Healthy Signs

The last two weeks at NCC have really been encouraging to me. For those of you who might be following us in other parts of the country, let me explain. Last Sunday, Bella Vista got this crazy mini-snow storm where it went from 70 degrees on Friday to about 8 inches on snow on Sunday morning. However, that did not stop us from having church. A small group of us gathered at the boys and girls club without any equipment and held a worship service...we prayed and studied a beautiful passage in Acts 15 where the early church stood at a major crossroads. In fact, grab a Bible and read the story. Pay special attention to the speeches of Paul, Peter, and James. These guys got it right! Basically the early church (consisted of primarily people with a Jewish background) had to decided if they were going to open the church up to outsiders/Gentiles. Do we want a church for "church people" or do we want to risk the church getting "messy"? And thus began the 2,000 year struggle that every church faces...the gravitational pull to turn inward. How is this encouraging?

As always, God provides us with hope. When a church decides to point people to Christ and asks God to help them focus on "outsiders" God steps in and does amazing things. The early church got this and Northwest Community Church gets this.

As for yesterday, we spent the morning focusing on another passage in Acts (Acts 2:42-47) which paints a picture of how a healthy church is supposed to act as it focuses on reaching new people. This is perhaps may favorite passage in all of Scripture because it truly shows us how the local church is the hope of the world. You just can't fabricate that kind of community...It only comes from Christ working in people. I literally intend to spend the rest of my time on this earth casting out the vision of the local church. It just does not get any better than that.

Finally, I have got to tell those of you who have not been able to join us at Northwest Community Church that we have truly got the most amazing launch team ever. This group of people understands servanthood and sacrifice like you can't imagine. I am humbled and honored to be on the team.

By the way, don't forget to pray for our big family Easter egg hunt/cookout this Friday evening.

What's About to Happen?

Tomorrow morning at Northwest Community Church we will start a two weeks series to prepare us for Easter weekend when we will host a community-wide Easter egg hunt for Bella Vista. I'm going to give you a little hint...the church is not just for church people.

Also, here are a few things you can be in prayer for over the next several weeks:

1. We are sending out 4,000 postcards this week inviting families to join us on Friday, April 2 from 4-7 p.m. for a free cook out and Easter egg hunt at the Bella Vista Boys and Girls Club. Pray that God will allow us to connect with some young families who will join us for Easter Sunday.
2. On Easter Sunday we will start a new series entitled Baggage which will show us how Christ wants us to trade in all the baggage we carry around. In exchange, Christ wants us to experience a new life in Him.
3. Pray that on Easter Sunday God will draw the people we have been inviting to give church a chance.
4. Pray that our launch team will be prepared to minister to people, develop friendships with people, and reach out to folks who may not have been to church before.

Launch Service

Yesterday Northwest Community Church hosted our first official worship service in Bella Vista. It was exciting to see the months of planning and prayer finally come together as God faithfully provided the people and resources needed to launch a new local church. It was encouraging to see 73 adults and 7 children gathering together for worship, prayer, fellowship, and teaching. Our worship service reminded me that there is nothing like the local church in whole world. We are truly apart of something far greater than ourselves when we serve in Christ's church...what an amazing privilege! Click Here to see pictures or check out the album on my Facebook page "NCC Launch Sunday."

We kicked off NCC with a series entitled "What's Church Got to Do With It?" by looking at the role of a great church in our life. The phrase that will guide this series as we unpack what Scripture has to say about a great church is...

"A great church exists when people make a great commitment to the great commandments and the great commission and do those with great compassion."

Even though our new church is only 1 day old and we are made up of imperfect people, we want God to shape Northwest into a great church. Join us next Sunday and invite some more imperfect people to check out Northwest Community Church.

Launch Week

Well. It's finally here. This Sunday is the official launch of Northwest Community Church in Bella Vista, AR. The past few months have been an exciting journey. God has opened doors and provided people and resources in ways that we could never have anticipated six months ago. It's also exciting to think that after Sunday we will finally be able to shift our focus from launching the church to actually being the church.

One of the most encouraging aspects of this entire process has been the team of people God has assembled to launch NCC. If you have not gotten a chance to worship with us during our preview services, be sure to come meet some people on Sunday. You will not be disappointed. Not only does our launch team love Jesus but they are also fascinating people who like to have a ton of fun. For instance, a few days ago Bella Vista got several inches of snow which provided us the perfect opportunity to sled on a hill right behind our house. It was so funny to see all these kids out there sledding alongside a group of 20 year olds. It reminded me that life is just too short to hang out with people who don't know how to have a good time. Check out some photos of our launch team on our recent day of sledding in Bella Vista by Clicking Here.

Before Sunday, be sure to go to our website and use the "Tell Someone about Northwest" button on the top of each page. Also, invite friends, neighbors, and family members to attend the launch service with you this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at the Bella Vista Boys and Girls Club. Come experience what a new life in Christ is all about!