May 21, 2020
Welcome to this week's edition of TCFinTouch
The e-newsletter of Trail Christian Fellowship

As followers of Jesus, we meet throughout the week for worship, prayer, Communion, Bible study and fellowship. Our overall mission can be summed up as:
Sunday & Wednesday Service
Viewing Platforms

To view this Sunday's service and future services you can click any of the four buttons below. The service will be uploaded to all three of these platforms at 10am Sunday morning. Also, you can click the Youtube button to find previous teachings.
Coming Up
Sunday, May 24

The worship service will be available this Sunday ONLINE AT 10AM . Pastor Rick Booye will be teaching.




Wednesday, May 27

Join Pastor Travis Connick this coming Wednesday  ONLINE AT 6:30PM  to continue studying through the book of Galatians.

NOTE: Please be prepared with communion elements as we will be partaking together.







Sunday, May 24

Join Debbie Conley for this coming Sunday's Great Room talk ONLINE AT 10AM and on Wednesday her Preschool talk will be at 6:30PM. These talks will be available on the Children's Ministry page on our website and on our Youtube channel. Links are provided above.




Sunday, May 24

Join Pastor Robert Milton this coming Sunday ONLINE AT 10AM for this weeks Middle School message. This message will be available on the Trail Teens for Truth page on our website and on our Youtube channel. Links are provided above.






Sunday, May 24

Join Pastor Nate Bailey this coming Sunday ONLINE AT 10AM for this weeks High School message. This message will be available on the Trail Teens for Truth page on our website and on our Youtube channel. Links are provided above.









FOR EVERYONE'S SAFETY!
UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE: All Services on campus are CANCELLED!


Recent Teachings
Missed a message, or just want to hear it again?

Visit the sermon audio archive and catch up on our studies, with the most recent sermons at the top.
From Our Pastors

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot

"Jim Elliot and four other missionaries –  Ed McCully Roger Youderian Pete Fleming , and their pilot,  Nate Saint  – made contact from their  Piper PA-14 airplane  with the Huaorani using a loudspeaker and a basket to pass down gifts. After several months, the men decided to build a base a short distance from the Indian village, along the  Curaray River . There they were approached one time by a small group of Huaorani and even gave an airplane ride to one curious Huaorani whom they called "George" (his real name was Naenkiwi). Encouraged by these friendly encounters, they began plans to visit the Huaorani, without knowing that Naenkiwi had lied to the others about the missionaries' intentions. Their plans were preempted by the arrival of a larger group of about 10 Huaorani warriors, who killed Elliot and his four companions on January 8, 1956. Jim Elliot was the first of the five missionaries killed when he and Peter Fleming were greeting two of those attackers that showed themselves pretending they were interested in taking plane rides with them. Elliot's body was found downstream, along with those of the other men, except that of Ed McCully which was found even farther downstream.   [1] "

Missionary Jim Elliot was only 28 years old when he was killed while doing mission work in Ecuador. Many people at the time thought these five men had wasted their lives. But their legacy has continued far beyond their lifespan. Two excellent movies that relate their story are: “The End of the Spear” and “Through Gates of Splendor”. They tell the rest of the story and if you are familiar with it you know that Jim’s wife Elisabeth Elliot and others continued to work with the Auca tribe and eventually led many to Christ.

What drove these men? Why were they so motivated? Why go through all the effort, trouble, and expense of training to leave home and preach the gospel around the world? And then die…

These are legitimate questions. And may even bring us to a point of asking why we as a church are involved in missions. Whether we go ourselves or send others, crossing cultures to serve among the least reached and unreached people’s of the world is a complex process that requires an unbelievable amount of hard work and sacrifice. Furthermore, there is plenty of need right here on our own doorstep…

So why Missions?

By way of clarification “Missions” has historically been defined as cross cultural evangelism. In other words bringing the gospel message to people we are separated from, typically by multiple barriers like language and culture, with less emphasis on geography. Geographically there are 195 countries in existence currently. Among those countries there exists approx. 16,000 people groups with a unique culture and or language. 16,000!

