The Kingdom of God—Within and Around Us!

Some thoughts from Sylane Mac

It’s still early enough in 2010 to acknowledge the entering into a new year and into a new decade. It’s still early enough in 2010 to ask ourselves some introspective questions…and some broader thinking questions. Actually, asking these kinds of questions is always a good idea. As is doing something about the answers we get-especially when (and IF) we invite God to be the One who answers us!

So, let’s each ask ourselves first the introspective questions: How is my life-my mind, my heart, my words, my actions, my reactions, my relationships, my stewardship of my body and all of my resources-reflecting the passionate love that Christ has for me…the sacrificial, unfailing love that cost Jesus His Holy Life to save me and to transform me to be more and more like Him?

And let’s each ask ourselves the broader thinking questions: What am I doing, not just for my own spiritual growth or even to help grow my own church, but what am I doing for the growth of the Kingdom of God-for, and with, the whole Body of Christ-since we all are called to be Ambassadors of Christ (not Ambassadors of our own home church or favorite way to worship, study and fellowship)?

As we ask ourselves these questions-and open ourselves to seeking God’s perspective, passion and purpose for both our personal and universal Body of Christ growth-I have no doubt that our God will answer!

Let’s each allow God’s Spirit and God’s Word to minister to us and challenge us-whatever the calendar date…or the life season we may be in-to live and grow in the present moment as His children and to live to help grow the Kingdom of God for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

Above all, love each other deeply,

because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each one should use whatever gift

he has received to serve others,

faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking

the very words of God.

If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength

God provides, so that in all things

God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory and the power

for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:8-11

REJOICE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST!

Update on events for end of 2009

November 6-8-Sylane Mack presented the four session, oft-requested Harvest of Hearts at the Women’s Retreat for Lawndale Baptist Church of Philadelphia, PA. God’s love and transforming power was declared and deeply responded to by those who attended this retreat held at S.P.A.D.E. International Conference Center in Kempton, PA. Kyoko Iwashita Kneller ministered faithfully and lovingly as the TBG prayer partner and team member.

November 14-Lydia Austin led an all day/3 session retreat for the women of Abundant Life Community Church of Port Murray, NJ held at The Inn at Panther Valley in Allamuchy, NJ. Lydia’s teaching was powerfully and passionately based on James 1:22-“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”-and is appropriately and encouragingly entitled:  Just Do It!

December 5-Lydia Austin gave a special Christmas presentation called Joy to the World!- at a Morning Christmas Tea for the women of Langhorne Terrace Ministries in Langhorne, PA. Rachel Mack, another of our TBG Speakers, ministered with grace and enthusiasm as the TBG prayer partner and team member.

Upcoming Events

March 1-5-Sylane will be at Bethel University and Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota.

• Throughout the week she will be speaking in various classes, at a Community Life Gathering Lunch and at the Friday Chapel Service.
• The schedule still very fluid-venues will be added even while Sylane is there! Go for it, God!

March 6-Transformed By Grace celebrates our 7^th Anniversary as a not-for-profit ministry!!! Join us in prayer and thanksgiving for all that God has done and is continuing to do as we yield to His leadership and minister to many lives-through speaking events and private counseling-with the love, grace, truth and transforming power of our Lord Jesus Christ!

March 9 and 10-Sylane will be speaking with young men in 2 different Therapeutic Group Sessions and to a Parent/Family Group Meeting over these 2 days at Mathom House, a Rehabilitation Center for Adolescent Sexual Offenders. These 3 sessions will be Sylane’s 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd time ministering with different groups connected with Mathom House since 2003. Thank you, Mighty God!

April 29-May 1-Sylane will attend and present at the BAACC Summit VIII in Atlanta, Georgia. On Saturday, May 1, Sylane will present a workshop entitled, Transforming Counseling: Counselors as Vessels of God’s Freeing Truth -based on Romans 8:6 -“The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace”

Registration for the BAACC Summit VIII can be made at www.BAACConline.net (Sylane serves as Assistant Chaplain to the Board of Advisors for BAACC.)

Update on CONVINCED!

We are thanking God deeply for what we have already seen and heard as to how our Lord is using the book, Convinced!, written by Sylane Mack, to minister to those who have read it since its publication on November 13, 2009.

