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Take A Coffee BreakOne of the things I

picked up during my out of the country travels is how much other countries make use of “down time”.

Kenyans are great for doing this. They take tea breaks throughout the day. During this time they just relax and enjoy conversation with fellow co-workers or friends over the office tea.

I’ve gone into shops to buy clothes and end up spending an extra 30 plus minutes because they insist on me taking a break and enjoying a cup of fresh brewed hot sweet tea. And 90% of times, I love it!

Every day I try to enjoy my coffee break time when I arrive at work. It’s the time I use to think about the days work. Later in the afternoon I enjoy my tea and “biscuit” . This is when I just relax for a few minutes.

Every now and then we all could use a few moments to just relax. In this new year give it a try. Just take a moment and see what the coffee actually taste like.

-Pastor Mel

GOT LIFEDon’t Be Actively Lazy

Imagine your favorite NFL football team announces their new season lineup. As you listen you get excited because the list of players sounds like the perfect Super Bowl bound team.

However, when you watch the first game you notice that one of the main offensive guards who is supposed to protect the quarterback appears to always look to the other offensive guards to do his job, while dodging the guys from the opposing team who are coming after the quarterback.

No matter how many great players that team has, they can kick their dream of the Super Bowl goodbye until something is done with that player.

Hey, he may have even been a great player in college, and have the strength of an Ox. But, at the moment he is costing the perfect team their dream.

It’s quite easy to join an exciting team that is doing great work, while you contribute very little to the great work the exciting team is doing and receive the same applause the rest of the team receives.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often. Over time it starts to wear out the other members of the great team because they spend unneeded time and energy doing

what the nonworking member of the team pretends to be doing.

About a month or two ago I was reflecting on a group conversation that I was a part of. In the conversation most of us talked about what we needed to do and how we planned to go about making things happen. But there was one individual who seem to offer very little input as to how they would accomplish their responsibility. When solutions were offered they expected the rest of the team to pitch in to help them do their assignment, yet they never offered to assist any of the other team members accomplish their task.

For me it was extremely annoying, yet no one else seemed to be put off by this, in my opinion, selfish behavior.

So as I pondered that gathering, I realized that many great teams struggle not because they don’t have enough team members or workers, but because they have one too many actively lazy team members.

The same thing happens in the church. Churches are filled with some of the greatest people anywhere. They have some of the best skills, education, experiences, life testimonies, ideas, and yet often time they may choose to

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WE ARE BLESSED IN CHRIST JESUS

Bishop Brenda K. Perry,Sr. Pastor of NLTC

I would like, first of all, to say Happy New Year, and may the God of Israel, the God of glory shine His everlasting joy, peace and righteousness upon you each day of the year.

In the closing of 2014 within me I am hearing and feeling the word “blessed.” Yes, I am blessed. In the beginning of Matthew the 5th chapter we see the Lord speaking to the disciples, and the first word he speaks from the New King James translation is “blessed.” We can say “happy” not as the world’s happiness but God’s Kingdom happiness. Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit is not temporal but everlasting.

Ephesians 1:3 reads “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.” People, children of God, we are blessed. My desire is to wake up on the first day of the New Year and bless the Lord with praise and thanksgiving.

For the New Life Family our theme for the New Year is “WE

ARE BLESSED”. We are blessed whether we are in the eye of the storm, or on the mountain with blessings over flowing; I am declaring we are blessed. I do not want to, nor do not want to hear murmuring, complaining, criticizing, doubting or just being negative in any form or fashion. God is too good to us for us to have a down cast spirit all the time in our Christian walk. We must stop looking for God to bless us when you are blessed, and learn how to walk in our blessing.

First we must understand as a new creation in Christ, we are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Our old life is passed away and we have become new in Jesus Christ. Now as new creations we are blessed spiritually and naturally. We must elevate our thinking that God wants to bless us in our trails or tests by saying “I know there is a blessing coming”. We have allowed the world and the enemy to destroy our understanding of our God’s awesomeness. He is loving, merciful, kind and long suffering. What we have not attained spiritually or naturally is because of our thinking and faith and belief in Him.

