sunday’s scuds (may 30, 2010)

Sunday brought us the conclusion to the Marriage Experts series and a message by Dwight: How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage.

Here are the scuds as I see ‘em:

• The Bible doesn’t call it an affair. The Bible calls it adultery.
• Satan’s great counterfeit to the real thing is adultery.
• The greatest thing you can have in a marriage is trust.
• If you’re single and you’re having sex before you’re married, your marriage is doomed.
• Nothing destroys the family more than adultery.
• Maximum freedom comes by living according to God’s Word.
• When you have sex with someone it’s not just physical—it’s spiritual.
• Your spouse will never be able to meet all your needs. You have God-needs in your life that only HE can meet.
• If you’re not happy single, you won’t be happy married.
• Most people are led by their bodies (if it feels good do it)—they’re not led by the Spirit.
• Most of us have not truly sought God…you’ve sought Him for things, but you haven’t really sought HIM. And if you haven’t sought Him, you’re ripe for an affair.
• Sexual sin is more damaging than any other sin.
• A growing relationship with your spouse will reduce the pull and the attraction of anything else out there.
• If you think you have a spouse you can’t please, you need to learn what their love language is.
• There’s been a study done to find out which days men most enjoy sex. The results: men want sex on days that begin with “T": Tuesday, Thursday, Today, Tomorrow…Taturday, and Tunday.
• A marriage cannot withstand fantasies.
• No matter who you are or what you’ve done, this is a safe place…and there’s hope for you.

super SWAT

Monday is meeting day for me and a lot of other staff at NewPointe. Every Monday morning we begin our day with a staff meeting of some sort. Depending on the week, the staff meeting could look different. Sometimes we meet with our individual teams. Sometimes we meet as a large group. And four times a year, like this past Monday we meet for what we call the Super SWAT meeting. Super SWAT is where we invite other “staff”—some of our key volunteers and leaders to join us for the staff meeting. (SWAT, by the way, stands for Staff Working As a Team).

At The Super meetings we always have an incredible Jean Vacha breakfast, an awesome time of worship, something fun (like an interesting ice-breaker activity) and a teaching time from Dwight (this time he spoke on the Five Dysfunctions of a team).

The Super is a great way for us to include others, get to know them better, show them we value them, and, of course, grow together as leaders.

Here’s a pic:

sunday’s scuds (may 23, 2010)

If you miss a Sunday, you miss a lot. This Sunday brought us the Marriage Referee, at Diet Dr. Pepper explosion, an unbelievable KidStuf opener complete with dancers and tumblers, and another message by Dwight that made all the people around me go, “Mmm,” several times.

It was part five of a six part series on marriage. And here are the scuds as I see ‘em:

• The problem in your marriage is not your PMS. It’s your heart.
• We’re all like tea bags—you don’t know exactly what’s inside until you put it in hot water.
• Reality will outpace your attempts to pretend like things are okay in your marriage.
• I don’t know of any area of like that has more unrealistic expectations than marriage.
• It’s okay to have desires in your marriage. The danger comes when those desires become expectations.
• In marriage, the things that once fascinated us about our spouses are the same things that end up frustrating us.
• Embrace your spouse’s differences.
• Unresolved issues will move your marriage from harmony to hostility.
• The #1 tool that God will use to grow you into the person he wants you to be is your spouse.
• Marriages don’t create problems—they just reveal them.
• If you’re single, the greatest gift you can give your future spouse is for you to work through your issues.
• You have to be a good forgiver to make it in marriage.
• The person who has the greatest potential to hurt you is the person you’re married to.
• What’s the worst sin in marriage? Unforgiveness—because it holds all the other sins captive.
• Your heart is selfish. It just is.
• The way you change a relationship is not by changing your spouse. You start by changing yourself.
• We all want to be viewed by others as a servant  but none of us want to be treated by others as a servant.
• We’re too concerned about our comfort. God’s concerned about your character.
• We’re too concerned about happiness. God’s concerned about your holiness.
• Show me a marriage that is thriving and I’ll show you two people that are working hard at it.
• Don’t strive for a perfect marriage—there’s no such thing. Strive for a healthy marriage.

sunday’s scuds (may 16, 2010)

I’ll begin by saying what a great day it was at all three NewPointe campuses. Millersburg had an excellent time doing cafe church. I’m told things went great in Louisville, too. In Dover we had an amazing time of worship with Hetti-Marie as our guest worship leader. And then it was Dwight time…week four of The Marriage Experts series. And this was the sex week. Yep, Dwight brought a STRONG, helpful, and very relevant message.

