sunday’s scuds (march 29, 2009)

Part four of a five-part series on the Holy Spirit. Here are some of the scuds Dwight fired Sunday:

• The Holy Spirit is the most important person on planet earth and he’s also the most controversial.
• When you become a Christian you get all of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not come in installments.
• God’s goal for your life: for you to become like Christ.
• When you encounter the Holy Spirit, you want to share it with other people.
• Everyone who names the name of Christ is called to live a holy life.
• What is holiness? Loving what God loves and hating what God hates.
• What do others need most from you? To see God at work in your life.
• What’s the Holy Spirit’s main agenda? Transformation.

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…” 1 Peter 2:3

“i’m freakin’ out…”

I said hi to a guy in the atrium today prior to the first service. I said, “How ya doin’ man?”

He replied, “I’m freakin’ out!”

I asked, “What’s the matter? Is everything okay?”

He said, “Everything’s great! I’m freakin’ out in a good way. See, I invited my grandkids’ mom to come to church. She’s never been here…I’ve been inviting her for 14 months. 14 MONTHS! And she finally said yes! Today’s the day. She’s coming and bringing the grandkids…and she’s bringing a couple friends, too!”

I looked at his face. He was beaming! He couldn’t contain his joy. Someone he cares deeply about finally said yes to coming to church. His heart is filled with hope. Wanna know what that hope was about? He’s got hope that the good news of Jesus Christ that forever changed his life is going to connect with his family the way it did with him. I know this guy. His life is forever changed—in a big way because two years ago he began a relationship with Jesus Christ. And he can’t help but share his good fortune with those whom he loves.

Here’s what this says to me:

1. Don’t ever give up. There are no “lost causes” to God. The Bible says that God is willing that none should perish. Keep praying. Keep investing in others. Keep inviting them. One day they may say, “yes!”

2. We can’t ever forget that every single Sunday at NewPointe, someone like the guy I talked to, has someone coming who finally said yes! And he’s counting on us to knock the ball out of the park in every way possible. There’s so much at stake every single Sunday.

I love the fact that I get to be a part of a church where people who haven’t been in church in a long time (or maybe have never been in church) are coming EVERY WEEK! How cool is that?! Most churches don’t get to experience that on a weekly basis.

God has chosen to entrust NewPointe with the care of these people who matter so greatly to him. Man, I just wanna be a good steward of what God has entrusted us with.

So keep inviting. Keep praying. Keep knocking it out of the park every week. People matter to God…so they matter to us, too!

if you HAVE to go to church…

Haven’t seen this yet on any other NPCC staff blogs so I’m going to go ahead and post it. It’s second-hand information (I heard it from Dwight) but I thought it was too funny not to share.

A couple weeks ago we had a guy in from out of town. He’s interviewing for the Student Ministries Director position. While he was in town, he had dinner at Applebee’s one night. While he was there, he decided to do a random survey of folks to see what the public’s perception of NewPointe might be. So he asked a young lady what she might know about churches in the area. Here is her reply:

“Well, I don’t go to church, but I’ve heard that if you HAVE to go to church, the place to go is NewPointe.”

I love it.

50 pound challenge (week 11)

If you voted for Craig to win, you seem to be in pretty good shape. Remember, the poll was vote for who you think will be the FIRST to drop 50 lbs.

I’m lagging behind, but I remain as determined as ever. I’ve begin lifting weights (at least three days a week). The weight training has been very good for me. I meet with a trainer once a week and she kicks my butt. I never expected to say this but…I actually kinda like it. I feel really good after lifting.

I continue to get my cardio by playing hoops twice a week and hopping on the elliptical machine in between. I’ve come a long way both strength-wise and cardio-wise…evidenced by playing 90 minutes of full-court hoops yesterday and not tiring much at all).

Anyway, here’s this week’s update:

Craig: –31 lbs.

Me: –25 lbs.

Craig’s going to be hard to catch…but I’m not giving up. And I WILL get to 50 lbs. (even if Craig beats me to it)!

“i’m not a church person”

I got to hobnob around in the atrium at NewPointe on Sunday. I love chatting and praying with folks. As I was bumping aro0nd, I bumped into a guy who said, “I’m new here. I grew up Catholic. I don’t know what to do. So I tried my best to make him feel comfortable by saying, “Well mass begins in 15 minutes and you’re in for a treat because Father Dwight is giving the homily today.”

