WE THE FUN

"If the trip home isn't FUN, nobody will want to go; therefore, you must be connected to joy."

 Sheila and Lydia - Bringin' the Fun in the Children's Department!

Busted!  Having a little pre-service fun while the worship band practices.

Sermon:  We The Fun
Sermon Series:  We - All the Way Home

Pastor Todd spoke this past Sunday about how we, the body of Christ, need to be bringin' the fun when it comes to our walk with God.  Fun is relevant.  The church has to be fun or it's not relevant. 

One of the key scriptures for the message can be found in Mark 7:24-30.  Read it here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%207:24-30&version=ESV 
Although at first glance, the passage may seem confusing or at the least, not funny, it is actually a witty dialogue between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, where Jesus engaged the woman by using the culture of the time.  In the passage, "the children" was a reference to the Jews of the time, and "the dogs" was a reference to what people of that culture called the Gentiles.  The woman crashed the party - she did not belong there.  Yet, she was determined to get help from Jesus for her daughter.  She, a "dog" recognized Jesus as a savior, as capable of healing her daughter - and yet the Jews, "the children" didn't.  They need more help because they don't get it yet. 

Feel like you score low in how fun, encouraging, refreshing, and enlightened you are?  See below for tips on how you can bring the fun:


How Can I Bring The Fun???

Be connected to the joy of the Lord.
-Hebrews 11:16
Mark 7:31-36
Colossians 4:1-6
Matthew 5:13-16
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Mark 7:24-30
John 10:9-11
John 15:1-17
Psalm 28:7
Psalm 34:1

Start with the verse(s) listed, then read the verse in context by reading the entire chapter or chapter section that contains the verse.  If you have access to a study Bible or an online study Bible, get ready to have your mind blown.  Also, if a verse is particularly meaningful to you, commit it to memory. 

Ask the Lord to help you.

Invite people to our Good Friday game night & Easter activities.

Take the Psalms 34:1 Everyday Praise Challenge:  "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips."

Answer this question:  "Do I know for sure that I am a Christian?" 
We believe that it is possible to know for sure that you are a Christian.  Have you ever had a moment in time when you commited your life to the Lord and received his forgiveness?  If you have doubts, get in touch with Pastor Todd.  Becoming a Christian is the truest way to get the party started.  We'd love to celebrate with you.

Whoa, Blessing

Well, Point of Change has had quite a few blessings recently.  Praise God for how He is taking care of us!  Keep scrolling all the way down to read our updates!

-Pastor Todd met with MST and presented our Point of Change Action Plan, and we were approved!  This is no small feat, and are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yeah buddy!

-We finished up our second week of church tours, and were very blessed to see how God is working in church plants throughout our area. 

-We also recently acquired 300 chairs and 30 conference tables at an excellent price through the Interstate Center.  Thanks to Tony Perschall for finding out about that and making it happen!  We had a chair cleaning party yesterday and dusted, scrubbed, and vacuumed all 300 chairs.  Not only did we get those chairs, we worked on removing the IBEW's former chairs, and were able to pass on blessing by giving some to the Emmanuel Health Center.  Way to go, team!  The chair cleaning party concluded with prayer.  To quote Pastor Todd (rather, to steal his Facebook status update): 

Tonight, three spontaneous prayer sessions. Prayer, both personal and corporate, is what we do. TY, PoC. So Thankful.

We cry out to the Lord. We humble ourselves before the One we love!!

   (See pictures below from the chair cleaning party; scroll down to read continued blessings - they do continue!)

 

 



-Additionally, we had a copy machine from IBEW that we could have if we could get it working - and thanks to Dustin's mad, mad skills, we now have a working copy machine!!!  Isn't it just really, really cool how the Lord puts a group of people together, all with their different talents and abilities, and things just really click?!  God is good!  :)



-There are countless ways God has blessed us both as Point of Change, collectively, as well as on an individual level.  A home that was waiting to be sold - sold!  Jobs needed - found!  (One Point-of-Changer recently applied, interviewed, and received a job all in one day, and her employer has shown interest in doing a Bible study with her - praise God!).  And there are so many more blessings that continue.

-Finally, from the Kellers:  "The Kellers feel wonderfully blessed by the kindness and selflessness of their church family and how God has provided as He promised."



Remember - this Sunday at 5 pm (at Friends & Family) we kick off our first sermon series:  "We - All the Way Home."  Bring the fun, and bring a friend!!!!!!!!! 

4 Churches, 4 Teams, 1 God: Church Plant Tours Week 1

This week, our launch team was divided up into 4 groups and visited 4 different healthy church plants all within approximately 2 hours of Bloomington.  This week, teams visited churches in Morton, Galesburg, Naperville, and Chicago.

The central welcome area:

Soul City Church in Chicago

Entrance to children's area:

Northwoods Community in Galesburg

Since I have not yet mastered the art of being in 4 places at once, and have not yet had a chance to hear all the fun details from everyone's adventure, I will simply outline from my point of view:  Soul City Church in Chicago's West Loop. 

