Weekends @ NewPointe: Catching up (again)

Well... here I am again... BEHIND on posting the set-lists for a few weeks. It really has been one of the craziest months of my life. About 3 weeks ago... I had surgery on my left knee. Then... before I could fully recover from that surgery... I end up in the hospital (Where I am... even as I blog) with diverticulitis! This my 5th day in this hospital bed... Auuuugh! But I AM going home TODAY! Woohoo! So... as I wait for April to pick me up... I thought that I would take advantage of this "down time" to do a little catching up on my blog. So enough about WHY I haven't blogged... let's get caaught up...

We just finished up a two part series called DARE YOU TO MOVE. During the series we talked about our plans to launch two NewPointe campuses this fall. Why are we doing this? To reach more people and to help them grow in their relaionship with Jesus Christ. Our people were challenged to move from wherever we are to serving right now and step it up to a whole new level.

• From being a follower to being a LEADER.
  
• From being self-focused to being OTHERS focused
  
• From having an earthly view to having an ETERNAL view

Here are the songs that we used during that series:

Week ONE:

"I Am Free" - Desperation Band

"Sweetly Broken" - Jeremy Riddle

"From The Inside Out" - Hillsong United

"Tell The World" - Hillsong United

"Dare You To Move" - Switchfoot

For week TWO... NewPointe welcomed the Christian rock band, WORTH DYING FOR. The did a fantastic job of leading us in worship and rockin' the Pointe. Here are some of the songs that they led us in worship with... and a couple of pics.

"Salvation Is Here" - Hillsong United

"God of This City" - Chris Tomlin

"Hallelujah" - Unknown

"At Your Cross" - Worth Dying For

"Revolution" - Worth Dying For

"Let It Out" - Worth Dying For

Goodbye, Michael

As I sit here in my hospital bed... a prisoner to "what's good on TV tonight" (yeah right!)... I am absolutely stunned and saddened by the news that another one of the greatest musicians of all time has died. What? Michael Jackson? The "KING OF POP"? Gone? No way!!

While I am taking in all of the tributes on CNN, FOX News, MTV... I try to understand why I am so emotional about his death. Is it selfishness? I mean... is it because I grew up with his music and his groundbreaking videos... and all of that is now OVER? Could it be because (as a musician) I learned more about R&B rhythm, syncopation and tightness from Michael's music than any other artist I have ever studied? Or could it be that I am just feeling sorry for him? Feeling sorry for the strange turns that his life took in recent years. The scandals... the facial changes... and the bizarre behavior.


He had it all... and yet he seemed to live a sort of misunderstood and tormented life. It's just so sad.

I think that maybe the real reason that I am so emotional about Michael's death has more to do with the fact that I connected with Michael (Whether I realized it or not) on many different levels. Michael Jackson and his music had a profound impact on my musical development over the years, my appreciation for quality and excellence, my fascination with creativity and innovation and... well... my LIFE.

Many of his songs were just great songs "musically". They were fun to listen to, to sing, to play and to dance to. But songs like "Heal the World", "Man In The Mirror"and "We Are The World" challenged us to change the way we looked at the world... and ourselves. Who doesn't remember the first time they heard "We Are the World"??? That was HUGE!

Well... whatever you thought of the bizarre things that he did in his later years... you cannot deny the fact that Michael Jackson was one of the most innovative, ground-breaking musical artists of our lifetime. As unusual as he was... Michael Jackson was a musical genius. And for that reason... I have always had a great respect for the artist.

Whether it was the structure and lyric of the songs that he wrote... the creativity and production value of his music videos (Yes... I have the Thriller video on my iPOD)... or his amazing choreography (which every dancer, since, has just emulated)... you cannot ignore the fact that Michael Jackson single-handedly changed the face of the music industry.

Only God knows what went on in the heart of Michael Jackson. If you ask one person... they might say that he was a "freak". If you asked another... they would say that he was a kind, gentle man who wanted nothing more than to make the world a better place with his music.

I (for one) am thankful for the music that he shared while he was with us. As far as I'm concerned... he will always be remembered as one of the greatest musicians of our lifetime.

Goodbye, Michael... you will be greatly missed.

The Great Knee Surgery Adventure

I have been "inactive" for almost a year now... due to a knee injury. That means no softball, basketball, tennis, golf, volleyball for a year! Auuugh! About the only thing that I COULD do without unbearable pain... was ride my bike. It has been a very frustrating year... to say the least. The first doctor that I went to see told me that there was arthritis under my knee cap. Other than a couple of exercises that he gave me to do at home... he never really gave me any hope for getting back to any sort of athletic activity. That WAS NOT the answer that I was looking for. After several X-rays, an MRI and 4 (3 minute) visits over a period of 5 months last fall... I decided to get a second opinion (best decision ever). At my first visit with the new doctor... he gave me a cortisone shot (which worked great for about a week and a half) and then ordered the arthroscopic surgery... immediately. THAT was what I was looking for... answers. I thought that it would be fun to document the experience with photos. So this is what my day at the hospital was like:

On our way to Aultman Hospital in Canton. I think I was trying to keep April awake as she was driving.