Kathy Watson, one of our faithful Partners in Grace, wrote her own personal review-reaction to Convinced!:

Every day God is present in our lives, writing our life story, our testimony. We would all have to admit there are times we would rather forget, choosing rather to lock the door and forget about our ugly, shameful times. Instead, in writing Convinced!, Sylane has fully opened the doors to her dark places in order to give each of us hope and the assurance that God is with us in the midst of our darkest days and nights. God stepped into her life when Sylane was only 7 years old and took hold of her heart, but did not take away the pain. It was wonderful to read how, as her life went on, God continued to use amazing people to draw her closer to God, and how she found the loving, Abba Father she was seeking. The bookend to Sylane’s salvation is her witness to her abusers and her unrelenting desire to see each of them know the loving God of grace and salvation that transformed her life. We are blessed to read her testimony and find hope in this broken, sinful world-and to be Convinced! that God’s love changes everything!

You may order your copy (or several!) today via:

http://www.createspace.com/3404109 (our preferred site )

OR http://www.amazon.com

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Minister With Us! We Need You!

Please JOIN us as a Partner in Grace!

Become a PinG!

Your prayers and financial gifts provide the tangible and greatly needed support necessary to carry out God’s call on the ministry of Transformed By Grace!

Your FINANCIAL gifts help make possible:

• Counseling services to those who otherwise are without the financial resources that would allow them to participate in this healing process.
• Conference Speaking Events for churches and organizations whose budgets are greatly limited compared to their hunger for God’s Word and their desire to grow as disciples of our Lord Jesus.
• Purchasing Bibles-often given to the young men at Mathom House (see Upcoming Events) and to others via our counseling ministry.
• Purchasing copies of Convinced! for some with whom we counsel and many other ministry contacts.
• Administrative stewardship of this ministry.

Your gifts of PRAYERS join with ours so that we may bring glory to our Lord Jesus and His transforming grace to all the people with whom we minister!

You may let us know your PinG Support Commitment of Prayer and Finances by clicking on this link now: Partner With Us

• Or call the TBG office at 215.497.0882
• Or send your gifts directly to: P.O. Box 976, Newtown, PA 18940

With love and great thankfulness to our Lord Jesus for all of you!

The Ministry Team of Transformed By Grace

God Interrupts…Grace Intervenes

Scripture references from Matthew 1 and Luke 2

God loves us so much that He will interrupt our lives and our plans to intervene with His grace. God has always done this to call His people to Himself. Jesus Christ interrupts our ways of doing things when He comes to us to intervene with His grace for all eternity. He did this in a manger on His way to the cross.

Mary, a young virgin pledged to marry Joseph, was suddenly and shockingly visited by the angel Gabriel who told her that she will be with child…that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her and the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Mary’s response: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

These weren’t Mary’s plans, but God totally interrupted her life-to intervene in her life, and in the lives of all who would believe, with His grace.

Joseph’s plans for his life were also suddenly and shockingly interrupted when he found out that Mary was with child. Yet, even in the hurt and betrayal he must have felt, Joseph planned to quietly divorce Mary so she would not be publicly disgraced. But, before Joseph could carry out his plan, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream to tell him to not be afraid to take Mary home as his wife and to assure him that Mary was with child through the Holy Spirit; “She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Joseph’s response: he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.

These weren’t Joseph’s plans, but God totally interrupted his life-to intervene in his life, and in the lives of all who would believe, with His grace.

May we each choose to let God interrupt our plans…our lives…our worries…our self-focused thinking…even our ways of doing Christmas…so that we may allow the full love and grace of Jesus Christ to interrupt and intervene in our lives.

May we each respond in awe and thankfulness, and full faith acceptance, to the God Most High who is born to us vulnerably as a baby in a manger with the purpose to die humbly for our sins on a cross.

Christmas and the Cross of Jesus and Christ’s Eternal Resurrection are God’s gifts of LOVE to every one of us…these are God’s full interruption over the power of sin and death in our lives through the full intervention of His grace!

Have a beautiful, God-interrupting,

Grace-intervening Christmas!

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Celebrating our Call in 2009–with JOY from Transformed by Grace

We thank God for the privilege we have had throughout 2009 to be vessels of the love, grace and truth of Jesus Christ! We are so grateful to all of our Board of Directors and to Cathy Buser who, as our Bookkeeper, maintains our financial records with great detail and integrity and for DeAnne Harland, our ever-available Admin-istrative Assistant, who truly ministers to all who make contact with TBG.

All three of our Conference Speakers-Lydia Austin, Rachel Mack and Sylane Mack, plus Mindy Benjamin, one of our Counselors-have been invited to speak to a variety of groups in a variety of settings: at Women’s Teas and Women’s Retreats, at MOPS groups, at whole Church Outreach Programs, to speak to prisoners, train their counselors and minister to their families. We have been awed by the power of God’s Word and Spirit to use our words to bless, encourage and challenge many people to trust the grace and truth of Jesus Christ for salvation and for the transformation of their lives-for now and for all of eternity!

