Giving Thanks

November 18, 2011

Scripture commands the faithful to give thanks (1Thess. 5:18). Thanksgiving is not optional. But it’s not a chore either. The grace of God through Jesus Christ naturally wells up and overflows in thanksgiving – in all circumstances no less. As you take time to personally prepare for our country’s annual Thanksgiving holiday and set the table for feasting, don’t forget to root your thanksgiving in the gracious work of Jesus Christ through His Spirit in your life. Consider…how have you grown spiritually this year?  How has your family grown? How have we grown as a church family even?

As we ponder things we are thankful for, I want to mention a recent event I’m thankful for and encouraged by—our “A Taste of Thanksgiving” ISI International Student Outreach dinner that took place this past Wednesday evening.  What a great example of “enhanced engagement” into our community, which is one of TFC’s key areas of emphasis and vision we have talked so much about recently!  To show you how this worked….

This past Wed. evening our faithful “kitchen ladies,” who provide a hearty meal each Wednesday before our ministry programs, were asked to stretch and prepare a Thanksgiving meal as we invited local international Richland college students to join us.  (This group of students have been interacting with our missions team members Liz Shaw & Tommie Hibberd.  Tommie & Liz are working with Bridges International and Campus Crusade at Richland to host Bible Studies and social events at TFC for these students).  We thought Thanksgiving would be great time to get to know these students, fellowship with them, and introduce them to a uniquely American holiday.  (Thanks to Michele Roberts for envisioning that it could be done and for cheering us on from home as she recovers form a back injury!)  The missions team stepped up to help advertise, invite members of our Body to be dinner conversation partners and to coach conversations.  Last year we encouraged TFC families to “save a spot” at their Thanksgiving dinner tables for international students, but had an underwhelming participation of only 3 students.  This year we held 20 spots for students at our “A Taste Of Thanksgiving” Wednesday night dinner, and  20 signed up, plus a few more!  All were warmly welcomed.  Well fed.  Encouraged by the conversations, games, and opportunity to share reasons for gratitude.  The students felt like they were part of a family Wednesday. They sensed and were warmly welcomed into what we feel is to be a core component of our identity as a church: a loving family with a multi-generational reach. I suppose we should expand that concept appropriately to include “multi-cultural” as well.  With the new friendships formed, I imagine we might have even more students invited to the homes of our church family in the future. Thanks for reaching out.

So, with an overflowing heart of thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior, and to you as a church Body for reaching out to those around us in Richardson, I am most thankful.

In Christ,

Keith Hileman
Interim Pastor

TFC A Taste Of Thanksgiving Dinner


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Posted by cbatzing

FROM TRINITY TO TANZANIA—WOMEN’S MINISTRY CONFERENCE #1

March 4, 2011

Sally Bock (2nd from left) & Margo Gillory (far right)Sally Bock and Margo Gillory of TFC just got back from Tanzania where they were part of a 5 women team that led a Women’s Ministry Conference in Mtwara, in the southern region along the east coast bordering Mozambique. This trip was in partnership with Bent Tree Bible Church& Nothwest Bible church, who we have a 3 year partnership with that’s goal is to address the training gap in Tanzania over the next several years by sponsoring conferences and seminars for pastors and women leaders.

During the Feb. 17-27 trip, Sally & Margo helped teach the Tanzania women on topics such as Biblical Interpretation, Personal Spiritual Life, Health and Hygiene, and Conflict Resolution. All curriculum was provided by ALARM.

Sally wrote a great personal update on the trip.  To read her account of the trip, click here:

Women’s Tanzania Trip #1

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Posted by cbatzing

ALARM Tanzania Pastor’s Conference Update

December 23, 2010

Trinity Fellowship, Northwest Bible Church, and Bent Tree Bible Church are partnering together with ALARM over a three year period to provide pastoral and church leadership training in Tanzania. A primary emphasis of ALARM’s ministry to pastors is a three year certificate program called the PLTI (Pastoral Leadership Training Institute). A similar 3-year program is also offered for women (WLTI = Women’s Leadership Training Institute).

Trinity Fellowship Church and Northwest Bible church partnered to host a general pastor’s conference in Morogoro Tanzania from Nov. 15-19, 2010. The goals of the week were to represent the ministry of ALARM to the church leaders in the central region of Tanzania, and introduce the three-year PLTI certificate program. The 4-member teaching team included  Keith Hileman (Associate Pastor and elder) and Randy Pardue (elder) from Trinity Fellowship Church, and Ken Fifer (Director of Missions) and Aaron Armstrong (Assistant Minister of Outreach).

