Watch and See

In Exodus chapter 2, the Bible presents us with an incredible story which is a unique combination of strategy and prayer, of planning and faith, and of hard work and yet total dependence upon God. You may recall that the opening chapters of Exodus recount the circumstances and miracles that surrounded the life of Moses. Just imagine the context of this remarkable story...

• 1,500 years before the life of Jesus Christ in ancient Egypt along the Nile River.  
• The Hebrew people have been slaves in Egypt for almost 400 years and have grown to a population of over 2 million people (4 times the population of NWA).
• The Egyptian Pharaoh has ordered all baby boys to be thrown into the Nile River in an attempt to stop the growth of the Hebrew people. 
• Read Exodus 2:1-10 to see how one set of parents responded to this set of challenging circumstances.

You will notice in Exodus 2:4, that Moses' family must have prayerfully strategized but eventually came to the point where they were forced to "watch to see what would happen." They had to step out on faith. They had to trust that God was going to work in miraculous ways. Even though the circumstances may look drastically different, I believe this is the precise intersection God wants us to live our lives today...where strategy and faith collide. 

This past Sunday during our weekly worship gathering, the Leadership Team shared some of the big plans we believe God is leading Northwest towards in 2016 and the years ahead. We shared 3 components for a strategy that is being prayerfully directed by faith in a mighty God. These big steps of faith include:

1. Northwest to support 4 fully funded pastors.
2. Northwest to purchase land.
3. Northwest to build our own facility designed to serve the families of Bella Vista. 

If you were unable to hear the entire message, be sure to check out our podcast available online. 

Furthermore we invited all of Northwest to join the Leadership Team for 3 nights of prayer in November to ask for God's provision and clarity. The 3 nights of prayer include:

• Wednesday, November 11th at 8pm at the church office building
• Monday, November 16th at 7pm at Greg and Cassi Luka's home
• Thursday, November 19th at 7pm at Scott and Amilee Sanders' home

Finally, we want to encourage everyone to be back at Northwest for our weekly worship gathering on Sunday, November 15th as we unpack these 3 components of our unlikely vision in more detail and continue to study the life of Moses in Exodus 2 & 3.  It is our prayer that God will continue to grant Northwest new levels of spiritual momentum and give us the courage to "watch to see what would happen." 

Unlikely

Make plans to join Northwest Community Church for our weekly worship gatherings on Sundays, November 8th and 15th at 10am at Cooper Elementary in Bella Vista as we share with you the exciting and even unlikely ways God is directing the future of our church. Join us as we unpack the big steps of faith God is leading Northwest to take in 2016 that will lead to greater service in our community and around the world. Come with an expectant attitude and be prepared to consider the question...How am I going to participate in the future of Northwest Community Church?

And remember, you can catch up on all the recent messages at Northwest on our media page or by subscribing to the Northwest podcast on iTunes.

   

Primed

Northwest has designed an exciting summer of growth for you and your family focused around something called "the gospel".  You may be wondering, "What is the gospel?" Over the next few weeks, your family will discover that the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ has come to rescue and restore people. Even though the gospel is very simple to understand, it is also designed to have a deep impact on your life and the people around you.

During the summer, we are going to experience the gospel together in 3 ways:

Teach It
Beginning on Sunday, June 7th Northwest will begin an 8 week series entitled Primed.  During this series we will celebrate the good news of Jesus Christ and learn how to apply it to our lives. We will also equip you to share this good news with other people in your life.

Live It
During our summer semester of community groups, each group will be learning how the gospel is to shape life in community as they walk through a resource entitled The Gospel Primer.  Remember our summer groups launch the week of June 7th. Be sure to signup and don't miss out.

 
Do It 
Finally, this summer we are going to put the gospel into action.  You will be given several opportunities to serve your community and share the gospel in natural ways with your friends and neighbors. Be sure to listen for more details for events such as the movie nights at Metfield Park, Adventure Camp led by Northwest Kids, and the service project we will host at Cooper Elementary.  

Our prayer is that the summer of 2015 will be a defining time in the life of your family and in the life of Northwest Community Church. We pray that God will highlight the transformational power of the gospel in our lives and use everyone at Northwest to point people to Him.  

Philemon and the Power of Jesus Christ

Yesterday Northwest Community Church kicked off a new teaching series on one of the shortest books in the Bible. Over the next 3 weeks we are going to walk through Philemon together and discover some incredible things about the power of Jesus Christ.  We will see how God is able to use a short letter (Philemon contains less than 450 words, is organized into only 25 verses, and takes less than 5 minutes to read) to highlight Jesus Christ's ability to reach people, change people, and forgive people. When you combine God's Word with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you have the recipe for life-change not only in your life but also in the lives of people around you. Remember, God has been changing people's lives for centuries and the book of Philemon is a perfect example of the lengths God is willing and able to go in order to reach people and transform them.

