December 28, 2025 • 55 mins
Mark Medley opens Psalm 105 and invites us to practice gratitude so we can remember and retell God’s works among us. He frames the morning as “stones of remembrance,” rehearsing how the Lord formed belonging, deepened growth, and multiplied service in 2025—and how those simple steps will shape the year ahead.
Under Belong, Mark celebrates the fruit of a team-led pastoral model that equips the saints and makes space for many voices. Average attendance rose by more than 80 people each week. Thirty-eight new partners (17 families) completed the New Partners track. More than 15 babies were dedicated, and nine people were baptized. Community Groups ranged from apologetics, traditional skills, and business cohorts to support groups and “Dinners for 8,” while house-church style gatherings carried fellowship through the year. Trinity Christian Academy surged to 242 Friday co‑op students (104 families), added 45 high schoolers in Thursday core classes, and now connects 133 families across TCA’s ministries. Midweek equipping and a growing rhythm of Triads point to where we’re headed next.
Under Grow, Mark highlights Scripture at the center. The church moved through Nehemiah, the Sermon on the Mount, and Ephesians 1–3, with 127 people in a chronological Bible plan. Twenty-one days of corporate prayer and fasting pressed roots deeper into God. Leadership pipelines—Trinity Ministry Apprenticeship and the Timothy Team—multiplied emerging teachers and mentors. Marriage and parenting equipping, FIT classes, and young mothers’ discipleship helped homes become disciple-making hubs.
Under Serve, presence turned belief into action. Seven Serve Day projects mobilized 80 volunteers across parks, schools, assisted living, and downtown outreach. A providential building purchase provided long‑term stability and room for a sanctuary build‑out. Justice and mercy advanced through protecting human life initiatives, Street Hope, Hope Resource Center, and a thriving prison ministry. ROTC cadets found discipleship, meals, and mentors through weekly rhythms on campus. Partnerships with Empower School and Farm and Compassion Coalition deepened local impact.
Globally, our people touched five continents. Two Cuba trips trained leaders and helped purchase a house‑church property now hosting forty-plus people. In Tanzania, the Maasai community grew in discipleship and development as the Victoria Watoto School surpassed 150 students. Partners in France and Poland discipled young professionals and united churches, while next‑gen missionaries served in South Korea, Poland, Thailand, and Honduras. Sent Ones extended reach through Siberian Missions, the Ezra Project, and Thrive Ministries, including new translations and grief-care resources in Ukrainian and Russian.
Looking to 2026, Mark calls us to grow deeper to know Christ and make Him known. Imagine your next step—belong, grow, or serve—and join the story.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Mark Medley (00:02):
So Psalm 105 is where we're going.
If you have a Bible, you canturn to Psalm 105.
A lot of announcements todaybecause there's a lot going on
here, but a lot of a lot went onlast year, and this is what
we're doing this year.
This is uh actually our annual,it's a little different
service, and that is our annualTCC recap service so that you
(00:22):
can see, we can look back andsee what God has done in us and
through us through 2025.
Big year this year.
And here's the reason we'redoing this.
Psalm 105, starting in verse 1.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord,call upon his name, make his
name, make known his deeds amongthe peoples, sing to him, sing
(00:46):
praise to him, and tell of allof his wondrous works.
Glory in his holy name.
Let the hearts of those whoseek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength,seek his presence continually.
Remember.
Remember the wondrous worksthat he has done, his miracles
(01:06):
and the judgments that heuttered.
So God in his dealings withpeople always has set in motion
these ways for them to rememberwhat he has done.
He's always encouraged them,set up stones of remembrance so
you don't forget.
We'll set up these feasts sothat you can remember, that you
(01:31):
won't forget what the Lord hasdone.
And feasts and festivals.
So don't forget what the Lordyour God has done.
Tell of his wondrous works,remember his deeds.
And that's what we're doingthis morning.
So we're talking about praisereports this year.
We're talking about the goodthings that God has done.
And you know, this year,looking back over as I'm looking
through what we've been, uhwhat we've gone through this
(01:52):
year, it's been a year ofincrease.
This is what the big word is isincrease.
God has increased us in a lotof ways.
He's increased us inattendance.
Although it seems like somepeople are out today, maybe sick
or maybe out of the out of thecity or something, out of state
or something.
But he's increased us in ourdiscipleship venues, he's
(02:13):
increased us in our homeschoolco-op, he's increased us in our
local outreach, in ourinternational outreach.
And uh we bought two churchbuildings, but I'm getting ahead
of myself.
We'll get to all that.
But our goal today is uh is tobe actually our goal in this
church is to be a localexpression of the body of Christ
(02:36):
and create a space for youwhere you can belong, grow, and
serve.
You see the big words on thewall out there, belong, grow,
and serve.
That's really what we're about.
Helping you connect incommunity, helping you go deeper
in your understanding of Jesus,helping you uh reach out and uh
let God invite you into hismission and work through you to
(02:58):
other people.
That's what we're talkingabout.
So, belong, grow, and serve.
That's how we're gonna break itdown today.
So, how do we belong in 2025?
So I think the goal for us aspastors, the goal when we talk
about belonging is the goal isto be is to be more connected in
community than we were lastyear.
(03:20):
This year, more than we werelast year, connected together.
That's what belong is about.
And I just want to tell you asas uh one of the pastors here
that your pastor team loves thiscongregation.
You guys are really easy topastor, you're easy to love,
honestly.
You guys are um you guys areit's not that you're like low
(03:45):
maintenance.
I want to say it that way.
But you're but you're but youyou love Jesus.
You press into Jesus, you youfind Jesus in even in your
difficulties.
You press in together to oneanother in your difficulties.
And though we, as your pastors,are happy to meet your needs
(04:06):
ministerially, pastorally, it'sa joy for us to do it, and we
love you.
And we have a great team here,and it's a unique thing.
If you guys are any of you arenew here, it's kind of unique.
You see that there aredifferent people in the pulpit,
different weeks, because we havea team ministry here.
It's not one pastor who doeseverything or makes every
decision or one guy at the topand a bunch of little pairs of
hands that do his bidding.
(04:28):
It's nothing like that.
It is a team ministry, and wereally function together and we
function uh really well, youknow, beautifully together.
But also, Ephesians 4 says thatthe the ministry gifts that
Jesus gives to the church arefor the purpose of building up
the saints so that the saints dothe work of the ministry, and
(04:49):
the saints help bring unity, thesaints help bring us into the
fullness of the knowledge ofChrist and bring us into
maturity.
So it's really the saints thatdo the most of the ministry.
So we are equipping the body,but we have so many people
serving in different ministrieshere in this church that help us
care for the needs of thischurch.
(05:09):
From prayer teams on Sundaymorning to service teams on
Sunday morning.
We have uh greeting team, wehave safety team, we have
medical teams, we have kids'ministry, then we have ministry
teams like um the Forge YouthMinistry and the Gathering Place
for our young adults and more.
Everyone here serves and theyhelp to care for the larger body
(05:32):
of Christ.
You guys are helping to pastorone another.
This is the way it's supposedto be, you know.
Um we don't shirk ourresponsibilities as pastors.
This is part of our calling,but our big job is really to
equip you to do it.
And you guys are doing it, andbelonging, belonging is really
happening through you guys thisyear.
So we did have an increase ofour attendance.
(05:53):
Probably our average attendancehas gone up about 80 people
this year, which is great.
This is one reason we're takingthat back wall out soon, and
we're going to uh have some moreuh room for chairs.
We have uh 38 new partners thathave gone through the uh
partners track, uh 17 families.
We had more than 15 babydedications, so that's going
(06:18):
strong.
Growing in many different wayshere at TCC.
I have two granddaughters thatare expected to be born in the
next week and a half, so this isawesome.
Just threw that in.
It was not in my notes.
We had nine baptisms this year.
It's great.
(06:38):
We had a lot of people thatattended our fit class to help
understand so that they can growin their understanding of who
God's made them to be uniquely,so that they can not only just
who they are, but who they'refor, how they can serve in the
body of Christ.
And one of the great ways thatwe have here to belong is our
community groups.
So our community groups offer achance for you to engage more
(07:01):
deeply with each other and withthis with the scriptures.
And so if you're drawn to deepdiscussions about scriptures or
apologetics, or if you're drawnto you want to uh connect with
other people that havelike-minded interests, or you're
just looking uh to learn newskills, we have a lot of
community groups.
Last year we had communitygroups that were focused around
(07:25):
nutrition, sewing and crafts,marriage, money-saving tips,
apologetics, music, traditionalskills, exercise.
That's our bend and stretchgroup, or as we like to call
them, our firm believers.
Firmish.
(07:46):
Gonna hit that, hit that morein January, right?
Uh Christmas doesn't count.
Uh, groups about uh forbusiness owners, groups uh we
have the grief share group, wehave the mom support group,
diaper days, we had the teenageboys group, we are wondering, we
had practical local missionsgroups that were doing local
(08:09):
outreaches here uh called Faithand Action.
And then we have our perpetualcommunity groups or groups that
go on throughout the year.
Uh the other groups have startand stop dates, but this these
groups that uh meet in homes, wehave three of those across uh
the county, actually in KnoxCounty and in Anderson County.
So belong.
(08:31):
There's going to be more groupsuh starting in March, so stay
tuned about that.
Also, we were able to belongtogether with our Wednesday
night uh community uh teachings.
Uh, and it was great because wegot to not only every Wednesday
night, there's a teaching.
These this is teaching frompeople who are being trained uh
(08:51):
in.
Maybe we we have seen teachinggifts or leadership gifts in,
and they have been trained uhand we're giving them venues to
teach on Wednesday nights.
So that's great.
That happens every Wednesdaynight.
Um starting, it will bestarting later on in January.
But uh on the first of themonth, as Derek mentioned, we
have our community dinners, andit's been great.
(09:11):
Those of you who have come up,it's been really encouraging to
see uh how many people came outto eat.
I think you know, you throwfood down and people just come.
That's just great, but but youbut you want to be here.
This is this is a great thing.
Then we have our uh TrinityChristian Academy, and uh this
has been a big area of increasethis year, our homeschool co-op
(09:34):
that happens on Fridays.
Some of you don't know this,but on Fridays, this place is
fuller than it is today.
It is full, and this this uhsanctuary is sectioned off, and
we have 242 students in ourhomeschool co-op.
So if you put the parentstogether with that and the
non-uh school-aged children,there's about 350 people here
(09:57):
every Friday.
So it's it's uh madness, it'sbeautiful madness.
And then we also added Thursdaycore groups for high school
classes, and we've got 45students doing that.
So there's a total of 133families that are connected to
our umbrella.
They're registered under TCA'sTrinity Christian Academy's
(10:17):
homeschool umbrella, which isregistered with the state of
Tennessee.
So it's an opportunity forpeople to connect in that way.
And it's it's it's growing.
It's great to see these kidsgrowing and learning about Jesus
in school.
So we also have our triads,which is our our, these are our
informal discipleship groupsthat meet around the scriptures
(10:40):
and around buildingrelationships, just a way to
make disciples uh, you know,with each other, just growing in
in the knowledge of Jesus andalso connecting and being able
to be accountable to each other.
It's a major focus of ourchurch in 2026, which you'll
hear about next month.
And we've increased thecommunity part of Trinity
(11:02):
Community Church this year.
