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Thanksgiving is a great holiday. To take a day and remember to be thankful. We really should do that more often. To spend time with family and friends is also a lot of fun. Here is my short list of things I am thankful for:

• Jesus
• Purpose and meaning to my life
• My wife Vikki
• Our families
• My friends

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving day at Paul & Lynne Hershberger’s place in Canton. Lynne is Vikki’s Cousin. They are nice enough to host this every year. Thanks Paul & Lynne, we had a great time

Left to right in Front – Pam, Vikki, Lisa
In the Back – Sandy, Lynne, Riley, Gloria and Alice

Me stuffing my face.

Ian, Alex and me. Short hair is in!

Great Pie
This past weekend I officiated at a wedding. I love doing weddings, because my wife and I get to meet so many great families. We have met some of the nicest people at the weddings we have done over the last several years. We also get to eat pretty well. Between the rehearsal dinners and receptions we get our fair share of fabulous food. Friday night after the rehearsal we had dinner at the Pro’s Table in New Philadelphia, after dinner we had homemade pie. This pie was made by the grandmother of the groom. All I can say is wow; it was the best pie I have ever eaten. I grew up in Amish country and so I got to know about good pie. My wife and I don’t eat much dessert, but we both enjoyed these wonderful pies. There was Cherry, Blackberry and Apple, which were all good (I had a piece of the cherry). But then the cream pies came out, Coconut Cream, Lemon Meringue and Regular Cream pie (I had some of each), and I must say I am still amazed at how good these pies were. My favorite was the regular cream pie.

Ok, now that I have you all drooling and wanting a piece of pie, you might ask what the point is. As I heard the grandmother talk about her pies, she was very humble and did not have to fish for compliments. She just enjoyed seeing people eat the pie. I had to think about all the years she has practiced and perfected making these pies. The mistakes she made and learned from, the little things she did to make it better. The tips she picked up from friends and family. After a while it became very easy for her to make outstanding pies.

Well, it is the same way in our spiritual walk, and in our relationships with people. We make mistakes, and we hopefully learn from them and get better, but often we keep making the same relational, emotional and spiritual mistakes over and over again. We don’t get better, because we are not willing to make adjustments and changes in ourselves. Many of us are stubborn and want the other person to change or make the adjustments, or just like our pie the way it is.

If you want to make great pie relationally, and that includes your relationship with God, then you need to make improvements in yourself, your attitude and your priorities. You have to be willing to admit when you make a mistake and burn the crust. You have to be willing to ask for forgiveness and give forgiveness when you get hurt. You have to be willing to take advice and even some criticism, so that you can improve those relational pies in your life. There is nothing like a great pie and there is nothing like a great relationship. Happy baking.

On Friday night my wife Vikki and I went to a High School football game for the first time ever. We had been to a Junior High game, but never a High School game. I know some of you are shocked and amazed at that. But I grew up in Holmes County and went to Hiland High School with no football. I played soccer and basketball.

I love sports and always have. I love to play sports and watch sports. I am a huge fan, but I really love to play. I can even get a little competitive, because I hate to lose. I am a little better than I used to be. Come out sometime on a Tuesday or Thursday at 12:00 pm for some friendly basketball.

But getting back to the football game. We went to the Garaway – Tusky Valley game this past Friday at Garaway. A few things I noticed were lots of penalties, lots of dropped passes and a bunch of excited people in the stands. I found the atmosphere to be similar to what I experienced at Hiland for basketball games, only we were outside in the rain. It really was a social time for friends to sit in the stands, catch up on life and talk and then enjoy a game. Some people took the opportunity to blow off steam at the referees and others never really watched the game. Some people were really into it and others were just there to be seen. Garaway won big by the way.

I guess church can be like that as well. Some people just want to be seen at church, because it makes them look good. Others go to socialize and catch up with friends. Some go to yell at the ref’s (Staff). Some are really into it and can call a play by play. Some really understand the game and can contribute to the success of the team, they are on the field playing.

