Specific Prayers for Northwest

This past Sunday was an especially great time of worship together at Northwest as we concluded our study of Nehemiah and prepared for our move to Cooper Elementary. At the close of the worship service our church spent some focused time in prayer asking God to give us a radical obedience to his leadership in our lives and to use us to make his name famous in Bella Vista and to the nations. Here are the 3 prayers we prayed:

1. God help us remain desperate for you and your word.
2. God draw families to Northwest and give our church new eyes to see people we can invite to come experience what you are doing here.
3. God please allow Northwest to be involved in a movement that makes your name famous in Bella Vista and among the nations.

During your quiet times with God this week we ask that you partner with us and pray similar prayers over Northwest.

Moving to Cooper Elementary

Northwest Community Church is excited to announce we are moving our Sunday morning worship services to Cooper Elementary beginning Sunday, November 6th at 10 a.m. While we have been very grateful to lease the Bella Vista BGC over the past year and a half, we are pumped about the new location for the following reasons:

• Cooper is centrally located in Bella Vista – allows greater visibility of our church
• Over 700 children attend Cooper – opportunity for investment in more young families
• New, spacious building – allows our children’s ministry to grow
• Drastically reduces setup and teardown time due to available storage space

As we make the transition, we are asking our church to pray in the following ways during the month of October in preparation for the move:

• Pray that our church would continue to give generously as we take a financial step of faith to afford the new lease.
• Pray that all the logistical details would go smoothly
• Pray that more volunteers would step up to serve as we grow
• Pray that we will remain patient with one another in all circumstances

Cooper Elementary is located at 2 Blowing Springs Rd Bella Vista, AR 72714.

The Gospel Travels Best on the Tracks of Relationship

This past Sunday Northwest had a baptism service and welcomed a new young family into the life of the church. Baptisms are always exciting because they represent the lives of people who have been forever changed by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact, I never get tired of hearing people's stories of how Christ got their attention and began working in their life. Inevitably, 99% of the stories involve God using a friend or group of friends to point people to faith in Jesus Christ. Yesterday's testimony was no different. Yesterday at Northwest, we had a front row seat to watch how God used several people from our church to lead others to experience a new life in Christ. Things like biblical teaching, worship, community groups, and ministries are all vital to the life of a healthy church. However, we must always remember that those things should function in such a way that they enhance our relationship with God and with others. Why? Because the Gospel travels best on the tracks of relationship. And without the Gospel, church would be a waste of time.

The Beauty of the Local Church

This past Sunday we started a new series at Northwest entitled Build Community. We will spend the next 6 weeks studying the book of Acts as we discover how the early church overcame enormous obstacles and has been able to have a global influence for 2,000 years. Of course the real beauty in the local church is that it is not simply a human institution. The local church is the body of Christ and we are to literally do the ministry, teaching, serving, and ministry of Jesus as if he were here physically. Consequently, when the local church is healthy and acts the way it is supposed to there it is a beautiful thing. Check out this video which shows Northwest Community Church along with dozens of other local churches serving the city of Joplin, MO last month after a devastating tornado. Watch how Christ followers spring into action, convert a church building into a logistics headquarters, and serve with no-strings attached all in the name of Christ. The local church is a beautiful thing!

Northwest Community Church serves Joplin:

http://youtu.be/-BgV3QQqSw0

Redesigned Website

Check out the newly redesigned Northwest Community Church website. It's got more info about the church's vision, mission, and process as well as ways to plug into what God is doing in Northwest Arkansas.

Tough Questions about Homosexuality

Recently I received an email from a friend of mine about how Christ followers are supposed to respond to the issues surrounding homosexuality. I thought it might be helpful to post my response because chances are lots of other people struggle with the same type of questions. As I mentioned in my response, these are usually extremely emotionally charged questions and our response will either draw people to God or push them further away. Here goes...

Before I try to answer you questions, let me just say that in "debates" like these I think it is so important that we remain extremely relaxed and kind, especially when talking with someone who maybe has some baggage against God, the church, and/or the Bible. Usually in a situation like this, people are not concerned about seeking truth as much as they are about proving their point. The best thing we can do is show people that we love them and are committed to pursuing truth wherever it leads...that attitude will speak volumes to most people and in the long run allow us to really speak truth into his/her life.

