Join us for the next Starting Point Group!

Beginning January 23rd, this 6-week course will equip you to grow spiritually and provide you with a solid biblical foundation for your life. It’s also a great way to build relationships with others!

Starting Point Group will meet at the Bells’ house from 7-8 p.m. Childcare is available if you sign up beforehand. You will need to purchase The Purple Book (available for $5 at the Welcome Table) and fill out the first chapter before the first class.

Sign up below for life change!

What does it mean to live a life with God?

Have you ever wanted to experience God’s presence tangibly? Are there sins or life patterns that you’re struggling to get rid of? Would you like to pray better, and discover new Spiritual gifts? Do you wonder what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

JIM CRITCHER, Associate Pastor of Grace Covenant Church, and friend to Trinity New Life Church, will be leading us in our first event of this sort, called Encounter. Encounter is a new experience that we’re excited to offer to you, where you’ll have the chance to engage God experientially on a deeper level than we’re often able to acheive on a typical Sunday morning.

Great! What are the details?

Join us on January 21 at Baypointe Church (5238 Mile Stretch Drive, Holiday, FL) at 8:55am for this life-changing event.

The cost will be $10 for individuals and $15 for couples. Lunch, and coffee and snacks will be provided. You can pay the day of the event but MUST REGISTER AHEAD OF TIME!

It’s the 3rd annual TNLC Christmas party!!!

The party is hosted at the McNeills’ on Sat Dec 17th at 6:30-8:30

Appetizers and desserts will be provided, and childcare will be provided for children 5 and younger, but all kids are welcome. If you’d really like to help with food, email Allison and let her know.

We’ll also be exchanging White Elephant gifts (under 5 bucks). Naughty or nice, your choice!

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

Ready for another chance to SERVE THE CITY?!?!

This November we will be partnering with One Community Now (a collection of church in West Pasco that we are a part of) to provide winter coats for the Cold Weather Shelter, run by Impact Family Ministries (also a part of One Community Now). Click those linky-links in the last sentence to find out more about the actual ministries.

This is a great opportunity to provide a practical need to our local community! All you’ve got to do is bring your coats to the worship service on Sunday and we’ll have a collection bin for them. Boom! City served!

One last though before you rush off to your closets: If you’re a parent, take this opportunity to teach your kids the joy of serving and sharing. Explain what we’re doing, and that we’re doing it because Christ gave to use when we needed it but couldn’t earn it, so we’re doing the same thing. Pick out a few of their coats and let them choose which one to actually donate. Let them come into the service and place it in the collection bin. Begin a family tradition of serving and loving together!

YOUR CHANCE TO SERVE THE CITY!

Trinity New Life Church is a member of One CommUnity Now, a “a network of churches, non-profit community organizations and business and community leaders working together throughout West Pasco County to serve and bring to Pasco the hope and love of Christ through our unified prayer, acts of service, compassion, and love.”

This year we get the exciting opportunity to participate in the second annual Serve Day, which will take place on August 6th. Local churches around the county will be going to local schools to serve in whatever capacity the school requested. As luck (well, not really, I asked) would have it, we’re getting the chance to serve the school we hold services in, Trinity Elementary!

The Serve Day will begin at 7:30am with prayer and refreshments at Trinity Presbyterian Church. The morning gathering will end at 8:30am, and we’ll head over to Trinity Elementary for three hours of serving, finishing up at 12pm. There’s multiple areas to serve in, including paining, cleaning, unboxing, laminating and room setup.

Don’t let this opportunity to impact our community pass you by! We’re looking for 30 volunteers for this event, so let’s make it happen, everyone!!!

To download more info, grab the PDF of the flyers here and here.

BAM! Healthy Kids Day at the Gills YMCA!

Join us for one of two shifts (9:30am-12pm or 12-2pm) to help hand out water bottles and freeze pops to everyone there. If you know how to open a cooler or use scissors, you’re qualified!

All you have to do to sign up is fill out the form at the link below. See you there!

SIGN UP TO SERVE

Join us for a relaxed evening with great food and an opportunity to meet our pastor and TNLC church leaders! The dinner will be from 6:30-8 p.m. on April 4th at the Bells’ house.

