sunday’s scuds (august 30, 2009)

Sunday we wrapped up our four part series: Click! The idea of the series is that we want it to “click” as in “I get it!” when it comes to what spiritual maturity, relationships, faith, and today…church.

Here are a few of the scuds:

• God doesn’t take attendance at church.
• Attending church is not the main thing.
• The ones who know what the real focus of Christianity should be are the people who aren’t Christians
• Here’s what they would tell us: The reason I have a problem with Christians and Christianity is not because of how consistently they attend on Sundays but because of how inconsistently they treat me on Monday.
• The real issue is not our attendance on Sunday, it’s what we do on Monday.
• It is the doing and living out of our faith that makes the biggest difference in us and in the world around us.
• The value of attendance is not measured on the day that you attend. It’s measured on the other days.

Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like. James 1:23-24

• James’s point: You don’t get any credit for looking in the mirror.
• When you start living your life in a different way, you become a blessable person.
• What drives our behavior is the people that we do life with.
• Your friends will determine the direction and quality of your life.
• Our goal is to move people from rows into circles.
• If all you do is come to church on Sundays and sit in a row, you’re missing the main thing.
• Small group is what bridges the gap between information and application.

i may get in trouble for posting this…

This is supposed to be top secret stuff. I snapped this pic with my camera phone in the NewPointe office area on Thursday. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Something’s brewing with this…anyone care to guess what Kevin is up to?

fewest number of people i’ve ever preached to…

I’m giving the message Sunday at NewPointe. Because of that, I was the guy for the Thursday afternoon multi-site campus pre-record. The way it works that I hit the stage in the auditorium and the tech crew works their magic. I preach to a basically empty room (except for a few faithful NPCC staffer—and, of course the tech crew).

It was cool and weird at the same time. I’m the kind of speaker who thrives on engaging the audience and gauging their response. So only having only a few people in the room made that pretty difficult.

The cool part is, it forced me to prepare much earlier than I normally would before speaking on Sunday. I feel totally ready to go now.

If you’re wondering how it works for multi-site, here’s how: we’ll take the Thursday pre-record and send that to our Louisville and Millersburg campuses in a three-screen format. I’ll be life-size on a 20-foot screen at the front of the stages and then we’ll use side screens for IMAG (image magnification—close up shots—much like the NewPointe Dover teaching experience).

Everything else is done live at the campuses: music, welcome/announcements, etc. I was in Millersburg for last Sunday’s “practice service” and the music was awesome. We’re committed to offering a great “NewPointe brand” experience at each of our campuses.

Fun, exciting, exhausting days @ NewPointe right now. Can’t wait for Sunday.

To see more pics of Thursday’s “empty auditorium talk” click here.

your friends determine the direction and quality of your…

…meals. That’s right. I know that several weeks ago Dwight said that your friends determine the direction and quality of your life. And he’s right. HOWEVER, I’ve come up with a saying of my own:

Your friends determine the direction and quality of your meals!

So choose your friends wisely.

Last week, Dwight, Mike, Dave D, and me did a 3-state, 4-church whirlwind tour, visiting churches and leaders to learn as much as we can about multi-site, church growth, programming, leadership, and each other.

And, oh, along the way, we ate a little.

Stop one was Cincinnati. Like I said, your friends determine the direction and quality of your meals.

I submit to you, Montgomery Inn before and after photos:

before:

after:

See why it’s important to choose the right friends?

some of the most creative stuff i’ve seen lately…

I love creativity. I love new, fresh, crazy ideas. Here are a couple videos that have hit my in-box lately that have made me say, “WOW!”

I’ve really been diggin’ stop motion photography/cinematography lately. This video was done by a dude in Cincinnati as a wedding invitation. Crazy-cool.

 

This one’s done by a Japanese band and their world-wide fan base using web cams. Very cool. Very amazing.

 

And finally, who’da thought four guys on treadmills could be this cool and creative?

good news/bad news

The good news is that I got to hang out with my peeps at the Millersburg campus Sunday morning at the NewPointe-Millersburg pre-launch run-through. The bad news is that I missed the festivities at the Dover campus. My main man Wes Feldner led worship. No doubt it was rock solid. Here’s a pic that got sent to me today:

I heard that it was a great day at all three NewPointe campuses. Danny led worship in Louisville. Wes was in Dover. And Jeff Conn delivered the goods in Millersburg to complete the trifecta!

