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The proof was in the pudding on a recent Friday night when close to 200 married couples came out to fellowship and spend time with their spouses at Married Couples Date Night, hosted by Family Ministries and emceed by Pastor Randal McNeill. The V-3 building was transformed into a movie theater and the doors could barely swing open before people started to rush in. Talk about being excited, the married couples took it to another level, for it was their night. What movie wouldn’t be complete without the right fixin’s to snack on; there was a concession area that included pizza, popcorn, sodas and candy…at a reasonable price (significantly less that what you’d usually pay at the theater).

Among the attendees were David and Margaret Brown from Richmond, VA. They have two boys, ages one and three. Ms. Brown said that the boys are very active, so she and David don’t get a lot of time to spend together. “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to spend some quiet time together. It’s hard for married couples with young children to have a date night because often we don’t have childcare. When we heard the announcement about Date Night, we jumped at the opportunity.”

After the couples were settled in, the lights were dimmed and the movie – No Greater Love – began to play. A lot of the couples said they needed to see this movie, which centered on the separation of a husband and wife, who later reunited after ten years of being apart. The father raised his son alone and had met another young lady. After spending much time with her, he was contemplating on asking her to marry him. But as fate would have it, he sees his wife at a Christian summer camp where his son was attending. That’s when God did something magnificent. He brought the two of them back together towards the end of the movie, but not without some controversy. They were able to work things out and reconcile their differences.

This situation was all too familiar for Betsy and Jarvis Mejias. Their marriage was nearly over. According to Betsy, it was Jarvis’ fault for the break up, and he agreed. But after attending the Matrimonio Para Siempre (Married Forever in Spanish) class led by facilitators Pete and Gladys Torres, their marriage was fully restored, and they are now enjoying their brand new baby girl, Esther!

The focus of the movie centered on reconciliation. God is constantly reconciling us back to him and each other. It’s up to us to recognize the recurring theme of reconciliation in our lives. In closing, Family Ministries Pastor Randal McNeill offered prayer for those who needed to be reconciled back to God. It was a poignant moment when several couples stood together, hand in hand…restoring their commitment back to HIM!

Be on the lookout for our next married couples date night – Jazz on the Lake – later this fall. In the meantime, if you’re married or thinking about it, you may want to consider taking one of our Fall 2010 Marriage or Premarital classes, which begin next week, and for which registration ends this weekend (August 29th). Click here for more info.

Hey! Has God done something amazing in or through your life here at Victory? If so, please Share Your Story here!

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of welcoming Pastor Jeff Hidden from Victory North in Kennesaw to speak in our services. His message was dynamic, encouraging and empowering, and challenged us all to make a switch in the way we think about money from the world’s way of thinking to Kingdom Thinking. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about when I say that he took us through a major paradigm shift from anxiety to hope. If you missed it (or even if you didn’t), and you want to be encouraged and learn how to experience God’s provision, you should listen to or watch this message online today! For now, here are a few of the key things Jeff said to whet your appetite:

Read Matthew 6:31-33

There’s a world’s way of thinking about things – it’s all about going after more things, more money. God says, instead, to think about going after his kingdom first and his righteousness – then all you need will be given taken care of.

We don’t seek God in order to get the things. Rather, we seek his way of doing things, which means we will renew our minds, and begin making new decisions based on God’s kingdom. If we want to live long and prosper in kingdom success, we have to think and operate within the kingdom way of doing things. To the degree we have kingdom thinking we will have God’s kind of Kingdom success. We’ve got to start thinking different.

God wants to give us wisdom in order for us to walk in His provision and success.

If God provides wisdom and the power to obtain wealth and have good success, why do we pray for the money, or the job, or other things?

God provides for us as we grow in the wisdom and power he gives us.

We should be praying for wisdom, not the treasure.

God is not going to cancel our debts; he’s going to give us the wisdom and ability to cancel our own debt. We get into debt by not acting wisely…we get out of debt by acting wisely.

The key to living in God’s provision is listening to Jesus and following His wisdom.

The teachers, staff and support team of Victory Children’s Ministry are an Amazing group of people!! Each week we drop off our child or children to their classes, and we know they’re in good hands. Well, behind the scenes, much more than what we see takes place. That’s where the Blitz Conferences come into play. And we’ve got another one coming up at the end of this month. To give you an idea of what these conferences are like, here’s a look at the last one, held earlier this year:

As we entered the V3 auditorium we were cheerfully greeted and invited to have some breakfast. With a football theme, there were jerseys, helmets, shoulder pads and a referee. Everything we needed to get the game started off right, although no equipment was necessary for the women vs. men football toss. As the hula hoops hung down over the stage the challenge was to throw the football through the hula hoop without hitting or knocking it down. Congratulations to the football toss finalists, Lana Soviravong and Keith Hall.

