Category Archives: Newsletter Articles

Happy New Year from PDX

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“Happy New Year” to all of you from PDX!  This is the first time since January 2007 that we can say “Happy New Year” from the USA.  We were excited that our son Jeremy was able to join us for Christmas and New Years and we had some great family time together.

The question I have for you is, “How are you doing with your New Year Resolutions?”  Most of you are not doing well, but you are not alone, as only eight percent of people who make resolutions are successful in achieving them. Many website searches will return that most resolutions are related to weight, money, more time with family and quiting smoking. There was even one website that listed “go to church more” in their top 10 resolution list.  Attending church regularly is a good idea.

I am curious if anyone’s 2012 resolution was to share the name of Jesus Christ with someone that doesn’t know him. You can share in many different ways; byliving as a witness to be more Christlike, sharing your personal story with Jesus in your life or presenting the Gospel when the time is right. As missionaries, we have learned that you have to “hang out with people that don’t know Jesus” and share when led to do so. Since all Christians are missionaries,  I hope that all those believing in Christ reading this today will make the resolution to share this Gospel this year. If you didn’t, 2012 is only a few weeks old. There is still time to make that resolution and I pray for a 100% return.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   

Matthew 28:19-20 NIV.

God’s Servants to Portland,

Tim & Andrea

A Few Highlights from Last Year

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-December 8, 2010  Our Canadian Visa Permits arrived, stating that we may remain in Canada until December 8, 2011.

-December 12, 2010 was the  Southwinds Children’s Christmas Musical, with many children participating for the first time singing songs about Jesus and in a real Christmas presentation.

-December 18, 2010.  Tim and Andrea hosted a children’s Christmas Cookie Decorating Party in their home, with help from Denise Shirley (college missionary) and Jamie Daughtry of Trinity Church.  There were 50 attendees, many of them unchurched.  Santa came to the party and gave each child a candy cane and told the real Christmas story and the true meaning of Christmas.

-January 1, 2011 Tim, Andrea, our son Jeremy, and Adam Velez (college missionary) served hot chocolate, popcorn, and smiles to 600 neighbors, ice skaters, hockey players, and tobogganers at Chaparral’s Family Skate Day.

-February Winterlude Event at Chaparral.  With members of our Home Bible Study Group, we volunteered once again to serve this community of over 10,000 residents.  150 braved the sub-zero weather to attend this year’s event.

-April 2011.  Kinsey Galyon arrives to Calgary.  She will serve as a missionary with Southwinds Church for one year.

-April 24, 2011.  Tim preaches Easter Sunday at Bridge International Church for their 18th anniversary of this Filipino Church Plant.  Tim preaches here on Sunday afternoons for nine months as they seek a new pastor.

-May 1, 2011.  Tim preaches at Mountain Creek Baptist Church in Hickory, NC.  We visit North Carolina for the wedding of our niece, Kristin Chapman who married HG Shelton on May 7, 2011.  We celebrate Mother’s Day with our mothers this year.

-May 2011.  We hosted two short term mission teams this month, who came to assist us with a basement construction which will help Southwinds house additional mission teams in the future.  Westminster Baptist Church, SC & Ebenezer Baptist Church of West Union, SC.

-June 3-11, 2011.  Tim led a group from Southwinds Church on a mission trip to Casper, Wyoming to assist Boyd Avenue Baptist Church with Vacation Bible School and food bank ministries.

-June 18-25, 2011.  Rocky Knoll Baptist Church, Seneca, SC sent a team who stayed with us.  They helped us deliver more than 9000 door hangers to homes in our areas to promote our church’s summer programs.

-June 26, 2011.  Stampede Breakfast Kickoff in Chaparral.  David Baptist Church of Kings Mountain, NC (and Andrea’s niece, Rachel Chapman) came and assisted Southwinds Church with serving 3158 people this day with popcorn, cotton candy, bouncy house, and a giant slide.

-July 1, 2011.  Canada Day Block Party with over 800 attendees.  Mountain Creek Baptist Church of Greenville, SC helped us along with David Baptist.

-June & July.  There were 13 Kids Fun Days with an average of 25 attendees. Denise Shirley of Seneca, SC served with us for 8 weeks.  88 short term missionaries helped this year.  Wade Beavers served 2 weeks.

