We are so excited over what God has brought to Life this year. We rejoice in His faithfulness and stand amazed at His power and miraculous works.

Some who were feeling like they were spiraling downward, unemployed, worried and even confused at what had taken place in their lives, have been renewed, restored and refreshed by what The Lord has done!

Others had been wondering for over a year what direction they would go, and if that direction would lead them to a place they wanted to be or simply had to be. They have found God using them in a place they love to be.

Some have had deep wounds caused by the church in general and some of its people, and have been or are in the process of being healed by God.

It is God that has done this and He plans to continue expanding His territory!

We are reaching people of all ages and hope to expand with His will and Spirit, to reach more and reach further. We are in our second year of serving a sit down dinner to those who live at the Summer Creek apartments, an over 55 community on Empire Ave. The people are in love with the monthly event that teaches our young children to serve while blessing an important part of the community.

We have also added a school to the property that has been doing an incredible job at raising up children in the ways of the Lord. Children range from nursery to eighth grade and are taught and cared for by some of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Legacy Christian School has brought a new aspect of ministry to the New Lifeline Ministries campus and it will be exciting to watch God grow there as well!


This year God’s word for us is threefold:

Prioritize – Put Him first in ALL we do.

(Genesis 41:16) Joseph said “I cannot do it” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

When put in a position to reap the award of attention, congratulation, and even glory, Joseph immediately deflects from his self to give God the glory! Priority before Pride.

Purpose – To find the reason you are here!

After being left for dead, then sold into slavery….Then sold again, then thrown in jail for crime he did not commit, and sitting for two years before being called to what would turn out to be his Purpose, Joseph realizes that for all he had been through. For all of the trials and tribulations, it was not “by chance” or just the “luck of the draw” or that “it wasn’t in the cards”, or whichever term we may hear people use. It was for a reason! There was PURPOSE in his life and he knew that it was God’s way of saving people through him!

After all his brothers had put him through, when Joseph had the opportunity to hate, or lack forgiveness for, or even seek revenge, he chose to say this instead: (Genesis 45:4-5) “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” Now that is recognizing your purpose!

Position – To do our very best with THE NOW and THE HERE. Right where He has you NOW – Be your best!

In the photo attached to this article is a divot where the ball landed, and the ball sitting inches from the 7th hole. Just like it wouldn’t make sense to tee off to the next hole from this location, it doesn’t make sense for us to set up a tee where we are now, when we haven’t sunk this putt!

You may have been through some tough and even depressing times,…….BUT God has a place for you. Let God show you the position you are in right now and how doing your best here will lead you to HIS GLORY!

HE loves YOU and so do WE!

Blessings Right Where You Are,

Pastor Bill and Diane

As always it will be an event to remember! Join us in celebrating the Savior’s birth together! We look forward to a night of celebration that includes games, “white elephant” gift exchange and a review of the incredible changes that God has brought to His ministry here.

Proverbs 15:31 says “He who listens to a life giving rebuke will be at home among the wise”.

2 Corinthians 7:10 says “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, BUT worldly sorrow brings death”.

In this era of “love”and what some call reality we must be careful to define what godly love and REAL reality REALLY is.

Godly love will have an immediate hatred for sin. Sounds harsh but IS reality. If it is a love that leads to repentance one must recognize that love is not an emotion of tolerance. It is a constant awareness of who our God truly is and what He has already declared as being righteous. His law clearly states what is right in HIS eyes. This leaves us outside the realm of acceptance by God and yet some of us walk “with the lord” for many years before we realize we are walking along side man’s idea of Christianity instead of walking WITH the Lord of lords and King of kings.

I believe our message has to be pure and REAL!

In our weekly studies we have been investigating how to witness to people to lead them to salvation. This has been interesting to say the least. We have learned much about different personalities and about each other. The subject has been to challenge people where they are without offending them for where they’ve been. Yet we have also found that unless we are offended, we may not ever realize that we are in the wrong. The offense mustn’t come from our flesh, but from the Holy Spirit Himself.