No, I didn’t really say that. I said something like, “I’m glad you’re here. There are a bunch of people with all different kinds of backgrounds who come to NewPointe. I don’t think you’ll have a problem fitting in.” And then I introduced him to some folks who made him feel right at home.

I had another conversation with a lady who told me that she’d been trying to get her grown son to come to church for a long time. She told me that every time she would invite him, he’d respond by saying, “I’m not a church person.” Finally, she said to him, “Well the good news is, you don’t have to be a church person to come to NewPointe.”

Long story short, he decided to give NPCC a try…and he’s been coming ever since (and mom is thrilled!).

This lady went on to tell me that NewPointe has a reputation in the community for being “the church that will take anybody.” She said people actually say that. To which she responds, “Isn’t that what a church is supposed to be about?” I love it!

I love that this lady gets it. I love that we have so many people coming every week from so many different backgrounds. I love that every single Sunday there’s somebody at NewPointe for the first time who hasn’t been in church for a long time (or maybe never been to church).

I’m so thankful that I get to be a part of a church like that.

sunday’s scuds (march 22, 2009)

Part three of Up Close and Personal, Getting to Know the Holy Spirit. Dwight talked about the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. Here are the scuds:

• The Holy Spirit can be in you yet you can know very little of his power and his presence.
• Are you open to the Holy Spirit having all of you?
• We spend too much time going around feeling like we’re Clark Kent when we could be Superman.
• It’s possible to be a Christian and still be unwise, still waste our time, and still not understand God’s will.
• It’s impossible to live the Christian life on your own. If you could, you wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit.
• Within our churches today there are so few people who are actually Spirit-filled.
• “Be filled with the Holy Spirit” is a command.
• God doesn’t give suggestions.
• You can’t fill anything that’s already filled with something else.

Dwight’s four main points were four steps that we need to take if we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Here they are:

1. Desire to be filled.
2. Denounce sin in your life.
3. Surrender yourself fully to Christ.
4. Depend daily on the Holy Spirit.

making room

There’s been a lot of talk around NewPointe lately about making room. Why? Quite frankly, two years into the new building, we’ve begun to outgrow it. Case in point: Sunday’s attendance was 3,029. The same Sunday a year ago, we had 2,441. Are you kidding me? A gain of almost 600 people in one year?

Challenging? Yes.

Exciting? Youbetcha!

So what’s the plan? Well, if you’ve been around NewPointe at all lately, you know that we’re adding a third service on Sundays. Here’s what the new Sunday schedule looks like (beginning April 19):

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.

Worship Service

Middle School Ministries (5th – 8th grade)

Velocity (K – 4th grade)

ReignForest (birth – 5 yrs.)

10:10 – 10:50 a.m.

KidStuf (K – 4th graders & parents)

High School Ministries (9th – 12th grades)

11:00 a.m. – noon

Worship Service

Middle School Ministries (5th – 8th grade)

Velocity (K – 4th grade)

ReignForest (birth – 5 yrs.)

12:10 – 12:50 p.m.

KidStuf

12:50 – 1:50 p.m.

Worship Service

Middle School Ministries (5th – 8th grade)

Velocity (K – 4th grade)

ReignForest (birth – 5 yrs.)

As we’ve been saying, we’re looking for folks to commit to making room by attending the third service (in order to make room in the first two), and by committing to serving. If you’re not already serving and you’re looking for a great place to plug in, let me offer a suggestion: we’re always looking for help with First Impressions (host teams, parking lot, ushers, info desk).

Shoot me an email if you’d like to volunteer. We’re not just looking for help in the third service, but all three. Let’s all do what we can to MAKE ROOM!

why you probably don’t want to travel with me…

Because if I’m driving…and you fall asleep…I’ll probably take a picture of you that looks something like this:

…and put it on my blog.

jenny bunn: production assistant

There’s nobody I’d rather have as a production assistant for a TV show. From what I hear, LeeAnn MIller (star of Amish Country Living) feels the same way. Here are some pics from Jenny’s last gig with the ACL show…

Yep, she’s beautiful AND talented. =)

Click here to watch some of the episodes Jenny helped produce: Amish Country Living

sunday’s scuds (march 15, 2009)

