either way, your commitment is a step of faith to give over and above what you are already giving with the church.

 

Last year we had the highest annual commitment that we have had in years at $40,000, and praise the Lord, we exceeded that goal in actual giving to Faith Promise! God was so faithful to provide and you were so faithful to give.

 

This week especially, I want to invite you to prayerfully consider what you and your family might commit to give. Maybe this is the year that you increase your commitment, or commit to give through Faith Promise for the very first time. On Sunday, there will be a Faith Promise Commitment Card on your chair in the sanctuary. During the worship service, we will have a time where you can fill out that card and turn it in; we also have an online form HERE.  Let’s pray together about how we can financially support the work of the kingdom locally, nationally and internationally through our Faith Promise giving!

 

Love you HFC!

Pastor Tim

 

I didn’t like reading as a kid but I did like the Choose Your Own Adventure books. However, curiosity would always get the best of me. Instead of just choosing where to go next I would actually read both options and then decide with way to go. Wouldn’t it be awesome if life worked like that?

 

The reality is that we can’t read ahead but we can make choices now that will lead to a fruitful ending according to the promises of God’s word. This month we are going to look at our relationships, finances, mental health and purpose, and we are going to examine how we can make choices now that will ensure that we end in the blessing and favor of God.

 

This is a great opportunity to invite others to worship or to share the YouTube and Facebook links to the sermons. Everyone wants their lives to go well but most people feel like life isn’t going well. We have the answer. We have Jesus. We have the way, the truth and the life, so let’s share Jesus and the good news about him to those around us. Love you church!

 

In Him,
Pastor Tim

 

 

Happy New Year everyone!

 

I hope you were able to remember, or visit, family and friends. As we start this brand new year filled with excitement for all the different opportunities, events and more things to come, sometimes it is good to look back and admire how God worked in every situation of our lives.

 

Just in last month alone, we had Christmas Family Worship Night, Oh Boy Family Event, Christmas parties for kids, youths and adults, a mini Lock-in, Bane Angel Tree, and Christ Birthday Offering. We got connected with Jersey Village High School’s men/women of honor club, had the annual ladies brunch, and other community activities. Faith promise was fulfilled and even exceeded, and so much more than I can’t fit in this letter.

 

I am pretty sure God did some amazing things in your life as well, and he will continue to do great things for you, your congregation and those around you. Let’s start this year with Jesus as our end goal so that we can stay focused on Him. We will probably have difficult times but when Jesus is the center of our lives, our attitude, our emotions, and our perception of things will be different because we trust in Him, the One that can turn any situation into good.

 

Church, as we start this year let focus our attention on Jesus. You are not alone, the HFC Fam is praying for you and your family. Prepare your heart for what is to come. Thank you for never giving up even when things do not go your way, Let’s show the world our God is bigger than any situation.

 

With love,

Pastor David

This past week you have probably had opportunities to see family, friends and others at Christmas gatherings. In those times I would also imagine that people began to share some of the good and bad that was happening in their lives. Then, after the pleasantries we all went back home to our regularly scheduled lives. (Here is where I finally ask my question.)

 

Could you simply follow up with one of the people you talked to this past week?

 

“But what would I say?”
“Won’t it be weird?”
“What if they openly don’t believe in God?”

 

Try this in whatever form you feel most comfortable in communicating—text, call or in person:

 

“It was great to see. I just wanted you to know that I’m praying for you. Keep me posted on
how things are going.”
“We should connect more often. Would you like to get together for coffee sometime?”
“How are things going with _____ ?”

 

Opportunities just like these are where relational discipleship begins. You can do this! It is simply a matter of caring enough about others to follow up. You don’t have to solve their problems. Just listen well and share what God has done in your life. I’m so glad we are doing this together!

 

In Him,
Pastor Tim

This weekend was really fun! We had the Oh Boy! Family Event Saturday and there was lots of laughter and fun. It filled my ‘cup’ and brought me and those who attended joy! Then Sunday we had prayer, community groups, free coffee with Naomi, worship… many opportunities to visit and chat with friends and families. I was in the beginning of the worship service and each song focused on joy! Joy has kind of become my life word, so that time of worship just filled me up! I went with the kids when we dismissed and we had a blast in the 4th and 5th grade classroom. Again, so much laughter. I love spending time with our kids. They are so cool and always bring a smile to my face. The sermon was all about joy as well. Then I had a nice lunch with my parents, and we headed to my house to bake my grandma’s famous Christmas cookies.  Safe to say this weekend filled my heart with joy!!

 

As we were preparing to bake the cookies, we heard a horrible crash from the other room. The cat had somehow knocked over the tree (I know most cats usually do this – but Cleo never has in the 10 years I’ve had her). As I rounded the corner I saw shattered glass everywhere. Thankfully the cat was ok. As I  began to put pieces together, I started to see what was broken. A few were not all that important – filler type pieces that held no particular value. But then I saw three that my sister had given me over the years. These were hand made, special sentimental value, and really meaningful to me. One she had signed and dated, a beautiful tall red angel that was a bell. One was a neat Santa with a swirled frosted glass beard that she had found on her travels somewhere. And one was a  Dakota Hiawatha angel that she had given me after she learned I really loved the legend/book as a child. These three were especially meaningful to me as there were many Christmases we were not together, and I didn’t know where she was. I would put them on the tree and pray that she was safe wherever she was. It helped me to feel close to her those Christmases. 

 

I of course burst into tears as I initially processed the loss of these ornaments, and then sucked it up and began cleaning. Thankfully my dad was there to help move all the heavy furniture and help get all the teeny tiny pieces vacuumed up. As we cleaned, my mind kept mulling over all those years, all the tears, all the prayers that had gone up on my sister’s behalf.  My heart was heavy and the tears just kept flowing. Then suddenly JOY unexplained washed over me! Because the realization hit me – those prayers have been answered! These objects that meant so much aren’t even needed anymore because – praise God – my sister is not only back in my life – she’s saved, she’s safe, and she’s healthy! What answers to years of prayer! What a reason to rejoice and be filled with joy! While I will miss those ornaments, I have the memories of when she gave them to me, and even better – I have her both in this life as my sister and in heaven as a Christian sister thanks to our salvation in Christ.

 

I encourage you to Choose Joy – If you haven’t heard the sermon yet, I encourage you to listen to it and process the questions. If you are saved, I challenge you to Choose Joy and be an example and a light to those around you. If you are not saved, and are looking for hope and joy this season, I encourage not to give up, to seek help from friends and family, and to join us at HFC – the door is open and the invitation stands. Come as you are, and come meet  the family; we’ve got a seat for you. And we can help you find and Choose Joy!

 

Many Blessings,

Pastor Sarah