Is it love to say “I don’t want to offend you so I will just say that God loves you” and then walk away, leaving someone on the same road as when you arrived?

If you knew the road they were on led to a cliff that it would be impossible for them to see until they began the long descent to their death, would you pass them going the opposite way while saying “God loves you”?

We have discussed the different approaches to people who are in different times in their life and how we must be sensitive to their current positions in order to know which method of communication to use.

We have looked at Paul as an example: Although many say Paul has a “more consistent” and maybe even “milder” personality and deliverance than some of the other disciples, it seems Paul was simply more aware of his audience.

When he speaks in Romans 2 he starts this way “You, therefore, have NO EXCUSE”……his approach here is not very empowering or encouraging. Why does he start this way? What is the “Therefore” there for? Well we see in the end of the previous chapter that he was already on the subject of “God’s Wrath Against Mankind”. He finishes the previous chapter by saying “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them“.

We tend to believe that love is to approve and tolerate where one is, regardless of where it will lead them. Paul cares about the direction of people and so he delivers an encouraging message to those who are heading down the right road, while warning those who are headed toward the cliff. This is love.

He goes on to mention that God’s judgment is based on truth and that truth remains for those who are judging as well. None of us will escape God’s judgment.

We must first realize that we are on the road that leads us to “the cliff” before we can be thankful to the one who has saved us.

Romans 2:4-5 “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance”? “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His judgment will be revealed”. Further in verses 11& 12 “For God does not show favoritism. 12 “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law”.

Charles Spurgeon said this about repentance:

“If thou hast one particle of real hatred for sin, God must have given it thee, for human nature’s thorns never produced a single fig. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. True repentance has a distinct reference to the Saviour. When we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross, or it will be better still if we fix both our eyes upon Christ and see our transgressions only, in the light of his love.

True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say he hates sin, if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but experimentally-as a burnt child dreads fire. We shall be as much afraid of it, as a man who has lately been stopped and robbed is afraid of the thief upon the highway; and we shall shun it-shun it in everything-not in great things only, but in little things, as men shun little vipers as well as great snakes. True mourning for sin will make us very jealous over our tongue, lest it should say a wrong word; we shall be very watchful over our daily actions, lest in anything we offend, and each night we shall close the day with painful confessions of shortcoming, and each morning awaken with anxious prayers, that this day God would hold us up that we may not sin against him.

Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day. This dropping well is not intermittent. Every other sorrow yields to time, but this dear sorrow grows with our growth, and it is so sweet a bitter, that we thank God we are permitted to enjoy and to suffer it until we enter our eternal rest”.

The bible says we were made in the very image of God!
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (AMP)
The mirror doesn’t see, it reflects.

The world should no longer see us, we should be the very reflection of the image of God!
How POWERFUL is He at work in your life?

The world is searching for answers to these ever changing tides we are seeing. When they see Christians are we the ones who have hope on our face, or despair? Are we the ones who are rising above the tension and stress of these times, or complaining right along with them? How are we reacting to the hate we see today? Do we look different than those in the world?
These are tough questions for those who aren’t sure of the POWER that God has made available to those who believe. BUT…………..

Ephesians 1:17-20 says “¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

How Powerful is it to know that we have the very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead?!

I find it very hard to believe that we could ever see ourselves the same again!

We are new creatures! The world should look to us as a hope and an encouraging light! We are no longer our own, but have bought at a price. Knowing this tells us two things:

1) We cannot do with this body what “I” want any longer! It’s not mine!

