Are you allowing yourself to take the time needed to reexamine and refocus your priorities? Do you have enough relaxation and recreation in your schedule? It may seem like you don’t have the time, but in the end you’ll be far more productive, AND you’ll enjoy life much more as well!

And remember, making a lasting impact begins at home. Above all else, I want to make certain that I am dedicating the time and energy necessary for being the best husband and the best dad that I can possibly be. I want to be a role model for my family and be the kind of man that my wife and children respect and admire.

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16

If you are wanting to join us for a Sunday, you may have a tough time finding us, but we promise we’ll make it worth the effort

For the month of December we will be gathering for worship at the Towne Arts Center at 10:00 am each Sunday. The address is 6576 Commerce Parkway Woodstock‎ GA, 30189.

We will likely move again in January or February.

Hope to see you Sunday!

“Well, right now we meet outside at a dairy farm”, I reply.

“Sounds hot,” he states.

“Yeah it is.”

My thoughts began to drift. I was trying to envision the planning meeting in my mind. Could you imagine pitching this idea… “Hey, I know it’s going to be a little hot…I know that it’s going to be in the middle of summer…I know it could reach a 100 degrees…I know that it could rain…I know that we’ll lose some people over this… But why don’t we move the church outside? Isn’t that an awesome idea?”

Strategically, it doesn’t seem like a great idea. Certainly seems inconsistent with the idea of creating a “seeker-sensitive” environment. Nevertheless, it’s exactly what God has done with us. He has really shaken things up!

And believe it or not- I’m lovin’ it!

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be having our worship gatherings outside forever. But it’s been nice to break free. It’s been refreshing to simplify Sundays for a season. It’s been exciting to dream about where God will take us next. It’s been encouraging to see people who are committed to this vision of the church being the people of God, on mission with God in the world!

This past Sunday it was 90+ degrees in the shade with 96% humidity, but that didn’t keep the people of The Pointe Church from gathering together to worship Jesus. And the stories shared were amazing. How awesome it was to hear so many people share about what God is doing in their lives right now.

I will post more later about what God is doing in our church through all of this, but right now I want to speak to a question that many of you have in mind. The question is, “where to from here?”

For starters, I want to invite you to participate with us as together we seek God’s guidance for our lives and for the future ministry of The Pointe Church. This month I want to ask you to exercise spiritual discipline in your life like never before. Dedicate yourself to God and to honoring Him in your daily living. Spend time studying, memorizing, and meditating on God’s Word- The Bible.  Pray consistently, asking God to provide us with wisdom and understanding. Surrender yourself to Him and to His will. As we join together and seek God’s direction, He will guide us.

The Scriptures tell us that “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” James 1:5,6 So ask God for wisdom- and trust Him to provide.

I also want to ask you to journey through the book of Proverbs with me. Proverbs is divided into 31 chapters and the month of August has, of course, 31 days. So join me as I read a Proverb per day this month. Even if you didn’t get to start right on time with Proverbs 1, jump right in and begin today. You can pick up with the current date or you can read the previous chapters to get caught up to today’s date- it doesn’t matter with me, just do it! The book of Proverbs was compiled to give us practical wisdom for daily living. Just look at the opening lines:

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; 3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young– 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance– 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:1-7

God speaks through His Word. I know that as we delve into the Scriptures, God will speak to us- both individually and corporately. Let’s move forward with boldness- committing ourselves to one another, trusting Him, and obeying His Word.

Family Camp was a great experience for us; we really enjoyed the time together as well as time with many friends from the church. A little about Amicalola: The name Amicalola is derived from a Cherokee word which means “tumbling waters.” The waterfall at Amicalola is 729 feet high, making it the highest in Georgia. It is actually the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. It is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia (Amicalola Falls, Okefenokee Swamp, Providence Canyon, Radium Springs, Stone Mountain, Tallulah Gorge, Warm Springs). The park also includes an eight-mile connector to Springer Mountain, the southern point of the Appilachian Trail. The entire park is beautiful. The picture above is the view from our balcony in the lodge.

Believe it or Not: Our family hiked from the base of the falls to the lodge at the top. We took the stairs- all 600 of them. To be honest, about half-way up I thought I might drop dead- especially concerning the fact that I had carried our 2-year old for most of the way.

Most people couldn’t believe that we actually went the entire distance, but we did- and I’d do it again! It was exhilarating! It was a great experience for our family. Last year we hiked up to the top of Stone Mountain- yes, with all four kids- what a challenge!

I didn’t do it to prove that I’m “the man.” My huffing and puffing after the first flight may have not helped that cause

I did it to teach our kids.

I want my children to develop a sense of determination. I want them to have a sense of confidence and strength. When life gets tough, I don’t want them to throw in the towel. I want them to experience victory over life’s challenges. I know that the battles will come- and when they do, our family can look back and say, “We can do it!” I want them to remember the time when, although they were ready to give up, just when they wanted to call it quits, we reached the summit! I want them to remember the view from the top and the struggle to get there. There’s nothing better than a good nature hike to teach these lessons to our kids. You also have so many teaching moments along the trail as well. Opportunities to teach about God, His creation, and our relationship with Him.

