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This past Saturday we distributed food to over 300 families through the Angel Food ministry at NewPointe Community Church. Angel Food is a ministry to help families stretch their food budgets. One unit of food costs $30.00 (worth over 60.00) and will feed a family of four for two weeks.

We have been growing every month and have been touching people through this outreach ministry. We have people driving from 30-40 minutes away to pick up their food. We also are a host site for other churches in the area to pick up food to distribute to their communities. We currently have 7 other churches picking up food. I think it is great that we can work together as churches to help meet the basic needs of people in our community.

Angel Food at NewPointe has over 80 volunteers involved and is helping us become more outward focused in our ministry. We have heard many stories from people coming to pick up their food how they felt loved and cared for after coming here. Some have even been back to church on Sunday morning. Our goal is to make their day and share God’s love with each person that comes. A simple smile and friendly face go a long way!

I want to say thanks to all the great people that make Angel Food ministries possible. There are volunteers at the church as early as 4:00 a.m. to get ready to unload the trucks. Others come from 8:30 to 12:00 to help distribute the food and others work throughout the week in the office processing orders and doing paperwork.

Here are some pictures from distribution day at NewPointe:

Thanksgiving is such a great time of year. It forces me to think about all that I am thankful for. I try very hard to do that throughout the year, but there is something about Thanksgiving that really brings it home for me. I believe that when we begin to give thanks our perspective and attitude change. A thankful and grateful attitude changes your outlook on life, marriage, relationships, work, money and possesions.

I am thankful for my wife Vikki and how important she has been in my life. We have been married for over 18 years and have been together for over 23 years.

I am also very thankful for both of our families. We have been blessed with great parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We got to spend Thanksgiving day with Vikki’s side of the family.

A great big thank you to Paul & Lynne for hosting it over the past several years. The food is always fabulous and the fellowship fun. The day was filled with food, laughs, football, cards, crafting and some sleeping. Here are some pictures of the day.

There is so much more that I am thankful for, but most of all I am thankful for how much God loves me. I know I do not deserve His love, yet He loves me unconditionally. That still amazes me whenever I think about it. God knows everything about us, the good the bad and the ugly and yet He loves us and wants a personal relationship with each of us. WOW! that is something to be thankful for.

Last night my wife Vikki and I went to my 20 year High School class reunion. We had a good time catching up with the people that came. We laughed a lot and I got to hear some interesting stories from some of my classmates. I find it very interesting to see how people have changed over the years. It is also interesting to see how we have not changed in some ways. As I reflect on my High School years there are things I regret doing or saying or maybe things I should have done differently, but all that is part of my story and how God has used it to shape me into the person I am today.

There we 49 in my graduating class. There were 24 that came to the reunion. That is a very good turn out.

High School for me was a time of sports, fun, getting in trouble, and starting to become a leader. Oh, I also learned a lot thanks to good teachers like Jeff Pratt.

Here are some pictures:

Yesterday we had Internet and cable hooked up at our house. The technician spent a few hours working on everything and did a great job. We now have high speed Internet and high definition cable TV.

While this guy was working my wife decided to bake her chocolate chip cookie pie and give him a piece. She offered a rather large piece to him just before he left. Vikki thought he may have been offended because he commented on how large the piece was. About ten minutes later the guy calls back and asks for Mrs. Stutzman. He asks her if she sells the cookie. He totally loved it and wanted to see if he could buy one from her. She offered to give him the rest of the one she made and he agreed. He is making a special trip to Berlin to pick it up at her work.

The killer cookie strikes again. I have constant pressure to bring it to my workplace as well. Back off Scott & Cindy. I will try to bring one in before we start our weigh ins next week.

Eat well!

“And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

No, that is not a quote from Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Adventure.

I read that this morning, it is a quote from Paul in the Bible. The context is Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, that has been struggling with disunity, pride and sin (Like many churches and Christians today).

He had been talking about the spiritual gifts that Christians have and the reason we have them, which is to build the church so that the church can be effective in reaching all people groups in the world. Spiritual gifts are given to each Christ follower by the Holy Spirit. They are special abilities that are to be used to minister to the needs of the body of believers. I will get into more on spiritual gifts in a later blog.

Immediately after talking about spiritual gifts Paul talks about the most excellent way. That got my attention because I want to do everything I can with excellence. The excellent way is to do everything with love. Love should be our motivation for everything we do, especially in the church. It does not matter how gifted you are as a speaker, teacher, singer, listener, server, cleaner, leader, organizer etc. if you don’t do it because you love and care about people.

The gifts and abilities that you have were given to you to build up, serve and strengthen fellow believers. That is why it is so critical that the local church shows love to each other. How can we reach a lost world if we do not show love and compassion for each other.

God made us for relationships, and we can only experience life fully when we move toward loving relationships with people. These relationships need to be healthy from an emotional, physical and spiritual stand point. Think about what your motive is to use your gifts. Is it to make yourself look good or spiritual to others. If so, Paul is saying it does no good. Our motive to serve, help and give should be because of love.

Love involves unselfish service to others; to show it gives evidence that you care.

