Special note from Brett

Laura and I watched the movie Fireproof again last night. Seeing this movie will challenge & bless your marriage.

Join us tonight at Westfield HS for our 7pm showing.

Read what the New York Times had to say about Fireproof:

Putting Out House Fires, Reigniting Passions

By NEIL GENZLINGER

Published: September 27, 2008

“Fireproof” may not be the most profound movie ever made, but it does have its commendable elements, including that rarest of creatures on the big (or small) screen: characters with a strong, conservative Christian faith who don’t sound crazy.

The movie is about a firefighter named Caleb (Kirk Cameron) whose loveless marriage to Catherine (Erin Bethea) is headed for divorce court until Caleb’s father (Harris Malcom) talks him into trying a 40-day caring-for-marriage regimen with a Christian underpinning. “The Love Dare,” it’s called.

The screenwriters, the brothers Alex Kendrick (who also directed) and Stephen Kendrick, give the story some pull by not making Catherine into the usual neglected wallflower of a wife. Instead she’s a publicist at a hospital who spends most of the film contemplating whether to hop into bed with one of the doctors.

For two-thirds of the movie, the filmmakers show a restraint rare in the movie-with-a-Message genre, so much so that the two most appealing characters are those nudging Caleb toward Christianity (Mr. Malcom and Ken Bevel as a fellow firefighter).

The story may be a bit gimmicky — yes, there are dramatic firefighter rescues that have little to do with the main plot — and the central couple is thinly drawn. It’s never clear what attracted these two to each other in the first place, and the hard-edged Catherine’s inevitable coming-around hinges, disappointingly, on some simplistic sensitive-male displays. (He does the dishes!)

But the cast of mostly amateurs (Mr. Cameron of “Growing Pains” being the exception) is surprisingly good. And the moments of comic relief are mildly amusing.

Only at the end do the filmmakers get heavy-handed, and they seem not to know when to wrap up, letting the movie run on for several smarmy scenes beyond its natural endpoint. Until then, though, this is a decent attempt to combine faith and storytelling that will certainly register with its target audience.

And maybe with other folks as well: among those caring-for-marriage tips are some that anyone could use to improve any type of relationship, with or without the God part.

Pray for this weekend and pray for relationships in the church!

See you soon!

Brett Andrews, Lead Guy

I need to spend more time...

My Dad was in town this past weekend. Caleb & Logan had 4 baseball games scheduled between them. Dad drove the 6 hours from PA to see them play. Each game was cancelled because of rain, but the weekend wasn’t a total loss.

Dad grew up on a farm, so the school of hard knocks taught him how to repair almost everything. (He saved us over $400 in repairs this weekend. He needs to come down to watch baseball more often!)

While I was at work Monday, Dad took Logan golfing. As Laura tucked Logan into bed, he said, “Mom, do you know what spending time with Papa John has taught me?”

“What Logan?”

“It’s taught me that I need to spend more time with Dad.”

Hmmm.

I feel the same way. My Dad is 74 years old. Because he’s always been so vigorous and active, I’ve not appreciated that he’s not as young as he used to be. While he was here, I was struck in the heart by the thought, “I need to spend more time with my Dad.”

And, Logan, as your Dad, I enjoy every minute I get to spend with you. As you grow, it will be easy for me to not appreciate how quickly your time with me is passing. Whatever minutes we have together, I want to spend more of those minutes enjoying you, not distracted by all the things that clutter my time.


Brett Andrews, Lead Guy

shameless ask

I recently asked a church planter what exciting things were going on at his church, Velocity in Cleveland, OH, and wanted to pass along to you all just a small glimpse of how New Life is part of reaching lost people halfway across the country.

What's most exciting about Velocity right now is that we are in such a great new season of ministry here. We started back in April of 2009 and things have been absolutely crazy since then. We've had 21 baptisms in 30 weeks. The mayor of our city asked Velocity to start a youth program for our entire city. We are now the chaplains for the police and fire departments. Next week we are doing an event called "Serve the Servants" where we are serving lunch for the police department. The media got hold of what we are doing and they are sending a reporter to do a story on why Velocity is serving people. Things are so unbelievable - we just can't believe what God is doing in a city like Cleveland Ohio.

One of the things that I am really thankful for in this whole process are the things that Passion For Planting has done to help us get such a great start. We could have NEVER done all that we have done without being a part of the STADIA network. We are so thankful for the staff at P4P (Doug, Pat, Bradley) and all that they have done to help us get such a strong start. You guys are the best!

Scott Pugh

Lead Pastor

Velocity Church

Pat Furgerson, Associate Guy

next

Ran across this article online. It talks about the state of the church in America today. Very eye-opening and a bit disheartening. However...