Sunday Dwight continued the series on the Holy Spirit (Up Close and Personal). He talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Here are some of the scuds he fired:

• A promise is only as good as the willingness and ability of the one who makes it.
• The Holy Spirit is profoundly and persuasively influential in your life.
• Two gifts that Jesus offers: 1. Forgiveness and 2. the Holy Spirit.
• In the moment of salvation, we get the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• Being baptized in the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit are two different things.
• When you invite Christ into your life you immediately get the Holy Spirit and you get all of Him.
• It’s not a matter of how much of the Holy Spirit you get…it’s a matter of how much of you the Holy Spirit gets.
• You cannot be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit.
• If you’ve “tried” the Christianity thing and decided that it doesn’t work that’s because you’ve tried to do it with discipline and determination rather than doing it with the Holy Spirit.
• It’s impossible to live the Christian life. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit.
• If you don’t know Christ, you’re a child of the devil.
• If the Church had the unity they had in the Book of Acts, they’d have the power they had in the Book of Acts.
• Because of the Holy Spirit we now have the power to say “no” to that which is wrong and “yes” to that which is right.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

unleash conference (main session two)

Perry Noble wraps up the conference. Ready for some scuds?

• If you want your church to achieve maximum results, you have to have a leader who is on fire for Jesus.
• People in the church can be the meanest people on the planet.

Questions a leader needs to wrestle with:

1. Who is with me?
• The relationship between the senior pastor and the rest of the staff is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about.
• The average stay of a pastor at a church is around 22 mos.
• If you want people to buy into you, you better buy into them.
• How do you get people to buy into a vision? Tell them, “Hell can’t get me out of this church.”
• Satan doesn’t want to split your church—he wants to spilt your staff.
• Your senior pastor carries a weight on him that you could never imagine.
• Pastors, every one of your staff is depending on you not to screw things up. And if you’re not a pastor, you’ll never understand the weight of that.
• Sheep don’t lead the shepherd. Your pastor is called to lead.
• He’s going to be accountable for everything he did and didn’t do. And at the end of the day, he’s got to know that you’ve got his back!
2. Am I pleasing God?
• We’ve got to spend time on our faces before Almighty God.
• We can’t lead publically if we aren’t yielded to God privately.
• I preach every sermon like it’s my last sermon.
• I don’t want to stand before God and say, “I wasn’t a prophet, I was a prostitute.”
• Do people leave your services saying, “That was a good service.”? Or does God say, “Wow that was a great service.”?
• Do I understand that ministry is received not achieved?
• God knew every stupid mistake we were going to make before he called us and he called us anyway.
• Am I placing limits on myself that God hasn’t placed on me?
• God most often puts his most powerful gift in his weakest vessels.
• Don’t you dare limit yourself when the power of God lives in you.
3. Will we see God?
• When was the last time you were so desperate for Jesus to show up in your service and do something so amazing that only God could do?
• Do you want attendance or repentance?
• It’s not a bad thing when people leave your church.
• You don’t need to close the back door to the church. The church is a body. If you close the back door to your body… Sometimes an enema is the best thing that could happen to a church.
• People can say what they want about your church but no one can deny the presence of God.
4. What’s next?
• We’ve always been a church that’s asked God, “What’s next?”
• We don’t want to build a monument and become a museum. We want to continue to be a movement.
• At the end of the day we just want to show people how awesome God is.
• Without him, we suck…and you do too.

service planning breakout session

Shane Duffey is the Creative Arts Pastor at NewSpring. I’m sitting in his breakout session right now. Here are my notes:

How are you structured and who does what?

• Senior management team of six led by Perry Noble.
• Creative arts dept. has four people additional people: 1. an assistant to Shane, 2.  a technical director, 3. a music director, and 4. a visual director (responsible for all screen content).

What’s your planning process?