The ALARM Tanzania country director Justin Kiwovele suggested that the conference emphasize two crucially-important and over-arching themes of the pastor’s personal Spiritual life and a biblical model of servant leadership. The team distributed the topics, crammed in some prep time, and flexed significantly throughout the week as the schedule demanded, need invited, and the Holy Spirit directed.

70 pastors participated in the week’s conference representing a spectrum of denominations (quite a few pentecostal, assembly of God, and a few Lutheran and Episcopal leaders sprinkled in), church sizes, years of experience, and educational background. Only a handful of the pastors any formal Bible training. One of the most exciting aspects of this group was the presence of 20 committed, energetic, and friendly Masai pastors. The Masai are an unreached people group of cattle-herders distributed across central and eastern Africa known for their diligent commitment to their cultural heritage through traditional dress, medicinal practices, and tribal identity. Beautiful pictures of tall Masai men and women in colorful tribal dress regularly grace the covers of National Geographic and outdoor magazines. However, it is estimated that the evangelical Christian presence in this hard to penetrate culture is somewhere between <.5% to 2%. We were blessed to get to know and be encouraged by 20 faithful Masai pastors, including a bishop who was especially encouraged that the younger pastors among his people were being blessed with solid teaching and the invitation for even more through the ministry of ALARM. The 2nd translator for our week (and ALARM staff member from Arusha Tanzania) Robert is also Masai. The relationship connections were truly blessed by God.

It is difficult to show an overfull week of ministry, teaching, encouraging conversations, and overflowing joy in a few pictures and movie clips, but hopefully the week’s highlights come through in the 9 minute movie linked below. Note especially the brief comments from Robert summarizing the success of the week. From ALARM’s perspective it was very fruitful. The pastor’s were greatly encouraged by the teaching and the ministry of ALARM. All sorts of doors were opened for ongoing ministry relationships. Additionally all of the pastors signed up with interest for the 3-year training PLTI program. With the Spirit’s clear direction and provision, and ALARM’s guidance the 3-church partnership hopes to begin the PLTI in May-June 2011. From that point the pastors will gather together for 2 weeks at a time, twice a year for three years covering all sorts of topics from Biblical interpretation, theology, homiletics, church leadership, and conflict resolution and reconciliation.

The Dallas ALARM partnership is also excited to offer 2 week-long general women’s ministry conferences in February and March 2011 in hopes of launching a similar 3-year women’s leadership training institute. The location of such an offering remains to be determined by the direction of the ALARM Tanzania directors Justin and Anna Kiwovele.

Thanks for your interest in the missions partnership with ALARM and Trinity Fellowship, Northwest Bible, and Bent Tree Bible Churches as we serve to strengthen Christ’s church in east Africa for sake of transforming villages, communities, countries, and continents in proclaiming the glorious reconciling power of Jesus Christ.

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Posted by Keith

10 Things TFC Women Should Know About Tanzania

November 23, 2010

1. We’re going there in 3 months! Three trips are planned to hold women’s conferences in late Feb. and mid-March. Each conference will be teaching 50-80 women on the topics of Biblical Interpretation, Personal Spiritual Life, Health and Hygiene, and Conflict Resolution. All curriculum is provided by ALARM.

2. We’re in a partnership. We’re going with some really amazing women from Bent Tree Bible and Northwest Bible.

3. We get to model what God can do when women work together. As the first multi-church partnership like this for ALARM, we are women from various churches working together here and in Tanzania in the harmony of the Gospel.

4. You don’t need a seminary education to teach at a Tanzania women’s conference! Curriculum, training and preparation are provided.

5. A first-hand report is coming. Keith Hileman and Randy Pardue are there right now, and will bring back more information for us about what we can expect when we go.

6. You can pray and go, or pray and send/encourage.

7. The trip costs will be approximately $2800 per person. Two women from each church will make up the teams for the three trips.

8. Margo Gillory and Kelsa Waite are two of those women from TFC. Margo will co-lead a trip (with a lady from Bent Tree) in February, and Kelsa will co-lead a trip in March.

9. Trip preparations and team meetings begin December 5!

10. WHETHER YOU WANT TO GO, SEND, PRAY, OR ENCOURAGE, WE CAN ALL PARTICIPATE IN GOD’S WORK AMONG WOMEN IN TANZANIA! Find out how at our informational meeting on Monday, Nov. 29, 7-8:30pm at the home of Randy and Cindy Pardue, 6614 Clubhouse, Dallas 75240. Randy and Keith Hileman will share from their recent trip and we’ll give many more details of the women’s trips. RSVP to Diana Calvin or the church office.

