Category: Outreach

I am so excited about the Go ’07 Christmas Edition we are doing at NewPointe. I have been talking to families in need and it has made me realize how many people are in very difficult situations. We worked through Job & Family services in Tuscarawas County and through many of the local school districts to find families and individuals that are in need. We also have over 100 children from Ohio and Iraq and Jordan that we are providing monthly financial support of $20.00.

That is over 100 children and over 100 families that NewPointe Community Church is going to touch and impact. That is exciting to me, because it helps us to be an outward focused church and not inward. The church is called to change the world and if we are only inward focused we forget about all the hurting and lost people in this world.

These small acts of kindness will show people the love that Jesus talked about in the Bible. It will show them that someone cares.

We are encouraging small groups, families and individuals from NewPointe to adopt a family or a child. If they take a family they make contact with the family and help meet some of their needs. Some of those needs might be Christmas gifts for the children, clothes, school supplies, shoes, coats, gas cards, household items and supplies and even groceries. We also are encouraging them to pray for this family throughout the year and contact them periodically to encourage them.

If a small group or family takes on a child, they will send a monthly check to help meet the needs of that child. We are working with the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio and Impact Ministries to help these children. We have approximately 50 children in Ohio that are either up for adoption or in the foster care system. We also have nearly 100 children from Iraq & Jordan that need assistance. Impact ministries is partially supported by NewPointe and the money will be distributed through the local churches in those countries.

Again, I want to be an outward focused church that is making a difference in our communities and around the world. This is a small step in that direction. GO ’07

This past Saturday our Helping Hands ministry worked on Rosemary Haugh’s garage in Dover. The Helping Hands ministry is a group of volunteers that reaches out to the church and community through home improvement projects. This ministry takes on work projects for people in our church and community. Together we can make a difference by showing the love of Jesus Christ.

So far this year we have completed 7 projects with approximately 54 volunteers. We have three more projects pending. As this ministry grows more people will be impacted up close. After returning from several trips to the Gulf Coast for disaster relief, I felt we needed to continue that spirit of helping people in need locally.

It is a great feeling to see 18 men come together to serve and help on a project like this. A huge thank you goes out to Keim Lumber for allowing us the use of their Boom truck. Marvin Yoder operated the Boom and did a great job. Dave Marzilli brought his Bob Cat and Frank Myers let us use his dump truck. Other guys brought their own tools and we all worked together to get it done.

A special thanks goes out to Bob Barbee who has been the point person on most of these projects. He is using his gifts and talents to help people with home improvements. Butch Price has also been very involved. Thanks a bunch guys!

Here are some pictures from Saturday!

A good friend of mine, Kevin Kate recently went on a mission trip to Haiti. Kevin is in my men’s group and has a real heart for missions and outreach. I know he had been praying for an opportunity to GO and make a difference. Here is what he did:

Kevin was part of a team that fixed a water well that had caved in. They went to Terre Blanche in Haiti. The well will serve a school of a bout 600 students, the local trade school, local church and the clinic which will serve 1000 people when the medical team from the U.S. goes there. The local population can also use the well. The local people had to travel a great distance to get water and this is a huge blessing to that entire community. On average the well will provide clean fresh drinking water for nearly 2,000 Haitian people each day.

Kevin had some great stories about how God provided what needed to make this project happen. When people like Kevin take a risk and GO out into the world, God does amazing things. I know there are more people like Kevin that God has been calling to take a risk and jump into something bigger than themselves. Start praying today that God will give you direction and then Courage to go and do it. It may be in Haiti or Egypt or maybe in Mississippi or Dover or Millersburg. You can make a difference just like Kevin did.

Way to go Kevin!

Sorry it has been awhile since my last posting. This has been a very busy week for me. Here are some highlights.

On Tuesday night we had about 20 people come and load the three trucks with all the food boxes from Go ’07. It only took us 50 minutes to load all the boxes. We actually had closer to 1,350 boxes. Thanks to all who helped.

On Wednesday morning we delivered the boxes. Jerry Weaver took a load to the Love Center in Millersburg. I took a load to the Salvation Army in Dover. Several people came to help unload there. Thanks, Steve Elloit, Sue Gerber, Gene, Patty, Dusty and Melissa Bolek. I also want to thank Mike Davis for allowing us to use his Harley Davidson box truck to make that delivery. It was nice to meet the folks from the Salvation Army.