Pastor Colleen, who could not be present due to a conference in Nicaragua, pre-recorded a message emphasizing the value and importance of the children’s ministry. “These children are our mighty warriors and we must make the connection now. They are the church of the right now.” She also expressed that just as a football player must understand the importance of their position on the field, it’s vital that each member of the children’s ministry understand they too have a valuable role. It’s not just one person that wins the game; rather, it takes a team effort to achieve a victory.

Instant Replay

Family Ministries Pastor Randal McNeill, our referee for the day, enlightened us on how his Sunday School teacher impacted his life, and how we must impact the lives of Victory’s mighty warriors. Referencing Genesis 26, he encouraged each person to keep on digging, regardless of his or her situation or past experiences. When we encounter opposition and strife, keep digging! Our children are depending on us. God wants us to open up new wells for ourselves, as well as our children. So keep digging!

After a brief huddle/review of the schedule, the teams broke for their assigned classes. I briefly observed each class while they were in process. I was so excited for the children that attend these classes weekly. Their teachers were learning how to interact with them in ways that are sure to impact their lives, from the nursery to elementary. Wow!!

Our Children’s Ministry leaders and teachers are incredibly dedicated. They desire to make a difference in our children’s lives. They want to ensure our children are well equipped with the knowledge it will take to have a personal relationship with Christ, our Lord and Savior. It is so important for us parents to make sure our children go to their classes so they can continue to grow in Christ, just as we grow in Christ.

After the class sessions, we all met back in the V3 Auditorium for the drawing for a 37″ flat screen television. Congratulations to the winner Myrtle McIntyre. Other prizes were given out as we played the “how well were you listening” game). After all the excitement calmed down, Pastor Olin Holly opened up the floor for comments. He then closed us out in prayer.

As we were dismissed, all I could think of was Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old he will not depart from it.” (NKJV) Exactly what the scripture states is what Victory’s Children’s Ministry is all about! Teaching the Word of God, making an impact and developing leaders by making the connection now!! ~ Renee J.

If you’ve ever given thought to helping out with Children’s Ministry, this is a great way to get started. In fact, we invite you to join us for our next Blitz Conference titled, Blueprint: Wisdom Builds the House on Saturday, August 28th, 9am-3pm. Click hear to find out more.

As many of you already know, we recently announced our very first satellite campus – Victory @ Hamilton Mill. Our team is extremely excited about this new season for the church and all of the lives that we have the opportunity to be impacted in the Hamilton Mill area.

If you missed the announcement, we’ve dedicated a page on our website to answering your questions and providing some background.

Visit the Victory @ Hamilton Mill page.

Currently we have 1,200 families who attend Victory and live in the Hamilton Mill area and the existing facilities are not equipped to handle that kind of a crowd. This is why Victory @ Hamilton Mill is our current iCare focus.

Below are some of the immediate financial needs:

• Building out of basement to accommodate the elementary aged children, this includes installation of a stairwell and elevator for handicap access
• Remodel of current Newborn – K children’s space. The current space is small and includes outside modular buildings. We will be remodeling to move all Children’s Ministry inside the building and removing the modulars from the property. This will include transforming current office space into children’s ministry rooms so that we have more room to care for our precious kids.
• General upkeep and needed maintenance on the buildings and property. We need to do some painting, repair and general upkeep to the grounds and buildings to keep the property in good condition.
• Installation of new signage around the property to identify it as Victory @ Hamilton Mill and to provide better directional assistance to those visiting the campus for weekend services.

Additionally, we believing that within a year we will have the current debt on the property paid off – about $993K is owed on the existing property which is valued at $2.6M.

God has truly blessed us with these new facilities and our new family at Hamilton Mill. Thank you for always giving generously to iCare and for praying along with us as we launch into this new phase Kingdom growth.

To give to iCare online, click HERE.

There’s a lot of uncertainty in the future, but with God, there’s a real certainty. We really have to learn to trust God completely with every area of our lives, especially our finances. Granted, with everything that’s going on, it’s not the easiest thing to do these days. For most of us, our culture and our circumstances are screaming for us to take matters into our own hands and try to take care of ourselves and our future. In our society, that means getting more stuff. Everywhere we look, we get the message of the world’s materialism.

Yet, Jesus taught us not to let our lives be consumed with getting more stuff or storing up earthly treasures, but rather, to work toward storing up treasure in Heaven. (Read Matthew 6:19-24) This teaching is the very centerpiece of Jesus’ most famous and important teaching, called The Sermon on the Mount.

