Change the World... One Mission, One Message, One More. 
Our Change the World theme is about making a difference for the Kingdom of God. As we reach families for Christ and equip them for ministry, we are building an army which God will use to make a global impact for Jesus Christ. 

Here are some of the stories of specifically how God is reaching One More through His people at Thompson Station Church.

 
//Report from India

On our second day in the field,
 our team visited Banda Meedi thanda.
"Banda Meedi" means "built on the rock."
We immediately thought of the story Jesus told in Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:46-49. As we prayed and walked through this thanda, we observed that it really was built on bedrock!

 

Our team of three North Americans and five Indian nationals proclaimed the Gospel after prayer-walking. We began by singing two Banjara songs and doing a simple dance. More than 100 people gathered to listen!

 

Hank began by introducing himself, Debbie and Ali - in Banjara, with our Banjara names - and explaining that we had come from America. (The rest was all spoken through one of our marvelous interpreters.) After the Gospel presentation, many Banjara people had questions. The first was, "We didn't know there were Banjara people in America!"

 

Several people responded to the Gospel. One was a man named Venghket, pictured above (seated), with Pastor Samson and Harria Niak (Hank). After listening intently to the creation story and Good News of eternal life in Jesus, he began a spirited conversation with one of our Indian pastors. After Venghket prayed to receive the gift of eternal life, his face instantly showed the joy of the Lord! He told us through our translator that he felt like dancing! Hank asked why he felt that way. Venghket's response? "I have peace now that I have trusted in Jesus, the One True God. I didn't have peace before."

 

We are so thankful to have seen many Banjara people receive the peace of Christ. Our team returned to Banda Meedi thanda several times during the week, and the Holy Spirit of the Living God did amazing things! More on that next time...

 

Grateful to bring a good report,
Debbie, Ali and Hank Techentin

//10 year old on missions
 

December 14th I will get on a plane for the very first time and fly to Nicaragua with my dad.  We will spend the week having Christmas parties and feeding the locals at all the churches that CCM has planted in Nicaragua.  This is something that I have prayed about for so long and now those prayers are coming true.  I can not wait to see what God is going to do on this trip, and cannot wait for my own stories to share.
Read the rest of Baylor's story here.

Send Baylor an encouraging word or prayer. 


//kyrgystan

     “I grew up in Uzbekistan. My grandfather was a Muslim Mullah (or priest). It was my dream to   become a Mullah one day just like him. I studied the Quran and learned all the practices of the Muslim faith. After leaving the army I wanted to attend the University; the only way to enter was to pay bribes.  So I began stealing and manipulating people for money. At this time in my life I started smoking and drinking often.
     In the Bizarre (open market) one day, I was trying to get money for the bribes and a Korean man said to me that I did not have to get money in this way. He would pay me to teach him the Uzbek language. So I began to meet with him and teach him. After our lessons he would always share about Jesus and his faith with me (He already spoke fluent Russian at the time). I would become angry and we would have many debates about our faith. He shared Galatians 6:7-8 about a man reaping what he sows. On the inside I really wanted to learn more about this, but I was struggling with my flesh. I was in a constant battle within. Quran verses the Bible? Muhammad verses Jesus Christ?
     One day this man took me to a house church; there were many believers there, my own people.  They were singing beautiful songs to God. When the pastor began to speak I was in awe! I wished his sermon would go on forever. He spoke from Romans 10:9-10, ‘If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved’…God’s spirit came on me and I knew this was truth. That night I became a Christian.  mediately my life was changed. I stopped drinking and smoking and began living for God.”    
     This man now lives in Osh along with another Uzbek man that he had the privilege of leading to the Lord. They both have incredible testimonies! They have started a church here and are working diligently to share Christ with the Uzbek people in this country. We were blessed by their presence at our last staff meeting. They shared with us strategies they use in reaching Muslims here, advise for us being foreigners, and how we can partner together to see a movement of believers in this dark place.
Please pray for patience and guidance from the Lord.

