Blast Zones

Blast Zones are here and going full force.  A few years ago NPC decided to go a bit of a different direction with VBS. In doing so we investigated all kinds of ideas from sports camps to teaming up with the local recreation departments to do some type of big community kids week long kids activity. When it was all said an done the decision was made to do something that was actually retro back to years past…let’s do VBS in the backyards of our community. NPC is a church that I believe is doing its absolute best to be an iatrical part of the community…by going out into the community and getting involved with our neighbors the best we can.

There is a Blast Zone (or backyard VBS) happening almost every week this summer in backyards across the NPC area. Here is a crazy statistic….70% of the kids coming to the Blast Zones are not from NPC. NPC kids are coming but they are bringing their friend and neighbors and the outreach with the gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading like a wildfire.

Praise God for this so many people willing to give up a week and their yard to host the Blast Zones…I pray God will continue to bless these efforts all summer long.

Professional Christians??

As we endeavor to secure a venue for our New Campus we have talked with several organizations that have adequate space for our launch. In the area we are launching the new campus, Warren Township, there seems to be an idea of quiet resistance to the church coming in and using their facilities. In other words, the church is very welcome to come and be part of the community as long as it stays within the confines of where the church belongs…in its own building.  You know and I know that the church is not the building, but a portion of the community at large seems to see that a bit differently.

Now the great thing is this…from every church and many area leaders that we have spoken to in the area…they are very welcoming and accepting to us coming into the area.  This has been awesome and encouraging for us to hear and see.

But the responses we have been given thus far from some of the local organizations and schools have an undertone to make me believe that the church is something that needs to stay within its confines (believe me this is not the sentiment of most in the area… just the places that have we have talked to about facility rental) of its building. Here was one response from a non-profit facility, “the church does not fit into professional development”.

Obviously, this got me thinking and here are my questions, “can the church play a role in professional leadership development” or maybe the question should be, “should the church play a role in professional leadership development?”

Follow up questions:

What if people were more specifically taught Christ centered life skills…from dealing with family/home to finances to workplace and working with or managing others? What effect would take place in the “professional world” if its core values were based on Christian principles? What kind of workers would that create? What kind of work environment would that create? Ultimately would that have any effect on the Kingdom of God?

At North Point Church we have taken seriously a commitment to being a church that is living out the gospel message in tangible ways. Helping people to Reach Up, Reach Out, and Reach In through meeting people where they are taking them to where they need to be. In other words putting our faith into action.  So, what does the church look like that is wanting to serve in the area of “professional development”? Again the question might be…can it or should it be involved?

I await your answers if you please……..

Matrix

As we have been gearing up for the new Warren Campus we have tossed around a word a few times that some people ask, “what in the world are you talking about?” The first time I heard the word was back in 1999 when a fictional character played by Keanu Reeves named Neo showed up on the big screen doing some amazing aerobatics and being chased by a computer virus, Agent Smith. Obviously the movie that made the word so popular was, “The Matrix”. Yes, at NPC we have a Matrix.

The dictionary defines Matrix as, “something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops: The Greco-Roman world was the matrix for Western civilization.” This is a great way to describe the Matrix that we are using at NPC. The Warren Campus structure originates from the Harbor Campus structure. We have put together a Matrix in order to know what ministries and the ministry positions we will need at the Warren Campus. Simply put with all this mumbo jumbo set aside, we have a chart that lays out the ministry areas we will be using, the positions needed, and the number of people needed to make each ministry at the Campuses viable.

You see, each week ministries such as K-town, AWANA, The Loop, Inside Out, Small Groups, worship teams, sound and light people (SALT), and many other ministries need volunteers to make them run. So, not only will we need people to step up and help out with at the Warren Campus (help fill the matrix), at the same time, as some people transition from the Harbor Campus to the Warren Campus, there will obviously be volunteer positions that need to be fill at the Harbor Campus.

This is why we have asked NPC attenders to take time to pray and consider making commitments to specific areas of ministry whether they are at the Warren Campus or Harbor Campus. I hope this brief description helps bring some clarity to the word, “Matrix”, as we use it at NPC anyway.