It’s interesting that right in the middle of teaching about money, Jesus starts talking about our eyes, or in other words, our vision. Some have been confused by this seemingly out of place interjection of an entirely different subject, but the truth is that Jesus never stopped talking about money. You see, vision is such an important part of understanding how to handle your finances. Our entire life is affected by our vision – how we see the future, our treasures, our family, our job, etc.

Many of us, especially when we’re young, tend to get distracted by seeking after more money…then we get off onto the wrong track, not God’s track for our lives, and it brings a lot of hardship and pain. So many people are struggling along the wrong path because they don’t know that God has a path for them – and they stay in the dark for the rest of their lives.

God wants to care for us, to provide for all our needs, to give us everything we need to fulfill the purpose for which he created us. God wants us to get out of the cycle of poverty and debt – and to the place where you don’t have to have the help of others, but are able to help others. We have to get to the place of vision. God never intended for us to pursue money.

So, how do we get from the place of always pursuing money to where money is always there when we need it? We need to understand these three principles of living by a vision from God:

1. The Principle of First – We have to make the shift from earning a living to receiving a living. In God’s economy, if we put him first in everything we do, HE WILL take care of us! That means in EVERY area – in our relationships, in our time and in our finances.
2. The Principle of Goals – The reason a lot of people never succeed in life is because they have no goals. If we have no goals, we’ll surely hit them. Just remember, success is not measured by what we have, but by the goals we achieve.
3. The Principle of Focus – Once we start down the path of giving and getting debt free, it is so important that we stay focused in order to stay on target.

Want to learn more about living by this Vision? Listen to or watch the message I gave this past weekend here.

At Victory, we strive to minister to ALL of your needs because every aspect of your life should reflect the character of Christ. As believers, it is important for us to make sure that we are good stewards over everything God has blessed us with, including our finances, gifts and talents. So, each fall and spring, we offer various classes to equip you with the biblical principles of good stewardship, providing an excellent foundation for you to build upon. Financial Peace University (FPU) is one of the most sought after and successful classes we offer. Here are what two of our FPU graduates have to say:

I decided to enroll in FPU at Victory after I was promoted in 2009. I have always been very money-minded and am often asked to give advice to friends and family about how to handle money. With my promotion, I received a $15,000 salary increase, yet was still BURIED IN DEBT! I always had the idea that it was safer to make purchases with credit cards, yet I was not diligent enough to pay them off. Once the balances got high, I would use them for everyday purchases so I would be able to make the minimum payments. The FPU class gave me the courage to…(continued online at vwcblogs.com) let go of the plastic and put my faith in God regarding our finances. My husband and I also began to tithe faithfully while attending the FPU class. We quickly built our $1,000 emergency fund and hope to finish Baby Step 2 by the end of 2011. Thanks, Victory and FPU, for helping my family down the path to be debt free! ~ Melissa K.

As I attended the FPU course at Victory, I was excited about implementing the steps as outlined in the class. After I created my very first allocated spending plan, I tried my best follow it exactly as outlined. Well, I had to have maintenance done on my vehicle. I had allocated $25.41 for auto maintenance. Since I only needed an oil change, I knew that I would be able to stay in budget. I received a coupon in the mail from my dealer for a $19.99 oil change. So I took my car in and mentioned that I noticed that oil had been leaking when I parked. They said that they would take a look at that issue. Well, when they called me to check out, they told me that the screw in my oil pan was stripped and that they went ahead and replaced it. In my head I started to panic and thought, “How much is this going to cost?!”, “I won’t have enough money to pay the bill!”! When I got to the cashier’s window and told her my name, she said that my total was $25.41. I started to laugh. She asked if I was okay. I told her that I was going through the FPU class and that I had allocated EXACTLY $25.41 for my car maintenance. It was just confirmation that I should have complete trust God and of how much He loves me. ~ Tanya T.

Hey! What’s God been doing in or through your life at Victory? Please share your story here.

Also, more info about this and all our classes is available here.

Of all the subjects to talk about in church that make people get all tightened up inside, money has got to be at the top. But, God has quite a bit to say about it in the Bible. In fact, it’s one of the most frequently mentioned topics. So, for the next few weeks, I want to talk about money, not from the world’s view, but from God’s, that is, from the viewpoint of stewardship.