As always, I wrote down the scuds. Here they are:

• What God says about sex is the complete opposite thing that culture says about it.
• The church as been silent about sex for too long.
• You were a sexual being before you ever had sex.
• God created sex for our pleasure.
• Goes does not want you to be inhibited about sex.
• Sex should be something you look forward to. I do!
• God is not a sour-puss.
• God created sex for our pleasure but Satan wants us to think otherwise.
• Sex outside of God’s design (marriage) is merely an act. If you want significant sex that’s more than a fleeting thrill you have to stay within God’s parameters.
• When God says, “No,” it’s because he has something better in store for you.
• There’s a difference between being a virgin and being pure.
• Guys could have world war three break out today and still be ready for sex tonight. Your wife doesn’t work that way.
• Great sex is not about marrying your soul mate. You don’t have a soul mate.
• The key to great sex: serving your spouse.
• The greatest marriages are when two servants are in love with each other (and they’re the ones who have the best sex).
• It’s amazing how many people are talking about sex—except the ones who should be: married couples.
• There will probably never be a time when you and your spouse both want sex at the exact same time. If it does happen, circle the date and say, “Hallelujah!”
• My prayer is that we would have a sexual revolution in marriage covenant relationships.
• If you’re single: wait.

cafe church (and a multi-site update)

For those wondering, the new NewPointe campuses in Louisville and Millersburg are going very well. New families and individuals are coming every week. Attendance has been steadily increasing. Momentum is building. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated. In short, the new campuses (which launched last September) are a big part of the strategy we employ in order to “lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”

The new campuses are allowing us to reach more people in more places. NewPointers in Millersburg and in the Canton area are now able to fully and more easily participate in our “invest and invite” strategy.

Both campuses meet in local schools. We’ve got excellent teams who are great at transforming school theaters and classrooms into excellent environments for all ages. Occasionally school functions force us out of the theater on certain Sundays. Sunday, May 16 was one of those occasions in Millersburg. The theater was already occupied. So, what do the smart people who lead in Millersburg do? The improvise and do what we call “Cafe Church.”

It’s a very cool, inviting environment where we have church around cafe table with coffee, donuts, bagels, and more. The band brings a cool vibe with a sweet unplugged set. And Dwight’s message is shown on video.

We’ve done cafe church at both campuses. And it’s been received well in both places. Check out this pic from the Millersburg campus:

Photo credit: Mike Conn. Mike tells me that the cafe was packed…and that it was a great morning there. Huge props to campus pastor Bill Anderson and his team of phenomenal leaders and volunteers. They were thrown a curve-ball and they hit it out of the park!

sunday’s scuds (may 9, 2010)

We continued the marriage series at NewPointe on Sunday. Great day. Great series. Sunday Dwight looked at understanding the woman—her needs and desires.

Here are some of the scuds:

• Seek to understand before being understood.
• The prize of marriage is intimacy—and we all long for it.
• Too often we settle for mere physical intimacy.
• The greatest gift you can give your spouse is for you to be free.
• Every wife wants her husband to lead—but she’s afraid he’ll fail at it…so she becomes dominating.
• We must make decisions based on God’s Word rather than how we feel.
• Feelings are a good servant but they make a horrible master.
• Only God can take a destructive spouse and make them beautiful.
• Nobody’s hopeless.
• Men, you are called to meet your wife’s needs.
• If you mistreat your wife, it hinders your prayers.
• You can always spot a well-loved woman…she’s the one who has nothing to prove.
• Every wife needs a steady diet of compliments.
• Men are ready for sex in three seconds and then done in 15 seconds.
• The most important thing to your wife is that she knows that absolutely no one (other than Christ) is more important to you than her.
• Your wife has a right to know what’s going on in your life.
• The better you know each other, the better the sex will be.
• Marriage is great—but it takes work.

sunday’s coming

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Funny. Glad we can make fun of ourselves.

