FEBRUARY

     Although February is the shortest month of the year, it often feels like the longest month. The novelty of the first snow has worn off long ago, the days are getting longer but it’s still dark by 6:00, and many of us begin to experience cabin fever from spending too much time cooped up indoors.  This year instead of counting the days until February is over, decide to make the days of February count!  Here are some ideas to get you started:

Serve others.  We hear it so often it almost sounds like a cliché, but helping someone else really does lift your spirits.  Get involved in a service project with your family or small group, volunteer to serve at church, show up for Second Saturday Serve, shovel your neighbor’s walk, bake cookies to share with your office, clean your closets and donate things you are not using to charity . . . if you keep your eyes and heart open, opportunities to serve others are everywhere!

Learn something new.  If you have always wanted to learn how to do something or you have an interest or hobby you’ve been meaning to pick up again, February is the perfect time!  Learn how to knit or crochet or paint, dig that old needlepoint project out of the closet and finish it, build a bird feeder, get your guitar out its case, learn a foreign language, find the perfect chili recipe . . . challenge yourself to do something you’ve always wanted to try!

Celebrate!  February brings three holidays – Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day and President’s Day.  Find ways to celebrate all three days with your family and friends.  Whether you are a football fan or not, plan a Super Bowl party.  This is leap year – February 29^th comes around just once every four years!  Celebrate the day with a special dinner. 

Spend time with God.   February’s dark evenings provide a perfect opportunity to spend more time in prayer and dig into God’s Word.  Read the gospels again, or study a book of the Old Testament you’ve never read.  Stop at the church bookstore and pick up a Christian book or Bible study to work through.  Join a small group and get involved in studying the Bible with a group, or engage in studying the Bible with your family, your spouse or a friend. 

Start February off on the right foot by attending First Wednesday service on February 1^st, and decide to make February, 2012, a month of personal, spiritual and relational growth!

The Reason for Christmas

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14, NIV.

     During this month’s Christmas Classics series, we have looked at the meaning of traditional carols, songs many of us have known as long as we can remember.  Perhaps the picture of the turntable and album cover brought back memories of when you first heard these familiar carols.  In my house, shortly after Thanksgiving the record player was moved to the dining room and placed on an old footstool covered in Christmas wrapping paper.  A big stack of Christmas records played nonstop throughout the next month – everything from Guy Lombardo to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir to my personal favorite, The Partridge Family.

Through the years the technology has changed, and so has the style in which the traditional carols are recorded, and performed.  However, as we’ve been reminded this month, the message remains the same:  Jesus Christ, 100% man and 100% God, came to dwell among us and reconcile us to God.  His message of peace and goodwill to all men remains the same today as it was when the angels sang to the shepherds on a Galilean hillside over 2,000 years ago.

     Jesus was not born into a Christmas-card scene decked out in tinsel, ribbon, pine trees and twinkling lights.  He was not dressed in a red and white striped “Baby’s First Christmas” sleeper and laid in a bassinet that had been purchased months before in happy anticipation of his arrival.  The world in which Jesus came to dwell among us was harsh and unjust:  a world where a young girl nine months pregnant was forced to travel miles from home to register with her husband for a census, a world where a dictator would kill every male child under the age of two in a rage of jealous paranoia.  Throughout the world today, many live in a similar harsh, unjust environment.  At NewPointe Missions, our ministry is to bring the message of the Christmas Classics to all – the same message of hope, peace and reconciliation which heralded Jesus Christ’s birth.  Thanks to all of you who gave so generously this year of your time, your treasures and your talents to help us spread the Good news that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth!  Have a blessed Christmas!

PRAYER FOCUS - DUHOK

     Last Friday afternoon violence broke out against Christian businesses in the city of Zakho, Iraq, where we have an active house church.  Although things are now quiet in Zakho, the violence has spread to Duhok, where we have a stand alone church in the area.   At the time of this writing, all of the people in our churches are safe, but Christians are being attacked in the city and the situation remains very dangerous. 