But church is more than an event on Sunday, just like football is more than a game on Friday. To do it well players and coaches must practice during the week. They need to study the playbook on their own and study film. They need to go and scout the competition and know what they are going to try to do against them. As Christ followers we need to be into the game. We need to read our play book and study film and sharpen our skills. We are in a game called eternity and it matters more than anything else.

I love being part of a church that gets after it all week long. The number of people it takes every week to make things happen is amazing. It is so great to see people playing their position and being in their sweet spot. Every person that attends a church needs to eventually decide whether they will sit and watch or get in the game and play. I choose to play, how about you?

The crew that worked at the Southern Gateway Park in Gnadenhutten:

Wow, Ryon is actually working!

Pictures from the New Phila Schools:

Here are pictures from projects in the Bolivar and Zoar area:

Today I took a day off to help my wife with a garage sale. She really didn’t need much help. She is very organized and good at running garage sales. So I decided to take part of the day to get out and play.

I went to NewPointe Church to play basketball at noon. Usually 6-10 people gather on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s to play hoops. Soon after I got there the electric went off. We were determined to get some playing time in, so we tried to get the hoops outside, but they did not fit through the doors. Finally someone rigged some lights and we played in half dark. We had partial electric. It was 4 on 4 and we had a lot of fun.

After that I went to Willandale Golf course in Sugarcreek and played 18 holes of golf. It was beautiful outside and I walked all 18 holes. I played pretty well, 1 birdie and 5 pars for an 84. Not bad for the first time out this year.

As I was walking on the course I had a long conversation with God. It was very peaceful and helped me to relax and really connect with God. It is so easy to get caught up in a busy life. Sometimes we forget to go play and have some fun. We can easily forget how to relax and just enjoy the trees and grass. We miss the many birds and animals around us. All the stuff that God created.

Today was a good day for me. We all need to find time to have those type of days on a regular basis. It will help to keep you focused and at least for me it recharges my spirit and attitude.

When was the last time you played?

On Thursday the weather was great. My wife and I spent the day running errands and then cut up a tree at her parents house. I was out with just a sweatshirt and hat. It was a beautiful day. We cut up the tree and hauled it all away.

The very next day we got drilled with a snow storm. It was so bad that schools, businesses and our church all closed early. I got home late afternoon and helped Vikki finish shoveling our driveway. We woke up this morning to find another 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground. We shoveled the driveway and sidewalks again. I am really feeling it my back after three straight days of sawing and shoveling.

It is still snowing, so I most likely will be back out there later today or tomorrow.

With all this change in the weather it reminded me how much our lives can change. One day it can be great and beautiful and the next day a storm hits our lives. Change is a constant part of life. Things change at work, our sports teams change (I am a sports fanatic), our children change, our friends change, our marriages change, our community changes our circumstances change.

With all this change going on around us, we can get overwhelmed. When a storm hits our lives we can sometimes feel like not trying anymore. We don’t want to shovel out and keep fighting.

During the storms of life is when we grow the most. A tree is strengthened by strong winds, because it forces the tree to grow deeper roots. It is the same with us. God wants us to grow deeper roots and build our faith and character. Those dark times can be very difficult, but they help us draw closer to God, even if we don’t feel His presence. Those are the times we pray more, read God’s Word more, Cry out and question God. Those are the times we feel deep pain and hurt and have to work through all of that to get our lives back. We emerge from those experiences either stronger in faith and character or drowning in our hurt and anguish.

Sometimes we need help digging out. It really helped having my wife shoveling snow with me. It got done twice as fast. It is the same in difficult times. When we have a support network of people to walk through hard times it makes it go quicker. That is why I believe community is so important. My wife and I are in a couples group that meets on Sunday nights. I am in two men’s groups that meet every other week. I want a support network of friends that can help me when I am in need and that I can help when they are in need.