Any thoughts? :-)

cinco de mayo scuds (first wednesday)

I think this is the first time I’ve ever posted a First Wednesday scud review. But, wow, it has to be done. Last night Dwight spoke about living in freedom—breaking free from bondage in our lives. Powerful. Hope you got to be there. If you missed, I just have to say, you really missed it. Pick up a CD and check out some of the scuds:

• There’s more to life than just putting on a diaper and dirtying yourself day after day after day.
• Most Christians live defeated lives.
• If you don’t have affection for other people, you’re in bondage.
• If you struggle to keep your commitments, you’re in bondage.
• Your tomorrow is determined by the choices you make today.
• Sin: trying to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways.
• Coming to Jesus is not just about saying some little prayer. Coming to Jesus means repenting and then renouncing the works of Satan.
• The reason you’re in bondage is because you’ve believed Satan’s lies.
• Satan only has two weapons: lies and fear. And when his lies are exposed, his power is broken.
• As a Christian, you only have one obligation: obey the truth.
• Truth is not your enemy.
• Jesus didn’t save you just so you can go to heaven someday. He saved you so you could have a relationship with him.
• Right now you are as free as you want to be.
• If you don’t forgive—you’re the prisoner.
• If you wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving it, you’ll never do it.
• 94% of Christians live in rebellion toward God because they don’t tithe.
• When we’re proud God is not working for us; he’s working against us.
• Humility: confidence properly placed. And our confidence is in Christ.

And those are just a few of the scuds. There were more. Additionally, Dwight walked us through the steps to freedom in Christ. Good, good stuff.

Do you want to be free?

the creative process @ newpointe

We have the privilege @ NewPointe of having other churches come in from time to time to learn about what we do and how we do it. One of the things that other churches usually want to know about is our creative process, specifically our creating meeting schedule.

So…in case you’ve ever wondered what that looks like…Here it is:

SERVICE PROGRAMMING MEETING SCHEDULE

Series Planning (Monthly)

Purpose: To develop upcoming Series moving specifically toward a bottom

line/take away (8 weeks out)

Who: Dwight, Dave, John, Kevin

Length: 2 hours

Creative Meeting (Monthly – one week after the Series Planning Meeting)

Purpose: To brainstorm themes, ideas, songs, creative elements for series & specific services

Who: 8-12 people chosen from various areas (mix of staff and volunteers)

Length: 2 hours

Pre-Production Meeting (Thursdays @ 8:30 a.m.)

Purpose: To develop the service including, ideas, songs for series, transitions, look

& feel, etc. (2-6 weeks out)

Who: John, Danny, Wes

Length: 3 hours

Evaluation/Production Meeting (Mondays @ 1 p.m.)

Purpose: To debrief past Sunday’s service, to rundown the upcoming week’s service

Who: Producers, Department Directors, Main Communicator

Length: 1 hour

• 30-40 minutes on evaluation of past services (elements, transitions,

rehearsal, overall experience)

• 20 minutes on rundown of next service

Technical Meeting (Mondays following Eval/Prod meeting)

Purpose: To determine technical needs for the upcoming services

Who: Dan, John, others as needed

Length: 20 minutes

 

I really don’t like meetings. So we try to keep them purpose-driven and fun. The schedule I just shared is relatively new. We’re constantly tweaking and reevaluating our creative process. In fact, we’re still evaluation the merits of this particular schedule (been doing it for about six weeks).

My favorite meetings, of course, are the brainstorming sessions where we get to toss all of our wild and crazy ideas into the mix. During brainstorming no idea is a bad idea and nothing is sacred.

What you see at NewPointe on Sundays is always a result of the meetings you see listed here.

I love my job. :)