Newcomers is the perfect environment to meet others who are new to the church and discover more about our heart and vision for TNLC. Childcare is provided for those who signup before online or at the Welcome Table.

Please RSVP by completing this form. See you there!

The kiddos will have their own playroom and a babysitter for the younger ones, so the (kinda) grownups can have a great time together. And no, you don’t need to wear a tacky sweater…unless, of course, that’s your style…

Join us at 1344 Lenton Rose Ct with a side dish or dessert and a big ol’ smile. See you then!

CONSPIRACY OF GENEROSITY

This Christmas season Trinity New Life Church will conspire against consumerism by giving generoulsy to three key areas

OUTSTRETCH

In an effort to Serve The City, we are beginning a relationship with Odessa Elementary School, so we will use a portion of the offering to provide breakfast to the entire staff as they begin the spring semester, as well as meeting student school supply needs.

OUTREACH

As a church plant, we love church plants, and want to serve Aletheia Church in Boston and SouthCoast Church in Miami this season. We want to bless Aletheia with 100 chairs for their facility, and SouthCoast Church with a much-needed sound system for services.

OPPORTUNITY

Finally, we know great and unexpected opportunities will be presented to us in 2011, and we want to be in a position to respond immediately to them.

We will take up a special offering December 12, believing to raise $5,000 to be a blessing in these areas. Please join us in prayerfully consider how you’ll participate in this conspiracy of blessing!

As you heard yesterday, we’re beginning to partner more and more with Odessa Elementary, located in right in Trinity and home to our very own teacher extrodinare, Carly Schrader. This Monday night, November 22, you have an opportunity to help them get ready for the holidays!

From 4-7 p.m. volunteers will meet at Odessa to help set up Christmas decoration. So grab your work gloves, find an excuse to get off work early, and we’ll see you there!

Oh, and if you’re wondering what to do when you get there, just ask for Carly Schrader. That’ll get you on the right path!

Wanna rock the city while keeping it hydrated?

Join us October 16th (Saturday) at the Gills YMCA as we serve the hundreds of parents and kids participating in the YMCA sports leagues. With just a bottle of water and icee pop you’ll get the chance to bless the city and share with everyone about Trinity New Life Church!

We’ve got two shifts, one  from 9-10:30 am and a second from 10:30-12pm. Sign up below!

Should Trinity New Life Church burn a Koran? No.

Can we burn one? Legally, yes, we can.

We can, but we shouldn’t.

In what I can only assume is the result of living in the same city as the University of Florida, a Gainesville pastor recently said he was going to and then decided against burning a Koran. A pastor of roughly 50 people in northwest Florida was given national and international attention because he wanted it. In other words, mission accomplished. He says his motivation was to serve as a warning, but I’m not sure who he was warning, what the warning was, or what he expected in result.

This man is clearly about his own agenda and not the agenda of Christ. Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), not to make them mad, flaunt their cultural biases, and gain media attention. Those who are far away from Christ are not brought near to Him by mocking, jeering and insults. I can see no way in which the lost Muslim was considered an enemy to be warned in this situation, instead of being rightly considered a lost person to be prayed for and reached out to. Thus I must conclude this pastor was seeking his own agenda, and not that of Christ. Offense is not absent from the gospel and from Christ (Jesus is the rock of offense himself 1 Peter 2:18) but we must strive to make his message of himself as the exclusive means of salvation and relationship the stumbling block, not our presentation of it. This man, and those who are now following in his example (I won’t link to them to add to their lust for attention) are exhibiting the very antithesis of Christ’s message (Matt 5:44) and offer nothing in congruency with the Gospel.

Yet this event does not exist in a vacuum from other religious controversies. In fact, the pastor said he would call off his planned burning if the NYC “mosque” plans would be abandoned. I won’t hold my breath. These two events just can’t be separated, particularly because they display two very different applications of the same principle.

Earlier I stated TNLC has the right to burn a Koran. So does the nut-job pastor. The group seeking to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero also has the right to do so. It’s permissible. But is it beneficial?

