Northwest Kids

From the start Northwest has been modeled after the basic blueprint for the Church given to us in the Bible.  We believe that the New Testament not only describes how the early church got started, but it also prescribes how we are to function and operate today. For example, in 1 Cor. 12, the human body is used as an analogy to describe how each member of a healthy church is to be valued and needed.  In addition, Acts 2 describes the attitude of the early church as members made great sacrifices to serve each other and meet the needs of a growing church.  Likewise, we want to duplicate a similar culture so that every member feels valued, needed, and personally responsible for the health and growth of Northwest.  As the needs of a growing church fluctuate, we anticipate sharing specific needs with you and then watching as God uses our individual gifts and talents to meet those needs. 

Recently Cassi Luka, our Children’s Director, sent a letter out to all the parents with children involved in Northwest Kids. Cassi reminded us that over the past three years the children’s ministry has grown from only 1 child when we first launched to now averaging 20 – 25 children each Sunday morning.  Cassi and her team of leaders who consist of Keslyn Erb, Michelle Sanders, and Jennifer Powers have done an amazing job at adapting to the growth and staying focused on the vision of discipling children and equipping parents.   

Ideally a growing ministry of this size requires 23 adult volunteers each serving one Sunday per month. However, Northwest Kids currently has only 15 adult volunteers on the rotation.  Beginning on Sunday, May 5 the key areas of need for the children’s ministry will be:

• Nursery (Birth - Walking)
• Toddler (1 - 3 Year Olds)
• Early Elementary (PreK - 2nd Grade)
• Hall Monitors

As you can see, Northwest Kids needs 8 additional volunteers in order to meet the needs of a growing children’s ministry.  Over the next few days, please prayerfully consider if you would be willing to serve in this important area in the life of Northwest. Feel free to contact Cassi Luka at cmluka01@gmail.com or 502-939-8281 for further information and questions about how to become involved in what God is doing through Northwest Kids.

Happy Birthday Northwest

This coming Sunday Northwest Community Church will celebrate 3 years since we officially launched in Bella Vista, AR.  As we celebrate together we are going to focus our lives on God's faithfulness and the life-change He has produced in us.  During the worship service we will wrap up our teaching series Stretched as we continue to see how being stretched causes us to depend more on God and less on ourselves.

     
This week we will continue to study God's character as revealed through the life of Moses. In Exodus 18 we will see how God was stretching Moses' leadership ability to accomplish a significant movement of God. In the midst of being stretched, Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, showed Moses how to setup a produce and release culture and shared with him the benefits it would have on his leadership, the well-being of people, and the overall movement of God. In addition, we are going to see how a P&R culture has heavily influenced the culture of Northwest.  In fact, mission and vision are directly linked to the principle of produce and release.

The mission God has given us at Northwest is to produce and release leaders who are fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Our mission comes right out of the Great Commission as Jesus gave his followers their final instructions.  As a result, Northwest is setup to be a leadership factory that cranks out leaders (disciples) who are willing to devote their lives towards making the name of Jesus Christ famous in their community, workplace, school, circles of influence, and around the globe. Produce and release is who we are. It defines why, how, and what we do. And of course our mission is closely tied to our vision which is to lead people to experience a new life in Christ. We want to see people's lives transformed by Jesus Christ. Our mission and vision are the driving reasons we launched Northwest three years ago.

In light of this milestone, we recently asked ourselves a challenging question. What would it take for us to lead 200 people in worship on Easter Sunday, March 31? Our answer had two components:

1. Intentional Obedience on our part to invited unchurched friends, family members, and neighbors.
2. Prayerful Dependence upon God as we ask God to move and stretch us to reach more people. 

But, here's the deal. This is not just a gimmicky church growth strategy. Rather it is our attempt as a young church to allow God to stretch us. We want to live out our mission, vision, and the lessons God has been teaching us in His Word. We want God to continually stretch us out of our comfort zones and cause us to depend more on Him and less on ourselves because we are serious about our mission and vision.

Happy Birthday Northwest! May God stretch us in new ways as we follow Him with total abandonment and obedience this next year.  

Oh yeah, and we will have a big lunch after the worship service on Sunday. There will be a huge cake and a ton of smoked meat. Bring a side to share and come ready to meet new people. 