The openness of so many individuals, and even within large groups at the retreats, to receive the freedom offered through Jesus Christ has kept us humbled and in awe of the intimacy and sovereignty of our God. We are evermore aware of how God is passionately reaching out to all of us with His transforming love!

Likewise, our Counselors-Mindy Benjamin, Kristin Chace (now living in CT), Teresa Warren and Sylane Mack-count it a privilege …a very daunting and humbling privilege…to have ministered over this past year to numerous individuals, couples and families within the intimacy of our biblically-based counseling services. We seek to fully rely on the wisdom of God, on His grace and truth, on His Word and His Spirit as we serve those who seek counsel from us. We take seriously the trust that is placed in us-guarding people’s dignity and protecting their confidentiality-as we offer Christ-centered counseling for the transforming healing, and renewing of their lives spiritually, physically, mentally and relationally.

This past September Sylane was invited to serve on the Board of Advisors as Assistant Chaplain for BAACC, Black African-American Association of Christian Counselors. Our God is a God of love and unity. May we all become more like Jesus!

Another new ministry venue for TBG in 2009 were the daily devotions which Sylane has posted daily since January 1, 2009 on our website, entitled:  A Time for Grace and Truth

Check these out. Be encouraged. Be challenged.

Along with TBG’s ongoing ministries, it was with great joy that we celebrated the publication of Sylane Mack’s book, CONVINCED!-or as she calls it,

“God’s transforming love story written in my life.”

We encourage you to order your copy (or several copies!) via:

http://www.createspace.com/3404109 (our preferred site)

Or via:

http://www.amazon.com

We believe that God will use CONVINCED! for His glory and to bring His transforming freedom, healing and power of forgiveness into the lives of many, many people! Because God’s love changes everything.

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Continuing our Call in 2010–with HOPE from Transformed by Grace

We, the Staff and Board, who serve through the ministry of Transformed by Grace prayerfully, faithfully and thankfully reaffirm our call to share the love, grace and truth of Jesus Christ through our Conference Speaking and Counseling ministries. We are ready and willing to “Go…and tell the full message of this new life”-Acts 5:20-wherever God would lead us. And we are ready and willing to continue to serve our local community as we disciple and counsel people with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. Because…“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free”-Galatians 5:1.

As we look ahead to minister in the year 2010, we also, quite honestly, have some significant challenges to meet. We have had to make hard choices to not consistently pay some of our Staff because the support funds have not been available. We are trusting God-our Jehovah Jireh-the Lord Provider to stir up His resources and His people to supply all we need for our operational expenses. God is faithful. And so are His people.

We are asking each of you to PRAY about how you will support TBG. If you are not already a Partner in Grace-a PinG-with us, we encourage you to join us now. We really do NEED YOU!

If you are already a Partner in Grace with us currently: THANK YOU!

• Continue those prayers! They are the powerful foundation for placing our full trust in God for all that we do!
• Consider how you may continue or increase your financial support for TBG.

As a gift of gratitude, we will send out a free copy of CONVINCED! to our PinGs who are able to make a Monthly Pledge of financial support of $25 or more for 2010 OR to those who can give a One Time Gift of $300 or more.

You may let us know your PinG Support Commitment of Prayer and Finances by clicking on this link now: Partner With Us

Thank You All for your encouragement, your prayers and your financial support for this ministry! We truly are the Ambassadors of Christ together!

We need and appreciate you greatly!

May this Christmas and 2010 cause each of us to know the interrupting, intervening LOVE of God in a more personal and powerful way!

Our love and thankful prayers,

The Ministry Team of Transformed by Grace

OCTOBER 2009–TBG Newsletter

Remember to join us on the 10th day of each month as we passionately PRAY for God’s life-giving, life-freeing, transforming work to be done in the lives of all with whom we minister-at conferences, counseling sessions or on corners and in coffee shops!

REJOICE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST!- an update on some recent events -

Over these last two months we have been blessed to meet and minister with so many brothers and sisters in Christ! So many lives have been transformed…and so many lives are continually being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory! Enjoy the update and some fun pictures:

September 16-20-Sylane Mack attended the 2009 World Conference of the AACC-American Association of Christian Counselors, held in Nashville, TN at the Opryland Hotel-entitled: Grace and Truth! The Key Note Speakers and Workshop Presenters shared great skills and deep encouragement with all who serve in various forms of counseling ministries. During this Convention, Sylane was inducted into the BAACC (Black African-American Association of Christian Counselors) Board of Advisors-through which she is, humbly and thankfully, serving as Assistant Chaplain.