Do you know how many have been penetrated by the gospel? Approximately thirty percent. Do you know how many have access to the gospel in their own language? Again, it is about thirty percent.

That leaves the last third that has no viable access to the gospel in their own language. 5,300 people groups. That represents a little more than 2 Billion people, that’s more than 2,000,000,000 living their lives and dying without ever hearing a clear, understandable presentation of the gospel message. Perhaps never even hearing the name of Jesus.

So again I ask why Missions? Well here are five reasons that I’ll credit to information gained from a course called Perspectives as well as a book called “When Everything is Missions” by Dennis Spitters and Matthew Ellison.

5 answers to “Why Missions”?

1)     Because God’s heart beats for the nations – On how many occasions did Jesus give the Great Commission? At least five, John 20:21, Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 24:44-49, and Acts 1:8. These great commissioning passages report what Jesus taught to different audiences on different occasions.

2)     Because Jesus is the only means of salvation – If men could be saved in any way other than through Jesus then according to Paul, not only did Jesus die in vain (Galatians 2:21) but we who preach, preach in vain. And missionaries? They better find another line of work.

3)     Because our churches can’t afford not to do missions – The encouragement and joy that comes from being involved with the family business enlivens and enrichens the church body. Not only do we send, support and encourage our partners, but they enrichen our lives and encourage us when they share about what God is doing where they are serving.

4)     Because we are called to know God and to make Him known – In Isaiah 6:1-8 we find one of the most significant missional passages in all of scripture. Here we see what set Isaiah on Mission to know God and to make Him known:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

  “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.    With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah’s commission into the ministry began with what A.W. Tozer calls a crisis of encounter, a definitive life experience. Isaiah would never be the same again.

5)     Because the Lamb deserves His reward – The Moravian story is well worth learning. It is rich with prayer, faith, and mighty works by ordinary people living on faith and obedience. Their departing rally cry became “May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering”. Knowing that Jesus had purchased with His own blood , souls from every nation, tribe, tongue and people (Revelation 5:9-10) and it propelled them into action.
And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.”

Notice how the lamb of God is worshiped in this passage: Jesus has ransomed, with His precious blood, people from every tribe, every culture, every language group. The reward of His suffering is the gathering in of worshipers from all the people of the world. We must remember that the blood of Jesus was shed, not just for us, but for the worldwide Church of God from all nations.

Realistically most of us are not going to the Nations. In fact, God is not calling most of us to go to the nations. However, that does not relieve us from the responsibility (privilege really) of seeing the gospel message taken to the nations. We have a pretty strong effort toward taking the gospel to the nations here at TCF. Get informed and get involved if you’re not already. Learn about the areas the church is involved and seek God for how or where He might use you. While you may not go to the nations, you can support those that are called to go. What’s more you are more and more likely to encounter unreached people groups here in the states. Be prepared to give a short simple gospel proclamation.

Some of you are very good at making money, put it to use in the expansion of the gospel.

Some of you are good at defining vision and helping people share that vision with others,
put those gifts to work for kingdom expansion.

Some of you may not feel like you are very good at anything… I feel that way sometimes. Well we can pray together and ask the King of the universe to open doors for the gospel. We can ask Him to provide more workers for a field that is ready for harvest. We can pray for marriages and families and teams that are serving in difficult places. We can pray that God would strengthen and encourage them and make them bold in their sharing.

The story of Jesus is good news, in fact it is great news and it is worth sharing. He is no fool who gives his mortal life to gain for others their eternal life.

Pastor Kellen

For the rest of this study CLICK HERE





TCF Statement:
Covid-19 Virus & Service Update info
Take Note
MyTCF will be down for maintenance tonight from 8pm-1am tonight (Thursday, May 21) although times may vary. During this time you will not be able to log-in to your MyTCF account, the Church Life app or register for events.
MyTCF Account 

If you consider yourself to be a regular attender and member of TCF and want to create a MyTCF account, please go to trail.org and on the top right click, MyTCF login then, Need a login?  CLICK HERE  then follow the instructions. You’ll be able to view the Directory, your activities and donations and easily register for events. 