The next delivery was to Newcomerstown and then to Uhrichsville. We had over 650 boxes on the MRV Siding truck. Thanks to Todd Kandel for letting us use his truck. I ended up driving the truck, a few close calls but I made it. Sue, Gene, Patty, Dusty & Melissa came along and helped unload at both places.

The Journey’s End in Newcomerstown has a very organized well run ministry. It has been great to get to know them down there. Janet Gore is the director and she called me later in the day to say they had gone through all 350 boxes and sorted everything. They are now well stocked. The folks at Uhrichsville’s Twin City Christian Center were also very helpful and are doing a good ministry to many families. It is encouraging to see ministries like these in action helping meet peoples needs in an organized fair way.

Thursday was a traveling day as I went to visit a guy near Akron and then on to the Cleveland area to pick up a friend. I got a chance to listen to four messages on prayer by Bill Hybels. Very good stuff.

Friday night was a rehearsal and dinner for the Wedding of Lucas Boylan & Jessica Gotchel in Malvern. Saturday morning was a counseling session with a couple and then on to the wedding.

The wedding was interesting, because it was in a Catholic church in Malvern. I worked with Father Vic Cinson. Lucas & Jessica come to NewPointe, but Father Vic is a relative and they wanted the service at the home church. I learned some new things about weddings, a few I may use and others I won’t. Father Vic was very gracious in allowing me to co-officiate. Danny was there to play music and overall things went well. Danny can sure play the trumpet, Wow!

I was getting a little nervous when Father Vic was not there with only a few minutes before the start of the service. He was doing most of the service. He showed up at the last minute and everything went fine. My part was to do a couple of readings and the nuptial blessing. Pretty simple. Congratulations to Lucas & Jessica!

After we got home I went on a 13 mile bike ride and then watched the Browns win their pre-season opener.

Today I am preaching at the Walnut Creek St. Johns United Church of Christ. This is the church that my wife Vikki and I went to after we got married. This will be the second time I have gone back to preach. I am talking about Prayer. Maybe I’ll blog on that later.

Here are a couple of interesting stories that relate to the Go ’07 Food drive:

On Monday I received a box in the mail. It was one of the Impossible boxes we handed out about three weeks ago. It was from a couple that had been visiting from the Cleveland area. Evidently they were here and wanted to participate in Go ’07. They filled the box with food and mailed it us (it cost $11.00 to ship it).

That is exciting to me because so many people participated in this drive. I think this has been the largest most far reaching outreach we have done. For a visitor to take the time to take a box, fill it and mail it shows how much people want to make a difference and be a part of something exciting and meaningful.

Here is the other story I received by email:

Saturday we came back to the church to see if we could buy another angel food kit for my brother. We found out that the program wasn’t set up to do that, so you generously let us pick and choose some of the food from the food drive. Mike and I randomly picked out some food not knowing what they needed or would like. I hadn’t even talked to my brother for a good while. This was just a strong feeling that came over me after we had picked up our angel food kit. We took the box of food you gave us and went straight to my brothers’ house. He looked so surprised when he saw the food. We also gave him some gas money and shared some of our meat with him and his family.

My brother started to cry as he told me he had been praying and even told God he felt like a failure, because he was having trouble supplying for his family. He has even been looking for a second job. He said he even felt like God didn’t care anymore. He told me too, that as he went through the box of food that a lot of the items we picked out for him were items that him and his wife had to put back the last time they went grocery shopping. He could hardly believe he ended with those items anyways.

I reminded him of how God cares about the desires of our heart, even if it is a certain kind of cereal, God truly cares about us.

This even reminded me of how much God loves us. It amazes me how God shows us His great love with such small things.

Yeah God!

Current number of boxes = 1,286 We are accepting food through this week and will distribute food next week to the four food pantries.

Saturday morning was the first food distribution for Angel Food Ministries at NewPointe. My wife Vikki and I helped serve. What a great group of volunteers, I didn’t count them but we had around 30 people out to help.

Many of us got there at 7:00 a.m. to prepare and help unload the truck. The truck got delayed in Cambridge and did not arrive until almost 8:30. While we were waiting for the truck many of the volunteers helped box food for the GO ’07 food drive. We boxed 122 more boxes Saturday morning. That took our total to 554 boxes going into Sunday morning! Thanks to all who helped.

