Big Storm Cancels Church

This is the sign everyone saw this morning as they drove into the parking lot at church. Unfortulnately, a big storm that blew through the valley on Saturday had knocked down a bunch of trees and broke a main trunk of the power grid. Our church was without power (aka "electricity").

Of course we received numerous comments about a church not having "Power". Hey it was easier to spell and write "Power" than "Electricity" and we were in a hurry when we made this wonderful sign.

It was an interesting day. Todd called me at 6am and gave me the bad news that we had no electricity and they were predicting it would take another 8 hours to repair it. As the early morning volunteers started to arrive, we pulled the trigger at about 7:30am and put operation "Cancel Church" into action. We called the radio stations, sent a church-wide email, and updated our web-site with the news. There were about a dozen staff people in the parking lot on cell phones trying to contact their volunteers to give them the news.

In spite of our best efforts to notify people, there were still hundreds of people who showed up at 9 and 11 for church. They drove up like normal, slowed down to read the sign that church was cancelled, got a really weird look on their face, and then started talking to the others in the car about where they were going to eat breakfast or lunch as they circled back out of the lot. (Bob Evans should give us a commision today!).

It was a strange Sunday morning. All-in-all it went well. I just stood on the corner and waved to people and encouraged them to come back next week!

Our "Big Give" Project

Our church is organizing a "Big Give" project the entire month of June. In case you don't know the background to this, several months ago Dwight challenged our church to trust in God with all our resources, including our money. He challenged those who were not tithing to try it for 90 days and see how God would in turn bless their families. To show that it was not a "fund-raising scheme" Dwight said that whatever extra money came in from the offering would be given right back out to our community.

Well, the people of NewPointe took the challenge and we ended up with $117,000 that we are now giving back to our community. Is that totally awesome, or what?

One of the ways we are giving this back is by giving a portion of this money to our small groups to go out in the community and do a service project (aka the "Big Give"). Lots and lots of cool things are being done right now all across Holmes and Tuscarawas counties. We are helping single moms, struggling families, homeless people, teenage moms, community outreach programs just to name a few.

This past Saturday our small group helped a small start-up church in Millersburg called "Living Hope Church". The church building was converted from the old Save N Serve store and needed some major cleaning. So our group got together and did some major cleaning. We:

• washed walls
• washed ceilings
• cleaned gutters
• Swept floors
• washed windows
• and lots more!

It was so fun to help another church. NewPointe is such a large church and Living Hope is such a small church. However, we are both serving the same God and part of the same body. It was a blessing to us to be able to help them and encourage them!

With our money we bought them a foosball table for the kids they are trying to reach. We also bought a Lowes gift card to help with an upcoming building project!!

Here are some pictures from our Big Give project.

A Close Call

Today at work I received that phone call that every parent dreads hearing, "Your daughter was in a car accident and is in an ambulance on the way to the hospital." You can't understand how that message shoots straight through your body unless you've experienced it. Katie had been in an accident.

Jeff and I jumped in my car and headed to Millersburg, Becky was on her way, too, and was about 15 minutes ahead of us. The one thing we knew was that Katie was coherent and talking to the EMT's. So we felt better when we heard that.

Jeff and I drove past the place we thought the car might have been towed since it was on our way. When we saw the picture (below) we didn't feel so good anymore!

When we got to the hospital we heard that Katie was going to be okay. She had a concussion, some cuts, and a lot of bruises. She was pretty shook-up. Here's a picture we snapped when she wasn't looking in the ER room.

It was so good to see her and talk to her. She was hurting, but was more mad that it happened and that the cop gave her ticket.

Lot's of people called to check on her. Her aunt, grandma, and grandpa all came to the ER to check on her.

Now she's at home and resting. She's so sad about her car. She loved her car so much.

Here's one last picture that we took at home.

It could have been a lot worse. It makes you appreciate EMT's, hospitals, family, and God's grace! Thanks for all of you who prayed for her!