techfellowship | tf

Could it be possible that the Kingdom effectiveness of the Church has become minimal because we have become incestuous as the Body of Christ from the stand point that we have been more about “talking and learning” rather than “going and doing”.
Yesterday I read again something that I am finding over and over again and it is this;  that the rate of young people from ages 16-26 dropping out of church is rapidly increasing. The ironic thing is that most of these young people have not disconnected from the Church because of dissatisfaction with or misunderstanding of God, rather it is because they feel empty and unprepared by the Church to “live this thing out”. Young adults are tired of the talk about US and are seeking ways to take what we have out of the four wall of the church. The cry of this generation is what are we going to do?  Young adults are best connected to the Church through their service, giving and missions (essential church?) In Matthew 9:35-38 we see our great mentor at work; yes, there were times of teaching in the synagogue but the call of this passage is to go. James 2:14-20 challenges us to connect our faith and our works. This is not a discussion regarding which one to eliminate rather it is about a Christ-modeled balance. Would the Church be wise to evaluate its “talking and learning” vs. “going and doing”? I definitely believe it would if it wants to keep this powerful generation engaged in the Kingdom Purposes of God.

love serve live
Scott Palmer

Community in our lives is so vital to our survival. We need a place to be able to let down and uncover for the purpose of maintaining health and balance in our lives. When we lie to ourselves, we have to lie to others and of course we then attempt to lie to God. This cycle that we all can relate to suffocates our daily life. What if we were honest with our failures? If you do not have community in your life my hope is that very soon God will allow you to take steps to begin to develop this in your life. We must begin to stop pretending that everything is okay and seek relationships that well encourage us to admitt our struggles and fears. These relationships have to be God centered, His characteristics of mercy, love, forgiveness, grace and redemption will enable us be honest. Mutual hope in God creates a safe place. Ephesians 2:8-10 and 4:31-32 will strengthen our faith with regards to failure and not letting it define who we are. Walk in freedom this week, God will be glorified.

Stay in touch and keep cool.

love serve live
Scott

This past Sunday we were singing the song “Beautiful One” and during the song a man entered the row in front of me and on the back of his t-shirt were these words:
SON, I need you to Build a Bridge; here are some of the tools that you will need. (a hammer and nails)
See you soon. Love, DAD
Immediately tears began to roll down my face and I was consumed in worship by the Beautiful One! Our FATHER not only said He cared, He sent His Son to show He cared.

This summer in our Bible Study we are looking at the topic: What If…a small group made a difference. Last weeks video challenged us to ask, “What if we cared?” Questions were asked like:

• Can we survive isolation and wondering if anyone really cares?
• Is it hard to ask others to care for you?
• When was the last time you cared for another?
• Do we really believe that we are stronger together than apart?
• Why is it easier to talk about caring than to actually care for others?

These questions are valid but easily answered in the life of Jesus. He is our role model the Beautiful One!

In our offering for the kids in India we need an additional $130 to cover this months support, in last weeks post I gave the details on how you can give over the summer months. Stay in touch and we will talk next week.
love serve live
Scott Palmer

It has been awhile since the last post and I hope that by now you are all settled into your routine for the summertime. I am sure that everyone’s schedule looks different based on work, missions, internships, vacation, classes and of course laziness. My plan is to pick up with the weekly posts all the way through the fall, please feel free to make some comments. We miss you all and in time can’t wait to see you back if you are returning for the fall semester.

As you know we still have our responsibility to support our kids in India. I am going to take some time this week and give a brief capsule of each of our kids. We are proud of them and continue to believe that God has great things prepared for each on of them. It is great to be able to invest into their lives. I have to send off our next gift to BGCH by June 29th so if you are able to make a contribution over the summer you can send the money to the church to my attention and I will apply it to the June support. Here is the address at the church.
Fellowship of Christians
Attn. Scott Palmer
PO Box 304
Russellville, Ar. 72811

• Diksha Gawai - has two parents, but no family income, wants a good education.
• Babali Pandole - has no home town because her Balai tribe wanders looking for work,  her father died.
• Rani Bhatkar - both of her parents are dead, her grandparents could not care for her.
• Mahammad Sikandar - comes from a home with an abusive father, needed safety and education.
• Bharat Gudade - had no opportunity for an education in his village, low income family.
• Akshay Gaikwad - his father died and his mother could not provide for the 5 children, he is the oldest.

Every month we are able to send notes and letters as well so when you send in your gift lets write some notes. Over the next few weeks we are having a summer Bible Study at my house for the students that are still in Russellville, I will be taking some of the highlights from the material that we study and post them on the tf blog. I look forward to staying in touch with you and please make contact when ever you can.

love serve live
Scott Palmer

Enough Said! Our Prayers Are With You!

If you listen real close you can hear me from the cheap seats cheering you on as you come down the home stretch.  I believe in you and that feeling that you did your best to the end is worth it. Lay it all out to the finish line!

Here are a couple thoughts and reminders for the week:

• Jera Boman has a opportunity to volunteer at the concert this Thurs. at Tech. If you would like to do this you need to be at the Doc Bryan info booth at 4:15 pm. Please call me at 747-4167 so that I can tell Jera who is available.
• Throughout the summer months while you are away if you have offering that can be given to our kids in India you can mail it to the church and put the letter to my attention and I will add it in.
• This Sunday at 5pm in the big field at FOC we will be playing 16” softball. There could be isolated showers over the weekend so watch the weather, if there is no heavy rain or storms we will be playing. Besides, after the “fog game” whats a little rain.

