Home Improvement

Over the next Seven weeks I will be preaching a sermon series on home improvement, the kind of home improvement that deals with remodeling our families and our roles as parents, spouses, and children. Brothers and Sisters, before followers of God can improve the world, we must start inside our own homes. Over the next seven weeks we will learn how to place God in the forefront of our marriages and our relationships with our children.


Beloved, Jesus Christ is the Great Home Builder and the Great Home Improvement Expert and placing him in charge of our home renovations is the only way to start on a solid and firm foundation. Many families today are at risk and their homes are at risk of crumbling to the ground under the weight of:

• Divorce
• Substance Abuse
• Pornography 
• Materialism
• Infidelity 
• And most importantly, turning away from God in reference to the construction of our families

We hope to see you attend as we learn what God has to say about the construction of our family units. We meet at First Christian Church in Benton Kentucky, 2515 South Main Street. Church School at 9:45 AM and Worship at 10:45 AM

Let God be the contractor in your home renovation!

Tim (The Tool-Man Polley)

Being Still/Listening/Memory Building and Cherishing.

Brothers and Sisters I write this blog entry from vacation.

As I sit on the patio next to our travel trailer and watch the sun come up over the pond behind us, my emphasis is on listening to God's creation around me. Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that he is God, and as I relax and enjoy quality time with Lynne and Ben, I feel God's call to just soak this time in.

Vacation time will come and go as fast as the blink of an eye, but the memories that we build and cherish will last a lifetime. My prayer for you this week is that you will take time to just stop and listen to the sounds that God has created for you, build memories and cherish them for a lifetime.

Back to Memory Building
Pastor Tim

What is Outreach?

Brothers and Sisters, what is a church if it does not go out and profess the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Many would say that a church that does not do outreach is just a club for like believers, instead of a God inspired and directed ministry of Christ Jesus! God did not provide us church buildings as to build a wall around us and the rest of God's creation, churches were created to assemble God's people for the purpose of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who will listen (inside and outside of the walls of the church).

Acts 1:8 tells us: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”


Beloved this verse does not tell us that we are to be witnesses only in one enclosed location, but to be witnesses to the ends of the earth for Jesus Christ. 


This weekend (July 22) we at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Benton Kentucky have two excellent Holy Spirited provided outreach opportunities. The Gospel Messengers will be in concert Sunday morning at 10:45 at FCC Benton. We extend an invitation to come to this concert, not as a membership tool, but as an opportunity to feed those that are hungry for God's word.


Additionally, on Sunday night (July 22) we will be hosting the Air Evac Life-team at our church from 5-7 PM. This will be an opportunity for us to share the space that God has provided for us with others, while learning more about this crucial and lifesaving entity that is available to us in Marshall County.


Our address is: 
First Christian Church
2515 South Main Street
Benton Kentucky, 42025


Brothers and Sisters, God calls us all to look deeply inside of ourselves and to consider what type of ministry we can do in the outside world of God's creation.

Blessed to be with you in outreach
Pastor Tim.

Monday's Are Made For Being Made Anew

As I drove into the church parking lot this morning, I could not help but notice the results of last nights rain storm. Previously the grass had started to turn brown from the extended heat and drought conditions that have been with us. But when I drove into the church parking lot I noticed that yesterdays brown grass had begun to turn green once again.

Yes, we have been praying for rain and last night God responded. It may not of been enough for some of us, but our prayers continue for enough rain to save our crops and to fill our water supplies. This green grass reminded me of my baptism in Christ Jesus and in the fact that through the life saving waters of Christ, I was made anew.

Our baptisms transformed our once burnt up and damaged lives into new blades of life restoring grass that constantly reach to the Son (sun) for strength and growth. The same opportunity can be done every Monday when we return to the beginning of our week, in the fact that God has given us a new opportunity to start the week anew and refreshed.

So as we begin our week let us go to our baptisms and start our week anew, just like that rain refreshed blade of grass that is soaking up the life restoring waters of our creator God. This is an opportunity to remember the words that your preachers spoke yesterday, and the opportunity to incorporate his or her message into your Monday.

May Your Monday Be Refreshed

Pastor Tim.

It's Hard To Be Humble When You Are Perfect in Every Way !

Here in Western Kentucky we have a radio station that plays nothing but the golden oldies of county music. As I was driving down the road the other day listening to Willie 102 FM, a song came on that I have not heard in years, it was Mac Davis Singing: "O Lord It's Hard To Be Humble When I'm Perfect In Every Way." This song speak or sings about someone that is very conceited and believes that they are God's gift to humanity. What a perfect way to roll into the text from 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10 in which the Apostle Paul talks about people of faith being humble. Brothers and Sisters, the Apostle Paul talks about us boasting through our weaknesses and imperfections. 


The Apostle Paul states in verse seven:  Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan,to torment me. The Apostle Paul is trying to tell us that those that boast and brag are not doing the true ministry of God and that a thorn will be sent to throw a persons conceitedness off the cliff.  The gift of imperfectness is in the fact that we serve a God that loves us so much that his strength is sent to us in and during our lowest moments.


Brothers and Sisters, my prayer for all of this week is that we will listen to the following words of Christ" "My grace is sufficient for you , for my power is made perfect in weakness." Beloved, be strong in your faith and in the fact that we are not perfect, only God is. The strength that we take is the fact that God sent his   Son to die for we imperfect beings that are weak. God loves us so much that his strength is manifested to us when we are at our lowest and in our deepest darkest places. 


So as we go forth, maybe we should change the words of the song to: "O Lord it's a blessing to be humble and know that God is perfect in every way."


Wishing you a very blessed and safe Fourth of July.
God Bless America

Being humble is more important than being wise, because God doesn't need a proud mouth that speaks much, but a kind heart that listens.


Pastor Tim.

God Bless America

Timing and Expectations

One morning while sitting in my office checking e-mail and of course Facebook, I learned of a trailer fire that occurred in our county. I drove out to the scene and looked at the devastation first hand, and looked in awe at what fire can do to a family dwelling. While I was thankful for God's protection in the fact that no lives were lost and that physical hurt did not occur, I wondered what I could do and why God had called me on that day?

Even though I didn't know these folks, I  understood that they are linked to me as fellow members of God's creation and that God linked us to each other outside of denominational affiliations. What is it like to lose everything? What would it be like to walk in their shoes? These are questions that we must ask ourselves.

Mark 5:21-43 tells us of a woman that had been bleeding for twelve years and of a family whose daughter had passed away. Both of these situations must have felt hopeless to those incurring them and only one thing drove them to healing and resurrected life: The healing and life giving touch of Jesus Christ!

Why did the woman have to wait twelve years to be healed? Why did the the girl live twelve years, only to die? The answer to these questions is unknown, but the healing occurred in God's timing and God's love, that defy expectations and rules that this world tries to place on itself.

Why did this families trailer burn down and why did  they lose everything, why did God place me here at that time and on that day. Maybe it was to be the body of Christ to those that were like the bleeding woman and the young girl who died. Brothers and Sisters God places us in situations at different times and places in God's time as to show them the body of Christ, and to let them know that in their deepest and darkest moments, God has not left them.

So next time God calls you and places you in a position to help those in need and dispear, don't ask why me, just know that God has selected the place and the time for you to be his witness, his servant and his church to those that need him at that very time and that very moment.

Remember, God calls and places us on his time, and never our.

Pastor Tim