sunday’s scuds (november 29, 2009)

Sunday was the finale to the Can You See Him? series. Dwight talked about seeing God in your difficult times. Strong wrap-up. Here are the scuds:

• Most of us try to see God. But trying doesn’t cut it. It takes more than trying. We have to be trained to see him.
• There’s a big difference between trying to do something and being trained to do something.
• Many of us have never been trained to see God.
• When we merely try, we don’t have as much invested. Training involves serious commitment.
• Satan’s #1 goal is to convince you that Christianity doesn’t work.
• The greatest thing about the Bible is: it’s true.
• While we don’t always live in reality, the Bible always deals in reality.
• You can not act inconsistently with you think.
• When you can’t see God it let’s you know that your mind and your heart are not right.
• The way you look at your problems is actually more important than the problems themselves.
• How do you know when you have the right perspective? When you know the difference between the temporal and the eternal.
• When hard times hit us we should not ask, “Where’s God?” Instead we should ask, “God how can I leverage this for your glory?”
• There are only two things that will last forever: the Word of God and you.
• Everybody spends forever somewhere.
• When you get your mind right (the way you think) and you get your heart right (what you care about), you’ll see God.

A new Christmas series starts December 6. It’s going to be goooooood!

what’s up with the new parking lot

Sunday as we wrapped up the services at the Dover campus, I took some time to explain the changes that are happening in the NPCC parking lot. If you missed it and have been wondering what’s up with the massive new lot and the new traffic flow patterns, here’s a quick explanation:

the andy-man can

If you read this blog much at all, you already know that Andy Stanley is one of my heroes. I listen to and read anything of Andy’s that I can get my hands on.

Several weeks ago I listened to a North Point series that Andy did called, “Your Move.” Unbelievable.

The idea behind the series is this: We’re all faced with decisions that we never anticipated having to make. And we usually have to make them quickly. So what do we do? In this series, one message at a time, Andy gives us four questions to ask that will help when you’re making decisions you never thought you’d have to make or even decisions you don’t want to have to make.

It’s one of Andy’s best series ever. You can listen to it or watch it by clicking on the YOUR MOVE image on this page.

Fasten your seatbelt. Your world’s about to get rocked.

The Andy-man can cause he mixes it with truth and makes the Word taste good…

honest. raw. creative. and for real.

Check out this commercial for used mobile homes. It’s totally for real.

 

I think it’s brilliant. Think it’ll work?

Here’s a link to a video that shows some of the creative process and how the commercial was made.

seeing jesus in everyday life

This Sunday at NewPointe we’re continuing the series: Can You See Him? We’re talking about seeing Jesus in everyday life. I know it’s not always easy to see him. But he’s always there.

As a bit of a precursor to this Sunday, I’m posting some photos of ordinary things. Do you see a face in in these ordinary things? See if you can, and see if some of them don’t make you smile.

 

 

 

It may not always be easy to see God in the midst of doing laundry, stapling papers, filing reports, and doing homework. But he’s always there.

This Sunday we’re going to talk about making sure we don’t miss him. Hope to SEE YOU there!

something happens in a circle…

Got this email from Matt Beres today:

We have a HS Sophomore who is a small group leader for 5^th grade girls. She is doing an unbelievable job leading the girls and making them feel like they belong here.

She recently planned an overnighter with her girls and made shirts with them… ”Something happens in a circle that can’t happen in rows.” Wow. She gets it. To top it off, she has brought one of her friends along with her to co-lead the group.

This sophomore gets it and she’s making a huge impact on the lives’ of 5^th grade girls.

Check out the shirts:

What it means is that coming to church and sitting in rows is not the ultimate answer. Life—real life and real spiritual growth happens when you get in a circle on a consistent basis with people who love you and and committed to helping you grow. And these kids are committed to doing that!

Very cool stuff. Way to go, girls!

forgiveness

Here’s a video of Rita Hershberger doing a monologue on forgiveness in the final installment of the STUCK series at NewPointe. Thought it was worth sharing. Check it out.

Great job Rita!

sneak peek at the npcc control room

I took my camera and snuck up the the control room Sunday so I could show y’all what goes on up there on a Sunday morning.

Most NewPointers have never been up to the control room. Some don’t even know it exists.

The control room is the headquarters for all video and graphic elements on Sunday mornings. It’s a fun place to serve. The production aspect of it is a blast—and the people involved are awesome.

So, if you’ve ever wondered what it looks like inside the control on Sunday mornings at NewPointe. Here you go:

 

If you’re interested in joining the “tech team,” hit me up on Facebook or shoot me an email.

sunday’s scuds (november 15, 2009)

Sunday was part two of the series Can You See Him? Dave D’Angelo delivered the goods, talking about seeing God in our disappointments. Here are some of the scuds he fired:

• Isn’t it true that often times, we really don’t know what to do with our disappointments?
• We can’t afford to stop looking for God just because we’re disappointed.