Sundays, May 17, 24, & 31 at Northwest Community Church

During week 1 of the series, we walked through the first ten verses of Philemon and introduced the three main characters of this powerful letter. We met Philemon, Paul, and Onesimus. Philemon was a wealthy, influential businessman, a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and a man who was known for his ability to refresh and encourage other people. The Apostle Paul was writing to Philemon while imprisoned in Rome for preaching about Jesus Christ. Onesimus was a runaway slave with a shady past who eventually gave his life to Jesus Christ and experienced dramatic life-change and forgiveness.

If you missed week 1 of the Philemon series be sure to listen to our podcast and read Philemon 1-10 during one of your quiet times later this week. As you do, keep in mind that the book of Philemon shows us the power of Jesus Christ and His ability to reach people no matter where they are in life. Onesimus had a shady past and was running from his problems and yet God allowed him to cross paths with Paul in a Roman prison. Meanwhile Paul was suffering imprisonment and God gave purpose to his suffering and allowed Paul to lead Onesimus to Christ. And then finally Philemon was riding a wave of success and was suddenly given an opportunity to be an example to the world of what forgiveness and faith is all about.  Wow! Jesus Christ truly has the ability to cut across all barriers and circumstances to reach people no matter where they are in life.

Finally, we challenge you to ask yourself three questions as you study the introduction to Philemon:

1. Am I willing to give God my past?
2. Am I willing to trust God in the midst of pain and trials?
3. Am I willing to surrender my success to God and trust Him with my future?

Papua New Guinea Building Trip

On March 14, Will Blanchard, Kent Doughty, Dave Pinti, and I left Northwest Arkansas and headed to Papua New Guinea for 13 days to finish building a missionary house in the mountains in a tribe called Wantakia. It took 30 hours of travel, including 5 airplanes and 1 helicopter, but we final made it to the ends of the earth! It’s crazy to think that this tribe has such little access to the outside world that they’ve never even heard the name “Jesus” before. Well, our plan is to change that. We are partnering with BJ and Jill Sanders and their team to make the name of Jesus famous not only in Wantakia, but all over the mountains of PNG.

When we arrived, BJ and Jill's house still had a long way to go. Our hope was to finish the house by the time we left, but that task seemed impossible. We decided on 3 very important rules that would guide us each day. 1) Quantity, get as much done as fast as we can. 2) Quality, we used tape measures most of the time and sometimes we even used a square. 3) Safty, "safety third" was repeated frequently during our days of work - especially when a ladder was balanced on the side of a hill using a large stone.

Each day we worked as hard as we could, from sun-up to sun-down, barely even breaking for meals. We even worked most nights with head lamps and flashlights. As we were building the house, the local people watched our every move and followed us around everywhere. They are so excited, and they don't even realize what Good News they are about to hear! So, after putting in about six 14 hour days, we were able to see the house finished! We were even able to do work on the other 2 houses. So, all three families moved into their tribal homes this weekend!

The trip was a huge success, so I want to thank you on behalf of Northwest for all for your prayers and support.

Scott Sanders
Student and Missions Pastor @ Northwest

If you’d like to stay updated on ways you can pray for this team, check out www.reachwantakia.com. 

Also be sure to check out a recent video the team posted the day before they left.

It's Snowing and We're Adapting

We hope you and your family are staying warm and enjoying the beautiful snow across NWA. We want to give you a heads up about how we are going to adapt our Sunday worship gathering this week. The normal time and location will be different so listen up and help spread the message. On Sunday, March 1 Northwest Community Church will host our worship gathering at 11:00 am at our office building at 8250 West McNelly Rd Bentonville, AR 72712. We will have a simple but exciting worship gathering for everyone who can make it. We will have hot coffee, donuts, genuine friendships, and a refreshing time of worship and teaching for you and your family. We will revisit a passage in Hebrews 6:18 - 19 which describes the hope we have in Jesus Christ as being an anchor for our souls. Come prepared to discuss how Jesus has been the anchor in your life in recent months. Put on your flexible pants and come join us! Also, consider using this snow day as an opportunity to serve your neighbors and invite them to join you tomorrow morning at Northwest.

Finally, if you and your family decide to stay home tomorrow morning please remember to utilize the Northwest podcasts posted on iTunes and our website. You could easily gather around your computer, phone, or tablet and listen to a recent message that will help your family study God's Word together and spark great conversations.

