We have entered the holiest of all weekends for us as Jesus followers. As we approach this Easter Sunday, we want to invite you to read and check out all that is happening!  We already had a wonderful and meditative Good Friday service Friday evening.  Thank you to all who participated in that service and to all who attended.  Eli was able to give a great Gospel message as well.

Easter will be celebrated well so be sure and read all the different ways you can celebrate Easter next weekend. It will be a delightful weekend of opportunities to worship a risen Savior! Don't forget that this Sunday and Easter we will have a station set up for free pictures to be taken. Bring your family and enjoy our photo booth.

I want to invite our church family to join together to come back for services on Sunday night at 6 pm. Nick Coelho will be preaching a message entitled The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's the only message with eternal ramifications for all people everywhere, so bring a friend if you can.  Sunday evenings are a great time of worship, study and fellowship for an hour. I would love to see you there!  

Have you begun your local mission trip to invite someone from work, or school, or friends to our Easter weekend services? We have several to choose from:

 - Good Friday service at 7 pm on Friday the 18th. This is a night of worship and reflection on Christ’s death.
 - Sunrise service outdoors here at church at 7:30 am to begin the celebration that Jesus is alive!!! We plan to have breakfast afterwards!
 - 10:30 am Easter celebration as we worship our risen Savior!

These are great events to invite people to. After all, we do not want to keep Easter to ourselves! This world is looking for hope and peace, so let’s show them JESUS!!

This Sunday I plan to preach on the Gospel of Easter and how it originated with our Heavenly Father and His great love and mercy for us! God is soooo good!!

Today marks a new and exciting chapter in the ministry of TBC as Pastor Pat Hand will be taking over as the Interim Pastor of the Church.  He has many years of experience in the ministry and has a genuine heart for God, for God's people and for the local church.  I trust you will show him a kind and warm welcome.  His wife Carol could not be with us today, but she will arrive on Wednesday from their home in Canada.  

This evening we will have our regular monthly Men's and Women's Ministries.  For the men we will be looking at a vital subject:  The Discipline of the Mind.  The battle of the Christian life is largely fought in and with the mind.  The World, the Flesh and the Devil are all trying to capture our minds.  Please come this evening to discover how to be victorious in this area.  The women will be looking at their identity in Christ as a comforted comforter.

Thank you for praying fervently that our church will have God's blessing as we move forward.

Sunday morning we will be looking at Colossians 3:1-11.  After the exhortation to "seek things above", Paul gives two lists of sins that God hates and encouragements to live victorious lives.  Please pray God will help us live lives pleasing to Him.  

Sunday evening we will look at verse talking about the "coming of Jesus Christ" and how we are to think and prepare in view of His coming.

After finishing the series on the Basics of the Christian Life, we are going to dive back into Colossians.  We finished the doctrinal section in chapters 1&2.  Now we are going to be looking at the practical section of how to live in view of what we believe.  We will start with asking what is our worldview.  Colossians 3:1-4 gives us very practical advice on how to keep right with God in a world that has a very different worldview than Christians.  If you have time to memorize these 4 verses, your eternal life will greatly benefit as you apply what you learn.

Sunday evening we are going to look at what the Bible says about the "Coming of Christ".  There are several different comings mentioned in the Bible.  Some verses apply to all Christ's comings, some to one in particular.  Several remind us that His coming will take many by surprise -- therefore watch!  Please come ready to think.  

Tomorrow morning we will be looking at the second half of the final message on the Wheel Illustration picturing the Basics of the Christian Life.  I hope you can name the various parts of the Wheel and all five Spokes.  Maybe I will give a test tomorrow morning -- just kidding!  Several people have named them for me and have said they have been a help.  The subject of finances and giving have honestly been used by God to show me that He is real throughout my life.  This subject is very important to your spiritual growth and maturity.

We live in a world that constantly lures people saved and lost into struggles of sin and addiction.  We may know sin is wrong but find ourselves in a seemingly hopeless struggle to find victory.  I have been studying the biblical truth that is the first key to genuine permanent victory over any and every sin.  Sunday evening we will do a survey of a key word that God uses.  I will give 12 examples of how that word is used.  My hope is that one of them will resonate with each of us so that God can use that to help us in time of temptation.  Even if you are not struggling with an addictive sin, others are and this truth can help you counsel them. 

Tomorrow I am going to look at the last Spoke in the wheel illustrating the Basics of the Christian Life.  This Spoke has done more for me personally in helping to see that God is real and is involved in our daily lives than almost any other spiritual discipline.

Sunday evening we will have another brief missionary update by Rob Hannover and then the deacons will be presenting the suggested contract with Vital Church and possibly answering questions on Sunday evening.  The vote to move forward with Vital Church and the interim pastor is tentatively scheduled for next Sunday evening on March 9.

Tomorrow is an exciting day for us as we will have Pastor Pat Hand preaching for us in the morning service.  Today after basketball several people came to meet and talk with him.  He is very easy to talk with and to like.  He has a genuine heart for God and is a good preacher who has been a traveling evangelist for about 13 years of his 50 year ministry.  He will be preaching on, "What is So Great about the Great Commission."   I genuinely believe he will fit beautifully into our church ministry as an interim pastor as he and I have much in common.  After the morning service he will be around the auditorium and lobby to talk with people.