• One meeting a week (Wednesdays).
• In this meeting Perry and a group of people plan a service (usually at least four weeks out).
• Going in to the meeting (on Tuesdays) Perry sends a detailed message outline (title, theme, points, stories, scripture references).
• Shane reads and then invites 8-10 people to come to the Wednesday a.m. meeting after receiving the notes, reviewing them, and making notes.
• Perry walks the team through the message.
• What gets decided that day are video ideas, song ideas, personal stories (testimonies), etc.
• Key component to the planning process: the senior pastor prepares in advance. Everything hinges on the senior pastor’s preparedness.
• Out of the Wednesday meeting comes a service plan (again, at least four weeks out). Our job then becomes: make it come to life.
• Before the meeting is over, the team reviews the production order for the upcoming Sunday.
• Assistant keeps a list of everything that come out of that meeting (list gets distributed to team).
• It’s a two-hour meeting. First hour is spent on the service. The second hour is spent on branding/series planning.

What happens on Sundays?

• All service prep begins 2:45 before the service starts
• Band arrives at 6:15 (breakfast provided)
• 6:45 satellite campus tech check
• 7:00 sound check (all songs). Final fine-tuning
• 7:45 production meeting. All hands on deck, line by line through the production sheet.
• 7:55 five minute counter
• 8:00 full run-through (includes sound checks of ALL mics). All message notes are read through and checked on the screens.
• Final notes
• Then Shane meets with Perry (goes over production notes) followed by a check-in with the control room.
• Doors open at 8:45

Do we pay our band?

• Yes.
• Three levels of band pay. It’s not a lot.
• Rehearsal on Monday nights. Band is expected to be ready to go. They get their music three weeks in advance.

Who has the final say as to what goes into the service?

• Perry (or whomever is speaking on that morning)

What do you do about announcements?

• Announcements are a service momentum killer.
• But there are things that need to be communicated but we severely limit that.
• We do it through video…limited to one or two things.

What about the offering?

• We moved it to the front of the worship set.
• We realized we were treating the offering as a part of the service rather than as a part of worship.
• A live person always comes out and explains the offering (it’s like a weekly offering vision-casting segment, 1 or 2 minutes).

How do we get started with a process or a plan?

• Don’t seek after a process. Seek after a person: Jesus Christ.
• We need to be nimble enough to change if we need to.
• Get your senior pastor on board. It all begins with his preparation and his willingness to commit to the process.

Other notes:

• The further you can plan ahead, the easier it is to change if you need to.
• The Holy Spirit is not limited by our preparation.
• If the worship leader is feeling like he needs to say something, we want to know it. Preachers preach and singers sing.
• God speaks in the process and the planning and the preparation. He’s not limited the time that we’re in a service.
• Your preparation must be prayer-driven.
• No service element is sacred…except the preaching of the word.
• Videos are to be ready ten days prior to the Sunday it’s to be used. But our ultimate deadline is when the service begins.
• One of our biggest challenges: communicating the details of services. It’s on of the assistant’s primary responsibilities. NewSpring stresses over-communication.
• Perry does not confuse his quiet time with his sermon prep. Although every sermon he preaches is a result of his quiet time.
• All artists (musicians, vocalists, etc.) are led very well by the music director. They’re instructed to read their Bibles like it’s part of their job.
• It’s easy to tell if it’s a performance rather and a humble presentation of a worship song.
• Cast vision, cast vision, cast vision. The vision comes from Perry. I’m a carrier of the vision.

perry noble’s breakout session

In a breakout session at Unleash: For senior pastors only (yes, I snuck in). It’s a Q&A for senior pastors. Here are some tidbits from Perry:

On reaching people:

• You’ve got to be who God called you to be. I’m just a redneck preacher…and that’s all I’ll ever be. I’m going to preach the Word of God and God’s going to bring to this church God wants to bring to this church.
• Sometimes we pay more attention with who we want to reach than who’s actually coming.

On Loud music:

• yes it’s loud and we like it that way. Some of our senior citizens bring and wear their own earplugs.

On Sermon prep:

• I brainstorm with a group after reading and listening to stuff. Then I go to prayer and come back to the group with, “This is what we’re doing.”
• Three weeks out I give an outline and meet with the creative team. I give as much information as possible as to where I’m going.
• We always plan but we’re always open to the Holy Spirit changing things. I think he does it sometimes to test us.

On First Impressions:

• We find the nicest, most genuine people and let them serve on the host teams.
• People determine whether or not they’re coming back to your church before they ever hear the sermon.

On the inner circle:

• I don’t pay attention to everybody because everybody has an opinion…so I selected a group of men who I know love me, love the church, and love Jesus (more than they love me).
• They’re not afraid to speak truth to me.