The promises of God are “yes” and “amen”. He knows the thoughts He has for you, to be blessed, and healed, and to be set free from this sin sick world. We are trying to gasp hold of both worlds. We must choose which one we are going

to serve. The enemy plays with our soul, our emotions, our will, our intellect in dealing with the inter person. Our responsibility is to read God’s Word and place it in our spirit so it can help feed our soul and build up our faith in the Holy Ghost. I like this saying that prayer is waiting on God’s wisdom for your situation. That’s true when we pray and commune with God, with thanksgiving first, then we make our request and wait on Him. He will give us His spiritual wisdom.

Blessed does not mean there are no down times, hardships, crises, no tears, no pain or suffering. But in the midst of it all I must know I am still blessed. Now I will see a side of God that I would not see or experience if I would not have these situations or circumstances. The greatness and love of God is real. We are blessed, and not going to be blessed, we are blessed. Let us empower ourselves with God’s Word in prayer and fasting, and speaking His Word which causes us to have faith.

When I look at some of the OT bible characters, Joseph, Ruth, Daniel and others I see that they had their issues, and the hand of the enemy was against them too. However, they kept pressing,

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7 THINGS YOUR CHURCH NEEDS FROM YOU

By Tim Challies

The following article is used by permission.

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to speak to a gathering of young adults from several churches across our city. I chose to speak about how any Christian (not only young adults) can make a church better and stronger. Here are some of the things I came up with: seven things your church needs from you.

Your church needs you to …

1. Be Humble

If you want to learn humility, you need to act humble.

There is no character quality more important than humility. While humility does not come naturally to any of us, it can be learned, because here’s the thing: Humility isn’t a feeling or an attitude—it’s action. If you want to learn humility, you need to act humble. Here are three quick tips on becoming humble:

a. Find mature Christians who exemplify humility and spend time around them. Learn from them and learn to be like them.

b. Volunteer for the lowliest of tasks. Don’t ask to be in the public eye when you serve, but be content to stay in the back. Find joy in doing the lowliest jobs and do them when and where only Jesus will see.

c. Get to know Jesus. It was Jesus who said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). And it was Jesus who humbled himself the deepest and was exalted the highest.

2. Prioritize Church

Every church has people who make the public gatherings of the church a low priority. Every church desperately needs people who will make the public gatherings a top priority.

Today is the day to begin elevating the importance of church in your life. Let me give you two reasons:

a. First, you need your church. God made you part of your church for your good. You cannot do life on your own. You aren’t strong enough, you aren’t

wise enough, you aren’t mature enough, you aren’t godly enough. Without the beautifully ordinary means of grace you encounter in the church, you won’t make it. Without the support of your brothers and sisters, you won’t make it.

b. Second, your church needs you. God made you part of your church for the good of others. 1 Peter 4 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” God has gifted you to be part of your church, and those gifts are to be used for the good of other people. So prioritize church as an expression of generosity toward others.

3.Consider Giving God a Day

Why don’t you consider setting aside an entire day of the week and dedicating it to the Lord in a special way? It completely changes Sunday when you give the entire day to the Lord and his people.

Now you’re not having to decide whether to take that class or join that club that meets Sunday afternoon. You’re not skipping church during exam time

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Blessed continued from page 2

moving, doing what was right, believing and trusting God. See the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthian 11 chapter what he had been through and chapter 12. He had a thorn in his flesh, and after the third time God spoke to Paul. From the word that was spoken to Paul he would rather suffers and has the presence of God’s Spirit upon Him. Truly it is a blessing to have the power of God’s grace resting on us when we are suffering.

We are blessed people. The devil cannot defeat us! We win in Christ! Know that we are always a winner now and in the life to come. We are blessed in our home, jobs, community, and our churches. Now, go show the world how blessed you are. Let the light of Christ shine so others will come to the saving knowledge of God.