In my humble opinion, there are two big issues behind most questions about homosexuality:

1. God's character. Has God's character changed? Does the NT replace the OT?

2. Our character. Can we live a perfect life on our own?

I will address these two issues first and then I will attempt to answer your specific questions.

First of all, God's character has not and will not ever change. God is unchanging. He's steady as a rock. He will be the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. Probably the best way to think of the OT and the NT is to think of it as one continuos story in which God reveals his unchanging character to humanity. God has always had a heart for all people to know him. In the OT, God used Israel to be a testimony to the world of God's grace and goodness. In the NT and today, God uses the Church to be a testimony to the world of God's grace and goodness. God gave Israel a list of "rules" ONLY AFTER a relationship existed. The rules were NOT a "If you keep these, I will love you" promise. The rules were given to Israel in the context of a relationship that had already been established by God. In fact the rules were given to protect Israel from destructive lifestyles so that other people would see Israel and know immediately that something was different about their culture. In a similar way, God wants his Church (all Christ followers) to live in such a way that our lives speak of God's goodness and grace. Christ followers should have the healthiest marriages, raise the best kids, be humble servants in all areas of society, and be the most generous people...not because we are "better than others" but because we are simply being obedient to God and allowing Him to work in our lives.

Eventually this issue of God's character begins to bleed over into the issue of our character. Are we (or was Israel) able to live a perfect life on our own by keeping a list of rules? The answer is NO! That is what makes God's grace and the work of Christ so pivotal in the OT, NT, and today. The moment we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters our life and begins to create in us a new life. On a daily basis (even a moment by moment basis) we are able to decide how much freedom we want to give the Holy Spirit to work in our life. We can either push the Holy Spirit out of certain areas and give into temptation OR we can give the Holy Spirit total control of our body, mind, will, and emotions and live our lives the way God intended us to live. The bottom line is that we cannot do this on our own. As soon as we get self-righteous and think that we are perfect we set ourselves up to fall flat on our face. That is why the Bible tells us to walk humbly with God. Our hearts should break when we see anyone who is not living by God's standard and we should do our very best to point them to Him.

Now to your specific questions about verses like Leviticus 20:13. These verses should never be taken out of context nor used as an argument that God is somehow an unloving, homophobic God. Rather, God was trying to teach Israel how serious we are to take sin. Sin is like a cancer and when it goes unpunished it can destroy a society much quicker and with worse consequences than an invading foreign enemy. God knew (and still knows) that as the family goes so goes the nation. God was trying to show Israel that when the institution of marriage is compromised by homosexuality it destroys families and consequently Israel's culture. As a result, the NT consistently teaches the same exact thing...homosexuality is wrong and displeases God. For instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 specifically mentions homosexuality among other sexual sins. However, many Christians who just want to "win arguments" forget to continue readying 1 Corinthians 6:11 which talks about how God is able to forgive all of our sins when we commit our lives to Christ...that's good news!

These certainly are loaded topics but it is so important that we respond to people in a Christlike way which means always presenting truth in love. I hope your friend will come to Northwest one day because I am convinced that God could use our church to point him/her to the loving, gracious God we actually see in the Bible.

Margin

Yesterday was a great day at Northwest Community Church as together we celebrated the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We spent our time together focusing on two very important truths:

1. Christ paid the price for our mistakes so that we could have a personal relationship with our heavenly father.

2. In Christ we are able to experience a new life...a life filled with freedom, victory, abundance, purpose, blessing, enjoyment, hope, and meaning.

In order to communicate these truths, we started a new teaching series entitled Margin designed to help our church focus on becoming people who are able to focus on the most important things in life...God and people. We want to be a church that has the time, finances, and relational capacity to invest in others. In other words, we want to be people who have margin in our life and refuse to live an overwhelmed, hectic lifestyle that leads to stress and a lack of relational intimacy.