On mistakes I’ve made:

• Trying to explain myself to everybody: mistake. You can’t fully explain the vision God has given you to everyone.
• Thinking that those who started with me would stay with me.
• Telling people, “If you want to start a ministry, go ahead and start in and the church will support you. Big mistake.
• Trying to do too much.
• Saying “yes” to everyone. Can’t do it.

On NewSpring’s denominational affiliation:

• We’re part of the Southern Baptist convention. We’re affiliated with them but not married to them (because they’re married to some things that are no longer working—the ship is sinking and we don’t want to go down with them).

On key transitions that have positioned NewSpring to do what they do:

• I had to stop bringing all the staff members into staff meeting. Formed a senior management team. Some staff couldn’t make the transition because it meant less access to me.
• Gave up control of making financial decisions. Tough.

On church planting:

• All you really need to start a church is a man of God who’s on fire and passionate about preaching the Word of God.
• You don’t have to have a band…you have to have someone who will boldly preach the Word of God.
• I actually believe in a place called hell. I don’t have time to politick. I don’t have time to be buddies with everybody…because people who don’t know Jesus are dying and going to hell. And I’ve got to do something about it.
• Keep the focus on Jesus!
• I don’t think location is all that important. If there’s a fire, people will drive to go see it.

On planning and mission/vision statements:

• We’ve never put together a 3-5 year strategic plan. Instead we’ve said, “Maybe we should just listen to God and do what he tells us to do.”
• We don’t have a mission statement or a vision statement.
• Don’t worry about that stuff. If God leads you to do it, then do it but otherwise do
• Leadership is as easy as listening to God.
• Moses didn’t have a strategic plan.

On mulitsites:

• I thought we’d just go to Greenville and that’d be it. Now we’re in Florence and looking at Columbia.
• The key is having a multisite leader at who’s anointed by God.
• The toughest place to plant a church is in the Southeast (because everybody’s a “Christian”).

On safety and security:

• Kids areas: huge security.
• Parents want to know three things when they pick up their kids: Did they have fun? What did they learn? Was my kid safe?
• NewSpring has two fulltime security staff members and a slew of volunteer security team members.
• We have policies in place (like if anyone approaches the stage on Sunday mornings they get stopped…you can’t get near the stage).
• Some people think our security guys are rude. We want them to be that way.

On giving invitations:

• I believe Jesus is coming back soon. Really soon.
• Our teaching pastor spoke somewhere recently and 2,000 people got saved—like stand up and say out loud, “Jesus is Lord” saved. I’ve never seen that before.
• I give the invitations different every single week. (Send us and email and tell us, walk forward, stand up and pray out loud, stop at guest services and let them know, raise your hand).
• I have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit and do what he tells me what to do.
• I used to think the invitation was my responsibility when all the while it was the Holy Spirit’s responsibility.
• We have a card for people to fill out.
• We have a follow-up team that calls on Mondays.

On being able to say anything from the stage:

• If God tells you to say “balls” in church then say it. Everybody will love it…well, the men will love it. The women who buy their sweaters at Cracker Barrel will hate it.

On what bothers me about the church:

• Terminology. The church is too caught up in it. It’s all an attempt to look cool.
• The church is too much into fads and not into Jesus.

On giving:

• I preach on it. I preach HARD on money.
• I don’t preach health and wealth.
• You gotta preach it. You gotta teach it. And you gotta celebrate it.
• We have a ministry where we teach on it. We literally teach people: this is a budget…
• The reason a lot of pastors won’t teach on debt is because they’re in debt themselves.
• There are many people in your church who would like to give but they’re too in debt to do it.

On having margin in your life:

• I don’t hospital visits. Didn’t ever.
• Know who sets the rules for me and my family? ME. If you don’t do it someone else will and it will kill you.
• The only person who can protect your family is you.
• I don’t do meetings in the evenings.
• I date my wife every single week.
• I date my little girl every Saturday morning.
• I don’t let the church tell my wife what to do. And I’m dogmatic about it.
• My wife’s main ministry in the church is me. She can do things for me that nobody else can do.
• I don’t go to dinner at people’s houses. I want to eat with my family at my house.
• My church loves that I do this.

