This Week @ Twin Cities Church!

Hey everyone, Rethink Leadership is Saturday. I really didn’t know how cool the FREE gift we’ve been promising would be until they arrived today. Wow! I can’t wait to give one out to everyone who comes on Saturday. Don’t miss out on this morning of inspiration, insight and impact! We’ll begin at 8:30 with a FREE continental breakfast. Make sure to go online and register. You’ll be glad you came.

On Sunday over 750 people signed a card saying they would take the 2012 5/5 Prayer Challenge. I was so moved by your overwhelming response. I know that many others are doing it, but putting it down on a card was just too much to ask. In a couple of weeks I hope to have a bookmark ready to help you with the 5 prayers for 5 minutes at the start of each day. Here they are: Praise, Priority, Provision, Pardon and Protection. If you missed Sunday’s service, you’ll want to watch it soon and be sure to listen for the “My Story” from Kevin Simas and how the Jabez Prayer Challenge has rocked his world. Prayer works!

This Sunday we get to talk about another Rhythm – Fast. We’ll hear about a seldom observed and yet powerfully transforming spiritual practice that will impact us in a huge way. I also want to encourage you with the Read-Through-The Bible-Challenge for 2012. Read the Bible for some amount each day in 2012 and let God’s word change your heart. You can use our reading plan, YouVersion.com or any plan of your choosing. Make sure to send me emails or notes about how God is using this in your life.

Getting in rhythm with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church!

Hey everyone, we’re beginning 2012 with Rethink Leadership. We started this annual event a few years ago as a way of clarifying our direction and mission for the coming year. But, it’s more than that. We also use this as an opportunity to give us tools that will help us all be better! If you’re like me, you want to grow, and this event is designed for everyone who wants to grow.

Rethink Leadership is January 28 at 8:30am. The event is free and includes continental breakfast, teaching experiences, singing, and a gift for everyone who attends. You can get information and sign up right now online or you can sign up this Sunday. This is for everyone who calls TCC home.

Our U8 team should be arriving home TODAY! I ask you to pray for a smooth reentry back to life at home for these folks. For two weeks they have been in a very foreign environment compared to what we experience. They have eaten foods, experienced pain, suffering and poverty, worshiped with abandon, and loved on children. They will be fatigued and yet full of wonder at what God did in them while gone. Please pray for everyone involved in the reentry back home because it almost never equals what they and their families might expect.

This Sunday we get to talk about another Rhythm – Pray. I want to encourage you with the Read-Through-The Bible-Challenge for 2012. Read the Bible each day in 2012 and let God’s word change your heart. Make sure to send me emails or notes about how God is using this in your life.

Getting in rhythm with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Monthly Food Drive!

2012 is going to be a huge year for our church family. It’s going to be a year of change, definition and vision. It’s going to be a year of opportunity, transformation and mission. I am so excited (even in my medically induced state) for what God is going to speak into our lives in the coming months.

I want to let everyone know about the “Read The Bible Challenge” from this past Sunday. We’re challenging each of us to read the Bible every day in 2012. Rick Henderson did a great job on Sunday of helping us see why it’s important from Psalm 1. Let’s all engage in the Word of God each day in 2012. Many TCC folks use the reading plan we give out as a guide or tool to help them stay on track. You can get the same reading plan or look at others that might work better for you at www.youversion.com. Another tool we have to help is the Life Journals available in our Next Step Bookstore.

This Sunday we get to talk about another Rhythm – Stop. Last week we said that we need to Dive in with God’s people and God’s word. This week we’ll talk about the need to stop everything, to get silent, so we can hear from God.

The latest we’ve heard from our U8 team is that they are safely in Uganda and being used dramatically to show the love of Jesus. Will you make it a point to pray for their mission, impact, safety and travel smoothness? Let’s pray with faith that many hundreds of lives will be impacted by the ministry of our people who are going global.

Getting in rhythm with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church!

Hey everyone, 2012 is going to be a huge year for our church family. It’s going to be a year of change, definition and vision. It’s going to be a year of opportunity, transformation and mission. I am so excited (even in my medically induced state) for what God is going to speak into our lives in the coming months.

I want to ask a favor – you might even call it a special request of you as we begin 2012 with our series called Rhythms. Will you make it part of your normal rhythm, even make it part of your spiritual commitment and discipline, to be in our services every time you’re in town. We will be planning each week with the belief that God wants to speak into our lives, individually and corporately, as a church family. Here’s the rest. When you’re not here, please watch the service online at some point during the week you missed. We have our services online by Tuesday each week.