I don’t think it’s just fear-mongering and racism driving the opposition to the community center. I think there’s just a fair amount of people who see it as a right to build but an incredibly insensitive thing to do. The Muslim community is asking for a legal right to not be exercised in Gainesville because of the cultural insensitivity and religious ignorance it would display. However, as many Americans are asking the same thing of the Muslim community, they are being met with “show tolerance, change your sensitivity.” I’m confused how the same request of the moron pastor isn’t being understood as the same one asked of the leaders of the community center project? You can, you have the right, but please don’t because it’s too painful.

What very few will admit is involved in all of this is the desire for the government to protect and/or promote a certain religion. Christians and Muslims can’t have it both ways- either we allow the free exercise of religion or we don’t. It’s the exercise of that freedom (thinking of how those in another faith will respond to an action and adjusting accordingly) which should be one of the many areas Christians separate themselves from others. We do not consider others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3).

I am not for the government promotion of Christianity and suppression of Islam, but I am concerned at the government and media bias the other way, which is so quick to protect and offer Islam the benefit of the doubt while allowing the very same desecrations to take place against Christianity. A crucifix in urine is given an award for art, regardless of how this would offend Catholics. The US Military burns bibles so as not to offend Muslims. Muslims burn bibles in Pakistan, but Rick Warren doesn’t threaten to burn a case of Korans in response. Christians in Gaza fear for their lives as Muslims burn bibles and destroy crosses. An effigy of the moron pastor is burned as retaliation for the threat of burning a Koran. Muslim converts to Christianity are routinely attacked for their faith. And while the city of New York is rolling out the red carpet for this community center, they fight tooth and nail against churches meeting in their city, including one small church they’ve been fighting for 15 years.

The answer is more compacted than rights- we’re in a spiritual battle (Eph. 6:12), and spiritual forces are both masking and twisting logic in these discussions. We must be hearers of the word, doers of the word, lovers of God and people, and love our local and global neighbors as ourselves. We must be quick to give a defense to the faith which we hold. We must understand how we believe is just as important as what we believe. And in all things, we must understand it’s the Lord’s place to bring victory over an enemy/issue/situation, not our wise and persuasive words. We must join with him on his mission of seeking and saving the lost, not on the forceful expansion of a theocracy. Every attempt to make Jesus a king by force was roundly rejected by the one who already was king.

1 Corinthians 10:23 “You say, “I am allowed to do anything”–but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”–but not everything is beneficial”

Who’s hungry?!?!

In case you’ve missed it, bring you, your friends, your momma and your appetite to our pre-game tailgate on August 29! From 9:30-10:15 before church we’ll be grubbing on some amazing IHOP pancake breakfast. If you’ve got one, make sure you wear a jersey from whatever team you’ve got one from.

Be there, or BE HUNGRY!!!!!!

• Updated CONNECT page
• Updated Sunday Service page
• Calendars you can subscribe to!
• Brand-new archive page of our previous sermons all in one place!
• New homes for our photos and videos
• A Resource page with tons of links to help you build your faith in Christ!

Whadday think? Did we miss anything? Let us know if you’d like us to add something and we’ll work on it!

Epic. Huge. Awesome. Incredible. Par-tay!

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. But you really don’t. Not yet. Not until you come celebrate/worship/party with us on August 1 as we celebrate the one year anniversary of the first-ever meeting of anything called Trinity New Life Church.

On August 3, 2009, 14 people gathered in our home to pray and discuss what it would look like to start a new church. A church where the gospel would not only be proclaimed, but lived out. A church where people looked out for the interests of others, not just their own. A church where people love their city and work to serve it, not just exist in it.

This was the beginning of Trinity New Life Church.

And while there were months of small meetings, trials and errors, preview services, room changes, mistakes and successes before our first weekly service took place on March 14, 2010, we want to take a moment to remember all God’s done, and all he’s going to do to see His kingdom come and His will be done through TNLC. So we’re throwing a beach party on August 1 to celebrate!

Instead of meeting at the YMCA that Sunday morning, we’re going to be heading to shelter 9 at Fred Howard Park (don’t worry, there will be signs!) at 10:30 for a shorter service (childcare still provided!), enjoy a big ‘ol BBQ lunch, and then head down to the beach to celebrate life change through water baptisms!

This is going to be legen…wait for it…DARY!

So mark your calendars, get your bathing suit ready, figure out which side or dessert you’re going to bring (sign up here) and come early and eager to celebrate Jesus!

