Praise the Lord for New Beginnings!

Today is a day filled with newness! You begin a new journey with a new pastor. My family and I begin our new life in a new place. And, as is often the case, there is an air of excitement and anticipation around our new beginnings. And I can't think of a better way to propel ourselves toward accomplishing future goals than by re-focusing ourselves on our common denominators. That is why I am so excited about this new series called Forward through the Basics.

Over the next few months we'll celebrate and rejoice around the great doctrines of our faith. These are the basics that we all hold common: the Deity of Jesus Christ, the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, and many others. But, as we move forward through these basics, we'll grow united under a common banner...which will ultimately propel us forward to years of faithful ministry for the glory of God!

I am convinced that, as we preach and proclaim these great truths, we will grow to love one another with the love of Christ...and ultimately desire to make Christ's love known to our community, nation, and world.

So join the staff and I as we celebrate the great doctrines of our faith and move Forward through the Basics!

Pastor Josh

A Letter from the Missions Committee

We are actively looking for short and long term Missionaries from our church. If you feel the call of God for missionary service, please see any member if the Missions Committee for further direction. We would like to discuss your plans and help you pray for God’s direction. You will be given an opportunity to share God’s plan for you with the church. Upon approval of the Missions Committee, you will be reimbursed up to fifty percent of your travel and lodging expenses.

As always, every church member is invited to attend our Missions meetings. We have an announced meeting at least once a month.

For more information see Glenn.

Don't Miss the Wednesday Night Children's Class this Summer!

Parents,
We are having a great time learning this summer in our Wednesday night class. This is a class for anyone AWANA age, although we are all together. We meet each Wed. night in the children's wing in the basement. We have a theme this summer. The children know that when I ask "Is honesty the best policy?" they answer "No, it is God's ONLY policy"

The whole summer we are talking about subjects relating to honesty. This week it was GOSSIP. Last week was INTEGRITY and the week before was LYING. This week we will be talking about the Golden Rule and why we need to be honest with others.

After our lesson, we have about 25 minutes of singing. We sing fun songs and will start this week on some new worship songs. Some of the singing have movements and the kids LOVE this! Please bring your child and be a part of our Wed. night group! We plan pretty soon to sing a song during a worship service and would love for them to join us!

Samantha Montgomery

No AWANA Until August

Thanks to all the people who helped during the year with AWANA, and with the AWANA fun night we had to end the year with. All the help is greatly appreciated! Please be in prayer about your role in AWANA during the next year. For those of you who do know, we need teachers and assistants for children ages 2-5th grade. We will also need game time leaders and other volunteers to help out for special events like parties or special programs. There is a place for anyone and everyone!

Starting Wednesday night, June 3, we will have a children's summer program start during the regular worship service. We will start at 6:15 and end when church is over. We will have a devotion, or lesson, and then we will sing. This will take place of choir on Sunday nights for summer. You do not have to be a member of children's choir to be here, this is for any child! Please, let's don't get our children to thinking that church stops when AWANA stops!

Thanks to all in advance!
Samantha Montgomery

Easter at Tharptown High School?

That’s right. We’re trading our pews for bleachers and our pulpit for a basketball court. For the first time in history (or at least in my lifetime), we will be taking our worship service to the community instead of asking the community to come to us.

Easter is a special day. As a church, we worship the risen Savior. Even lost people in our community know that there is some “spiritual aspect” to the day, but I fear that many do not know the true gospel and the true meaning of Easter. They will not, for whatever reason, come into these doors at TBC and sit with us on our pews and hear the gospel.

My prayer is that this change of venue will remove a barrier for those people. Maybe some will come because of your personal invitation. Some may come because of curiosity. Whatever the reason, may the Holy Spirit work in the hearts of the lost sitting in the bleachers so that they will have a desire to hear the gospel preached. And may the risen Savior be glorified as we “raise the roof” in that gym on Easter Sunday morning!

Bro. Jamie

Fireproof Your Marriage... Is it possible?

Fireproof Your Marriage. Is it possible? Yes, come tonight for dinner and a movie to see how. I’ve seen the movie and look forward to seeing it again this evening. I won’t spoil it here for those of you who haven’t seen it, but here’s a teaser: One of the characters has preached at Tharptown!

For the last several weeks the idea of thinking biblically and applying scripture to everyday situations has been on my mind. I suppose the catalyst has been my disgust at how “me oriented” our society is. Many, many times I see secular advice being doled out with little regard to what the bible has to say.

So, the Truth Matters Sunday School class started a short study titled “Thinking Biblically in Everyday Situations” today. We began today in James 1 and we’re going to spend the next several weeks studying this topic.

If you’re not enrolled in one of our small groups here at TBC, we’d love to have you come and study God’s word with us. And here’s a promise for visitors: You won’t be called on to read, pray, or answer questions in class. So come on!

God Bless,

Bro. Ken

Biblical Families/Fireproof

It seems the focus lately here at Tharptown has been on the family. And that is a good thing! There has never been a time in history when the biblical family has been under such assault. It seems that everywhere you turn, there is someone telling of the demise of another family. We have all been impacted by family failures in the past. Church family, take heart! There is hope for our families and that hope is found only in Jesus Christ. Come join us as we as a church family journey towards being biblical families at home. Bro Paul Washer is leading us through a powerful series of sermons focused on our families. The young couples Sunday school class has just begun a study on how to have a biblical family. And next Sunday night there will be a special emphasis on the family as we host a viewing of the movie Fireproof. Invite your family as well as those in our community for this special evening. Biblical families are foundational for biblical churches. May God be glorified in our families and in our church!

-Jody Kiel