Remembering and Praying...

As I sat here late tonight all pumped up about the 5 services of Worship that are ahead of me over the next 48 hours or so, God reminded me of those that serve our country and are away from family and loved ones during this sacred time of the year. Regardless of where you and I stand on this particular war, there is no denying the sacrifice our young men and women are making. So, in honor of them, I invite you to remember and pray for those in the armed services.

Go ahead. Turn the lights down low and speakers up high, and remember and pray. Pray for those that serve. Pray for our country. Pray for our enemies. Pray for the Church.

http://www.iwo.com/heroes.htm

Grace and peace - Merry Christmas...

Now that was FUN!

They let me do it! "It" being every boy's dream! I have always wanted to dig BIG holes and knock down stuff by driving bulldozers and front end loaders. It was so much fun.

Truthfully, I could not believe the power of that machinery. It knocked down pine trees like a child knocking down a stack of blocks. Unbelievable. If I ever leave the ministry, I think you might find me working a bulldozer somewhere!

Come join us this weekend as we gather around power far more amazing than that big piece of machinery. The weekend promises to be incredible with 3 worship celebrations on Sunday (8:45, 10:15 and 11:45 am) and two on Christmas Eve at 6:00 and 7:30 pm.

Merry Christmas.

BTW - if you are in church on Sunday, you will see a video of your pastor and Reverend Joe Schmidt building the church! It is quite hilarious!

Christmas Week at newhope

Our three Christmas Worship Celebrations begin tonight at 7 pm with a family oriented Encounter service. That’s right; bring the entire family out for Encounter as we celebrate with music and Word and Holy Communion!

Sunday, we will have our three services at 8:45, 10:15, and 11:45 am. Take your pick and feel free to bring your guests and visiting family members!

And then, of course, we will gather around the nativity for our Christmas Eve Worship at 6:00 or 7:30 pm. There will be times of fellowship following each service. We will provide hot cocoa and cider and encourage you to bring your favorite baked goodie to share with our church family.

It promises to be a grand week! If you are around, I look forward to celebrating Christmas with you. If you are traveling, may the light of Christ guide you with safe travels and sacred moments with friends and family.

God bless and Merry Christmas.


PS - it happened yesterday - I drove a ginormous front end loader on the land and dug BIG holes and knocked down trees, all in the name of Jesus, of course. :>) Stay tuned - pictures and videos and highights coming your way!!!

Monday Musings

I love our church - plain and simple. Here are some reasons why:

* I love that people still come out in the cold, wind and rain.

* I love that our church is flooded with amazing talent.

* I love that you want the pure Word of God.

* I love that you apply the pure Word of God! I wish you could hear some of the amazing stories of Random Acts of Christmas!

* I love that our Pastoral Team is amazing. I can not believe the commitment and excellence of Pastors Amy Lynn, Matt Smith, Curtis Mulder, and now Jarred Ritter! Jarred you are a great new addition!

* I love that in just 12 months, we will be rockin and rollin for Jesus at our post near Southpoint.

* I love what I do - if you paid me nothing, I would still want to preach and lead this church. (I sure hope you don't test that one :>)

* I love how generous you are. The response to the Personnel Team's idea to bless our pastors with a congregational Christmas Bonus has been so well received! Thank you.

* I love that we have presidents and CEOs worshipping beside homeless people - how cool is that?!

* I love that in 5 years we have helped start 6 new churches - again, how cool is that?!

* I love Christmas - thank you Jesus for leaving heaven to come among us.

* I love that God is moving among us like never before!

* I love that we have guests every Sunday that often say something like, "I knew the moment I walked in the door that this was the church for me!" That is because of you - notice they feel that way before I stand up to preach!

* I love that more and more people are getting involved in Small Groups and Ministry. Often I have not even met them yet - now that is way cool!

* I love that people want to pray for me and this movement.

* I love Amy Lynn - what a solid mainstay wife and leader in our church!

* I love that my kids, especially the three big ones, know that they have helped start a church from scratch. (Had to show you a recent picture since many say it is hard to keep up with them all :>)

* I love...GOD!

Mid-night Confessions from a Pastor

Sup? Chilling here after a very restful day with the fam. Today was one of those days perfect for snuggling up with family and just laying low, inside and out of the wet and cold. And now, wouldn't you know it - here comes the rain.

I am a torn human being right now. If you read my last post, you know I made some comment about how nice it would be to have some rain. I was discussing the importance of our new erosion fence and making the connection for the church to never let the winds and rains of culture to cause gospel erosion. Go back and check it out.

At any rate, we now have our rain and I am bummed. Actually I am torn. I know we need rain. I am glad it is raining. But inside, in those deep places that I usually don't talk about (Except at mid-night on my Blog), I sooooo wish the rain and the heavy winds they are calling for tomorrow, would "Go away and come again some other day." Who wants rain and cold and high winds on a the third Sunday in Advent?

FYI - no preachers are in favor of rain and wind and cold on any Sunday morning!

I just had to get that off my chest before I went to bed. :>)

Come rain or shine or wind or calm, I will be at newhope in the morning and hope you will join me there.

Peace out and Merry Christmas...

Erosion Control Fences and the Gospel...

As you know by now, the General Contractor and building companies are cranking on the land to build Jesus another home. Notice I didn’t say another church. We are the church and this Legacy of Hope building is our first home!

At any rate, they have erected this black fence that runs around the property. I had no idea what this was for until I walked over there and asked. It is an erosion control fence. It keeps all our dirt and supplies on our land. If a huge rain came (Wouldn’t that be nice :>), the fence that is buried into the ground and about knee high, would hopefully keep our dirt/mud, and various and sundry other supplies/materials on our land and not allow that stuff to bleed all over neighborhoods and roads around our property.

