THE 13 NPC DNA COMMANDMENTS

1. Thou shall be God Centered.

2. Thou shall be Christ Following.

3. Thou shall be Spirit-led.

4. Thou shall uphold and teach what NPC views as Biblical absolute truths.

5. Thou shall do Biblical Teaching that is balanced in “formation” and “information”.

6. Thou wilt be a church that is Reaching up, Reaching Out, Reaching In.

7. Thou shall concentrate on the Five Focal Points- Weekend Services, Small Group Ministries, Children’s Ministries, Students Ministries and Life-Guard Ministries.

8. Thou shall be a Church Characterized by Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness.

9. Thou shall endeavor for “Seeker Friendly Services”—Designing services that Celebrate Christ and Connect with the people. Planning services that reach those who are unconnected to the church (may not necessarily be what the churched people would want). In other words, identifying and connecting to the best of our ability the gospel message of Jesus Christ with the unconnected “Everyman” of the area we serve.

10. Thou shall concentrate on Externally Focused opportunities by showing the love of Christ to individuals and helping the community succeed for the cause of Christ.

11. Thou shall be Staff-led.

12. Thou shall endeavor to be a church that is open and authentic.

13. Thou shall endeavor to build openness to change that enables the church to reach the “everyman”.

NPC MULTI-SITE VISION…by MIKE FOSTER

I love what what Mike shared about our vision for the new campus during our weekend services last Sunday.

The multisite vision for North Point is to have more campuses in more convenient locations for more conversions. Some of you may cringe at the sound of the word convenient in conjunction with the church. I unashamedly want to make it easier for people to come to know Jesus. Not by watering down what it means to be a Christ-follower, but by providing more places and more opportunities for people to begin a relationship with Jesus. We want more conversions, we want more life change, more people coming into relationship with Jesus and letting Him change their lives.

Some may ask why? Why take away from the group here to go and start something elsewhere. You might say, “I like my church. I like it just the way it is.” You know why? It is because the fields are ripe. According to a 2006 census estimate there are some 713,000 residents of Lake County. Some numbers that the Chicago District Evangelistic Association have come up with state that only 250,000 of those residents are “claimed” by a church. “Claimed” is a loose term meaning they are on the membership roles of a church but they may or may not actually be attending that church. The need is great in Lake County and the best way for us to reach Lake County is by starting new churches or new campuses so to create more places for people to experience Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness.

We are also going so we can meet the needs of others. I have heard many stories of how North Point has met the needs of many through acts of kindness. I got to take part with some of you yesterday helping out Mrs. B. To the best of our abilities we want to “give to anyone as he has need.” We want to give the Gospel its best hearing possible by meeting the needs of others and showing them the love of Christ. We want to do good deeds to create goodwill to share Good News. Tim said it last week but I too love the quote by St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.” Too often we go to the words too fast and they don’t see enough love in action.

Some of this launch is like becoming a parent for the first time. You are scared to death, yet terribly excited, all at the same time. I was describing how I felt to a friend of mine and I said, “I feel like I am at the place where peace and terror meet.” I have peace knowing this is exactly where God wants me to be and that I am doing exactly what He wants to do. At the same time, I have this sense of terror as I don’t know exactly how we are going to get from here to there. This is where God wants us to be. A place of peace totally relying on Him, yet holding on for dear life not knowing exactly where He will take us.

We serve a wild God, a furious God. A God of Adventure, and by no means tame. We’re expecting. We’re expecting God to move and to move us to greater levels of faith. So many times we limit God by the things that we can do, let’s let God be God and let Him take us to where He wants us to be.

Rebuilding Together

Mark hard at it…

Mike D. preparing the header for the porch

Mike F…praying………………..my son Kurt…playing with his glasses.

Awesome painters in action

About to be attacked by Nancy T…priceless!

50 North Pointer’s descended upon Mrs. B’s house this last Saturday, as NPC joined forces with the national organization called Rebuilding Together. Rebuilding Together is an organization that helps people with their homes who may not be able to afford or have the physical ability to do work on themselves. This is a great way to get into the community and help people succeed for the cause of Christ.

Last year we were able to work with Mrs. A…this year Mrs. B…next year I hope to be able to help out Mrs. C, D, &E. There were people painting the interior and exterior of her home, putting on a new porch, fixing broken windows and doors, and endless numbers of maintenance jobs around the house from electrical to drywall patch. More than the work though was this amazing time of Christian fellowship as we worked side by side. It was awesome to witness and awesome to be part of.

I want to thank the team leaders for all their extra time and effort that they put into this project…Scott Lindemann, Donna Taylor, Michele Phillips, JC Crawford, Scott Holverson, and Don Evans…THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!

As the day was wrapping up, Mrs B came to me one more time to say thank you…as she had done so many many times during the day. But this time, as she looked at her new porch and fresh paint, the emotions and tears were very evident that words could not express her sincere thanks.

All there was left for me to say was, “you are entirely welcome” as she gave me a huge hug…and in my mind I was thinking, “as Christians, isn’t this just what we are supposed to be doing?”……keeping our eyes open at the intersections of life to share the love of Jesus Christ with others.

