BREAKING NEWS

I interrupt our vacation for this breaking news report. Caleb our oldest son just received his first pedicure Wed. night from his sister Sarah.

At supper that night, Caleb and I were in a debate about whether or not there were any MLB games on TV. He said he was sure that there were, and I said I don’t believe there were any. We went back and forth, and I asked him what he was willing to bet

We couldn’t decide on a good bet until Sarah said that the one who was wrong had to get their toe nails painted. Both of us agreed.

Well… there were no major league baseball games that night. Caleb was a great sport and allowed his sister who relished the job to paint his toe nails.

Here are the pictures of some beautiful toes.

KICKING OFF

These are some pretty exciting days around NewPointe. God has blessed us in incredible ways, and the main reason is not for us to revel in it, but to leverage it for God’s purposes. I want to personally ask you to commit to pray as we do our best to exercise the influence God has given us. Here are some specific things:

1. “Go ’08” food drive in July with a goal of 1,500 boxes of food for the local food pantries. It starts this Sunday. Bring your boxes.



2. Service Sunday on August 3. We want to bless our community with the kindness and love of Jesus Christ through acts of service.

3. Sports Ministry Launch – Ben Carver is joining the NewPointe staff to lead us in leveraging this opportunity and build bridges within our community.

4. Small Groups push – In September we will launch a church-wide small group push. We are shooting for over 200 groups. The theme is “One Month to Live” -- living a life of no regrets. It promises to be life changing.

5. Stewardship Campaign --- Big vision takes big dollars. We want to continue to fulfill the vision God has given us. This will happen in Nov. 08.

6. Two Church Satellites – We’re looking to explore possible locations in Sugarcreek and Canton.

7. Middle East Focus -- There are 25,000 villages and towns in Egypt that have no church.

As you can see, much of this is focused on blessing others. One might ask, “What are we doing, giving all of these resources away during an economic crisis?” Well, it is during a crisis that we have the biggest opportunity to show how great and awesome is our God.

As you read scripture, you see one example after another of people living generous lives when everybody else is living with an attitude of scarcity and God using those people to influence others around them.

Let me encourage you to read 1 Kings 17:1-16. It is the story of Elijah the prophet asking a woman to take her last little bit of flour and oil and make him something to eat. He said if she would do what he asked, she would not lack flour or oil even though there was a famine in her land.

Guess what? God was faithful. The woman gave what she had, and God performed miracles on her behalf.

Let me encourage you to finish reading the chapter.

In verse 17 you catch the phrase “Sometime later….” There is always a “sometime later” in our lives. God is always preparing us for those times. He does so by asking us to trust him now in what he calls us to do.

So let’s start now with generous living. Our first opportunity begins this weekend with the “Go ‘08” food drive. Let me encourage you to fill your boxes with food, and bring them this Sunday as we kick off this great season of intentionally blessing and influencing others.

Amazing

As you know we did not have “church” Sunday. As a group were standing around in the parking after we learned that the electric wasn’t going to be on until later in the day, someone brought up the thought about the offering in a joking way . It was suggested that what we should do it get a huge bucket and as people drove up we could tell them that church had to be canceled but they could put there offering in the large bucket as they circled back around to back home. Everyone laughed .

Personally, I wasn’t nervous , or anxious a bit. I know the people of Newpointe. I have seen it happen too often. The people of Newpointe practice giving as an act of worship and stewardship.

It has been amazing to watch how people send in their tithes and offering in by mail. You see to them it is more than just the need to pay bills, and stay with the budget . It is worship. It is an expression of their thanks, gratitude of love for God.

Guess what ? That is exactly what is happening again.

I just want you to know how thankful I am to all of you for your consistent giving that you give to God through Newpointe. It is because of your generous spirit, that NewPointe is impacting the World for Christ.

I have heard a many stories about the gifts NewPointe has given to our community through the 90 day tithe challenge. People can't believe it.

It has been my prayer that NewPointe be known as the most generous church.

Guess what ? It is happening.

You folks amazing !

21st Century Leaders DNA

Gas prices this summer have hit over $4 per gallon, and it seems that everyone is appalled and talking about it. But it is interesting that we pay more for bottled water than that. Dasani bottled water from Coke costs at least $1 for 16 ounces. That would be $8 per gallon—for water! Wow! Our thinking sometimes gets skewed, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t just happen with our money, but it also happens with how we spend our time too. The most valuable thing that we have as people is time, yet many times as a leader we run out of it.

I have a card on my desk with a list of questions that Bill Easum says that we should ask about our leadership.

Who will I mentor today?

Instead of what am I going to do today?

Who will I discover?

Instead of what is my job?

How many others can I equip?

Instead of how much I can do?

Who can I equip to go and disciple others?

Instead of who can I disciple today?

The most important question of our time is

What is it about my relationship with Jesus that the world cannot live without knowing ?

Missing You

Can you believe it? We were unable to have “church” at Newpointe yesterday because the storms knocked out our electric. I always look forward to being able to see, talk, celebrate, and worship together with the family of NewPointe. I don’t know people I would rather be with.

It is my prayer though that it didn’t stop you from having church. It is great to know that God is able to be worshiped, celebrated, and loved any where and at any time. So I trust that you will find a few moments to celebrate, worship, rest and connect to God
.
Next Sunday we are starting a new series called ‘Untypical“. You don’t want to miss it .

PS. Remember this Wednesday is First Wednesday.

Just a minute

Earlier this year, there was a major uproar in the Christian community about Willowcreek Community Church admitting that they had gotten it all wrong-- that they had repented of leading other leaders and churches down the wrong path.

Those who have disagreed with Willow philosophy and emphasis on reaching the lost jumped on this with glee, sighting that they knew it was wrong all along and it wasn’t biblical.

Well -- corrections and further information is now coming forth. A friend of mine was sharing with me this thought. It is amazing, sometimes that we who are called to be people of truth find it so easy believe, agree with and pass on the salacious information.

Here is Tony Morgan’s blog if you are more interested in knowing the full story.

http://tonymorganlive.com/2008/06/26/leadership-journal-editor-responds-to-willows-video/

No Island

My life influences people . Guess what ? So does yours.

Sunday, I shared about leveraging our influence—the influence that God has given NewPointe--influences and resources, not to make us comfortable but to position us to make a difference in our world. One of the things that I said was I would rather fail at attempting to fulfill what God is calling us to than to succeed in the eyes of men and fail in God’s eyes. I mentioned that I am even willing to be misunderstood.

A young man came up after the service and said, “Dwight, I want to share something with you. Your obedience affects my obedience, so please always be obedient to God even if it means being misunderstood.”

I want to challenge you today to remember that your obedience affects other people’s obedience. It gives people the courage to do the right thing, when they see others obeying God. You are either influencing people towards Christ or away from Christ.

PS. Every action and every word either causes you to gain influence with others or lose it.