Ryan Hairston Recovery Updates
Ryan, our youth minister, was severely injured in an auto accident. To keep everyone informed on the latest news of his healing process we are posting updates to the website.MORE

Men’s CLC Groups
If you want to be in a men’s CLC group, there are still a few openings. Currently, we have three CLC groups with 33 men involved. We would like to start three more groups of 10-12 men each. CLC stands for Christian Leadership Concepts and is designed to challenge men to be leaders at home, in the church, and in the community. Sign up at the Life Group Table.MORE

Discover Preston Trail Class
New to PTCC? Join Pastors Jim and Paul on Sundays at 11:00 AM as we take a look at our church and where it is going. This is an opportunity for all guests who are new to PTCC to learn more. Session will meet at the AMC Theatre. Please signup at the Life Group table. A 5 week Partnership Class will follow for all those interested in becoming a PTCC partner.MORE

Crown Ministries Class
Want to get your financial house in order? Join Pastor Paul Basden, as he teaches through a 10 week class on biblical finances. The class will start on January 30th. Sign up at the Life Group Table.MORE

Calling All Men Softball Players!
Sign up in the lobby to join this year's team. Games are played Monday evenings starting 3/06 through 5/8. $30 registration fee. Contact Andy Tuggey for more details at jtuggey@comcast.net.

Life Groups
Now’s the time! In January, many of our Life Groups will be starting new studies. Stop by the Life Group table today and find a group that works for you.MORE

Sermon Series:
Invite a friend and join us for an exciting new sermon series! Re:solutions … Senior Pastors Jim Johnson and Paul Basden will take us on a journey to letting God answer our deepest needs.

Chapter 2
Join us WEEKLY on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM, for a deeper service of biblical teaching, looking into the Life of Jesus. Led by our senior pastors, this will be a meaningful time of prayer, worship and teaching. 7:00 PM AMC Theatre.

STIKZ! Calling all K-5 kids!
Join the Curbside gang on Monday, February 13th from 10:30 - 12:30 (It's President's Day and kids are off of school) for a fun 2 hours of bowling. Cost is only $5.00. Parents, sign your kids up at the Information Table today...and have them invite a friend too!

Miracle Territory!

Miracle Territory—ever heard of it?  It’s a real place, closer than you think, but you can’t find it on Google Earth. Well, how do you get there, you ask?  Simple really.  You just attempt something great for God which is beyond your human capacity and ability—and there you are!

Right now PTCC is in Miracle Territory.  When we began the process of looking for land or an interim building over one year ago, our prayer was that we would attempt something so challenging that when we were done we could look back and say, “Except for the help of God we never could have done it.”  Here’s some good news—God answered our prayers!

First, He has given us an incredible opportunity to purchase the PC Dynamics Building to use as our base of operations to reach out to thousands in this north Texas area.  Let me give you a little comparison that will help you see what an incredible gift we have been given.  5GStudio, our architect, is on the cutting edge of church design.  They recently have been working on a turn-key design for start-up churches like ours.  Their plan includes a 500 seat worship center and all the attendant children, youth, education and admin space.  The total square footage is around 33,000 and the cost, without land, will be in the $5 million range.

PC Dynamics is 45,000sq/ft and will allow us to develop a 600 seat worship center and all the attendant space we need . . . and our total cost after completion will be just $3.2 million, including 4.5 acres of prime real estate.  If we had to purchase land and then build that kind of building we would be in the theater a minimum of four more years.    

Second, He worked in our hearts to pledge over $1.6 million to Dream Big for this effort.  That is over twice our annual budget and represents an incredible expression of commitment and generosity on the part of everyone associated with Preston Trail.  Without your pledges and gifts we could not possibly move ahead.

Now, that brings us to the “Miracle Territory” part.  Over the next six months as we close on the building and then begin to remodel, there will be payments that will come due.  Because our pledges and commitments have been made over a three year period, we obviously don’t have all our cash on hand.  Our financial models (designed by our Stewardship Team) show that we will be short on two occasions.  While we are doing our best to cut expenses and manage the process as closely as we can, there are a couple of gaps that we will face.  From our human perspective, we cannot at the moment see where that money is going to come from.  But, we believe that God will graciously provide through his people in some form or fashion.

Here are our two challenges:

1)  We are supposed to close on the property Monday, and right now we are $50,000 short in terms of cash on hand.  We will need to find a way to come up with that amount by Monday at noon. 

2)  In July, to finish out our remodeling we will experience another shortfall.  Now, we won’t authorize the construction if we don’t have the money in hand, but it would mean that we will not be able to open the building in the kind of condition that we believe essential for our ministry. 

Knowing most of you as I do, I know you are already asking, “What can I do?”  Well, here are three possibilities:

1)  Pray—prayer at PTCC is our first resort not our last!  Ask God to work in the hearts of people anywhere and everywhere to help provide the resources we need.

2)  Advance your pledge—some of you might be able to give a portion of your commitment a littler sooner than you had planned.  If enough of us are able to do that, then both of these gaps will go away very quickly!  On hearing of this need Wednesday night at Chapter Two, two families stepped up without hesitation and said they would be glad to do just this.  How about you?  If you are able, would you be willing to join them and help us eliminate these gaps this Sunday? 

3)  Make a commitment to Dream Big if you haven’t already—we have had a remarkable period of growth over the last couple of months.  Some of you weren’t even here when we completed our Dream Big emphasis.  But, now you are caught up in the Spirit at Preston Trail and you also want the privilege of getting in on the ground floor of doing something great for God.  You can pick up a commitment card at the info table and give an offering to Dream Big this Sunday. 

As I write these notes to you, I am sitting in my office at home helping to coordinate all the final details of our closing on Monday.  It’s a pretty humble little office, no desk, and the cushion in my chair has really broken down.  But WOW!—what a vantage point from which to see God’s faithful hand at work!  Thanks for being a part of it . . . and thanks for walking with us in Miracle Territory!

Privileged to serve,

Jim  

Read previous Trail Notes here

Click here for more information on Dream Big!