-July 9-16, 2011.  2 Tee Ball Camps with over 100 children under age 6. Thank you Fallston Baptist Church and Mountain View Baptist Church, Hickory.   The Fallston Puppets shared Bible stories each day!

-July 16-30, 2011.  2 Upward Soccer Camps with 80 children.  First Baptist Church, Kings Mountain, NC (along with Andrea’s mom, Joanne Pruette) and Mountain View Baptist of Hickory.

-July 23-30, 2011.  Upward Basketball Camp with 60 children.  First Baptist Church, KM & Boyd Avenue Baptist of Casper, Wyoming.  Great Rubber Ducky Race in Chaparral had 150 attendees.

-July 23-30, 2011.  Jeremy teaches 3rd-4th grade at Trinity Church of Calgary’s Vacation Bible School.

-Over 300 children’s Bibles were given out this summer thanks to your many generous donations!

-August 11-19, 2011.  Tim, Andrea, & Jeremy travel to Portland to meet with church planters, Clay & LeAnn Holcomb, and visit Trinity Church for the first time.

-August 20, 2011.  Tim, Andrea, & Jeremy served popcorn to over 1000 at Movie in the Park event at Lake Chaparral, Calgary.

-August 28, 2011.  Southwinds Church children perform in the worship service, sharing music and scripture from what they learned with Big Apple Adventure.  Tim and Andrea announce to the church of their call to Portland, Oregon to church plant.

-September 4, 2011.  Southwinds Church moves to a new location in Cranston.

-September 9, 2011.  Our home is for sale.  We get an offer on September 11.

-October 16, 2011.  Our final worship service in Calgary with Southwinds.  The following days included many farewells and parties.

-October 21, 2011.  After Jeremy’s arrival, we drive two days, 14 hours to Portland from Calgary and move into our rental home on October 22, 2011.

-October 30, 2011.  Our first official Sunday with Trinity Church, Damascus, OR.

-November 4-5, 2011.  Andrea attends Trinity Church’s first ever Ladies Retreat in Bend, OR.

-November 21-December 1, 2011.  Andrea visits NC for Thanksgiving, while Tim remains in OR.  She returns to Oregon with both mothers for a Christmas visit.

Celebrating Baptisms at Trinity

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Despite the almost freezing temperatures outside, three people were baptized after the morning worship service at Trinity Church on December 11, 2011.  Trinity Church meets at 10:30am on Sundays at Verne Duncan Elementary School.  104 people were in attendance to witness these professions of faith in Jesus Christ.

14 Hours Later…

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So, there we were, the morning of Friday, October 21st, Andrea driving her car, Jeremy driving the other car with our 120 lb. dog Harry situated in the backseat, and me in the driver’s seat of the fully loaded 26 foot U-Haul truck. The truck had been loaded in just over two hours the day before by many helpful hands from our Southwinds Church Family and our Chaparral friends. Thank you again to all that helped get the house emptied in such a quick time.

Ahead of us was a two-day,14 hour drive from Calgary, Alberta to Portland, Oregon. (Actually, our home is in Clackamas, a small town suburb of Portland.) During our journey, we would initially experience several miles of ice fog, drive through the beautiful Crowsnest Pass of British Columbia with its many trees displaying their awesome fall colours and take a final glimpse of the snow topped Canadian Rockies (of Canada).  After a final stop at Tim Horton’s, we arrived at the USA border crossing in Idaho. We were blessed to have a US Customs agent who was originally from Alabama. He was very open and easy to speak with during our interview session.  I had spent many hours preparing an itemized list of everything we were bringing into the USA as well as the required paperwork for our vehicles. This also added to make our interview process flow much easier. We completed some additional paperwork and had a brief inspection of our truck. After four wonderful years of living in Canada, we were back in the United States of America!

We had an overnight stay in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho which was a nice half-way stopping point. For those who know our dog Harry well, he did great in Jeremy’s car as he slept most of the time in his makeshift bed. And yes, we played a little football at our hotel where we stopped overnight.

Early in day two of our journey, we found ourselves traveling down through eastern Washington State. In the small town of Kennewick, Washington there is a Twin Towers 9/11 Memorial. Several twisted & ripped external support columns from the New York City towers stand tall with the Stars & Stripes on top. This was an emotional welcome back to the United States.

Our trip continued alongside the Columbia River gorge in Oregon. We had visited a portion of this area while on vacation back in 2002. After another seven hours of driving during day two, we arrived at our rental home. We had never been to the house before and had only seen four photographs online. We all were very anxious to see the inside. As usual, God provided a wonderful house that soon we would be calling home.

