Ever had a day like this?

Have you ever had a day like this? I have. We all do sometimes. When we do, we just have to remember that our "cheese" - God's Word - can work miracles. We will overcome!
(no animal was harmed in the making of this video)



Happy Belated Birthday to Jacob!

Unfortunately the winter flu bug has hit our family and I haven't been blogging as much lately. Really, the past couple of months I haven't been blogging hardly at all (that has got to stop) but that is beside the point. Anyway, I realized today that in all of the sickness blahs I forgot to mention Jacob's birthday! It was last Saturday.

So! Here goes...

 

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, energetic, awesome, cute, lovable, youngest son, Jacob. I love you with all of my heart.

 

Dad



The Tinkel Winter Newsletter is Here!

My beautiful wife is at it again! Here is our winter newsletter! Thank you ahead of time for all of your prayers.

 

 

Isaiah 58:8-12

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail. ¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 

Greetings in Jesus,

I was praying and doing Bible study when I came across the above verse in Isaiah. As I read it I thought how appropriate it was in regards to what we do here at Good News Mission. My favorite part of the above verses is the last part of verse 12 “…..you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” God has and is enabling us to help repair the broken walls of people’s lives and to restore the streets with Dwellings. Most people are uncomfortable with the ministry that God has given us. They have formed preconceived judgments because of the stereotypes of “the projects.” We have been told bluntly that “We don’t want those dirty nasty people in our church…” What people forget is that to God the “project” people are near and dear to His heart. He loves them so much and came to die for them just like He did for me. All they see is the outside or where they live…they don’t see the hearts of these people and how they are trying to learn to listen to His voice when He speaks…to help their neighbors when they can so that they can be like Jesus. In August we were trying to save money to go to our Mission’s (BCM Intl.) annual conference…the battery went dead in our van, we had a bad tire and money was very tight. God provided for each of these “inconveniences” through people that we least expected. In one case one of our ladies asked us to come down to her house. She handed Tim something and told Tim not to look at it until he got home. She told us we were to use it toward our trip to conference. When Tim got home he opened his hand and there was a $100 bill! This was a HUGE sacrifice to her because she lives on a very limited budget. I told Tim that she couldn’t afford to give us that much money….that was her grocery money. She knew that God would provide for her…she told us she had to be obedient to what God told her to do. Tim and I cried tears of thankfulness for the obedience of this special lady. She knew her God and knew that He would bless and take care of her….and He did.

In September change came to our extended family. My sister was diagnosed with a non-cancerous brain tumor that required surgery as soon as possible. God was so good and faithful during this time. She was on numerous prayer lists and because of all the prayers God did such miraculous works. She was told her surgery would take around 6 hours…it took only 3 ½ hours. She was told she would be in ICU for 72 hours…24 hours later she was in a regular room. They told her she would be in the hospital for 7-10 days…4 days later she was home recovering. I spent a large part of my time with her and my mom helping take care of her. Also in September God really convicted Tim and I on getting an active board for the Good News Mission going again. We had grown lax in not being accountable to anyone. So we prayed and asked God to give us a list of names to pray over. Our prayer was that God would raise up a board after His own heart. We wanted to be blameless before God and others. At this time the Good News Mission’s finances were zilch. Giving had gone down to the point that we wondering if maybe God had other plans. We were willing to start meeting in our house if we had to but we felt that we had to take a step back and evaluate exactly what He had in mind. The first step

was to get a board and then we felt that things would fall into place. Because of our obedience God handpicked the men and women He wanted on this board. Now the Mission is able to meet its monthly bills and God is opening doors…and closing some as well. All I know is that God is continuing to bless Good News Mission…all because of us willing to be obedient.