It's why I love being a part of a church-planting church like New Life! Some people see the doom and gloom of religious organizations. I think we see opportunities! It is said that some of the best ideas and opportunities have come during the worst economic times in our country's history. Could this be true of churches?

Sometimes we forget that life is about birth, life, and death. Everything dies. Maybe we hold on too long to what we once had, or felt, or experienced, or hoped for. Maybe our best bet is to let things die off and new births happen.

Maybe it is a good thing that churches are dying. Maybe it allows church plants to come in and revitalize a town, a people. Statistics show the churches today making the biggest difference in communities are church plants. Are they perfect? Nope. Do they fail? Yep. Do they have all the answers? No way. But more often than not, they bring enthusiasm, hope, community impact, excitement and life to an area.

So I see opportunities that abound after reading this article, not doom and gloom. And maybe it's time to close a few church doors and open some new ones and see if that changes our religious landscape.

So where to next?

Chad Simpkins, Haymarket Campus Pastor

Life Interrupted

Weird night at life group. Prayers going up for travel mercies for one of our number attending funeral in Atlanta, for another traveling to California to be with mom with stage 4 colon cancer, for one of our guys in pain who is awaiting knee replacement surgery and for a new couple in need of jobs.

And then. . .well, then something happened I didn't expect. One person shouted out a praise for having gotten cancer. She's just coming off chemo. But she talked of how cancer for her was a blessing, that it forced her to focus, get her priorities in line with God's, and that she's seeing God at work in new, more vivid ways. Ok, after that, it was hard to ask for prayer for my hangnail.

But this dealing with seeing God at work in the interruptions of life popped up in our scripture for the night--Acts 16. Paul and Barnabas determine to visit all the churches they started on their first journey. They can't even get packed before they split up over who would come with them. Rats. Interrupted.

We're sure Barnabas is doing great work, too, but the Holy Spirit zeroes in here on Paul. As he's about the work, we're told that he is forbidden by the Holy Spirit from going to Asia (verse 6). Rats. Interrupted.

Then Paul intends to go to Bithynia, but, again, the Holy Spirit did not permit it. Rats. Interrupted.

We don't know why or how the Holy Spirit communicated this. Did Paul fall ill? Could they not get correct change for the subway? Easy at this point for Paul to go "God, what's the deal? You are standing in the way of my well-conceived travel plans." Sounds like he didn't do that, since he then gets a vision to go to Macedonia and obeys.

Paul eventually ends up in Philippi, where there is this hilarious story. On the Sabbath, Paul and his troupe decide to go down to the river for a little peace and quiet, "supposing there would be a place of prayer" there. They supposed wrong. Instead, there were a bunch of women yacking it up. Rats. Interrupted.

Instead of rolling their eyes, they sit down and start talking to the women. One, Lydia, overhears, gets saved, and then her whole household gets saved. And the gospel is off and running in Europe! Who'd have thunk it?

So, here's one for ya. Are you actually about the business of God's work and purposes? Do you have a plan to be a minister of the gospel and are you pursuing it? As you pursue it, are you open to the Holy Spirit altering those plans without become bitter and thereby missing God's purposes? Yeah, some exciting things can happen. You get a promotion, you get engaged, you get some blessing. But God often directs through inconveniences. The loss of a job, a broken down car, a serious illness, a betrayal, or some other huge disappointment. Do you stop in those times to listen, to see what God might be up to?

He's probably leading you to your Lydia.

But we'll miss that if we're bummed that He interrupted our plans. But isn't that where we spend too much of our time? I mean, seriously, when's the last time you shared your faith outside the church walls? Is it really that there's just a lack of lost people out there, or are you just not listening?

Ok, I'm done. You can go back to what you were doing now. Sorry for the interruption.

Dwaine Darrah

McLean Campus Pastor

today

What do you have planned to do today? Eat some food, go to a meeting, drive to work, watch some tv, take care of the kiddos, workout, eat some more food, sleep?

What if, in the midst of all that we normally do, we began to ask ourselves each day - how can I make a difference in the world today?

I am sitting here drinking some coffee, doing some planning, catching up on emails, reading, writing, contemplating, daydreaming and that thought came into my head - how am I making a difference today? What phone call do I need to make, what note do I need to send, what email needs to be written, who do I need to have coffee with, what prayer do I need to make?

I don't know about you, but I want to look back at my life when I am lying on some freezing cold gurney about ready to breathe my last breath and say to those around me (if anyone is there), I made a difference in the world.

But that has to start today. And it is a question we need to ask ourselves each day when we wake up. We don't know when that gurney may come rolling by...

Chad Simpkins, Haymarket Campus Pastor

Planting in San Fran

Sunday I was able to read an excerpt from an email I received from a church planter we are working with. I thought it would be worth sharing.