That's what we're that's whatwe're saying here, the community
part of belonging together.
And we really hope that youfeel more connected this year
than you were last year.
This is one of our main goalshere, and that you'll be even
more connected to the churchbody at the end of 2026 than you
are now.
And if you're newish here andyou feel like God may be joining
(11:23):
you or you'd like to know moreabout TCC, uh next uh January
25th, uh next month, uh, we'regonna have our Discovering TCC
lunch right after the service onthe 25th of January.
So you can go for that, go tothat and learn more about that.
Okay, that's belong.
We'll shift over into grow.
So, growing, our goal forgrowing or helping or creating
(11:48):
an atmosphere for you to grow isis uh that you are farther
along in your walk with Jesus,your growth journey than you
were last year.
And that means growing in theknowledge of Jesus, and that
means growing in love for himand growing in love for people.
That's basically what growthis.
So we tried to create anatmosphere that was conducive to
(12:09):
that this year.
Part of that is through ourSunday morning services, and
this is our sermon series thisyear, which I loved.
I don't know if you guys did ornot, but I loved them.
Uh, we had a little visionsermon series at the first of
the year about belongingtogether, growing deeper and
reaching farther.
But then we went into the OldTestament, we went through the
(12:29):
book of Nehemiah together, thispassion project sermon series,
and we learned a lot of thingsabout working together, about
allowing the burden of God toprecede our vision.
And out of that burden comesthe vision and the provision and
comes the um the uh equippingof God to fulfill that vision.
(12:53):
We learned uh during the summersermon series, we talked about
um the Sermon on the Mount.
So we had especially about uhthe Beatitudes there.
We talked about uh Ephesians.
We went to the New Testamentand we uh went through the first
three chapters of Ephesiansfrom September through November.
So we're gonna finish that,chapters five through six, or
(13:17):
four through six uh next year.
And then we did our Christmassermon series, expecting.
So part of the way we want wewant to help you grow is by
faithfully expositing thescriptures, not just picking
something out and throwing itout to you, but going deep in
the scriptures, going deep intothe books, understanding what
(13:37):
they're what what the author isreally saying, who is saying it,
who are they saying it to, whatare they saying, why are they
saying it?
When are they saying it?
And what does it mean to us?
And going through that verse byverse really helps you grow.
We had uh 127 people registeredto read through our
chronological Bible study lastyear, which is great.
(13:59):
How many of you have gonethrough our either our Bible
study or some kind of a Biblereading, daily Bible reading
last year?
Man, that's fantastic.
That's great.
Good job.
So Derek's already brought upthe fact that we're doing it
again this year, and we're goingback to the uh the Old
Testament reading or the NewTestament, reading through the
New Testament in a year.
Uh, there's there's a QR codethat you can scan, you can join
(14:22):
that.
We're gonna start that in a fewdays.
We're finishing up Revelationin our in our um chronological
Bible study now.
I think tomorrow's thetomorrow's the last day.
We finish it up last tomorrow,and then we have two days of
devotion, and then the new yearstarts.
So, we also had 21 days ofcorporate prayer and fasting
(14:43):
this year, which was uh a growthavenue for many of us and a
shrinking avenue for some of us.
That's a joke.
We we grew, we increased whilewe decreased, you know what I
mean?
It's kind of biblical,actually, really.
Yep.
So that was a great time topress into the Lord together.
(15:04):
And uh we developed leadersthrough Trinity Ministry
Apprenticeship Program andthrough our Timothy team, which
is um the avenues that we haveto work together with leaders
and try to equip them uh for thefuture.
We have discipling triads thatmany people have been a part of.
Uh we've had a lot of people gothrough the fit class of us, as
(15:26):
I said.
This is part of your growth.
And when you understand who youare and you plug into your
purpose, this is part of yourgrowth.
And then we had equipping uhopportunities for families.
We had a marriage seminar and aparenting seminar, and then we
have uh young mothersdiscipleship group.
So so we hope this is all aboutgrowing, right?
(15:47):
We hope that you have or youfeel that you're farther along
in your walk with Jesus thisyear than you were at the first
of this year.
That's our goal.
So we shift over into serve.
And this body has made animpact.
This is our goal for serve isto make an impact through
praying and through practicalworks of service and mission
(16:10):
locally, nationally, andinternationally.
And that's what's happened thisyear.
It's been a it's been a lot.
It's been amazing what thisbody has been able to do.
So we'll start with our 2025SERV Day.
We got some pictures here.
Many of you were part of theSurvey projects.
We had seven Survey projects.
We did repairs here at the uhnext door at the uh First Steps
(16:34):
Daycare.
Um we did help do somegardening at Empower Farm and
School, uh, some landscaping atTennessee Right to Life Prayer
Garden.
We visited and helped makecrafts with the residents at uh
Windsor Ridge Assistant Living.
We provided lunch andevangelism uh at uh homeless
(16:56):
outreaches downtown.
Uh we did some parkbeautification at Tommy Shepherd
Park and Sturkey Hills Parkhere nearby, and also uh at
Powell Station Park out inPowell.
So, plus all the people whocooked and served meals,
prepared uh meals for thevolunteers who are working on
Serve Day.
So thank you for that.
(17:17):
Just really a way topractically reach out to the
neighborhood, and you can besure to join us for uh serve day
projects in 2026, too.
So watch for that.
You got an opportunity to dothat next year.
Um, other local outreaches.
Well, we did we did uh we didbuy a building.
(17:38):
This was part of our localoutreach.
We owned this, we own this, weown this.
We had an incredibleopportunity offered to us, a
really unexpected opportunity tobuy this building and to do it
basically uh at uh the same kindof cost range that we were
(18:01):
renting this building because ofthe way things worked out, just
was really almost couldn't passit up.
So um here we go.
This is great.
We have an opportunity not onlyto be in this space and and
expand this space, but also useit in many different ways to
glorify God.
So you can still give towardthe building expansion project
(18:25):
that you heard about last weekor the week before last, that we
week before last, and uhDerek's uh mentioned that we're
expanding uh the building hereand doing some work over here as
well, uh beyond this wall.
Um so you can still give towardthat project that that's
current currently undergo thatwe're currently undergoing now
(18:45):
through March 2026.
So you can still uh give tothat.
You can give to that by goingto tccknox.com and designating
to sanctuary sanctuarybuild-out.
And so that's an opportunity.
We also had um our missionariesto Knoxville, Robin Chris Ellis
and their family, slash family,slash other people here, YWM
(19:10):
Knoxville, and children'sministry outreach have been so
busy this year.
So there's so many differentstories uh that happened this
year.
But we I just wanted Chris toshare at least one of them.
Chris Ellis (19:25):
So our stockings of love.
I don't know if anyone saw thepicture of the sanctuary before
we delivered Host and Oaks.
I think everything but thisyouth side had a stocking in it,
all the chairs, and it wasincredible.
But the story that um the eventwhen we went to New River, so
(19:46):
we've been going up there, Ithink this was our tenth year,
and it's in rural Appalachia.
Really, the first six yearsthey were kind of standoffish,
and then when we had that crazyWashington team come, it's never
Been the same.
It's something was abreakthrough there, and so we're
invited to baby showers andeverything now.
But we always uh do the samelesson at Christmas, and it's
(20:09):
about Christmas is all aboutgiving, and that God gave the
greatest gift of all, and we cangive our very best.
So after we prayed, Rob dressesup as Santa for the pictures,
so I had to kill some timebetween.
But in the meantime, a littleboy named Carter, who had prayed
when Rob did the prayer, hewent outside and he put his hand
(20:34):
up.
He said, Jesus, I want to givemy heart to you.
And he threw it up in the air,and then he came back, he goes,
I just want to help people.
I just want to help people.
And so Lee Curry, Lydio's LeeCurry, was helping us, and he
was trying to help him carrycoolers, and it was just, it was
just such a sweet, liketangible way of them getting
(20:56):
that.
That Christmas is all aboutgiving.
I give my life to Jesus, andnow I want to serve others.
Mark Medley (21:02):
Beautiful.
Thank you.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow, beautiful.
Well, I'll tell you, you can bea part of that, you know.
You can do that if you're notinvolved in anything.
If that kind of uh lights afire inside of you, they do
(21:24):
ministry weekly to kids, andthere's opportunities for you to
help uh join in and help withthat.
Okay, locally, what else?
Well, we have uh Patty Clemensand Faithful Promise Ministries.
Patty does so much ministrythat probably most people don't
know about, but she is one ofthe greatest out arms of
(21:45):
outreach here uh that we havelocally.
Um she has meetings that sheholds once a month to share a
word of hope.
But she also is our deaconess,one of our deaconesses here, who
serves widows and many peoplewith different kinds of needs.
And she meets one-on-one withwomen and mentors them and also
(22:06):
goes to Anderson County Women'sPrison, right?
She does so much stuff, soshe's part of a big part of our
local outreach.
Also, Brad Martell is withCenter for Bioethical Reform,
which is basically anorganization that exists to
change public opinion andultimately public policy on
(22:28):
abortion.
And Brad has had such a busyyear this year.
Um busiest travel season hesays he's ever had.
And uh they set up awarenessprojects at 15 different sites
in three months.
That's a lot, a lot ofdifferent campuses, so 11
colleges, three churches, and adowntown public square.
(22:49):
They set up these huge umawareness displays, uh, pre-born
child displays.
He put up, they put it up in uhGeorgia, North Carolina,
Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Thousands and thousands ofpeople saw this visual display.
Many of them uh saw prenataldevelopment for the very first
time.
You get these things in frontof people and people start
(23:10):
thinking differently.
And this is what's happening.
He's part of our ProtectingHuman Life Team, by the way.
And the Protecting Human LifeTeam is a great uh outreach of
this church as well.
They work with um uh women atrisk, they work with uh women
who have been sexuallytrafficked and exploited in
other countries, they work withright-to-life issues, so we're
(23:31):
really grateful for that.
And they also uh we also can umalso uh work together with Hope
Resource Center, which isKnoxville's only holistic
reproductive health care centerfor women, and they offer
cost-free services uh provide uhprovided by licensed medical
professionals.
(23:51):
And so this is this is a greatopportunity.
Also, we work with Street Hope,and Street Hope is a safe house
for young girls who've beenrescued from sex trafficking.
A lot going on in the area ofjustice here from this church.
Another one of our uh greatlocal outreaches is uh the
campus house of prayer with RyanMcCrillis.
Ryan, are you here thismorning?
(24:11):
He's sick.
Okay, maybe he's are youwatching, Ryan?
Uh you know, nearly 10 years,um, as far as I as I know, that
Ryan has been on the campus ofthe University of Tennessee
working as a volunteer chaplainwith ROTC cadets, uh, active
duty and civilian staff.
(24:32):
This year they held a Christianretreat, and with the help of
TCC, they also were able to feedtheir cadets during weekly ROTC
Bible study.
He, but Ryan participates in,they they did this retreat and
he does weekly uh mobile foodpantry.
But the big thing he does is hementors students.
(24:54):
He is he is a one-on-onediscipler and he disciples in
groups and he prays with them,he walks with them through these
Bible studies, and he doesgreat work right there on the
University of Tennessee.
And the University of Tennesseeuh currently has the largest
ROTC program in the UnitedStates.
You didn't know.
