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OCTOBER MEMORY VERSE
"Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge."
Psalm 62:8


OCTOBER 31st WORSHIP SERVICE 
Adult Class - What Makes You Happy? - 8:30 A.M. - Room 110
Adult "Welcome" Class (Colossians) - 8:45 A.M. - Rooms 114-115
Connecting Point - 9:30 A.M. - Dining Room
Worship  - 10:00 A.M. -  Family Center Gym and Online
Pastor Mark: ROAD TO RECOVERY, Part 5 - MAKING CHANGES
featuring the testimony of
Read ahead - Matthew 5:6, Romans 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 3:12-18
NLC Kids  - 10:00 A.M. - Rooms 101,103

GRAB & GO will be served as a FREE SUPPER during FAMILY FUN NIGHT
5-7 P.M. in the church parking lot/patio/lawn

In November 2019 our church heard and accepted a vision for New Life Community. We envisioned our church as a diverse family of faith continuously transformed by Jesus Christ, and authentically loving God, each other, and our community. Together we claimed a mission to transform lives through Jesus Christ, and so we set a 12-month goal for ourselves to shift our church more strongly and cohesively toward transformational community ministries.

That 12-month goal has stretched to 24 months as we adapted and innovated through the pandemic. The pandemic itself served to alert us to the needs of our community. We discovered that it had exacerbated the needs that were already present in our community: financial insecurity, homelessness, food insecurity, and low educational achievement. While acknowledging the tremendous pain the pandemic has had on families, its timing within the timeframe of our church's 12-month goal could not have been a better situation. Our church was poised to step into the community with the love of Christ Jesus in the very ways that were needed.

Among the five objectives we assigned ourselves to implement the vision, we retooled ourselves for transformational ministries specific to the needs of our community. To meet the financial insecurities of families in the Dinuba area we learned and launched Faith & Finances. To meet the food insecurity needs we put our kitchen to use through Grab & Go meals. And to meet the needs of the homeless we ramped up our partnership with Open Gate Ministries' shelter by leading a LIfe Skills course and launching the NLC Home Resource Center. In a recent article I listed these and all of the other outward-focused ministries we have begun at NLC during the last 24 months.

These ministries have connected us with a growing group of partners that include other outward-focused churches like our daughter church, Neighborhood, in Visalia, local parachurch organizations like Open Gate Ministries and YFC, community-benefit organizations like the Parenting Network, civic and resource agencies like Child Welfare Services through our collaboration with Care-Portal, and other local business owners and interested individuals. Even Dinuba High School partners with us by sending student interns to help with our events! The list of partners with us is almost too big to count, and it continues to grow. We are not alone, and God has brought people to NLC with the heart and skills to contribute toward the mission we have set for ourselves.

We aren't the same church we were in November 2019. The pandemic loosened some of our relationships, and life has brought other changes. Some have expressed a sense of lostness as the church has transitioned from what it was to what it is becoming. It has been challenging to find our place amidst all the changes. As new people have come and old friends have either left or not been able to participate in in-person gatherings yet, the need to introduce ourselves and form new relationships has caught some of us by surprise. And what a joyful surprise it is when we meet those who have been touched by God's grace and find in them new partners in worship and work! We are already becoming the diverse family of faith we envisioned.

These articles and this blog are intended to inform and inspire you toward our vision. I invite you to call or meet with me if you have questions or want to know how you can connect with the work of God at NLC. Like Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful and workers are needed. Ask God to show you his harvest and where and how he wants to work through you. Then contact me so we can talk about his answers and how you want to move forward as a member of NLC. 

Received Last Week (10/24):…..$3,107
Received this year to date…… $57,363
Budget to Date: …………...…..... $68,155
Budget Goal: …………..…..........$443,008
Needed Weekly: ……….…......……$8,765

Please remember to ask God what He wants to give through you toward our November 21st Mission offering. The goal is $46,300 to cover our entire year's commitment to our missionaries.