BAACC Board of Advisors-seated: Dr. Atty. Paris M. Finner-Williams (Elder of Elders), Rev. Mark Crear, PhD (Chairperson), Elder Sabrina D. Black (Past Chairperson); standing: Elder Nicole Barber, MA (North Regional Rep.), Bishop Arnold J. Byrd, MPS (Chaplain), Rev. Owen C. Cardwell, PhD, ABD (First Vice President), Sylane Mack, MS (Assistant Chaplain), Dr. Neal Siler (South Regional Rep.), Dr. Brenda K. Richardson (Second Vice Chairman), Dr. Renata W. Hannah (Assistant Secretary), Dr. Jacqueline Smith (Recording Secretary). Absent from picture: Rev. Carolyn T. Long, PhD (East Regional Rep.), Robert Williams, LMSW (Treasurer), Venita Welcome, MS (Assistant Treasurer), Dr. De’Borah Donald, NCPM (Chief Editor)

FYI: BAACC’s 8th Annual Summit on April 29 -May 1, 2010, will be in Georgia at the Hilton Hotel - Atlanta Airport. The theme: BAACC to Basics -As a person thinketh - based on: 1 Corinthians 3:11 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

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October 2-4-Sylane Mack, assisted by Jean Heiss, led a full and transforming weekend retreat of Harvest of Hearts for approximately 51 women from New Beginnings Community Church (NBCC) of Moorestown, NJ. This retreat focused on God’s love, healing, powerful transformation and His amazing purpose in our lives-to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ!

Most of the women in attendance at the NBCC Retreat

Reflections from Beth Concannon - Member of the Leadership-Prayer Team and Pastor’s Wife:

he women at New Beginnings Community Church invited Sylane to come and minister through “The Harvest of Hearts” at our women’s retreat at Harvey Cedars during the first weekend in October. We were in awe of what God has done in her life and what He is doing through her ministry.  Sylane not only ministers out of the depth of her background and pain, she also breathes new freshness and life into those to whom she ministers.  Sylane’s dear friend, Jean Heiss, attended our event with her, and they both showed humility, great gifting, sensitivity, and pliability in the way they ministered. We are so grateful to have had this opportunity and plan to have Sylane back again for the sequel “It is For Freedom!” The feedback from all of the women has been unbelievable, with most of them saying the weekend was “life-changing.”Praise God!

Many Blessings, Beth Concannon

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October 23-24-Sylane Mack and DeAnne Harland ministered at the 49^th Annual 2009 New Jersey Christian Ministries Convention (NJCMC): “Great is Thy Faithfulness!“ And God certainly was!!!

Friday evening, while DeAnne ministered and shared TBG information at our Exhibition Hall table, Sylane led a workshop entitled: God’s Passion, Purpose and Power! What Difference Does it Make to You-with 40 or more people attending (and a few standing in the back because all the chairs were taken!)

All day Saturday, Oct. 24, both DeAnne and Sylane ministered at our TBG Table where we met and prayed with fabulous contacts and made some new friends. We were especially blessed by one prayer-focused, brother in Christ, James Jackson, from the ministry of Teen Challenge.

He spent time praying with us, and as James said, “I’ve been directing traffic to your table all day because the power of God and healing and freedom is here!” Thank you, James!

Thank you, God, for your power!

Thank you, God, for the Body of Christ!

DeAnne Harland, James Jackson, Sylane Mack at NJCMC

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UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 6-8-Sylane Mack will be giving a full weekend-four session presentation of  Harvest of Hearts at the Women’s Retreat for Lawndale Baptist Church of Philadelphia, PA. This oft-requested and powerful retreat will be held at S.P.A.D.E. International Conference Center in Kempton, PA. Kyoko Iwashita Kneller will serve as the TBG prayer partner and team member.

November 14- Lydia Austin will be leading a one day retreat for the women of Abundant Life Community Church of Port Murray, NJ held at The Inn at Panther Valley in Allamuchy, NJ. Lydia’s teaching will be based on James 1:22-“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” and is appropriately and encouragingly entitled:  Just Do It!

Minister With Us! We Need You!

Please JOIN us as a Partner in Grace!

Become a PinG!

Your prayers and financial gifts provide the tangible and greatly needed support necessary to carry out God’s call on the ministry of Transformed By Grace!

Your FINANCIAL gifts help make possible:

• Counseling services to those who otherwise are without the financial resources that would allow them to participate in this healing process.
• Conference Speaking Events for churches and organizations whose budgets are greatly limited compared to the hunger they have for God’s Word and the desire they have to grow as disciples of our Lord Jesus.
• Purchasing Bibles-often given to the young men at Mathom House (Rehabilitation Center for Sexual Offenders) and others via our counseling ministry.
• Administrative stewardship of this ministry

Your gifts of PRAYERS join with ours so that we may bring glory to our Lord Jesus and His transforming grace to all the people with whom we minister!