• I pass a green electric transformer every day on the way to work. One day it’s green with red spray paint on it. Another day it has a different color green painted over the previously painted array of colors. It frustrates me to see someone take a spray can and spray “their” colors or words or “tags” on something that was bought with someone else’s hard earned money. The reality is, if someone came over their house and spray painted their name on the side of their car it would be seen as a Criminal and cruel act.
• It was through this situation that God spoke to me one day and redirected my minor frustration to us as Christians: Why would we take the NEW creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and try to make it look like the world again, thinking it will help us to save those who are lost?
• The world DOES NOT want us to look like them. They are looking for a city on a hill not the house down the street. They don’t want us to climb in the gutter with them, they want us to help them out! We need to be relevant and even relative without trying to pretend.
• When we are authentically in Love With God, our integrity and passion will be reflected through any trial and tribulation!

2) We can have the confidence that He has given us to LIVE and MOVE and have our BEing in HIM. HE is able to do exceeding, abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20). YES, even with us! That lack of “perfection” is historically apparent in many people you may know of listed throughout scripture. consider the following:

There are many reasons why God would not want you, but don’t worry. You’re in good company!

- Moses stuttered.
– David’s armor didn’t fit.
— John Mark was rejected by Paul.
—- Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
—– Amos’ only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning.
—— Jacob was a liar.
——- David had an affair.
——– Solomon was too rich.
——— Abraham was too old.
———- David was too young.
———– Timothy had ulcers.
———— Peter was afraid of death.
————- Lazarus was dead.
————– John was self-righteous.
————— Jesus was too poor.
————– Naomi was a widow.
————- Paul was a murderer. So was Moses.
———— Jonah ran from God.
———– Miriam was a gossip.
———- Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
——— Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
——– Elijah was burned out.
——- John the Baptist was a loudmouth.
—— Martha was a worrywart.
—– Mary was lazy.
—- Samson had long hair.
— Noah got drunk.
– Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse?
- So did Peter, Paul–well, lots of folks did.

Listen to this from John Maxwell:

The Elevator Principle

“People can be the wind beneath our wings or the anchor on our boat”. People who add value to others almost always do so intentionally. Adding value to others requires a person to give of him- or herself. That rarely occurs by accident.

In relationships, receiving is easy. Giving is much more difficult. We all want to be a positive influence in the lives of others. If you want to lift people up and add value to their lives, keep the following in mind:

• Lifters commit themselves to daily encouragement.
• Lifters know the little difference that separates hurting and helping.
• Lifters initiate the positive in a negative environment.
• Lifters understand life is not a dress rehearsal.

Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. considers in his article, “After the Revolution,” the Christian response to the digital age: “Like the Reformers who seized the opportunity afforded by the Gutenberg Revolution, we must see the world of new media as an area for Christian truth-telling. Our engagement with new media is driven by impulses that are evangelistic, missiological and grounded in apologetics” (page 3).
Aaron and I (Josh) offer theological, pastoral and missional perspective in an extended piece on social media. The article gives particular attention to the issues of content and medium, technological literacy and priority: “The church should utilize technology because of her call to reach sinners with the Gospel in the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8), and some of the uttermost parts currently reside in cyber-space and augmented reality” (pages 4 and 6).
Jim Hamilton, associate professor of biblical theology at SBTS, gives readers an intensive foretaste of his forthcoming book, God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment (Crossway), in his interview with Aaron (pages 8 and 9). The issue also includes Aaron’s review of Hamilton’s book (page 10).
Mark T. Coppenger, professor of Christian apologetics at Southern, considers the wonder of human creativity and accomplishment in his article “Quanta and Quiddities” (page 6).

Other content for “Towers” includes:

contributing writer Robert E. Sagers’ interview with Justin Taylor about the nature and art of blogging (page 5);
Peter Gentry, professor of Old Testament interpretation at Southern, challenging standard evangelical views on God’s holiness (page 7);
a Southern Story featuring Boyce College’s latest hire Scott Connell, instructor of music and worship leadership (page 12); and
several imbedded QR Codes throughout the issue that allow mobile devices (iPhone, Android or BlackBerry) with the app to access video content on social media (see cover page at top-right of post; pages 3, 15 and 16).