This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Preparing for the Park!

Hey everyone, TCC At The Park is June 3 at Western Gateway Park in Penn Valley. We’re going to gather together in one service – every person who calls TCC home and their invited friends and guests – to celebrate God and His work through us in the past twenty years. I am completely amazed and humbled to have walked this road with so many of you. We’ve witnessed God use broken and ordinary people to help transform lives.

I am so fired up for this day! I can’t wait to see all of you gathered together in one service to focus on our great and awesome God. Get ready to experience amazing music, heart-warming stories of life-change, baptisms and a picture of the Biblical mandate we believe God has given us for the next ten years of our ministry together. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this opportunity for a long time.

This is a day to hang together so plan on eating lunch at the park. Immediately after the service and before the concert, we’ll have lunch. You can bring your own or you can buy a complete lunch for $5 at church on Sunday or just go online right now. It’s simple.

We’ll have 1000 chairs for those who want them. There will also be a huge grassy area for those who want to bring their own beach chairs and blankets. We’ll have a full Children’s Ministry complete with nursery for the babies and bounce houses for the older kids. Our kids will also get a wonderful presentation by a Christian Illusionist!

The gates open at 9:00 and the service begins at 10:00. Make sure to give yourself extra time so you can be relaxed and get the most out of the day. Remember to be as flexible as possible and to be an encouragement to those who will be serving that day.

This weekend will include everything an anniversary service should have, plus we’ll all be together!

See you Sunday,

Pastor Ron

**Remember that our monthly food drive it this Sunday!**

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Modern Family Life Begins!

Hey everyone, I want to thank you so much for the excitement you helped generate during our Heaven series. A woman stopped me today and said, “I want to thank you for this series. My mom is going to die this week. It’s been such a comfort to know where she is going.” Another person said, “I was so encouraged to know I will see my child again.” Folks, Heaven is a real place for real people with a real loving God.

I have two ideas on how to keep the energy going from this series. One, think of those in your world who need to know how to be sure they are going to Heaven. Begin praying for them and ask God for an opportunity to talk about the reality of Heaven and how to be certain of going there some day. Two, consider engaging in a Heaven study using the Randy Alcorn video series. Many of the questions we didn’t get to answer are covered in that study and his book on Heaven.

On Sunday we start a new series called Modern Family Life. Each year we take time in the spring to talk about relationships. How we relate to one another is a HUGE factor in our satisfaction and happiness in life. The family is the laboratory for spiritual growth and development as we learn to treat one another in a manner consistent with how Jesus wants us to live. It’s not easy to have a home where harmony is felt by all.

Modern Family Life is for everyone – single, married, empty nester, parents and grandparents. It’s amazing how the Bible speaks so clearly about family in a way that also applies to all our relationships. Personally, as I began my study for this series, I realized how much I needed a tune up or refresher on family life.

Looking Forward to Sunday,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Checking In

Hey everyone, God is moving in us. One of my life verses is from 2 Chronicles 16:9. “The eyes of the Lord search the whole Earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” I believe we’re seeing that as we humbly seek His face and commit ourselves to His mission.

We entered this year with several challenges designed to help us know God’s voice and will. How are you doing at the Read the Bible Daily Challenge? If you’ve missed or slipped, I want to encourage you to open your Bible today and jump right back into that rhythm.

How are you doing at the 2012 5/5 Lord’s Prayer Challenge? I have had so many emails and personal conversations with people who tell me those five P’s are rocking their world. One person said, “The Pardon prayer has allowed me to forgive three different people whom I had been holding captive. It feels so good to be free of that bitterness.” Another person wrote, “Asking God for His daily provision has allowed me to take my eyes off of my bleak financial situation. I am encouraged!” If you’ve missed praying these five P’s, I challenge you to say that prayer again today.

You can find out about the Read the Daily Bible Challenge and the 5/5 Lord’s Prayer Challenge on our website.

I think that those two challenges combined with our 28 Days of Prayer and Fasting have caused us to humble ourselves before our mighty God. I believe He has taken notice, and is supercharging all we do with His Holy Spirit. Think about these things as you focus on God this week! Be available for Him to use and bless.

If you’ve missed any of our Heaven series, please watch or listen online and catch up. Also, if you miss, you can always listen to the previous week’s service each Sunday morning at 7am on KNCO 830. This Sunday, we will focus on the question, “Will there be rewards in Heaven?

Looking forward to Heaven with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - A "Taste" of Heaven

Hey everyone, “Is Heaven on Earth?” This was one of the common themes raised as people were able to voice their questions about Heaven. That is a pretty weighty question. One thing for certain, this is not Heaven. Since Heaven is described as a new Earth, then how can this Earth be Heaven? Even though we may feel exhilaration at our experiences now, they in no way compare to what the Bible describes Heaven to be like.

What we experience now is just a “taste” of Heaven. Heaven will have nature, mountains, rivers, plants, fruit, animals, flowers and people. It will be a place of incomparable beauty. Nothing compares to the beauty of Heaven.

All pain will be gone. There will be no more tears. No more suffering. No more pain. All joy will be known. There will be singing. There will be dancing. There will be wholeness.