Ah yes... that wonderful hospital robe. We were told to arrive at the hospital at 9:15. That's all we knew. I was told that the procedure wasn't supposed to take very long. You know... maybe on my way home by noon??? Yeah... right.









10:00 and still waiting.

















It's all good...
















Finally... the nurse came in to hook up my iv. Looking for a vein in my wrist... so far...no luck.















Still looking for a vein...
















She had to go a little higher up on my arm to find a vein.
















I hate ivs... but you can't let it show... right?

We just found out that my surgery isn't happening until noon now... which means that April has to cancel HER afternoon doctors appointment. Bummer.









11:15... and still waiting.

They didn't take me back until 12:30... and I still didn't go into surgery until around 2:00. I was BORED OUT OF MY MIND!











Back in my room... waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. Going home soon?















4:20 and still waiting to go home...















Yes! Finally! I'm outta here! And I am HUNGRY!

















I was STARVING... so we stopped by Chick-fil-A on the way home... and guess who was in the drive-thru line? Lee Ann and Matt! What are the chances of running into those guys in Canton?

Oh yeah... and Chick-fil-A ROCKS!









Working from home today. As always... the girls are taking great care of me. They are WAY too good to me.








I




LOVE my MacBook Pro. It's the ONLY way to work from home.
















Well... the surgery was a success... but (once they got in there) they ended up doing a lot more than they had originally planned on doing. The plan was just to clean the arthritis out from under my kneecap. They ended up removing quite a bit of cartilage. Doc told April that I was a perfect candidate for a knee replacement. Even though that is not great news... it's so much better than going on with no answers... or the wrong answers.

April and the girls are taking great care of dad. I start therapy on my knee later this week... and if all goes well... I will be able to get back to normal activity before the end of the month. A huge thanks to everyone for their prayers and phone calls.

NewPointe West (Millersburg)

NewPointe will be launching yet another campus this fall in Millersburg, Ohio. The possible site of this new campus is West Holmes High School.

So this past Thursday... a crack team of investigative staffers from NewPointe Community Church met at the school to check out the facilities.

What we found was a pretty amazing building with almost everything that we would need to launch a great church in Millersburg, Ohio. The building is only about 9 years old. It is beautiful! The auditorium is amazing... with comfortable theater seats, great acoustics, a large stage (that was definitely designed with "the arts" in mind). The building includes large classrooms for younger kids space, A food court area that could easily be adapted into older Kid spaces, plenty of parking space and everything else that we would need for a successful launch this fall. It's exciting to be a part of a church that is constantly looking for creative ways to reach more & more people in our community for Christ. And this is just the beginning...

Her are a few pics from the school visit:

The Power of a Video

This past Sunday morning for the last message in the "Living In he Hood" series... Dwight talked about how important it is for our kids to have another adult in their life to speak the truth and help direct their path. Someone to say the same things that we say to them... (because of course... what do parents know? Right?) They need another adult to reinforce the "right things" to do. God's Word says that "He who walks with the wise will grow wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20. And we all know that those who are closest to us... influence us the most.

Well... our video team put together this great video of one of our Student Ministries small groups. The group is led by Nancy Bell. Nancy is a "model leader" for these girls. In the video... the girls in her group share what it means to have someone other than their parents to talk to when they need encouragement... or help making decisions. Check it out:

Someone Like Nancy from NewPointe Community Church on Vimeo.

BTW: Great job... Jeff Conn, Cindy Colucy, Dan Knight and Brad Yoder for shooting and editing this video!

Weekends @ NewPointe: Getting caught up

I am so far behind on my blog... and we have had some pretty amazing music during the Living In The Hood (Parenthood) series.

So... to do a little catching up... here are the songs that we used on May the 10th:

"Ah Ah Ah Yeah" (with our KidStuf singers - opener) - KidStuf

"Here Is Our King" - David Crowder* Band

"Now I Sing" - Benjamin Payne

"Glorious One" - Steve Fee


On May the 17th:

"Carry On Wayward Son" (Instrumental Opener) - Kansas

"No One Like You" - David Crowder* Band

"In The Mystery" - Hillsong United

"Unfailing Love" - Chris Tomlin


The next week (May the 24th):

"All Because Of Jesus" - Fee

"Not To Us / Here Is Our King" - Chris Tomlin / David Crowder

"Awesome is The Lord Most High" - Christ Tomlin

"Everlasting God" - Tomlin

"Parents Just Don't Understand" - D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

And then... this past weekend (for the the final message in the "Living In The Hood" series):

"We Are Family" (Re-mix) - Loosely based on a Jump 5 arrangement

"King of Majesty" - Lincoln Brewster

"Filled With Your Glory" - Starfield

"From The Inside Out" - Hillsong United

This weekend @ NewPointe:

"Satisfy Me" - Decemberadio (get there early... you will not want to miss this!)

"Let God Arise" - Chris Tomlin

"Now I Sing" - Benjamin Payne

"Hungry" - Kathryn Scott

"The River" - Meredith Andrews

So there you go. If you want to check out any of these services... you can always watch them on Vimeo.com (search NewPointe) or go there directly from our web-site once they are uploaded (Usually by the following Wednesday.)