Breakfast of Champions

Swimming sensation and winner of 8 gold medals, Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success --and it involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day. When asked what he needs to win medals, he said, "Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I can." By comparison, the average man of the same age needs to ingest about 2,000 calories a day.

Michael swam 17 times in 9 days, meaning that he would need all the calories he can shovel in his mouth in order to keep his energy levels high. Phelps' diet, which involves ingesting 4,000 calories every time he sits down for a meal, resembles that of a reckless overeater rather than an Olympian. Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes. That is just breakfast. (USAToday)

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I Corinthians 9:24-27

Sometimes ministry is just as demanding and draining, if not more. If you are in ministry--and I am not talking just about the position of a pastor--here is my challenge to you. You need to make sure you are taking spiritual calories into your spiritual system if you are going to maintain the energy and edge that you need to be productive and fruitful in the work God has called you. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking we can give of ourselves or minister time and time again without paying attention to what we're taking in. God expects us to grow up in Him to be self-feeders, and we are the ones who are responsible for our own spiritual intake. We need to be very intentional about spending time in God's word, communing with Him in prayer, and ingesting good spiritual reading materials in order to feed ourselves. Our ministries can only be powerful and effective if we minister out of an overflow of our souls.

I want to encourage you to closely monitor your own spiritual diet. Are you starving yourself or being filled with healthy, nourishing spiritual food?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

Legalize It

Friday night I had a great time with our three boys Caleb, Jonathan and Benjamin . I usually take them to an Indians game during the summer and had not fulfilled that yet. Summer has been clipping along at an exciting but fast pace. I decided to take them last night because next week they start school.

We went with no tickets, thinking that we'd be able to find tickets easily when we got there since the Indians are not in the playoff hunt this year. Well, I didn’t realize it was fire works night. Along with that, the Indians were playing the LA Angels with Cliff Lee going after his 17th win.

Well, we got there and bumped into a guy who was selling tickets for $40 each. I told him that was not in our budget and moved on. Got up around the stadium, and a guy said he had 4 tickets behind home plate. He wanted $35 per ticket. I told him that it was out of my budget, but I'd give him the $105 I had in my pocket. He reluctantly agreed and then said, "I need you to buy these peanuts, to make it legal." I am not use to dealing this way and was a little confused. I think I just bought the most expensive bag of peanuts ever with the tickets thrown in for good measure.

Anyway, it was a beautiful night all the way around. The seats were great. The weather was great. The game was great. The time with the boys was great. Cliff Lee pitched a complete game with the Indians winning 3 to 2.

No!

Does anybody have the right to tell you no?

Is there anyone who you have to submit to or yield to?

Do you mainly call all the shots in your life?

It is the goal of most people to get to a point in life where we answer those first two questions with an affirmative NO!-- to get to the point where we don’t have to be answerable to anyone or do anything we don’t want to do. It happens for many reasons.

Sometimes it is because of hurts, abuse, etc., that we have received at the hands of people who had authority and control over us. It could be a parent, a boss, a coach, whoever, but we made a pact to ourselves that we would never allow ourselves to be in that situation again.

Sometimes it is just because of the sin nature we were born with. I don’t want to submit, yield, or be told what to do. Whenever someone makes a statement, it sets off negative reactions inside of us.

Scripture tells us that “Pride goes before the fall.”

Another way to put it is, "Being egocentric and narcissistic goes before the fall."

This past week, we learned about a former presidential candidate who has brought down his dream of ever becoming president, not to mention the devastated wake of people that have been left behind.

"Two years ago I made a very serious mistake," John Edwards said during an interview, "All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want." "In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic."

For you and I to guard against this, we must consistently put ourselves in positions where we experience authentic accountability. We must place ourselves in a relationship where we are sometimes asked to do things we don’t want to do and to have to submit to someone. This is humbling because we flat out may not want to do it or have worked so we wouldn’t be in this position. If you find yourself always in the position of giving orders, instead of taking them, you are a prime candidate to become increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. This is very dangerous.

Just read and listen to the story of John Edwards' last two years.

The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. One of his best strategies is a well fed self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want.

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Matthew 26:41

Go 08, Pictures, Status, & Stories

Final Numbers of Go 08

1. 60 work projects
2. 15 towns
3. 5 school districts
4. 1400 volunteers
5. 9,912 cookies delivered to hospitals and nursing homes.
6. 6300 hour man hours given
7. $63000 worth of labor donated to our communities
8. 1720 boxes of food given to 5 area food banks

Life Changing Stories :

1.Our family participated in the community impact day by picking up trash along state route 39 going from the church into Sugarcreek. It was a dirty job to say the least but we felt good doing something that most people wouldn't think of doing because we were serving the community and God. Our son got a pretty nasty cut on his leg and he had to go to the First Care facility down in Dover for a tetanus shot. They had received cookies from our church and were so thankful and had such nice things to say to us. The doctor told our son that he was proud of him for doing the good thing even if it didn't have the greatest outcome for him personally and that he hoped our son wouldn't let the bad dissuade him from doing things like that in the future. All in all it was a tough, dirty, sweaty job but we did it as a family and we are thankful for the opportunity and experience.

2. We chose to go to Schoenbrunn Nursing Home in New Phila, hoping to bless and put a smile on at least 1 person. It turned out we were the ones that were blessed. We met and spoke with some wonderful people who really get you thinking about your own life and to enjoy every minute of every day, and not to take anything for granted because you never know what is in the future. As we were leaving my youngest son Jonathan said "Mom that was a lot of fun, can we do that every day?" I wanted to say thanks for having this special day, It really made me go out of my comfort zone, and I really enjoyed it. THANK YOU!