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because you’ve got studying to do.

You’re not leaving early to get home before the football game starts. Instead, you’re leaving behind all the cares of life, and even many of the joys of life,

and dedicating an entire day to worship, to fellowship and to serving others.

4. Live Like a Christian All Week Long

It is easy enough to be a Christian at church, but then you get home.

Make your devotional life something you do not just for the good of yourself, but for the good of others.

One key to living like a Christian all week long is spending time in Word and prayer every day.

Make this a priority no matter how busy you are and no matter how crazy life seems.

Make this something you do no matter how badly you’ve sinned and how little you feel like doing it.

Pray day-by-day not only for yourself, but for your church.

5. Get to Know People Not Like You

Churches are involuntary communities—we don’t get to pick who comes to them, God does.

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the

same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

If your church is divided so that all the young adults hang out together and all the older folk hang out together, or if all the people with accents hang out together and all the people without accents hang out together, that makes a statement about the gospel—that the gospel is not big enough and powerful enough to really make people love one another even though they are different.

6. Learn Generosity

Few things reveal the heart better than money. Money has an amazing way of displaying what you really believe and what you really value. No matter who you are and what stage of life you are in, there is no better time than now to learn to be generous with your money.

Here’s what the Bible says: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” You must give,

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and you must learn to do it cheerfully.

Here are just two quick tips:

a. Remember that it’s not your money. The money belongs to God—he just gives it to you to manage it. And he means for you to manage it well and to his glory.

b. Give to the Lord first. I know people who say they can’t give to the church, and yet they’ve got a new cell phone and are carrying a cup of Starbucks into church every week. That doesn’t compute. Learn to give the first and best of your money to the Lord.

7. Be a Great Church Member

Make yourself invaluable to your church, and do this by serving other people.

Find the place you can serve your church, and serve there without fail, without excuse, without requiring praise and accolades. Do it for the good of others and the glory of God

Tim Challies, a self-employed web designer, is a pioneer in the Christian blogosphere, having one of the most widely read and recognized Christian blogs.

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contribute little or non of that to the church team that gives them so much.

How easy is it for us to expect great results from our local church ministries that we are a part of, when we give very little to the team effort?

Each of us as believers are on a great team. We are on God’s team. The ultimate winning team. God’s team is made up of many local assemblies or ecclesia, as they were called in the New Testament.

Each ecclesia is vital to the whole team. The survival of the ecclesia depends on each person effectively doing their part.

The Bible calls this team the Body of Christ. In a way you can think of each local assembly as a cell in the body. In fact the early “church” was made up of little cell like groups (ecclesia) that depended on each person within the cell to do their job so that the combined group of cells within a city or region could be effective in their outreach, raising money, taking care of the elderly and needy, and teaching the new converts.

Everyone was required to be actively busy. The Church could not have survived if the team was filled with actively lazy individuals who depended on

the others to do their job, while they enjoyed the glorious benefits of the team work.

When that offensive guard joins that NFL team, he is entitled to special benefits that only those connected to the team get. In fact, if he is married and has family, each one of them enjoy benefits just because he is on the team. There is special support that comes with his signature on the final contract. The perks are absolutely ridiculous. Each team may have perks and benefits that are tailored to that franchise. But the bottom line is, those benefits are not enjoyed by those who sit in the stands, only the team.

So we expect each player to give his best to the team that is giving him their best benefits.

There are numerable benefits to belong to God’s body and the local ecclesia. Why would you want to enjoy the benefits without enjoying actively being a part of the team?

How much fun can it really be, saying what you want the team to give but offering little to make it happen. No the fun is joining the team and being a part of the win! The joy is in working, learning, and growing along side every other member of the team.

This year don’t be one of the actively lazy members of the cell, instead LIVE and SERVE. It’s where all of the fun and joy is on your ecclesia team.

