Summin' Up Sunday

I woke up late this morning. Well, honestly, I woke up on time, hit the snooze button, and rolled over and went back to sleep. I never moved again until an hour later. So, I didn’t have the time to get alone with God that I’m normally accustomed to.

That is why the scripture tell us things like “be ready,” "pray always,” and “study” so when you get a curve ball thrown to you, you will be ready with total fervency.

However, despite the fact that I didn’t have as much time for my religious Sunday morning activities, God went to church with me.

here's some highlights of Sunday:

1. We wrapped up the series “Sickness Within” on the topic Bitterness. I give the analogy of an old tree that was in my aunt’s back yard. The tree’s root system stopped up the drain field and was causing the septic tank to back up. On the other side of the tree, the tree was under the foundation of the house. Its massive root system was breaking up the foundation. The Apostle Paul warned us to live in peace with all and not to let a bitter root come up and defile many. Just like the root system stopped up the flow in the drain field, a root of bitterness stops the flow of God in a Christian’s life.
   And on the other side, it’s breaking the foundation. The foundation of Christianity is “love the Lord God with all your heart, and Love you neighbor as yourself. Well, a root of bitterness will break up that foundation. You can’t love people the way you used to; you can’t forgive them anymore. You may want to get the root out!
   Finally, what is the repercussion of the flow of God stopping in your life and the foundation breaking up? It’s simple; all the rotten, smelly stuff backs up into your house and causes it to smell awful!
2. Next week we start the series “Consumed.” I will concentrate on worship in this series. You don’t want to miss this. It’s going to be ALIVE!
3. The band done an awesome job again this morning. They didn’t get a chance to practice this week, but really rose up and made worship sound great.
4. The Marchese family is back from vacation. That accounts for half of our church!
5. After church, I had a chance to grab a bite to eat with some really awesome people. Brian and Stephanie have been a part of Life Pointe for several months, but I have not been able to sit down with them. They spoke highly of Life Pointe and we are certainly glad they’re with us.

Consumed

Worship isn’t just singing. It’s a lifestyle. As we consider who God is and what He has done our only reasonable response is worship. Pastor Lewis teaches us how to be “Consumed” in the presence of God. We look forward to seeing you this weekend for the new message series, Consumed.

Summin' Up Sunday

Well, I can tell that it’s summertime. Today, Life Pointe's people are all over the country enjoying life and their time off with their children. So, when I looked around the auditorium this morning, I could count four or five entire families that were out. Now, to larger churches, missing four of five families is not a big deal. But, to a small church like Life Pointe, we felt it to the core.

However, despite a skeletal congregation, God met with us this morning. Here are a couple things I observed:

• We were actually finished with our set-up by 9:15. This was a goal that was set last month at our leadership meeting.
• The serpent showed up a church, but didn’t make it inside. There actually was a small ground rattler hiding in the corner of the building, right off the sidewalk as you walk to the auditorium.
• Joe Marchese was out on vacation this morning, so Jeremy stepped up and played the bass for the praise team. You rock, jeremey!
• Mike went to be in church with his wife. Logan has taken over as drummer again. What an enhancement to the team. He’s the best! Not just because he’s my son either.
• Aaron, Melanie, Logan, and Jeremy led worship like they have been playing together for years. Good job, guys and ladies.
• We are making our descent into the final message of the series “Sickness Within.” This morning, we dealt with “Control.” I had a blast with this topic. Here’s a couple thoughts:
• Wikepedia defines a control freak as: A person who has an obsessive need to control other people or situations.
• As Christians, we must “lose control.”

Summin' Up Sunday

This past Sunday, I woke up feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest and I had been beaten with a two-by-four. Needless to say, I knew that it would be impossible for me to make it to church. So, I called on the some leaders at Life Pointe and put them on the spot.

About a month ago we went through a transition of our music ministry. Sheri went to PA for the summer and Joel moved to Colorado. That left us without two key vocals.

Aaron and Melanie Imel joined the Life Pointe team about three months ago. They’ve been Pastors, Church planters, and worship leaders in the past, so they knew exactly where I was. they helped out anywhere possible, including our worship band.