To become our PARTNER in GRACE - our PinG:

• Please visit our website at www.transformedbygrace.org
• Or call the TBG office at 215.497.0882
• Or send your gifts directly to: P.O. Box 976, Newtown, PA 18940

Update on CONVINCED! — GOD’s story written by Sylane:

We are in the final stages of reviewing the proof copies now! And with God’s loving, sovereign and intimate leading, Convinced! should be available before Thanksgiving!

September 2009–TBG Newsletter

OUR GOD DOES NOT CHANGE…BUT GOD DOES CHANGE US!

As we come to the beginning of this new month, this new season, God is bringing a new season of change and growth opportunities for Transformed By Grace!

Two changes: With great sadness, we said good bye to two of our TBG Staff Members this summer…

…our First good bye was in June to Carol Mehl, our faithful and enthusiastically supportive Director of Ministry Advancement (DoMA), as she and her family moved back to Colorado where they had lived from 1993 to 1997. Though this is a great loss for us, we are excited for Carol as they rejoin many family members and friends in the CO area. Please pray that God will continue to use Carol in deeply transforming ways in the lives of many. Her heart, and her fabulous energy, are still with the ministry of TBG…so we’re praying for some TBG bookings out in  beautiful CO soon!

…Second, we (with a little kicking and screaming…yet, still trusting our God!) said good bye to our wise and godly TBG Counselor Kristin Chace as she moved to Connecticut in late August. We will miss her deeply and the powerful counseling ministry she had with numerous people. Who knows? God may set up a TBG Counseling Office in CT! For now, please pray for our Kristin, her family and for all the details this life-changing transition brings. (One of many this summer…as son Pete was married this August also!) Before Kristin moved, however, God used her to help introduce us to the person through whom God would work…

…Our Next Change: With great joy and thankfulness to our God, who is truly Jehovah Jireh-the LORD Provider, we welcome Teresa Warren to our staff as our newest TBG Counselor! God’s timing and loving wisdom are so clearly seen in bringing Teresa to join with us in counseling and declaring the grace and power of Christ to transform lives.

Teresa comes to TBG with a love for God and God’s Word, and a deep passion to shine God’s healing power into the lives of others and an MS Degree in Christian Counseling from Philadelphia Biblical University. Teresa’s Bio will be on the TBG website very soon.

Please pray for Teresa-and all of us who serve via TBG-to be ever-growing in God’s love, grace and truth…to be always open to hear God’s Words…and humbly follow God’s Spirit as we interact with all people that God places in our lives and in the care of this ministry.

Another Change: Check out our newly updated TBG Website! This was made possible through the loving, sacrificial service and countless work hours of our IT Man, Curtis Peters-originally from Trinidad, currently living in Toronto, Canada. Pray for Curtis to be blessed as he serves our Lord Jesus, and pray for our Lord to use the TBG website in far-reaching ways! Remember to read, and even sign up to receive, the daily Devotionals posted on www.transformedbygrace.org

A Recent Ministry Change for Sylane Mack that beautifully declares the Truth that we all serve in the One Body with One Purpose in our Lord Jesus Christ

Sylane was invited to serve as Assistant Chaplain on the 2010-2012 Board of Advisors for BAACC-Black African-American Christian Counselors (a division of AACC-American Association of Christian Counselors). Her first opportunity to join with other BAACC Board Members face-to-face will be September 16-19, 2009 while attending the AACC’s Grace and Truth World Conference in Nashville, TN.

We are celebrating this God given ministry opportunity for Sylane to serve together with BAACC as Ambassadors of Christ so that others…all others…may know of, and accept for themselves, the saving and transforming love, grace, truth and power of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Join with us in prayer for God to do a mighty work in the lives of all people, of all colors, of all nations…starting right within our own hearts and our own communities. Pray that God’s Oneness of Body and One Purpose will be clearly revealed through both TBG and BAACC…and through all the ways our Lord chooses to use us together!

Even in all of our changes, we at TBG are fully trusting our God because…

…we know that in all things God works together for the good

of those who love Him,

who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

UPCOMING EVENTS:

September 16-20-Sylane Mack will be attending the 2009 World Conference of the AACC-American Association of Christian Counselors, held in Nashville, TN at the Opryland Hotel-entitled: Grace and Truth! Amen to that name! Amen to that purpose!

October 2-4-Sylane Mack will be giving a full weekend-four session presentation of  Harvest of Hearts at the Women’s Retreat for New Beginnings Community Church (NBCC) of Moorestown, NJ.  This retreat, focused on God’s love, healing, powerful transformation and amazing purpose in our lives, will be held at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference on Long Beach Island, NJ.