I can’t wait for Heaven. At the same time, I don’t get to choose when I go. So, in the time between now and Heaven, I am asking God to help me make the most of this blur of hours and days and decades. I want my life to be the kind that when I go to Heaven, someone can say, “He gave God glory with his life.” It’s not a life of perfection or completion. It’s a life of devotion. Here’s my prayer: “God, help me to bring You glory in all I do. In everything I do, let it be an act of worship.”

I hope you will come Sunday. If you missed last week, make sure to watch or listen online so you’re caught up as we continue our series, “Unseen: Exploring the Realities of Heaven.” We will focus on the question, “What will relationships be like in Heaven?”

Looking forward to Heaven with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Exploring Heaven

Hey everyone, “Heaven sounds awesome! I can’t wait to go!” That was one of the comments someone wrote on Sunday after the first message in our Heaven series. As much as I agree, I wonder if that’s really how we feel. It’s like the pastor who asked the church, “Who wants to go to Heaven?” Everyone raised their hands except a 10-year-old boy. After the service the pastor asked him, “Son, don’t you want to go to Heaven?” The boy said, “Yes, but I thought you were asking if we wanted to go today!”

I believe that many of us are just like this boy. How do I know? Well, because I am. On Sunday, I asked you to keep in mind how the reality of Heaven changes us. It changes our perspective on possessions, people and pain. Ask yourself, “How much time and energy do I give to attaining and maintaining stuff that I can’t take to Heaven?” Ask, “How much time and energy do I give investing in the people I can take to Heaven?” Ask, “How do I react to the pain of this world?” Your answers to those questions show the direction of your heart – toward Heaven or Earth.

Our theme verse for last Sunday was from Colossians 3, “Think about the things of Heaven, not the things of Earth.” What a challenge. Can we do that? It will take discipline, but it will also require knowing more about Heaven.

I hope you will come Sunday – if you missed make sure to watch or listen online to last week so you’re caught up—as we continue our series, “Unseen: Exploring The Realities of Heaven.” We will focus on the question, “What will I do in Heaven? Will Heaven be boring?”

Looking forward to Heaven with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - UNSEEN

Hey everyone, Easter! Wow! I want to thank you for your amazing generosity toward our Helping Our Neighbors Easter Food Drive. We took over a packed trailer and two pickup loads of food to help replenish the empty shelves over at Interfaith Food Ministry. The volunteers at Interfaith wanted to express their gratitude and appreciation. You blessed them, and they were able to turn that blessing around and help many of our neighbors this week.

As I wrote notes on Tuesday to all the first and second time guests who visited us for Easter, I was HUMBLY AMAZED at how many of our guests wrote one of your names down as the one who invited them. Folks, that shows me ownership, faith and understanding that Jesus and His church are the only hope our friends and families have. Thank you for your trust in us and belief that God will touch your friends and family while they are here.

I want to thank all the volunteers and servants who gave during our Easter season. In fact, so many people told me that this was our “best” Easter ever. I am a little biased, though, in that I think every Easter is awesome! Thank you for your love for what God continues to do in and through us.

We begin our new series on heaven on Sunday. After I went through the hundreds of questions you wrote, I could tell that this series was going to strike a chord. Thank you for sharing your honest questions about heaven through your Connection Cards on Easter. We will do our best to answer as many as possible.

You might want to consider either joining a Community Group that is going to do the Heaven DVD curriculum or coming to our special Heaven LifeSkills group that starts April 18, 6:30 pm right here at Twin Cities. Stop by the Groups table on Sunday to find out more.

Looking forward to heaven with you,

Pastor Ron

This Week @ Twin Cities Church - Easter!

Hey Everyone! Easter is the most important date in history. It’s not a holiday. It’s not about eggs and bunnies. It's not about religion. In fact, Easter is about one thing and one thing only – Jesus came back to life. Jesus was resurrected from the dead. All other religions, philosophies, traditions and spiritual practices are based upon the teachings or actions of a leader or group of leaders. Christianity stands ALONE because it’s based upon a person who was raised from the dead. Please be praying for those people you are inviting or plan to invite that they will come and hear how believing in a risen Jesus can transform them, give them freedom and inspire confidence in a life full of uncertainties and discouragement.

We’re also doing something very tangible as we help our neighbors this Easter weekend. After our last food drive, the volunteers who delivered the food items you brought came back and mentioned to us that the shelves at Interfaith Food Ministry are alarmingly low. They have even reduced their delivery schedule because the need is greater than they can currently fill. We’re going to help by doing an Easter Food Drive.

We will have bins available at all our entrances this weekend. I want to ask you to bring a can, a box or a bag of non-perishable food with you as you come to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Will you help us make a huge difference in the daily struggle some have just to feed their families? Let’s help encourage the people at Interfaith with a huge outpouring of generosity.

Make sure to pray for all the servants who will lead us this weekend. Also, please look for ways you can help someone feel welcome or included. Look around for those who seem to be hesitant or new and offer a smile. You might even ask if they need help finding their way.

Coming awake with you for Easter,

Pastor Ron