And they have been activelytrying to duplicate their
(25:15):
ministry to ROTC candidates inother surrounding schools, and
so far they've gotten thatestablished at Tennessee Tech
and UT, Chattanooga, ETSU, andMichigan State.
So what they're doing here, Idon't know what's I don't know
what's what does Michigan haveto do with Tennessee?
I don't know.
There's a little bit of a rivalthere, but you but uh you know
(25:38):
he's taking what what they'redoing there and they're they're
uh planting in other places, sothat's terrific.
Of course, we also have ourprison ministry from TCC, and
that's uh headed up by MatthewAchley, who's one of the um
chaplains there at the uh MorganCounty prison.
Patty goes, Edmund goes, MikeBumerstead, James Boyd, Tyler
(25:58):
goes, and the gospel has beenfaithfully presented to these
prisoners uh two nights a month,and every every month, and the
there's great friendships thathave been happening and
relationships have been builtthrough the volunteers and the
and and the prisoners, and God'sbeen moving mightily in those
services.
And the church in the prisonhas continued to grow.
(26:19):
Those men have continued to getstronger in their faith.
They have managed to set uptheir own discipling plan among
themselves, which is great.
And they have a prayer chainthey continue to do with the
prison that is uh that's just alittle bit of what Trinity's
done there in the prison.
And uh and special thanks toeveryone who provides for that,
who prays for that, supportsthat, and cooks so that the uh
(26:43):
ministry can be effective.
We also are connected locallyto the Empower School and Farm.
Our friend Buddy Walker is partof that, and we've had
opportunity to train someleaders there and impact locally
and internationally therethrough the farm.
Empower students haveparticipated in service projects
with TCC, and also some of themhave been part of our TMAP
(27:05):
program and have been trained inthe Bible this year.
And uh Compassion Coalition,the last thing locally, we also
work with Compassion Coalition,which is a faith-based nonprofit
here in Knoxville, that is acoalition of churches that um
and different kinds oforganizations and businesses,
and they're committed to movingbeyond the walls of the church
(27:26):
buildings into the community anduh seeing the compassionate
presence of Jesus make adifference in the midst of
poverty and pain and brokenness.
And so we're part of that aswell.
So we're making a differencelocally, uh, but we should turn
to internationally now too.
TCC partners have beenpersonally involved and
personally touched, been on theground in five continents this
(27:49):
year, uh with significantministry in Poland, France,
Bulgaria, Romania, Russia,Tanzania, Ireland, Kenya,
Thailand, Honduras, South Korea,and the United States of
America.
Did I miss anybody?
Africa?
Yeah, I got Tanzania.
I got that one.
(28:10):
That's good.
Yeah, and Kenya.
Yeah.
Great.
So and and our Cuba trip, ourCuba outreach.
Did I did I mention Cuba?
Okay, Cuba.
This is a big deal.
This was a big deal, Cuba.
So we we did trips to Cuba thisyear.
Uh, we did two trips uh to Cubaand ministered training pastors
(28:30):
and leaders.
Um, and also we we bought abuilding.
And and you guys probablyremember this.
That last last April, Tylercame up after our trip and said,
we have an opportunity.
There's a there's a town thatdoesn't have a church.
We have an opportunity to buy achurch.
You can't buy a churchbuilding, you have to buy a
(28:51):
house in Cuba.
You don't buy church buildings,you don't build church
buildings.
That's not uh that's notallowed.
If there's a church buildingexisting from pre-revolution
1959, then you can use thatbuilding, but you can't build a
church.
But they buy houses and theyconvert them and they make
church meeting places out ofthem.
And so we had an opportunity tobuy uh this building you see
(29:16):
behind us, actually, twobuildings.
It's a church and a house nextto it, along with some property.
And Tyler just came andmentioned it one Sunday, and we
needed $7,500 to buy this thingoutright.
Amazing.
And I think what came in was$12,000, I believe.
So it was amazing.
We did not only that, but weactually helped outfit and equip
(29:40):
the building.
And so uh what I found out istwo, three weeks ago, there were
over 40 people in attendance inthis uh which is fantastic.
So beautiful, so beautiful.
Um, so uh we're planning to doother conferences in November.
We're uh joining a team withCornerstone Church in Alabama uh
(30:04):
that's sending uh team down todo children's ministry,
children's uh camp in April.
So we're gonna uh help withthat as well, and we have other
conferences, multipleconferences planned in November.
So uh that's a greatopportunity there in Cuba.
In Tanzania, we still wecontinue to uh partner with
(30:25):
Gospel Herald Ministries and ourour precious friends, Pastor uh
Matthias and uh Beatrice, whohelp the ongoing development of
a Christian community among theMaasai people in a little
village called Kiria inTanzania.
Beautiful people.
Uh it's a village of about4,000 people, mostly just
(30:47):
herdsmen and their families,very, very poor, but there's a
great work going on there.
The church continues to grow,and the outreach and the
development of the land aroundthe church, which has happened
because we've been helped ableto help them uh purchase some
things that were necessary forthat.
That's going on.
So that's happening.
Also, we've had a lot of ouryoung young people that have
(31:10):
been in the nations this year aswell.
Um uh we have Rebecca Geiger,who's in South Korea, Kayla has
been in Poland this year, KaylaGrainer.
Uh Ruth is here, Ruth and Iceis here this morning.
She was in Honduras and inBuffalo, which is not a foreign
nation, but sort of.
Anna was in Thailand, AnnaJones.
(31:32):
So we have just a lot ofpeople, a lot of young people
going out.
Did I miss anybody?
Okay, good.
But we have other missionariesuh overseas that we support uh
in in a in a rather kind of amajor way.
One, of course, Phil and JennyAdams, so many of you know them.
They're still helping plantchurches and working with young
(31:53):
professionals in parts ofFrance.
Um, and you know, there's thishas been such um Europe has been
such a such a dead place.
The gospel has been so neededthere, but there's a reawakening
in the hearts of young peoplethere in Europe, and it's a
beautiful thing to see.
And Phil's in the middle ofthat.
(32:13):
He's just in he's in tall grassright there, because what he
does is he works with uhdiscipling these young people
and serving the leadersnationally in France, also in
other parts of Europe, and alsoin Afghanistan and Haiti as
well.
That's the the Adams.
We have our friends Bartek andDaria, Bishobiwa, who are in
(32:35):
Poland, and um uh they serve achurch that we helped to plant
there called Amazing GraceChurch, and uh we were able to
be with them this uh thissummer.
It was great to be with themand their new baby, their their
son, and their new their newnewer son.
Uh they work not only at thechurch there, but they work with
an organization calledEvangelical Poland, and they are
(32:58):
working with different umtypes, different uh
denominations of evangelicalchurches all over to unite them,
to strengthen them, to growtogether in their um uh
knowledge of the word, in theiruh outreach uh and evangelism,
uh, and in many different ways,and they're impacting the nation
there.
(33:18):
And of course, we have uhVictoria Watoto Fund.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Which thank you for supporting here's here's a video
soccer balls.
We can now play soccer.
Thank you, thank you foruniform at Victoria Watoto
School because our belovedsponsor, may God bless you,
happy giving Tuesday.
Thank you for quality educationat Victoria Watoto School.
May God bless you, happy givingTuesday.
(33:44):
Thank you for well balanced outat Victoria Watoto School
because of our wonderfulsponsors, may God bless us.
Mark Medley (33:56):
Praise God.
Our friend Alois Leonard, uhwho was a who was also a partner
here at Trinity for many years,uh, has been working there with
the children's feeding program,which turned into a school, and
it just keeps growing.
And so we're really great.
Uh currently there are 153students enrolled there, you
(34:16):
know, and it wasn't in existenceeven a few years ago.
And uh nursery through fifthgrades, uh opening our doors
next uh to sixth graders nextyear, hiring a new teacher,
construction's already begun onthe new sixth-grade classroom.
So it's a big big deal.
Thank you so much.
Uh a lot of uh you have beenpartners together with Victoria
(34:39):
Watoto Fund.
And um, oh, we have some peoplein Ireland as well.
Uh Aaron and Beth are here thismorning.
And Aaron, come on up.
You gotta say something.
We were able also to to visitthem uh there near Dublin this
(35:01):
year, and it was great.
It was a great opportunity todo it.
Aaron Jones (35:06):
So hey everybody.
Yeah, so Beth and I, we've comein uh spending Christmas with
our families, and um so yeah,just a quick update.
Um so Beth and I, we moved uhSeptember 2024, landed in
(35:27):
Ireland then.
Um before I say anything else,first of all, thank you to
everyone here who is financiallygiven to us, prayed for us.
Um obviously, uh before weleft, there was a hands-and-feet
offering taken up for us forBeth and I.
That really, really, really,really is appreciated.
And thank you.
Just uh there's a few of youthat have given through the
(35:48):
year.
Um, and uh a few of you justgave uh you know, just you know,
when you felt like the Lord ledyou.
So just we really, reallyappreciate that.
Um very quickly, so Beth and Imoved um in 2024 to to Ireland.
We were living in a little towncalled Bray, south of Dublin.
We only lived there a couplemonths, and then we moved um up
(36:11):
north a little bit to anothertown called Black Rock.
They're all um you know rightnear Dublin.
Um, and uh we were attending achurch in uh Bray called
Cornerstone Church.
And uh we were there um uh thisthis whole time that we were in
Ireland, and um and uh Beth uhobviously when we first got
(36:32):
there, she uh started uh herposition at the hospital, one of
the hospitals in Dublin andCity Center called Matter
Private, and she was working inpost-anesthesia um and serving
the Irish and and everyone elsewho came through those doors um
uh in that capacity.
And I was leading worship umabout once a month, twice a
(36:54):
month when people were sick andthings like that.
Um and um and so all along weknew we were wanting to move to
County Cary.
Um and we actually did that umthe week uh last weekend.
Last weekend.
Wow, last weekend.
So uh we literally uh uh we hadto take a few trips down and
(37:17):
and uh and so we threw it all inour in the house and we locked
the door and then came here.
And so um, and so yeah, soleading worship, um I got and
then Beth, um it's funny, Iwanted to say this, you know,
some people think, well, youknow, yeah, Beth's job was a
nurse, but no, that's herministry.
(37:38):
And so um I I always want tohighlight that just uh that it
wasn't just what you're doing onthe side.
So what Beth was doing, and andto be honest, let's I don't
want first of all, she's thebrains of the bunch.
Let's we have no problem sayingthat around here.
Amen.
And so um, and uh it's throughbecause she got a critical
(37:58):
skills work visa.
Uh Ireland is in desperate needof nurses, and that's what got
us in the country to work visa.
Um, and that that's that's whywe can actually stay in the
country.
A religious visa in Irelandusually gets you three years and
then they boot you out.
And so, um, and so and uh oneof the things that was has been
very interesting is that Bethand I have um we started uh to
(38:21):
help and volunteer um with anorganization called ICEJ.
It means InternationalChristian Embassy of Jerusalem,
which is very interesting.
Um, but uh and I won't go intoall of it, um definitely don't
have time.
Uh but um uh Ireland has atroubling history of
anti-Semitism.
(38:42):
Um and currently um in thegovernment and in the higher
ups, there is a and uh just witha lot of people, it there's a
real uh spirit of anti-Semitism.
And to be honest, the Lord gaveme a couple dreams, uh very
sobering dreams, um, one beforeI left, and then I had a few
(39:04):
while we were in Ireland.