On casting vision:

• Every Sunday is an opportunity to cast vision. I work it in to the message every Sunday
• 2 or 3 times a year I do a vision message.
• I cast vision with the staff once a month in an all-staff meeting.
• You’ll have some staff members that get it and some that don’t. The ones that don’t won’t make it.

On decision making:

• I’m a pull-the-trigger guy but what God has taught me lately is to slow down and pray about it.
• There are some decisions that just need to be a process (they can’t be made instinctively and quickly).
• Decisions that are going to affect the entire staff should not be made immediately.

On where he focuses his time:

• My main focus is on my personal time with God. I’m in the Word every single day. Every idea I’ve had has come out of that.

On rewarding people:

• I give pats on the back.
• What gets rewarded gets repeated.

unleash session one (perry noble scuds)

Blogging from Anderson, SC…NewSpring’s Unleash conference. Main session one: Perry Noble. Here are some (many) of his scuds:

• I believe there’s been a major breakdown in communication between the church and Jesus.
• The communication breakdown is this: instead of asking Jesus to build HIS church, we’ve been asking him to build OUR church.
• Too many churches, rather than being dressed as the bride of Christ, have put cheap lingerie on the church so that it may please us rather than Christ.
• The church in America better wake up and smell the Starbucks because things are getting bad. I blame the church for not being willing to change.
• If you think you’re perfect and your poop don’t stink, God can’t use you.
• I believe that every church in America is one or two changes away from doubling in size.
• Every denomination in America for the past 30 years has been declining. If that was you’re money you’d do something about it.
• You will never be comfortable hearing the voice of God if you’re not comfortable with change.
• When’s the last time you went and bought an organ music CD and played it in your car? (So why do churches have organs?)
• Everybody here can look at another church and call the change that church needs to make….but can you do it for your own church?
• How many of you would be willing to give your life for your kids/grandkids to come to know Christ? Okay….how many would be willing to give up your style of music to save your kids/grandkids?
• If what’s going on in your church is manageable then God’s not there. You can’t manage a move of God.
• I’ve always thought it was weird that people plan revivals.
• We have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
• Too many people use the lack of money as an excuse for not being able to grow.
• Don’t ever let the money drive the decision. Let the voice of God drive the decision.
• If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill.
• Pastor, if you want your church to really take off then you need to not be so involved in the day-to-day operations.
• Pastor, your job when it comes to youth ministry: make sure they have enough money.
• Why do so many teenagers show up to our church? We spend money on them.
• We’ve got to get out of the business of competing with one another (other churches) and instead start completing one another.
• If you want to change, you have to be willing to work.
• Baptists criticize beer but they say nothing about the buffets.
• If you want change in your church, you have to do more than pray about it.
• In Greek, jackass is translated “blogger.” (Hey…wait a minute…)
• When you pay attention to a jackass, you can’t cast vision.
• The jackass IN the church is the person who always screams, “I want to go deeper.”
• You’re only as deep as the last person you served.
• You wanna go deep? Let’s check your giving record and see how deep you really are.
• Four terms that are overplayed in the church today: 1. Contemporary. 2. Blended (in an effort to keep everyone happy, we reach no one). 3. Missional (nobody’s showing up so we sought out a term that makes us feel good about our dysfunction). 4. Emergent (we’re a bunch of spoiled former church kids who have a problem with authority—because of our movement hell will be more crowded).
• The people who say, “Y’all are just into numbers,” are the people who have no numbers.
• The reason I’m obsessed with numbers is because I was one of those numbers.

50 pound challenge (week 9)

The latest update:

Craig: –27 lbs. (congrats to him for reaching the half-way point)

Me: –24 lbs.

We both lost two pounds this week, therefore I was unable to gain any ground. HOWEVER, I’ve been lifting weights like a maniac so I’m convinced I’m gaining muscle (and losing fat)…at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

One more pound to the halfway mark!

new set design

We kicked off the new series on the Holy Spirit in grand fashion, namely a new set design. We’ve got some amazingly talented people who can visualize and create. Here’s a look at what they came up with for the current series…

Loved the creative element that went with the song Come Holy Spirit (Hillsong United). The sound of the wind and the words on the screen helped create an unique exp rience that led into this amazing song.

In case you’d like to again read what was on the screens during this element, here it is:

Today you’re being introduced not to a topic, but to a person—the most important person you’ll meet on your journey of life.