PS- If you’re interested in getting baptized send me an email to let me know.

The Gills YMCA is partnering with The Katelyn Foundation to offer free swimming lessons to both members and non-members who are on financial assistance as part of the Open Doors program.

Download a flyer and take advantage of this opportunity to help your kids learn to swim and love the water!

I know this is tragic, but it’s hitting me harder than normal. Maybe it’s the fact they’re my age. Maybe it’s the fact one has four young children. It’s certainly the fact that one’s wife is nine months pregnant and just went into labor with their first child. My stomach is sick. I want to throw up. As a friend of mine asked on Twitter, “WTF is wrong with people?”

But now we get to the problem. I know what’s wrong with people. Sin. Sin causes them to shoot the cops. Sin caused their previous crime. Sin caused this whole situation. Sin broke our hearts, our relationship with God, even creation itself. Sin is at the root of this whole massively tragic tale. Sin.

They were white cops and they are black suspects, but this is not a race issue. This is a sin issue. This is an eternity issue. I can only hope these two men knew Jesus, that they loved their God and are now seated with him. I pray this man’s wife feels God, and her husband’s, tangible presence as she delivers their first child. I don’t even know if that’s theologically right, but I want it to be.

But what of the suspects? Many are already calling for them to be gunned down in the same manner, but we must pray justice to be done. I am thankful this takes place in a state with the death penalty . I don’t think it’s a deterrent, but I do think it’s a means of justice. I know not all will share this thought. I don’t know if I will share it hours from now.

Yet what of their sin? I wonder, have they ever heard the call to repent and put faith in Christ? Did anyone reach through their circumstance to share the hope and power of Christ? They are 100% responsible for their sin and its consequences, as we all are, but what if they’d repented, been discipled?

We are not planting a church to play nice. We are not planting a church because I like the sound of my own voice, or because you needed something new and different and cool. We are planting a church because sin is rampant and there is only one solution. Education, law, government, Republicans and Democrats couldn’t have prevented this situation, nor will they prevent it in the future. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ will transform and renew someone down to their core nature. We must be compelled in every fiber of our being to take this Gospel to those who need it.

Because we never know which side of the gun we may find those we didn’t share the Gospel with.

The Gills YMCA will host a Splash Bash event for members and non-members on July 24, a great opportunity for our church to meet and serve the community we’re called to reach.

Click here to sign up for the 10:30am-12:30pm shift or the 12:30-2pm shift. Take advantage of this great opportunity to SERVE YOUR CITY!!!

Bring your own basket and hop on down to the Gills Family YMCA this Friday, April 2nd, from 6-8 P.M.!

It’s not if you’re going to be at TNLC this Sunday. We already know the answer’s “YES!”

It’s a question of influence. A question of love. A question of friendship.

A question of eternity.

The question is…

Who are you bringing with you?

Who do you know that needs to meet Jesus?

That needs to be set free?

That needs a RESET on life?

That, my friends, is the question you need to be asking. Someone was asked the same question one, and their answer was you.

Will you return the favor?

But more than anything, churches need PRAYER!

In light of this, I’m throwing down a challenge to have at least one person praying and fasting for TNLC every day from now until April 11th. A list of starting prayer points (please add more as God leads you) can be found here on our TNLC website.

Before you freak out about fasting and what is and how you do it, check out the helpful links below. If you’ve never fasted before, of any kind, this is the perfect opportunity!

1. Prayer and Fasting
2. Types of Fasting
3. 6 Practical Steps for Fasting

Remaining dates

1. March 5
2. April 8
   

Which ones are you crossing off the list?! Need to join with us on a date already taken? No problem! Leave a comment below and we’ll sign you up as well.

Join with us today!

While we’re preparing and planning like crazy down here, there’s room for you to come and be a part of this historic event. Donny Fisher and the ENCM crew in Tallahassee will be coming down to help us reach out into the community to love and serve them, letting them know about the launch of TNLC.

The team will arrive the afternoon of March 10, doing outreaches Thursday and Friday mornings and afternoons (your evenings are free) and then all-day Saturday in prepping for Sunday’s service (which you’ll help and attend).