The Office

Synergy… defined as, “The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” When the apostle Paul speaks to the churches in his letters found in the bible, you will see a repeated theme surrounding unity within the church…Romans 15:5, Ephesians 4:3-13 & 5:31, Colossians 2:2 & 3:14, I Corinthians 1:10.

There are great things that can happen when we put our thoughts together and work together as a team…whether in the church, in our homes, or where we work. As Mike Foster has come on board with us as our “New Campus Pastor” we were looking at our office space and decided to try an idea for awhile. Mike, Dennis, and I will be sharing an office. The hopes are to synergize our thoughts and efforts and to be as unified in thought as possible as we move forward. I can’t wait to see how this plays out. If things go well…I would love to be able to do this with more staff members…just finding a space big enough to do it. So the experiment begins.

Happy 13th

I am not old enough to have a teenager. Happy 13^th Kurt!

Time

It has been a great…but very long 2 weeks. Over the last 10 ten working days I have been putting in 12 plus hours days. All good stuff, but makes blogging a bit more difficult. But I have a few neat things I would love to share.

Seasons

Seasons come and seasons go; and according to what the Bibles says every season has a purpose, its not just a famous song. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

Some seasons of life come upon us without warning, other seasons we see coming from a distance. Some of these seasons we look forward to while others can be a complete trial and struggle to make it through, but again it seems as though each one has a purpose.

There is a man I that I admire greatly that is on the cusp of a new season in life. He has been in his current season for nearly 48 years and has seen many ups and downs, yet through it all as been a man of great integrity and humility as God’s servant. I have only had the awesome privilege to be in this man’s life for the past 6 years, yet have witnessed God do amazing work in his life. I have come to admire his unquestionable love for God and pastoral devotion to humanity.

As I closely watch this man develop a plan for the coming season, I see both mourning and anticipation. Mourning over moving beyond a season he loves, yet anticipating the great adventure of the new ministries that lie ahead.

Here’s to Dennis Corley! A Christ follower, a mentor, a counselor, a teacher, a pastor, husband, father, and an amazing friend. Dennis is by no means stepping down from his Senior Pastor ministry at this time, but will be laying out the final transition plans that he and I are in. He will be sharing with the congregation how we will be “passing the baton” during this Sunday’s Worship Service. You see, as he lays out this transition plan, he will be going into a new season; a season of many transitions that will take place over the next 14 months.

I cannot imagine how he must be feeling at this moment and so I will not to put words into his mouth. I can only express what I see in him. That is a spirit of humility, which to me is one of the greatest characteristic a person can possess.

Dennis, I so look forward to seeing how God will use you in the coming seasons of life…I know He will use you as much and more than He has in the past. I thank God for allowing me the great privilege of ministering with you, learning from you, and being your friend. And I look forward to continuing to learn from you into the future.

As I have been encouraged many times, Dennis continue to “Preach the Word brother”…because it’s a “God Thing”!! love ya!

This is what I have learned so far……….

Let The Fun Begin

Foster’s have arrived. Mike, Eskai, and Sarai Foster made it to their new home in Gurnee, IL last night. Thank you to all who were able to come and move their household belongings in…even in the rain.

Mike is our multi-site Campus Pastor for the new North Point Church Campus that will be located in Warren Township. I am looking forward to watching God work in the life of this family and how His Kingdom will expand due to their humble Christlike efforts.

Mike and Eskia will be working along side of several people from NPC who already live in this area (Gurnee, Wildwood, Grayslake, Lindenhurst) while reaching out to the surrounding community. They will simply be doing the best they can to show the love of Jesus Christ to the people in this area. The hopes are that God’s kingdom will grow and that people will learn to Reach Up, Reach Out, and Reach In, and that this church will have the basic foundational characteristics of Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness.

Please continue to pray for Mike and his family and for the church as we all set out with God and this grand venture.

Fresh Paint

There has been much work done…yet some work still ahead.


At NPC we strive to focus in on 5 major areas of Ministry as we teach people to Reach Up, Reach Out, & Reach In. We call these areas our “Focus Point” ministries. These include Weekend Services, Small Groups, Student Community, Children’s Ministries, & what we call our Lifeguard Ministries.

Over the last few months there have been several people who have stepped up to help out in creating some very impressive and appealing facades for K-Town and the Small Groups information center. I just want to thank all those who have helped out and all the hard work you have put in. I want to give a special thanks to Ramona Rendall, Michele Phillips, Mindy Bycroft, Don Evans, Shawn Phillips, Kelly Rice, & Fred Rickert for all the extra time they put into all of these projects.

Meant For More ‘08

I am so proud of and excited for Anne McClane. She has put together a tremendous team of people who will be working with over 130 young women (6^th-12^th grade) from several area churches at the Meant For More ‘08 Conference. This year it will be held at NPC. This awesome event will be going on this weekend, Friday and Saturday. The purpose of this conference is to encourage and equip young women to be set apart for God, and to give them tools to be more for God than can be imagined. What a great initiative to reproduce into the lives of these young women.

Please pray for everyone involved, that this weekend will truly be a time of Glorifying God and that it will be a blessing to all.