This past Sunday Lifepoint Church sent each family home with a grocery bag and a shopping list.

Lifepoint is partnering with an organization in our city that is feeding under nourished kids called Nourish NC.  Nourish NC started in 2008 feeding 16 kids at Carolina Beach Elementary School.  Today is has spread to 2 schools and feeds over 50 kids.  Nourish NC has the goal to reach 3 schools and 100 kids by the end of the school year.  Each weekend the sponsored kids take home a bag of food to nourish them over the weekend.  It’s hard to believe that there are kids in our community that do not have food to eat away from school.  Statistics tell us that 1 out of 4 kids in NC are under-nourished.  Let’s do something about it!

Monday night, the Kapusta gang went on a shopping spree to Walmart and filled several bags to the brim.  It was neat to let our kids pick the items off the shelf and know that they are making a difference in another kids life.

We are asking everyone to fill their bags this week and return them to Ashley High School on Sunday morning.

LET’S KEEP SERVING THE WORLD!

Top 5 reasons you’ll love LifepointOnline.tv!

1.  What’s going on around here?

Have you ever wondered what is happening around Lifepoint Church? If so, then lifepointonline.tv is the place for you.  You’ll notice once you log in that you will see a calendar with upcoming dates.  For example you’ll see things like:

• Upcoming Events: First Wednesday, Guerrilla Love Projects and The Zone
• Lifegroup dates & times
• Outreach opportunities

2.  You can connect with other church members

Through the “People” tab you can stay connected with friends on the Dream Team or your Life Group.  You can also see your schedule, send messages and prayer requests.

3.  You can stay “In The Know.”

Once logged in, be sure to click “My Settings” in the upper right hand corner and update your profile information and your communication settings.  You can receive emails and text messages with the latest “happenings” around Lifepoint Church.

4.  You can “give” in a much more 21st century way.

If you are like my family, you don’t write many checks these days.  It is super convenient to pay bills online and manage finances online.  With Lifepointonline.tv you can do the same thing with your tithes and offerings.  You can give a one time gift or you can set up a recurring gift that is drafted from your account as frequently as you like.  Give it a try!  You will find the “Give” button in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

5.  Bonus stuff!

That’s right, Bonus Stuff!  From time to time we like to offer super cool stuff such as Guerrilla Lover daily devotionals to our church family via lifepointonine.tv.  What a shame to be one of the folks not receiving these amazing bonus features!

READY TO GET STARTED?

Head over to lifepointonline.tv and click sign-up.  Our team will be happy to assist you and help you get situated.  I look forward to seeing your awesome profile pic real soon!

Get ready Lifepoint!  This Wednesday, Sept. 1st we are kicking off our very first FIRST WEDNESDAY worship service.  I can’t emphasize enough how amazing FIRST WEDNESDAY is going to be.  This Wednesday we have the chance to come together as a church and celebrate all that God has been doing in our community as well as share communion together.

I’ll see you this Wednesday, Sept. 1st–6:30pm @ our Midtown location (behind McAlister’s Deli)

I have been a leadership junkie ever since we started Lifepoint Church.  I have read a ridiculous amount of books and attended who knows how many conferences.  I’ve always believed that the local church is the vehicle by which the world will be transformed.  With that being said, leadership in the church is crucial to accomplishing the mission of Jesus.

One of the greatest things I have ever done to grow as a leader is to get around guys that can pour into me and challenge me.  I’ve got some awesome guys at Lifepoint Church that I am very grateful for and I’ve also been very fortunate to build relationships with other pastors who have shaped me.

I share this because we have an opportunity on September 16th to attend the NewSpring Leadership Conference and learn from some of the most dynamic leaders.  The list of speakers is extremely diverse.  Each of these guys have impacted my life in a big way.

• Pastor Perry Noble–He started pouring into me when we had 150 people and hasn’t stopped yet.
• Pastor Mark Driscoll–His book Radical Reformission rocked my world and helped develop the heart of Lifepoint.
• Pastor Steven Furtick–His church launched the same day that Lifepoint did and he has personally invested in my life.
• Pastor Jud Wilhite–I got to meet Jud earlier this year I and I was blown away by his humility and leadership.
• Pastor Francis Chan–He’s the guy that jump started the whole Crazy Love stuff.
• Pastor Judah Smith–He is the newest voice that is challenging me through his podcast.  I haven’t met him but I look forward to the opportunity.

