Introducing this year’s Texan Team!

We are thrilled to be welcoming a team of amazing young people from Texas again next week! It is wonderful to have people who are willing to travel 4,700 miles just to come and serve us – Tees Valley Community Church and all God has given us to do here in Teesside.

So how did this come about?

Quite a few years ago, we were connected with some friends ‘across the pond’ and God placed it in their hearts to bring a group of young adults to the North East of the UK, simply to expand their horizons and to give them a new context for journeying with Him and serving him with all their heart. Since then, we have benefitted from many teams coming over the years.

So who is coming?

We are thrilled to welcome back Ben and his wife Megan and this years team of young adults. The team all Christians and are actually part of a larger team that are coming to serve 3 different churches in the UK. Not only have they all been saving and fundraising just so that they can come and serve us as a Church, but they have been spending time praying for us too!

When do they arrive?

The team will arrive at The Oakwood Centre at lunch time on Tuesday 5th March. They plan to spend a few days elsewhere in the UK before they come to us, so they won’t be too jet lagged – which is just as well because I’ve seen their itinerary and they will be busy! They will be with us until Sunday 10th March, when they will join us for our service and youth service.

What will they be up to?

Well we are a busy Church all week long and so they will be getting stuck in with lots of our mid week activities and will be a blessing to the teams that are reaching out into our communities all week every week! From street evangelism to a community quiz, there will be plenty of opportunities to share testimony, pray, serve food or just sit and chat about why they have traveled all this way just to talk about Jesus.

Here is their itinerary…

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Tue		Welcome Lunch TVC Church Staff Meeting Evangelism training and equipping Street evangelism in South Bank	Serving with the Open Well
Wed	Schools Work – River Tees Accademy, Grangetown (current link with TVC Church)	Team Trip to Saltburn	Evening spent getting to know host families
Thur	Prayer & Worship with prophetic team Planing and Prep for Youth activities and ‘Texan Evening’	Ask the Pastor session @ The Oakwood Planning and prep for Youth activities and ‘Texan Evening’	Team 1 – Stockton Connect Team 2 – Youth Bible Study Team 3 – South Bank Ladies Bible Study
Fri	Team 1 – Yarm School Team 2 – Easterside (Story Time, Cafe and Allotment)	Team 1 – Yarm School Planning and prep for Youth activities and ‘Texan Evening’	Team 1 – Open Well Team 2 – Easterside Cafe Then all at Youth @The Oakwood Centre
Sat	Joint North East Texan Team event	Joint North East Texan Team event	Texan Evening @ The Oakwood Centre
Sun	Youth Service @The Oakwood Centre

Will I get to meet them?

Yes of course! If you are at one of the activities that they are serving at, please take the time to say hi and to thank them for the sacrificial way that they have served us.

If you are not able to be at one of these activities, then put Saturday 9th March in your diary as they are also planning a really fun Texan themed evening just for us! From hot dogs to line dancing, you are invited to come and hang out with the team for a party – texan style!

This year, tickets are £2.50 and proceeds will be split between our Youth Group’s chosen charity Open Doors and our Fundraising for New Day – You can book your ticket here . Everyone is welcome and it will be great fun.