Upfront & Honest

Roger Clemens has declared that he is not guilty of using steroids or HGH ever. He said that he will fight these charges. I don’t know if he is guilty or not, but there seems to be a lot of circumstantial evidence that is against him. If convicted on all charges, Clemens could face up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines, though under U.S. sentencing guidelines he would probably face no more than 15 to 21 months in prison.

Pete Rose, who spent time in jail for lying to a grand jury, has watched the Clemens case from afar and says if Clemens is indeed lying, his advice to him would be simple: "I wish I had come clean the day they called me into the [commissioner's] office in 1989 – I do," Rose says. "Because I would have saved myself a lot of grief; a lot of everything. Money, you name it. The thing that was so hard for me is I had a lot of respect for the game, and I was respected for that while I was in the game. And I miss that, you know? But I messed up, I messed up!"

Proverbs tell us, “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful, but if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.” Proverbs 28:13 (LB)

It always pays to be upfront and honest rather than to try to hide and conceal. Is there anything you are hiding?

Faith Journey

Have you had your faith stretched lately? I was privileged to have breakfast with Bill and Effie McCormick a few weeks ago. They shared with me that they weren’t sure what God was up to in their lives. Bill had been out of work for a number of months, and although he was doing some substitute teaching at a local high school and college, there was nothing promising fulltime.

They heard about an opportunity halfway around the world in Cairo, Egypt. It was a position for a Math teacher in a school. They felt that God was saying, “I want you to go and serve me there.” So that is exactly what they did! They left their children and grandchildren and signed up for a year. When I heard their story, it challenged me in my faith journey.

Would you pray with me for Bill and Effie? It is an enormous change for them, with huge needs. Initial reports are that they having a blast!

Dwight's Monthly Letter, Sept 2010

This is one of my favorite times of year . . . the end of summer, the beginning of fall, and football – college and NFL. I’m a big Buckeyes fan, and they are predicted to do very well this year. I’m looking forward to those Sunday and Monday night games, with a couple of Thursday night games thrown in. It is just a great time of year. So it is here at NewPointe, where we are making changes to accommodate growth.

• Sept 12 – Our Millersburg campus will be starting a second service with service times at 9 and 11 a.m.
• Sept 12 – I’ll be sharing about what’s coming up and about the unbelievable opportunities God is putting before NewPointe. You won’t want to miss this Sunday!
• Sept 19 – We kick off our fall series called Snapshots. What is it in life that causes us to look at snapshot moments and ignore the bigger story? This will be a great invest and invite series, so be sure to leverage it.
• Sept 19 – The object of our faith is too small. By this I mean we have incorrect assumptions or misappropriated trust. To help combat this, we must understand who God really is and how He is worthy of our faith, and everything else is not. Faith in God produces amazing hope.
• Sept 26 – Lies or life’s choices. We need to know how to spot lies and identify the truth. This sets us up on a path to make better decisions in life and to see every decision as connected to the bigger story of life. No single choice is isolated; they are all interconnected. Believing one lie affects everything.
• Oct 3 – Unexplainable circumstances. Let’s face it, bad stuff does happen to good people – more often than we like to admit. So how do we respond when the unexpected in our lives is undeserved?
• Oct 10 - We’re kicking off a brand-new outreach called FX – Family Xperience. This is for families with kids in kindergarten through grade 5, and it’s at the Dover campus on the 2nd Sunday of each month from 3 to 6 p.m. There will be two KidStuf shows at 4:10 and 5:10 p.m. The Café, Playland and Auditorium will be open, plus football will be on the big screens. 

This fall at NewPointe will be one of the most exciting. Maybe you were not attending NewPointe when we relocated from Sugarcreek to where we are now, and you missed out on the thrill, excitement, etc. of it all. What is coming promises to be as big, if not bigger.