Four truths about disappointments":

1. They are rooted in unfulfilled hopes and expetations
2. They aren’t easy to admit
3. They reveal the truth about you and I
4. They are infinite (in a finite world)

• If you’re expecting to never be disappointed again, welcome to your first disappointment.
• Just because you’re disappointed doesn’t mean you’re hopeless.
• Can you see God in your disappointments? No. God doesn’t exist in your disappointments. The real question is: can you see God despite your disappointments?
• To see the stars, darkness is required.
• Sometimes we think we can’t see God because of our disappointments—maybe we wouldn’t be able to see him with disappointments.
• If you want to see God despite your disappointments, fix your eyes on Jesus.
• Follow the trail of your time and your money and you’ll know where your eyes are really fixed.

Part three next week: seeing God in your every-day life.

christmas series at newpointe (what it looks like so far)

This is where it starts. Bunch of ideas on a mind map.

We’re planning four services that will blow your mind. Great series to invite your friends to.

Dec. 6, 13, 20, and Christmas Eve.

a couple pics from kidstuf worth sharing

Hope you got to be there. :-)

sunday’s scuds (november 8, 2009)

Sunday we kicked off a brand new series: Can You See Him? Dwight tackled the idea of seeing God in times of doubt. Here are the scuds:

• At times we all find ourselves asking questions like: Does God really care?, Does Christianity really work?, Where’s God in all this?  --what do we do with these doubts?
• John the Baptist had one message: Repent.
• He called out leaders who were living in sin.
• When he got put in prison a little bit of doubt began to enter his heart.
• John the Baptist never asked, “Y’all okay?” He really didn’t care if you were okay.
• Difficult circumstances change our perspective on things.
• When things go wrong we begin to doubt.
• There’s something very selfish and self-centered about your doubts.
• When it’s someone else’s issue we say, “I’ll pray for you.” When it’s my issue, I begin to doubt.
• When things don’t go our way, the world begins to impose a certain way of thinking on us.
• You and I are influenced by the opinions of those around us.
• What we need to realize is that the world doesn’t know God or understand his plan.
• Impatience leads to doubt.
• Often our expectations are misguided because we don’t know God well enough.
• Jesus doesn’t want our faith to be based on circumstances or expectations. He wants our faith linked to who He is.
• We need to get our eyes off of ourselves and our circumstances and focus on Jesus.
• If you don’t look beyond that stuff, you won’t see Jesus.
• You can’t focus on yourself and God at the same time.
• Jesus says, “Blessed is the person who doesn’t trip up on what I do and what I don’t do.”

The series continues this Sunday with part 2: Can You See Him (in your disappointments)?

random lists of five

Completely random. Feel free to weigh in.

My top five Will Smith movies:

1. The Pursuit of Happyness
2. I Am Legend
3. Independence Day
4. Hitch
5. Men In Black

My five favorite sitcoms of all time:

1. Seinfeld
2. The Office
3. Wings
4. Cheers
5. Everybody Loves Raymond

Top five things I would like to do if I wasn’t a pastor:

1. Stand Up Comic/Actor
2. Play-by-play sportscaster
3. Writer
4. Teacher/Coach
5. Graphic Artist

Five foreign countries I’ve been to:

1. Guatemala
2. Egypt
3. Jordan
4. Peru
5. The Netherlands

Five vehicles I have owned:

1. 1998 Jeep Wrangler (current)
2. 1981 Ford Mustang
3. 1985 Dodge Charger
4. 1999 Chevy Suburban
5. 2002 Dodge Caravan (current)

Five recent additions to my iPod:

1. Fee (Hope Rising)
2. Barlow Girl (Love & War)
3. Eleventyseven (And the Land of Fake Believe)
4. Danyew (Danyew)
5. Black Eyed Peas (The E.N.D.)

can you see him?

Daily life can set us on a path that’s almost robotic. We forget to see God in all things – our kid’s laughter, the homeless person on the corner, or even the papers we stapled at work. But, life doesn’t have to be lived that way!

This Sunday we begin a four-week series called Can You See Him?  The messages in this series will explore how to see God in four areas of your life: disappointments, doubts, struggles and successes.

The reality is that in every circumstance of life, God is there. It’s not always easy to see him, but he’s there…and this series will help you find him.

To help you get in the right frame of mind for this series, here are some pictures that contain things that are very present, but not necessarily easy to see. See how well you can do at seeing what’s there but not always obvious.

1. Can you find the face in the coffee beans?

2. Can you find the hidden tiger?

3. What do you see when you look at this? A fish on a plate or a woman’s face?

Sometimes we can’t see God because  we’re just not looking in the right place. Sometimes we’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. Sometimes we’re just focusing on the wrong thing. Often, we can even get blinded by what’s right in front of us and it just makes it hard to see God.

Seeing God in your struggles, in every day life, in disappointments, and in  your times of doubt is not always an easy thing to do. Sometimes it takes work. Sometimes it’s frustrating because everyone else is saying, “You can see Him? It’s so obvious! I can totally see Him. Why can’t you?”

So we’re excited about this series because we know that sometimes seeing is believing.

During the week, we’ll continue the conversation in small groups throughout the community – with all of our small groups syncing up to study the same content together. 

Want to join the conversation but not in a group? Click here.

coming soon to newpointe

Disciples of Jesus cannot be mass produced, they have to be handcrafted.

Welcome to Monvee.

 

Coming to NewPointe :: January 2010