Within the hour, many new friends from Trinity Church arrived to help unload the truck. Some of the ladies helped unload boxes and clean up the kitchen. Several guys with real muscles and strong backs helped unload the truck in just over an hour’s time. Even some of their children came to help and play with Harry. What a great and overwhelming welcome from our new church family. Thank you again!

Now, two weeks later, all boxes have been emptied and all things have found their place. The house has become our home and we are ready to begin our new ministry with Trinity Church.

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  Romans 15:4 NIV

November Newsletter Update 2011

Tim & Andrea are Moving

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… to Portland, Oregon  

On September 25, 2007, Andrea & myself along with our dogs Harry & Sally drove across the USA/Canada border at Montana heading to Calgary, Alberta. We had left our son Jeremy back in North Carolina to complete his senior year of high school. We left our Moms, Dads, sisters, a brother, our friends and our home church family, First Baptist Church Kings Mountain. We arrived to a new home in Calgary with no friends and knowing only a few people.

Today, we announce that God has called us to a new ministry in a new place – Portland, Oregon. When we leave, we will leave behind our Southwinds Church family, many new friends from within our community and memories that will last a lifetime. It will be a day of excitement and sadness.

Our mission in coming to Calgary was to help Southwinds Church reach the thousands of people living in the Auburn Bay, Cranston & Lake Chaparral communities and see them come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  We did this through community events, children sports camps and development of personal relationships. Over the past four years, Southwinds saw nine be baptized and through the gifts of many people gave away over 400 copies of the Children’s Bible along with many copies of adult Bibles.  Because of you, many now own their first Bible and have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Our new mission will be a daunting task as 69% of the Portland and suburban areas claim no religious affiliation. Some statistics indicate that 91% of the population does not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Trinity Church is a new church plant that meets in an elementary school. We will work with them along with their founding church Greater Gresham Church. Our journey will begin once our home here in Calgary is sold.

Our love and passion for building God’s Kingdom in Canada has not diminished. We simply are being obedient to what God has placed on our hearts to do at this time in our ministry.  We thank you for your continued prayer and financial support as our ministry continues.

“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”    Acts 16: 9-10  NIV

God’s Servants to Canada or Wherever He calls,  

Tim & Andrea

 

 

Thank You Summer Teams & Missionaries

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Thank You Summer Teams & Missionaries

May 14-21: Westminster Baptist Church, SC

May 28-June 4: Ebenezer Baptist, West Union, SC

June 18-25: Rocky Knoll Baptist Church, Seneca, SC

June 24-July 2: David Baptist,Kings Mountain, NC

June 25-July 2: Mountain Creek Baptist, Greenville, SC

July 2-9: Oak Grove Baptist Church, Burleson, TX

July 9-16 Fallston Baptist Church, NC

July 9-23: Mountain View Baptist Church, Hickory, NC (2 teams)

July 16-30:  First Baptist Church, Kings Mountain, NC (2 teams)

July 23-30: Boyd Avenue Baptist, Casper, Wyoming

July 23-30: Taylors First Baptist Church, SC

Wade Beavers, Atlanta, GA, 2 weeks

Jeremy Tucker, our son, 3 weeks

Denise Shirley of Seneca, SC, 8 weeks

Dana Shirley of Seneca, SC, 1 week

 

June 2011: Busy Summer Begins

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There is so much happening here in Calgary this summer.

In May, we had two teams staying in our home on different weeks, helping with Pastor Bo’s basement construction so we can house additional Southwinds Church mission teams.

Denise Shirley arrived on June 14th to stay for 8 weeks as our student missionary again.  We are thrilled to have her with us again, as she brings many talents and she has a heart for Calgarians.  Denise is a hard worker, and more importantly, loves serving Jesus here in Calgary.

Denise is pictured helping with her friends at Southwinds in Sunday School.

June 18th.  A first year team from Rocky Knoll Baptist Church of Walhalla, SC arrives.  This week, they will be walking and delivering door hangers to 7900 homes in South Calgary to promote our summer camps, block parties, and kids fun day activities.  They will be conducting a few kids fun day activities and helping to get our cotton candy machine warmed up for the other summer teams!

