At Home with Pastor Tim Ousley

AT HOME WITH PASTOR TIM OUSELY

 of

North Mission Church of Christ

1410 E Mile 3 Road

Palmhurst, TX 78573

956-585-0146

www.northmissionchurch.com

 

Valley Christian Magazine had the opportunity to sit and chat with Pastor  Tim Ousley of North Mission Church of Christ:

How long has North Mission Church of Christ been here on 3 Mile line in Mission/Palmhurst?

 

Since Feb 1992, before we were down over on 495 at the now Ric Brown Funeral Home.  That used to be our building. We moved out here in 1999. That was when we built the building and bought the property.

 

Great set-up out here…tell us about it

It’s kind of a strange yet great God Thing. Back in the early 1990’s we would double in size, mostly due to the Winter Texans and other older generation.

 

By about 1995 and 1996 things were going well and just by God’s timing, we added several new families. One of the members that had joined us was a very successful businessman in McAllen and a very generous person. One day we were driving around and he asked ‘Where do we want to build a building? We can’t stay where we’re at…we’re land locked.”

 

As it turns out, we had our eye on a piece of property very close to where we are now but the price was way high. We then drove by this piece of property and it had a faded sign. Turns out an older out of town couple bought the property a long time ago.

 

We explained what we wanted to do with the property and they asked for a price that was well within our budget.

Share about some of the Ministries you all are doing here at NMCOC?

We are doing a number of local ministries with our community. We offer a Food Pantry, Partnered with City of Palmhurst with National Night Out, offer Financial Peace University, Upwards Soccer, Living Water, and we offer a jogging track for our community.

 

National Night Out?

We had a great opportunity to partner with the City of Palmhurst and help host the National Night Out. There was a large presence of our community here along with the police, fire department, and so much more. It was great that we were able to partner with our city.

 

Living Waters?

When we first built our church, what can we do to help build community? We decided to build a walking track with fields for sports activities and have it completely open to the public. Living waters is ministry where you will see members come out to the track and pass out free water to those walking and exercising. People are like what? It’s free? That opens up the door to just share a little about Christ and just show God’s love in a practical way.

 

Let’s talk about Upwards Soccer….Why Upwards?

Part of it is because we have this property….this field….what can we do with it for God?  It’s a Christian Based organization/activity…it’s a great way to minister to people who take part. Some people that come are churched and others may not have a church home. It’s a great way to build relationships.

 

How do you think that affects the parents, especially those who typically don’t go to church?

They can see that we are normal.  e are not freaks.  t helps them to see…a lot of time their only images of Christians are those they see in the news. Negative stories. What they are seeing are Christians who are actually serving them.

 

How many people do you have here on game day?

We probably average about 300-500 people on any given Saturday. It’s a lot. It’s great!

 

Jesus said if you lift Me up I will draw all men unto Me. Our goal is to life Him up. Our mission is to Reach in and Reach out into the glory of God. We want to serve and to minister to our community so they can see the love of Jesus. We are just doing what we can.

 

It sounds like you are doing just that…

You know…it’s so easy to get introverted. It’s easy to spend all your time, money and resources on yourself. We really strive not to be self-centered but serve others.

 

Let’s chat about Pastor Tim…

How long have you been married?

31 years! We met in Waxahachie…Dallas area. Me and a few others guys moved there from Missouri. I tried doing everything…driving a truck. You name it. That’s when we met.

 

When did you feel the call to be come a Pastor?

Once I accepted Christ, it was within 6 months of conversion.

 

Tell us about that…

After a bad stint, God did some crazy things to turn around my life. I grew up not a ‘good’ person.  My wife grew up in a Church of Christ…super conservative, super legalistic. I never wanted to go to church with her. I felt like I didn’t fit in. I wasn’t good enough. The way I was living throughout the week didn’t match up with what was happening on Sunday.

 

One night I knew. I changed. I always knew “of Jesus” and was baptized but never really knew what to do after that. I was back in the world doing what I always knew to do. That night I was seriously convicted and knew I wanted a new life and to change things.

