sunday’s scuds (june 26, 2011)

Dave D wrapped up a two-part series Sunday, ‘A Beautiful Mess.’ Hope you got to experience it (and, by the way, how cool was that closing song with the painting?). Anyway, great two-parter by Dave. Here are some of the scuds he launched:

• There's beauty to be found in the mess of life.
• Just because I can't see the beauty  doesn't mean it's not there.
• The question is: are we willing to look for the beauty in the mess. Because the reality is, the mess never fully leaves us.
• The longer we pursue stock-photo living, the more arrogant we become.
• Your vision depends less on WHO you are and more on WHERE you are.
• God promises beauty in the mess of life. We just can't always see it because our vision hasn't fully developed.
• Messes are what drive us to Christ.
• When we become "kingdom responsible," we discover that character is more important than reputation.
• God's grace is woven into your life's story.
• The messes of life reveal the truth about us.
• Truth is really hard to swallow if we don't understand how much God loves us.
• Discovering God's grace in your story will develop your vision and you'll begin to see the beauty in the mess of your life.
• When all we can see is the mess, we have to know and trust that God is painting a bigger, more beautiful picture.
• Are you going to try to BE God or are you going to TRUST God.

danny bunnelle, newpointe’s version of dick clark

I can’t remember if I’ve already posted this. Found it in my blogging drafts folder. If you’ve already seen it, it worth seeing again, in my opinion…

 

An old photo of NewPointe’s music director, Danny Bunnelle surfaced at the NewPointe offices recently. Here it it is:

Yep. That’s him. Nice.

Someone commented that he kinda looked like Dick Clark (or at least some kind of game show host). So, there’s no way I could leave that one alone.

So…enjoy… Danny Bunnelle, the Dick Clark of NewPointe…

 

 

 

sunday’s scuds (june 19, 2011)

Dave D’Angelo brought us the first of a two-part series entitled, “A Beautiful Mess.” He talked about how we all experience messes in life and how, in fact, most of us are probably dealing with a mess in some area right now. The whole idea is that in the end, with God at work, the mess can become beautiful.

Here are some of his scuds:

• The messes of life never make their way into the perfect little pictures we dream of in our lives.
• No matter who you are, you’re facing a mess right now.
• The beauty that we find in our messes is actually the truth about ourselves.
• There’s a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is an emotion. Joy is a state of being.
• If you’re facing a mess and you don’t see any way that it could ever be beautiful, hold on. You just don’t have the vision to see it yet.
• Proximity creates opportunity. What you get close to determines what you’ll get in to.
• The more we assign blame and point the finger at others, the less joy we experience.
• A better question to ask than, “why?” is, “What can I learn from this?”

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  James 1:2-4 NLT

sunday’s scuds

Sunday brought the conclusion of the ONLY YOU CAN BE U series. Great series. Great wrap-up. Per usual, Dwight’s message was scud-a-licous. Here are a few of my favorites:

• The way to experience greatness is by being the YOU you were created to be.
• Quit trying to turn your weaknesses into strengths. When you spend time doing that, you end up average.
• We all want to be considered servants. The problem is, none of us want to be treated like servants.
• We all aspire to greatness but somewhere along the way we become frustrated and we decide greatness is unattainable.
• Greatness is within the reach of every person in this room.
• God is more interested in the reason you and I serve than HOW you and I serve.
• Being humble doesn’t mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less.
• Hospitality doesn’t look to impress people. Hospitality looks to impact people.
• If you want to have an impact on someone’s life, the quickest way to do that is to serve them.
• Servants see a need and they act on it.
• One of the greatest ways you can server others is by praying for them.
• Jesus was a peacemaker but He wasn’t a peace-keeper. He didn’t avoid conflict.
• Keeping peace isn’t worth losing your integrity over.
• If the truth were known, we’d rather be celebrities than to be great.

A new, two-part series by Dave D’Angelo starts next week. It’s gonna be goooooood! See you Sunday!

what do we really value?

Values: The beliefs, principles, and philosophies that we hold about life, its  purpose, and our own purpose.

Last Monday the Ministry Team at NewPointe got away for a day of reflection and planning. One of the exercises we were asked to complete was about values. Specifically, we were asked to take some time to consider, reflect upon, and write down our top five values and what each of those mean to us. Here are the five I finally landed on:

1. Family: the primary people I’m responsible to lead, love, and provide for. They are the ones who consume my thoughts and my affection.
2. Faith: Complete trust and confidence in God—that He is who He says He is and that He can do ANYTHING!
3. Trust: A strong desire to be found trustworthy by others. I also highly value being able to trust others.
4. Creativity: Thinking differently and expressing it. Favorite question: What if? Making an impact through the arts and creative solutions.
5. Love: Love wins, right? There’s nothing that’s really more powerful or important in life. If I have everything else but don’t have this one, it’s all meaningless.

I also made a list of values that get honorable mention (so hard to limit your list to only five): Fun, Variety, Winning, Excellence, Integrity.

What did I learn from this exercise? I learned that what I say my top five values are aren’t always reflected in how I live my life. I think our TRUE values are reflected in how we spend our time and our money. For example, I can say one of my primary values is my family, but how much of my time and energy are they really getting? When I start analyzing how I spend my time and my thoughts, sometimes, I’m afraid, my top values may look something like this:

1. Sports
2. Television
3. Laziness
4. iPhone
5. Food

I did some soul-searching  and had a talk with God about the difference between what I say my values are and what the way I live my life says my values are.

How about you? Do what you say you value align with how you live?

sunday’s scuds (june 5, 2011)

It was part three of the ONLY YOU CAN BE U series on Sunday. Dwight spoke live in Canton and in full-size Hi-Definition at Dover and Millersburg. It was a great day no matter which campus you attended.

I went to Canton and watched the band bring down the house with a great “Ain’t No Mountain” opener before getting into a rock solid worship set.

Dwight’s message was spot-on, per usual. If you  missed it, make sure you catch it online or pick up a CD. Here are some of the scuds he laid down:

• There are only three things you can do with your life: Waste it, Spend it, Invest it. Investing it (obviously) brings the greatest return.
• You only have one life. You need to declare your focus for it.
• The main objective for our lives needs to be: Love God, love people.
• The most miserable people I know are Christians who treat their Christianity as though it is only moderately important.
• Gods will = exactly what you would do if you had all the facts.
• You don’t need more of God. He needs more of you.
• If you truly interested in knowing Gold’s will for your life, you would surrender yourself completely to Him.
• The reason most of us can’t handle the truth is because we haven’t experienced the grace God offers us.
• Your spiritual gifts were not given to you for your own benefit.
• God didn’t give you abilities so you could make a living. He gave them to you so you could make a difference.
• My greatest ministry has come out of my pain, not my successes.
• The world couldn’t care less about what we believe. What the world wants to know is: Do they get along with each other? Do they live out what they say they’re about?
• Is the thing you’re giving your life to really worth giving your life to?
• How do you know if you’re being a good steward of your life? When you’re being who God created you to be.