June 24th.  A team of four arrives from David Baptist Church, Kings Mountain, NC.  Andrea’s niece, Rachel Chapman, will be on this team!  On Saturday, June 25th, they will assist Andrea and Tim with a mega event “Stampede Breakfast” at Lake Chaparral where there is an expected attendance of over 4000 people.  Wow!

June 25th.  Mountain Creek Baptist of Greenville, SC will be joining David Baptist for another week of service.  This will be Mountain Creek’s fifth summer serving with us.  These two teams will be conducting a few Kids Fun Days community events, prayer-walking, and a huge Canada Day Block Party in Chaparral on July 1st.

Bridge International Church of Calgary

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Bridge International Church is an English speaking Filipino Southern Baptist Church in Calgary, AB.  They began years ago as a church plant and seeks to build bridges of faith to help people grow spiritually and strengthen families, offering friendship to people of all nations to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Bridge International Church meets in the building of another church and has their programs on Sunday afternoons, with Worship Service beginning at 4:30pm.

They are presently looking for a church pastor.  Tim was first asked to speak in November 2010 and has been invited back to preach many sermons as they are in their search for a pastor.  Tim and Andrea both feel close to the Filipino people as they have been welcomed, loved,  and we continue to pray for this church as they are seeking God’s will with a new leader.  It has truly been a joy serving this congregation.  A highlight of our time spent at Bridge International was Tim’s preaching on Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011 and the special service celebrating Bridge International Church’s 18th Anniversary.

Tim will continue preaching at the Bridge on Sundays in May and in June.

The photo is from Children’s Sunday on May 15, 2011 at Bridge International Church.

Do You Believe?

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On Sunday November 7th, Tim was asked to preach to the Southwinds’ congregation since Pastor Bo was away. Tim’s message of  “Do You Believe?” focused on the word believe. Tim referenced John 3:16-18, God’s gift and promise to all the world; John 20:24-31 & 1 Peter 1:8-9, blessed are those who believe in the unseen; Jude 1:5-7, examples of what happens to those who do not believe or rebel against God; Romans 10:8-13, the GOOD NEWS is here to save you. Tim was thrilled to be able to share the good news with Southwinds members and a few visitors.

Later that same evening, Tim & Andrea traveled to northeast Calgary where Tim preached to the Filipino congregation of Bridge International Church.  This Southern Baptist church is currently searching for a new pastor and has been using seminary students and others in the interim.  This congregation uses the building facilities of another Canadian Baptist Church.  Of the 25 Canadian National Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist) churches in Calgary, only 5 own their own building. All other churches rent their space, just like Southwinds Church.

Tim and Andrea were greeted by many smiling faces. Tim took this opportunity to share God’s word using the message presented to Southwinds earlier that day. Although Tim had this message placed on him back in late July, he had no idea he would get to share it twice the same day, especially to a Filipino congregation.

Also, during this service, Tim was asked to lead the church family in the Lord’s Supper. Although Tim had participated many times, he had never facilitated this special event. But God was present and the remembrance of the Last Supper proceeded without a hitch. Tim was also able to pray for a woman who was flying to the Philippines due to the death of her sister.

This was a special night for them both. New relationships were made as some members of Bridge International Church  knew of Southwinds Church because they had even attended Southwinds’ community block parties held in Cranston. God is awesome!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus in Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him form the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9 NIV

Do You Believe?

To hear the audio sermon, click on the link above which will take you to the iTunes page for Southwinds Church, and then select “Do You Believe?” from November 7, 2010.

Fall Life Groups with Tim

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Tim is leading two Life Groups this fall.  What is a Life Group?  A Life Group is a small group Bible study that meets in someone’s home, much like a traditional Sunday School class, just without a church building.

Life Groups are for anyone.  You do not have to be a member or attendee of Southwinds Church or any church to get involved in a Life Group.  The purpose of a Life Group is to create fellowship and encourage dialogue for spiritual growth.

Tuesday nights, Tim leads a life group in the Whitesides’ home.  The present study is “Purpose Driven Life DVD Series.”  Participants are asked to read the book, one chapter per day, and attend the weekly session for the video and discussion.

Wednesday nights, Tim leads a life group at the home of another family, where the discussion is on “How We Got the Bible.”  It is similar to a Bible 101 type class, with historical and factual information about where the Bible came from, who wrote it, why was it written, and how can I apply the Bible to my everyday life.

Anyone can join and participate.  Contact Tim for more details.