Christ Fellowship of Wise County

Isaiah 32:18 says, “My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” I am so thankful to God for providing me a place to live. I have been a little unsettled for many months but I now have a place that is “peaceful, secure and quiet,” well, except for all the 18-wheelers going up and down 1810! I am still getting settled in but I know so many of you stored some of my stuff when we left Lake Bridgeport. If I have anything in your possession, please let me know and I will get it. And I am so grateful for all of you that helped in that way as well as those who have helped get me moved in. I sure love Christ Fellowship and all my friends!

This Sunday morning we have a guest speaker preaching. Dr. Clay Lifto will give us a word of wisdom and peace for our church as he and dear Ruth are leaving our church to be closer to family. I can’t remember. Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, somewhere up north. I understand it but I hate that they are leaving and it will leave a big hole in our church family.

But we want to show them how much we love and will miss them AND how much we like to eat by having a church lunch this Sunday right after our worship time. A big, nice roast has been provided but if you would like to bring a side or bread or dessert, that would be great. But don’t feel like you have to. We always have plenty of food so if you can’t or forget, please stay and eat with us. There will be no evening service Sunday night.

I can’t wait to see you! I love you all! — Todd

Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12) So, I say to you, Christ Fellowship, good morning my dear family! I hope you are cool enough. If you or someone you know are not staying cool enough, please let me know and we will see how we can help.

Speaking of help, Clay and Ruth Lifto need a few strong hands and backs to help them move some boxes into a truck tomorrow (Saturday) morning starting about 10. It’s not a lot and it’s not real big or heavy stuff. Most of you know they are moving and we hate to lose them! But they need to be closer to their kiddos and we understand that.

Also, we are having a “See ya later” lunch for them after church next Sunday, the 13th. A roast will be provided so all we need to do is bring some sides and salads and some desserts.

If you want to help tomorrow morning, the Lifto’s address is 119 Hauser Ct in Runaway Bay.

I love you all and can’t wait to see you Sunday! — Todd

In our church bulletin on Sunday mornings at Christ Fellowship, we always have what we call “Testify” time. This is so anybody and everybody can give God glory for what He has done in their lives. Psalm 117:1–2 says, “Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.”

And sometimes I like to ask that question in my Friday email which is what I’m doing now. Please respond with what you are grateful to God for doing in your life. Has He given you something? Or maybe He took something away. Is He teaching you something? Maybe He has put someone in your life to teach you something. I’d love to hear about it.

For me, He has answered prayer and my house in Chico is done enough I can move in and I am very grateful to God for providing! There are still some small things that need to be finished but I’m going to start the process tomorrow (Saturday). If you would like to help, I would appreciate it. Nearly all of it is in the shed on the property and just needs to be cleaned up and walked in the door. Don’t feel like you have to help at all. My point is just to give God the glory for allowing me to get this far. He is very good to me!

I love you all and can’t wait to see you Sunday as we continue looking specifically at the Lord’s Prayer. See you then! — Todd

Well, Vacation Bible School was a raging success in my opinion. We had lots of kids, some good responses and everybody pitched in and worked really hard. Thank you again to all the teachers and helpers who worked so hard to make it all happen. That’s good stuff!

We also have had quite a few of you to make VERY generous donations to our food pantry and we have helped more people here lately than usual. I wish y’all could be here to see how grateful people are to get some good food with no strings attached. I’m afraid there are people in our community who would have literally gone hungry if not for our food pantry. So, thank y’all for donating!

We have also had several first-time visitors lately who will probably be back. And our worship times have been warm and meaningful and God-honoring. And that’s all just fun!

So…you know what that means. Satan can’t stand it when our little church does what we are supposed to do and says what we are supposed to say where we are supposed to be, right? So, you can just expect him to attack. But remember, Ephesians 6 says that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces that we can’t see or fully understand and are stronger than we are by ourselves. But we know that we can do all things – including stand against the devil’s attacks – in the strength that God gives us. (Philippians 4:13 paraphrase)

So, keep up the good work, my dear family and I will see you Sunday! I love you all! — Todd

And…here we are! On the verge of another Vacation Bible School at Christ Fellowship! Crafts, Storytime, singing, and (my favorite) snacks! I think we’re ready. We will decorate and prep the building this evening. Preparations have been made for food and fun. Bible stories are prepared and teachers are going to try to sleep tonight before it all starts at 9 am tomorrow. But, why? Why do we do all this? It’s a hassle. It’s a lot of work. We don’t know if there will be 2 kids or 200. Nobody is getting paid and most of the teachers work full time jobs elsewhere. Why do they do it?

