Tuesday Church Update

I recently received a report from Pastor Ed on the success of the Tuesday Church service. We are excited to share in the growth and success of this service and encourage you to continue to pray that it will be a great outreach to the community in order to win others to Christ.

Tuesday Church will celebrate its seventh year in the spring of 2012.

· Tuesday is the sixth worship service featuring hymns and familiar choruses.

· Growth has been steady averaging over 100 for the last few years.

· 2011 average attendance was 117 *2012 so far is averaging 130*

· Tuesday lunch is one of the keys for the growth – provides a time of fellowship for our adult worshipers – 80 -90 lunches are served every Tuesday – they look forward to that.

· Recently there have more and more first time guests worship with us on Tuesday

· Several baptisms and new partners have come as a result

· Opportunities for service include the lunch crew, servers and hosts, tech people in the visual/sound booth and of course several talented musicians.

· Our second annual Tuesday Christmas featured several talented people taking part and a record attendance of 375. 260 meals were served that day. Tuesday Christmas in 2010 was the second highest record of 306 and over 200 meals.

· The recent series of messages on Galatians, Job, Philippians and currently Matthew are available on-line or CD.

· The Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7 will begin as a series on February 21, 2012

· Featured missions guests at the weekend service often return for Tuesday emphasis.

· Special music is often offered – Tom Shelton from Ohio was our guest for his third concert here last Tuesday.

· Hope Street is a local gospel group that has worshiped with us on Tuesday for the last several years. They are featured once a month for a special and have done two or three concerts for us on Tuesday morning.

· As for the future – Tuesday Church will continue when we move to Hand Avenue. There will be a smaller chapel for us to use.

· God has blessed this ministry and thanks to all those who have not only attended but have stepped up to help serve. We give you thanks.

It has been my pleasure to be your Tuesday Church Pastor for almost seven years.

Pastor Ed

Backpack Bash

You probably don't know about a new ministry that Tomoka supports. Pastors John & Lisa Polite started Ministries for Christ Outreach in Daytona Beach to minister to the poor, the homeless, the addicted, and the abused and to bring the message of Jesus Christ to give hope to a hopeless people in Daytona Beach. Here is a report from Lisa Polite of a recent “Backpack Bash” they held at their church in the Mason Nova shopping plaza on August 20, 2011.

I don't even know where to begin. Friday's back pack bash was incredible. At 9:45 am we had a line of 229 people including children waiting to get backpacks. At 10:30 am, when the program was to start, we had a line of 323 people. By 10:45 am all the backpacks were gone, but they were still coming for food and clothes that we also had, and boy did the Lord bless. We got rid of everything we already had in the church and everything we bought for this event, plus everything people donated. I never have seen anything like that. Families were just hungry. They didn't mind people praying for them. Many people dedicated their lives back to Jesus or they accepted Jesus Christ for the first time. For the first time in my life I felt overwhelmed. The lines just never stopped. At 12 noon we had served well over 500 families. I can never thank Pastor Joe for praying for the people to receive salvation and boy it was just like Heaven opened up. We didn't finish until almost 4 pm. We had grandmas with 4 and 5 children asking for us to pray for the families. We had addicts who were trying to kick heroin asking to be saved. People just kept coming off the streets asking what was going on. Either people were being a blessing coming to others or they were being blessed. My day was blessed at the end when a little 8 year old boy came and kissed me. He wanted to know who was Jesus Christ and if He could help him. He said he heard me telling the other children about Jesus and He wanted Him too. Tears begin to flow, and He said he just wanted the voices to stop in His head. We prayed, and praise GOD NO VOICES AFTERWARD, HIS GRANDMA CRIED, WE CRIED, AND THE ENTIRE HOUSE WAS LED TO JESUS.

If you would like to give monetarily to this ministry you may send a check to the church and we will be sure that they receive you gift. If you would like to find out about how you can get involved with Ministries for Christ Outreach contact Lisa Polite at 386-852-7046 or by email at mfcoutreach@hotmail.com.

El Salvador Team's Holly Hill Outreach

This past weekend the El Salvador mission team initiated a successful outreach in Holly Hill in which they held a neighborhood cookout and gave away many items to students and their families. The El Salvador team traveled door-to-door by car and foot to invite families to the festivities. They gave away backpacks and school supplies to kids in great need, provided back-to-school haircuts, sent families away with their arms full of groceries, and passed out Bibles and shared the love of Jesus. In the words of Francie Phillips, mission team coordinator, "One tired looking single dad that was in need of school supplies, groceries and food for his two elementary boys said, 'I was so discouraged with worry of how I was going to provide for my boys to get their school stuff. You have no idea the relief this has provided me.' Our team was so blessed by being able to serve. We were so thankful for the support we received from Tomoka Christian youth who provided worship music, as well as Pastor Artie Rose of Holly Hill lending us his grill...other helpers brought either backpacks or food donations or just helped. It was wonderful to see everyone working together. Thanks to everyone in our Family of God. We love and appreciate you!"