The cost of the trip is JUST $50, plus whatever you’d like to spend on food and entertainment. How great is that?! How can you beat a missions trip to see the historic first service of a church for just $50?! You can’t. That’s why you need to contact Donny Fisher at donny[dot]fisher[at]everynation[dot]org right now to make sure you get one of the limited spots.

Do it now, and see you in March!

If you haven’t already found an avenue to do so, and since Trinity New Life Church won’t be meeting this weekend, we wanted to direct you to three places you can give to help relief efforts:

• Compassion International
• World Vision
• Samaritans Purse

Please continue to be in prayer for the nation, and be encouraged by some of the amazing stories already coming out of Haiti. God bless.

The missing mission team of four women from King’s Park International Church was located, and all are doing fine

Moments ago, Pastor Brent Garrard of In Focus Church contacted someone in the Augusta, Georgia, area who has communications into Port-au-Prince. Connections were made, and Wayne Graham spoke with his wife Linda in Haiti.

Linda reported that she and the other team members — Kellee Metty, Lisa Lewis, and Dr. Julie Zervos — are all “doing great.” They’re ministering in a soccer field and caring for people injured or left homeless by the 7.0 earthquake that rocked the island nation yesterday. Linda even helped to deliver two babies last night!

Thank you for your prayers!

Please continue to pray for healing, love, mercy, provision and God’s grace to be upon everyone in Haiti, and consider donating through any of the avenues that are readily available.

As 2009 comes to a close, many look to make year-end contributions to charitable organizations. We’d like encourage you to make an eternal impact with your finances through the ministry of Trinity New Life Church. Here’s an example of how your finances are used to impact people:

At our recent December 13 service, 20% of the offering collected at the end of service was donated to Metropolitan Ministries, a local service organization, helping them provide for families in need over the holidays.

While this was taking place in our sanctuary, two children in New Life Kids told their teacher how much they loved their first experience, and were so interested in “that Jesus,” because they’d never heard His name before and couldn’t wait to come back. While buying a book or helping to pay rent may not seem significant, it’s the type of giving that creates the environment and opportunity for life change.

Please help us continue to impact the lives of others by contributing all or in part towards the the following items:

• $5,000: Start-up cost (media, sound equipment, etc.)
• $2,000: Community events to serve and love our city
• $1,500: 3 month facility rental fee
• $1,300: Video camera to increase our creative media ability
• $300: 60 Bibles for new believers
• $100: 40 guides for new believers to learn how to share their faith
• $20 per month as a TNLC partner

All contributions to TNLC are income tax deductible. Donations can be made online before January 1 by visiting www.EveryNation.org/Trinity. Checks can be made out to Trinity New Life Church and mailed to 1629 Crossvine Court, Trinity, FL 34655 and must be postmarked by December 31, 2009.

Thank you so much for your partnership in making an eternal impact!

Blessings,
Clayton Bell, Lead Pastor

To 10:30 a.m.!

In the process of updating our rental agreement with the YMCA, we were also able to agree to a new service time! This is a great move for Trinity New Life Church- it makes thing easier on families to get home for naps, you get back more of your afternoon after church, and it’s a lot easier to go have lunch together after.

We’re so excited about the move, and hope to see you on January 10th at 10:30 for our next preview service!

19 days and counting. Will you be ready?

RSS readers click here if you can’t see the video.

We’d like to thank all of you for coming out and making the night so much fun. The event was sponsored by Trinity New Life Church, a brand-new church meeting in the YMCA on Sundays at 11:15 a.m. We’d like to invite you to attend our first service on November 8. Click here to find out more.

We’re also excited to announce our raffle winners!

Amanda Brandenburg

Is the winner of the $25 gift card to Zim Zari!

Chris Roth

Is the winner of the $25 gift card to Lowe’s!

The gift cards will be available at the front desk of the YMCA Monday, November 2. If you have any trouble collecting the gift card, please contact us and we’ll resolve the issue quickly.

The costumes were so creative and well done our judges had a difficult time choosing winners. You can click through to our Flickr page for larger versions and to download any photo of your family. Contact us for the full-sized version of any image.

Thanks again for attending the event, and we look forward to another great one next year. Please feel free to browse around the website, and let us know if you have any questions about the church.

God bless!

