first wednesday

I love First Wednesdays at NewPointe...and not just because I get to speak at them (although, I will admit, I do love to communicate in that setting). I think it's because God always seems to show up at my seat at First Wednesday. He speaks into my life. Sometimes I wonder if God led us to do First Wednesdays just for my spiritual benefit.

Based on the reaction I get from many of you, you like First Wednesdays as well. If you haven't been to a First Wednesday at NewPointe yet...what are you waiting for? It'll rock your world. Here's one of the emails I received after this week's edition of FW:

I’ve been meaning to send you a note – I wanted to mention that we attended our first 1st Wednesday Service this week – it was also the first time we’ve heard you “preach”. Might I just say “AWESOME”!!!!! Unbelievable experience!!!!

I've heard tons of great feedback from the latest FW. If you missed it...well, you missed it. In case you did, here's a quick recap (with photos):

The theme for the evening was "Deal or No Deal." And yes, we actually played the NewPointe edition of the game show with actual contestants and models selected from the audience. It was a hoot. And it set up where we were headed for the rest of the service. After the game show Dwight asked us all if we'd ever played "Deal or No Deal." He said, "Sure you have, we all have, we've played it with God...If you will then I will and if you won't then I won't..."

After some worship time I talked about how I have a tendency to try to "do deals" with God. My deal-making began as a kindergartener when my Sunday School teacher offered all of us kids a deal: "If you'll ask Jesus into your heart, then you'll get to go to heaven." Sounded like a good deal to me. And thus the beginning of my deal-making with the Father.

We looked at how the 12 disciples had basically the same attitude. In fact Peter just came right out and said it, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" (Matthew 19:27). The cool part is that even though the disciples started out with that kind of attitude, all of them (except for one) successfully made the transition from a "What's in it for me?" attitude to a "I don't care if anything's in it for me, what's in it for the kingdom?" attitude. That gives hope to a guy like me. The bottom line, we said, is that God's hand can't be forced and his will can't be thwarted. God is God...he's gonna do what he wants to do. The great news is that he invites us to be a part of it. We can get in on his gig. To do so, we have to fully surrender. (Enough of the sermon, you can just listen online here: http://www.newpointe.org/content.cfm?id=2006)

Thanks to all who came and especially to all who served (special thanks to Cindy, Dave M., DD, Teresa and Franscene--you guys are awesome!).