We never know when the next storm will hit our lives, but we all need to be ready. Don’t wait to pray, and build a relationship with God, do it now. Don’t wait to get into a small group, do it now. Don’t wait to go volunteer or serve God, do it now.

Sorry it has been a while since my last posting. Between internet and computer problems and just being a little busy I have not been posting.

One of my goals this year is to read 20 books. I have been up and down on my reading and yesterday after talking with a friend of mine I was inspired to refocus my reading and plan out what I will read this year. I like reading fiction and non-fiction, so I plan on mixing the two. Fiction is more for my own therapy and non-fiction is to learn and grow.

I want to advance my leadership this year and I know that I need to change some habits to do that. One thing is to be more structured and disciplined in my reading. My friend told me that if you can read 15 minutes a day, you can read most books in two weeks.

I just finished a fiction book by James Patterson called Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas. It is a romance book, which I rarely read. However a friend gave it to me and so I read it. I was surprized by one of the things I learned in the book. The author talks about the story of the five balls.

It goes like this.

“Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls -family, health, friends and integrity- are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginning of balance in your life.”

I was talking with another friend of mine on Tuesday morning and he was sharing about some ministry stuff he was doing and then about work. He told me he knows the ministry stuff is more important than work and it reminded me of the five balls. He said that he could walk away from work, but he cannot walk away from family, God and ministry to hurting lost people.

I would call the integrity ball the spiritual ball. Our relationship with God. That ball is very important and should not be dropped, but it is usually the first one to be dropped. When you drop that ball you tend to think that you have more time to spend on juggling the other four balls.

I have found that when I drop the spiritual ball I tend to struggle even more keep the other four in the air. You see God wants to be first in our lives. He tells us that he does not want anything else in front of our relationship with Him. If we do that, the other balls are much easier to juggle because now our vision is clear and our purpose in life is clear. If your looking for some balance in your life think about that.

I hope that helped some of you as much as it did me.

Most people like to hear stories. Whether it is on TV, magazines, newspapers or the internet. We relate and remember stories. That is why every Monday morning at our staff meetings we share stories that we have heard or experienced in the past week. This is a great motivator for our staff, because it reinforces that our church is making a difference.

I met with an executive coach this past week and he asked me what gets me excited. I told him hearing stories about life change. Stories about people growing in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Stories remind me that what I am doing really does make a difference. The Bible is filled with incredible stories, like Joseph, Esther, Daniel, and my favorite Nehemiah.

Here is a story from last week:

I called a guy that has started coming to NewPointe this past week. He had asked that someone call him, so I did. He had some questions about where we stood on certain things and what I thought about some situations he was in. After we covered those topics I asked him how he ended up at NPCC and why he came back.

He said that the reason he first came was his girlfriend. She came here and wanted him to come with her. His background with church was much different than NPCC, he had grown up Catholic. He said that at first he was a little shocked that you could take coffee into church. He told me that he immediately connected with the music and then the message was practical and easy to understand. He said the reason he came back was becasue he liked it and found it very helpful. He also has two children and they loved it wanted to come back as well (That always helps).

He has been here 5 or 6 times and plans on continuing. He told me one thing that really connected with him was when Pastor Dwight talked about the church being a tool shed, where we come to get tools to help us grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. He said he looks forward to Sunday’s now and plans to make this his Church home. I am so excited about what God is going to do in this guys life. I know there are many more people with similar stories and that keeps me going.

I would love to hear other stories of how God is working in your life. I have heard stories about restored relationships, reconciled marriages, transformed finances, physical healing, emotional healing, transformed parenting, people finding their place to serve, stories of new friendships through small groups, stories of changed attitudes at work stories of community outreach. If you have a story please share it by emailing me at cstutzman@newpointe.org.

I am leaving today for Bay St. Louis Mississippi. I will be part of a mass relief effort for the city of Bay St. Louis. This city was nearly destroyed by hurricane Katrina over two years ago. From Saturday December 29th until Saturday January 5th over 1,000 volunteers will come together to impact this community.