He is the Holy Spirit…and his purpose is to be your personal Guide and Teacher—always directing you to the Father.

He is mysterious, yet straight-forward.

He is timeless, yet relevant.

He is power, yet He is also grace.

Deep truths will be your treasure at this point in your journey.

And everything you hear, read, and learn will be a direct result of this Teacher—the Holy Spirit.

He guides us into all truth. He brings to our memory all that He wants us to know.

God beckons us to follow…especially now.

Come Holy Spirit.

idol worship

My family and I love to watch American Idol. In fact, it’s the only show on TV that we watch regularly. Wanna know who my favorites are so far this year? Here they are:

 Kris Allen. Kris is a worship leader at New Life Church in Conway, Arkansas. Here’s my roundabout connection. New Life is pastored by Rick Bezet. I met Rick about eight years ago (we invited him to come speak at our church in Columbus). Since then, Rick planted a church in Conway, AR (you guessed it, New Life Church) and the growth they’ve experienced has been CRAZY—over 6,000 in weekly attendance. Here’s another interesting note, in two weeks Dwight is traveling to Arkansas to speak at The Sticks conference. Wanna guess who else is speaking at The Sticks? You guessed it, Kris Allen’s pastor—Rick Bezet.

 Danny Gokey. Love Danny Gokey! I think Danny has a chance to win the whole thing (watch out for Lil Rounds, though) I have no roundabout connection to Danny Gokey but he IS a worship leader in Wisconsin. Very cool.

Michael Sarver (another one I have no roundabout connection to) leads worship at Harvest Church in Jasper, Texas (in addition to working on an oil rig).

Isn’t it interesting that there are so many worship leaders doing so well on Idol? I have a theory: worship leaders are going to be very comfortable on stage—comfortable being vulnerable in front of millions of viewers.  Think about this: a worship leader needs to be able to bring it! They’ve already got great experience: learning new songs every week, maintaining strong stage presence, and being fresh and creative every time they’re on.

I totally respect worship leaders (this includes another Danny who’s also worth voting for—too bad he’s too OLD for Idol). Leading worship is hard work. It’s definitely an art form that takes preparation, tons of practice, and lots of prayer.

So if you’re looking for somebody to vote for on Idol this season. You can’t go wrong with these three. 

sunday’s scuds (march 8, 2009)

Sunday was part one of NewPointe’s new series: Up Close and Personal…getting to know the Holy Spirit. Here are some of Dwight’s scuds:

• Most people’s theology can be summed up in two statements: “Nobody’s perfect,” and “God understands.”
• Too often real change in Christians is motivated by guilt and is therefore short-lived.
• Billy Graham said, “95% of all Christians live defeated lives.”
• Why did Jesus send a helper? Because we need help!
• You can’t live the Christian life…it’s impossible.
• If you say, “I’ve tried the Christian life and it doesn’t work,” then you’ve tried it apart from the Holy Spirit.
• We grieve the Holy Spirit when we deliberately sin.
• You want to know the will of God? If you’re a Christ-follower you have the Holy Spirit living inside you and HE knows the will of God.
• God is one in essence and plural in personalities.

Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help you and always be with you. The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don't see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you. I won't leave you like orphans. I will come back to you. (John 14:16-18)

earning your way into heaven

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a student who was writing a college paper on traditions. The  student’s assignment was to write about a personal tradition has meaning to her. She was to convey feelings on the topic and then talk about how it may be considered "normal" or different compared to what is called "mainstream America."

The topic chosen by the student was this: the role of the Christian cross in churches. The student who contacted me said, “I am aware that NewPointe does not contain any crosses, and I'm contacting you to ask why that is. I have always grown up with sight of the cross. Not to mention, I come from a very traditional church…”

Last Sunday, Dwight talked about the role of the cross in our lives of Christ-followers. He said that in a way, he’s glad we don’t have a cross affixed to the building because not having one has generated so many deep and meaningful conversations about the cross. I feel the same way. I was happy to respond to the student’s request (perhaps in another post later, I’ll share how I responded. You can also read a recent post by Dwight about it by clicking here).