Can’t wait for next Sunday.

newpointe multi-sites have officially begun

Sunday we opened the doors to NewPointe’s Louisville and Millersburg campuses. We had all the volunteers show up for run-through and training at each campus. The campuses’ maiden voyages were not without challenges. Technology is always a challenge. But the good news is that we know what works—and what still needs fixed/tweaked. Overall we got off to a great start.

We have two additional “run-through” Sundays to go before opening our doors to the public. Keep praying!

Photos from each campus are beginning to pop up on Facebook. You can see some of the pics I took at Millersburg on my Facebook page (click here).

i’m now on twitter

Finally gave in.

You can follow me: @johnnybunn

cool and creative

Okay, this is one of the most amazing and crazy-good-creative things I’ve seen. Love it, love it, love it.

Coldplay’s Strawberry Swing video. They used the art of stop motion cinematography. It’s brilliant. Really.

YouTube won’t let me embed but you can click on the box below to watch it.

 

How long do you think it took to make that video? Wow.

multi-site mania

Yes, it’s mania…and that would make us maniacs. We’re launch not one but TWO new campuses at the same time. September 13 is D-day but THIS Sunday begins the first of three “dry runs” at each campus.

Everything will be live at the campuses except for the communicator. Dwight will be projected onto a 20-foot screen, straight on—life-size. We recorded D-lite for the first time Tuesday afternoon. He preached this Sunday’s message. He’ll be live at NewPointe but the message will be shown at the other campuses on the big screen.

I snapped a few photos with my camera phone during the recording. Here they are…

These doo-hickeys are called Gefens. They digitally record the hi-def video for plug-n-play use at the other campuses. Very cool, very top-secret FBI/CIA/Secret Service/Jack Bauer kind of stuff.

About 15 staff members showed up to support Dwight (and give him someone to preach to). The auditorium looks funny with on a few chairs placed in the middle. 

These are a couple of the guys making it all happen (technologically speaking). Dave Mast and Dan Knight are straight-up freaks (and I mean that in the most loving way).

 This is Kevin West coming in with six minutes left in Dwight’s message. Nice.

sunday’s scuds (august 16, 2009)

Part 2 of the series, Click! The series is all about “getting it”—as in, CLICK! I get it! It makes sense! (why we do church the way we do it, what spiritual maturity is all about ,etc.) CLICK!

Dwight talked about spiritual maturity. Here are the scuds:

• Spiritual maturity has less to do with what you know and more to do with how much you love.
• Christianity is all about relationships.
• Knowledge is not the goal—it’s a means toward loving more.
• The depth of a person’s spirituality is evidenced by how they treat other people.
• If you’ve been a part of a church for any amount of time, you’ve gotten hurt by church people.
• The reason we learn is to facilitate our relationship with God and our relationships with people.
• If gaining more knowledge doesn’t impact how we treat God and how we treat others then it’s worthless. Click.
• Let me get even more practical…Ladies, would you rather have your husband able to quote scripture, break down the New Testament in the Greek, understand the Tribulation, etc. OR…would you rather have him love you like Christ loves the church? Click.
• Most people don’t leave the church over theological issues. Most people leave the church because they got hurt.
• All too often we’d rather be right than be loving.
• I’m responsible TO you, not FOR you.
• Sometimes we’re only willing to love people if they do what we want them to do. That’s not they way your Heavenly Father operates.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. –John 13:34-35

extreme measures

A couple months ago I asked Dwight if I could teach on Sunday morning. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have waited until the day of to ask him but, hey, he had been teaching EVERY SUNDAY for a long, long time. He needed a break (so I thought)—and more importantly, I NEEDED TO TEACH!

Here’s what transpired (you may remember this video from that particular Sunday)...

Dwight Tied Up from NewPointe Community Church on Vimeo.

If you were there that Sunday, you know that I came running into the auditorium and announced that “Dwight asked me to teach today because he’s tied up this morning.”