Our online service allows people to be introduced to our church before they ever come to our facility and stay connected even while they’re out of town. After our last Christmas Eve service, a couple came up to me and said that they watch our services each week online. They called themselves a satellite church of TCC in Virginia. I’ve had people introduce themselves to me and say, “I’ve been watching you online the past months. I feel like I already know you.” Isn’t that cool? Others let me know that they watch our services each time they miss, and they love how connected they are able to stay.

Our U8 team left today for the long trip to Uganda. Will you make it a point to pray for their mission, impact, safety and travel smoothness? Let’s pray with faith that many hundreds of lives will be impacted by the ministry of our people who are going global.

Looking forward to 2012 with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church!

You are a wonderful group of others-focused people, and I love doing Kingdom life with you. What a privilege it was to serve with the hundreds of you who made our Christmas Eve services a huge highlight for so many. I can’t remember when we’ve had a Christmas Eve experience with such a high level of ownership by all. Thank you for your attitudes that represent the self-sacrificing life of Jesus

I especially want to thank the entire Celebration Arts Team for the hundreds of hours they spent planning, rehearsing and then actually performing. It is such a privilege to serve with such devoted servants. The really cool thing is that everyone…from parking lot volunteers, to ushers, to coffee bar baristas, to dancers, to singers, to techies, to foodies, to children’s ministry workers, to yours truly… EVERYONE who served did it to make sure our guests and family got to see and experience Jesus.

Please pray for all those who said, “Yes!” to receive or renew or reflect on the message of Jesus. I know God touched so many with the clear message of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, Immanuel.

I also want to thank you for your generous understanding toward all of our committed volunteers and servants about why we changed our service times last weekend to Friday and Saturday. I look forward to a new year of vision and purpose as we celebrate our 20 years of doing God’s work together here in Western Nevada County.

FYI – in order for your giving to be attributed to your 2011 records for IRS purposes, you will need to give online or by mail (must be postmarked by December 31) or by bringing your offerings to the church office. We will close at 1:00 on December 30.

Looking forward to a new year with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Christmas Eve Services!

Hey everyone, I am praying for the friends and family you have invited to our Christmas Eve services. If you haven’t yet, I know there is still time to re-gift the gift of Jesus to someone else. A lady told me on Sunday that the concept of re-gifting Jesus has changed the way she is approaching Christmas. Another woman told me that the concept of re-gifting Jesus motivated her the following week to share Jesus with a person who said “Yes” and crossed the line of faith. That is awesome! If you missed the service on re-gifting Jesus, you can watch it online.

Since we’ve moved our service times this weekend to Friday and Saturday that means we won’t have services on Sunday, December 25. I will include a Home Church Guide in your program for Christmas Eve which you can use to slow down and sit with Jesus in your home.

Just a heads up that not meeting on Sunday will impact your General Fund and Year-End giving opportunities as we end 2011. So, here are some options you can choose from for your giving. We will receive offerings at all of our Christmas Eve services on the 23rd and 24th. You can give online anytime, or send your check through the mail, or bring it by the church office (We will be closed December 26). Remember, giving must be made online, hand delivered or postmarked before the end of the day December 31st to be credited to your 2011 charitable donations. If you are making a stock transfer, it must be transferred into our Schwab account by the end of the day on December 31st.

Remember that we will only meet at 9:35 and 11:15 on Sunday, January 1.

May you see Jesus in a fresh way this Christmas and allow Him to fill you with all of His fullness!

Believing in Jesus with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Monthly Food Drive!

I am still thanking God for the NINE people who said “YES” to faith in Jesus as their Savior in the past two weeks. I continue to express gratitude for the way God blesses us with His fruit. Nine individuals nailed down their eternal destiny and began their walk to become like Jesus. I am also grateful for how you continue to be concerned for your friends, loved ones and coworkers so much that you are willing to risk your own comfort by sharing Jesus with them.

Our Christmas Eve services will be a great time to invite folks to experience your God, your faith in Jesus and your church. Our goal this year is to be so crystal clear about Jesus that everyone can understand why He was born. I think you got a good idea of this from our service on Jesus as Savior. If you missed that day, please watch it online. God really used it in my life.

Since we’ve moved our service times next weekend to Friday and Saturday that means we won’t have services on Sunday. That will impact your General Fund and Year-End giving opportunities as we end 2011. Here are some options for you: Sunday services December 18, all Christmas Eve services on the 23rd and 24th, online or mail. You can also bring your giving by the church office. Remember that giving must be made or postmarked before the end of the day December 31st to be credited to your 2011 charitable giving. If you are making a stock transfer, it must be transferred into our Schwab account by the end of the day on December 31st.

This Sunday we continue our “Believe” series by focusing on Jesus as Christ. I know you’ll be drawn into a deeper appreciation for the way God works in our lives as we focus on this title given to Jesus.

Believing in Jesus with you,

Pastor Ron