Do you need help?

Horizons Community Church “Help Resources”

As a church we are seeing an unprecedented level of pain and hurt within individuals and families lives. We are committed to being a church that demonstrates Christ’s love and compassion to all. Wherever you’re at, whatever you’re facing, we want to be here for you as much as we can.

If you do not see something below that fits for exact needs, please let us know what you’re facing. If we can’t find a solution here at the church, we would be happy to listen and happy to help get you pointed in the right direction where someone may be able to help.

The bottom line is that we want you to know that you’re not in this alone!

Need help with Thanksgiving and or Christmas – If you and your family have been impacted by the economy and or job loss and could use a hand this Holiday Season with food and or presents for the kids, please let us know. We can help possibly in a number of ways; 1.) Put you in contact with the North Anoka County Emergency Food Shelf (763-434-7685) or 2.) Connect you with an individual, family, or small group here at Horizons that want to help you and your family. For information on this piece, please call Todd LaVine at 763.413.7210 x113. Please know that we will keep you anonymous through this process.

Marriage Mentors – By the time most marriages reach out for help, it’s too late. Don’t you want to do something about it before it is too late? Marriage Mentors are couples who care and want to see your marriage succeed and flourish! They will come along side of you, love on you, hold you accountable, and help to steer your marriage in a healthy direction. For more information, please call Todd LaVine at 763.413.7210 x113.

One on One Mentoring – Could you use someone to come along side of you in an effort to bring consistency, accountability and growth back into your life? Are you tired of the habitual struggles you face and you see the need of having a Godly Christian man or woman partner with you? If you see value in “One on One Mentoring” this is for you. For more information, please call Todd LaVine at 763.413.7210 x113.

I’m Hurting and Can’t Seem to Get Better – This course will help you to find Jesus when you need him most, learn how to become free of your brokenness, and find the joy the Bible talks about. This course begins Tuesday, December 1 at 7:00PM in the Wiggle Room. Class size limited to eight. For more information and to reserve your spot, please call Cheryl Knoll at 320.905.9322.

Impacted by Addiction – Are you looking for a group that will help you deal with a spouse, parent, or sibling who has an addiction? If so, this group may be for you. It will help you deal with these problems and give you support as you deal with the issues that arise. This support group is Christian based with a Christ Centered focus. Anyone 18 and older is welcome. Starts Thursday, October 29 and will meet weekly every Thursday night here at Horizons in the “Wiggle Room” from 7:00pm – 8:30pm. For questions, please call Deb Settambrino at 763.898.0317.

Small Groups - Practically speaking, there will never be a way for the staff or leadership of Horizons to personally minister to everyone who attends our church. That’s why we place such a high premium on small group life. Small groups are made up of four to six couples or five to eight individuals and are the place where people are personally encouraged and challenged in their relationship with God and each other. For more information, please call Todd LaVine at 763.413.7210 x113.

Thinking about Christianity or maybe you just became a Christian? We have two options for you; 1.)  First Steps takes a mentor that is equipped to teach a person in a one-on-one relationship using a First Steps Discipleship Workbook, which is written in a ten-lesson format dealing with the topics of assurance, priorities, overcoming temptation and sin, and the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, fellowship, evangelism and discipleship. This workbook is easy to use, and in just one hour per week, a mentor can teach another in 10-12 weeks the basics of Christianity. 2.) Starting Point is a conversational small group environment where people can explore faith and experience community over a period of time. It’s perfect for those who are curious about God, Jesus, the Bible, or Christianity, those who have just begun a relationship with Jesus Christ or those who have some church experience, but have been away for a while. For more information, please call Todd LaVine at 763.413.7210 x113.

Crown Financial – Are you struggling financially? In today’s day and age this is fast becoming one of the greatest issues facing people in our community. Crown Financial is a Biblically based ministry that teaches us about what God’s Word has to say about our finances and how we should be managing our finances. Not only does it teach the Biblical side of things, it also teaches us practically about things like developing and living within a budget, how to develop a debt reduction plan, how to start saving, how to invest wisely, and much more. For more information, please call Todd LaVine at 763.413.7210 x113.