Without hesitation, Aaron and Melanie volunteered to step-up and lead worship. They’ve been doing an incredible job. Worship has been on the cutting edge.

Now, it’s Sunday morning, I’m sick, and I need someone to fill in for me. I called on Aaron and asked him if he could take care of the service for me. He didn’t even think twice about it. In fact, they came in and set up our worship set, practiced the songs, led worship, took up the offering, and spoke the word. Any Pastor would know that this is truly a blessing!

I believe this is the best example of being “reading in season and out of season.” This is the true mark of a great leader. One who will make it happen no matter what the circumstances are.
Great job Aaron and Melanie, we love ya'll!

When Faith Becomes Just Plain Crazy

When Faith Becomes Just Plain Crazy

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Brian Welch's CNN Interview

Korn's Guitarist Converts to Christianity

An insecure kid who loved music and grew up to be an unhappy rock star and later a happy Christian, Brian “Head” Welch spent his teenage years in Bakersfield, playing guitar, watching horror movies, being mean to his girlfriend, and feeling bad about being mean to his girlfriend. He eventually followed some musician friends to L.A., bringing his family’s alcoholic dysfunction with him into his new life and his new relationship with a meth-addicted spitfire named Rebekah. He and Rebekah did drugs together, beat each other up, had a child they gave up for adoption, and another they kept but were in no shape to nurture. Amid all the drama, Welch formed a band, Korn, whose phenomenal success quickly became one for the rock record books.

Wherever he went, Welch was worshipped as a nu-metal god, but self-loathing and guilt over his personal life prevented him from enjoying his success. Searching for an escape from his “drug-soaked depression,” he opened his heart to “the unconditional love of God,” quit Korn and drugs, and rededicated himself to caring for his daughter and making music on his own terms, most immediately with It’s Time to See Religion Die, his upcoming solo album, whose title refers to Welch’s distrust of organized religion. He’s also written this memoir, Save Me from Myself, which he hopes will inspire others.

As Welch puts it, “I was a closet criminal and the guilt and shame was eating me alive, but I chose to share those things to prove to you that…Christ can and will clear anyone’s conscience from any evil act.” The likeable if not quite grammatical Welch clearly believes in his own rebirth, but he still seems more lost than he wants to admit, which makes his faith a harder sell than he wants it to be. Save Me from Myself will appeal to both Korn fans and born-again Christians, but it would have been a better general-interest book and/or evangelical tool if Welch had waited a few years before looking back.

A Church That Loves Starbucks

Life Pointe Church's people love Starbucks. In fact, we are borderline obsessed. For a while, when we were having Saturday night services, we would do our best to be out of service and make it to Starbucks before they closed.
Eventually, we we so acquainted with the staff there, we had their number programmed in our phones and we would call and have them make our drinks while we were on our way.
My favorite drink is the Cinnamon Dolce Latte'. It's awesome! however, if I'm overheated, I love the Caramel light Frapaccino with a shot of esspresso.
I've seen where Starbucks stock is soaring. I can see how. They charge a whopping $4.28 for one of them latte's. So, we have decided that we'll refer to Starbucks as Fivebucks!

2006 DC Deaf Conference-- The Presence of the Lord is here

The Safest Place in the World

1. Avoid riding in automobiles—they’re responsible for 20 %
   of all fatal accident
   
   
2. Don’t stay home—17% of all accident occur in the home
   
   
3. Avoid Walking on the streets—14% of all accidents occur
   to pedestrians
   
   
4. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water—16% of all accidents
   involve these forms of transportation

Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in the hospitals.

You will be surprised to learn that only .001% of all deaths

occur in worship services and these are usually related

to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that

the safest place for you to be at any given point is at church.

And, Bible study is safe too. The percentage of deaths is even

less. So, for SAFETY’S sake, ATTEND CHURCH, AND READ

YOUR BIBLE, IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper

and complained that it made no sense to go to church

every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote,

"and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.

But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.

So, Ithink I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting

theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor"

column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for

weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife

has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me,

I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.

But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the

strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me

these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I

had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually

dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives

the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual

nourishment!"