Questions?  jacki@trail.org /541.878-3501 ext 709
Outreach
Please pick up an empty Baby Bottle at the Church Office (or drive by the Youth Center on Wednesday’s 4-6 p.m.), fill it with loose change, cash or a check and return on or before Father’s Day, June 21.
THAT ALL MAY KNOW

A 30-Day Guide to Praying for Muslims

Elevate your prayer life and explore God’s heart for the peoples of the Muslim world. Click below for more information.

Box Tops for Education Update

Thank you for your contributions! TCF donated 6,300 points in 2019 towards school supplies for Navajo Mission Students. The Box Tops program is going all digital. No more clipping, just download the app and choose McKinley Elementary School, 1201 N. Butler Ave. Farmington, NM (hint, search by zip code 87401 ) then scan your store receipts. Check out Boxtops4education.com for details. We’ll still accept unexpired clips at the Church Office/Willingheart Window and mail them to the school. 
Men's Ministry
Men's Bible Study

Our topic is usually on the previous Sunday's teaching. You can view/listen to Sunday services at trail.org, TCF Facebook or Youtube. We meet every Tuesday evening from 6:30-8:00.

THIS WILL BE HELD VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
PLEASE CONTACT PABLITO FOR DETAILS.

Children's Ministry
Dog Days of Summer
POSTPONED UNTIL JUNE 10, DATE IS TENTATIVE.

Wednesday evenings throughout the summer months, “Dog Days of Summer” is TCF’s ministry for children 4 years old through 5 th grade. Food is served at 6:15pm, followed by play time, and finishing with a lesson from God’s word. This all happens thanks to the hard work and dedication of volunteers like you! We need cooks, playground supervisors, and crowd control. Training is provided. Whether you can sign up for just one night or all summer long, we need your help! Call Debbie at 541.261.2605 (or email debbie@trail.org ) to sign up for your available dates.

Note: Background checks are required for the safety of our children.
Prayer Warriors by Email
If you would like to be a regular part of praying for the Children's Ministry and receive an email prayer letter periodically to keep up with what God is doing with the next generation, email debbie@trail.org to get on the list. This will be a blind copy email and your email address will not be shared with others.
Debbie Conley: 541.878.3501
Youth Club

American Heritage Girls are raising money for their troop and will be having a yard sale on
May 29 th and May 30 th and need our help.

Look around and see what treasures you can donate. How to donate?

  1. Items can be dropped off at 1652 Valley View Dr. Medford, OR 97504
  2. Dropped at the Church on Wednesday May 20th and 27th at the Youth Center (between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm)
  3. For pick up call April @ 541-701-5695 (before May 28th)

For Questions please call April at 541-701-5695
Celebrate Recovery
 Celebrate Recovery

Brothers and Sisters,
Praying that this finds you well. In cooperation with CDC officials Celebrate Recovery at Trail is closed for now, but we're holding a meeting by video conference, Tuesdays at 7pm.
I know that all of the local CR general meetings are closed until further notice. Please be encouraged that there are video's and testimonies available at the national Celebrate Recovery Facebook page and some on You Tube. We will post words of encouragement here and hope you will do the same.
Remember to call and or meet with your sponsors and accountability partners during this time. They will need it as much as you do and it's scriptural.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25

Questions? Paige Winfrey 541.821.0459 or email CelebrateRecovery@trail.org


Area Events
The 2020 Golf Challenge , features a four-person scramble with 7:15 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. shotguns and banquet seating at 6:30 p.m. Be a part of a long tradition while helping thousands of kids throughout the Rogue Valley. Youth 71Five Ministries is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit Christ-Centered organization supported through the generosity of individuals, foundations and businesses like you.
Redemption Ridge is looking for Care Specialists to work directly with the girls at Grace House. This is an amazing opportunity to affect the lives of hurting teenage girls. The job is located in the upper Rogue area. For more information please call Redemption Ridge 541.816.4415
Thank you for visiting TCFinTouch 
the weekly e-newsletter of
Trail Christian Fellowship
18881 Hwy 62
Eagle Point OR 97524
Church Office Hours:
Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
[ 541.878.3501 ] [information@trail.org] [ www.trail.org  ]