Very Satisfying Day

The weather is beautiful, upper 80's, low 90's. I've been able to cut back on landscaping. Kristen is over her toe infection. Mark comes home from Turkey in a week. This afternoon I'm going to organize the bathroom cabinets.

The last two days at work I've been able to organize the file cabinets, do payroll, and program! I never thought I would miss it. As I dug in, I found myself in that 'zone' again. Working on big, long, hairy formulas. Looking up function names online, in help, and in an Excel book (the book was no help at all). Focused, talking to myself, raising my hands up in the air and saying "Yes!" when I fixed a problem. It took me back to my days at Gallo, and the time flew by. What my boss was expecting me to work on sporadically over the course of the rest of this year, I have almost done. I think. We'll see what he says when he sees my graphs when he gets back. Tomorrow I get to make everything look pretty, since the data is there and the graphs are working. Exciting!

Worship practice is here tonight, so I'll be getting the words into the laptop for Sunday. Speaking of church, we are celebrating our one year anniversary of starting weekly Sunday services. It's August 8th at 9:00 a.m. if you would like to join us. BBQ to follow. Go to our website here. I've been making a little gift for everyone. They turned out great! I can't believe I did it. I bet everyone who knows me won't be able to believe I did it either!

We're also planning a community-wide evangelistic seminar where people can learn how to share their faith. It will be held at Family Bible Center, 5 East Main Street Turlock, CA on September 11th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Evangelism resources will be available for browsing and buying. This will be the first of a 3-part series on evangelism.

Blessings on this beautiful Thursday.

Another Blessing!

I've been anxious to announce another great family that has joined us at EQUIP and the time has finally arrived. Jason and Autumn Hicks and their children, Jordan, Austin, and Stormi have decided to come on board. You can read about it on Jason's blog here and a few of his previous blogs. Jason has been a Crown Ministries Area Leader and Budget Coach, an Administrator and Elder for Grace Community Church and currently works at TID as a fleet manager. Autumn is a homemaker and homeschooling mom and is gifted in the area of hospitality. Jason is currently tasked with looking for a church building for us on the westside and Autumn will soon be taking over our refreshments ministry. We are thrilled to have such a dynamic family join our team. Check back for a picture.

Blessings on this beautiful, clear Friday.

Answered Prayer

I am thrilled to announce an addition to our team at EQUIP. Dan Coburn and his family have joined us to develop our worship team. Dan and his wife Audra have known Greg for over 20 years through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on the MJC Campus. Dan recently left the position of Associate Pastor at Escalon Four Square Church. We welcome Dan, Audra, and their children,
Joe 14, Mikayla 9, Gabriella 5, Levi 1 to EQUIP.

Dan had this to say about his experience joining EQUIP: "We are happy to be joined together with the people of God in Turlock, and appreciative of the welcome that has been extended. We trust that the Father desires to pour his character and Holy Spirit into those who desire him and are open to whatever that looks like. We see much of that in the people at EQUIP and therefore expect to corporately and personally experience God's presence during this season we share together."

Look for a picture of the Coburns on this blog early next week.

Blessings on this very warm Wednesday.

Holy Spirit Come

If you didn't come to our service Sunday, you missed a great experience. The worship was amazing. The sermon was excellent and the video was heart touching. We had a hilarious skit. I told Greg that you could feel the Holy Spirit in that place. The air actually seemed thick with it. People worshipped God with their whole hearts. I think it had to do with the foundation of prayer we've layed in our Tuesday night prayer meetings.

Once again the enemy picked on me and I had trouble fighting it this time. Greg talked to me before the service and told me later that he realized he had a soldier down and it was time to call in for reinforcements. Two ladies stepped up and took care of things. Thank you so much, that's teamwork!

If you haven't checked out one of our services yet, come by and experience it. It may not be what you're used to. 275 N. Orange St. 9:00 a.m.

Have a blessed, warm Tuesday.

EQUIP Update

Just a quick blog to let you know we have a church phone number, PO Box, email addresses and our website is up and running. Here's the info:

EQUIP Church of Turlock
PO Box 212
Turlock, CA 95381
(209) 485-9165
http://www.equipchurch.org

You can also contact the leadership team by using our first name @equipchurch.org, i.e. sandy@equipchurch.org.