And the and the father was justreally uh kind of putting his
finger down on that, that thatwas something that Beth and I
needed to um be a part of is isto bring just love and support
to the Jewish people who live inIreland, is not many, uh, but
Dublin has a concentration ofthat um community.
(39:27):
And um, and so uh Beth and Ibecame we're part of that
organization.
We still are, we're we'reactually now that we've uh moved
to Kerry, we're gonna kind ofbe representatives of that
organization in Kerry.
Um, and so uh I mean I don'tthink I have to say it, but anti
Semitism's it's growing in inthe world.
(39:51):
And um it's very troubling,obviously.
What happened in Bondi andAustralia and stuff, and there
is no place for it in the bodyof Christ.
Mark Medley (39:59):
Yeah.
Aaron Jones (40:00):
At all.
There is, yeah, there is onepeople group in the world that
God calls the apple of his eye.
And so one of the burdens on myheart is that the Irish that
the Lord turns their heartsactually toward the Jewish
people.
And that sounds weird maybe tosome of you, but actually I
(40:24):
really truly believe that's partof discipleship.
And so we we live in CountyCarey now.
It's a town called Killorglan.
It's um and so I don't think Idon't know if Harrison and
Ashley are here today, um, butthey're Ashley's parents.
Um sh uh they pastor in a townright next to where we're living
in Killarney, and um uh MichaelNympha Robson and they passed a
(40:48):
Living Rock Church.
We were actually just there uhlast weekend and stuff, and so
um we're glad to be around uh inthat area.
Uh and we live we went from acity of 1.5 million people to a
town of 2,000 people.
And so um but so basicallythat's kind of the stuff we've
done this year, and just lookingforward, um, just through some
(41:10):
prophetic words and stuff withour local church and in Bray.
Uh, really feel like the Lord'swanting um us to network with
pastors in the County Carey uharea.
Um that's like I said, kind ofa long story, but um, I really
feel like uh that's one of thethings the Lord wants to do with
Beth and I.
Um and it maybe at some pointwe would like to start a house
(41:32):
church in our little town anddisciple people that way.
And um, and then also uh mymusic gets in there somewhere
and every now and then andfigures its way out.
So um, but anyway, once again,um I just uh uh want to thank
all of you um uh just for yourprayers and your giving.
(41:55):
Um and uh really to be honest,we've been in Ireland now since
September 2024, but um first ofall, we're in it for the long
haul.
Um we're not there to you knowhang out for a couple years and
then go home.
We really want to bringdisciples um and raise up
disciples in County Cary.
That's our heart.
(42:15):
Um and um and also to just uhwhenever and however to just
really love and support theJewish people in Ireland.
And um and so yeah, so uh wejust uh um just thank you guys
and love you guys.
And if you want to talk to Bethand I afterwards of you know
about Ireland or or I don't knowif you got a home group this
(42:38):
week or something and want oneof us to come or something, you
just let us know and uh and allthat.
So but and Mark, thanks a lotfor letting us uh oh and yeah,
and there's Sersha.
That's our three-year-old, anduh and that's actually at one of
our ICEJ meetings.
Um, and the picture in themiddle there, that's between
(42:58):
Killarney and Killorgan.
I thought I'd just throw somesheep in there, you know, with a
great sunset.
And then there's a QR code thatgoes to our website.
Mark Medley (43:08):
Hey, how old is Anna?
How old is Anna?
How old is Anna?
Chris Ellis (43:14):
Anna's 23.
Mark Medley (43:15):
Okay, good.
Okay.
Yeah, they're three, that'stheir three-year-old, but their
23-year-old was leading worshipthis morning.
Yeah.
That was all for Beth.
All that is for Beth.
Okay, so we have three threemore groups that are part of our
(43:36):
church that we call Sent Ones,and they are ministries that are
based out of TCC that are doingyou could call apostolic work
in the nations uh in terms of uhhelping build churches and
ministry in different ways.
Uh, number one is Siberianmissions with Yuri and Olga
Drojan.
And Yuri and Olga are here thismorning.
(43:56):
This year, they've beenministering in Russia and in
Tuva Republic in Germany andBulgaria and Nepal.
And so we were able to be withthem in for a few weeks in a
couple of weeks in Bulgaria,which was great.
It was it was great, it wasgreat.
We were in a tiny little uhcommie condo, like built during
(44:19):
communists, little bitty thingwith uh one bathroom, the four
of us for a couple of weeks, andit's beautiful.
It's like it life as it shouldbe.
Comarod.
Uh so we're really gratefulthat they they're able to uh to
go and reach places even that wecan't go now because it's I
(44:40):
can't we can't get into Russia,it's very hard to, but they can.
And they're they've been athey're a huge help to the
churches that they help servethere.
Many of them they planted, orthey're the churches that came
out of churches they planted inSiberia.
So thank you for for what youdo.
Uh and then, of course, there'sEzra Project with Neil
Silverberg.
You guys know Neil, and he'shere with us sometimes in the
(45:02):
pulpit because he serves asoversight here at Trinity
Community Church, but also hehe's on the oversight team of 12
other churches in the UnitedStates, and also four churches
in Puerto Rico.
And he also serves a network of37 churches in eastern Cuba in
his spare time.
Last year he did twoconferences, uh, in one in Cuba
(45:27):
and in Puerto Rico.
Uh he travels, he does ministryin in different local churches
here in the United States, yeah,in his spare time.
And he trains leadership teamsin the United States, and so
he's out averaging maybe twice amonth.
Normally he's out twice a monthto different churches.
Uh and he continues to serve inthe leadership team of Master
Builders, which is a network ofuh Ephesians, Ephesians 5
(45:50):
ministers, uh, Ephesians 4ministers that um that uh that
work to serve churches indifferent capacities.
If you want to um hear likehundreds of hours of teaching,
there great teaching.
There's a podcast, NeilSilverberg's podcast.
You can check that out.
Hundreds of hours of greatteaching on that, and then
(46:12):
neilsilverberg.com as well.
You can go there.
So there's Neil, and then thenthere's Thrive Ministries, which
is which is uh the ministrythat Amy and I oversee.
And 2025 has been a year of newbeginnings, obviously, for us,
and expanded vision.
We've been uh privileged topersonally visit and resource
(46:34):
and encourage pastors in Nepaland Cuba twice, Poland three
times, France, Bulgaria,Romania, and here in the United
States as well.
And also there have been a lotof, we've seen a lot of women
discipled through the Melissamovement, uh which is a fund
that's been was set up in honorof my my late wife Melissa, who
(46:55):
was a spiritual mother, and weare we are helping to resource
spiritual moms in many differentnations.
Uh Poland and Russia andTanzania and India and Nepal and
Alabama, which is not a foreignnation.
(47:19):
I don't want you to know that.
But it is Alabama.
And so there's it's amazing howGod is really just continues to
bless that and provide, andthere's a lot of things going on
getting ready to do um awomen's conference sponsored uh
by uh uh Melissa movement inIndia.
(47:40):
Uh so this is great.
We've helped uh the translationof discipleship materials into
Spanish and to Russian thisyear.
Walking through grief book wastranslated translated into
Ukrainian.
It was uh distributedthroughout Poland, and we did a
little Polish tour.
I did a little Polish tour onthe book.
It was called, well, I calledit affectionately the grief tour
(48:01):
because it was a tour aboutgrief.
Uh and that's but it's also uhin Russian now.
It's translated into Russian,so it's soon to be published in
those languages.
The audio version of that bookwill be available and audible in
a few weeks.
And then the Trinity Trilogy uhbook, the devotional book, is
also being has been distributedand uh is being enjoyed by
(48:23):
people, which is great.
We give God all the glory forthis, and you're a huge part of
the fruit that we've seen thisyear.
So we want to thank you so muchfor giving.
So in key and so speaking ofgiving, it's been a year of
increase in giving too in 2025.
So we've got just a real quickupdate and that we had uh as of
(48:43):
like two weeks ago, we had$591,146.02 that came into the
church, um, which is which isamazing uh from this group of
people.
It's just so great.
We're so grateful for that.
You can see the breakdownthere.
37% of that went to operations,38% to equipping, uh, 11% to
(49:07):
missions, and then we have somethat went directly to savings.
Um so this is um uh this is ifyou want more information about
that, you're welcome to.
I don't want to bore you withdetails, but we are wide open
about our finances here.
If you have for any reason somekind of curiosity about that,
you can talk to us about that.
(49:29):
So that's 2025.
Looking forward to 2026, at ourelder prayer and planning
retreat in October, we felt theLord really push us toward this
idea of growing deeper, to knowChrist more and making him
known.
Really discipleship.
We felt like sharp Christiansare best prepared for anything
(49:49):
that comes along, for any crisisthat happens, anything that
might come along.
We want to help sharpen youthis year and to be prepared to
make a positive impact, nomatter what happens in the
future, to see Jesus better, tobe with him, and to be on
mission with him, to go for him,taking the truth of the gospel
to those who desperately needit.
(50:10):
You're gonna hear more aboutthat in January, because that's
part of uh our vision series inJanuary.
But all of this was donetogether.
It was a lot.
It was a lot that happened.
There's sometimes a voice inour culture that says, Yeah, I
don't really need church,though.
I can just be a Christian bymyself.
(50:31):
And church is just, I don'tknow, it's not, it's an old
thing, right?
And I hear that sometimes, andI always answer it with one
statement, and that is, well,what have you done this year?
Because let me tell you what mychurch has done this year.
And I start talking about allthe things we've done locally,
(50:52):
all the things for justiceissues, for practical issues,
for gospel issues, what we'vedone nationally, what we've done
internationally, how people aregrowing.
You know, what you know, thisis I would I would say, what are
you actually doing to affectyour world?
And together, as one localexpression of the big body of
(51:12):
Christ, this is what we havedone.
Together, all of us, you havedone it.
Whether you went on a trip oryou served locally or you serve
in Sunday school or you give oryou pray, you are part of this.
And we have done all of thistogether, and we did a lot last
year.
And may we even do more in2026.
(51:33):
And that's how how I want toleave you this morning.
Imagine yourself this time nextyear.
Imagine yourself growing,belonging more, connecting more
in community, getting your needsmet in relationships in the
body of Christ.
As the scripture says, the bodyof Christ, every joint supplies
(51:56):
what the other joints need.
Being connected together,receiving and also giving,
because there are people whoneed what you have.
Imagine yourself growing closerto your church family through
Sunday services, through smallgroups, through community
groups.
Imagine yourself growing deeperin your Bible reading plan or
getting involved in disciplingtriad to know the word of God
(52:19):
better.
Imagine yourself serving Godmore effectively in ministry on
serve day in one of the teamshere, local outreach, or or
giving or going to the nations.
Where could you be this timenext year if we belong and grow
and serve together?
So, as we read earlier, givethanks to the Lord.
(52:42):
Call upon his name and makeknown his deeds among the
people.
Rehearse his wonderful works.
So that's what today is about,and we're gonna pray and thank
God for it all, and we're alsogoing to ask him for more in the
future.
Father, thank you.
We give you glory.
(53:02):
Every bit of glory goes to youbecause you have drawn us to
yourself, you've changed ourlives, you've brought us
together, knitted us togetherwith one another, and you've
given us opportunities, andyou've done great things, even
through this small expression,this local expression of your
(53:23):
great big body.
