Lose your Bible?
After being here for almost two and a half years, I finally realized that there is a collection of lost Bibles stored behind the Welcome Center booth. If you have lost a Bible, then you might find it there.
If you haven’t lost a Bible, but need one, there is a box of some NIV Bibles there. The only condition is that you don’t already have a Bible that’s comfortable for you to read.
Why plant new churches?
We must pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into our area to be reached. And our current churches can’t reach all of them. There’s plenty of room for Bible-believing churches to be planted in this populous metro area.
This was a list from the new AG Trust initiative:
Five Reasons We Must Plant More Churches
1. New churches are historically the best method for reaching each emerging new generation.
2. New churches are very effective in conversion growth. Studies show that new churches have three to four times the conversion rate per attendee than established churches.
3. Of the 25,150 distinct communities in the United States, 18,742 do not have an Assemblies of God church and 2,808 have more than 5,000 residents.
4. The percentage of Americans who regularly attend an Assemblies of God church grew from .0587 percent to .0589 percent (an increase of .0002 percent) during the 16-year period from January 1990 to December 2006. We’re still growing, but ever so slightly.
5. During the first six months of 2008, the Assemblies of God closed more churches than we opened.
Pure Life Men’s Conference coming
This afternoon, I had Smokey Bones with Jeff Colon, the executive director of Pure Life Ministries after picking him up from BWI. He’s addressing a group of area pastors tomorrow about his specialty, having a pure life before God. He includes lots of practical ideas concerning this issue, backed by the life-changing power of God’s Word.
It’s be great, but don’t worry! He’ll be back as one of the presenters for the Pure Life Men’s Conference, September 26-28, right at Trinity. It’s $25 for men and $15 for students. Mark your calendars for Friday 7-9pm, Saturday 9am-Noon, and Sunday 10:45 am.
Fun small group
Small groups can be really fun. For example, one group is hanging out tomorrow at a Bowie Baysox game against the Binghamton Mets. If you want to, you can join them in Trinity’s parking lot at 5:50 p.m. to drive over to the stadium together.
The game starts at 7:05 p.m. and the tickets are $9 for adults and free for children under 5.
New Christians welcome
If you recently asked Jesus to be your savior and king, then feel welcome to contact the church office to set up a time with another Christian to go through the basics of the Bible and your new life in Christ. We’ll use this booklet to help you grow spiritually.
My wife expects our first daughter in November. When a child is born, nobody expects it to get everything needed alone. Jesus refers to your new salvation as being “born again,” and you need to let others care for you and feed you the things you need until you can feed yourself.
The scoop on Trinity’s neighbors
Click Demographic results if you would like to see more demographic info on the community within a 5-mile radius around Trinity. Thanks to the Potomac District Ministry Center for their help on getting this from Percept.
Woodards moving to Virginia
Dear members at Trinity,
In our continued preparation for world missions service, we are moving to Virginia to get out from some financial obligations so that we can serve without hindrance. Our final official Sunday is August 31st. Pastor Tino will schedule a going-away party/baby shower in September, as well as a brief visit on a Sunday in December to introduce our newly-born daughter to the congregation. Thank you The Lord used each of you at Trinity to bless us and prepare us for ministering in South Asia, home of most of the people groups who’ve have never heard the gospel. I look forward to not only serving as one of your missionaries soon, but also keeping in touch with many of you.
Jonathan (and Quinn) Woodard
Kids Camp
Trinity’s group of kids had fun joining with over 240 other kids from Assemblies of God churches throughout the Potomac District for a week of summer camp at Pine Creek Camp. Five chaperones accompanied our 27 children. Special thanks to Bethel Assembly in Savage, MD, for lending their bus and bus driver. View pictures here
Racially integrated
I ran across this CNN article called “Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated.”
Good news is: Trinity is racially integrated. We love it that way. Its almost taken for granted, because its so natural. But when you read this article that says only 5% of American churches are racially integrated, you count yourself blessed. I’m guessing, but it seems our congregational makeup is as follows:
- 40% of our congregation were born in Africa (mostly Nigeria, followed by Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, and a few francophone African countries)
- 25% White
- 20% African-American, who’s parents were born in US
- 5% Hispanic
- 5% Carribean
- 5% Indian
Trinity used to be an predominately white church, until 20 years ago. Praise God for the change! May we continue to be the church with heart to each person in our community.