3. I prayed about how I could impact people. My health issues limit what I can do, but I really wanted to participate. I decided I could make floral arrangements that could be passed out to encourage people. So I made 25 to 30 floral arrangements that people delivered to hospice families and others.

4. I helped prepare & box up the meals for elderly/cancer patients. It was heart warming to see all the food that was prepared & donated. It was so much more than just one meal!

5. Our family was so blessed by our serving opportunity. We picked up trash along State Route 39. The best part was that our sons were able to see us being the church- rather than sitting in church. As parents we also realized that more is caught than taught. We are sure that our sons will not litter in the future!!! It felt so good to serve God in this capacity!!!

6. Several of our small group members gathered to do mowing and trimming. The husband has lung cancer and has a difficult time taking care of their land. We all worked together well. One woman said "this work is such a pain, but it makes you feel so good, it's so rewarding!" As we all were trimming a weed filled bank, we definitely agreed! We felt such a sense of being a blessing, and being in the exact place God wanted us to be. Another woman that came along to help our group asked "I wonder if Dwight will ever do this again? It's really a blessing".
We also had one member of our group go through the McDonalds drive through after we were finished, and the girl working at the drive through asked her about the yellow shirts, and mentioned that there had been a lot of people wearing those shirts come through the drive through. When she told her what it was all about she was really impressed and excited. She thought it was a wonderful thing that was happening. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. God is truly doing something in the hearts of our group.

Nothing like a great story.

Making God Smile

I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Romans 12:1

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Guess what ? That happen this past Sunday

Jesus : 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:31-46

Guess what ? that happen this past Sunday

It just might have been the best worship service we have had in a long time. At least according to the Apostle Paul who wrote :


The final count on the boxes were around 1720. WOW ! That is 1700 boxes fill with at least 12 items being sent to five food pantries .

We also had around 1400 people serving. Do all kinds of things from preparing and serving meals to hospice families, to building ramps for handicap, to picking up trash on the road side, to putting on a roof,

We were involved in over 50 projects.

Here are few of them:

• Roofing a House
• Cleaning, weeding, mulching area schools
• Building a ramp for a handicap person
• Building a club for kids
• Roadside clean up
• Visiting Nursing Homes
• Giving hair cuts to underprivileged children
• Serve over 30 meals to Hospice families

I believe that God and all of heaven must have been smiling and applauding for all the good things that were taken place.

I want you to know that I am Proud of NewPointe. We will never know the difference that this past Sunday made in the lives and people of Tuscarawas, Holmes and beyond.

Refreshing

I got a phone call from a man who is 72 years old. He told me that he had visited NewPointe recently. He said that he travels the world working with Christian leaders, and he told me, "Dwight there are so many churches that are dead churches. It was refreshing to noticed though that NewPointe is vibrate and alive."

He mentioned that he wanted to get together to have lunch and talk about changing the world. I thought to myself, "I can’t wait to meet him! Seventy-two years old and still interested in changing the world and making a difference." May His tribe increase!

What is your life ?

Tuesday was a very difficult day for me. I had the memorial service of a beautiful woman in our church and community named Anna Marie Schrock. She was just 51 years old. When I first heard that she had died, I couldn’t believe it and actually started to become physically sick. I thought to myself, "This can’t be true! But it was." In light of her sudden passing, a number of thoughts have filled my mind over the last several days. Here are a few of them.

• Don’t major on the minor things in life.

• Practice forgiveness. Keep short accounts with God and people.

• Tell your family and loved ones that you love them-- today and often!

• None of us know how old we really are. If you are 20 and are going to die at age 25, you are an old man or woman. If you are 75 and are going to die at age 90, you are a young man or woman.

• "A great name is rather to be chosen than great riches." Proverbs 22:1


Anna Marie chose a great name over great riches. Anyone who knew her associated her name with kindness, thoughtfulness, helpfulness and encouragement. As secretary at our kids' middle school she had a great impact on students, teachers, administrators and parents every day. She lived her life going out of her way to help others in any way she could.

When she passed away, hundreds and hundreds of people stood in line at her calling hours. They came to honor her for the way she chose to live her life, to offer their condolences to the family and to share in the grief caused by her passing.

Anna Marie, thanks for the way you lived your life for the Lord. Thanks for your example of kindness and thoughtfulness and for impacting all of us.

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14

I was a Witness

Yesterday I went golfing with Blake Wood at Oak Shadows.



Blake aced the 170 yard 8th hole with a 6-iron.

Blake is on staff at NewPointe . He is leading and serving in the Middle East, where we have started 13 churches in the last 7 years.

I Still Believe

Life is full of losses . We have them all the time in life. They come in many different shapes and sizes. They have a profound impact on us and never leave us the same. They either leave us bitter or better.

I like to say when we think that this is heaven, we will always be disappointed and have a tendency to become jaded.

Why ? Because this is not heaven. It is a fallen world, where things do not work the way God first originally designed it.. Things can and do happen that are devastating .

That is why Jesus said to us in John 14:1-6 “ Don’t let your hearts be trouble, Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so , I would have told you . I am going there to prepare a place for you. “

You see it basically depends on our belief in God and our perspective of about the here and now, and eternity .

Christopher Laurie, 33, son of Pastor Greg Laurie and Cathe Laurie, died last week, in a car crash while driving to Harvest Christian Fellowship, where he had served as the church's art director for the past three years. In addition to his parents, Christopher is survived by his wife, Brittany, and daughter, Stella, as well as his brother Jonathan.

Here is his Father sharing Sunday morning of the week Christopher died.




Jesus : " In this world you will have trouble. But take heart I have overcome the world ." John 16:33