God worked in this manner to develop King David. David experienced some things early in his life to teach Him to rely on God’s strength and provision. When David went up against Goliath, he was prepared. You can find the complete story in 1 Samuel 17. Look at this portion, beginning with verse 32… David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”  Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”  But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,  I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”

Let me say, we didn’t do this because we just wanted to do something different. It wasn’t just to do something “out of the box” or to be creative. It wasn’t because we didn’t have a place to meet. We did Servant Sunday because for months God has been challenging us to go out “to the least of these” in our community.

I’ve heard it said before that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I believe that our actions on Sunday communicated a genuine Christ-like concern for others. My prayer is that through these acts of loving kindness, we will see God’s grace flow into the lives of more people than we could ever imagine.

On this coming Sunday, each group will report how they saw God at work at their site. I can tell you that we have amazing things taking place! Join us Sunday morning at Cagle’s Dairy, 10:00am to discover more!

First of all, God is teaching us some things about the church. The church isn’t a place, nor is it a program. We don’t “go” to church. We ARE the church. Any Christian would agree with these statements, but we don’t fully embrace them as true. What do you tell your kids on Sunday morning- “We’re going to church today?” How do most church leaders treat people when they “miss church” on Sunday morning?

Hey, I think it’s critical for the church to come together, but let’s face it, we do a poor job at thinking beyond the building. God is bigger than a building.

The truth is, too often a facility confines our thinking. We develop our method for ministry and things rarely, if ever, change. We elevate form over function, the methods over the message. We begin to hear things like, “we’ve always done it this way” or “you can’t change that…” We fail to think beyond the building. We can reach a point where we’re just going through the motions. And while the church gets stuck in a rut, the world around us moves forward. The community evolves. The culture changes. People’s needs change. But the church stands still.

Our move is an obvious change. But more than that, it’s a opportunity to come back to the drawing board and ask questions like “how can we more effectively deliver the gospel to our community?” God wants to challenge what we think about the church.

God is also teaching us about Himself. We tend to put God in a box. Like a caged animal at the zoo, we keep God in a safe place- 11am Sunday mornings at the church building. If we’re daring, we may catch Him at 7pm on Sunday night or even on Wednesdays for the really reckless. But what if He broke loose? What if God decided to show up at some other time, or some unexpected place? What if He wasn’t satisfied being caged? Like the Zebra that was making his way down I-75 not too long ago, He might cause some disruption. Things may not go as planned.

I believe that this is part of what God is doing with us at The Pointe right now. He’s busting out of the box. He’s challenging the norm. He’s not following the rules. He’s reminding us that this is His gig- not ours! He’s setting the pace. He’s steering the ship. He’s testing our faith.

I don’t know how that makes you feel, but it excites me! I’m excited because I think God’s going to take us on an adventure together over the next few weeks. We’ve left our building behind. We’re choosing to be “nomadic” for a season. We’re hitting the streets. We’re going to minister in our community like never before.  We’re going to have worship services during times and locations you’d never expect.

We’ve got some pretty cool things in store for the next several weeks. The kind of things that memories are made of. The kind of things you don’t want to miss. The kind of things you’ll tell your children’s children about.

Follow us in Real Time at Twitter & Facebook to keep up with the latest news and locations. Here’s what you need to know right now:

July 4- Freedom Celebration, 10:00am at the Gazebo in downtown Canton (on the square). Bring chairs, blankets, etc.

July 11- Worship at the Cagle’s Dairy Pavilion, 10:00am

We say it’s not about the building- so here’s our chance to prove it!

By the way, most churches don’t do this sort of thing because they’re afraid of leaving their building on a Sunday morning.

I’d love to know your thoughts. Are you as excited about this as I am, or are you looking for a new church to attend?

1. Places- Where do you know that we could conduct a special event, concert, or outdoor worship service? What ideas do you have? What connections do you have- can you get us access to a field, park, a barn, pasture, building, parking lot, pavilion, etc? It may be a public place- right out in the middle of things, or it may be a secluded setting- go ahead, give me your ideas!

2. People- We want to be a blessing to people and to help people in need. So what burdens you in our community? Who do you know that needs assistance? We are particularly interested in ways that we can help people beyond mere financial assistance, but rather something that would allow us to connect with people and express a genuine sense of care and compassion. Jesus speaks of His followers going to “the least of these.” Who is the least in our community? Who is struggling? How can we help in a practical way?

3. Projects- I’ve already told you that beginning this summer we will have some Sundays when we will go out into our community to serve.  What ideas do you have for mobilizing over 150 people to serve on a Sunday morning or afternoon? We don’t all have to stay together- we can meet up for a time of prayer and then head out to several locations. Imagine the impact we could have if we even took only a couple of Sundays a year to go out and serve our community.  So send us your ideas.

Take a minute right now and share your thoughts on these areas. Thanks for sharing your ideas.