We live in an incredibly materialistic culture. Our economy is steeped in a cycle of fear, worry, greed, spending, debt, wanting, envy and selfishness…anything but the peace God has offered us. Clearly, something is wrong with the world’s economy that we’ve been operating under. As we read the Bible, we find that God has an economy that’s altogether different from the world’s economy. His economy is based on trust…trust in him and his word…that what he says he will do is what we will do. But learning to trust God completely is one of the biggest challenges we face. It goes against our culture, and it goes against our old sinful nature. God wants to bless us and provide for us, but we’ve got to make a value shift from the materialism of the world’s economy to the faith and trust of God’s.

You’ll know if you’ve made this value shift when:

1. You shift from worry to peace. Although we typically struggle a lot with peace during hard economic times, God never intended for us to worry over finances. The bottom line is that we worry way too much. When we worry, we’re practicing atheism. We need to get to the place where we trust him, believing that He’ll take care of us and our family. We put too much stock in our own human abilities to provide for ourselves rather than trusting God to do it. God wants us to trust him. The Lord is our provider. He will provide for you! God can bring water out of rocks, bread out of heaven, IF we just stop worrying and trust him.
2. You shift from wanting more to contentment. We need to simplify our lives more than we do. We don’t need everything, the latest, the best, etc. We need to stop believing the blaring messages of our culture that tell us what we “have to have” and that we need more, more, more, and we need it yesterday. We must learn to be content, trusting that God will give us good gifts and everything we need.
3. You shift from selfishness to generosity. A person under control of money has no joy in giving. In America today, the biggest givers by percentage are those who make the least. If you read the New Testament carefully, you’ll see that every time Jesus addresses rich people, it’s with a warning or a challenge – not because he disapproved of wealth, but because wealth can be a huge stumbling block to trusting God. It’s not the amount of money you give, but rather, the percentage. It’s all about sacrifice. King David said he would never give anything to God that didn’t cost him something.

Listen to or watch the message on this topic online here.

Enter the main sanctuary of Victory World Church and take a look around. On the walls you will notice four large pictures, each with a statement: Reconciling Cultures, Building Families, Transforming Community and Impacting the World. Those statements are Victory’s pillars and on Saturday, July 10th members of the Victory World Church family brought the pillar of Transforming Community to the Alcovy Springs Subdivision in Lawrenceville.

When most people think about transforming a community they imagine a poor neighborhood in the inner-city or a desolate village in Africa, so I was more than a little surprised as I turned into what appeared to be a very nice, middle-class neighborhood. “This is where we’re serving?” I asked myself as I navigated the sidewalk-lined streets and waved as I passed several teams of people wearing blue tee-shirts proclaiming “This is What Community Looks Like” and bravely battling the 95º+ heat as they cut lawns, painted mailbox posts and trimmed hedges.

As I climbed out of the air-conditioned comfort of my car, and was nearly knocked down from the intense heat, I was convinced that the extreme heat was causing me to hallucinate. I checked my directions and confirmed that I was indeed in the right place so I headed off to find the organizers of the event. I quickly caught up with our V•Groups Pastor and newly-elected Alcovy Springs Homeowner’s Association President, Rich Mace, as well as Missions Pastor Dennis Russell.

As we walked through the neighborhood, Pastor Rich explained that he and Pastor Dennis Russell had wanted to organize a family-friendly outreach that focused on the pillar of Transforming Community. Pastor Rich explained “We often focus on the needs of the poor, but there are many people living in middle-class neighborhoods that are suffering and many do not know the Lord.” It was this revelation that led him to propose the idea of a community outreach to the Alcovy Springs Homeowners Association, and within five weeks, he was given the go ahead.

“The community has responded well” he commented. “They are seeing the blessing and coming out. The idea is to pay it forward. Hopefully they will go out and do this in another neighborhood.” Pastor Dennis Russell further explained, “This is a model. A lot of our outreach focuses on the poor and the homeless. We wanted a way to minister to the middle-class and bring Jesus to them as well.” He continued, “It allows us to connect and build relationships. It is a spiritual connection and brings healing and restoration.” Pastor Dennis Russell added that it will take a few months to see the impact, but the mid-term effect will be in how well the homeowners maintain their homes and community.

Karri Street, an Alcovy Springs resident came out with her children, Victoria 11 and Kyle 9, to participate. “I think this is a great idea. It’s nice to have a lot of people chipping in. Every neighborhood needs this. I hope this fosters community spirit.”

Peter Dawkins, a Victory World Church member for almost 4 years, brought his small group out to help. His wife, Lorna, shared how a homeowner had approached her team with tears in his eyes and stated that this outreach was “huge” and should be taken world-wide. Like Carol Holcomb, many volunteers were moved by the reaction of the homeowners as they realized the impact their effort was having.