Our group had a truly wonderful time at Soul City Church. Soul City is a church committed to leading people into a transforming relationship with Jesus.  They are not confused about their mission, and they know their target audience...they know their city (or at least their portion of their city!)  (Example:  between services they set out dog biscuits and a water bowl for the pets of dog walkers.  Several people have stopped by the church service because of that small act.  They got someone's attention.) 

One example of the great signage displayed throughout Soul City

The sermon was great, and I think I'll give a little re-cap since, well, I can.  The pastor of Soul City talked about a fun and easy topic:  debt.  (Hahahaha, not fun, not easy!)  This was a really great sermon for such a tough topic.  There was an excellent use of scripture, and both humor and seriousness were infused throughout.  Anyway, so we thought about the ramifications of reaching into our future to pay for our present.  Essentially, slavery is still going on in multiple forms, and one of the ways is through the credit card industry.  Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender."  Learning to say "no" now leads to years of "yes" later.  We need to learn to say no to our credit cards.  God has something for us:  wisdom, courage, tough discipline, and blessing.  What does the credit card industry have for us?  Think about this:  in the US there is 2.4 trillion dollars of consumer debt, and Americans charged 51 billion dollars worth of fast food to their credit cards in 2006.  A date that costs $150 (remember, this is Chicago) charged to a credit card now will cost $171 paid off over 18 months.  (Will you even remember your date's face in 18 months?!) 

See Deut. 15:4-8 for additional scripture.

Structural pillars filled with scripture and prayers 

(Kind of looks like I made this picture so "cool" on purpose... but I'm experiencing some blogger difficulties.  Check back for clearer pics later!)



Worship at Soul City

All-in-all, we really were blessed with the opportunity to go out and visit, and see what other thriving church plants are doing.  It is fun to have your brain "stretched" and see possibilities - because, as you know, with God, all things are possible.  And it is refreshing to see God working all over.  Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in your own little corner of the universe and forget that we have a MIGHTY, FAR-REACHING GOD, who is constantly awake, aware, and on our side.

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Blessings,

Celia



Soul City Church:

For more on Soul City, visit http://soulcitychurch.com/ or check out their video channel which gives more info on their story http://vimeo.com/31795844.

Launch Team Leadership Meeting

A good portion of our launch team met on Monday evening for the not-at-all daunting task of contributing ideas toward the proposed action plan of our church. 

The first portion of the evening was spent brainstorming various ideas that came to mind regarding the different aspects of church (example:  our mission, children's ministry, worship, south Bloomington...)

Going to town with the sticky notes!

The second portion of the evening was spent divided into groups, working on our different projects regarding our church and its action plan.  Good job, team!

Well launch team, as you're sitting at home, overworked, underpaid (haha!), and sleep-deprived, I'm sure this will definitely be true as we grow and look back and reflect on how God propelled us into whatever He has in store for us:

And of course, maintaining daily presence with our Mighty God, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace is of the utmost importance.  We must all keep reminding ourselves that we are not clever enough, good looking enough, rich enough, resourceful enough, creative enough, or have enough hours in the day to do this all on our own and truly succeed.  We must stay connected to the one who IS enough.  Here's a bit of daily presence for you before I call it a night. 

Isaiah 25:1 (ESV) 

O Lord, you are my God;
     I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
     plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

One launch team member's vision for where we'll be a year from now.  Amen!

Sermon 1: Stay Tethered to God

Point of Change had its first pre-launch worship service this past Sunday!  With approximately 86 people in attendance, we had a great kick-off at Friends and Family Fellowship, which is kindly letting us use their space on Sunday evening until we get our own space.

Thanks Taryn!

The worship team led us in a wonderful time of praising God.  One of our new songs was “Never Once” by Matt Redman.  It’s a fantastic song.  Check out Matt's song here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxFyX29pZnI



Pastor Todd brought us a great first message, challenging us with the following question:  How do you respond when you get hit?  When something comes unexpectedly, whether good or bad, we must be truly connected to God so that when we get hit, it doesn’t phase us.  We must be tethered to God so that all the hit really does is wrap us closer around God.

This sermon's main scripture this week can be found in Numbers 6:23-27.  Read it here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%206:23-27&version=ESV  God is looking for opportunities to bless and care for those who are called by His name.  To be called by God's name is to walk in His ways which means to obey and walk in repentance (the way of Christ).  We must be tethered to God.

As you spend your time in God's presence this week, consider the following scripture to help you to stay connected to the Word as you read about being tethered to Christ: 

Monday:  Numbers 6: 23-27
Tuesday:  Leviticus 26: 3-13

Wednesday:  Psalm 19:1-11

Thursday:  Psalm 80

Friday:  Deuteronomy 28: 9-14

Saturday:  2 Chronicles 7: 14

Sunday:  Daniel 9: 18-19


Please check back as we refine our mad, mad, blogging skills.


Remember Point of Changers, the following 2 Sundays we will be divided into groups and visiting various healthy church plants within a 2 hour driving distance of Bloomington-Normal.

Blessings,
Celia