Welcome to Restoration Fellowship Int'l (RFI), where we strive to connect our members and guests to a life in Christ. We strongly believe in love, faith, and the Word.

The YouVersion App is a great tool that enables you to dive deeper into your relationship with God. You can read the Bible, highlight, bookmark, create images, write notes, and share with others, all in one place!

It offers daily verses and devotional plans that you can do either publically or privately, individually or in a group, and it can even send you a daily reminder.

In addition to all these awesome features, Pastor Tom's sermons can be accessed each Sunday.

Follow along and have the outline right at your fingertips by

simply: clicking on the "More" tab, then scroll down to "Events",

There you will see a list of locations,

select "Restoration Fellowship Int'l" to access our outline.

You can also highlight and save notes from here! Neat!

It is available for FREE in your app store. :)

Pastor Tom would invite you to join him in reading the Bible Plan, "How to Battle Fear" in the app.

https://bible.com/p/25889431/1c88be7ad16a2e5e8a9e36409c291ff4

Vaccines lead the news this week, so Focus on the Family President Jim Daly addresses the subject on today’s daily radio broadcast.

There’s a lot of energy surrounding the topic and it’s one where good people might see things differently.

Over 2,000 years ago, the Latin writer Publilius Syrus declared, “Agreement is made more precious by disagreement.”  

“Always be willing to look at both sides of the argument,” said the late Jim Rohn. “Understanding the other side is the best way to strengthen your own.”

1. COVID-19 Vaccines: What You Need to Know

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly writes:

You’ve no doubt heard many things about the coronavirus vaccines that are currently being rolled out.

Many of you have contacted us here at Focus on the Family with questions about the vaccine, so today on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Covid-19 Vaccines: What You Need to Know” we want to get the information you need to keep you and your family safe and healthy.

Focus on the Family has 35 medical professionals who comprise our Physician’s Resource Council and who guide our ministry’s health content. I’ve invited two of them to join me today to answer the most common questions we’re hearing from our listeners. They are both infectious disease specialists.

Dr. Daniel Hinthorn is a board-certified physician at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dr. Scott James is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.

We’ll discuss questions such as:

Are they safe?

What are the risks?

What about vaccines with fetal cells from abortion?

How long does the vaccine last?

Should we take the vaccine to protect others, especially those at risk?

Do we continue with masks/handwashing even after receiving the vaccine?

What about Christmas plans with family?

Should we trust the government’s guidelines?

How bad could the pandemic have been if government protocols hadn’t been followed?

Where could the pandemic be heading in the months ahead?

While I know there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the issue of vaccines, I believe we can thank God for this provision. Even through this challenging time, God is working and will work all things for good.

Tune in to the program on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or on our free phone app.

2. Doctors Talk COVID Vaccines on Friday’s Focus on the Family Broadcast

From The Daily Citizen:

On Friday, December 18, Jim Daly, the President of Focus on the Family and host of the ministry’s daily radio broadcast, along with co-host John Fuller, are joined by two very special guests, Dr. Daniel Hinthorn and Dr. Scott James to talk about COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Hinthorn and Dr. James are both infectious disease specialists; Dr. Hinthorn practices in Kansas, and Dr. James in Alabama. Both are members of Focus on the Family’s Physicians Resource Council (PRC). For years, 35 to 40 doctors on the PRC have met twice a year at the Focus campus. They look at the ministry’s medical information, and our medical advice, to ensure that it’s medically accurate. They help Focus analyze bioethical issues. In the words of Jim Daly, “They have been a cornerstone to the effort at Focus on the Family for many years.”

Now that the Pfizer vaccine is rapidly being deployed across the country, with the Moderna vaccine expected to follow closely in the near future, people are seriously confronting the question of whether they and their loved ones should receive a vaccination.

While Focus on the Family won’t advise you how to make that decision, the Friday broadcast will help in answering the questions that you may have about the vaccines, such as:

How do vaccines work?

Were any shortcuts taken in the development of the new vaccines that should be of concern since they were produced in record time?

How are the new vaccines different from the typical vaccines that use weakened or dead viruses?

Is there any truth to the rumors that these vaccines can change your DNA?

3. Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine Gets Backing From FDA Advisory Panel

From the WSJ:

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended Thursday that Moderna Inc.’s MRNA 5.09% Covid-19 vaccine be cleared for broad use, setting the stage for the FDA to grant an expected emergency-use authorization by late Friday.

The advisory panel’s vote was 20-0, with one abstention, to recommend use of the Moderna vaccine for people 18 years of age and older. That puts it in line to become the second Covid-19 vaccine to be granted an emergency use authorization, following the FDA’s green light of a vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE last week.

“The evidence for the vaccine highly outweighs any issues that we have seen,” said panel member Hayley Gans, a Stanford University pediatrics professor.

The vote came as the coronavirus pandemic continued its rampage, with a record 247,000 U.S. cases reported Wednesday alongside peaks in reported deaths and hospitalizations.

“We’re talking about a pandemic where we really need to move this forward, and there’s really an effort to get this done quickly,” said committee member Dr. Steven Pergam, infectious-disease specialist with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. “There’s no doubt in my mind that it looks like the benefits outweigh the risks.”

4. What a Frank Luntz Poll Tells Us About COVID

From RCP:

Republicans and Democrats see the threat of COVID-19 very differently – both in how serious they think it is and what our country should do about it. But there is a lot of agreement about effective versus detrimental language. Respondents viewed “stay-at-home orders” more positively than “lockdowns” and preferred “personal responsibility” over “national duty.” They want policies that are based on “facts,” “science,” and “data” rather than policies that are “evidence-based,” “sensible,” or “reasonable.”  

The poll revealed several tips for anyone communicating about the pandemic, such as:  

Don’t make your message just about the consequences of failure. It must also be the benefits of success.  

Personalize, humanize, and individualize the pandemic and its consequences.  

Don’t let politics or partisanship slip into your messaging.  

Emphasize that the science is settled. Wearing masks, social distancing, and hand washing slow the spread of the virus. Period.