From the student magazine Horizon; D6 Curriculum Sept-Nov. 2009
10. Refer to every dish as “Spam-tastic!”
9. Have everyone in the family say one thing he or she is thankful for that rhymes with “orange.”
8. Address everyone as “Squanto.” [“Could you pass the potatoes, Squanto?”]
7. Create your own Thanksgiving Day Parade by lining up all of your pets, walking down the street, and yelling “Happy Thanksgiving Regis!”
6. Let the youngest kids play a game with the turkey: Catch it, Kill it, and Consume it.
5. Hollow out the inside of the turkey, fill it with candy, and yell “Surprise!” when someone cuts into it.
4. Try to out eat John Madden.
3 Create a memorable dessert by replacing the ice cream with frozen mayonnaise.
2. Three words; Easy-Bake Oven.
1. Turn off football, turn on Lifetime, and hide the remote.
Top 10 Ways To Spice up your Thanksgiving.
CrossPoint's Launch
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:46-47
CrossPoint Church is preparing to launch Sunday Celebration gatherings that will encourage people in their crosspoint to connect to Christ, cultivate relationships, and build transformational communities.
Sunday September 20, we will have a celebration service with a message from Arnie Ferguson lead pastor and Jason Raymond the ministries development coordinator on “Plastic Jesus”. They will not only speak about how Jesus may have become plastic in our lives, but will share about upcoming ministries and the opportunity to build community in small group at CrossPoint Church.
Cultivating Relationships is an important part of building a faith community and CrossPoint Church does not want to launch weekly celebration gatherings to soon. This Sunday CrossPoint will be launching the Acts 2:46-47 life groups and continue their monthly Celebration Gatherings at the Springwood 9 Theaters. Building community through cultivating relationships is a non- negotiable with Arnie and Lynda as they feel this is what the Lord has challenged them within their own personal lives.
Arnie & Lynda want to encourage everyone to come and celebrate a Jesus that is not plastic, but is real and life giving.
See you Sunday
People Don’t Change, God Changes People
Nehemiah 4
Can you imagine as Nehemiah begins working on the walls, getting buy in from the Israelites, everyone working and then someone comes and begins to critique the work. Making a big deal and even threatening to stop the work and even hurt people in the process.
Things don’t change much after thousands of years. We still have those around that find great pleasure in trying to stop people from reaching their hopes and dreams. What a picture of strength from Nehemiah. This must have been a great encouragement to those working alongside of him. Moreover, he does not stop with just the prayer, he puts a strategy together to protect those who have partnered with him to rebuild the walls and continue the work of rebuilding the walls.
My prayer is the each of us encourages one another like Nehemiah as we all reach for the hopes and dreams God has placed in our hearts. Your Hope may be someone else’s Hope.
Bringing Hope Home
Nehemiah is a great journal to read through for anyone looking for encouragement as we build our families, businesses, planting churches, etc.
Nehemiah begins with hearing news from home that gives him great distress. So much so that he weeps, mourned, fasted and prayed. Neh. 1:4. I began to think about the impact of his actions. These actions brought the ultimate results that we see later as he gathers a team of people to rebuild the wall.
Though the miracle is the walls being rebuilt, it begins here with the response and where it is directed to. God, what an intimate moment we are able to see.
This was Nehemiah’s CrossPoint, his moment that compels him to step up and move from the king’s palace to a place of leadership in rebuilding not only the city walls, but the hope in the hearts of his people. May each of us find the strength as Nehemiah did move towards God, as He uses us to bring hope to the hearts of those who are on their spiritual journey.
Your Story Matters
Our personal story is a powerful part of who we are. It ours, the story we have is the story we have written, and our story will define who we are. Our story can lead us in a positive direction, or a negative direction, each are in our control.
It can be changed at any time by a change in our behavior, with a split second decision or when another story collides with our story. Though our Story is ours, it is not complete until we are connected with Christ’s story.
Our Story is not unseen, Our Story Matters to the Lord, Our Story transforms when we connect with Christ, and Our Story can be a catalyst to encourage others on their journey.
Your Story Matters
Limitations Can Bring Rewarding Joy
"The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.”- Helen Keller
I love this quote by Helen Keller. She has identified one of my greatest weaknesses.
It is great to move forward and to accomplish goals as we move closer to the launch of CrossPoint Church, September 20, 2009. Yet in order to move forward sometimes things just do not go as planned.
Maybe that is the plan. When things do not go as planned am I willing to look at the positive side of the unplanned event. Am I willing to look at what is God trying to show me and how this will actually springboard me into a deeper portion of God’s plan?
My CrossPoint today is to embrace the unplanned events that happen and see what God is encouraging me to see.
