Next Partnership Class!
Are you leading a Serving Team or Life Group and still need to wrap up your partnership materials? Or are you looking for an opportunity to become a partner of PTCC? Well, now is the time! Join our senior leadership team as we provide an overview of our core values and information on becoming a full fledged member or "partner" at PTCC.

Saturday, July 29th 9AM – 12 PM
Moss Home - 6060 Pintail Lane Frisco, TX

Sign-up and directions are available at the Information Table. For additional information, please send an email to info@prestontrail.org.

Women’s Ministry Expansion
As many of you have already heard, our women’s ministry is expanding.
Visit our website to find out more. Click on Preston Trail Family, then women’s. Also, we need your gifts and feedback on our future! Please stop by the information center and pick up or hand in your pink feedback card. For more information please send us an email at info@prestontrail.org. MORE

CLASSIFIED: Get on board!!!
Are you looking to make a difference at PTCC? Enclosed in this week's program is a Classified Ad which highlights some of the best serving opportunities at PTCC. Use the gifts God has given you while developing new friendships by simply signing up for a team on the back of your welcome card or by sending an email to info@prestontrail.org. MORE

Online Giving
Make your life simpler by automating your giving. Follow the easy directions at www.prestontrail.org to setup for debit or credit card for regular giving and dream big donations. All transactions are secure and will appear on your regular statement.

Lasting Impressions

Earlier this summer my wife, children and I spent some time in California before relocating to Frisco. Part of our trip included visiting the great Yosemite National Park. I love the outdoors, particularly the mountains. I could spend weeks in the wilderness with a backpack and basic supplies and be quite content. I was privileged to see what artist Ansel Adams has so beautifully portrayed in his photographs - breathtaking waterfalls, snow-capped mountains, giant Sequoia redwood trees, and a valley of meadows and streams surrounded by rugged granite peaks that was sculpted by the Master Artist years ago. Lasting impressions are made when I visit a place like Yosemite, particularly when I can explore the backcountry and see the grandeur that most tourists never see.

My kids, on the other hand, enjoyed the few days we spent at Disneyland even more. They were delighted to be photographed with Mickey & friends, thrilled to ride Thunder Mountain and other fun rides, enchanted by Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams, spellbound by all the wonder of Fantasyland, and happy to take turns riding on my shoulders EVERYWHERE we went. I sheepishly admit that I did enjoy outscoring my fellow Galactic Space Rangers on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride (so I’m a little competitive).

Disneyland is self-proclaimed as “the happiest place on earth”, where you can “let your imagination run free in a magic kingdom where life is a fairy tale and dreams really do come true.” It’s every bit as clean and professionally attended as I had heard it was, and every employee treats you as though you were the only one there. And although my family had a fantastic time, my kid’s lasting impression is not quite so “magical”. You see, while standing in line for the Casey Jr. Circus Train one evening we witnessed quite an unusual and unexpected event. A gentleman accidentally tripped over a young boy belonging to another family while moving in line. The father of the little boy reacted quite harshly to the unsuspecting gentleman who was both embarrassed and apologetic. A few words were exchanged and tensions soared rapidly. The unsuspecting gentleman’s wife removed him from the line and sat down with him at a nearby table, wisely distancing both of themselves from the over-reacting and angry father of the child.

Unfortunately it didn’t stop there. Even with many witnesses to the fact that it was completely accidental, the father of the boy wouldn’t let it die. He jumped out of the line and went after the man who was trying to recover from the tense moment. Fists started flying and people were yelling for security. I must admit that my first reaction was to go airborne over the rows of people between myself and the boxing match and take the jerk guy out who was out of control. Instead, I chose to block the view from four young sets of eyes who wanted to see the fight for themselves. As you can imagine, “the happiest place on earth” didn’t seem very happy for the rest of that evening. That moment made an impression on my children that I’m certain Disney would prefer not to have been conveyed.

Impressions are easily made and not easily forgotten. We have all experienced, if not made, good impressions and not-so-good impressions. While Disneyland is still a great place to visit, the impression it intends to leave you is of a place where “your imagination can run free” and where “life is a fairy tale”. At the end of the day the millions of people who annually visit Disneyland return home to find that marital conflict, shattered dreams, painful circumstances and uncertain futures still exist. The fairy tale is nice while it lasts, but it doesn’t last very long!

Imagine a place where people can go to find significant meaning for their lives. Imagine a place where cultivated friendships go deeper than surface-level. Imagine a place where people are accepted for who they are, not for what they can or cannot do (or have or have not done). Imagine a place where all people who are on the rollercoaster of life experience authentic community – where they are greeted by someone who really cares about them, where their child is nurtured and shown the love of Jesus, where their teenager is valued by much more than appearances, where they can experience Amazing Love in large and small group settings! Imagine a church where this is not just a “show” but rather “reality” (and the entry is free rather than an arm and a leg).

PTCC is such a place. PTCC is a church where people are participants rather than only spectators. PTCC is a church where families and individuals can come and be “wowed” not by her glamour but by her authenticity. But, she’s only as good as when her people express their God-given gifts. According to Ephesians 4:11-16, every one of us has been gifted and called to “serve so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

This Sunday and in the days ahead every person who regularly attends PTCC will have the amazing privilege and opportunity to begin serving by using their gifts to build up the body of Christ. Perhaps it’s in Guest Services, Worship Arts, Preschool or Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry, Women’s Ministry, Marketing, or areas yet to be discovered. You will see all of the opportunities that exist beginning this Sunday in worship and online thereafter. Then you can respond by either filling out the back of a “welcome card” or emailing info@prestontrail.org. When you find a place to serve at PTCC, it fulfills the purpose of helping people find and follow Jesus Christ. Sounds like an enchanting place to me!

Anticipatory,

JD Tomlin
Director of Connections

Read previous Trail Notes here

Click here for more information on Dream Big!

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.

LISTEN! Preston Trail Podcast
Sermons now available online! In keeping up with the times, all PTCC Worship Sermons are available for downloading on our website. So, if you missed a service, go here and take a listen.
You will have the option of downloading and listening to them on your computer or even subscribe here to have them come to your computer automatically each time one is added - then play them on your computer or your iPod. CDs will no longer be sold at our Resource Table, however entire sermon series will be available for purchase once our new building is complete.