Easter Eggstravaganza

We just received our Easter Eggstravaganza promo piece from our very own Henry Monge.

Here it is:

Point Offices Closed

Due to the continued pounding of snow we are getting on Long Island we have chosen to close the Point Offices today.  Please be safe as you go about your routines today.

If you have a need please email todd@pointchurch.tv and I will contact you as soon as possible.  I will be working from home today.

Have a GREAT day!

**Launch** Preview Graphic

Here’s our next graphic for our March Missions series.

Launch into Missions on March 10.

"Scratch" – can't escape the itch exerpt

As I was growing up I found myself always in church.  I remember spending all day in church and yes, even all night at prayer meetings.  I found myself growing up in church and believing the message of Christ, but I was turned off by most of the churches that our family attended.  Let me tell you we attended a ton of churches and tried every denomination possible.  It was almost like Baskin Robbins for Christians – and we tried almost all 31 flavors.  My mother loved almost every church we attended.  99% of the churches we attended I was bored and turned off.

I had no problem with Christ.  I had no problem with understanding the message of Christ’s love.  However, after several years of being dragged to church I no longer connected with the services or events.  I bailed on my relationship with God at age 13.  A year or two later I found myself attending an Assembly of God Youth Ministry in Buffalo, NY.  Something happened!  I began to feel this itch.  My youth pastor, John Sotero, was different.  Something about him attracted me to the Christ he served.  He was believable.  He cared about me.  His itch to serve Christ affected me.  To this day I still remember receiving a letter from Pastor John that he wrote one day after we worked out together (Thanks, PJ for being a spiritual father to me when I needed it most).

New Normal

What is normal?  I have asked that question time and again.  You can use the law of averages to guestimate normalcy, but often normal is not as easy to identify.  Normal is different to each person.  What may be normal to you may not be normal to me and vice versa.  Normal is a best guess!

Being sick over the last few weeks has helped me develop this concept called NEW NORMAL.  It is about adjusting to your situations and context.  My normalcy over the last few weeks is big time different than the normal for the last few years.  So I am learning to live physically in this new normal.

But I also experience new normals spiritually.  My norm is not the same in the storm.  My spirituality increases almost like your testosterone during intensity.  You respond differently and aggressively.  My spiritual stamina has increased over the last few weeks.  I can’t go back because I have discovered a NEW NORM (and not the guys on Cheers).

Here’s my thought: Never settle for the norm spiritually.  Go after God aggressively.  Pursue Him with great passion.  Once you are stretched never go back.

Enjoy the journey of new normals.

"Radical Vision" Sunday

Don’t miss this Sunday @ The Point!  Not only will we celebrate our 2nd Birthday but it’s also vision Sunday.  We will be sharing a large part of our 2020 Vision for the next decade.  It is going to be one HUGE celebration of 24 months of miracles.

We believe in The Point, but more than that we believe in God.  This is His idea and we are trusting that God is going to explode The Point with health and growth in 2010.

Join us at Loews Raceway 10 – Theater 2 @ 10:30 am.  Don’t miss it!!!

Declaration of Allegiance

(from Rick Warren’s RADICALIS Conference)
So many of you asked for this from Sunday.  So I decided to post it.  Enjoy.

“Today I am stepping across the line. I’m tired of waffling, and I’m finished with wavering. I’ve made my choice; the verdict is in; and my decision is irrevocable.

I’m going God’s way. There is no turning back. I will live the rest of my life serving God’s purposes with God’s people on God’s planet for God’s glory. I will use my life to celebrate his presence, cultivate his character, participate in his family, demonstrate his love and communicate his Word.

Since my past has been forgiven, and I have a purpose for living and a home awaiting in heaven, I refuse to waste any more time or energy on shallow living, petty thinking, trivial talking, thoughtless doing, useless regretting, hurtful resenting, or faithless worrying. Instead I will magnify God, grow to maturity, serve in ministry, and fulfill my mission in the membership of his family.

Happy Birthday!

On February 17, 2008 a group of individuals launched The Point at Westbury.  It was a big dream.  A God dream.  Fast-forward two years and we never would have thought we would be where we are today!  Today’s our birthday and Sunday we celebrate.

Lessons Learned:

1.  No one can build a church.  That’s God’s job.  Our job is to be obedient to the plans of God.  Trust him.

2.  Church planting requires a team.  I could not imagine starting The Point with just me.  We have a great group of staff and volunteers.

3.  Church planting requires multiple partnerships.  The Point partnered with churches, organizations and individuals to raise the financial resources necessary to launch our church.  Prior to our launch we recruited a prayer team of 150.

4.  Prayer is non-negotiable.  There is no way around this.  You have to pray.  You have to teach your church to pray.  Side Note:  Show your church results of prayer – share testimonies.

5. Life & Ministry are experiments.  Enjoy the journey.  Not everything we do will succeed.  But enjoy what God is doing IN you.

6.  Trust God at all times.  There will be shortages in church planting – resources, personnel, volunteers, cash and space.  God owns it all.  He will provide for you!

7. Cast a big, large net.  Share the vision that God has planted in your life with everyone.  And I mean everyone.  Don’t just look at the next 6 months or 5 years.  Cast vision for the next 20 years.  People are attracted to vision.

Just some thoughts and ramblings from a church planting practitioner on our 2nd Birthday!

14

It was 14 days ago today that I had to call 911 for myself.  Now, I am still not myself but slowly progressing little by little.  Thank God.  Still no answers from the Dr’s. But I serve the Master Physician and I am trusting him each day to get me back to 100%.

On Sunday I spoke for about 10+ minutes.  Trying to get back in the swing of things, but man was I exhausted.  Its funny every morning I am tired, but in the afternoon I seem to get the craze of energy.

What am I learning?

1.  Sometimes healing is a process.  I must be patient and enjoy what God is doing IN me.

2.  Focus on what matters the most.  Every second we live should be used to demonstrate his love.  I can’t take any minute or moment for granted.

3.  Clarity of life mission and passion.  I feel like this has fine-tuned my perspective.  Busyness can cloud our judgement, but when you slow down you can hear.  No noise.  No distractions.  Simply Him.

4.  Many times sickness can be a spiritual thing.  Crazy, but true.  I believe that God has GREAT dreams for The Point and our enemy will not sit silently by as we advance the Kingdom of God.  He is always dreaming of ways to defeat us.

Can’t wait to be back at max health.  Got some God-ideas and dreams for life, family and ministry.

Easter EGG-stravaganza

It’s official.  Eisenhower Park approved us for our first ever EASTER EGG-STRAVAGANZA on Saturday, March 27th from 10:30 – 12:30 pm.  Our whole staff is totally amped for this community-wide outreach.  We will need YOUR help!!!

What is the Easter Egg-stravaganza?
It is an opportunity for The Point to demonstrate to Westbury and beyond the love of Christ by serving the young families.

What will take place at the Egg-stravaganza?
* Carnival
* Costume Characters
* Cotton Candy, Popcorn, etc
* MAJOR Easter Egg Hunt – thousands and thousands of eggs

Our goal is 250 children (not including parents).  This will be one of our largest outreaches of 2010.  Volunteer by emailing nick@pointchurch.tv.  We will need about 40 volunteers in order to safely operate this event.