ONCE UPON A CEMETERY

It all started with NPC deciding that we would clean up a cemetery…which by the way…no other “area” churches thought was a good idea…except for…PROPS to Biblical Baptist and Village Church of Gurnee for stepping up and helping out in the cemetery as well. You see, this simple cemetery project opened up the trust lines between NPC and the Benton Township Supervisor, Jan Suthard. In turn that has lead to many other projects that NPC has been able to connect with. Cleaning and fixing up a trailer for a disable couple, mowing the yard of a disabled person, reading to an elderly person, taking numerous people to the doctor who could not drive themselves…and the list goes on.

So last night I had the humbling honor and privilege to be a guest at the Benton Township Board Meeting. They asked Dennis and I to be there to for a special volunteer recognition meeting they were having. There were several people there and they recognized a few people for special service done in the Benton Township. I was so proud of NPC as they represented well. Out of the 15 (give or take) people that they recognized…8 of them were from NPC. NPC has lead the way in many areas of volunteerism with the township…NPC people have been there to help. I am so proud of our church as they represent Christ to others in very meaningful and tangible ways. Way to be Christ to the world!

Prayer Time

8:05 every morning my cell phone alarm goes off reminding me to send up a prayer. We (the NPC leadership team) have tried to unite the church in a time of prayer where everyone can be involved, whether at home or in the office or driving down the road…wherever they may be. This can be just a simple prayer about the calling of Christ Church in which we are involved with. This is a prayer that is for the Kingdom of God to grow and be magnified. We simply ask people to set their cell phone alarms to go off at 8:05 am and we all pray together wherever we at.

We chose 8:05 based on the scripture found in II Corinthians 8:5, “And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.” As we give ourselves over to Christ the following, natural progression, should be to give ourselves to the ministry of Christ. So as we venture into the new Warren Campus please pray with us:

• Pray that God will continue to direct and guide our new Campus in Warren Township.
• Pray about where the Warren Campus will be meeting.
• Pray about the launch date of the Warren Campus.
• Pray for Mike Foster and his family as the lead the Warren Campus.
• Pray for the entire North Point Church staff.
• Pray for our Leadership Team.
• Pray for your personal commitments to work and give to help us reach others for Christ.

More Questions

As we venture forward with the new Warren Campus we have people asking us questions that we would like to answer. One question that has come up periodically, during this movement to multi-site church, is, “Who or How will the preaching take place at the Warren Campus?” Well the answer to that question is this…Dennis and I will be taking care of the bulk of the teaching at both the Harbor Campus and the Warren Campus. Again, we will still be ONE church just meeting in MULTIPLE locations and the teaching segments will be the same at each location.

We have 2 options before us.

Option 1: One way that it could work would be that on any given Sunday Dennis will be at one site and I at the other. We would switch off every week with the site we are preaching at. Dennis would preach “sermon A” at the Warren Campus and I would preach “sermon B” at the Harbor Campus. The following week Dennis would preach “sermon A” at the Harbor Campus and I would preach “sermon B” at the Warren campus.

The only times this will not work is on special holidays such as Easter and Christmas…try as we might we cannot postpone a major holiday one week for a particular campus. This is where Mike will most likely come in and preach on those days or at least Dennis and I would preach the same sermon at both locations.

Option #2: The second option, which is the most popular in multi-site campuses (and the more expensive option), is to video tape the sermon here at the Harbor one week and show it at the Warren Campus the following week. Dennis and I would still rotate through every other week with the preaching, but the live preaching would be at the Harbor Campus (and videoed there) and the video feed would take place at the Warren Campus. Here is why video becomes an option. When you go to 3 or more campuses the need for video becomes far more effective. It allows the campus pastor to spend more time working with the church and community by not spending 15-20 hours a week on sermon preparation.

(I stole this part from Mike Foster)…What about it being on video? Won’t it feel like we are just watching a TV preacher? Having been to a church that has a video campus, it is only momentarily odd, and the second week we went back didn’t seem too strange at all. We are a visual culture. It has been shown that churches retain people 60% from live preaching and 58% from video, virtually no difference.

