just between us...

this past week my friend dave was injured playing church basketball. yes, it's true. it happens in churches across the country. 25-45 year old men get together and relive the glory days of basketball - thing is, the guys at church keep getting hurt. maybe God is telling them something - i don't know.



anyways, this week was dave's turn to get hurt. on tuesday he landed funny on his ankle and got a high ankle sprain, which i learned was worse than a low ankle sprain. i was worried.



you see, this very afternoon dave and i are taking 25 high schoolers down to florida for big stuf camp and his involvement was in limbo for a brief moment. luckily he is okay.



yesterday i took dave (aka crutchie, gimp, etc...) out for a field trip to wal-mart (he was excited...) to buy some things for our trip. some things i learned...















1. don't take the motorized cart from a older woman who is asking where the bathroom is as she gets off the vehicle. (dave said it was warm. ew.)

2. those things can turn on a dime.

3. there is a secret club for people who drive these. they always smile at each other and make a hand gesture. (dave wouldn't tell me - i'm not in the club)

4. the aisles in wal-mart really don't fit two of these.

5. it's weird to see a 29 year old healthy man in one of these vehicles.


















the end

there are always exciting things happening here at newpointe community church. one of the coolest parts about being on staff is that we all get together on monday mornings and share some of the neat things God has been doing here. this past monday in particular was exciting to me, so i thought i'd give a rundown of a few of the exciting things that are going on.

- the big give. at the beginning of the summer our church launched a program called the big give (yes, like oprah) where we gave small groups 400 dollars to do a service project in the community. so many people have been touched by this program. one group purchased gas cards and stood at the pump and gave gas away. another group found a local business in dover and gave them a facelift. a couple of groups put their money togeter and gutted and renovated a bathroom for a widow woman.
i guess this weekend someone called into a local radio station and shared how they had been touched by this program - the DJ aired the location of our church.

- suhad. if you aren't from newpointe you may have never heard of suhad, so here's the brief story. our church consistently sends mission teams to egypt to help our one missionary, blake. a woman that blake knows there is 35ish and she has terrible pain in her hips. so, our church paid for her to come over and have surgery at the cleveland clinic. her surgeries went well and people are taking good care of her. before suhad was a woman cursed by her culture for her disability, but her new hips have given her a chance to have a better life. plus, she has told so many nurses and doctors about her love of Jesus.

- aug 3 we are stopping church. it's true. we are taking one sunday off from teaching and focusing on serving. so, we're going to have service projects all over the community that morning...exciting.

- go '08. we're having a food drive this summer to fill all the food pantries in our county. it's true. last year we asked for 1,000 boxes and received 1,200...this year we're asking for 1,500.

- sports ministry. this fall we are having a full time sports ministry coordinator. this area loves sports, so hopefully this is another opportunity to get the community involved with christ.

- small groups. our church is pushing for 300 small groups by the end of the year. this is huge!

- 2 satellite churches. yeah, we're looking at 2 different locations to branch the influence of newpointe community church.

wow. it's fun to be a part of a changing and growing church.

ps...also, there's a couple from our church getting married soon that recently got together after 20 years of divorce! how cool is that?

last week i read a book called "pop goes the church" by tim stevens. great read. the book talks about using pop culture to your advantage while teaching truth to your church. it was funny reading the book at my current state...

i shared this with dave and dwight last week...it was fun reading a book where your church is used as a good example and not a bad example. you see, i grew up in a church that viewed the culture as bad and completely separated themselves from anything "secular." something i love about newpointe is that we use the world around us to reach people for Christ. i guess that's why you can see me dancing to "i'm bringing sundays back..." or why we have used "waiting on the world to change" on a sunday morning. or why we did a series called "the reel newpointe" and used video clips to teach our values as a church.

yesterday was no different. i came to church and "bring me to life" by evanescence was being sung. you see, we're in the middle of a series talking about emotional health, but this isn't something only "christians" talk about. everyone wants emotional health. everyone wants to feel. everyone wants their inner person to be alive. even evanescence.

oh my. i could write a book on what God and life in general have been teaching me lately. i don't want to write a book, but i will submit a short list.

- you have the opportunity to push yourself from good to great. the choices you make and the leadership you display will either set you apart from the norm. do it. be a purple cow wherever you are.
- people change. friends change. i change. the question is...are you willing to accept and love through the changes?
- leading is stretching, but once you've had a taste at leading it's really hard to sit back and wait.
- God can work in everyone...with a little prayer and patience.
- all relationships take time. if you're willing to do the work it will pay off.

this isn't an inclusive list, just the things that have been on my mind lately.

yesterday i went to a funeral for dwight's (our lead pastor) mom. she had been battling cancer for a number of months, so her death wasn't tragic or sudden. in fact, the funeral was amazing. it was a beautiful celebration of her life. there are many highlights from the service, but the most prominent part was how much of what was said pointed to christ and marie's love relationship with him. i believe dwight said it best at the end when he told all of us that if we walked away from the service thinking his mom was great we would miss the point. instead, we should be thinking about the greatness of jesus. it was a good funeral. the best i've been to.