Easter Sunday was also encouraging because 98 people showed up for worship yesterday morning despite record setting rains and storms. In was exciting to see about 20 first-time attenders at our church who will provide us new opportunities to build relationships. As always we will continue to push on the flywheel of church planting by keeping our focus on Christ and reaching out to people who may be far from God.

God is Our Provider

It always amazes me how God provides. He does not have to. He is under no contractual obligation to meet our needs, and yet He does. God's provision points us to his goodness and mercy. Like a patient, loving father, God meets our needs in countless ways...from solving the sin problem to providing us the resources to live and everything in between. We owe it all to God.

This month we are teaching a series at Northwest called Multiply. The basic principle we are learning each week is that God has a way of multiplying resources (time, talent, money) when we give them to him.

How is he able to do that? Because God is the ultimate provider and he has a way of blessing those who are obedient to him.

Why does God operate this way? Because he receives more glory and fame when we depend on him for everything.

What is our role? Trust and obedience. It is not our job to explain to God how he needs to provide. Our job is to trust that he will provide and be obedient to the things he has already taught us.

Here's how I am learning these principles in my own life. For the past several months our team has been praying that God would provide us the necessary office space for the church. For the last 16 months Greg and I have been operating the "church office" out of our house. During this time, all of our needs have been met and we have been very grateful for the loft/extra bedroom. However, with the birth of baby Blanchard rapidly approaching we knew we needed to look for additional office space. As we searched, the following event occurred during the past two weeks:

1. We found a Christian businessman with commercial office space available.

2. A separate businessman donated his company car to the church which had a value equivalent to one year's worth of our office space lease.

I cannot fully explain things like this. All I know to do is to keep on trusting God to be my provider and remain obedient to the things he teaches me on a daily basis.

It's a Girl & NCC Turns 1

This has been an exciting week in the Blanchard home. On Monday we found out we are having a baby girl this summer. The ultrasound was amazing and so much fun. Sarah is about 20 weeks along in the pregnancy and is doing great. Also, this week Northwest Community Church celebrates the first year since our official launch date. On Sunday we will have a bbq lunch after church and would like to invite anyone who has prayed for and invested in the life of this church plant to join us. Our worship service that morning will focus on thanking God for the life-change he has produced as well as focusing on the vision he has given to NCC. Our prayer is that God will help NCC remain locked in on leading people to experience a new life in Christ for years and generations to come. If you are unable to join us for worship this Sunday, please take the time to pray health over our church. And if you would pray for our baby girl that'd be great too.

God is Good

This past year has been one of the most exciting years of my life. We started off 2010 by launching Northwest Community Church and we ended the year with Sarah being about 3 1/2 months pregnant. In between those significant events in our life, God has shown his goodness and mercy to us on a weekly basis. I am humbled by the quality and spiritual depth of the people God has sent to serve at NCC. I truly feel as if I serve alongside the greatest team of people in the world. Below is the letter we will be sending out along with the contribution statements for 2010. -Will

Dear Northwest Community Church,

The Leadership Team would like to thank you for your participation in the launch of Northwest Community Church in 2010. Your continued prayer support, service, and financial contributions are being used by God to lead people to experience a new life in Christ in Northwest Arkansas. As always we expect God to do great things through His Church and pray that the launch of Northwest Community Church is the beginning to a series of church plants yet to come.

It’s almost hard to believe that Northwest Community Church is approaching our first anniversary on Sunday, February 20^th. This past year God has shown us his goodness and mercy by providing all the necessary components required for us to start a church from scratch. Enclosed you will find your financial contribution statement for 2010.

At Northwest we are big on identifying the next steps towards spiritual growth. If you want to maximize your growth this year, prayerfully consider the following:

1. Have I made worship at NCC and community groups a top priority in my life?

2. Am I willing to serve faithfully in an area of ministry?

3. Am I willing to become a consistent, percentage giver at NCC?

4. Do I share the vision of my church with friends and family in the community?

If you will commit to those four items, 2011 could very well be one of the most exciting and growing years of your entire life.

In Christ,

Will, Greg, Rob, and Kevin