After all the hard work, volunteers and community joined together for a cook-out complete with music and games. While cooling down and enjoying the food and festivities, Victory World Church members Carrie and Robert Raboud explained their reason for volunteering. “We have been asking the Lord for ways we could serve” said Carrie “and the Lord has been giving us opportunities.” While unsuccessful in getting daughter Izabella to participate in the Hokey-Pokey, they both agreed the experience had been great.

Finally, in response, neighborhood resident Mike Vincent wrote the following:

Thank you for your parish’s time and service. The day of service/volunteer work you provided our subdivision was amazing. Since the birth of my first child, I haven’t been able to do all the things I would like to maintain my home. I am still trying to find a good work/life balance with the new one.

Your help a couple of weeks ago served as a reinforcement that good people do exist and that teamwork always win. I hope this act of kindness brings our neighborhood together like I know it will.

Once again thank you for the time and generosity. We hope as a community we will be able to return the favor.

Well done, Victory! This is another great example of your commitment to being the hands and feet of Jesus to everyone around us and around the world!  (by Karla E. – VWC Press)

Hey! What’s God been doing in or through your life at Victory? Please share your story here.

In this final message of  our Parables Series, my wife, Colleen, brought a powerful and stirring message about preparedness taken from Jesus’ parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25. In this parable we meet five wise and five foolish virgins, all with lamps filled with oil awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom. Unfortunately for the foolish, who didn’t bring extra oil for their lamps, the bridegroom’s arrival is delayed. As the evening progresses into night, the five wise virgins continue to await the arrival of the bridegroom with eager anticipation while the foolish fall asleep. Inevitably, the bridegroom arrives and all ten rise to trim their lamps and prepare to light his way, but only five have enough oil. As the foolish head off to purchase more oil, the wise accompany the bridegroom into the wedding feast. When the foolish arrive back to the feast, they are not let in and the bridegroom responds to their pleas with, “…I don’t know you.” What a tragic ending for the foolish virgins, if only they’d prepared themselves.

What about you and I? Are we ready for the midnight call? On the day that the Lord arrives, will we find ourselves prepared and accompanying Him into the wedding feast, or pleading with Him to let us in even though our lamps were without oil? 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 shines a light on where many believers are in this hour, “You know very well that then the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people say, “Everything is safe and sound!” destruction will suddenly strike them. It will be as sudden as labor pains come to a pregnant woman. They won’t be able to escape.” Many today are living in a false state of security, comfortable with ‘grace’, relying on someone else’s faith to ‘get them by’, and generally believing that the gates of heaven are wide enough to let everyone in – forgetting that Jesus warned that the way is narrow and few will enter through it.

Are you prepared for the Lord’s return? Is your life one of faithful, pure devotion or are you relying on someone else’s faith and just hoping it’s enough to ‘get you by’? We have to evaluate our lives and our relationships with Jesus, asking ourselves the hard question – are we more like the foolish or are we more like the wise? The wise were prepared for the darkness, kept enough oil to last in the event of the bridegroom’s delay and refused to get complacent and sleep because the recognized that His arrival was imminent and didn’t want to be caught off guard.

I encourage you, if you’ve not listened to this message, do so now. You can’t afford not to.

To view on video click HERE.

To listen only, click HERE.

iCare July 2010 from Victory Videos on Vimeo.

Did You Know:

• The fastest growing group of homeless people is children under 9 years of age?
• The majority of homeless families with children are headed by single-mothers who are homeless due to below poverty earning levels or are fleeing domestic violence?
• Experiences of homelessness and poverty are often legacies that repeat generation to generation?
• With respect to child homelessness, Georgia ranks 49th of 50 states in overall solutions and long-term planning?

The needs of homeless families with children are increasing. The need to address them has increased as well. So, throughout the month of July, the focus of our iCare giving campaign was on two transitional housing ministries, right here in Gwinnett County, who are doing just that: the Quinn House and Rainbow Village.

Located in downtown Lawrenceville, GA for the past 25 years, The Quinn House is a multi-task, non-profit Outreach Operation that assists hundreds of people in Gwinnett County and in other areas of the State, through their Residential Program, 40-day Drug and Alcohol Program, licensed Food Bank, Senior Food Box Program, Family Holiday meals, thrift stores and more!

Rainbow Village, a transitional housing program for homeless families with children in north metro Atlanta, has a proven program of success that allows those families an opportunity to break the cycles of homelessness, poverty and domestic violence. The program provides self-sufficiency planning and case management, workforce development, life skills training, financial counseling, an after school program, evening classes for children and youth, and access to other tools and resources necessary for rebuilding their lives.

Thank you, Victory, for your generosity in giving!