Thankful For You

Trinity Church family I am thankful for you.  The growth that I see in you becoming the church is encouraging to me.  Groups are being intentional about loving people inside and outside of the body of Christ.  Individuals are growing in their faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ.  I want you to know that I thank God for you.

Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ” (1 Thes. 1:2–3, ESV)

As we prepare this week for a Celebration Sunday and our first ONE Conference next Saturday, I am reminded of just how grateful I am for people who have chosen to partner together in ministry.  We currently have more than 280 people serving in ministry in various capacities as a church family.  We have more than 45 adults who have committed to being part of the launch team for our Ashkum campus.  Each and every Sunday we have more than 50 people serving in some type of ministry at our Watseka campus.  (It takes a lot of people and effort for the church to assemble in corporate worship.) 

I want you to know that our staff and elder teams are praying for you.  As part of the body we call Trinity Church I want you to know that I am thankful for you and will be praying 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 for you this week; “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ”

One Church Meeting in 2 Locations

This past Sunday we announced the location of our first multi-site campus.  The Ashkum Grade School will be the other facility where our church meets together beginning this Easter.  It is still a need in prayer as we work through signing an official agreement, but it looks like this will be a great opportunity for our church family to be a blessing to the people of Western Iroquois County.

If you missed last week’s message, I encourage you to watch it.   As God’s people placed on this earth to represent Jesus to all people, the church is truly the hope of the world.  The church is always people, never a building or facility.   That means that it isn’t where we meet that makes us one church, but instead joining in the mission of Jesus.  This understanding makes the multi-site vision much easier to understand and fully embrace with excitement. 

I ask for your partnership in praying our way through the battle that lies ahead.  We cannot expect to launch a new thing without pushback from the forces of darkness in accordance with Ephesians 6:12.  But our encouragement is that the Light wins!  Join me in praying Psalm 85:6, 7 asking that God will revitalize his church in rural America.  My prayer is for God to do a new thing in rural communities as he breathes life into his church once again.