Branden and Annie Glenn


  //East Asia Update

 
 We are so thankful that the Father seems to be opening many doors here. While we were teaching this week with the team from Tennessee, two more schools approached us wanting us to bring teachers to their schools. We also had a chance (or providential) meeting with a couple of doctors from the hospital there. They were very interested in what we do, and could possibly open some doors for us to start working in the medical arena as well.  As we took walks through town I took the chance to ask many people if they had ever heard of Jesus. Time and time again the answer I received was one of confusion as they tried to make sense of a name they had never before heard. I would go on to explain that Jesus was the most high God’s only Son. This confused them even further. Though they have some vague idea of a “most high” God, most never give Him any thought as they are locked into a system of worshiping and praying to “lower” gods. One night, I talked with a young farmer. He listened intently as I told him of the creator God, original sin, the sin guilt of all people, the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for that sin, and the way to return to God through the Son. He said that he had never heard any of this before, it was interesting but difficult to understand all at one time since it was all new to him. But he was really excited about the chance to meet and talk again, so we exchanged phone numbers and next time we are in H-town I will look him up and chat with him again. For us success comes in these small increments. We introduced this young man to the idea of an ultimate and loving God, his own guiltiness before that God, and God’s plan to forgive and restore relationship. While he doesn’t yet understand, he is one step closer than he was before last week. Pray that the Spirit will continue to remind him of the stories that he heard last week, ultimately drawing him to salvation.


  //Tucson Update
 Greetings from always sunny Vail, AZ. It is such a joy to write to you guys and to let you know that I praise God for you and your faithfulness and commitment of prayer and support for me on this mission God has placed before us.  As many of you know, yesterday, October 11th, was our churches official launch! We had 97 in attendance! It simply blows my mind how God has taken this ministry, which is for His glory, and grown it from two families to 97!  About a month ago 2 teen aged girls rang our doorbell and I answered the door. They were doing a fund raiser for the local middle school. I helped them out and then God, in His perfect way, led me to invite them to our Thursday night youth bible study. They said “ok”. Well, two weeks later one of the girls showed up with another friend to the study. Ben, a volunteer youth worker, was sharing his testimony that night and then presented the Gospel. Kayse gave her heart to Jesus that night! She is one of twelve children in her family all of which are unwilling to come to church, but yesterday she showed up and brought a friend. This precious new believer walked to church and wants information about being baptized. Because of two little girls coming door to door trying to raise funds for the local middle school, God built relationships to ultimately lead her to Christ! If someone comes to your door, don’t get frustrated and just turn them away. Use it as an opportunity to lead them to our Savior, Jesus!

Jonathan Taylor

Worship Leader

Grace Fellowship


 //Africa Mission Trip
 We are excited about the opportunity God has given us to proclaim truth into the lives of children. On December 30th of this year we leave for Africa and will travel to the countries of Ethiopia and Uganda. We will spend our time ministering to children at several different orphanages, but we are very excited that on New Year’s Day, we will spend the day with Amazima Ministries.  Pray that God will give us opportunities to share His love and to offer encouragement and compassion to those in need. Isaiah 49 says that the Lord comforts His people and that He has compassion on the afflicted. He also promises that He will never forget us because we are inscribed on the palms of His hands.
Alicia Jordan, Angela Spencer, & Sumer Yates

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 //tithing testimony


 Early in our marriage, my husband and I knew we needed to be giving to the church. But like many families, we had put ourselves in a situation where, in our estimation, we could not afford to tithe. But instead of doing nothing, we sat down and looked at our finances and decided on what we thought we could afford to give. It was $50 a month. We gave that amount faithfully. Some weeks it was hard. Many weeks I found myself putting off one bill to pay another in order to be sure to be able to pay that $50 monthly. As our financial situation changed (a bill paid off or we received a raise) we would increase our giving until we reached ten percent of our take home pay. Eight or nine years ago, on a week when my husband was out of town with work, we had a lesson on tithing in Sunday School. I felt convicted that we needed to be tithing on our gross pay. When my husband returned from his trip, we sat down together and looked up every scripture reference from that lesson. I remember after looking up several of the verses, he looked at me and said, “Well, you can’t argue with that.” From that point forward we began giving from our first fruits. I’m happy to tell you that tithing has changed our lives. As we became faithful to tithing, God began pouring out blessings, many of which have been financial blessings. We have become debt free with the exception of the mortgage on our home. God has provided the money to pay for our children’s education, which is a huge blessing since we had not saved for their education. God has allowed my husband to start and maintain a successful business for 5 years, which is also debt free. And those are just some of the big things God has done. As Pastor Tom says in his sermons, we’ve found that tithing is really an issue of the heart. It begins with acknowledging that everything we have is really the LORD’s. He has just been gracious to allow us to use it. He’s better than any employer I’ve ever had. What employer would let you keep 90%? For us tithing was something that took a lot of practice. It wasn’t always a thing we did cheerfully. Now it is something that comes pretty naturally. There are still times that I think it would be fun to do something else with that money, but then the Holy Spirit kicks me and reminds me to honor God.

Free to Give,
Terri and Marvin