Stay in touch and knock those finals out!

love serve live
Scott Palmer

Okay I could have spent a month contemplating and I would never have guessed that Pauly would have created the most memorable moment of the tf Spring Retreat. How does a wooden creature energize a group of college students. Thanks Kassie for reaching out to such a needy little creature. (Check out Kassie Dawn Smith’s facebook for all the adventures of Pauly the Hussler)

Maybe that first paragraph is alittle overstated but the fun, food, games and rest that we all experienced is not. I really loved the weekend on the mountain. I am so blessed to be able to hang out with such a great group of young men and women. Many memories of the time together will stick with me for days, it was almost alittle odd driving through Russellville on Sunday afternoon. I guess that’s what we call reality. The retreat is always a great way to end the school year and I am already looking forward to next spring.

Here is the news and updates for this week:

• Thank you to those that were able to make it to the tf International Party last week. I know that this is something that we will do more of in the months ahead. Megan and Jera…you carried us, thanks.
• I look forward to seeing each of you at the Gathering tomorrow evening at 7pm. (April 22nd) If you have not been able to make it in awhile I would love to see you before the year is over. This week at the Gathering is Senior Night. The main theme throughout the evening is celebrating the senior’s and we will do this in a couple of different ways. Come and be apart and senior’s we need you there for sure!!! Also we will take time to encourage each other, worship, pray and take communion. I have one group project that I think everyone can benefit from as you go into the summer months. Please bring your offering for our kids in India, this will be our last time to give for the next couple months so lets be generous.
• The softball game in the fog on the retreat was such a success that we have scheduled a game when the fear factor of being hit is less, probably all we need is daylight and no fog. On May 3rd at 5pm come to the big field at Fellowship of Christians. I will provide the drinks, bat, ball and bases. See you there!!

Have a great week and stay in touch with me if there is anything that you need.

love serve live
Scott Palmer

What a great week to enjoy the beauty of spring; its hard to top a sunny, 70 degree day. I hope that your week is going well, I’m glad to hear that those of you who went home for Easter weekend made it back safe.

Last Wednesday at the Gathering we had a great night, if your life enabled you to be there I know that you will not forget many of the things that you heard from Kevin Turner that evening. It was fun on facebook the next day to see that many of the things on your heart made it to your status. Kevin and a team of workers are leaving for Pakistan this week, lets keep them in our prayers. Here is a list of updates, news and reminders for the coming weeks.

• Zack and I have decided to postpone our FOCUS Bible Study on Sunday mornings for the rest of the semester. Please make  a note of this on your schedule if you normally attend. We will start again in the fall. If you are going to be in Russellville during the summer we have a summer study that you can be apart of, more news on that later.
• If you raised your hand at the Gathering to be apart of the Tutoring opportunity in Little Rock on April 23rd and 30th can you please make contact with me so I can have that list of names.
• I need to hear from you if you are graduating this spring from ATU. Each year we have some special things for you and we do not want to miss anyone. Here are the names I have so far. CJ, Kayla, Ben, Sarah, Jera, and Kristyn. Please let me know if I have missed anyone.
• Great job on giving to our kids in India! In our first offering we received exactly $180. As you know you can write the kids a note, bring these to the next Gathering and we will make sure Brad gets them to send to the kids. At the next Gathering we will take another offering, this needs to be a good one as it will need to cover us for the summer months when everyone is gone. Check out their new website at www.bgchm.org
• If you are going to the retreat this weekend look for an email in the next day or so with all the details.

Stay in touch and God Bless

love serve live
Scott Palmer

Alright let’s be honest, how’s that post “spring-break attitude”? Are you staying on task and keeping up with all that is required of you? I know that this is one of the hardest times to be a college student. Keep up the good work your almost done.

These next couple weeks for Tech Fellowship are very exciting and I look forward to being apart of them with you. I will do my best to try and give you all the information regarding the events that we have scheduled the next two weeks.

Tomorrow evening, April 8th is the Gathering. We are going to have Kevin Turner of Strategic World Impact with us as a special guest. He is a personal friend of mine and a friend of tf’s as well. He spoke on campus over 3 years ago and I am excited that you will have the opportunity to hear him as well. He is a man that serves God with boldness and in a spirit of humility. That is a powerful combination. SWI is having a powerful impact around the globe in some of the most dangerous, persecuted and suffering regions of the world. I would encourage you to spend some time on their website to truly get an idea of who they are and how Kevin and his teams serve. www.swi.org  Please come to this evening, you will not regret it. This would also be a great night to bring a friend as well. I know that Kevin will have a powerful word for us, he has told me that he loves college students and college campus’; I look forward to seeing you. The evening will start with a meal at 6pm in the Fellowship Hall at Fellowship of Christians; Jera Boman is making homeade Chicken and Dumplings. Come and enjoy this great time of followship around some good food. We will begin the Gathering at 7pm. The tf band will lead us in worship and Kevin will share with us. I want to have a time to minister to Kevin at the end of the evening, let God prepare your heart for this time of prayer and speaking into his life. Tomorrow is also the first time that we will take up an offering for our kids in India, please come ready to give what God lays on your heart. Brad will be here with us as well, we want to take a group picture tomorrow night to get to our kids.

Coming up in the next week are two great events that we will discuss more at the Gathering and in post’s on this blog.
April 15th   Tech Fellowship International Party
April 17-19   Tech Fellowhsip Spring Retreat

Happy Easter! I will see you tomorrow evening at the Gathering. Stay in touch.

love serve live
Scott

Excerpts taken from a prayer in worship on Sunday at FOC…

Father, I thank you for eternity; because it helps me realize how insignificant my everyday cares of this world are.
Father, I thank you for eternity; because it helps me realize how significant my place is with YOU for all eternity. My eternal existence is in place today. You have every hope, failure, desire, shortcoming, passion and dream wrapped up in eternity. I can trust YOU! You are forever faithful!  Amen.

Have a blessed, safe and restful spring break!

love serve live
Scott Palmer