New Nursery Toys
Last Saturday, Ruthie Beck and LaTrice Ferguson went on a Wal-mart shopping spree to purchase all new toys for the Trinity nursery. LaTrice’s daughter got to tag along, and they did a wonderful job selecting. The old toys were discarded. Several of the nursery team members had met on previous Wednesday to discuss the best toy choices.
Playground moved behind gym
During the past week, the play equipment has been relocated outside on the grass area behind the gym. Its the same equipment, but an improved wooden fence around it. The playset is mostly used by Trinity Child Care. This move will allow for upcoming expansion of facilities for Turning Point Academy.
You can pass out red LIFE tape at The Call DC
On August 18, people will once again gather, this time to the National Mall for TheCall DC, to pray for the ending of abortion and for a national awakening. From 10 AM to 10 PM a crescendo of prayer will arise. During our time of prayer, we will once again stand as we did on July 7th last year with LIFE tape over our mouths. Our silence will speak louder than words.
Bound4LIFE needs your help to make this possible. Will you be one of the 1,000 volunteers making LIFE tape at TheCall for what will be our largest Silent Siege yet? You can turn one roll of red tape into 300 pieces of LIFE tape to hand out to the crowd around you.
Our indirect progress serving HIV/AIDS sufferers
One of our missionaries, Cynthia Calla, M.D., of LIfeRise Ministries, wrote a kind personal update for our church. (I had asked how her ministry is related to WAGRA)
Hi, Jonathan,
Thanks for your email. I hope you are doing well, and everyone at Trinity. I greatly appreciate Trinity’s support — thanks so much for your partnership in the gospel. I feel it is a great privilege to serve those who are suffering because of HIV/AIDS — they need the grace of the Lord more than any other people in the world these days.
I am familiar with WAGRA. It is the world AG disaster response — they respond to earthquakes, floods, and other emergencies. The Superintendents of the various countries come together when there is a disaster and give offerings and then the offering goes to that AG fellowship in the country where the disaster is. I think some if not a lot of what they give towards is rebuilding AG churches destroyed in the disaster.
Although HIV/AIDS is an ongoing disaster (6,000 people die every day), it is not considered the kind of disaster that WAGRA would respond to. There are relief and development needs in compassion ministry. Relief needs are immediate, emergency needs. Disaster needs fit in to relief. Development needs are the long-term, sustainability needs (the “teach a man to fish, rather than give him a fish” needs). HIV/AIDS has both types of needs.
Regarding my grants, I’ve been on a 3 month journey now to get my grants process in place. I’ve had to do a lot of research on the internet regarding international grantmaking, which is a whole field in and of itself. The process involves incorporating US laws, including IRS laws regarding funding only bona fide charities and ensuring that funds are used only for charitable or religious purposes, and also US Treasury laws regarding funds not being diverted towards terrorism. Also, I’ve developed a system where my grassroots evangelical partner in the developing country has to provide to me goals, measurable outcomes, activities, and costs, and then report on these quarterly and also provide final reports at the end of the one year project that the grant will fund. I will likely get my first “application” out next week to the first of my 9 partners who will receive a grant. This is a group called MOJOVI (Christian Self Help) in Kenya. Then, he has to fill out his outcomes, etc. and send them back for approval. Then we will sign a grant agreement which details all the terms and conditions of the grant. There is a lot to the process. It is amazing to me how much money is given overseas without all the accountability and verifiability that I’ve built into my process. My process is designed for good stewardship on my end and on the grantee’s part. The ultimate goal is to transform the lives of the beneficiaries through evangelism and health and social services and also build the capacity of the local grassroots organizations for compassion ministry. No doubt I will still improve the grants process more as I go and continue to learn, but I believe I have an
excellent start before the Lord.
Thanks for your prayers and support,
God bless,
Cynthia
Next Membership Class starts in August
Pastor Tino meets with people considering becoming a member of Trinity Assembly. He explains opportunities, expectations, vision, history, beliefs, etc. He meets with the class for 5 or 6 Sundays from 9:45AM-10:30AM
Like school teachers, he takes a break in the summer. The next cycle of classes begins on the 3rd week of August. It usually meets in the conference room near the pastors offices. If you’ve come for awhile, and like it, contact here.
Foreclosures affect small local congregations
A local bi-vocational minister called Trinity looking for assistance. He explained that due to economic hardship of so many individual members of his congregation, his church has had substantial trouble paying the lease for their church meeting site.
I invited him to attend our monthly pastors growth group each Tuesday, which he can’t do because of his side job. I gave him several valuable local resources that have helped me in the past.
I gave him the phone # to another bi-vocational minister who attends our pastors growth group.
