Next week is our first ever Christmas Eve Service!  Christmas is a great time to reach out to people in special ways.

This is a perfect service to invite people you know.

• You can invite families looking to do something meaningful with the kids before Christmas morning.
• Or, or you could invite the couple with an empty nest, and looking for something to do.
• You can invite those dealing with grief because the Christmas season is a tough one to do alone.
• You can even invite those who may be hardened towards God, but would come with you because you asked.

This may be the best opportunity you have to invite your friends, families, and co-workers to a special event.

Dress warmly, but we’ll have plenty of warmth from the fireplace and heaters.  You can expect about a 45 minute service with singing and the Nativity Story.

Volunteers can start arriving at 3 pm, and we’ll need about 45 minutes to tear down at the end of the service.  This will be a memorable mission to add to your Christmas festivities.

I hope you’ll share this invitation with your friends on the net, but a personal invitation will always be appreciated.  See you this Sunday where the music and message will be focused on Sharing some of the most important things with others.

donations of school supplies for Kershaw Elementary School

Part of the game plan for Team Church is to reach and impact the community. As I was delivering the school supplies that we’ve collected through the month of August to the Kershaw Elementary School, I was thinking of the ways we’ve tried to reach and impact our community in Lancaster County.

We started off with a bang by providing a huge community Easter egg hunt.  We’ve served the town with the Springathon, and provided support to Youth Serve during its two weeks of community service project.  Also, we’ve volunteered for other youth events with the community ministry called YIELD.  Just last month we provided another large event with the free outdoor community movie.  And as we’ve entered into the fall, we are sponsoring the Andrew Jackson High School sports program, plus we weekly provide the football players with small treat before each game.

And today was especially gratifying as Grant, David, and I delivered the school supplies that were donated for the Kershaw Elementary School.  The principal and school counselor were elated over the donation, and knew that the supplies were really needed.  Back when we asked about the needs of the school, Principal Jennifer Etheridge was moved when she thought of the increasing financial need of our area.  Extra supplies are crucial for the increase of students that can’t afford even the basics.

If you think about what connects all the things that we’ve been about since the launch, you’ll find a couple of words are key:  community and serve.  Our game plan is to reach out…to the community…and do what?  impact…make a difference, and we do that by serving!

Way to go, Team Church!  That’s showing Christ to those around us…and it will make a difference in the lives of those families that we’re reaching and impacting!

Susan Hammond,School Counselor; Jennifer Etheridge, Principal; Steve Miller, Teach Church Pastor

Home Team sign-ups went well Sunday.  We’ll continue signing-up more over the next couple of weeks.  As of now, there are five groups that you can be a part of.

People keep asking what our group is doing.  Actually, our group is going to do the same thing that each group is doing.  For this semester of Home Teams, we’ll be following the themes of the Sunday morning messages.  For instance, if Kenny and I are preaching about loneliness, our Home Teams that week will be talking about loneliness.  Rick Faulkner, our Executive Pastor is preparing our Home Team curriculum for each week through the fall.  He already has our first series done that will coincide with the message series called, “Balcony.”

The Balcony series is all about seeing things from a higher perspective with topics such as

• Sept. 13…Better view (interpreting life from a better vantage point)
• Sept. 20…Sitting alone (seeing loneliness from the top)
• Sept. 27…Best Seat (managing finances for the “Better Things)
• Oct. 4 …In the Dark (overcoming temptations in life)

Home Teams will be starting on the week of Sept. 13 and I know they’ll be the perfect way for you to Activate In!

And by the way, Scott will be preaching the first part of this series on September 13…yeah!  Scott’s the Home Team guy, Set-up Czar, and now for the first time at Team Church…the preacher dude!  Well actually his title is “Pastor of Spiritual Development.”  Begin looking forward to this great series.

If you haven’t already signed-up for one of the most exciting, life giving, awesome groups, please sign up this Sunday.  You won’t regret it, because as I talked about reaching inward toward one another …we were designed for community, and Jesus desires it for us. If you would like to know more about home teams, you can read up on it at http://teamchurch.com/hometeams

As I plan for the Aug. 14 Free Outdoor Movie night, I’m thinking of how we’re going to “reach and impact our community.”  That phrase is part of the philosophy or game plan of Team Church.  And it’s not just about the community right around us.  Team Church is one church…in two locations, therefore two communities.

While we’re making a difference in Lancaster County, SC, Team Church is also reaching and impacting the community of Matthews, NC.  And in fact, on the night of our Movie event, Friday Aug. 14, the Matthews campus is hosting a free concert.  This is an awesome evening for two communities to invite friends.  Plus, we’ve planned the events for the Friday just before a great new sermon series called Activate.  In both locations, this is a great event to bring your nonChristian friends.  Here’s a facebook invite for the Movie night to share with others.

I’ve just watched the movie we’ll be showing at the ballfield beside the Kershaw Elementary School, and it was really fun and exciting.  It’s perfect for families.  You’re seriously going to love it.  We’re not charging a thing for admission, and even throwing popcorn in for free!  But we are asking attenders to bring a lawn chair for themselves, and bring some school supplies to donate to Kershaw Elementary School.  Through generous donations of school supplies, we’re hoping the movie night will make a big difference for the kids who need the help getting ready for “back to school” the following Monday.

This is just one more way Team Church reaches and impacts its communities.

As I said, we’re one church…in two locations, so you may want to know more about what’s going on in both communities.  www.teamchurch.com gives you the ability to find info on events, faqs, messages, or keep up with the latest blogs of the Matthew’s pastors, including our head coach Kenny Hibbard.  In fact, check out the post from Tuesday which describes his vision for Team Church Lancaster County and beyond.