Imagine packing all those guys into a one day conference and you can only imagine how God will inspire and challenge you.  Have I sold you yet?  Here’s the best part…You can sign up this week for only $99.  Next week the price goes up to $129.

Here’s the link to sign up.  Jump all over it.

It’s officially 3:30am and I am up.  Yesterday was both exhilirating and exhausting.  My mind is running crazy just thinking about all that God allowed us to experience.  What took place yesterday was, for me, the best day ever in ministry.  I’ll do my best to recap everything that took place.

• We wrapped up our BACKWARDS series by holding a Family Meeting.  About 2 weeks ago I felt God strongly leading me to change directions with what I had planned for yesterday.  Instead of talking about Joy in Pain, God had me basically open up my chest and reveal my heart in the most vulnerable of ways.
• We will not post video or audio from yesterday so I apologize to those who couldn’t be there.  It was the kind of moment where you had to be there.
• The response of our church was simply amazing.
• I’m so thankful to pastor a church where I can be completely transparent and share raw thoughts.
• I truly believe that yesterday began a new chapter for us as a church.
• The essences of my message came from the life of Abraham in Gen. 12.
• Every move of God begins with a conversation with God.
• The Call of God will not violate the Word of God.
• The Word of God will validate the Call of God.
• Experiencing a move of God involves:  God’s Call, Our Obedience, God’s Blessing, and God’s Testing.
• OBEDIENCE FOLLOWS BLESSING!
• It was so cool to share some of my original journal entries from 2005 when God was calling me to step out and OBEY Him.
• I was blown away by several responses after the services.
• Now let’s talk about the baptism.
• We held a special beach baptism yesterday evening at Fort Fisher Recreation Area.
• You knew something special was going on because when I arrived at 10 minutes till 5pm the place was electric.
• 40 minutes before the party we already had 46 people signed up for baptism.
• The crowd kept growing.
• We had atleast 300 in attendance to celebrate new life in Christ!
• The waves were pretty crazy.  We had people getting wiped out left and right!
• At 5:15pm we rallied everyone that was getting baptized.  Here’s what it looked like:

• It was a battle just to get out to where my team and I were baptizing people.

• I was proud of the number of people that came out to simply celebrate with our new believers.  We’ve got church that loves to see life change and loves to party!

• When all was said and done we baptized 83 people yesterday!  If you add Kelly and Jana from last Sunday that makes 85 people who WANT TO TELL THE WORLD THAT THEY ARE LIVING FOR JESUS!!!!!
• It’s hard to believe that in one day we baptized over 10% of our church.  God truly is allowing Lifepoint to be a place where people are meeting Jesus.  I am humbled to be a part of it!

• Following our Celebration we had an old fashioned potluck!  Oh yes, it was good!

• It was amazing to watch husbands and wives get baptized together.  Mom’s and daughters together.  Friends together.
• God has literally transformed families and friends.   I can’t get over it!
• One of my favorite pictures so far is this one of Donna and Max.  I am so proud of Donna!  (I told you a shark wouldn’t get you!)

• May we never forget that EVERY “ONE” MATTERS! Today was a great way to remember that!
• I want to thank all our team that waded out into the water to help people today!
• Thank you to everyone who helped set up and tear down!
• Thank you for everyone who brought food to share!
• Thank you Lifepoint for being Jesus to this city!
• One wedding, One crazy surf session on Saturday, Two powerful services on Sunday, and one massive throw-down of a party last night!  I am spent in the best of ways!
• I love you Lifepoint!  I can’t wait to see what’s next???
• See you at the Dream Team Experience on Saturday!

I am REALLY looking forward to this Sunday afternoon as we have the privilege to celebrate many people who have made a decision to follow Jesus!

Sunday at 5:30pm our whole church is gathering at the Fort Fisher Recreation Center to watch our friends and family get baptized!

Along with celebrating baptism we are doing an Old Fashioned Pot Luck dinner so cook up your best dish or dessert and come ready to party!

I’ll see you guys there!