The goal is to build 7 new homes and do remodeling projects on 150 other homes. This will be the Extreme Home Makeover “Christian Edition”.

I am so excited to be a part of this relief effort. Most people have forgotten about the gulf coast and the ongoing work that needs to be done. This will be my third trip to the gulf coast and each time has been such a blessing. To see the faces of the people we help and to know that we made a difference in their lives in amazing.

There will be 15 people from NewPointe Community Church participating on this trip. I look forward to reporting on how things are going in future blogs. You can be a part of this trip by praying for the team and Eight Days of Hope. Some things to pray about would be safe travel for the volunteers, enough supplies and materials, funds to feed all the volunteers and lives to impacted for Christ.

This year Christmas Eve was very interesting for me. I got to experience a very wide range of Christianity. From Amish to NewPointe.

My day started by going to a funeral. This was unlike any funeral I had been to before. My friends father passed away and the funeral was at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning. This man was Amish, so I went to my first Amish funeral. When I got there most of the family was already in the basement of the house. You see the Amish do not have church buildings, they do church in their homes, barns and shop buildings. There had to be 300 people sitting on wooden benches in this basement.

The first Amish man that got up to speak started a little slow, but picked up some steam. He spoke in Dutch, so I was only able to follow about half of what he said. Yes, I do understand a little Dutch. I did hear him talk about Jesus and making sure we are right with Him. The second guy spoke in English and shared the complete Gospel. He was a nephew on the man that died. He walked through Romans to share that we are all sinners and in need of saving. He went on to share how to do that in a very clear way.

The last Amish man I could not understand at all. Only a few words here and there. By that time I was tired and ready to get out of there. When we finally ended almost two hours later, they started to release people to walk by the casket and pay their final respects. There must have been another 300 people outside, because they just kept filing in, one after the other. The entire Amish community must have been there. It was amazing to see that many people coming to show their love and support.

That is one thing the Amish do very well. They know how to do community. They are very good at caring for and supporting each other. I was once again reminded that we can learn from everyone. The respect they showed for this man and his family was incredible. I had never met this man, but I was friends with one of his sons. I am glad I went and showed my love and respect for this family. It made me wonder if that many people would come out for my funeral? How many lives am I impacting or touching in a positive way? What will people say about me at my funeral? I hope they say more than I was a good guy. I hope people will talk about things that matter like faith, love, relationships and compassion.

Several years ago I wrote down what I would want the people closest to me say at my funeral. I think I will revisit that and see how I am doing. That is a great exercise for all of us to do. What do you want them to say verses what would they actually say. If those are different then you have some work to do in your relationships.

After I got home, I ate lunch and then headed to NewPointe Community Church. We had three services on Christmas Eve. I have to say that the opening song was the most amazing thing I have seen in quite some time. The opening song rocked the house and really got every ones attention. The drummers were amazing with the lights and water on the drums. Way to go creative team! It was a combination of the “Blue men”, “Stomp” and “Drummer Boy”. What a way to worship the One True God!

We had nearly 3,000 people come to the three services. They all heard an incredible message of peace from Pastor Dwight and I am sure many people were impacted for Jesus Christ as we celebrated his birth. The reason I like Christmas is because we get to share the good news of Jesus Christ with so many new people. That never gets old. I am so glad that I am part of a church that is not afraid to try some bold things to reach lost people.

We must never forget why Jesus came in the first place. It is because he loves everyone and wants everyone to know Him. He loves the Amish people that were at that funeral and the 3,000 people that came to NewPointe. He also loves all those people that did not go to church and are far away from Him. The church should be doing everything short of sin to reach the lost people of this world.

I am glad NewPointe is willing to take risks to reach and connect with people. The church should not be boring, it should be the most exciting place on earth. It should be a place where people feel accepted, loved and welcome. A safe place to come and heal and get to know God in an intimate way. A place to come and make new friends and build meaningful relationships. A place to come and help impact and change the world!

What an amazing day!