Excitement

Have I ever really taken a chance for the things of God? I don’t mean taking a job or ministry position.  I would say the biggest chance I have honestly ever taken, was coming to Trinity. I have taken mission trips, and as a family we have stepped out on faith in giving and certain other areas. But have I ever really stepped out into something that made no sense anywhere but the Word of God?   My tendency is to be secure, to take the known path - the one I am familiar with. Since the age of 17 I have been doing some work in the ministry in some way. I certainly don’t know a lot of things but, I do know Baptist people and churches and what things are tough to do in a church. But, here I am and here we are as a church body, embarking on something that may make no sense to anyone but God. I was meeting with a lawyer last week and she asked me a question, that while logical, I was kind of shocked she would do so.   She asked “I see where you guys are moving and I know there are a lot of people in the area (in fact the largest neighborhood in North Mississippi), but most churches have moved out of that area. Why are you guys moving in there?” Honestly, I was excited that I could articulate the “why” we were doing what we were doing.   I shared with her that this is the precise reason we are moving into that area...we need each other. The area needs a church - a place that gives the gospel and a church family to love them, and we need the area. We need to go into the fields and we need to actually DO some of what we talk about that a church is supposed to DO.  As a church body, we may need this area more than this area even needs us. We need to be invested in our community, we need to get outside the doors of a building and reach people, understanding that our needs are the same whether we were raised in church or not. First and foremost we need the gospel, then we need community.  There are scores of people in Desoto County that have never given serious thought to the gospel or some who have never even heard the gospel.  We see countless people who attend a church or claim membership somewhere, but the gospel has never been a reality that has changed their lives.  We have a hope that this world cannot give. My prayer is that we lift up our heads and see the fields that are white with harvest, and begin to pray for laborers to be in the field. My prayer is that we commit to be those laborers! 

 

Not everyone can travel to a foreign country to do "mission work"....but so many of us want to believe that THAT is where missions is actually done.  It is easy to pray for or even give to a mission trip "over there" somewhere....but it is uncomfortable to think that I am called to reach out, to meet needs, to go right here in my own community and town.  It is our prayer that this move will take us further away from programs and ignite a real passion within our hearts to see people come to our Savior. We are not vacationing on a cruise ship waiting for Heaven... we are on a warship in this battleground for souls.   The goal is not to be entertained until we get to the sweet by and by. Our goal is that we bring our Savior glory, we labor in the fields, and we all understand that we have responsibility to display the gospel as part of this Kingdom. We are not walking around seeing what suits us and meets our preferences, but we take responsibility and fulfill our calling.

This is where we are headed. 

This is not for the faint of heart.  

This is not church as usual. 

This is a high calling and the gospel is worth taking a chance on.

It is worth putting our comfort on the line for.  It is going to be work - it is not going to be easy. It is not going to be the typical “American Church” way. We won't be sitting back waiting on people to come through our doors and expecting them to like us because we have a building or because "everyone should go to church"...it will require us to get out of our pews and go out of the building - to go to them and bring the gospel to them.  To get involved in lives and give of ourselves, just to show the love of Christ.  Christ met people in the marketplace, at the well....the place where everyone came together - all types of people, from every walk of life had to go to the well.  Somehow as churches today we have gotten it so backwards - we expect them to leave the well and come to the church.   We have got to make a change.  It won't be easy...we want our comfort zone, we want our security of tradition....and unless we do something to shake us our of our apathy and complacency...we will always "do church" the way we always have.   But we really believe this is the way God has set before us, we will be able to say we are taking a chance, one probably bigger than most of us have ever taken individually but certainly bigger than this church body has ever taken. It is not Trinity’s name on the line, it is not my name on the line. We are doing this for the glory of God, we are doing this for the sake of the Gospel and it is His name that will preeminent in this endeavor. It is a shame that we have to say it, but this is a radical step for the church today... but in the end it will be worth it all.

 

While we are waiting to be able to make this move I want you to look below at our new schedule and locations for the interim period:

 

Sunday, September 21st

9:00 AM service at   Brown Campus - 7200 Swinnea Road

 

Sunday, September 28th

9:00 AM Service at Brown Campus - 7200 Swinnea Road

 

Sunday, October 5th

9:00 AM Service at Grace Bible Church 7145 Malone Rd, Olive Branch

5:30 PM AWANA begins at Hope Sullivan Elementary 7985 Southaven Cir W, in Southaven

5:30 PM Student Services will begin at a location To Be Announced soon

 

Wednesday, October 8th

Bible Fellowship Groups will be happening throughout the city in member's homes

 

 

During this interim time, the church office will be operating from various locations.  You will need to contact the church office either by phone at 662-349-3333 or contact our staff/administrative personnel via the church website and email addresses.