Look What God Did Through Northwest in 2012

Below is a recent letter our Leadership Team sent to all the financial contributors to Northwest Community Church in 2012. We wanted to posted it on our blog so others could celebrate all that God accomplished over the span of the last 12 months.

Dear Northwest Community Church:
The Leadership Team would like to say thank you for your generous giving into the life of Northwest Community Church. We realize generous giving is much more than a financial decision or even simply a tax deduction. In fact, generous giving is the appropriate response for what Jesus Christ has done for us and serves as a genuine act of worship. On behalf of all those who have had their lives changed by Northwest, we are incredibly grateful you have chosen to contribute to the Christ-focused ministry of Northwest Community Church. It is a privilege to partner together in order to produce and release leaders in Northwest Arkansas who are fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Below is a list of highlights that helped lead people to experience a new life in Christ in 2012:

• We hosted 53 worship services in Cooper Elementary.
• We hosted 15 Community Groups over the course of 3 semesters.
• We taught 23 children each week on avg. in our children’s ministry.
• We baptized two individuals who gave their lives to Jesus Christ. 
• We dedicated 6 new babies who will be raised in homes centered upon Christ. 
• We have 3 families serving as either adoptive or foster families.
• We hosted 2 movie nights in the park to connect with unchurched families.
• We gave out 50 boxes of brownie mix for our church to get to know their neighbors.
• We served at Cooper Elementary with events, festivals, and movie nights. 

Keep in mind that we now have 4 convenient ways to give generously:

1. Mail a check to P.O. Box 5128 Bella Vista, AR 72714. 
2. Online through our website at www.lifeatnorthwest.org. 
3. Automatic bank draft by submitting the form on our website. 
4. Sunday mornings at our worship services. 

Join us on Sunday, February 24th at 10:00 a.m. as Northwest celebrates our 3rd birthday and gives thanks to God for his continual leadership and provision.

In Christ,
Will, Greg, Rob, and Kevin

Brownies, Lunch, and Movies

A significant shift occurs in the life of a Christ follower once we realize God is capable of taking all the mundane stuff in life and giving it eternal significance when we choose to follow Christ in total obedience.  Think about it.  Only God could leverage what is temporary and use it for eternal.  When we make Christ our CEO we are no longer the one who calls the shots.  Rather we are to approach Christ as if we are putting everything up on the table for him to use as He sees fit.  Not just part of our lives (the parts we think are "important"), but ALL of our lives including every last detail.  

  

Over the past few weeks at Northwest, we have been trying to apply these truths to our lives through a teaching series entitled "Filled." The key principle in Filled focused on the idea that God fills Christ followers with the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can be used by Him to point others to Jesus Christ. You see the #1 role of a Christ follower is to make God more famous…to reflect His character everywhere we go.  But let's be honest, this can seem like a daunting task and is too often ignored.  It's tempting to shrug our shoulders and settle for never knowing what it is like to be used by God to make a lasting impact on others.  At Northwest, we refuse to settle for a timid life because we serve and know a God who is able to use simple acts of obedience and service to transform people.  

So, how are we going to do that this week? Here is what our church is doing this week to serve the community while we trust God to do amazing things:

• Brownies - This past Sunday every attender at Northwest was given a box of brownie mix as they came in the door.  During the service the church was challenged to make a pan of brownies this week and take them to a neighbor on their street and simply be open to how God might use that experience to build a bridge.  Our Assimilation Team had packets prepared for the entire church which were filled with information about the church as well as flyers for the upcoming movie night.  
• Lunch - Today Northwest is serving lunch to all the teachers at Cooper Elementary School during their final prep day before school starts next week.  Tonight a group of volunteers from Northwest is also helping out with the school's open house. Cooper is the school facility we lease on Sunday mornings.  We want our impact to be much greater than simply a source of revenue for the school.  We want to serve the faculty and pour into the lives of the families attending the school.  
• Movie Night - On Saturday night, August 18th Northwest is again partnering with the city of Bella Vista to host a free, outdoor, family movie night at Metfield Park.  We will be serving free hotdogs, popcorn, and drinks and showing the movie Adventures of Tin Tin.  These types of events allow us to meet new people, serve the families of Bella Vista, and briefly share the vision of Northwest to the community.        

This week please pray for Northwest as we strive to honor God with brownies, lunch, and movies.