When the truck got there we unloaded it and stacked all the boxes of food in 20 minutes. Soon after that people began to arrive to pick up their food. We had 216 orders from 178 households.

Jesse & Wilma Mast are the leader’s of this ministry and did a great job of organizing the distribution. Dave Miller was a big help as well in planning and organizing things. The system worked well and people moved through quickly. We are taking orders for next month right now. You can order online at our website http://www.newpointe.org/content.cfm?id=2139

If you would like to volunteer for Angel Food please let me know. This is a great opportunity to make a difference.

I was a runner which meant I helped take the loaded boxes of food out to peoples cars. I got to meet some new people and talk to some friends. I also got in nearly 9,00 steps! It was fun asking people where they lived and how they heard about us.

It was a fun morning and many of the people were very grateful and excited about this ministry to help families save money on their groceries. An exciting part of this ministry that not many people know about is that for every box of food that is ordered through NewPointe we get One Dollar donated to our Helps fund. All that money goes to help needy families and individuals in our church and community.

I encourage you to check it out and tell your friends and neighbors. With the GO ’07 Food drive and Angel Food, NewPointe will be distributing a very large volume of food into our community. I hope that this will encourage people to continue to help the local food pantries. There are people that struggle to buy or find enough food for their family. At the end of the day Sunday we ended up with nearly 1,300 boxes of food. That is really amazing! Yeah God! All that food will be distributed to Four local food panries, three in Tuscarawas county and one in Holmes county.

I am so glad I am part of a church that wants to meet needs and change lives. We want to impact our communities in a real and practical way. Food is a great start, but their is much more going on. To get involved in reaching out in the community contact me at NewPointe, we have several projects in the works right now. Together we can make a big difference.

I love it when God makes things happen. God brings people across our paths for a reason. It is our job to pay attention.

Butch & Juliene Price are leading a group of people down to the Eight Days of Hope mission trip to Louisiana. They stopped by my office to give me an update on how some things were going. As we talked they mentioned that a guy from Canton that owns a paint store (Harrison Paint) wanted to donate a truck load of paint for the relief effort. They gladly accepted this generous gift, but were unsure how to get it down their.

I remembered that at the last Group Link here at NewPointe, I met a guy named Jerry Weaver. Jerry owns a trucking and he mentioned that if I ever needed anything shipped down south for the relief efforts to let him know. So, I called Jerry and within a day he made arrangements to ship 26,000 pounds of paint to two locations in Mississippi and Louisiana. God is Good all the Time.

A big thanks to Jerry Weaver, Butch & Juliene Price and Harrison Paint. If we each do our part amazing things can happen. Yeah God.

On Saturday night Scott Bell and I went to a local Hispanic Church in Dover. It was really an interesting time. At first it was a bit awkward as we got there and the pastor and our interpreter were not there. Scott was attempting to tell a few of the people why we were there, but I don’t think they understood. It was supposed to start at 5:00 p.m., but they are much more laid back than we are. At about 20 after most everyone had arrived including the pastor and we began to sing. There were about 40 people there. They love music and they played with passion. They had a full band; two keyboards, bass player, lead guitar, drums and singer. It was a little rough but they were giving it their best. Three women and two men took turns leading the singing. I didn’t have a clue what was being sung, but I did know they were sincere. The music was loud which created a sense of energy and excitement, it also allowed me to clap even out of rhythm and hum along. They would intermix some Scripture readings and prayer. When they prayed, most everyone in the room would pray out from their seats. The Pastor finally got up about an hour later and introduced us. At that point Scott went up and the pastor tried to interpret for him. Scott explained that we would like to partner with their church to reach the community for Christ. We left at that point because we couldn’t understand the preaching and we each needed to get home. I hope to go back again sometime with more people.
The reason I wanted to go was because this is a great mission opportunity in our back yard. I also love new experiences and learning about people groups. There are over 2,000 Hispanics in this general area (Or so I’ve heard). Those are 2,000 souls that God cares very deeply about. The reality is that they are here in our neighborhoods and God wants to use this as an opportunity to show them the Good News. I plan on beginning to study their culture, most are from Guatemala. This could be the beginning of something special. A few other people from NewPointe have been to this Church and to the Latin American center in Dover. Our own Jim Mason has reached out the them and built some friendships as has Jr & Ruthanne Yoder. Are you looking for mission opportunities. This may be it. Call Scott Bell or me if you are intrigued.