November….Every year for the past 10 years the Mission would do a big meal for the community between Thanksgiving and Christmas and we called it our holiday meal. This year we teamed up with another mission organization and did a huge community Thanksgiving meal in which we served over 800 individuals!! Area churches and organizations came together and provided for different parts of the meal and we were able to help many who were in need. It was precious to see the body of Christ come together and minister to our community. God is so good and faithful!! To see a short video of this you can go to Youtube.com and type in Good Samaritan/Good News Mission community thanksgiving meal Livingston, TN. To see the Good News Mission video that Tim and I made go to youtube.com and type in Good News Mission Livingston, TN.  You will be blessed.

In December Tim and I were able to love on our ladies by cooking a nice meal for them and giving them gifts. Two of our board members wives were able to come and be with us and the ladies got to meet and know them a little better. It was a good time of fellowship with new faces in attendance. We were also able to spend time with extended family and minister to others.

Coming next is Tim and I planning and praying over our summer ministries. Right now we are praying about having two day camps here at Good News Mission, a VBS at our church, and a possible mission’s trip to Canada to work at one of BCM’s camps for a week (maybe two). Please be in prayer with us that God would lead and guide us as we pray and plan over these different ministering opportunities. Our hearts are so blessed at what God is doing in our lives…His provision (in all areas of our lives)…how He is teaching and training us to be what He needs us to be FOR Him so that He can be glorified in all we do.

Thank you for being a part of the blessings in our ministries!! There are times we get discouraged and we question God’s calling on our lives and He always…..ALWAYS uses one of you to be His voice, hands and feet to reveal His heart to us… to let us know that we are doing what HE wants us to do. Please pray for us because there are times it is hard being a missionary (or being in the ministry). All we want is to do His will and be a part of whatever it is that He is doing!! Thank you for believing and being a part of His ministry!! We are blessed!!

Blessings in Christ,

 

Tim & Sarah Tinkel                                                           BCM Intl.

829 Hi Tech Drive                                                              201 Granite Run Drive Suite #260

Livingston, TN  38570                                                      Lancaster, PA  17601

(931) 823-9320                                                                   1-888-226-4685

(931) 319-2551 (Tim)                                                       bcmintl.org

(931) 319-3113 (Sarah)                                                   our account #0642

Tink38570@yahoo.com (Tim)

set1993@gmail.com (Sarah)

 

When giving toward our support make checks payable to BCM Intl. and send to the above address. On a separate sheet of paper put our name and account number. Thank you!!

 

 

Prayer Request:

1.)    Sarah’s health...I have a lot of health issues right now and now that we have insurance I am getting the works done to figure out what is going on with me.

2.)    Our children’s spiritual growth that God would use them for His glory and purpose

3.)    Our support…we have had a church that after 14 years to drop us…this was a major contributor to our monthly support…pray for increase

4.)    Our different ministries…to expand our territories and areas of ministry

5.)    Our faithful supporters that God would continue to bless and favor each one

 

Praise Reports:

 

1.)    Tim and I now have health insurance

2.)    Our church and the growth that our family is experiencing right now

3.)    God’s provision for our daily and monthly needs

4.)    Good News Mission and what it means to the community

5.)    Faithful supporters that give sacrificially

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn About Compassion and Change the Story

Most of you know that our family is a big fan of Compassion International. We have supported our dear Marcelo from Bolivia for nearly four years now. It's been a little while since I have blogged about Compassion International however, today I noticed that Compassion had put out a brand new video about their new Change the Story tour that is now going on and coming to a city near you. The Change the Story tour brings poverty to you so that you can experience what living in a third world country as a child is like. Watch the video, check out the website by clicking here, find a place near you where the tour is coming, then visit and Change the Story!



Gun Control - My View

 

This was a response that I wrote to a friend on Facebook when we were discussing gun control. I thought I would repost it on my blog with only a few slight changes.

I've given gun laws a little thought. At first I thought, “Well, what's wrong with banning these assault rifles or other automatic guns that fire multiple rounds in seconds? After all, they aren't used for hunting or anything like that." Then I thought about another controversial ruling from 40 years ago or so - Abortion.

