Operation Christmas Child

This week at NewPointe we kick off the official launch of Operation Christmas Child (OCC) in conjunction with Samaritan's Purse. Be watching your weekly for the OCC brochure that will give you all of the important information on how to stuff your shoe boxes for distribution to children here and around the world.

Last year OCC delivered nearly 8 million gift boxes in over 100 countries, including the U.S. Every box represents a precious child of God in need of a Savior. Shoe boxes are handed out with Gospel booklets in their own language and through the follow-up and discipleship program, well over 2 million boys and girls have committed their lives to Jesus Christ.

We will be collecting shoe boxes in the atrium on the Sundays of November 8th, 15th and 22nd. If you have any questions you can go directly to the OCC website at www.samaritanspurse.org or contact Rosy Meinke at 330-204-3292. Your generosity could impact a child for eternity.

Circle of Friends Ministries

Pass the word ladies........and mark your calendars for a very impactful one day Women's Conference, Discovering Who You Are in Christ, hosted by Circle of Friends Ministries and featuring Jocelyn Hamsher on Saturday October 24th from 9:00 to 4:00 at Berlin Christian Fellowship.

The cost is $20 and many informative workshops are available during the day including one called The Naked Christmas Chef (?). Contact Circle of Friends at 800-965-9324 or on the web at www.circleoffriends.fm.

Circle of Friends is a Missions Partner of NewPointe Community Church and is a ministry of women helping women by serving the the physical, emotional and spiritual health and well-being of women and their families in Tuscarawas and surrounding counties.

Coming Soon.....

The NewPointe web page has undergone extensive and very positive changes recently. If you have not logged on lately, there is a link to the left here on the Missions Blog page.

As part of the changes to the NPCC site, we will soon have a Missions Page located under the Ministries mast head. From there you will be able to access not only this blog and key NPCC Missions events, calendar and news but also all of the missions organizations we support by clicking on their particular icon. That icon will take you directly to their ministry description, purpose, contact information and upcoming events. It will be very easy for you, your family or your small group to get involved by serving one of the NPCC ministry partners or associates.

So, keep your eyes peeled right here for more information as we get ready to launch this exciting new information source in the next couple of weeks.

Disappeared

Have you seen this guy? Have you heard from him lately? Probably not recently. I realize that I have dropped the ball and disappeared from the scene for way too long. I promised that this would be a blog for everything missions at NPCC and I have been guilty of being "in" the ministry and not "on" the ministry for the last sixty days. A ton of great things has been happening in the Missions arena and I need to get back on the stick and let everyone know what God has been up to. Some pretty incredible stuff to say the least.

I promise that from this point forward there will be at least one post each week with the goal of communicating two and even three times weekly. Don't believe me? I don't blame you but just watch for new information and activity updates regularly. Really, I mean it.

Ramadan

All over the world Muslims are celebrating Ramadan (the holy month of fasting in Islam) from August 22nd through September 20th. This is a great time for Christians to set aside 30 days to pray daily that God would reveal himself to Muslims through dreams, through visions and through Christ followers willing to engage in conversation about the grace of God incarnated in Jesus Christ.

It's not the intention of this prayer focus to disparage Islam or Muslim sentiments in any way but to inform ourselves, pray for and support respectful opportunities to make God's grace known among Muslims.

Did you realize that the Qur’an talks about Jesus (Isa) as the Messiah and as the Son of God in surah 3:45 and surah 21:91? Or that the Qur'an in surah 3:50 instructs us that our duty to Allah is to obey Isa (Jesus)? Most Muslims just don’t understand it completely or have never been shown these verses. Even so, more Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus Christ now than at any other time in history.

Will you join me and take the time to pray for our Muslim cousins during the month of Ramadan? Will you interceed on their behalf that Islam would be infiltrated with the love of God and salvation through Jesus Christ? Remember, Jesus said "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Are our ideas and attitudes toward Muslims shaped by this commandment or are they shaped by prejudice and ignorance? Let's commit to prayer during the month of Ramadan and see how God moves among our Muslim cousins.

Go '09 Went

Well, Go '09 came ......and went. But before you know it, it will be time for Go '010 or just Go '10 or something like that.

What a sight it was as over 1500 green shirts took on over 148 different projects in Holmes and Tuscarawas counties. We even had a number of projects in Louisville where we will open a NewPointe campus on September 13th. The stories and pictures are still coming in and the Thank You's are overwhelming.

The Food Drive collected 1262 boxes of food that was distributed to five food pantries in Dover/Phila, Urichsville, Newcomerstown, Millersburg and Louisville. We were told that the four pallets of food delivered to the Dover/Phila location was distributed THAT DAY. It is a tough time for many in our area, so let's continue to be generous and help all we can.

NewPointers also got the chance to meet the sixteen (16) Ministry Partners that our church works with on a regular basis. The first ever Missions: Possible Missions Fair saw well over 500 people get to know how their church is involved locally, nationally and globally and how they, their family and their small group can serve.

I want to take a moment and thank EVERYONE that took part in Community Impact Day, The Food Drive or Missions: Possible. Your efforts are having a lasting impact by showing people the love and grace of Jesus Christ here in our local area and around the world. Keep serving, keep loving and let's help NewPointe to be known as an outwardly focused church.

I thought you might like to see the Go '09 re-cap video that we showed on August 9th. Here's the link, enjoy.

Riding the Camel

What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say the word Muslim? Now be honest, really honest. Many of us probably thought of the words radical, Muhammad, Middle East, anti-Jesus, mosque and yes, even terrorists. But the truth is that Muslim's are not much different than you and I and more Muslims are coming to faith in Christ today than at any other time in history.

But again if we are real honest, as Christians many of us find it extremely difficult to even think about talking to a Muslim about Jesus. Much of our hesitancy stems from fear and a lack of understanding of what Muslims belive. Most of us have never read the Qur'an or studied the rituals of Islam.

Beginning July 8th, we will be offering a six-week interactive session to help you learn how to confidently share the Gospel with Muslims. The Camel Workshop has proven to be one of the most powerful, proven and effective Muslim evangelism tools available. In this workshop you will learn what the Qur'an has to say about Jesus and the Bible and how to enter into a respectful and logical discussion of the Gospel using the Qur'an as a springboard.

The Camel Workshop is hosted by NPCC in conjunction with Impact Middle East and the sessions will be held on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM. The cost of the workshop is $35.00 and includes the workshop Journal, DVD and an English version Qur'an. You can register by calling the office at 330-602-5600 or my line directly at 330-602-3033. We hope you will join us and the next time you hear the word Muslim you might think of words like friend, saved, Christ follower and redeemed.