Diana Calvin
TFC Women’s Director
dianacalvin@trinityfellowship.org

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Posted by cbatzing

Equipping Church Leaders in Tanzania—A Partnership with ALARM, TFC, Northwest Bible Church & Bent Tree Bible Church

October 28, 2010

The Christian church is growing so fast in many African countries that pastors and leaders begin to minister with little instruction or support in maintaining their own spiritual walk. Then they are alone to lead and disciple others. You may remember that we spotlighted the ministry of ALARM (http://alarm-inc.org/) and it’s director Dr. Celestin Musekura at our annual missions conference earlier this year. Celestin founded “African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry” out of his own personal experience from the 1994 Rwandan genocide with the central purpose of equipping churches and church leaders with the powerful Gospel ministry of reconciliation as the only sure foundation for all lasting change in tribes, communities, countries and the African continent. Celestin is a gifted leader with a big vision and a talented staff with respected influence in central Africa from tribal pastors to high-ranking government officials. We are blessed to be able to partner with ALARM for the advance of Christ’s church across Africa.

Last spring Trinity Fellowship Church formed a mission partnership with Bent Tree Bible Fellowship and Northwest Bible Church. The three churches desire to help address this training gap over the next several years by sponsoring conferences and seminars in Tanzania, Africa. The heart of ALARM’s church-training program invites selected pastors and women’s leaders to participate in three-year programs, where leaders gather for two weeks at a time, twice a year. The influence is multiplied as participants in the pastor’s and women’s leadership institutes commit to train at least ten people in their churches and communities as they progress through the material. At present, the plan is to formally begin the pastor’s and women’s leadership institutes (PLTI and WLTI) in 2011. But first the candidates for those programs must be identified.

Our first step is to host a general pastor’s conference scheduled for November 15-19 in Morogoro, Tanzania. Sixty pastors from western regions outside of Dar es Salam area will be attending. Keith Hileman and Randy Pardue from our church will be joining Ken Fifer and Aaron Armstrong from NWB to help lead the conference. Please be praying for their preparation and travel. Also pray for those pastors and leaders who will attend. Our desire is not only that they received solid Biblical training, but that they will be encouraged by the conference and clearly led by God to participate in the pastor’s leadership institute.

Even as we make last minute preparations for the pastor’s conference next month, women’s ministry leaders from the partner churches are beginning to plan for three consecutive women’s ministry general conferences to be held in the same general areas outside of Dar es Salam in February 2011 as the gateway for a three-year women’s ministry leadership institute.

One of the most exciting components of this ministry is the partnership. ALARM proposed the idea of local churches in the states working together in part as a way to leverage resources in a focused project. But far more importantly, the vision of local churches in Dallas serving together on the ground in Africa is a powerful testimony of the unifying power of the Gospel in a part of the world where tribal identities are often stronger than church allegiances, and pastors rarely work together. I love to imagine and pray how in our experience God might choose to bless our partner churches with a greater witness to unity in Christ across Dallas as we serve together.

Thanks for praying for ALARM. Please be praying for the details and ministry of the pastor’s conference (Nov. 15-19). And be open to how God might be calling you to get more involved in this partnership. We will have plenty of opportunities to give, go, and share the real of Christ together with churches of Tanzania.

Ron Turner, Missions Committee Chair
Keith Hileman, Associate Pastor

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Posted by cbatzing

God’s Glory Through Missions

March 2, 2010

As youth pastor at TFC, I try to help our youth get a feel for missions. Periodically we schedule short term mission trips so our kids learn first hand about being in a different culture, serving together with others, and being challenged spiritually in new ways. There’s just something about short term mission trips that makes a huge impact on students. And their spiritual growth is one of the reasons I like for them to experience being a part of these trips.

But our spiritual growth is only one of the reasons for missions. Christ loves the world. He has asked us to show His love to the world too. We do this by not only sharing the Good News but also by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless and teaching the uneducated. So we also do missions for others’ good.

However, I believe the main goal of missions is God’s glory. “In missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God,” according to John Piper in his book Let the Nations Be Glad. God’s greatness is magnified as we, and others, do what God has already done for us. Our ultimate motivation to reach out and “make disciples of all nations” is because He has reached out to us.

Our high school students have a chance to experience missions and reach out to others by participating in a short term trip this summer to Peru from July 17-24. And our entire TFC body has a chance to experience missions March 3-7 during our annual Missions Week conference. Come participate and give God the glory as we see and hear firsthand how missionaries all over the world are serving the Lord. And let God be glorified as we reach out to the world around us.

Fore more information on the youth Peru trip, click HERE. For more information on our Missions Week schedule, click HERE.

Keith Mason
Youth Pastor

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Posted by cbatzing

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