     

     The Christian church alliance has declared Friday a day of prayer to ask God to intervene in the situation in Duhok.  Please join them in praying for our church leaders and members in Zakho, and Duhok, as well as for Christians in all of Iraq. 

Thankful

     This week as we celebrate Thanksgiving, we are so grateful for all the people involved in missions at NewPointe.  Maybe you volunteered for Second Saturday Serve, Helping Hands Ministry or Go 2011.  You might have gone on a mission trip, or participated in an outreach project with your family or small group.  Many of you have donated money so others could go on a mission trip, or maybe you contributed financially to our local community outreach program or one of our partner ministries.  We know that so many of you pray for our church, our community, our country and our world.  We give thanks to God for all of you!

            

We are currently in the middle of a two-week sermon series updating the church on the Only God campaign, now marking its one year anniversary.  Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God can do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.  Sunday we heard stories of the “immeasurably more” that God has done this last year through NewPointe, things that can be explained  in only one way – God’s power at work within us.  Take some time this Thanksgiving season to thank God for the work he has done in and through you, things that you couldn’t have asked for or imagined.  As you enter the excitement and anticipation of the Christmas season, watch and pray for God to do immeasurably more than you can imagine in your life, in the lives of those you touch, and in our church, our community and our world. 

WORLD PRAYER FOCUS-THE PHILIPPINES

      The Republic of the Philippines is an Asian country made up of 7,250 islands, of which over 700 are inhabited.   The vast majority of the population is concentrated on eleven of these islands.  Over 75% of the country is mountainous, and prone to devastating typhoons.

Mountainside Village

     Massive gaps between rich and poor exist in the Philippines.  High population growth, widespread corruption, wreaked havoc on the economy, leading to widespread poverty and unemployment.  Remittances from Filipinos working abroad are a crucial source of income, and over 30% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Aftermath of a Typhoon

     Pray for areas of the Philippines affected by Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae which slammed into the country last week.  Pray for rescue efforts to reach those people who remain trapped in flooded villages and for the families of those killed by the storms and flooding.  Nalgae was the 17th weather disturbance this year to batter the disaster-prone Philippines, which is lashed by about 20 storms and typhoons annually.  Pray for recovery from the damage storms have caused to this already impoverished country.

   
     From 1565 to 1898, the country was a Spanish colony.  As a result of this Spanish heritage, 76% of the population is Catholic, but nearly all evangelical denominations continue to grow at a rate significantly faster than national growth rates.  However, both Catholic and Protestant churches face issues with the influence of animism, witchcraft, and other pagan sects and cults.  In some parts of the islands, Catholicism is a thin veneer over indigenous superstitions.   Pray for the church to find effective ways to minister and communicate the Biblical gospel to those caught in these practices and groups.

Holy Land and Beyond Tour 2012

Have you always wanted to see the places you have read about in the Bible? If so, Newpointe’s fifteen-day inspirational tour, “The Exodus: Egypt, Jordan & Israel” may be the perfect opportunity to make God’s Word come alive! Join us from February 17 through March 2, 2012 and see firsthand the pyramids, Mount Sinai, the Mount of Beatitudes, Nazareth, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and other places you may have only read about in the Bible and history books.

If you think this trip might be for you, plan on joining us for an information meeting:

· Millersburg Campus -October 9 at 10:00 a.m. in the Café
· Canton Campus - October 16 at 10:00 AM in the Conference Room
· Dover Campus -October 23 at 10:00 AM in the Conference Room

S3 Jobs for September 10

Dover:
• Landscaping and yard work for a family with health concerns in Uhrichsville
• Inside work (painting and cleaning) on the New Philadelphia PAL Mission house
• Painting at the Village Hall in Sugarcreek (left over from Community Impact Day)

Canton:
• Hammer & Nails: Construction and painting projects for disadvantaged homeowners in the Stark County area. Open to any and all skill levels.
• Habitat for Humanity Repurpose store: Wear cool clothing, tennis shoes or boots. No sandals or flip flops. Will be organizing, moving furniture, cleaning, etc.
• Canton Campus painting, landscaping and clean-up in preparation for the Grand Opening Sunday