Power of Love Ministry

Congratulations to the Power of Love ministry! They have reached their 2 year mark and have grown incredibly since their inception. For those who don't know, the Power of Love ministry's mission is to witness to women working in local strip clubs through monthly outreaches where they give out gift bags and have also done food outreaches. They have successfully reached 7 of the 8 strip clubs on a monthly basis in Volusia County in just 2 years! This year alone they added a new strip club to their mission, began an on-site prayer team to cover their outreach team while on the field, and had 2 food outreaches in 5 clubs. They also began their "Breathe" support group for women who are working or who have worked in the stripping industry. Congratulations to the team on their 2nd anniversary and for boldy taking the gospel to those who really need to know God's love.

To participate in the Power of Love ministry you can email Jen Colella here.

They Will Know Us By Our Love

God is moving in unbelievable ways through the ladies of the Power of Love ministry to area strip clubs. You’ve got the read the story below from ministry leader Jennifer Colella about one lady whose life, through Christ, may never be the same.

I wanted to give you an update on some things that have happened since our last outreach. The Sunday after our October outreach I received a phone call from one of the dancers we met at a lounge. She was very anxious and upset explaining that she had been abandoned, abused and was far away from home. When she told me her name was Susan,* I immediately remembered her and her story from the night of the outreach. When she called, she was a few hours from being homeless, had about $15 to her name and it became clear to me we were in a crisis situation. I told her to sit tight and I would make some phone calls. One of our team members met with her and spent many hours talking and praying with Susan to better understand her situation and figure out how we could help. We realized that Susan had come to a fork in the road. She had been abandoned by a man who had hurt her and would likely continue to do so if she went back to him. She had family members that care about her, have been praying for her and trying to keep her sober and in the church for many years now. Susan knew that going home was the right thing to do but, she was afraid, ashamed, embarrassed and convicted. The bottom line was, we couldn't force her to do the right thing. She had to make that decision for herself. So we explained to her that we wanted to see her start over and begin trusting God with her life. We told her we'd get her a bus ticket back to her family in New Jersey if she decided she wanted to start over. She was still undecided so we told her she could have until 6 PM to make a decision, then the offer expired. The following hours were tough, but we prayed and prepared for whatever would happen next.

Praise God, Susan called and asked us to purchase the ticket! We picked her up at her hotel and drove her to the bus station. As her departure time approached, we reached for her shaky hands and gathered in a circle at the bus station to pray with her. All the time I kept praying, Lord, she's not a waste, please stay close to her and don't let her go. As we departed and walked back to the car, I just kept wondering: What would become of her? Did we do enough? Did we do too much? What would have happened to her if we didn't help her?

All night and the next morning I kept picturing Susan's bloodshot eyes, the weary look on her face from all the years of drug use, abuse and pain. I thought to myself: Will she really try and turn her life around, or did she hop off the bus at the first stop and get herself right into another crisis situation? That afternoon, my outreach partner called me to say Susan has been in touch with her and is “doing fine so far." When Susan finally made it back to New Jersey, she continued calling and my partner has even been on speaker phone with some of Susan's family members! Susan is living with her sister, going to church, asking spiritual questions, considering work and school and still needs lots of prayers. She is working on changing her life. She needs prayers for emotional and mental stability and prayers that she will maintain her sobriety.

Your prayers, encouragement, donations and support are what keep this ministry going into our mission field to help these ladies find their way out of these strip clubs. This is the second time we've met a woman on an outreach in a crisis situation who has called us and we were able to pray with her and see her leave the business. If it weren’t for your faithfulness in donating the items for bags, volunteering your time and the financial support to be able to purchase a bus ticket, we wouldn't be a part of the lives of these ladies. I'm already looking forward to the December 11 outreach, anxious to see what God will do next! Thank you for your commitment to the Kingdom. May God bless your faithfulness. You are all loved and appreciated!

* The lady's name was changed to protect her identity.

Pure Religion

I recently heard from two missionaries who founded and continue to run Christian World Adoption. Bob & Tomilee Harding’s note below illustrates how God is moving in Ethiopia.