This started me thinking. I know, that is scary. But go there with me.

That erosion control is not only important in building a church home but is also important in maintaining God's Church. The church has been given priceless resources from God. The most precious resource we have is the gospel. I am referring to the pure untainted gospel of Jesus Christ. I think of Ephesians 2:1 – 10.

If the church is not careful, we will let the winds and rains of culture come and water His Word down and our most precious resource will bleed all over the place until we are left with only a slight version of gospel.

There are certain truths that we must hold tight to, beloved. I am referring to the truth of God’s Word. I am referring to the truth of Jesus, the Word made flesh. I am referring to the truth and beauty of the bride of Christ, the church, the hope of the world. I am referring to the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism. I am referring to one Lord, one faith, one baptism!

I hope our erosion fence works. More importantly, though, I hope our church, along with other churches all over this planet, will keep God’s stuff protected and firmly in place. Nothing short of the gospel is at stake.

I can’t wait to see you Sunday. I just finished my message and I am ready to preach it now! The creative elements and music will be awesome as always.

Merry Christmas...

Let’s Build a Church!

Words in a blog post can NOT articulate how excited I am. I arrived at the office yesterday only to find huge machinery being delivered to the land. It just kept coming and coming. By days end, the machines were cranking and trees were crashing to the glory of God! Sorry if that bothers some environmentalists but trust me, God loves trees but He loves churches far more! :>)

I could not sleep last night. I have been up since 3:00 am. Friends, “It is on” for Jesus – let’s build a church!

One of my favorite passages in the bible is the image rich text of Hebrews 11:8-10. It says:

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Six years ago, God called Amy Lynn and me to obey Him and come to this land in central North Carolina. Six years ago God called Amy Lynn and me and three little Kelly Kiddos to start walking up and down Franklin Street at a July 4th parade and handing out free bottles of water to hot sojourners parched in the summer sun. Six years ago God called us to launch a Core Vision Team in the Upper Room of our home. And six years ago, God called us to launch newhope with a Grand Opening Worship Celebration at East Chapel Hill High School on January 27, 2002!

And now, 6 years later and 2 additional kiddos, we can’t believe God is building a 36,000 square foot, phase 1 building, on 36 acres of land in the heart of central North Carolina! Six years later, we can’t believe God has saved over 400 new persons in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17), baptized close to 300 adult believers, and continues to change the lives of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of adults and children alike week in and week out!

How do I describe such a work? One word – GOD!

Make no mistake about it, as Hebrews says, we are building a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is GOD. (Hebrews 11:10) The foundations of this church are the rock solid promises and power of God. The builder is God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

So, if you are looking for me over the course of the next 11 months, you will probably find me prayer walking on 36 acres of land near the Streets of Southpoint mall, simply in awe of an awesome God who has given birth, designed, and now builds His church.

I bought a new camera last night and I promise to keep you posted right here every step of the way!

Random Acts of Christmas

It was an unbelievable day in the life of newhope church this morning. We started our new Christmas series titled, "A Night in Bethlehem." The engagement was sky high. The music was awesome. My friends Curtis Mulder and Jennifer Rice knocked it out of the part with this amazing feature song, "O Great Light of the World" by Bebo Norman. And on a personal note, God took a pathetically sick man and helped him preach three services. Thank you Father - I really didn't think I was going to make it today.

At the end of the sermon, I challenged our people to “Random Acts of Christmas.” My good friend, Tammy Dunn from Indianapolis came up with this great idea. The picture above is from a slide our technicians put together for the point of application in my sermon. If you go to our web site, you can find a link to the random acts web site and vice versa.

The whole point is this - DO SOMETHING RANDOM AND KIND TO SOMEONE THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON IN THE NAME OF CHRIST!

Check this out - Genesis 1 says God created light and John 1 says Jesus is the light of life. Later in John's gospel, chapter 8, Jesus refers to Himself as the light of the world. Interestingly enough, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus looks to His followers and says, oh yea; BTW, "You are the light of the world!" (Matthew 5) Wow – that blows my mind!

So shine some light for Jesus this Christmas season. There are 30 + ideas on the web site. Maybe you can offer some other ideas/ways to offer Random Acts of Christmas?

Take care - I can't wait to see central North Carolina get a little brighter because newhopers all over this place are engaged in Random Acts of Christmas.

A Night in Bethlehem

It is here, upon us! I am talking about Christmas series called, "A Night in Bethlehem." Today, I met with our creative arts team and it is going to be a God honoring month.

Can I encourage you to attend worship all Sundays in December? During this busy season, we need to be intentional to not let the season crowd out Christ. Also, if you are in town, don’t forget our special Christmas Eve service at 6:00 or 7:30 pm.

Lastly, remember that we will have many guests among us. The reason so many people come and stay at newhope is because they feel the warmth and love in our church family. They say to me all the time, “I could feel the spirit when I walked in” or “Everyone was so friendly.” Let’s keep it that way. Please be sure to speak to people you don’t know and make them feel welcome among us.

Sunday we will look at the power of light and temptation of darkness. Throughout Scripture God uses light to dispel darkness. In fact, John's gospel describes Jesus as light and tells us that the darkness has not comprehended. Jesus refers to Himself as "The Light of the World."

Before I preach my sermon here, I will stop for now. :>)

For the newhopers out there reading this blog, can't wait to celebrate our Christmas series with you. For those of you not attending newhope, but checking out this blog, may the peace of Christ dwell in your hearts during this season and beyond.

Peace...