For the record. It’s all good now. I managed to keep my job and Dwight has since forgiven me for drugging and assaulting him. :)

newpointe’s newest staff member: wes feldner

Here’s a brief video interview with the new guy, Wes, to help you get to know him.

community impact day highlight video

On Sunday, August 2, over 1,500 NewPointers headed out in the rain to bless our community by doing landscaping, cleaning, painting, renovating, and more. It was a great day.

Wanna see the highlight video that was shown in church last Sunday?

Here you go…

Go '09 recap video from NewPointe Community Church on Vimeo.

a new blog worth checking out…

We’re only a month away from launching two new NewPointe campuses (Louisville and Millersburg). Things are really coming together. There’s still a lot of work to be done but we’re making progress every day.

The Louisville campus recently started a blog in an effort to keep folks informed and updated. Here’s the link: NewPointe/Louisville blog.

September 13 is the “go live” date at both campuses. Thanks for your support and prayers.

sunday’s scuds (august 9, 2009)

It’s a beautiful moment. Click. The light bulb turns on, and finally it all makes sense. It’s different for everyone, but we’ve all experienced this moment. Maybe it was when you first figured out why people loved coffee so much, when you discovered why your parents thought manners were so important, or when you finally figured out the convenience of Facebook. Click.

So what makes these moments possible? What is it that pulls the string to finally illuminate your life? And when can we experience the “click” at church?

Those are the questions we’re looking at during this new, four-part series called “Click.”

Dwight kicked it off this week with a message about what it is that God is focused on…and consequently what NewPointe is focused on. Here are the scuds:

• Tuscarawas and Holmes counties don’t need another church. What Tusc and Holmes counties DO need are relevant environments that will help people connect with their Heavenly Father.
• The most unholy, unrighteous people actually enjoyed being around Jesus (shouldn’t that be true of the church?).
• God isn’t focused on that which is already found. God is focused on that which is lost.
• If you are a Christ-follower, God’s focus right now is not on you. (Ya’all okay?)
• It’s very easy to come to church and participate and not be focused on what God is focused on.
• We’re more interested in reaching people than we are in keeping people.
• If Jesus came back, I don’t think he’d go to church. I think he’d find a place on Sunday mornings where he could be with those who are unrighteous and ungodly and go there instead.
• How do you know if you have a great heart for God? When you’re focused on  what he’s focused on.
• I don’t want to stand before God one day and have him say, “Mason, you had a big church but you had the wrong. focus.”
• We don’t want to lecture people. We want to love people.
• It’s not about you. It’s about them.
• The most accepting place on earth should be the church.

a new season of kidstuf is coming!

And it’s going to be bigger and badder than ever! KidStuf is the place where kids (in grades K-4) take their parents to learn (and laugh). I’m especially excited for parents of kids who are entering kindergarten because they’ll get to experience KidStuf for the very first time this year!

The new season of KidStuff begins August 23 with two, identical shows at 10:10 and 12:10.

Here’s the new promo video to whet your appetite…

Kidstuf 2009 Promo from NewPointe Community Church on Vimeo.

more vacation pics...

We're wrapping up our stay in Ft. Myers. Heading back to Ohio on Friday. Here are a few pics from the past few days...

One of our evening family-time rituals: a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. This one was HARD (but we did it)!

The girls got henna tattoos at the beach...

Found a really cool leopard-looking crab at the beach...

Took a few leaps off the high dive...

Enjoyed another sunset after another great day...

a few pics from vacation (so far)...

Having a great time in SW Florida. Wish you were here (not!). If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are several thousand words for your viewing pleasure...

Here is one of our brilliant sand castles (our favorite beach activity). The kids awarded themselves points for people that stopped and looked (additional points were awarded for compliments and even more points given for photos taken by passersby--they got so many points they stopped counting).

A brilliant sunset Saturday night (the land you see in the distance is Sanibel Island).

Naomi and Andrew walking together in the surf.

The Monkey-boy tries his luck at miniature golf (care to guess which family member had the low score for the round?).



That's me about to pass both girls :)


One of our favorite things about vacationing in Florida: Slurpee's from 7-11. What's left on our tongues in this pic is the remnants of a Strawberry-Pineapple-Lime one (blue? yes, blue).