On Sunday evening we have our normal monthly Men's and Women's Ministry.  This has become a genuine highlight of our church monthly schedule.  After the group discussions we will meet in the gym for a fellowship meal.  This will also be another good opportunity to meet Pastor Pat Hand. 

Tomorrow morning we will be considering what the Scriptures say about one of the most searched words online: Love. In a world that associates the word love with just about everything, it is important for us as believers to know the truth about love and what it looks like when we live it out in all our relationships. This can be literally life-changing for many!

For the evening service, we are grateful that Pastor Dan Wolf will join us and bring what the Lord has put in his heart.  Rob Hanover will also be giving a missionary update on the Cerna family in El Salvador.

On Sunday morning I plan to look at the 4th of 5 "spokes" in the Wheel that illustrates the Basics of the Christian Life.  I trust you will put these truths into practice as I believe they will keep you strong in the faith.  This is a great way for you to help newer believers and even your children as years go by.  I have used it many times through the years to help disciple newer Chrisitans.  

Sunday evening I want to look at a passage in Acts that will cover a topic we will not have time on Sunday morning to explain but I believe will help you maintain a good balance and understanding in your Christian walk. 

Tomorrow morning we are looking at the 3rd of 5 spokes in the wheel that illustrates the important basics of the Christian life.  These messages are vital for every believer.

Sunday evening we will have a Family Meeting.  If you have any questions, you can send them to this email.  Thank you for praying during this important time. 

We have been looking at the Basics of the Christian Life pictured by an old fashioned wagon or stagecoach wheel.  We will look at the second spoke tomorrow.  At the beginning of the year it is good to ask if I am staying on track in my spiritual life.

Sunday evening we will have our monthly Men's and Women's Meetings followed by a fellowship.  These are always a great opportunity to connect and discuss important topics that will keep us sharp for God.

Last Sunday morning, we began looking at the wheel illustration of the Basics of the Christian Life.  The center is Christ.  The Rim is Obedience.  We will look at the first of the spokes tomorrow morning.  Please pray that God will use these messages to help newer Christians grow and older Christians to become more established and to know how to disciple younger believers.

On Sunday evening we have the opportunity to have Dan Wolf preaching for us.  He always does a great job and is interesting and challenging.  Also Rob Hannover will give us a missions update so we can pray more effectively for our missionaries.

Tomorrow I am going to begin a brief series on the basics of the Christian life.  These truths are exciting to me because they will transform anyone's life that takes them seriously.  They are valuable tools for those discipling others.  Thanks for being faithful.

Last Sunday evening we looked at how to use the 7 sayings of Jesus Christ to witness to unbelievers.  This Sunday evening I want to show you another very effective, powerful and simple method for sharing the gospel.  Both last week and this week involve telling or reading a story which makes it interesting for the one considering.  See you Sunday evening!

I trust you had a great New Year celebration.  Tomorrow we are going to look again at the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Mt 22 but this time to focus on the servants.  The servants in that parable are tremendous examples to us of how to serve God in our everyday lives.  We see a clear picture of what God expects of His servants.  

Sunday evening I want to do a practical lesson on how to share the gospel.  I have had many opportunities this past year of witnessing to people either during door to door visiting or people who have already heard but were not yet saved.  I want to share some ideas of how to be more effective as a witness.  In weeks to come, if you have some ideas of how to catch and hold the attention of people to hear the gospel, we would like to learn from you also.  Soulwinning is the most exciting thing we can do.  Please come.

As we come to the end of the year, it is good to do some review of our life.  What have we learned?  What are some areas that we should work on?  A few years ago we looked at the parable of the wedding feast that the King arranged for His Son.  As I was reviewing that passage, I saw several important topics that would help us to evaluate our lives and our direction.  Please pray God will work in all of our lives.

 We will not have Sunday evening service since we are going to have a New Year's Eve fellowship at 6:30pm, Tuesday evening.  After eating we plan to have a brief meditation about 7:15 from the Word with possibly a few testimonies about something God showed you this past year.  After that there will be plenty of time for the cut throat board games or fun in the gym or a movie to watch.  It should be a good time of fun, food and fellowship.

Tomorrow we will look at a Christmas message which will consider God's Ways as revealed in the Christmas story.  Sunday evening we will have the blessing of a musical program entitled "The Weary World Rejoices".  A number of our musicians and singers will remind us of the blessing of Christ's birth.

The cold weather reminds us that Christmas is coming.  Sunday evening we have the Sunday School Christmas program.  This is a great opportunity for young people to express their faith and give our church an opportunity to see the good job our Children's program is doing.  We will hopefully have a number of relatives come to encourage their grandchildren, nieces, nephews and children.  Please pray for them.

Sunday morning, I would like to do a quick review of Colossians 1 & 2 and then finish the last 3 verses of Colossians 2.  I hope this series is helping you like it is me.  I trust we are not only learning truth, but believing it, and putting it into practice.  Next week we will look at the Christmas story.

Tomorrow morning we will be observing the Lord's Supper.  In God's sovereignty, we will be focusing on the cry and prayer in Ps 22 which was quoted twice in the drama -- My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.  Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning?  This cry has probably been uttered by many people through centuries of time since David penned the words 1,000 years before Christ.  We will see tomorrow that Jesus cried them from the cross.

At 6 pm, we have the privilege of having James Liang preach for us.  He is a young man who attends our church and works with college students at UCONN.  We have had a number of UCONN students coming to church over the last semester.  Pray for him that God will use him in a special way.