Friday, October 23 at 7:30pm-Sylane Mack will be leading a workshop entitled: God’s Passion, Purpose and Power! What Difference Does it Make to You? at the 2009 New Jersey Christian Ministries Convention-Great is Thy Faithfulness! During the afternoon/evening of Friday, Oct. 23 and all day Saturday, Oct. 24, Transformed By Grace will be hosting a Ministry and Information Table at this Convention. All are welcome to attend! Come by the TBG table! Register and participate in the work-shop led by Sylane-or any of the numerous work-shops available for our growth as the Body of Christ through the Great Faithfulness of our God! Registration may be done on-line at:  http://www.ministriesconvention.com/index.php?op=2

November 6-8-Sylane Mack will be giving a full weekend-four session presentation of  Harvest of Hearts at the Women’s Retreat for Lawndale Baptist Church of Philadelphia, PA. This oft-requested and powerful retreat will be held at S.P.A.D.E. International Conference Center in Kempton, PA.

November 14- Lydia Austin will be leading a one day retreat for the women of Abundant Life Community Church of Port Murray, NJ held at The Inn at Panther Valley in Allamuchy, NJ. Lydia’s teaching will be based on James 1:22-“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” and is appropriately and encouragingly entitled:  Just Do It!

MINISTER WITH US!

Please JOIN us as a Partner in Grace! Become a PinG!

Your prayers and financial gifts provide the tangible and greatly needed support we need to carry out God’s call on the ministry of Transformed By Grace!

Your Financial gifts are used to help make possible:

• Counseling services to those who otherwise are without the financial resources that would allow them to participate in this healing process.
• Conference Speaking Events for churches and organizations whose budgets are greatly limited compared to the hunger they have for God’s Word and the desire they have to grow as disciples of our Lord Jesus.
• Purchasing Bibles—often given to the young men at Mathom House (Rehabilitation Center for Sexual Offenders) and others via our counseling ministry.
• Administrative stewardship of this ministry

Your gifts of PRAYERS join with ours so that we may bring glory to our Lord Jesus and His transforming grace to all the people with whom we minister!

To become our PARTNER in GRACE—our PinG:

• please visit our website at www.transformedbygrace.org
• Or call the TBG office at 215.497.0882
• Or send your gifts directly to: P.O. Box 976, Newtown, PA 18940

June 2009—TBG Newsletter

A SIMPLE TRUST…AN OUTRAGEOUS CLAIM!

 (on www.theTBloG.org  for June 22)

I have a simple trust in an outrageous claim.  Jesus said:

“Because I live, you also will live.”

John 14:19

I am convinced that Jesus is the Lord of Life who laid down His life for mine, and rose from the dead to give me eternal life with Him. I trust Jesus.

That’s why I have a simple–albeit passionate and life transforming–trust in His outrageous claim.

I hope you have this same simple trust in this outrageous claim Jesus made. It makes all the difference in the world–for this life and the next!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,

Sylane

 Speaking Events Completed:

May 2-Rachel Mack had the privilege to speak at Trinity Bible Church in Bristol, PA for their Ladies’ Tea-where she knew many, including her mom! Sylane served as prayer support and cheerleader! The twenty women in attendance enjoyed food, fun and fellowship, and were blessed as Rachel shared lessons gleaned from John 11 (Raising Lazarus from the dead). Specifically: how God would want us, as mothers and wives, to respond when our loved-one is going through a trial:  Praying, remembering God’s attributes and praising God for who He is, what He did in the past and what He will do in the future. These actions help us to see our loved-one’s trial from God’s perspective.

Remember to join us on the 10th day of each month as we passionately PRAY for God’s life-giving, life-freeing, transforming work to be done in the lives of all with whom we minister-at conferences, counseling sessions or on corners and in coffee shops!

May 16-Lydia Austin spoke at Neshaminy Valley Baptist Church.  The ladies hosted a beautiful Spring Tea - their first women’s event in years. Rachel Mack traveled with Lydia, and having known quite a few of these ladies, was able to reconnect with many. Excitement, fellowship, and joy filled the room!  Lydia spoke about keeping JOY (Jesus Over Yourself) in your life and used the analogy of the three layers of a tea sandwich:  The bread -Notice the Blesser. The yumm(sometimes surprise-ing) middle -Notice the Blessing, The bread - Thank the Blesser. 

May we all remember to keep JOY in our lives!  May our glasses overflow with abundant joy!  AMEN!

Upcoming-”Home-Coming” Speaking Events

July 1-Sylane Mack will be at Ontario Bible Camp (OBC)-Oswego, NY. This is such a joy for Sylane because this is the camp where she accepted Jesus as her Savior as a seven year old little girl! And the first time she’s been back in 42 years! Our God truly is the Alpha and the Omega!