Thank you that we're part ofit.
We're so grateful to be a partof each other, Lord.
And we're asking for more nextyear, Lord, more community, more
belonging, Lord, more growing,deeper discipleship, more
understanding of Jesus, moreexperience with your Holy
(53:44):
Spirit, more security in ourwalk with our Father, and more
opportunities to serve, toimpact this place, our place
where you've put us here, Lord,and the nations is what we pray.
I pray that for every personhere.
God, for for this year, you'reour great shepherd, Lord.
(54:07):
Would you guide us?
Would you shepherd us intothese areas of belonging and
growing and serving through thisyear?
And that this time next year,we won't even be able to
recognize ourselves, Lord.
Because of the beautiful thingsyou have done.
All glory goes to you in Jesus'name.
Amen.
And I want to pray over ablessing over you.
(54:29):
A little different one thismorning from the New Testament.
Now may the God of peace whobrought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, the great shepherdof the sheep, by the blood of
the eternal covenant equip youwith everything good that you
may do his will, working in usthat which is pleasing in his
(54:53):
sight, through Jesus Christ, towhom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Amen.
If you have prayer need thismorning, please come up.
We want to pray for you.
We don't want you to leavewithout getting prayer.
Let the body minister to youthis morning.
And we love you guys and happynew year.
So Psalm 105 is where we're going.
If you have a Bible, you canturn to Psalm 105.
A lot of announcements todaybecause there's a lot going on
here, but a lot of a lot went onlast year, and this is what
we're doing this year.
This is uh actually our annual,it's a little different
service, and that is our annualTCC recap service so that you
(00:22):
can see, we can look back andsee what God has done in us and
through us through 2025.
Big year this year.
And here's the reason we'redoing this.
Psalm 105, starting in verse 1.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord,call upon his name, make his
name, make known his deeds amongthe peoples, sing to him, sing
(00:46):
praise to him, and tell of allof his wondrous works.
Glory in his holy name.
Let the hearts of those whoseek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength,seek his presence continually.
Remember.
Remember the wondrous worksthat he has done, his miracles
(01:06):
and the judgments that heuttered.
So God in his dealings withpeople always has set in motion
these ways for them to rememberwhat he has done.
He's always encouraged them,set up stones of remembrance so
you don't forget.
We'll set up these feasts sothat you can remember, that you
(01:31):
won't forget what the Lord hasdone.
And feasts and festivals.
So don't forget what the Lordyour God has done.
Tell of his wondrous works,remember his deeds.
And that's what we're doingthis morning.
So we're talking about praisereports this year.
We're talking about the goodthings that God has done.
And you know, this year,looking back over as I'm looking
through what we've been, uhwhat we've gone through this
(01:52):
year, it's been a year ofincrease.
This is what the big word is isincrease.
God has increased us in a lotof ways.
He's increased us inattendance.
Although it seems like somepeople are out today, maybe sick
or maybe out of the out of thecity or something, out of state
or something.
But he's increased us in ourdiscipleship venues, he's
(02:13):
increased us in our homeschoolco-op, he's increased us in our
local outreach, in ourinternational outreach.
And uh we bought two churchbuildings, but I'm getting ahead
of myself.
We'll get to all that.
But our goal today is uh is tobe actually our goal in this
church is to be a localexpression of the body of Christ
(02:36):
and create a space for youwhere you can belong, grow, and
serve.
You see the big words on thewall out there, belong, grow,
and serve.
That's really what we're about.
Helping you connect incommunity, helping you go deeper
in your understanding of Jesus,helping you uh reach out and uh
let God invite you into hismission and work through you to
(02:58):
other people.
That's what we're talkingabout.
So, belong, grow, and serve.
That's how we're gonna break itdown today.
So, how do we belong in 2025?
So I think the goal for us aspastors, the goal when we talk
about belonging is the goal isto be is to be more connected in
community than we were lastyear.
(03:20):
This year, more than we werelast year, connected together.
That's what belong is about.
And I just want to tell you asas uh one of the pastors here
that your pastor team loves thiscongregation.
You guys are really easy topastor, you're easy to love,
honestly.
You guys are um you guys areit's not that you're like low
(03:45):
maintenance.
I want to say it that way.
But you're but you're but youyou love Jesus.
You press into Jesus, you youfind Jesus in even in your
difficulties.
You press in together to oneanother in your difficulties.
And though we, as your pastors,are happy to meet your needs
(04:06):
ministerially, pastorally, it'sa joy for us to do it, and we
love you.
And we have a great team here,and it's a unique thing.
If you guys are any of you arenew here, it's kind of unique.
You see that there aredifferent people in the pulpit,
different weeks, because we havea team ministry here.
It's not one pastor who doeseverything or makes every
decision or one guy at the topand a bunch of little pairs of
hands that do his bidding.
(04:28):
It's nothing like that.
It is a team ministry, and wereally function together and we
function uh really well, youknow, beautifully together.
But also, Ephesians 4 says thatthe the ministry gifts that
Jesus gives to the church arefor the purpose of building up
the saints so that the saints dothe work of the ministry, and
(04:49):
the saints help bring unity, thesaints help bring us into the
fullness of the knowledge ofChrist and bring us into
maturity.
So it's really the saints thatdo the most of the ministry.
So we are equipping the body,but we have so many people
serving in different ministrieshere in this church that help us
care for the needs of thischurch.
(05:09):
From prayer teams on Sundaymorning to service teams on
Sunday morning.
We have uh greeting team, wehave safety team, we have
medical teams, we have kids'ministry, then we have ministry
teams like um the Forge YouthMinistry and the Gathering Place
for our young adults and more.
Everyone here serves and theyhelp to care for the larger body
(05:32):
of Christ.
You guys are helping to pastorone another.
This is the way it's supposedto be, you know.
Um we don't shirk ourresponsibilities as pastors.
This is part of our calling,but our big job is really to
equip you to do it.
And you guys are doing it, andbelonging, belonging is really
happening through you guys thisyear.
So we did have an increase ofour attendance.
(05:53):
Probably our average attendancehas gone up about 80 people
this year, which is great.
This is one reason we're takingthat back wall out soon, and
we're going to uh have some moreuh room for chairs.
We have uh 38 new partners thathave gone through the uh
partners track, uh 17 families.
We had more than 15 babydedications, so that's going
(06:18):
strong.
Growing in many different wayshere at TCC.
I have two granddaughters thatare expected to be born in the
next week and a half, so this isawesome.
Just threw that in.
It was not in my notes.
We had nine baptisms this year.
It's great.
(06:38):
We had a lot of people thatattended our fit class to help
understand so that they can growin their understanding of who
God's made them to be uniquely,so that they can not only just
who they are, but who they'refor, how they can serve in the
body of Christ.
And one of the great ways thatwe have here to belong is our
community groups.
So our community groups offer achance for you to engage more
(07:01):
deeply with each other and withthis with the scriptures.
And so if you're drawn to deepdiscussions about scriptures or
apologetics, or if you're drawnto you want to uh connect with
other people that havelike-minded interests, or you're
just looking uh to learn newskills, we have a lot of
community groups.
Last year we had communitygroups that were focused around
(07:25):
nutrition, sewing and crafts,marriage, money-saving tips,
apologetics, music, traditionalskills, exercise.
That's our bend and stretchgroup, or as we like to call
them, our firm believers.
Firmish.
(07:46):
Gonna hit that, hit that morein January, right?
Uh Christmas doesn't count.
Uh, groups about uh forbusiness owners, groups uh we
have the grief share group, wehave the mom support group,
diaper days, we had the teenageboys group, we are wondering, we
had practical local missionsgroups that were doing local
(08:09):
outreaches here uh called Faithand Action.
And then we have our perpetualcommunity groups or groups that
go on throughout the year.
Uh the other groups have startand stop dates, but this these
groups that uh meet in homes, wehave three of those across uh
the county, actually in KnoxCounty and in Anderson County.
So belong.
(08:31):
There's going to be more groupsuh starting in March, so stay
tuned about that.
Also, we were able to belongtogether with our Wednesday
night uh community uh teachings.
Uh, and it was great because wegot to not only every Wednesday
night, there's a teaching.
These this is teaching frompeople who are being trained uh
(08:51):
in.
Maybe we we have seen teachinggifts or leadership gifts in,
and they have been trained uhand we're giving them venues to
teach on Wednesday nights.
So that's great.
That happens every Wednesdaynight.
Um starting, it will bestarting later on in January.
But uh on the first of themonth, as Derek mentioned, we
have our community dinners, andit's been great.
(09:11):
Those of you who have come up,it's been really encouraging to
see uh how many people came outto eat.
I think you know, you throwfood down and people just come.
That's just great, but but youbut you want to be here.
This is this is a great thing.
Then we have our uh TrinityChristian Academy, and uh this
has been a big area of increasethis year, our homeschool co-op
(09:34):
that happens on Fridays.
Some of you don't know this,but on Fridays, this place is
fuller than it is today.
It is full, and this this uhsanctuary is sectioned off, and
we have 242 students in ourhomeschool co-op.
So if you put the parentstogether with that and the
non-uh school-aged children,there's about 350 people here
(09:57):
every Friday.
So it's it's uh madness, it'sbeautiful madness.
And then we also added Thursdaycore groups for high school
classes, and we've got 45students doing that.
So there's a total of 133families that are connected to
our umbrella.
They're registered under TCA'sTrinity Christian Academy's
(10:17):
homeschool umbrella, which isregistered with the state of
Tennessee.
So it's an opportunity forpeople to connect in that way.
And it's it's it's growing.
It's great to see these kidsgrowing and learning about Jesus
in school.
So we also have our triads,which is our our, these are our
informal discipleship groupsthat meet around the scriptures
(10:40):
and around buildingrelationships, just a way to
make disciples uh, you know,with each other, just growing in
in the knowledge of Jesus andalso connecting and being able
to be accountable to each other.
It's a major focus of ourchurch in 2026, which you'll
hear about next month.
And we've increased thecommunity part of Trinity
(11:02):
Community Church this year.
That's what we're that's whatwe're saying here, the community
part of belonging together.
And we really hope that youfeel more connected this year
than you were last year.
This is one of our main goalshere, and that you'll be even
more connected to the churchbody at the end of 2026 than you
are now.
And if you're newish here andyou feel like God may be joining
(11:23):
you or you'd like to know moreabout TCC, uh next uh January
25th, uh next month, uh, we'regonna have our Discovering TCC
lunch right after the service onthe 25th of January.
So you can go for that, go tothat and learn more about that.
Okay, that's belong.
We'll shift over into grow.
So, growing, our goal forgrowing or helping or creating
(11:48):
an atmosphere for you to grow isis uh that you are farther
along in your walk with Jesus,your growth journey than you
were last year.
And that means growing in theknowledge of Jesus, and that
means growing in love for himand growing in love for people.
That's basically what growthis.
So we tried to create anatmosphere that was conducive to
(12:09):
that this year.
Part of that is through ourSunday morning services, and
this is our sermon series thisyear, which I loved.
I don't know if you guys did ornot, but I loved them.
Uh, we had a little visionsermon series at the first of
the year about belongingtogether, growing deeper and
reaching farther.
But then we went into the OldTestament, we went through the
(12:29):
book of Nehemiah together, thispassion project sermon series,
and we learned a lot of thingsabout working together, about
allowing the burden of God toprecede our vision.