Have a great weekend,
Will

Mud Pies

Yesterday Northwest Community Church kicked off a new teaching series entitled Mud Pies. Where did we get such an odd title like Mud Pies? Well, the inspiration for this series comes directly from a quote from a Christian apologist, author, and scholar by the name of C.S. Lewis in his sermon entitled "The Weight of Glory." Lewis writes, "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Northwest Community Church
February 22 - March 8

Lewis was making the point that God designed human beings to enjoy Him. We were created by God to enjoy fellowship with our creator, to delight in His laws, instruction, and leadership, and to reflect His character. And thankfully because of Jesus Christ, WE CAN!  Sadly, however, many people end up reducing this incredible relationship down to a set of legalistic rules and never experience the soul-satisfying enjoyment of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ.  We end up settling for mud pies.

During the Mud Pies series we will be discovering how a personal relationship with Jesus Christ leads to enjoyment in God, heartfelt obedience, hunger for God's character, and a desire to please God out of reverence and gratitude. Specifically during Mud Pies we will discover how Jesus is able shape us into generous men and women who give in a way that delights the heart of the Father.  Mud Pies will deepen your understanding of acceptable gifts to God and show you how to manage money in such a way that you actually grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Come learn with us and refuse to settle for mud pies as it relates to your finances, generosity, and walk with God.

If you missed Week 1 of Mud Pies be sure to check out the Northwest Podcast on iTunes or through our website. Then make plans to join us for our worship gathering this Sunday at Cooper Elementary in Bella Vista at 10am.      
        

Baptism, Birthday, and BBQ

On Sunday, February 15th, Northwest Community Church will celebrate 5 years since we launched in Bella Vista, AR! We will celebrate 5 years of God's faithfulness and the life-change He has provided along the way.   Our birthday bash will be include stories of life-change, baptism, and of course a ton of bbq. Come join us on Sunday at 10am at Cooper Elementary in Bella Vista.  Be sure to bring a friend and plan to stick around for a great lunch together.

Over 6 years ago God began to lead 4 families to plant a church in Northwest Arkansas that would reach unchurched people and one day plant other healthy churches. Initially we did not know much about the process of planting a church but we knew a few things about Jesus. We knew that Jesus is always trustworthy. We knew that Jesus is the anchor of our lives. And we knew that Jesus was leading us to plant Northwest Community Church.  Those simple truths were enough for us to obey and begin the journey.

Along the way, God began to clarify the vision and mission for Northwest Community Church. Our vision became to lead people to experience a new life in Christ while our mission became to produce and release leaders who are fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.  Over the past 5 years Northwest has stayed focused on fulfilling our vision and our mission and we have watched as God provide the people, resources, and changed lives necessary for a healthy church.  

In addition to the 3 B's on Sunday, we will wrap up our series entitled Why We Gather as we discover what it means to truly have Jesus as the anchor of life. Come prepared to worship, celebrate, and discover what your life is capable of when it is anchored to Jesus Christ.  My prayer is that God will produce and release hundreds of fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ from Northwest Community Church in the years to come…After all it's why we gather!

New Year's Challenge

Many of us spend the first few days of a new year making a list of the things we want to accomplish, improve upon, or achieve in the coming year. This past Sunday, Scott Sanders challenged Northwest Community Church to think about our new year's resolutions a little differently. Rather than asking, "What do I want to accomplish this year?" Scott challenged us to consider,

What does God want to accomplish in my life in 2015?

So, there it is. A simple new year's challenge for you and your family. If you accept the challenge then carve out a few minutes this week to spend some quiet time alone with the Lord and ask Him what He wants to accomplish in your life this year. If you are married, talk about this question with your spouse. If you are a parent, talk about this question with your children. If you have a trusted friend, talk about this question with him or her over a cup of coffee. If you have no friends or family, then you definitely need to get plugged into Northwest quickly!

As you accept this new year's challenge, remember you have a church ready to help you grow in 2015. At Northwest we believe God has called us to lead people to experience a new life in Jesus Christ and we will continue to encourage people to live out the life God has made available to them. In 2015 we believe God wants to see people who were once far from God become connected with God through Jesus Christ. We believe God wants to see people who were once isolated learn to live in healthy, biblical community. We believe God wants to see people radically serve others in the name of Jesus Christ.  And we believe in 2015 God wants to raise up more leaders at Northwest who are capable of making disciples. Do not miss out on these exciting opportunities to grow with us.

Happy New Year! May God bless you and your family in 2015!