The healing and transformation that Christ alone can bring into a life will be her focus. First, via a Counselor Training Session on Leading a Child to Christ and then, after dinner she will share her testimony and encouragement during the Commissioning Service for Counselors and Staff.

PRAY that ALL who serve will take up the full joy and power of being an Ambassador of Christ to the children and their fellow staff members at OBC Summer Camp 2009! PRAY that many children will have their lives transformed for all eternity as they come to know the loving salvation of Jesus Christ for themselves!

July-Labor Day-Sylane will be on Sabbatical to WRITE (and finish!?) CONVINCED! the story of her own life. PRAY for the Spirit of God to lead every word she writes, for just the right publishing path to come about and for the transforming grace of Jesus to be fully revealed through the reading of this book in the lives of many, many people!

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Galatians 5:1

• Please read and pray for the impact of Sylane’s daily devotional posts for A Time for Grace and Truth on www.theTBloG.org

Please JOIN us as a Partner in Grace! Your prayers and financial gifts provide the tangible and greatly needed support for both the Counseling and Conference Ministries carried out through Transformed By Grace!

 Gifts may be sent to P.O. Box 976, Newtown, PA 18940. Thank you all!

JUNE 2009

April 2009—TBG Newsletter 

THIS IS EASTER TIME!

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THIS MAKE TO US?

I pray that it does, and will, make a very real difference to each and every one of us.

 Jesus makes a difference. Jesus makes us different.

 Without Jesus we are left without experiencing the deepest, truest love that we could ever know.

 With Jesus the love of God breaks into our hearts and our consciousness in inexplicably deep and real ways. And we know that this is the love for which our souls have always craved. And nothing will ever separate from this love that we now have in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 8:39)

 Without Jesus we are left condemned because of our sins that are ugly and evil and have separated us from the Holy and Righteous One.

 With Jesus we have been set free from condemnation and the punishment of death. By Jesus’ sacrifice, the shedding of His blood on the cross-the giving of His own life for ours-we have been made holy in God’s sight, without blemish and free of accusation.(Colossians 1:21-22) Jesus became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

 Without Jesus we are left to die in our human mortality without hope, without assurance of eternal life with God.

 With Jesus we have been given the sure hope and God’s own faithful promise of eternal life with our Heavenly Father! (John 3:16-17) Jesus conquered death once and for all through His glorious, mortality-crushing resurrection! And with Jesus we will be raised to eternal life-raised up imperishable, immortal-in joy and victory! (1 Corinthians 16:51-54)

Without Jesus we are left trying to desperately fill our own needs, by our own insufficient power. And we do this in the emptiness and ugliness of living out our lives and our relationships in our own ego-centric, self-seeking, self-justifying-often hateful and hurtful-ways.

With Jesus, by God’s divine power we have been given everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness! (2 Peter 1:3) There is no striving. No fight to get what we need. We have been given it all in Jesus. We must live out this truth-and get to know–all that we have already received!

With Jesus-here are a few of the everything things we have been given:

We have been given weapons and divine power to demolish strongholds, and arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against knowledge of God. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) And, I know that Love and Forgiveness are two of God’s greatest divine weapons!

We have been given the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

We have been given renewed and transformed minds by the power of God’s love and mercy. (Romans 12:1-2)

We have been given forgiveness of all our sins and we have been given the power to forgive all that we would consider unforgiveable. We have been given the power to love the unlovable. We have been given the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts. (Colossians 3:12-15)

We have been given a new LIFE! We are a new creation! The old is gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

How’s that for a difference?!

Will you and I choose to let these truths of Jesus make a real difference within each of us?

Will you and I choose to let these truths of Jesus make a real difference in the way live out each day, and each relationship, we have been given in our lives?

MAY WE EACH CELEBRATE A VERY REAL EASTER

 EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES!

 -TO CELEBRATE WITH US!-

Speaking Events Completed:

January 15-Mindy Benjamin, one of our TBG Counselors, reflects on her speaking engagement:

I had the privilege to speak at a MOPS (Mother of Pre-Schooler’s) meeting in Philadelphia, PA.  The topic was Beating the Winter Blues.  One thing that I have learned as a mother is that I set the tone of the house. This can be a challenging responsibility. Especially during the winter months.  I was able to share some different ways to handle everyday situations and hopefully share some new ideas to help break up the day.  I was also able to encourage them to take care of themselves.  Something I think we moms tend to forget to do.  However, I emphasized that we don’t need to just physically take care of our bodies we also need to take care of ourselves spiritually.  God has given us these precious little ones, for only a short time. We empty ourselves out for them and for the others around us on a daily basis.  Therefore, we need to be filling ourselves up.  I encouraged them to fill up with The Word. I know from personal experience, there is no way I can do this calling on my own. 