And out of that burden comesthe vision and the provision and
comes the um the uh equippingof God to fulfill that vision.
(12:53):
We learned uh during the summersermon series, we talked about
um the Sermon on the Mount.
So we had especially about uhthe Beatitudes there.
We talked about uh Ephesians.
We went to the New Testamentand we uh went through the first
three chapters of Ephesiansfrom September through November.
So we're gonna finish that,chapters five through six, or
(13:17):
four through six uh next year.
And then we did our Christmassermon series, expecting.
So part of the way we want wewant to help you grow is by
faithfully expositing thescriptures, not just picking
something out and throwing itout to you, but going deep in
the scriptures, going deep intothe books, understanding what
(13:37):
they're what what the author isreally saying, who is saying it,
who are they saying it to, whatare they saying, why are they
saying it?
When are they saying it?
And what does it mean to us?
And going through that verse byverse really helps you grow.
We had uh 127 people registeredto read through our
chronological Bible study lastyear, which is great.
(13:59):
How many of you have gonethrough our either our Bible
study or some kind of a Biblereading, daily Bible reading
last year?
Man, that's fantastic.
That's great.
Good job.
So Derek's already brought upthe fact that we're doing it
again this year, and we're goingback to the uh the Old
Testament reading or the NewTestament, reading through the
New Testament in a year.
Uh, there's there's a QR codethat you can scan, you can join
(14:22):
that.
We're gonna start that in a fewdays.
We're finishing up Revelationin our in our um chronological
Bible study now.
I think tomorrow's thetomorrow's the last day.
We finish it up last tomorrow,and then we have two days of
devotion, and then the new yearstarts.
So, we also had 21 days ofcorporate prayer and fasting
(14:43):
this year, which was uh a growthavenue for many of us and a
shrinking avenue for some of us.
That's a joke.
We we grew, we increased whilewe decreased, you know what I
mean?
It's kind of biblical,actually, really.
Yep.
So that was a great time topress into the Lord together.
(15:04):
And uh we developed leadersthrough Trinity Ministry
Apprenticeship Program andthrough our Timothy team, which
is um the avenues that we haveto work together with leaders
and try to equip them uh for thefuture.
We have discipling triads thatmany people have been a part of.
Uh we've had a lot of people gothrough the fit class of us, as
(15:26):
I said.
This is part of your growth.
And when you understand who youare and you plug into your
purpose, this is part of yourgrowth.
And then we had equipping uhopportunities for families.
We had a marriage seminar and aparenting seminar, and then we
have uh young mothersdiscipleship group.
So so we hope this is all aboutgrowing, right?
(15:47):
We hope that you have or youfeel that you're farther along
in your walk with Jesus thisyear than you were at the first
of this year.
That's our goal.
So we shift over into serve.
And this body has made animpact.
This is our goal for serve isto make an impact through
praying and through practicalworks of service and mission
(16:10):
locally, nationally, andinternationally.
And that's what's happened thisyear.
It's been a it's been a lot.
It's been amazing what thisbody has been able to do.
So we'll start with our 2025SERV Day.
We got some pictures here.
Many of you were part of theSurvey projects.
We had seven Survey projects.
We did repairs here at the uhnext door at the uh First Steps
(16:34):
Daycare.
Um we did help do somegardening at Empower Farm and
School, uh, some landscaping atTennessee Right to Life Prayer
Garden.
We visited and helped makecrafts with the residents at uh
Windsor Ridge Assistant Living.
We provided lunch andevangelism uh at uh homeless
(16:56):
outreaches downtown.
Uh we did some parkbeautification at Tommy Shepherd
Park and Sturkey Hills Parkhere nearby, and also uh at
Powell Station Park out inPowell.
So, plus all the people whocooked and served meals,
prepared uh meals for thevolunteers who are working on
Serve Day.
So thank you for that.
(17:17):
Just really a way topractically reach out to the
neighborhood, and you can besure to join us for uh serve day
projects in 2026, too.
So watch for that.
You got an opportunity to dothat next year.
Um, other local outreaches.
Well, we did we did uh we didbuy a building.
(17:38):
This was part of our localoutreach.
We owned this, we own this, weown this.
We had an incredibleopportunity offered to us, a
really unexpected opportunity tobuy this building and to do it
basically uh at uh the same kindof cost range that we were
(18:01):
renting this building because ofthe way things worked out, just
was really almost couldn't passit up.
So um here we go.
This is great.
We have an opportunity not onlyto be in this space and and
expand this space, but also useit in many different ways to
glorify God.
So you can still give towardthe building expansion project
(18:25):
that you heard about last weekor the week before last, that we
week before last, and uhDerek's uh mentioned that we're
expanding uh the building hereand doing some work over here as
well, uh beyond this wall.
Um so you can still give towardthat project that that's
current currently undergo thatwe're currently undergoing now
(18:45):
through March 2026.
So you can still uh give tothat.
You can give to that by goingto tccknox.com and designating
to sanctuary sanctuarybuild-out.
And so that's an opportunity.
We also had um our missionariesto Knoxville, Robin Chris Ellis
and their family, slash family,slash other people here, YWM
(19:10):
Knoxville, and children'sministry outreach have been so
busy this year.
So there's so many differentstories uh that happened this
year.
But we I just wanted Chris toshare at least one of them.
Chris Ellis (19:25):
So our stockings of love.
I don't know if anyone saw thepicture of the sanctuary before
we delivered Host and Oaks.
I think everything but thisyouth side had a stocking in it,
all the chairs, and it wasincredible.
But the story that um the eventwhen we went to New River, so
(19:46):
we've been going up there, Ithink this was our tenth year,
and it's in rural Appalachia.
Really, the first six yearsthey were kind of standoffish,
and then when we had that crazyWashington team come, it's never
Been the same.
It's something was abreakthrough there, and so we're
invited to baby showers andeverything now.
But we always uh do the samelesson at Christmas, and it's
(20:09):
about Christmas is all aboutgiving, and that God gave the
greatest gift of all, and we cangive our very best.
So after we prayed, Rob dressesup as Santa for the pictures,
so I had to kill some timebetween.
But in the meantime, a littleboy named Carter, who had prayed
when Rob did the prayer, hewent outside and he put his hand
(20:34):
up.
He said, Jesus, I want to givemy heart to you.
And he threw it up in the air,and then he came back, he goes,
I just want to help people.
I just want to help people.
And so Lee Curry, Lydio's LeeCurry, was helping us, and he
was trying to help him carrycoolers, and it was just, it was
just such a sweet, liketangible way of them getting
(20:56):
that.
That Christmas is all aboutgiving.
I give my life to Jesus, andnow I want to serve others.
Mark Medley (21:02):
Beautiful.
Thank you.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow, beautiful.
Well, I'll tell you, you can bea part of that, you know.
You can do that if you're notinvolved in anything.
If that kind of uh lights afire inside of you, they do
(21:24):
ministry weekly to kids, andthere's opportunities for you to
help uh join in and help withthat.
Okay, locally, what else?
Well, we have uh Patty Clemensand Faithful Promise Ministries.
Patty does so much ministrythat probably most people don't
know about, but she is one ofthe greatest out arms of
(21:45):
outreach here uh that we havelocally.
Um she has meetings that sheholds once a month to share a
word of hope.
But she also is our deaconess,one of our deaconesses here, who
serves widows and many peoplewith different kinds of needs.
And she meets one-on-one withwomen and mentors them and also
(22:06):
goes to Anderson County Women'sPrison, right?
She does so much stuff, soshe's part of a big part of our
local outreach.
Also, Brad Martell is withCenter for Bioethical Reform,
which is basically anorganization that exists to
change public opinion andultimately public policy on
(22:28):
abortion.
And Brad has had such a busyyear this year.
Um busiest travel season hesays he's ever had.
And uh they set up awarenessprojects at 15 different sites
in three months.
That's a lot, a lot ofdifferent campuses, so 11
colleges, three churches, and adowntown public square.
(22:49):
They set up these huge umawareness displays, uh, pre-born
child displays.
He put up, they put it up in uhGeorgia, North Carolina,
Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Thousands and thousands ofpeople saw this visual display.
Many of them uh saw prenataldevelopment for the very first
time.
You get these things in frontof people and people start
(23:10):
thinking differently.
And this is what's happening.
He's part of our ProtectingHuman Life Team, by the way.
And the Protecting Human LifeTeam is a great uh outreach of
this church as well.
They work with um uh women atrisk, they work with uh women
who have been sexuallytrafficked and exploited in
other countries, they work withright-to-life issues, so we're
(23:31):
really grateful for that.
And they also uh we also can umalso uh work together with Hope
Resource Center, which isKnoxville's only holistic
reproductive health care centerfor women, and they offer
cost-free services uh provide uhprovided by licensed medical
professionals.
(23:51):
And so this is this is a greatopportunity.
Also, we work with Street Hope,and Street Hope is a safe house
for young girls who've beenrescued from sex trafficking.
A lot going on in the area ofjustice here from this church.
Another one of our uh greatlocal outreaches is uh the
campus house of prayer with RyanMcCrillis.
Ryan, are you here thismorning?
(24:11):
He's sick.
Okay, maybe he's are youwatching, Ryan?
Uh you know, nearly 10 years,um, as far as I as I know, that
Ryan has been on the campus ofthe University of Tennessee
working as a volunteer chaplainwith ROTC cadets, uh, active
duty and civilian staff.
(24:32):
This year they held a Christianretreat, and with the help of
TCC, they also were able to feedtheir cadets during weekly ROTC
Bible study.
He, but Ryan participates in,they they did this retreat and
he does weekly uh mobile foodpantry.
But the big thing he does is hementors students.
(24:54):
He is he is a one-on-onediscipler and he disciples in
groups and he prays with them,he walks with them through these
Bible studies, and he doesgreat work right there on the
University of Tennessee.
And the University of Tennesseeuh currently has the largest
ROTC program in the UnitedStates.
You didn't know.
And they have been activelytrying to duplicate their
(25:15):
ministry to ROTC candidates inother surrounding schools, and
so far they've gotten thatestablished at Tennessee Tech
and UT, Chattanooga, ETSU, andMichigan State.
So what they're doing here, Idon't know what's I don't know
what's what does Michigan haveto do with Tennessee?
I don't know.
There's a little bit of a rivalthere, but you but uh you know
(25:38):
he's taking what what they'redoing there and they're they're
uh planting in other places, sothat's terrific.
Of course, we also have ourprison ministry from TCC, and
that's uh headed up by MatthewAchley, who's one of the um
chaplains there at the uh MorganCounty prison.
Patty goes, Edmund goes, MikeBumerstead, James Boyd, Tyler
(25:58):
goes, and the gospel has beenfaithfully presented to these
prisoners uh two nights a month,and every every month, and the
there's great friendships thathave been happening and
relationships have been builtthrough the volunteers and the
and and the prisoners, and God'sbeen moving mightily in those
services.
And the church in the prisonhas continued to grow.
(26:19):
Those men have continued to getstronger in their faith.
They have managed to set uptheir own discipling plan among
themselves, which is great.
And they have a prayer chainthey continue to do with the
prison that is uh that's just alittle bit of what Trinity's
done there in the prison.
And uh and special thanks toeveryone who provides for that,
who prays for that, supportsthat, and cooks so that the uh
(26:43):
ministry can be effective.