Are you in a “911” counseling situation? – There are some things that you may be going through that are just beyond what we can help with. At this time we do not have any trained psychologists on staff, so when situations present themselves that are beyond us helping, we refer people to one of several Christian Counseling Services:

• Agape Christian Counseling – Andover – 763-862-2211
  
  
• Family Innovations – Anoka – 763-421-4632
  
  
• Hope Counseling – Wyoming – 651-462-6644
  
  
• Nystrom and Associates – New Brighton and Elk River/Otsego - 651-628-9566
  
  

Healing and Recovery

One thing that has become apparent to me is the alarmingly high rate of pain and hurt people are experiencing in today’s day and age. I have seen and observed first hand an amazing increase with individuals and families that are in what I would call a “911” situation. Marriages on the brink of divorce are by far the “911” type of situation that I deal with most.

My theory to this acceleration over the last two years is this. If I were to rate people on an emotional richter scale of one to ten, one being the lowest/best and ten being the highest/worst, people have been operating and living their lives in the seven or eight range for many years. They have been coasting along with a mediocre, ho hum life and just dealing with it as it comes. On top of that, you throw into the equation what’s gone on in our world over the last few years; the bottom falling out of our economy, the massive job loss, terrorism, continued global concerns, etc. I believe what we’re seeing now are those emotional richter scales blowing through the ten lid and kissing even higher numbers that are probably in the twelve to fifteen range.

The outcome of all this is people losing all sense of reality and making decisions not really directed by God, but being directed by their emotions and feelings. They think it’s God, but in all reality, it’s really not. The bottom line outcome is that people are checking out on their personal responsibility and making the easiest and most convenient decisions for themselves, at that moment in time. The decisions for married people, in most cases are involving divorce. The fracturing of the marriage and family is deemed the easiest and quickest short term solution without regard to the negative and traumatic wake they will cause in the long term.

I could go on and on about this subject, but for the most part once a person has made up their mind, it’s made up. Short of God directly intervening, the person driving the divorce is going to go through with it and all the lives involved are going to be negatively impacted forever.

Now please do not hear me saying that people should stay married when there is some type of abuse, i.e. physical, emotional, verbal, etc. This is a separate and different subject in itself. The entire purpose of this particular post is to highlight the great disaster of destroyed marriages and families and what the church can do to hopefully curb what’s happening.

Over my next few blog entries I plan to share the heart of where I believe God is taking Horizons Community Church as it pertains to helping the hurting. How can we head off people getting to this point? How can we provide resources that people can easily access that will help them to start taking their emotional richter scales in a positive direction?
On top of this, this is only one topic. The church needs to be able to address ALL the hurting and broken people. People who suffer from divorce, domestic violence, abuse, depression, addictions, clinical disorders, loss of a loved one and the list could go on and on.

Our goal is going to be to establish the church as the source for healing. To steer people to the only, and the ultimate source of healing, that which is Jesus Christ. To create a place where people can find one on one or couple on couple Pastoral care, where people can find support and recovery or where people can find Christ Centered professional counseling. That’s what I want to share over the coming blog entries.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing with you over the coming days and weeks!

Todd

My First Blog Post

My first ever blog post! At first look I thought to myself, who could ever possibly care about what I think. I mean, who am I? Do I really have anything valuable to say? I’m not a celebrity, I’m not famous, outside of a small circle of friends, my church home and my workplace at Horizons, I don’t really know many other people.

As I set up Jimmy, Lisa and Liz to start blogging I kept thinking to myself, “Maybe I should do a blog. No I thought to myself. Who would ever want to hear my thoughts? But the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t escape it.” So here I go, starting my first blog. Maybe God has a plan for it. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind. Maybe the Holy Spirit is going to use the thoughts I put out in this blog to touch or impact someone’s life. With technology being the way it is in this day and age, who knows, you never know who might run across this blog and be touched by it in some way, shape or form!

So here goes:

I’m thinking this blog thing is going to be pretty random in what is communicated. I see things like:

• What am I observing within the Body of Christ as an Executive Pastor?
• Where do I see the Lord taking us as a church?
• What am I learning in scripture and prayer?
• What things am reading and studying to better understand culture?
• What do I see as stumbling blocks that are keeping the Lord’s power from manifesting in our presence?
• What convictions is the Lord revealing to me on a daily basis?

These are just a few of the things that I can see myself posting about on this blog. My greatest prayer in all of this is that the Lord would use this investment of time to lead people to him and to bring glory and honor to His name!!