Sunday Highlights

• Change is in the air! Praise God for change. Things are progressing and things are changing for the glory of God. Change is hard for many. People get uncomfortable with change. The uncertainty of change leads to fear. People are quite comfortable with things that are familiar to them. However, if we are going to move forward, we are going to have to embrace change. God wants to birth new things in us and through Trinity. We must be open to the new things that God is doing and going to do. I know that God has incredible things planned for this great church. We are just getting started. Things are coming together and I know that greatness is store for us. Let's keep pressing, let's keep changing! Listen to Sunday's sermon "Responding to Change."
• With your help we were able to order 50 new chairs last week! We had another great crowd on Sunday and we continue to grow even during the summer months. It's been great to get to meet the many new people. I was talking with a member last week and she said that she did not know half of the people that were at church this past Sunday. God is bringing new people in and I'm excited. The chairs will be coming in September. Keep inviting and telling everyone about the new things God is doing at Trinity!
• I was very encouraged with our missions giving. We only have 5 more missionaries that need our support. Thank you for your willingness to give to God's kingdom. Missions is the heart of Trinity. We must continue to support missions and pray for our missionaries as they take the message of Jesus around the world. Trinity currently supports over 30 missionaries and para-missions organizations around the world! Let's see that number double by next year. I know we can do it. Thanks Any! I appreciate everything you did!
  
• Mega Sports camp was a huge success this year. Many kids came out. We doubled our attendance from last year. Any Torres and her team did an amazing job! We will continue with Mega Sports Camp every Wednesday night throughout the rest of the summer.
  
• Pow-Wow last week was great as well. This was my first Pow-Wow and it was great! Our Senior Commander Jim Vizethann did a great job. We have the best! The boys loved it and God did great things. The best part was our times at the altars. God touched and filled many of our boys and I know that they are not the same. Thanks Jim! You did a great job!
• Sunday we also said good-bye to Pastor Frank. He served with his heart and we appreciate his hard work and ministry at Trinity. We praise God for him and know that God has great things in store for this young man. Let's keep Pastor Frank in prayer.
• We had a great day on Sunday. God continues to meet us each week. Ruth and I love you all very much. We are excited to be here and excited for everything that God is doing at Trinity. Thank you for all of your love, prayers and support. You guys are the best!
  

Sunday Highlights

• "Just Give Me Jesus" was the new song Any led us in yesterday and let me tell you that it summed up the entire service. GOD was in the house and Jesus was lifted up. When it all comes down to it, just give me JESUS!
  
• We had an extended time of worship that was powerful as God moved by His Spirit. There was energy and life as we worshiped Jesus in Spirit and in truth. A first time guest came to me afterwards and said, "There's a lot of energy here, I love it!" That was such blessing to hear. Many came to the altars to experience a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. God poured out His Spirit with visible power and anointing.
  
• As we continue to press forward, we will go deeper in our worship experience. I recently read in "Wild Goose Chase" by Mark Batterson that too often churches do to people what zoos do to animals. They cage them up and keep them tame instead of allowing them to be free. Too often we take people out of their natural habitat and try to tame them in the name of Christ. We end up with caged Christians. Part of going deeper in worship is being able to express yourself freely. Trinity is not a zoo, and there are no cages here. We will be free to worship God in spirit and in truth! No holding back!
• I preached on "Fatal Distractions." It's easy to become distracted with the things of this world. We allow worry, fear, the lack of finances to distract us when all we need to do is focus on Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. We must remain focused on the vision that He has for our lives and for our church and not allow distractions to pull us away from that focus.
• I love how the Message puts it, “Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet!” Philippians 3:13-15 (Message).
• I am so encouraged by what God is doing each week at Trinity. Ruth and I feel free to serve and minister to you as God would have us to. We love each of you deeply and pray for you often. Thank you for your continued love and support. We could not do it without you all!
  

Sunday Highlights

• The Lord never ceases to amaze me. He continues to visit us with His power and with His presence every week. Thanking God for another wonderful Sunday service. We are continuing to build momentum forward.
• I want to again thank the worship team for a great job. I want to give a special shout out to Leticia. With both of our piano players out, she stepped up to the plate with her acoustic guitar. You were great! Glenn, was also outstanding as he played lead guitar. Any led us into the presence of God with the "Revelation Song." The worship team is really coming together.
  