Services at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays at 275 N. Orange Street, off West Main, near Lander Ave.

Have a blessed, warm Wednesday.

EQUIP Update

The enemy has been working hard to mess us up on Sunday mornings, I'll tell 'ya. Last Sunday on of our leaders got lost and was late to church. The video didn't work quite right.

Yesterday, Kristen and I had our turn. I had intestinal issues which made us a couple minutes late in leaving, Kristen spilled her bottle of makeup all over the bathroom counter, her jeans, and socks right before we left, which added to the time delay. Once in the driveway, I forgot to take a pill, and had to run back in. Once on the road a few blocks from home, I remembered that I didn't get my Bible, so we went back and got it. On the road again, a few blocks from the church, I remembered that I didn't bring the creamer or lemonade. I dropped Kristen off to start setting up the refreshments and I made a mad dash back home. All in all, we were ready to start on time. I was totally wiped out. Greg and I took a 3 hour nap yesterday afternoon. So much for being energized after church!

Worship was great and the message spoke to people. Greg brought a painting Mark had done. Greg had us switch tables again and asked the question, "What do you see?" We all shared. Greg then preached about prayer and discernment. It was very good.

I'm still pooped. I hope I can get some things done today. Have a blessed, hot Monday.






Copyright 2009 Mark Tillotson.

Good News of Great Joy!

Last week Greg and I took Steven (our Teen Challenge grad) to Old Tyme Pastries to offer him an intern position for one year with our church. Though he wanted to say yes at the time, Greg asked him to pray about it for a week, which he did. He announced to us last night that God said, yes, he should take the position. We are so excited about what God is going to do through this young man.

We handed out invitations to every person last night for our Father's Day service. Greg decided to hand the invitations out so that Steven would get all the leftover invitations after everyone took 5. He got a pile and told Greg after the meeting, that he didn't have enough! Greg will start meeting with him each week to disciple him.

We gave Steven a ride home last night and he told us that they took a picture of many of the Teen Challenge folks from the area. Steven held a 300lb. man on his shoulders for the picture. Yes, Steven is quite a strong young man.

Blessings, on this clear blue sunny Thursday!

Long Time No See!

Okay, two people have hit me up to blog, so here I am.

First, an update on EQUIP. Today we rented the Rube Boesch building for our Father's Day Celebration June 21st. We plan to start weekly services August 2nd. We also got our liability insurance, required to rent from the City.

The last two weeks we had Jason Hicks come and teach our team about Crown Financial Ministries principles. He gave us amazing tools and did an excellent job teaching. It's a bummer, he was only here for two weeks!

As for us, it seems spiritual warfare has heated up recently. Jason experienced some, including becoming very ill a few days before he was scheduled to come teach. We had our large mower's accelerator cable break when training our daughter to ride it, then the axle on the trail slipped out of place the same day, then the next day we had a flat on the trailer before we pulled out to pick up the mower from repair. Our small group, the same week and week before, went through several difficulties as well. Greg has also battled bronchitis the last couple of weeks, but is doing better with antibiotics, though the cough is still there. But, on the bright side, I've had two people tell me they know God is going to do great things through EQUIP. That makes all the irritation well worth it.

I think I mentioned previously we got tile in our master bath and bedroom. I'm now painting the bathroom and caulking and painting the base boards in the bedroom. Can't wait until the bedroom is back in the bedroom, instead of the dining room!

The treadmill of our life is still on warp speed. If it hits the speed of light, I'm jumping off!

Mark is being a big help around the house, making dinner 4 times this week and doing odd jobs. Kristen just finished her Typhoid medication and will start her Malaria pills in a week or two. She goes to the Dominican Republic in a couple of weeks.

That's a quick update for now. Have a blessed windy Tuesday evening.

EQUIP Update

It has been quite a week! We called a special meeting of some of our Wednesday night group and it went well. I can't go into details here, but we could tell the result we wanted was there the following night.

Today our leadership team had teacher training. Dick led it and we had three teachers present besides our leadership team. A lot was covered and paperwork distributed. We went over our calendar for the next 2 months and leadership training will be morphing a bit as we head towards a launch date.

