NTTD Community Newsletter
February Newsletter
INSIDE THIS EDITION
Past Newsletters:
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August 2022
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November 2022
Who Will You Sponsor?
Be in prayerful consideration of those who could benefit and be blessed by our North Texas Tres Dias weekend. As you are spending time with your family, friends, and church family, who is God putting on your heart to sponsor? If someone you have asked has previously declined your invitation, maybe this is the time they will say "YES!"
Do you know anyone who is ordained or licensed to teach and counsel in spiritual matters in their home church, musician, or worship leaders that would be a good candidate for a Tres Dias Weekend? It's important to think of the future of our community. How sustainable can we be if the Spiritual Directors and Musicians that we love so much are serving every weekend? As you consider who you might sponsor, also consider how that candidate can be a future serve team on our weekends.
Meet Claudia Kelley
I am Claudia Kelley, and I attended NTTD #22 - where I sat at the table of Rebekah. My husband of 39 years and I attend Chase Oaks Church in Plano. I am a mother of 2 wonderful daughters and their husbands, and 4 Amazing grandchildren ( and they do make children worth it!).
I have served several years as Secretary on the NTTD, much of it during COVID. That was a real challenge - in so many ways. I then took a break, and have recently been appointed as Leaders. What is Leaders? It is more than I thought it was! My committee and I assist the upcoming Rectors and BURMS with building a team for the next weekend.
How hard can that be? Well, building a team and a framework for accountability for that weekend with them is the most important effort the new Rector will do. So often we think it is the Rollos, or the Serenade, or the theme. No, it is the team and how they provide an atmosphere that allows the candidates to talk and be open to a new dimension in their relationship with Jesus.
I love this job. I love our members that I am able to serve as they prepare for this sacred time. Thank you for allowing me to serve. It is a privilege.
~ De Colores, Claudia Kelley
Serving on a Weekend
LET YOUR YES BE YES…
So, you just got off the phone with the Rector of the next NTTD weekend who asked you to serve on the team. Having both received those calls and been the one making calls as Rector of NTTD Men’s 68, I understand the urge to immediately answer, “YES!” But whether it’s your first time to serve or you’re a veteran of many weekends, I encourage you to take some time to prayerfully consider a few things before making the commitment to serve.
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Are you financially able to serve? Team fees should be paid prior to or at the first team meeting. NTTD is a nonprofit ministry that conducts weekends on a very tight operating budget. We incur expenses prior to the weekends such as campground deposit and need income to offset those costs. Unfortunately, we just don’t have the cash flow to carry team member fees until sendoff.
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Are you prepared for the time commitment required to serve on a team? Not just the Thursday through Sunday of the actual weekend but the Saturday team meetings to prepare for the weekend? Team meetings are a key component of a successful Tres Dias experience. It’s during these hours of planning and fellowship that God prepares our hearts for the work He will do through us during the three days. To use a sports analogy, team meetings are the practice sessions in preparation for the big game. You can’t expect to just show up on game day and be at your best without putting in the necessary work to carry out the game plan. Agreeing to serve means you’re making the commitment to attend the majority, if not all, of the scheduled team meetings.
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Does your spouse and/or family fully support your decision to serve? The time spent in preparation for and on the weekend is time spent away from your home and family. In our call to raise up servant leaders in our families, churches and communities, we must remember that our first and most important ministry is in our own homes. Are you in a season of life where your spouse, children, or church family need your attention? Their needs should always take priority over serving on a Tres Dias weekend. There will always be other weekends and opportunities to serve. As stated in Ecclesiastes, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” If you’re in a season where family needs should be a priority or your plate is full at church or work, recognize it’s okay to say “No” to serving. I guarantee that the Rector will understand, and that God will honor your decision.
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Which leads me to the last thing I’d encourage you to pray about before making the commitment to serve. Why are you serving? That may seem like a ridiculous question, I mean, who doesn’t want to answer God’s call to serve and be a part of another amazing Tres Dias weekend? But what is your reason for saying, “Yes?” Are you checking a spiritual box? Are you wanting a few days of peace and quite away from the obligations of work, family, and everyday life? Are you thirsty for another mountaintop experience? While we always receive some form of blessing from God as a natural byproduct of serving, we should guard against becoming ‘Tres Dias Junkies” in need of a spiritual high the weekend provides. If we truly want to be selfless like Christ, then we should have no self interest in our desire to serve.
Like many of you, I love this ministry and consider it a privilege each time I’m blessed by the opportunity to serve alongside my brothers as part of a weekend team. Before we make the commitment to serve, each of us should examine our heart to make sure we know who we’re serving, why we’re serving, and to be certain that we’re in a season to serve God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
Matthew 5:37 states “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ be No’.” As anyone who has been given the honor to serve as Rector will tell you, these are God’s weekends, and we are simply His stewards. With that in mind, when God puts your name on the heart of a Rector to ask you to serve, you’re really giving your commitment to God. When you receive that call, I encourage you to take some time, pray, talk with your family, examine your heart, and let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes.’
~ Pete D'Aloise, Leaders Committee Chair
AmazonSmile Update
Thank you to everyone who had signed up for the AmazonSmile giving. Unfortunately, Amazon has made the decision to discontinue the program. They will official close the program on February 20, 2023. Click here to read more about the closing of AmazonSmile.
SECUELA - Thank you for those who attended!
PRESIDENT'S POINTS
Hello NTTD community!
I truly believe God does great things during the Tres Dias weekends, and as I have heard a few times over the years, even in spite of us! I never want to get in the way of God's plan, and also know He wants us to be a part of it. In Joyce Meyer's devotional "All things are possible," three things stood out to me:
"God wants you to expect Him to do great things in you and through you" and "to have a brave, bold, confident faith in Christ to step out and do whatever He calls you to do, especially when you don’t understand everything He’s doing."
God wants us to be a part of His plan
"We are partners with God. Our part is to believe what He says and do anything He asks us to do to cooperate with His plan. God’s part is to do what you cannot do."
We must believe in His plan, and submit to His guidance
"James 4:2 says, …'You do not have because you do not ask God.' God wants you to be confident that you can come to Him to meet your needs and give you the desires of your heart, according to His will (Ps. 37:4). If you ask in faith, God hears you and He will give you what is best for you."
He wants us to talk to Him about it
I have a lot of ideas, prayers, thoughts, wishes and plans for what I believe God wants us to do in the NTTD community. I get a lot of after reading the Bible in the morning, or after hearing a sermon at church. I pray that we ALL can always be led by God, and that we all ask Him often for great things for the NTTD community.
De Colores,
Dak Lyons
President, NTTD
NTTD #25
(817) 715-7468