“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine on us –– so that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among the nations. May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You.” Psalm 67:1-3

 

If you reread the printed verses, you will find that the psalmist begins talking about God  only to switch audiences and speak directly to God. This happens several times throughout the psalms. We are a blessed people at Trinity  Baptist Church. God is the one who blesses for sure. Though there are many things ahead of us, we are grateful for the faithful things behind us and blessed with the present direction God is placing before us.

 

The summer ministry opportunities are in full swing. Once again, we have completed, with help from incredible church volunteers, our Vacation Bible School and Mini-Kids Camp. Our children and students are gearing up for camps in July while making the most of each week’s gatherings to learn more and grow in community. Our prayers remain constant regarding the issues around the world. We are traveling our summer pilgrimage through a reaffirmation of choices or making choices   regarding our devotion and direction. God has a purpose. God makes it known to us. God’s purposes are really the best purposes. I am thrilled when I see us staying in the middle of God’s choices.

 

Please continue to pray for our New Deacon  Selection Task Force. They have continued to meet and research the direction for Trinity Baptist regarding the need for new deacons. One of the discussions before us this summer will be the role of women serving as deacons at Trinity Baptist Church. Let us continue to lift up Dr. David Sprouse, Scott Barns, Diane       Donaldson, Suzii March, Pennie Olivo, Dan Petty and Vern Stahl.

 

Remember that we will only have one service on July 7th. We will start with a worship service at 9:00 a.m. and then have Bible Study at 10:00 a.m. There will be a place for every Bible Study class to meet because a couple of classes have agreed to go to a new space for one Sunday. Thank you for all you do to help us do what we do. We are looking forward to our Family Gathering and Member Meeting this month. It will be our annual ice cream Sunday and game time.

 

Melinda and I are blessed to get to serve  Trinity Baptist church. This month marks our twelfth anniversary. I anticipate year thirteen and the future years to come. Thanks for loving us and our family so well.

 

 

“You, LORD, are my lamp; the LORD turns my darkness into light. … As for God, His way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him.” 2 Samuel 22:29,31

 

These two verses are part of the theme verse for the National Day of Prayer that will take place on May 2nd. The theme is “Lift up the Word, Light up the World.” It will be a special day as many in our nation will gather to pray for America. We understand that if we are to influence the world, we must begin where we are. God has blessings for His people and desires that they shine their light in order that God may be praised. Not just America, but our entire world needs to see this now more than ever.

 

God has set a path for our Faith Family to read through the Bible together in 2024. It has been a blessing to hear from many of you as to the LORD’s blessing from your obedience. Along with our reading God’s Word together, we have also felt the need to pray alongside one another. This is nothing new. We have prayed together for years as it is an important part of our church service and ministry. However, we will spend 48 hours of consistent prayer, from April 30 to May 2 praying for Trinity Baptist and our direction in God’s Kingdom. We have secured someone to pray each hour leading up to the National Day of Prayer and even have some time assignments with multiple people agreeing to pray. May God be praised.

 

Thank you, Trinity, for helping us prepare for the Eclipse Weekend. Some saw more than others but we all experienced the absence of light when the moon covered the sun. Not only did it look different but it felt different. My immediate observation was it didn’t matter how long it took to get dark, it didn’t take any time at all for the light to return. That is because the light never went anywhere. It was always there.

 

Much like God who never goes away but sometimes can become clouded because of what we place in front of Him. When we get things in order He is quick to shine in our lives once again. Shine in such a way that we reflect His light in our lives. God is light. In Him is no darkness at all!

 

Summer is just a page away on our calendars. It will be covered with incredible opportunities for shining God’s light. I hope you will make yourselves available for next step discipleship this summer. We are praying for a summer of transformation and not just a summer of marking off the days. May God do something among us that we cannot explain as we make ourselves available to His plan.

 

It is a joy to serve you as your Pastor.

 

In Christ,
Pastor John

God is so good! I am so blessed to be a member of a transformational and missional church. I am encouraged often by the words and actions of Trinity Baptist Church. It is hard to believe that two months of 2024 have already passed. As we lean into March, we are approaching the season of celebrating the Resurrection of our LORD Jesus. 

