Tonight we are gathering at 7 PM at the church for our monthly evening of worship and prayer. You are invited and we hope to see you there! May our persistence in prayer move the mountains in our lives, homes and in society, may our hearts find new healing and freedom. 

Sunday we meet outdoors again! Hasn't it been a blessing to hear the testimonies from people among us whose lives have been transformed by the grace of Jesus! 

We will be celebrating communion! I always love communion Sundays and it's going to be a treat to do this outside. This time we are going to have some bread (with a gluten free option). Does this not make you think of the great crowds gathered to hear Jesus and the bread that he blessed, distrubuted and multiplied? My hope is that adding the outdoor element in communion will allow us to pause and reflect on the life of Jesus at an even deeper level. 

A couple weeks ago board member, Josh DeYoung, gave us an update. In case you missed that service here is his announcement.

On July 7th, Justin Hiebert was nominated to be my (Josh's) replacement on the board of directors. I will still be serving this last month as Patty is still recovering from her accident. She's doing well in her healing journey!

Pastor search: the pastoral search team has been assembled and have already had their first meeting together. I’m told it went very well. Currently what’s being on worked on is
    ◦    Reviewing the vision/ mission statement of TC. We want to establish and refine, in words, who we are, so that we are able to communicate that to future applicants. Any changes will be approved by the board.
    ◦    The team is also developing a candidate profile, defining who good potential candidates will be as well as acquiring different sample job descriptions.
    ◦    Two and a half weeks ago we said goodbye to Nathan. The day after his leaving, we had a board meeting, our first without a head pastor. We really got the sense in that meeting that God has a pastor for us and that they will get here in His time. We have been blessed with a fantastic interim team with capable people and God is moving in our midst.

Any questions? Unclear about who the interim team is? We'd like to hear from you.

office@transformtbay.com

Luke 18:1-8 gives us a moving parable about a persistent widow and an unjust judge. 

Why did Jesus tell this parable?

Is this parable mainly about persistence or justice?

If God loves us, why does he give us a story of "relentless asking" and a judge who begrudgingly answers.

Why does the parable have an unjust judge as the comparison to God?

If this story is meant to have practical implications in our lives what are we meant to take away? We often feel like our prayers aren't answered, so do we just ask away forever? Be pesky, annoying? Is God like the unjust judge who begrudingly answering our requests, only if we ask enough?

See you Sunday fellow Bereans!

The clouds are beautiful up here high in the sky. We are on board the flight from Marten Falls to Thunder Bay.

As I reflect on the trip here’s a few thoughts.

We got to spend more time than we have previously with the teens in the community. Matthew happened upon the fact that teens love vehicle rides, so our team began to give rides into the back roads of Marten Falls. On these rides meaningful conversations were had and relationships built.

We are TIRED..we put in 12-hour days. We ran activities with kids, baked, talked to adults, cleaned, served, fished, prayed, played floor hockey, soccer, badminton.

One of my highlights was the community feast where about 70 community members showed up. As the meal was about to get underway, I was asked by a community member to pray for the meal. It was such a special moment for me.

On Sunday morning we gathered for a church service. Jesse shared so well. Matthew and Jesse played the piano. All of us were dialed in, taking in what she said. It was awesome!

Friday night we hosted Truth Talks, “A Journey along the Creators path.”  Mary led an excellent discussion and then we shared questions and answers with each other. Matthew guided us through the 5 A’s of forgiveness. We were told how encouraging and timely it was to meet with fellow believers.

Individually each of us had opportunity after opportunity to share faith with people. I think of one young man who is earnestly seeking God. He’s reading Scripture. He spent hours talking with us about faith.

Our host worked so hard cooking and organizing events for the community to facilitate our trip. It was remarkable.

The Transformation Church team has unique insights and gifts. Together, we complement each other and we feel it’s a privilege to work alongside the community of Marten Falls.

As you think about the trip can you pray for following things?

1. Church – Can you pray that this happens in Marten Falls? Can you pray that the right timing, people and funding come together.
2. That healing, grace, hope would come in abundance to the community of Marten Falls

That’s all for now,

The Marten Falls Team (written by Jeremy)

Blessings!

Jeremy