We also are connected locallyto the Empower School and Farm.
Our friend Buddy Walker is partof that, and we've had
opportunity to train someleaders there and impact locally
and internationally therethrough the farm.
Empower students haveparticipated in service projects
with TCC, and also some of themhave been part of our TMAP
(27:05):
program and have been trained inthe Bible this year.
And uh Compassion Coalition,the last thing locally, we also
work with Compassion Coalition,which is a faith-based nonprofit
here in Knoxville, that is acoalition of churches that um
and different kinds oforganizations and businesses,
and they're committed to movingbeyond the walls of the church
(27:26):
buildings into the community anduh seeing the compassionate
presence of Jesus make adifference in the midst of
poverty and pain and brokenness.
And so we're part of that aswell.
So we're making a differencelocally, uh, but we should turn
to internationally now too.
TCC partners have beenpersonally involved and
personally touched, been on theground in five continents this
(27:49):
year, uh with significantministry in Poland, France,
Bulgaria, Romania, Russia,Tanzania, Ireland, Kenya,
Thailand, Honduras, South Korea,and the United States of
America.
Did I miss anybody?
Africa?
Yeah, I got Tanzania.
I got that one.
(28:10):
That's good.
Yeah, and Kenya.
Yeah.
Great.
So and and our Cuba trip, ourCuba outreach.
Did I did I mention Cuba?
Okay, Cuba.
This is a big deal.
This was a big deal, Cuba.
So we we did trips to Cuba thisyear.
Uh, we did two trips uh to Cubaand ministered training pastors
(28:30):
and leaders.
Um, and also we we bought abuilding.
And and you guys probablyremember this.
That last last April, Tylercame up after our trip and said,
we have an opportunity.
There's a there's a town thatdoesn't have a church.
We have an opportunity to buy achurch.
You can't buy a churchbuilding, you have to buy a
(28:51):
house in Cuba.
You don't buy church buildings,you don't build church
buildings.
That's not uh that's notallowed.
If there's a church buildingexisting from pre-revolution
1959, then you can use thatbuilding, but you can't build a
church.
But they buy houses and theyconvert them and they make
church meeting places out ofthem.
And so we had an opportunity tobuy uh this building you see
(29:16):
behind us, actually, twobuildings.
It's a church and a house nextto it, along with some property.
And Tyler just came andmentioned it one Sunday, and we
needed $7,500 to buy this thingoutright.
Amazing.
And I think what came in was$12,000, I believe.
So it was amazing.
We did not only that, but weactually helped outfit and equip
(29:40):
the building.
And so uh what I found out istwo, three weeks ago, there were
over 40 people in attendance inthis uh which is fantastic.
So beautiful, so beautiful.
Um, so uh we're planning to doother conferences in November.
We're uh joining a team withCornerstone Church in Alabama uh
(30:04):
that's sending uh team down todo children's ministry,
children's uh camp in April.
So we're gonna uh help withthat as well, and we have other
conferences, multipleconferences planned in November.
So uh that's a greatopportunity there in Cuba.
In Tanzania, we still wecontinue to uh partner with
(30:25):
Gospel Herald Ministries and ourour precious friends, Pastor uh
Matthias and uh Beatrice, whohelp the ongoing development of
a Christian community among theMaasai people in a little
village called Kiria inTanzania.
Beautiful people.
Uh it's a village of about4,000 people, mostly just
(30:47):
herdsmen and their families,very, very poor, but there's a
great work going on there.
The church continues to grow,and the outreach and the
development of the land aroundthe church, which has happened
because we've been helped ableto help them uh purchase some
things that were necessary forthat.
That's going on.
So that's happening.
Also, we've had a lot of ouryoung young people that have
(31:10):
been in the nations this year aswell.
Um uh we have Rebecca Geiger,who's in South Korea, Kayla has
been in Poland this year, KaylaGrainer.
Uh Ruth is here, Ruth and Iceis here this morning.
She was in Honduras and inBuffalo, which is not a foreign
nation, but sort of.
Anna was in Thailand, AnnaJones.
(31:32):
So we have just a lot ofpeople, a lot of young people
going out.
Did I miss anybody?
Okay, good.
But we have other missionariesuh overseas that we support uh
in in a in a rather kind of amajor way.
One, of course, Phil and JennyAdams, so many of you know them.
They're still helping plantchurches and working with young
(31:53):
professionals in parts ofFrance.
Um, and you know, there's thishas been such um Europe has been
such a such a dead place.
The gospel has been so neededthere, but there's a reawakening
in the hearts of young peoplethere in Europe, and it's a
beautiful thing to see.
And Phil's in the middle ofthat.
(32:13):
He's just in he's in tall grassright there, because what he
does is he works with uhdiscipling these young people
and serving the leadersnationally in France, also in
other parts of Europe, and alsoin Afghanistan and Haiti as
well.
That's the the Adams.
We have our friends Bartek andDaria, Bishobiwa, who are in
(32:35):
Poland, and um uh they serve achurch that we helped to plant
there called Amazing GraceChurch, and uh we were able to
be with them this uh thissummer.
It was great to be with themand their new baby, their their
son, and their new their newnewer son.
Uh they work not only at thechurch there, but they work with
an organization calledEvangelical Poland, and they are
(32:58):
working with different umtypes, different uh
denominations of evangelicalchurches all over to unite them,
to strengthen them, to growtogether in their um uh
knowledge of the word, in theiruh outreach uh and evangelism,
uh, and in many different ways,and they're impacting the nation
there.
(33:18):
And of course, we have uhVictoria Watoto Fund.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
Which thank you for supporting here's here's a video
soccer balls.
We can now play soccer.
Thank you, thank you foruniform at Victoria Watoto
School because our belovedsponsor, may God bless you,
happy giving Tuesday.
Thank you for quality educationat Victoria Watoto School.
May God bless you, happy givingTuesday.
(33:44):
Thank you for well balanced outat Victoria Watoto School
because of our wonderfulsponsors, may God bless us.
Mark Medley (33:56):
Praise God.
Our friend Alois Leonard, uhwho was a who was also a partner
here at Trinity for many years,uh, has been working there with
the children's feeding program,which turned into a school, and
it just keeps growing.
And so we're really great.
Uh currently there are 153students enrolled there, you
(34:16):
know, and it wasn't in existenceeven a few years ago.
And uh nursery through fifthgrades, uh opening our doors
next uh to sixth graders nextyear, hiring a new teacher,
construction's already begun onthe new sixth-grade classroom.
So it's a big big deal.
Thank you so much.
Uh a lot of uh you have beenpartners together with Victoria
(34:39):
Watoto Fund.
And um, oh, we have some peoplein Ireland as well.
Uh Aaron and Beth are here thismorning.
And Aaron, come on up.
You gotta say something.
We were able also to to visitthem uh there near Dublin this
(35:01):
year, and it was great.
It was a great opportunity todo it.
Aaron Jones (35:06):
So hey everybody.
Yeah, so Beth and I, we've comein uh spending Christmas with
our families, and um so yeah,just a quick update.
Um so Beth and I, we moved uhSeptember 2024, landed in
(35:27):
Ireland then.
Um before I say anything else,first of all, thank you to
everyone here who is financiallygiven to us, prayed for us.
Um obviously, uh before weleft, there was a hands-and-feet
offering taken up for us forBeth and I.
That really, really, really,really is appreciated.
And thank you.
Just uh there's a few of youthat have given through the
(35:48):
year.
Um, and uh a few of you justgave uh you know, just you know,
when you felt like the Lord ledyou.
So just we really, reallyappreciate that.
Um very quickly, so Beth and Imoved um in 2024 to to Ireland.
We were living in a little towncalled Bray, south of Dublin.
We only lived there a couplemonths, and then we moved um up
(36:11):
north a little bit to anothertown called Black Rock.
They're all um you know rightnear Dublin.
Um, and uh we were attending achurch in uh Bray called
Cornerstone Church.
And uh we were there um uh thisthis whole time that we were in
Ireland, and um and uh Beth uhobviously when we first got
(36:32):
there, she uh started uh herposition at the hospital, one of
the hospitals in Dublin andCity Center called Matter
Private, and she was working inpost-anesthesia um and serving
the Irish and and everyone elsewho came through those doors um
uh in that capacity.
And I was leading worship umabout once a month, twice a
(36:54):
month when people were sick andthings like that.
Um and um and so all along weknew we were wanting to move to
County Cary.
Um and we actually did that umthe week uh last weekend.
Last weekend.
Wow, last weekend.
So uh we literally uh uh we hadto take a few trips down and
(37:17):
and uh and so we threw it all inour in the house and we locked
the door and then came here.
And so um, and so yeah, soleading worship, um I got and
then Beth, um it's funny, Iwanted to say this, you know,
some people think, well, youknow, yeah, Beth's job was a
nurse, but no, that's herministry.
(37:38):
And so um I I always want tohighlight that just uh that it
wasn't just what you're doing onthe side.
So what Beth was doing, and andto be honest, let's I don't
want first of all, she's thebrains of the bunch.
Let's we have no problem sayingthat around here.
Amen.
And so um, and uh it's throughbecause she got a critical
(37:58):
skills work visa.
Uh Ireland is in desperate needof nurses, and that's what got
us in the country to work visa.
Um, and that that's that's whywe can actually stay in the
country.
A religious visa in Irelandusually gets you three years and
then they boot you out.
And so, um, and so and uh oneof the things that was has been
very interesting is that Bethand I have um we started uh to
(38:21):
help and volunteer um with anorganization called ICEJ.
It means InternationalChristian Embassy of Jerusalem,
which is very interesting.
Um, but uh and I won't go intoall of it, um definitely don't
have time.
Uh but um uh Ireland has atroubling history of
anti-Semitism.
(38:42):
Um and currently um in thegovernment and in the higher
ups, there is a and uh just witha lot of people, it there's a
real uh spirit of anti-Semitism.
And to be honest, the Lord gaveme a couple dreams, uh very
sobering dreams, um, one beforeI left, and then I had a few
(39:04):
while we were in Ireland.
And the and the father was justreally uh kind of putting his
finger down on that, that thatwas something that Beth and I
needed to um be a part of is isto bring just love and support
to the Jewish people who live inIreland, is not many, uh, but
Dublin has a concentration ofthat um community.
(39:27):
And um, and so uh Beth and Ibecame we're part of that
organization.
We still are, we're we'reactually now that we've uh moved
to Kerry, we're gonna kind ofbe representatives of that
organization in Kerry.
Um, and so uh I mean I don'tthink I have to say it, but anti
Semitism's it's growing in inthe world.
(39:51):
And um it's very troubling,obviously.
What happened in Bondi andAustralia and stuff, and there
is no place for it in the bodyof Christ.
Mark Medley (39:59):
Yeah.
Aaron Jones (40:00):
At all.
There is, yeah, there is onepeople group in the world that
God calls the apple of his eye.
And so one of the burdens on myheart is that the Irish that
the Lord turns their heartsactually toward the Jewish
people.
And that sounds weird maybe tosome of you, but actually I
(40:24):
really truly believe that's partof discipleship.
And so we we live in CountyCarey now.
It's a town called Killorglan.
It's um and so I don't think Idon't know if Harrison and
Ashley are here today, um, butthey're Ashley's parents.