From Aaron Monts at Ikon in SF, CA

Sunday morning, Siobhan (the house manager of Mezzanine) pulled Taryn (the wife of one of our staff members) aside to ask permission to bring a friend on October 4th. This is the same girl that drug her heels, cursed the idea of church in a nightclub, and had plenty of reservations about IKON at Mezzanine ... and she's inviting a friend. To church. I watch her some times. Sitting in the corner. I wonder what she is thinking. What she is feeling. Does she wonder why we are singing? Who we are singing to? Is it just another gig for her? I'm beginning to think that it's not. I'm beginning to think that God's promise is true that where two or more are gathered, curiosity is sparked and beauty is manifest. No matter how the service goes or how we feel about the message, God is moving.

This past weekend we had a couple show up because of the IKON card they were handed at the Ferry Building by the missions team from Community Christian Church in Naperville. They were excited about what was taking place and "refreshed to see a church actually care about San Francisco!" They're looking forward to getting involved in our community to "make a difference!"

We had a homeless man, Shae, say "that its finally good to see a church doing something in this city". Meanwhile, the Mint Plaza security guard told one of our greeters that he sneaks close to our door so that he can hear the Word of God because "you can't really find that around here much".

Patrick Furgerson, Associate Guy

play-doh

For what to me seems like a decade (more like 2 weeks), I have been working on organizational structure for New Life. Like many churches, we ask people to serve in some capacity but do not have the right channels set up for success for them and our many areas to serve. Makes for fun chaos some days!

The good thing is that we recognize the need to organize and are moving in that direction (and others) to make sure we can help people grow and make the church a better place for people. Seemed to work back in the book of Acts pretty well too.

I sometimes wonder what is the real need for structure. I am not much of a structure guy. I like taking Play-Doh, throwing it on a table and instead of flattening it out and using cookie cutters, I like to mold and make my own designs. It seems easier and more fun.

What I have learned though is that any organization or organism needs structure. You can only go so far, grow so much, play with the doh for so long before the need for structure comes into play. My creation usually isn't as good as when I use the structures in place to make my 'art' (I use that term loosely).

Structure is good. It's healthy. It's not something I like or even like to think about, but it makes us all better in the end!

And it doesn't end at work. How can we be better at using structure as parents, in financing, in life?

Chad Simpkins, Haymarket Campus Pastor

Inching along

Lifegroup Tuesday. Acts 13. Came across an intriguing fella named Elymas. The description of him was clear, but it appeared to make no sense.

He was a false prophet.

He was a sorcerer.

He was a Jew.

Like the aptitute test that asks "Which of these things is not like the others?" these three descriptors do not go together naturally. Why? Well, the Old Testament clearly states that if you were a Jew, you were not to be a false prophet. The result? Big rocks dropped on ya. How about if you thought sorcery would be a good career choice? Result? Big rocks dropped on ya.

And that got us to thinking about how this could happen. Does a good little Jewish boy just wake up one day and think to himself, "Yeah, today it's gonna be sorcery and false prophesying. That's the ticket." And then we asked, "Does the high school teacher arrested for having child porn on his computer just wake up one day and go there and get nabbed right out of the chute?" Probably not. In fact, 15 years ago, if you had told that high school teacher, fresh out of college, that he'd lose his job, his family, his reputation, and his friends because he got caught doing child porn, he'd have told you you were nuts.

No, the path was probably long and twisting. Long because it took a whole lot of steps to get there. Twisting because each step had to occur with the final destination concealed. Had he seen it coming, he might have changed course. Makes sense. Proverbs tells us that it's the little foxes that ruin the vineyard, not one big fox. Lots of little things add up. Add up for good or for ill. Romans tells us that ending up in a good place is the result of little steps, too--little steps of faith that build on each other.

So, what to do? We sought to evaluate our lives right now. Where are we, in little things, in seemingly inconsequential things, in "what's the big deal?" things, taking little steps leading to righteousness? And where are we, in little things, in seemingly inconsequential things, in "what's the big deal?" things, taking little steps that are taking us to utter destruction currently hidden by the twists in the road?

For some, it was the need to bow a head and pray publicly for that meal in the restaurant. For others, it was talking to that family member who asks the question that forces us to profess what we really believe about Jesus. For me, it was not just saying I'll pray for ya, but actually stopping and doing it. Or, seeing the need of a brother in pain and stopping from my so-called busy schedule to hang out with him at the doc's. A lot of the time, I'm impatient for the big rush, the major accomplishment. But today. . .today some mighty good stuff flowed from what would appear to be just dinky little things.

Liked it enough, I'm thinking about trying a little step of faith again tomorrow. Who knows where this might lead?

Could be bailing someone out of the adult detention center who's taken too few of them, I suppose.

Dwaine Darrah

McLean Campus Pastor