Love is the greatest of all human qualities, and is the greatest attribute of God himself. To love others and not expect anything in return goes against our natural instincts to look out for ourselves. We can only love this way with Gods help. Without God we lose our source of love and cannot love others properly or in a healthy way.

The more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others. That is the most excellent way.

Vern Yoder has been a part of our church family for over 30 years. He has been on staff here in a variety of roles over the past 10 years. The amazing thing about Vern is he had a kidney transplant 30 years ago. Over the years he has touched the lives of thousands of kids and adults. His dedication to serving God and helping kids grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ has been inspiring.

Vern has had tremendous challenges in his life and has steadily faced them with God. I have been privileged to know and serve with Vern. He is always concerned more about other people than himself. His generosity is incredible. Vern & his wife Joy have a giving attitude that is hard to beat.

Vern has been on dialysis over the past 6 months or so because his kidney is shutting down. He is going to be getting his second kidney transplant this December. That is an answer to prayer.

This weekend we are doing a benefit dinner to raise money to cover the many medical expenses involved in his transplant and many other medical procedures. Vern has given so much, it is our turn to give back to Vern. The benefit runs from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday November 11th. We will be serving a baked potato lunch and having a silent auction. Cost is $6.00 for adults and $3.00 for children 10 & under.

All this is happening at our old church site at 531 Dover Road in Sugarcreek, OH. I want to thank all the volunteers that have agreed to help and serve Vern & Joy in this way.

Love ya Vern!

I love playing basketball. I try to play a couple of times each week. Usually it is 3 on 3 over lunch. It is great exercise and helps build community.

This week I played twice in one day. I played over lunch on Tuesday and then again at the open gym on Tuesday night. This was the first time I came out on a Tuesday night to play.

I was surprised by how many guys came to play. We started with 20 at 6:00 and by 6:30 we had around 50. I was on a good team and we only lost one game. I even scored a couple of times.

I was reminded that I am getting older, because most of the guys were much younger, faster, quicker etc. By the end of the night I was cramping up a little and had to call it quits.

Many of the guys playing do not come to NewPointe , which is very cool. I didn’t know any of the guys on my team, but we had a blast. I am excited to see we are reaching these guys through basketball. This is a great first step in reaching guys interested in basketball.

I want to thank Dave McRobie and Jason Fabynick for leading this sports ministry. Way to go!

I was talking with a friend of mine this week about church stuff. He was sharing many frustrations with the way his church did things. He talked about not reaching the youth and being irrelevant. He said what it really boiled down to was this; they have no vision! He said that no one from his church could tell him what their vision was, why they existed or who they were trying to reach. In an environment like that there is always decline. People will not follow a leader without a vision. People will not be attracted to the church without a vision.

I am so thankful that at the church I attend, NewPointe Community Church, we have a vision. If you ask anyone on staff or in a leadership position they would say the same thing. Our vision is to “Lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ”. We will use whatever means is necessary to bring people to Christ and then help them grow in that relationship.

We talk a lot about what your next step is spiritually? We try to always make it clear what their next step could be. Then the person has to make a choice to either take that step, wait, or not take that step.

I felt bad for my friend, because he was at the end of his rope. He had tried to bring about change, but got very little help and a bunch of resistance. Changing a church is difficult as is changing people. However that is what God has called us to do. Transform ourselves and the church, so that we can be salt and light to the world.

My pastor wants to change the world! I love that and want to be a part of that. I want to be part of a movement that God is creating. A movement to impact our counties, our state, our country and our world. The local church is the hope of the world. Unfortunately many churches choose to ignore the world and circle the wagons and put up do not enter signs.

Where their is no vision there is decline or death. The Bible says with no vision the people perish.

This has been an interesting week for me. I officiated at two funerals this week. One for a 54 year old man that had cancer and the other for a 68 year old woman that had several health problems. Both of them professed to be Christians and we were able to celebrate their lives and share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone that came.

Funerals always remind me how short life really is. We don’t know how old we are, you could be 30 years old and be an old man if you are going to die next year. You could also be 60 years old and be young if you are going to live another 30 years. My point is, we only have so much time on this earth.

The thing that I was reminded of the most was how important our relationships are with people. When I do a funeral, I am reminded to make sure I have all my relationships in order. Have I worked at building the relationships that are important to me? Am I spending time with the people that I love? Do I need to ask anyone to forgive me?

I also went to see two young men that were life flighted to Akron General Hospital this week. Both in separate accidents. Both of these young men (22 & 17 years old)look like they are going to make it through and recover. They were covered with lots of prayer. Sometimes things like this can be a wake up call for us to follow God’s plan for our lives and not do our own thing. It is so easy to get off track and get caught up in this world.

These young men have another chance to make a difference in this world. To grow in their relationship with Jesus and influence people in a positive way. These life and death situations are a reminder to make sure we have our priorities straight. What is really important in your life? Think about that and make sure you tell the people you love how much they mean to you. Don’t wait to reconcile relationships or tell your family you love them. You may not get the chance to later.

Here are some pictures from Kevin Kate’s trip to Haiti. They drilled a well for a village. It supports nearly 2,000 people.