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Looking AheadPlease mark your calendars for the upcoming events for January & February

JANUARY1 New Years Day4 - 18 Sowing –Seed Offering4 - 18 Daniel Fast10 Leadership Prayer11 Church Business Meeting19 MLK Day Office Closed24 Leadership Prayer & Meeting25 - 26 Holy Ghost Revival with Pastor Tanya Brown

FEBRUARYCelebration of Blacks in American History - Each Sunday8 Evening Service 14 Leadership Prayer15 HBCU T-shirt Sunday19 Office Closed - Texas Min. Conf.20 - 21 Reinhard Bonnke Crusade 23 - African Attire Sunday23 Evening Service

Jan. 2! ! Jada Jones

Jan. 13 ! ! Justin Rector

Jan. 18! ! Jeremiah Jones

Jan. 22! ! Madelyn Gabriel

Jan. 25! ! Michael Hardiman

Jan. 26! ! Margaret Darden

Jan. 26! ! Pam Wright

Anniversaries

Thomas & Tameka Clark Jan. 7

Feb. 6! ! Evan Bates

Feb. 7! ! Billy Williams

Feb. 7! ! Nicolette Davila

Feb. 14! ! Lonnie Caldwell

Feb. 19! ! Larry Hunt

Feb. 20! ! David Bates

Feb 24! ! Mother Ida Morgan

Feb. 26! ! LaRhonda Daniels

Feb. 28! ! Edna Johnson

Anniversaries

Clayton & Denise Bates Feb. 18

Larry & Mary Hunt Feb. 23

Birthdays & Anniversaries

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NL Ministry Leaders

Bishop Brenda K. Perry, Senior Pastor pastor@newlifetemplechurch.com

Mel A. Perry, Assistant Pastor & Global Relations Director global_relations@newlifetemplechurch.com

Pastor Steve Stephens, Associate Pastor sstep72508@sbcglobal.net

Pastor Elmer Powell, Associate Pastor elmerpowell@sbcglobal.net

Donna Ross-Powell, Administrator donna.ross@newlifetemplechurch.com

Deacons Roy & Veronica Seivwright, Head Deacons rs5587@att.com

Pastor Elmer & Cathy Powell, Marriage Min. elmerpowell@sbcglobal.net

Donna Stephens, Ladies Minstry dmstep2003@yahoo.com

Elder Roy & Min Pam Clark, Perfecting Light Ministry pamlarclark@yahoo.com

Elder Edna Johnson, Outreach ednajohn1945@att.net

Sis. Sharon Clay, Singles Ministry sgsclay@gmail.com

Statement of Faith

We believe in one eternal God; infinite in power, holy in nature, attributes and purpose, as well as omniscient and omnipresent.

We believe this one true God, who revealed Himself as Father in Creation, as Son in redemption, and as Holy Ghost in regeneration.

We believe that - in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.

We believe in the death, burial and resurrection.

We believe in being born again of water-by immersion in the name of the Lord “Jesus” Christ for the remission of sins, and in Spirit baptism of the Holy Ghost - speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.

We believe in divine healing, communion and foot washing.

We believe in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.

We believe in expressions of praise with lifted hands, hand clapping, playing of musical instruments, voice of praise and dancing.

The purpose of New Life is to instill the faith of Jesus Christ into the lives of all people, bringing them into spiritual perfection with a spirit of excellence.

Weekly Service Schedule

SundaySunday School! ! ! 9:00amSunday Worship ! ! 10:00am

WednesdayBible Study! ! ! 10:30amBible Study! ! ! 7:30pmYoung People On Fire! ! 7:30pmChildren With Purpose! ! 7:30pmCouples In Unity! ! 7:30pm(1st & 3rd Wednesday)

ThursdayMusic Ministry! ! ! 7:30pm

Saturday! ! !Intercessory Prayer! ! 9:00am

*NLEC Senior Connection Monday - Friday 10:00am - 2:00pm for all seniors 60+