March 10 and April 2-Lydia Austin tells us about two recent speaking engagements:

I had the fun opportunity to speak to two MOPS groups this Spring.  The topic; How to bring JOY into your boring-day-to-day-routine-carousel-ride of mommy-hood.  JOY - Jesus Over Yourself!  What Joy and Freedom there is in that!!  He makes our ordinary extraordinary!!  AMEN!!  The first group at Christian Life Center in Bensalem (assisted by Kelsi Austin and Karen May) had about 70 moms gathered in a lobby colorfully decorated with a circus theme.The second at liberti roxborough church in Philadelphia (DeAnne Harland assisted) was a smaller intimate setting with moms so open to God’s promises. We were blessed by these wonderful women and touched by the opportunity to share of our true source of abundant JOY and to spend time praying for individual mommies.  May God’s truth bring JOY into all your lives every single minute of every single day!

April 7-2 Sessions at Mathom House-Sylane Mack

Our long-standing, relationship with this Rehabilitation Center for Adolescent Sexual Offenders continues to bring opportunities to share God’s Word of forgiveness, healing and transformation through Jesus Christ.

1^st Session-was a training program to the Front Line Staff of MH. First, telling my own story from victim to more than a conqueror through the life-changing, mind-healing love of Jesus. I, then, gave specific intervention approaches-that go beyond rehabilitation to true transformation-to use when working with both perpetrators and victims, I call: Transforming Children of Hurt into Children of Hope.

2^nd Session-I spoke to a small group at the Family Night Gathering so that they could hear and know how and why I have been brought in by MH as part of their son’s (foster-son’s or grandson’s) therapeutic program. I shared God’s work of transformation in my own life, while making it clear that God’s same loving intervention and transformative power are available to each of their sons and to each family member as well.

What a powerful privilege we have been given to declare with so many at Mathom House, so often, that Jesus came to save and heal all of us-who are each, in some way, both offender and victim!

This is the continuous, real message of Easter!

Our Next Scheduled Event:

May 2-Rachel Mack will present Mother Knows Best? for a Ladies Tea at Trinity Bible Church (located near Georgine’s Restaurant) in Bristol, PA. All women are welcome and encouraged to bring a friend. Lunch will be served. For details and registration, please contact Connie Springfield by April 18th at: 215-805-4203.

Remember to join us on the 10th day of each month as we passionately PRAY for God’s life-giving, life-freeing, transforming work to be done in the lives of all with whom we minister-at conferences, counseling sessions or on corners and in coffee shops!

Please SERVE with us as a Partner in Grace. Your prayers and financial gifts provide tangible and much needed support for both the Counseling and Conference ministries through which we share the transforming grace of Jesus! 

February 2009

…into His likeness with ever-increasing glory…2 Corinthians 3:18

Here we are at the end of the first two months of 2009!
Join us in thanking God for how He allowed us to
minister in His name and through His love! And thank
you, too, our Partners in Grace, who support us with
prayers and donations!
This is your Ambassadorship and Ministry, too!

So, What’s Been Going On? So Much!

Since January 1st www.theTBloG.org has been
actively ministering in cyber-space!

On it is A Time for Grace and Truth, daily devotions
with personal reflections written by Sylane. God has
been using the TBloG in some ways we know…and in
other ways we may never know! Here’s a portion of an
email that came in from one of TBG PinGs and faithful
blog readers that greatly encouraged us:

Oh! God’s loving, transforming grace and the work
done through the Body of Christ—are so beautiful!
Thank you, Linda for sharing this!
Here’s an excerpt from the January 15 post of
theTBloG where I wrote that list:

What are some of God’s truths that killed the powerful
vice-grip of lies holding my head? What are some of
God’s truths that I had to intentionally choose to
believe are more powerful than the loud and twisted lies
that were squeezing the life out of my mind and spirit?
Glad you asked!

The Biggies:
God loves me.
God loves me so much more than my parents ever could
(or anyone else, for that matter).
God’s love drives out all fear.
Jesus died for my sins AND my shame.
I’m going to live forever.
God knows me intimately.
God understands me completely.
God is my protector and defender.
God is my hope. God speaks.
God wants me to listen.
There is peace and joy in obeying God.
I am never, ever alone.
I am never without help.
I am filled with the Spirit of the Living God.
Through the love of Jesus I am more than a conqueror.
Nothing will ever separate me from God’s love.

You may read the full post for that day at:
http://www.thetblog.org/?p=197

Speaking Events Completed:

• January 6 and 7 at Mathom House—Sylane
Mack met with 3 separate therapy groups of
adolescent men (sexual perpetrators) to share her
story and the forgiveness and transformation that
Jesus offers to all who believe.