 

That same week, my friend Mike invited us to a couple’s bible study that he was teaching.  I said yes let’s go! I went from staying out all night doing who-knows-what to staying up late studying the bible.

 

It actually freaked my wife out. She had wanted me to change but didn’t know that my life had actually changed that dramatically.

 

How did you wind up here in Mission, TX?

That same guy who had invited us to the couples bible study moved down here to Brownsville.  He had been dogging me to come on down to the Valley…”It’s the greatest place on the planet!  People are open and they want to hear about the gospel.”

 

Turns out I had been offered a job in Iowa.  Mission had heard that I had been offered the job and figured that I had taken it. I followed up and informed them that I wasn’t going to take the job offer. So they invited down to visit.

 

After our visit while we were pulling out of the Valley, my wife and I looked at each other and both said that this is where we are supposed to go.  We just knew it.

 

Time for fun…Let’s do some Pastor Tim VS questions…

Kindle VS Hardback                    Kindle!

Chicken VS Steak                 Steak

Salad VS Potato                    YES!

Dessert VS Coffee                 Dessert

Do you Drink Coffee?          Oh Yeah!  Just like dessert more!

Caf VS Decaf                           Caf…WHY DRINK IT?!

T-Shirt VS Tie                       T-Shirt!  I felt sorry for your photographer!

Flip Flops VS Tennis Shoes            Tennies!!

NFL VS College                   I enjoy occasionally but not an extreme fanatic…I’d say College. Never been nuts about watching it unless my kids were playing.

 

Describe yourself in 3 words?

Plain and simple.

 

One more…that’s 2…

No…PLAIN AND SIMPLE  [haha] That’s three words! Nah, I’m just kidding. Let me see…ordinary. I’m not a great orator. Not a brainchild. Not an intellect. I’m a very common person.

 

How about three words to describe your wife?

Sacrificial, Mother, Dedicated. Best mother of children on the planet! My kids are the great kids they are because of her! Now when they became teenagers…Do you have teenagers (NOT YET…JUST ABOUT TO)

She was great with them during that time. She really knew what to do. Amazing!

 

Why do you think people struggle with the idea of going to church?

It’s irrelevant to them. They can’t find any relevance with the church.

 

People are too busy. And often times, it doesn’t come across very relevant. Churches have church language. Church life. We “do” church.

 

Often times we don’t connect real life and faith. So they struggle. Others have been burned or turned off by negative stereotypes. Some people don’t feel accepted because of their background.

 

A lot of times churches get lumped into one big pile. Truth is there are no two churches alike even if they have the same name.

 

What is your hope for people when they come to your church for the first time?

My hope is when they come they will find love, acceptance, warmth, and that will lead them to Jesus. It’s really Jesus working through each one of us.

 

Because I didn’t grow up with the church as a kid, I missed out on all those years of what church could be to a family.  When I became a Christian the church became my family.

 

It doesn’t matter where you live or where you moved from…we are the family of God.

 

Someone who doesn’t really go to church…Explain that to them if they want to check out North Mission Church of Christ…

We want to be a place where people can come and grow. It’s a matter of your journey.

We have a number of people who come here who are not Christians. They are welcome here. Not just come in and sit but actually come in and get involved.

 

I get calls from people who aren’t a part of our church yet wanting to know how they can get involved and volunteer here.  I thought, well that’s weird; I haven’t had that happen before.

 

No matter where they are. Relationships problems. Sin issues. We don’t push…we let you come and be. We are not going to hurry you up and just try and get you baptized. Now that IS what we are about. We do eventually want you to get saved but not everyone after their first visit or so are just like poof, they’re ready.

 

We are this way because of my background; people did not give up on me. My wife didn’t give up on me. Her family. The church…even though I was pretty worthless. They just kept believing and kept trusting God. They let me grow. So on any given Sunday at our church we will have people of all different stages…and they’re welcome!

 

Jesus prayed John 17 that we would be one…just as He and the Father are one. Every way we can…we need to demonstrate that. I am thankful for our church family.