At first abortions were made legal to "keep them out of the back alley" or to be used as the last resort and for the safety of women. Most advocates didn’t intend for them to be used for birth control or because the pregnancy just wasn’t convenient. Today, in some places, abortions can happen almost up until birth. For that matter, look at partial birth abortions.  All that is left in the  mother's womb is the head. The rest is out of the womb before the baby is “aborted”. Today some doctors will determine the sex of the baby and, if the parent doesn’t like the sex, abort the baby! There are even some “doctors” in other countries that advocate for “aborting” babies that are BORN with severe birth defects. After all, let’s put them out of their misery! What’s going to be next? “Aborting” children that mental challenges, like Downs babies or maybe even kids with autism like mine?  I’m not saying that all who agree that abortion should be legal agree with all of that, but, like it or not, that’s what abortion has become.

That’s what I feel will happen with guns. First it will be the assault rifles and such, then, after time, it will start to trickle down to hand guns, rifles and shotguns. In fact, that is exactly what some folks are hoping will happen. I know, some folks reading this are rolling their eyes and thinking how dumb I am, but am I really? Could that really happen? In 20, 30, 40 years down the road could it truly just be the criminals that have guns?

Positive Thinking!

 

 

The thought occurred to me that some of you might be wondering what all of these positive posts that I've been posting are all about and what Sarah and I are doing. Let me reassure any of you who may have any questions that we are still, without a doubt, full time BCM International missionaries and we still are the directors of our ministry here in Livingston to the low income folks. We love our ministry and the people we minister to and have no plans of doing anything different.

A few months ago, however, a very part-time opportunity basically fell into our laps for us to save money and earn money. Like most missionaries, we are very under supported so saving money and earning some extra money on a part time basis sounded like it was a God send (and it really was!).

Through learning about this great company and how it works, I realized how many negative thoughts and ideas that Satan (and myself) had poured into my mind over the past years (decades). I realized what a negative person I had become. God has no use for negativity. He has such great plans for us. Remember what Jeremiah 29:11 says:

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God has great plans for us. He has great plans for Sarah and I and our family. He has great plans for you. He has wondrous plans for us. I think that part of the reason that we never see all of the fantastic things that He has for us is because of belief. We don’t believe that God could ever do great things with us and we don’t believe in ourselves.

I am through with being negative. I have had enough of negative thoughts. That’s why you are seeing a lot of positive posts on my timeline lately. I am allowing God to change those negative thoughts and allowing Him to work in my life. He is bringing some of the “dead” areas back to life again. This year is going to be a positive year.

Many folks are asking God to give them a word for the year that He wants them to live out. I asked God to give me a word and He actually gave me two words – expanse and immense. I don’t know what that totally means, but I think God is getting ready to immensely expand my territory. It is going to be a great 2013!

 

Goals2Go - My New Year's Resolution

 

 

I have never thought much about motivational speakers, programs, books, etc. because my mindset was that I only needed God and the Bible. Really, that is all that we need. However, I've been realizing that a lot of my struggles in life and ministry have to do with plain old me and that I needed to work on myself more. So, I prayerfully began to search for books, tapes, programs, etc. that would work on my problems and what is keeping me back from reaching my goals. I promised, though, that if anything that I found was not compatible with God’s Word then it wasn’t going to be used and I feel like I’m spiritually grounded enough to follow through on that promise.

 

I found a program called Goals2Go - http://www.goals2go.com/home/ and absolutely love it! It has really been eye opening. I somehow signed up for the free basic version which I can’t seem to find on the link that I am providing, but even the basic version has been fantastic. I have had tears in my eyes many times thinking about all that God wants me to be and wants for my life and how I can still accomplish and achieve those things. I really encourage you all to look into it.

 

This program, along with a lot of prayer, Bible reading and soul searching has really started to make a difference. You all really need to look into it. Remember what Jeremiah 29:11 says - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. God doesn’t want us to live in the doldrums all of our lives. If we keep our eyes on Him, we can live a happy, prosperous life.