Moving Mountains in Our Lives
Matthew 17:20 Jesus talks about having the faith of a mustard seed and moving mountains.
I recently drove to Mesa, AZ to purchase equipment for our church plant here in Ankeny, IA, where Lynda and I are planting CrossPoint Church. I borrowed a three quarter ton diesel truck to accomplish this task. I left on Tuesday and did not return until Saturday night. It was a trip that we were excited about as we were able to purchase three quarters of the equipment needed for the September launch.
As I left Mesa, AZ; I was very nervous as I had never hauled a 24’ trailer before especially 1400 miles and through mountains. So the journey began. (Also we were blessed with additional equipment that I put in the truck itself).
As I was going up the first portion of the mountain I noticed the truck began overheating. This would be a continual problem as I traveled through the mountains that day and the next. I realized that I had too much weight for the truck.
I felt this was a great analogy to all of us that are trying to work out our own salvation, trying to accomplish what the Lord has placed on our hearts. When we begin to travel up our personal mountains and realize the load we are carrying is too heavy. What do we do?
I called a friend who helped me as I have limited knowledge of diesel’s, he said just let it sit and cool down. So I did that and each time I moved up the mountain, I had to sit and wait for the truck to cool down. Sometimes I needed to add coolant to it, and sometimes I just needed to wait.
As we travel up the mountains of life, it does not matter how fast we go, it matters that we have the faith that Jesus shares with us to be able to say to that mountain move. This faith produces results. The mountain may not physically move but when I was on the other side of the mountain; I could see the mountain in my rear view mirror. I made it.
Our CrossPoint is;
1. Ask for help; Matthew 7:7 NLT
2. Follow the instructions given, II Kings 4:3-5 NLT
3. Stop and wait when you hit the red line; Habakkuk 2:3 NLT
4. When engine cools, proceed with caution and keep moving forward; Mark 11:22 NIV; Matthew 28:18-20 NLT
We may not always be able to control the weight of our circumstances, but we can initiate the faith factor that Jesus encourages us to. This will move any mountain in our path.
Moving Forward with Strength from Above
I was reminded in Romans 12:1 that we are “to give our bodies to God because of all he has done for you.” NLT…
As I thought about that portion of verse 1, my mind took me to the passion of Christ where Jesus was being whipped by the Roman soldiers. During that moment I thought, can I give all I have because of what Christ has done for me? I can, only because I have the opportunity to ask for help every morning and every moment. It is in the asking that we engage the heavenly presence of God’s power and strength.
Belief in Practice
Lynda and I have been in Ankeny, IA for two months now. We are getting to know people in our community and every day the Lord is encouraging us. A scripture that Lynda shared with me is wrapped in a story of where Jesus Heals the Blind in Matthew 9:27. Here are a couple of blind men who followed Jesus and Jesus asked them a great question. “Do you believe I can make you see?” What a great question for not only these two men, but for all of us who are on our personal journeys. Our answer to this question is a resounding “Yes we believe”.
Here is our CrossPoint for the month of April. Though the answer to this question is yes we believe, we need His strength everyday to build up our faith to see the opportunities that the Lord brings our way. Putting our faith into practice and building our faith muscles as we look forward to not only the birth of CrossPoint Church on September 20, 2009, but the opportunity to make disciples and reach our city for Him. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Arnie & Lynda
Believing Prayer Is The Foundational Piece
"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer."
-John Wesley
There have been great people who have gone before us and have influenced our world in remarkable ways. As I read this quote by John Wesley, I am reminded that whatever we do, believing prayer is the catalyst toward any action step we make, as we answer any personal calling.
I am convinced that we do not set out to be great; we set out to accomplish our personal calling. Most of us are very ordinary people; but when ordinary people respond to their personal calling with believing prayer, a reaction takes place that changes us personally, and touches the lives and cities in which we live. John Wesley responded to his call with believing prayer.
Today, let us continue to reach for the goals that are before us this New Year with believing prayer and see how it changes the face of 2009, as ordinary people do extraordinary things because of believing prayer.
Honey it's time to pull up the tent stakes!
Walt Disney is quoted as saying we keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. Well, in just a few short weeks we pack up and move down a new path. Not out of curiosity, but out of love and obedience; and it is, as most journeys are bitter sweet. We have dear friends that we will be leaving behind. Friends that have waded through many things with us. Partnered in prayer and lifted our arms during our battles and rejoiced with us in our blessings. We will truly miss all of you.
The sweet part of this journey is the new people we will meet. The new friendships that will be formed. I anxiously wait to see what God will do; He is faithful! We look forward to growing in our faith. Have you ever traced the ways God has provided opportunities for you to grow in your faith?
Looking Forward!
