About TLCF

Our Mission | Our Genesis | Our Doctrinal Statement of Faith | Our Vision

Our Mission

It is the aim of True Light Christian Fellowship to share the love of Jesus Christ with one another, the family, the community, and the world through Christian fellowship and quality, Holy Spirit-determined preaching and the exegetical teaching of God's holy word, the Bible.

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Our Genesis

The genesis of True Light Christian Fellowship is now etched in history.

In October of 1996, four families and a couple of interested saints began to gather together and discuss what everyone felt the Holy Spirit of God seemed to be indicating to them- the time to organize a new fellowship had come, and the time to step out in faith was upon them. The group began to pray and seek God, not wanting to move in their own strength. After all, anyone could "start" a church, and declare God's blessing upon it without even hearing from Him. This group didn't want to make that mistake, so they moved cautiously and prayerfully.

In January of 1997, the group of saints unanimously decided that their undershepherd should be Ronson C. Hall, and Jodie E. McGarity, Sr. his assistant. They also agreed that the name of the church would be True Light Christian Fellowship, finding the name's biblical base in the book of John, the first chapter and the ninth verse referring to the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9, King James Version)

They continued to plan and pray, and then agreed it would be fitting that the first official worship service be Palm Sunday, March 23rd. Along the way, Brothers Hall and McGarity sought out and received helpful and blessed instruction & counsel from Rev. Jim O'Neil and Rev. Dick Dickson from Alamo City Christian Fellowship, Rev. John Kyle, Minister Jack Jennings, Rev. Louis & Beverly Kaupp of Covenant Church, and Rev. Charles McIntyre of Pool of Siloam Baptist Church.

The church successfully reached an agreement with Ella Austin Community Center to use their auditorium each Sunday, and shortly thereafter began to have Bible Study in various members' homes on Wednesday nights. True Light Christian Fellowship's "charter members" were: Pastor Ronson C. and Cathy Hall and their four daughters; Assistant Pastor Jodie E. McGarity, Sr., his wife Vanessa and their four children; Brother Chris & Joann Knox and their two children; Sister RosaLinda Draker & her husband, Mark, and brother David & Lisa Schoellhorn and their two children.

Under the leadership of Pastor Hall and the hard work and diligence of the members, the church continued to grow in love and in attendance! The agreement between TLCF and Ella Austin expired, and after talking to a gentleman named Anthony Nicholas, Rev. Jodie found a potential new home for True Light -in a building where Mr. Nicholas' family ran their barbecue restaurant! The church members agreed to the location, and Lubaby's Barbecue at 335 Austin Rd. behind Ft. Sam Houston found a "warm spot" in the hearts of True Light. TLCF held Sunday Worship in this location from June 23, 1997 until the restaurant closed in February of 1999.

The church had experienced steady, strong growth and after spending one Sunday at the Copernicus Recreation Center on Lord Rd., God mightily blessed TLCF to reach an agreement with Pastor Jim Grant and the members of Beacon Hill Baptist Church to take up occupancy in the "Educational Wing" of their campus. After some reasonable amounts of hard work, repairs, old-fashioned "elbow grease" and a lot of love, TLCF held their first service in the facility on February 21, 1999. For the first time, the church enjoyed enough room in a facility to hold all its activities in one building.

The church is now anticipating the completion of a new worship center and is temporarily holding services at Hawthorn Suites Inn, 6900 IH 35 North (The Lone Star Room) until their church is ready.

True Light Christian Fellowship, under the anointing of God and the direction of the Holy Spirit continues to thrive, seeing men, women, boys and girls come to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through clear, direct preaching and teaching, and our array of outreach ministries and the sweet fellowship of the saints, TLCF holds our years of existence up to the Lord to thank Him for his many blessings toward us. We humbly and earnestly resolve as a part of the "called out assembly" to continue to "Illuminate the soul by rightly dividing the Word!

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Our Doctrinal Statement of Faith

I. The Scriptures
We believe the Bible from Genesis to Revelation to be verbally inspired of God. And, because it is inspired (lit. "breathed out") by God, the original documents are without error of any kind (2 Timothy 3:16, John 17:17), and that they have been preserved without error to this very day. The Scriptures are authoritative in all matters of faith and conduct.

II. The Trinity
We believe that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to be the one and only true God. There is one God manifested in three persons (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 1 Peter 1:2, Jude 20-22).

III. God The Father
We believe God is Elohim (Genesis 1:1), the one (Deut 6:4), ultimate (Ps. 97:9; Is. 40:12-31), eternal Being (Ps. 90:2), who rules (Ps. 115:3), and sustains all that exists.

IV. Jesus Christ
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. We believe in His virgin birth; whereupon, Jesus Christ was 100% man and 100% God all in the same person. We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day following His voluntary, sacrificial, and substitutionary death on the cross (1 Corinthians 15). He is in fact Savior (Acts 4:12), Life (John 14:6), and Lord (Rom. 10:9,13) to all who put their trust in Him. We wholly, unequivocally believe in Christ's physical, bodily return (Acts 1:11).

V. The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, truly God and therefore co-equal with the Father and the Son (Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:3,4; 2 Cor. 13:14) He seals us to guarantee our ultimate salvation (2 Cor. 1:21,22; Eph. 1:13,14; 4:30). He fills us when we yield to Him, giving us power for both life and ministry (Acts 6:3; 13:9-12; Eph. 5:18-21). He produces Christian character in us (Gal. 5:22,23). He teaches us (1 Cor 2:10). He intercedes for us because we do not know how to pray (Rom. 8:26,27). He enables us to discern false teaching about Christ (1 John 2:20-27), and He guides us (Rom. 8:14).

VI. Salvation
We believe that salvation is by grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:14,23; Titus 3:4-6, 1 John 2:2, Hebrews 2:9). Salvation is freely offered to ALL who will repent of their unbelief and accept by faith the finished work of Jesus Christ in their behalf on Calvary's cross (Ephesians 2:8,9). Jesus Christ died for ALL men.

VII. Justification
Men are justified by faith alone (Romans 3:28), and are accounted righteous before God only through the merit of the LORD Jesus Christ. Justification establishes an eternal relationship that can never be broken (Romans 4, Galatians 3).

VIII. The Eternal State
We believe in the everlasting, conscious, blessedness on the saved in Heaven, and the everlasting, conscious punishment of the lost in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 7:9-14; 21:8).

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Our Vision

With an excitement and passion that glorifies our Savior Jesus Christ, TLCF purposes to spend our first three years strengthening and building our "core" of saints. We will strengthen and equip this core by placing emphasis on the efficacy of the unadulterated Word of God (Hebrews 4:12), by partaking in its effect on the believer (Hebrews 10: 19-25), and realizing the efficiency of the Holy Spirit's ministry of teaching (John 14:26), guidance (John 16:13), and edification (Acts 9:31).

During and after this time, TLCF will encourage from the core group a fulfillment of the ministry our God has provided to each and every believer (Ephesians 4:7-16).

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