These smoke-gray shirts are pre-shrunk, 100% cotton Anvil shirts, and they are dead sexy! With the large symbol on the front, you feel like a superhero when you put it on. Well, at least I do. So here’s how you get them-

• Join the Launch Team- Hey, I’m shameless. Come help us make history!
• Live in the area and agree to wear the shirt out in public and tell people about the church when they ask you where you got such an amazing shirt!
• Help serve during one of our preview services- You don’t have to be local to qualify for this. Anyone who comes to help gets a free shirt! You don’t have to wait for an official team to come down, you can just visit. Let us know if this is you!
• Partner with us for at least $20 per month- Look, it’s going to take at least $30,000 to get this bad boy up and running; can’t you spare $5 a week? $5 a week to change history, change lives? You’re more than welcome to partner with us for more per month, but if you agree to send in $20 a month, one of these bad boys might just show up on your door!

Alright, there are your options! Which one are you taking?

November 8th is the first preview service for Trinity New Life Church, and it’s official that it will be held at the YMCA. We’ve been in talks for a while now to rent the facility, but today was the day I signed on the dotted line.

We couldn’t be happier about partnering with the YMCA. Perfect people, perfect location. They’re a first-rate organization, a key fixture in the community, and their facility is wonderfully situated to host the entire family on a Sunday morning. Plus, the potential to partner with their community activities helps us to fulfill the “Serve the City” element of our mission.

So consider this your first (but not last) official invitation to the first service of Trinity New Life Church, November 8th, at 11:15 a.m., at the James P. Gills YMCA.

See you there!

Congrats to (L to R):

• Defensive player of the game Hunter McIntosh
• Offensive player of the game Ricky Trinidad
• Special Teams player of the game Codi Folsom

Pray for victory this week against Ridgewood!

Thanks to the brilliant and kind folks over at Moore Consulting Group, Trinity New Life Church finally has an identity in graphic form!

I’m in love with this logo. And while Trinity is a clearly a Christian word, it’s in the name of the church because it’s the name of the city where we’re planting the church, and I wanted the focus of the logo to be “new life,” the simplest explanation of the gospel in my opinion.

The logo also communicates the reason why TNLC exists: to love Jesus, love people and serve the city. “Love Jesus” is represented by the roots going down deep into the soil, as our love for Jesus is the source and motivation for everything we do as individuals and as a church. As a result of those roots going down deep, two leaves are produced-“Love People” and “Serve the City.” We don’t love and serve others to get Jesus to love us, but do so out of our love for Him and His love for us.

In the coming days I’ll post a few desktops in case you’d like to stare at it’s coolness all day long, but for now, here’s a few backgrounds for my iPhone-lovin’ peeps. Just right-click on the images to download the full-sized version.

The time has come- August 2nd will be the first meeting for those interested in being a part of Trinity New Life Church!

On August 2nd we’ll have our first informational meeting/dinner about TNLC. We’ll spend the first part of the evening eating together and getting to know each other. After the food and fun, we’ll spend some time talking about what it will look like to launch TNLC, and what it will look like to be a part of the launch team.

We’ll provide the main course (hamburgers and hot dogs) and would just like everyone to chip in on a side, drink or dessert. We’ll provide directions and parking instructions once you RSVP. Also, please let us know if you’re bringing kids (who are welcome) who will be eating.

Not in the area? You can still play a part!

• Tell a friend in the Tampa area about the church plant and interest meeting- Just fill out this form and we’ll contact them about the meeting. You know you know someone in the area!
• Pray for the meeting- We can never have enough prayers on our behalf!
• Repost this on your blog- Even if you don’t know someone to invite, perhaps one of your blog readers does. Let’s use our social networks for the glory of God!

God is going to do something incredible, and I hope you’ll join us in being a part of this amazing adventure!

Right now we’re still in the brainstorming phase, but the plan is to organize weekend missions trips (leave Friday after work, serve Saturday, drive back home Sunday) that will take place starting in late October and continue right up to our March 14, 2010 launch date. The planned outreaches will look to serve and bless the community, while at the same time letting them know about Trinity New Life Church.

We’ll keep you posted on all of our planned events though this email feed. Thanks so much for your partnership, be blessed!