Deuteronomy 6 (talking about the biblical Law) says to impress it on the children. It says to teach them “so that your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God.” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9) and where else do children today get taught how to have wisdom? Plenty of places will teach them that boys can be girls and that everybody lives together before marriage but who is teaching wisdom?

Our teachers are these kids’ biggest fans. They want nothing but the best for them and want them to have what we adults have and that is a life-changing relationship with God through His Son Jesus. That’s why we do it. We want them to have peace and joy in this life but mainly we want them to know for sure that they will share with Jesus all the good things Heaven has to offer. It’s not church. It’s not religion. It’s about a relationship with Him.

So, bring on those crumb-crunching rugrats! I can’t wait! 

This is just a reminder that our food pantry at Christ Fellowship is running very low. We had some donations lately but we have had quite a few people in need come to our pantry. And that’s good. I’m glad to belong to a church that helps people and their physical needs. It’s a great way to show the love of God to the people God has called us to. So, if you have the opportunity, please grab a few things to share with those who don’t have as much. The popular things are (remember, not everybody is able to cook) peanut butter and jelly, bread, milk, hot dogs, buns, meat, mac n cheese, soup, rice, beans, chili, etc. There is also need for toiletries and TP and paper towels and such.

Thanks so much and I can’t wait to see you Sunday morning and evening! I love you all! — Todd

In Luke 6, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Ugh! Is that not the hardest thing in the world to do?  He said to pray for them. I’d like to pray for some of my enemies like David did sometimes. You know what I mean? Like in Psalm 58 where David prayed that God would “break the teeth in their mouth!”

But we aren’t supposed to pray like that, are we? Are we???

Let’s look at it closer this Sunday at Christ Fellowship at 10am and 6pm. I can’t wait. This should be fun! I love you all! — Todd

Our church has long said we minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. That wasn’t our idea but that is where God has placed us. So, here are two pretty easy ways you can do just that.

1) Our church food pantry needs to be restocked. It has been utilized several times lately. We need the usuals like peanut butter and jelly, mac n cheese, soup, crackers, cereal, and other things that don’t necessarily need to be cooked. Not everybody has a way to cook so that kind of thing works best. We also have a freezer that we can put meat and bread and milk and other necessities. 

2) I am enclosing a copy of our Carolyn’s Ministry list. (NOTE: Come to church and pick up a hard copy.) This is a list of men and women in prison all around Texas. Most rarely, if ever, get any kind of mail. It will make their day if you just sent a quick note to let them know somebody was thinking of them and even praying for them. If nothing else, tell them your favorite Bible verse and why. That’s all. No big deal. Can you do that for one or two of these?

We have a special day coming up this Sunday! I can’t wait to see you. I love you all! — Todd

I am so scatterbrained. I have said before I wish I had a helper just to help me remember stuff. He would be crazy bored most of the time but would help me remember what day it is and where I left my keys and stuff like that. Don’t you wish you had a helper? Well, we do and His name is the Holy Spirit. We get the Holy Spirit of God when we become believers in Jesus and the Spirit lives inside of us for all time. But what is the difference in being filled with the Spirit? What else does the Spirit do for us? Is He just there to help us find our keys, or what? Let’s talk more about this Sunday morning at 10 and Sunday evening at 6 at Christ Fellowship! I love you all and can’t wait to see you! — Todd

The phrase “mental health” is all over the place these days. I think it’s time we brought it into the church. Since so many of us struggle with some form of it, let’s see what scripture says about it. Mental health is different for everybody. The symptoms are different, the treatments are different and the recovery is different so we could talk about it for months and never do it justice. But I would encourage you to review the great story of Elijah in 1 Kings 17- 19. It is great reading and will encourage you just by his story. Then Sunday morning and evening we will see what there is to learn about keeping our minds healthy.

I can’t wait to see you there! I love you all! — Todd