We will be having an intimate Mother's Day service, just with our leadership team and Bible Study group. We're looking at a Father's Day service too, if we haven't launched yet. If we have, we will definitely have one!

Thanks for following! Our next prayer letter will be coming out soon.

Blessings on this gorgeous Sunday evening.

EQUIP Update

Easter is coming! Just to let you know and ask you to pray for us for Easter. We're having our first service on Easter morning at 10:30. We have a lot planned, so please be praying for us. If you'd like to attend, please email me and I'll give you all the details.

Thank you for your faithfulness.

Sandy

EQUIP Update

Our membership class Wednesday night went great. Every team member and Bible Study member and even someone who has come to only 1 Bible Study was there and all applied for membership! It was a great night of celebration. I felt like everyone got on the boat and we're ready to set sail! Of course, we still need a place to meet and a worship director, but God will provide in His timing.

I'll be sending out a prayer letter shortly. If you'd like to receive it via email (preferably) or snail mail, let me know at gshazenberg@sbcglobal.net.

Tomorrow our Servolution team leaders start canvasing the Westside to find projects for May 9th.

Our leadership team starts meeting at our house this Sunday in order to transition to our Sunday services in the next few months. After our leadership training, we'll be heading over to the Westside around 10:00 a.m. for a Prayer Walk. If you would like to join us, email me at gshazenberg@sbcglobal.net or call me and I'll give you directions.

Things are hopping. We appreciate your prayers!

EQUIP Update

We've had a few milestones lately. Two weeks ago we had a Bible study led by our host. Every one of his kids, their spouses/fiance's, and children were there. There weren't enough chairs! I didn't say much, my norm, as I choose to observe. You could see the comments fly across the room along with questions, beliefs, mis-informed beliefs, humor, slang, a few unmentionable words and every kind of conversation you could imagine. It was loud in that living room and very lively! I walked away thinking that even though this family has some issues, when it came to communication, they're the healthiest group of people I've ever been around! No facades, no image to protect, no "I don't want to appear stupid by saying or asking this so I'll be quiet." It was GREAT!

The next week, (last week) we showed the move Flywheel. It was wonderful seeing every one's reactions to the compromising behavior of the star of the move. At the end, Greg had us pray and the youngest son prayed about making God first. After the prayer, Greg asked him, "Are you really ready to put God first in everything in your life?" He thought, then nodded and said, "Yes." Greg called him out to the center of the living room and gave him a huge hug. Rededicating your life to Christ is a big deal, I know it changed my life many years ago.

Tonight we're having a membership class with our leadership team and our Bible Study group. Afterwards we'll be having cake to celebrate the founding members of EQUIP Church. It's a milestone evening!

God bless!

Doing Better

It was a rough week. Thankfully my boss is really good at letting me stay home to get well. That, coupled with the rain, didn't make a huge impact on the business. I went to the doctor last week and was told I had an upper respiratory infection. I was given some steroid nose spray and told to take a decongestant to clear my nose and ears. Hating to take medicine, I opted for the nose spray only, since he made me take the first dose in the office, as the other can raise my blood pressure. The next day I woke to a very blood shot eye that lasted all day. The next day a web of puss covered the inside corner of my eye and the other eye was starting to do the same thing. Off to the opthamalogist, who told me I was having a reaction to the upper respiratory infection. A week of eye drops and I'll be all better. The bad thing is I can't wear contacts for that week because I have to put drops in 4 times a day. I go back to work on Wednesday, the drops finish on Friday, or do I want to stop them early? I don' want to wear OSHA safety glasses over my glasses. Something to consider. Enough about me.

We have our Assimilation Director for our church. Mary Pritchard will oversee the greeters, the new visitor gifts, follow-up on new attendees, and connecting people. Please continue to pray about the building. It's the last ingredient. I'll be working with Loraine on our prayer letter this week. If you would like to receive it to keep updated on what's going on with EQUIP, just let me know. gshazenberg@sbcglobal.net.

Off to find Kristen something she needs for Homecoming on Saturday. Blessings on this windy, gray Monday.