We have just returned from our Ethiopian trip with our spirits and batteries recharged!

It was so good to visit the children’s homes and have the opportunity to see two new homes recently added to our growing list of locally run homes that we support. Some of this support goes to children who are able to stay in their homes with their families or guardians with some financial aid from us through the local centers.

The major thrust of our trip was to visit and approve finishing touches on the children’s home in our new Acacia Village complex. This building is nearing completion, and we needed to approve some final layout decisions. Thanks to all of you, this is becoming a reality. It will be housing children this coming year! This is a big project for us but God has been faithful to guide us. Several more buildings are about to start, including a mission outreach apartment building, a clinic, and an enrichment center (school).

We were honored to have another audience with the President of Ethiopia including a short photo opportunity where he offered his continued support and thanks for our programs in Ethiopia.

The trip was truly blessed. CWA’s future programs in Ethiopia look very positive and we will continue to place the rights and concerns of the children first.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Getting the Job Done

Every two or three years, we publish a prayer journal listing all of the missionaries that Tomoka Christian financially sponsors. Since the last journal, called “Be the Church,” was published, we’ve added many missionaries to the Tomoka Christian support roster. They are listed below. Please remember them as you pray.

Mike & Teresa Grant — Haiti
Barry & Charlene Owensby — Cuba
White Water Christian Church, Wyoming — USA
Robert & Natalie Braden — England
St Louis Christian College (scholarship) — USA
Shelly Hilvety — Ethiopia
New Missions Systems, Halima — Kenya
Grace House DeLand — USA
Compassion International: Christian Tejeno — Philippines
Compassion International: Rachel Niyonkura — Rwanda
Eric & Shelia Jenkins — North Africa
Charlie & Fern Peters — USA
Chris & Aubri Casey — Europe
Melonnie Kelly — Haiti
Zeca & Gabia Sales — USA
Chaplaincy Endorsement Commission — USA
Bill Frans, Toba Lake Church — Indonesia
Thomas Guiteres — Timor Leste
Pastor Martin Roberts — USA
Daniel Meyers Bread Ministry — USA
Kelly Bender — USA
April Roam — Honduras
Beth Ramos — New Guinea
Barbara Beute, Justice Missionary — USA
Sam & Karen Kohler — Japan
Richard & Chris Rice — Guatemala
Garry & Weiling Klinel — Japan
Providence County, RI, church — USA
Equipping the Saints — USA
Bong Barredo — Philippines
Mary Williams — USA
Doug & Carol Baldwin — Ecuador
Christ Reaching Asia Mission — North Korea
Every Home for Christ — Mongolia, Niger & Senegal
Voice of the Martyrs — Pakistan, Vietnam, Laos & Sudan
Team Expansion — Bosnia
Assemblies of God World Missions — Algeria

For those who don't have a journal, I want to encourage you to pick one up in the Worship Center lobby. For those who already have one, we printed stick-on labels with the above names that fit on the inside back cover of the journal. You can pick up a label in the Worship Center lobby.

Power of Love ministry highlights

Below is another report from Jennifer, who leads Power of Love, Tomoka Christian’s ministry to women working in area strip clubs.

Praise God for another wonderful outreach. The team began the evening with a powerful time of prayer, then set out.

At the first club, the owner met us at the door. He was very friendly and invited us in. One of the girls would not accept a bag from us, but the rest of the ladies were very friendly. After we passed out the bags the owner invited us to come back later when more girls were working. While there we had quite a conversation with the owner, reminding me how much the men employed by these clubs need our prayers as well. They are caught up in a world of sin and bondage and are just as lost, trapped and hurting as the women.

The owner of the second club was outside when we arrived. He was very friendly and welcomed us in. One woman we conversed with told us she goes to church every Wednesday and Sunday and was embarrassed to be stripping. She knew it was wrong, but had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was working to pay for her medications. If that weren't enough, her daughter was recently killed by a drunk driver. She said she was stripping because she feels she has no other choice. She was crying tears of desperation. We need to keep her in our prayers.

A third club allowed us to give out bags to the bartender and two dancers that were working. The atmosphere at the club was very dark and depressing. Please keep this club and the employees in prayer.

Two other clubs did not allow us in. Another club’s management allowed us to leave five gift bags. We left a gift for that manager, too.

We thank our Heavenly Father for His favor and timing on this outreach. Our next ones will be in October and December.

Note: Jennifer may be reached via e-mail here.

Over the Rainbow Ball - Sept. 4, 2009