• I preached a message entitled, "Who Do You Think You Are?" using Proverbs 23:6-7 as my text. Each week I am getting more and more comfortable preaching. There is a freedom that I have preaching that I have not experienced before. There seems to be many that are hungry for God's Word and receiving the message with gladness. Remember that you are PRICELESS!!!
• We concluded our day with a potluck dinner. The food was amazing. We had arroz con gandules, chicken, African rice, plantains, pastelon and someone made me mofongo! It was great. Many people stayed and we had a great time. Thank you everyone for making such great food.
  
• God continues to send us new people each week. It has been great meeting the many new families. I pray that you will consider making Trinity your home.
• Ruth and I have been so blessed being here at Trinity. Thank you all for you love, prayers and support. We are enjoying being your pastors and count it a privilege to serve you. You guys are an incredible group of people. Let's keep moving forward, together!
• Have a blessed week!
  

Finally Home!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.” Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NLT)

This is the passage of Scripture the Lord gave us which confirmed to our hearts that we were to go to Trinity. After 15 years, Ruth and I are back home! God has brought us full circle. We are so excited to be living back again in New York.

On Saturday we moved into our new place. It's a nice little townhouse .3 miles from the church. Ruth and I were overwhelmed by the help and support we received from our Trinity family. A bus load of people came up to Pittsfield to help us move. We loaded the truck in 2 hours. You guys were great. We also had a welcome crew to help us unload. That took us 1 hr. and 15 min.! The food that people brought was great and we had a great moving day. Thanks for everyone that was able to come out and help us. We really appreciate it.

Leaving our home in Pittsfield was very hard for us. We loved our home and we love the city. There are alot of wonderful people there. However, we know that when God calls us, He calls us to leave everything behind to follow His plan for our lives. When God asks us to do this, He doesn't do it to move us backwards, He does it to move us forward. We know that God has great things in store for us here in this new season of our lives. We know that our best years of ministry are still ahead and not behind.

Thank you everyone for your love, prayers and support. Please continue to pray for us as we lead this congregation into all that God has. Pray that our home in Pittsfield would sell. Pray for God's blessing and favor rest upon our lives. We love you all.

Sunday Highlights

• Great service Sunday! Once again we were able to touch the heart of God and experience breakthrough in our service. The presence of God was rich and tangible as we offered our worship to Him. I believe that our pre-service prayer has been preparing our hearts and the atmosphere for us to go to a deeper level in our worship. The music is really beginning to take off. I'm so thankful for the hard work of our worship team and musicians now 10 members strong. You guys are doing an awesome job!
  

• We went from worship to communion and prayer at the altars. Communion always adds to our worship experience. The blood will never lose its power! Worship, prayer and communion always prepares our hearts to receive the Word.
  

• I preached on "Spiritual Warfare" Much of what we experience in the natural is really a manifestation of the battle in the spiritual. We need to understand how important spiritual warfare is going to be as we advance God's kingdom. Remember, we have the authority and the power over all the works of the enemy and no weapon formed against us will prosper! As we move forward we will face resistance. However, let's use the authority and the power given to us to come against all of the weapons and schemes of the enemy.
  

• We are a church on the move. We are moving forward! We are expecting and believing for God to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think. I sense an excitement and anticipation in each and every service. I know that we are breaking through to heights and places that we have never been before. Like the children of Israel, we are moving forward to places we have never been to do things we have never done.
  

• Ruth and I are so excited to be here. Your love and support has been so amazing. We can't wait to move down to Middletown. We may be losing a house, but we know we are gaining a family! We know that what God is doing and going to do will far exceed any and all of our expectations. Let's continue to expect and believe God together to do greater things than He has done in times past. Let us continue to work together in a spirit of unity to move forward and take back all that the enemy has stolen!

• Lastly, Pastor Frank resigned Sunday as our Youth Pastor. In his words, he is resigning because he feels God calling him away. We appreciate Pastor Frank and all he did as our youth pastor. God used him and he was very instrumental throughout the transition. We will miss Pastor Frank very much. I know that he has a bright future ahead. We will be holding a special farewell service at the end of the month for Pastor Frank. Stay tuned for more details.