For those who may be hesitant about having a video venue, here is a question for you to consider. Have you ever been to a venue where you could watch the person live or on a video screen? Which one do you watch? Dennis said that he was very skeptical of video venue until he had the opportunity to be part of one. Afterwards, He commented about how interactive it really was. When the speaker told a joke they all laughed. Why? Because the person is easier to see on the screen. The speaker becomes larger than life. I know that this may be a bit odd for those of us who have been raised in the church where we know and have a personal relationship with the preacher. But this is where the campus pastor comes in and plays a major role. The campus pastor, Mike, is the pastor on site and the people at that campus will form relationships with the campus pastor and the other leaders there.

Again, we are not sure at this point if we will do on-site or video based preaching, but video is something that we are strongly considering since we are looking to have more campuses in the near future.

If you have any questions please ask…if you are asking them others may be wondering the same thing.

Fun Sermon

Couple of Sundays ago, I had the great honor and privilege of sharing a weekend sermon with my father Harry and son Kurt. This was an awesome experience. We shared a message on “Christian Heritage”. Click here for a link to that message. Kurt did a great job and seemed relaxed and comfortable. Dad shot from the hip for the most part, as he normally does. What a great time and I can’t wait to do it again.

By the way…for this sermon I was about three sheets to the wind (I was really in the spirit world that day)…wound up on some pain killers due to a bad diverticulitis attack.

Questions?????

Here lately, as we move into the future with the Warren Campus, there have been many great questions come up from people in the church and out. So, periodically I will write something in response to some of the questions we have heard. I know that if one person has voiced the question then there are probably others that have the same question.

Recently someone asked how small groups will work with both campuses? I believe the answer to this will be an answer that will be given to many questions to come…”We are ONE church, in MULTIPLE locations”. In others words, it will still be North Point Christian Church in both locations. You may have people in one small group going to two different campuses. Michele Phillips will still oversee the entire program at both campuses.

We want to be unified in all areas of the church life as possible. We serve under ONE Lord through Jesus Christ as head of the church. So, at NPC there will be ONE congregation, ONE Leadership Team, ONE Budget, ONE staff member for oversight of each of the 5 Focus Points (Weekend Services, Dennis/Tim-Student Community, Matt McClane-Children’s Department, Ramona Rendall-Small Groups, Michele Phillips-Lifeguard, Dennis/Tim)…yet meeting in different locations.

A Great Day Fishing

Holding one that didn’t get away…about to be processed.

Gary with a couple early morning perch.

Me as captain while Gary did some of the rigging…scary!
By the way that is a Git-R Done hat…

Gary with the typical deep lake fishing boat over his shoulder.

Gary’s prized toy…it is a very nice boat.

I had a great day yesterday fishing on Lake Michigan. Gary Christianson graciously took me fishing on Lake Michigan yesterday and it was a blast. I have lived next to the Lake for going on 6 years now, and that that was the first time fishing on the big lake since we moved here. What a great experience and Gary was such a good host and guide. We caught perch in the morning and salmon in the afternoon. It was pretty eventful since we were in a relatively small boat for Lake Michigan ( a 16 foot Ranger…unsinkable they tell me…course that is what they said about the Titanic) fishing in 150-160 feet of water in some pretty rough water with whitecaps and good sized rollers…boys will be boys.

The salmon fishing was really cool. We landed 3 and had three other hook-ups. One that we lost was a 6-8 pound rainbow trout that we lost right at the boat…the one that got away. He fought like crazy and was jumping clear out of the water an unbelievable amount of fight in that fish…then the line broke right at the boat…fun none the less. I can’t wait to go back.

Great Day!

Today was a great day. I had an opportunity to worship together with several church leaders from across Lake County at a Catalyst meeting. After the meeting, Mike, Dennis and I gave Jim Tomberlin a ride to the O’Hare airport. On the way we were able to pick Jim’s mind about church planting. Jim has been a church planter now for many years and has worked with many successful plants. God has utilized Jim in a variety of ministries from pastoring a church in Germany, to growing a mega-church in Colorado Springs, to pioneering the multi-site strategy at Willow Creek.

It was good to pick up some golden bits of information to use for the new Warren Campus, and I thank him very much for his words of wisdom and insight. Even his affirmation that we are on the right track with much of what we are doing was a great source of encouragement.

As we begin this move to multi-site it is amazing to see God at work in the hearts of so many people in the church. I pray that this “stirring” will remain in action as the Spirit moves in the hearts of people.