Um sh uh they pastor in a townright next to where we're living
in Killarney, and um uh MichaelNympha Robson and they passed a
(40:48):
Living Rock Church.
We were actually just there uhlast weekend and stuff, and so
um we're glad to be around uh inthat area.
Uh and we live we went from acity of 1.5 million people to a
town of 2,000 people.
And so um but so basicallythat's kind of the stuff we've
done this year, and just lookingforward, um, just through some
(41:10):
prophetic words and stuff withour local church and in Bray.
Uh, really feel like the Lord'swanting um us to network with
pastors in the County Carey uharea.
Um that's like I said, kind ofa long story, but um, I really
feel like uh that's one of thethings the Lord wants to do with
Beth and I.
Um and it maybe at some pointwe would like to start a house
(41:32):
church in our little town anddisciple people that way.
And um, and then also uh mymusic gets in there somewhere
and every now and then andfigures its way out.
So um, but anyway, once again,um I just uh uh want to thank
all of you um uh just for yourprayers and your giving.
(41:55):
Um and uh really to be honest,we've been in Ireland now since
September 2024, but um first ofall, we're in it for the long
haul.
Um we're not there to you knowhang out for a couple years and
then go home.
We really want to bringdisciples um and raise up
disciples in County Cary.
That's our heart.
(42:15):
Um and um and also to just uhwhenever and however to just
really love and support theJewish people in Ireland.
And um and so yeah, so uh wejust uh um just thank you guys
and love you guys.
And if you want to talk to Bethand I afterwards of you know
about Ireland or or I don't knowif you got a home group this
(42:38):
week or something and want oneof us to come or something, you
just let us know and uh and allthat.
So but and Mark, thanks a lotfor letting us uh oh and yeah,
and there's Sersha.
That's our three-year-old, anduh and that's actually at one of
our ICEJ meetings.
Um, and the picture in themiddle there, that's between
(42:58):
Killarney and Killorgan.
I thought I'd just throw somesheep in there, you know, with a
great sunset.
And then there's a QR code thatgoes to our website.
Mark Medley (43:08):
Hey, how old is Anna?
How old is Anna?
How old is Anna?
Chris Ellis (43:14):
Anna's 23.
Mark Medley (43:15):
Okay, good.
Okay.
Yeah, they're three, that'stheir three-year-old, but their
23-year-old was leading worshipthis morning.
Yeah.
That was all for Beth.
All that is for Beth.
Okay, so we have three threemore groups that are part of our
(43:36):
church that we call Sent Ones,and they are ministries that are
based out of TCC that are doingyou could call apostolic work
in the nations uh in terms of uhhelping build churches and
ministry in different ways.
Uh, number one is Siberianmissions with Yuri and Olga
Drojan.
And Yuri and Olga are here thismorning.
(43:56):
This year, they've beenministering in Russia and in
Tuva Republic in Germany andBulgaria and Nepal.
And so we were able to be withthem in for a few weeks in a
couple of weeks in Bulgaria,which was great.
It was it was great, it wasgreat.
We were in a tiny little uhcommie condo, like built during
(44:19):
communists, little bitty thingwith uh one bathroom, the four
of us for a couple of weeks, andit's beautiful.
It's like it life as it shouldbe.
Comarod.
Uh so we're really gratefulthat they they're able to uh to
go and reach places even that wecan't go now because it's I
(44:40):
can't we can't get into Russia,it's very hard to, but they can.
And they're they've been athey're a huge help to the
churches that they help servethere.
Many of them they planted, orthey're the churches that came
out of churches they planted inSiberia.
So thank you for for what youdo.
Uh and then, of course, there'sEzra Project with Neil
Silverberg.
You guys know Neil, and he'shere with us sometimes in the
(45:02):
pulpit because he serves asoversight here at Trinity
Community Church, but also hehe's on the oversight team of 12
other churches in the UnitedStates, and also four churches
in Puerto Rico.
And he also serves a network of37 churches in eastern Cuba in
his spare time.
Last year he did twoconferences, uh, in one in Cuba
(45:27):
and in Puerto Rico.
Uh he travels, he does ministryin in different local churches
here in the United States, yeah,in his spare time.
And he trains leadership teamsin the United States, and so
he's out averaging maybe twice amonth.
Normally he's out twice a monthto different churches.
Uh and he continues to serve inthe leadership team of Master
Builders, which is a network ofuh Ephesians, Ephesians 5
(45:50):
ministers, uh, Ephesians 4ministers that um that uh that
work to serve churches indifferent capacities.
If you want to um hear likehundreds of hours of teaching,
there great teaching.
There's a podcast, NeilSilverberg's podcast.
You can check that out.
Hundreds of hours of greatteaching on that, and then
(46:12):
neilsilverberg.com as well.
You can go there.
So there's Neil, and then thenthere's Thrive Ministries, which
is which is uh the ministrythat Amy and I oversee.
And 2025 has been a year of newbeginnings, obviously, for us,
and expanded vision.
We've been uh privileged topersonally visit and resource
(46:34):
and encourage pastors in Nepaland Cuba twice, Poland three
times, France, Bulgaria,Romania, and here in the United
States as well.
And also there have been a lotof, we've seen a lot of women
discipled through the Melissamovement, uh which is a fund
that's been was set up in honorof my my late wife Melissa, who
(46:55):
was a spiritual mother, and weare we are helping to resource
spiritual moms in many differentnations.
Uh Poland and Russia andTanzania and India and Nepal and
Alabama, which is not a foreignnation.
(47:19):
I don't want you to know that.
But it is Alabama.
And so there's it's amazing howGod is really just continues to
bless that and provide, andthere's a lot of things going on
getting ready to do um awomen's conference sponsored uh
by uh uh Melissa movement inIndia.
(47:40):
Uh so this is great.
We've helped uh the translationof discipleship materials into
Spanish and to Russian thisyear.
Walking through grief book wastranslated translated into
Ukrainian.
It was uh distributedthroughout Poland, and we did a
little Polish tour.
I did a little Polish tour onthe book.
It was called, well, I calledit affectionately the grief tour
(48:01):
because it was a tour aboutgrief.
Uh and that's but it's also uhin Russian now.
It's translated into Russian,so it's soon to be published in
those languages.
The audio version of that bookwill be available and audible in
a few weeks.
And then the Trinity Trilogy uhbook, the devotional book, is
also being has been distributedand uh is being enjoyed by
(48:23):
people, which is great.
We give God all the glory forthis, and you're a huge part of
the fruit that we've seen thisyear.
So we want to thank you so muchfor giving.
So in key and so speaking ofgiving, it's been a year of
increase in giving too in 2025.
So we've got just a real quickupdate and that we had uh as of
(48:43):
like two weeks ago, we had$591,146.02 that came into the
church, um, which is which isamazing uh from this group of
people.
It's just so great.
We're so grateful for that.
You can see the breakdownthere.
37% of that went to operations,38% to equipping, uh, 11% to
(49:07):
missions, and then we have somethat went directly to savings.
Um so this is um uh this is ifyou want more information about
that, you're welcome to.
I don't want to bore you withdetails, but we are wide open
about our finances here.
If you have for any reason somekind of curiosity about that,
you can talk to us about that.
(49:29):
So that's 2025.
Looking forward to 2026, at ourelder prayer and planning
retreat in October, we felt theLord really push us toward this
idea of growing deeper, to knowChrist more and making him
known.
Really discipleship.
We felt like sharp Christiansare best prepared for anything
(49:49):
that comes along, for any crisisthat happens, anything that
might come along.
We want to help sharpen youthis year and to be prepared to
make a positive impact, nomatter what happens in the
future, to see Jesus better, tobe with him, and to be on
mission with him, to go for him,taking the truth of the gospel
to those who desperately needit.
(50:10):
You're gonna hear more aboutthat in January, because that's
part of uh our vision series inJanuary.
But all of this was donetogether.
It was a lot.
It was a lot that happened.
There's sometimes a voice inour culture that says, Yeah, I
don't really need church,though.
I can just be a Christian bymyself.
(50:31):
And church is just, I don'tknow, it's not, it's an old
thing, right?
And I hear that sometimes, andI always answer it with one
statement, and that is, well,what have you done this year?
Because let me tell you what mychurch has done this year.
And I start talking about allthe things we've done locally,
(50:52):
all the things for justiceissues, for practical issues,
for gospel issues, what we'vedone nationally, what we've done
internationally, how people aregrowing.
You know, what you know, thisis I would I would say, what are
you actually doing to affectyour world?
And together, as one localexpression of the big body of
(51:12):
Christ, this is what we havedone.
Together, all of us, you havedone it.
Whether you went on a trip oryou served locally or you serve
in Sunday school or you give oryou pray, you are part of this.
And we have done all of thistogether, and we did a lot last
year.
And may we even do more in2026.
(51:33):
And that's how how I want toleave you this morning.
Imagine yourself this time nextyear.
Imagine yourself growing,belonging more, connecting more
in community, getting your needsmet in relationships in the
body of Christ.
As the scripture says, the bodyof Christ, every joint supplies
(51:56):
what the other joints need.
Being connected together,receiving and also giving,
because there are people whoneed what you have.
Imagine yourself growing closerto your church family through
Sunday services, through smallgroups, through community
groups.
Imagine yourself growing deeperin your Bible reading plan or
getting involved in disciplingtriad to know the word of God
(52:19):
better.
Imagine yourself serving Godmore effectively in ministry on
serve day in one of the teamshere, local outreach, or or
giving or going to the nations.
Where could you be this timenext year if we belong and grow
and serve together?
So, as we read earlier, givethanks to the Lord.
(52:42):
Call upon his name and makeknown his deeds among the
people.
Rehearse his wonderful works.
So that's what today is about,and we're gonna pray and thank
God for it all, and we're alsogoing to ask him for more in the
future.
Father, thank you.
We give you glory.
(53:02):
Every bit of glory goes to youbecause you have drawn us to
yourself, you've changed ourlives, you've brought us
together, knitted us togetherwith one another, and you've
given us opportunities, andyou've done great things, even
through this small expression,this local expression of your
(53:23):
great big body.
Thank you that we're part ofit.
We're so grateful to be a partof each other, Lord.
And we're asking for more nextyear, Lord, more community, more
belonging, Lord, more growing,deeper discipleship, more
understanding of Jesus, moreexperience with your Holy
(53:44):
Spirit, more security in ourwalk with our Father, and more
opportunities to serve, toimpact this place, our place
where you've put us here, Lord,and the nations is what we pray.
I pray that for every personhere.
God, for for this year, you'reour great shepherd, Lord.
(54:07):
Would you guide us?
Would you shepherd us intothese areas of belonging and
growing and serving through thisyear?
And that this time next year,we won't even be able to
recognize ourselves, Lord.
Because of the beautiful thingsyou have done.
All glory goes to you in Jesus'name.
Amen.
And I want to pray over ablessing over you.
(54:29):
A little different one thismorning from the New Testament.
Now may the God of peace whobrought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, the great shepherdof the sheep, by the blood of
the eternal covenant equip youwith everything good that you
may do his will, working in usthat which is pleasing in his
(54:53):
sight, through Jesus Christ, towhom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Amen.
If you have prayer need thismorning, please come up.
We want to pray for you.
We don't want you to leavewithout getting prayer.
Let the body minister to youthis morning.
And we love you guys and happynew year.
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