 

The Victor is in full swing and so are our  preparations to be ready when folks come to experience it with us this year. As a part of our preparation, we have added Victor Prayer Circles. We have encouraged our Bible study classes to gather and pray for those who need to respond to the message of salvation and hope through Jesus. We also have several homes who are inviting church member neighbors to come and pray also. We will cover many days and especially the days of our Victor offerings in prayer and anticipation.  

 

Also, in preparation, we are providing evangelism training at Midweek prior to the Victor. By the time you read this, there will be two more Midweek opportunities on March 6^th and 13^th at 6:00 p.m. We also have our Midweek meal at 5:00 p.m. for the best price in town of $5. Come and take advantage of being prepared to share the gospel in many different situations.  

 

We are in a new sermon series, “Who is this Man?”  We will be looking at the miracles of Jesus between now and Resurrection Sunday with the greatest miracle of all on that special day.

 

In Christ,

 

Our new year is fully underway. There is excitement as we think about where we will go and what we will do. God is exalted through the faithfulness of Trinity Baptist Church. I hope you are allowing our simultaneous Scripture reading to be a blessing to your day. I have heard more than just a few share how God is blessing this time as couples and families are reading God’s Word consistently. It is amazing how much the word for the day intersects the circumstances of the day in  positive ways. If you have not begun to read along with us, it is not too late. Pick up a Daily Bible Reading Plan 2024 and begin reading from the present date. God is honored when we put His Word in our lives.

 

The Victor is in full rehearsal swing. The Victor Choir is rehearsing and the Victor Drama groups will begin blocking scenes and memorizing lines. This is truly our gift to our community. What a blessing to see so many of our members taking on responsibilities of   telling the greatest story ever told.

 

This year I am hoping that we will add one more emphasis for the Victor. That emphasis is prayer. Prayer that those who have yet to    believe in Jesus will come to a performance with one of our members. We are praying now, and will continue to pray, that a spiritual    conversation would develop and lead to a   gospel presentation. We will share more of the details as they develop, but we are hoping to have what we used to call “cottage prayer meetings” as we get closer to our presentations. We will also be offering some evangelism training on sharing our faith prior to the Victor. God is so good to allow us to strategically plan for Holy Spirit encounters.

 

May we continue to be a reproducing community of authentic disciples being equipped as missionaries and sent by God to proclaim His Kingdom in our world. Milfred Minatrea’s definition of what it means to be missional has influenced my life for over 15 years. As I write this article today, I am anticipating a call with Milfred Minatrea in hopes of bringing him to Kerrville to fill our pulpit some Sunday. Oh, to move beyond what we have known and attempt that which will transform us. To God be the glory!

 

In Christ,

 

“And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down to worship Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  –Matthew 2:11

 

I love the Christmas story, all of it. The obedience of Mary and the obedience of Joseph are examples for us all. The devotion of the shepherds to go and see for themselves what was declared in the fields. The offering of travel from the East by the wise men who brought with them gifts for the newborn king. There are so many things that seem to compete with the real story of Christmas, but none of them offer the greatest gift of all.

Every character of Christmas has something to teach us; from obedience to worship, from worship to sacrifice. Once a year is not enough for us to grasp the great love God has poured out for us at Christmas. Remember, as we put up our nativity and carefully wrap the characters of Christmas, we remain on display all year for the world to see what difference the Christmas story makes in our lives. Because of Christmas, we live different lives. As a result of the resurrection, Christmas matters greatly.

 

We have been blessed in 2023 and are anticipating great things for 2024. We are a year closer to the LORD’s return. There are still people who need to know about Jesus, but we can never share what we do not have.

 

In 2024, Trinity Baptist Church is being asked to journey together as we read through the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. There will be a reading schedule for each day. We will do our best to get into your hands this schedule as often as it is needed. Our prayer is that there will be a plethora of members who have journeyed together at the end of 2024.

 

We rejoice in the assembling for almost a year now of our new space. It is a blessing to see how many times and in how many ways we are sitting together and sharing with one another. New Adult education space and student space is being used and we are seeing the fruit of new people almost weekly.

 

As we begin a new year together, I am reminded of a camp song from years back. “Yes, LORD, yes, to Your will and to Your way. Yes, LORD, yes, I will trust you and obey. What the Spirit speaks to me with my whole heart I’ll agree. And my answer will be yes, LORD, yes.” I am thankful there are so many who follow the LORD and who have said, “yes” even before they know the question. May we sense God’s direction and provision as we walk together.

 

In Christ,