Let me cut to the chase—and what’s at the heart of this post. The student shared her finished paper with me. She did a nice job with it. But one thing I read in the paper has bothered me ever since I read it. The student wrote of the importance of the cross and what the cross represents. Then she included this:

Asking for forgiveness and keeping strong faith in what the Bible teaches is how we are able to earn our way…to heaven.

Now, I’m not picking on this particular student. I want to make that clear. But it continually bothers me because I talk to so many Christians who believe this—that heaven is something to be earned—that their salvation is predicated upon something that they do.

Sometimes I just want to grab people, shake them, and say, “Don’t you understand? You can never EARN your way into heaven!” That’s not how it works. It’s called grace--the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. If it was about us “earning” our way then what Jesus did on the cross is pointless!

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Why do we still have it in our heads that we must constantly earn God’s favor by our works? That kind of theology is a clear contradiction to the Scriptures.

Is it important keep God’s commands? Absolutely. Is keeping those commands what guarantees our reservations in heaven? No! The way to get to heaven is by putting your faith in Jesus Christ as the forgiver of your sins and the leader of your life! Because of the work he did on the cross….and because he defeated the grave, we can have life, real life, in him. That’s it.

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 2:21

No mention of a heavenly brownie-point system. No mention God-kept good-works checklist. It’s by grace through faith. And I’m SO thankful it’s not up to me. It’s all because of Jesus.

Just wanted to clear that up. =)

50 pound challenge (week 8)

Just realized that I hadn’t posted results for this week. So…here you go.

The latest update:

Craig: –25 lbs. (congrats to him for reaching the half-way point)

Me: –22 lbs.

Craig is still in the lead but what he may not realize is that I finish strong. =)

can people really change?

I just finished working out (thought I’d start with that because it makes me look disciplined and health-conscious)…anyway, during my workout, I was watching (listening to) Pardon The Interruption on ESPN. The PTI guys were talking about Maurice Clarett (the former OSU football player who’s now in prison). Clarett, they say, has been blogging from prison and talking about how he’s learning and growing…and changing.

So the PTI guys entered a discussion about whether or not people can actually change. Neither of them seemed convinced that people are truly capable of really changing.

This makes me think of a friend who I’ve been discipling. He’s a new Christian. We meet every Monday morning for breakfast. And one of my very favorite things in the world is to watch him change…seemingly right before my eyes.

He talks about how selfish and self-centered he’s always been. And now, he says, he can’t understand the feelings of compassion he suddenly has toward the impoverished and the oppressed.

He never liked reading much and now, he reads his Bible for as much as two hours a day! (Puts me to shame.)

He told me he’s never been interested in doing things if they weren’t going to benefit him personally. Now he’s volunteering at NewPointe.

I could go on. This guy’s life has changed dramatically…and we’re only talking about a three-month period of time.

Then, get this, he sits across from me, talking about someone he knows…and he says to me, “I know this person well, and I don’t think they can ever change." He went on, “I don’t think people are capable of changing.”

Then he interrupted himself (if that’s possible) and he said, “Well, I know I’ve changed…” And then a big grin grew on across his face.

Cracked me up. We then had a great discussion about how people can change—but not on their own. Real power for lasting change comes only through the person of Jesus Christ. I told him that there’s hope for this other person. I said, “Don’t you think that if God can change you, he can change anybody?”

He said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

So, PTI guys, people can change. I see it happen all the time. In fact, changed lives is Jesus’s specialty.

sunday’s scuds (march 1, 2009)

Sunday Dwight wrapped up a brief (but important) two-part series called Making Room. The whole idea of the series is that at NewPointe, we’re nearly out of room and we need to make some sacrifices in order to make room for others. Here are the scuds:

• When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.
• God wants to do something in you and through you that will overshadow every wrong thing you’ve done in your past.
• You can’t be neutral about God. You’re either for him or you’re against him.
• What God wants to do will require more space. This is true both individually and corporately.
• Some of you haven’t grown spiritually because you’ve refused to make more room for God in your life.
• I can’t grow for you. You have to make the decision to do it.
• We’re adding a service at 12:50 p.m. You might say, “Church people don’t come to church at 12:50.” We’re not after church people.
• If you call NewPointe your home, you need to be serving.
• God loves you just the way you are…and he loves you too much to keep you that way.
• The hope of the world is not the White House. The hope of the world is the local church—living and teaching the love of Christ.