Parenthood Part 1

At Lakepointe Church, we are currently in a middle of our series on Parenthood. I truly believe that the front-line of spiritual warfare is taking place in the home. One of our desires at Lakepointe is to help families to be better equipped in this critical area. This week, I will be posting daily a collection of great verses about parenting in the homes. I hope these posts will be helpful.

Clearest Parenting Verses

Deuteronomy 4:9-10

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Proverbs 13:24

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

Proverbs 19:18

Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.

Proverbs 22:6

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:15

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Proverbs 23:13-14

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.

Proverbs 29:15

The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.

Proverbs 29:17

Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul.

Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Colossians 3:21

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Sunday Aftermath - Memorial Day Sunday - Outdoor Service and Cookout

One of the things to know about Michigan culture, especially in Macomb Township: most people have a cabin or a camper, and during the holidays and summer, everyone travels "up north" to their favorite spot. Instead of thinking "well, it's going to be a low-attended Sunday", about a month ago, our team came up with the idea to "counter" the low attendance by doing an outdoor service and cookout.

Immediately, we started to talk about it, we made flyers and doorhangers, and started to broadcast the special service. We wanted to leverage this service to the best we could. On Thursday night, we handed out 2,000 doorhangers/flyers. We facebooked about it. We contacted everybody either by phone or email.

Here are the highlights of the day:

• Approximately 120 people attended, which is one our highest attendance since Launch Sunday (300).

• Two decisions for Christ!

• Several 1st time guests - met two families that came because of the doorhangers! Thanks to those came out to help on Thursday night. It was absolutely worth it!

• The band did a great job!

• The weather was great - it was unusually warm. Everyone left with a farmer's tan!

• This was our first real test to see our people volunteer and go the extra, extra mile! Thanks to all those who help today! This is how the church should function: not the "pastor doing it all", but EVERYONE is doing something! Personally, this was the highlight of my day! This is what makes the church "unstoppable" - when everyone sees that it's not about them, but that it's everything about Him. We just serve and do our part.

• Oh, and I wore shorts! I'm pretty sure that some people were blinded by my white legs! Sorry about that. :)

• The post-service cookout was great! The grill masters and the "kitchen" ladies did a fantastic job!

• The set-up and tear-down team did an awesome job getting us ready for the service!

• We were able to get a pretty cool "bounce house" for the kids at no cost! Thanks to Kenny for hooking us up! The kids absolutely love it!

• "Rethinking Church, Rethinking Life" - glad that God gives me and our team an opportunity to start this new church in an area that needs it! We continue to pray that God will open more doors to reach more people for Him!

• We are planning to do another "outdoor service" this summer! Stay tuned for that info...

• I was just researching about riding on a Hot Air balloon. Sounds like fun. Cost about $200 per person. Ok, that's not happening anytime soon.

• Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to all who serve (or has served) in our armed forces - "All gave some, but some gave all."

Click HERE for more pictures from today.

Thanks to Lisa Bewley for the awesome photo ops!

First Baptism Service

Last :Sunday, we had nine adults who took the plunge at Lakepointe Church! Here's the video:

Sunday Aftermath

It has been almost 3 months since Lakepointe Church has launched. Since we've started, we have seen God works in the lives of those who have been attending. Yesterday was a great day to see how God is moving. Here are some highlights:

• Nine baptisms after the morning service! We had t-shirts made for each person that says "I Took the Plunge @ Lakepointe." The baptisms took place outside in an octagon-shaped feeding trough.

• We had two new decisions for Christ yesterday! That never gets old!!

• Great attendance - 109! Thankful for a strong attendance day in May (which is typically can be a very tough month).

• The band was kicking yesterday! Great job, team!

• We start our first semester of Life Groups this week! We have 4 different groups - Crazy Love (Sunday PM), New Believers (Tuesday), Destinations with Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Wednesday), Outflow (Thursday). Last night group had 15 in attendance - way to go, Crazy Love people!

Two Sundays from now, we are having an outdoor service/cookout on Memorial Day Sunday. We plan to blitz the surrounding neighborhoods and invite them to attend. Pray for us to leverage this service to reach more people in our community.

Lakepointe Church's First Membership/Partnership Class

Last night, we had our 1st membership class, Starting Pointe. We met at the Joe Dumar's Fieldhouse. This location has so many stuff - 2 hockey floors, 6-7 basketball courts, plus a huge inside area for adventure putt-putt, arcades, rock climbing walls, etc. So, when we arrived to Joe Dumar's, there were two hockey games going on, every basketball courts were being used, and the fun area was packed full of people!

We met in a restaurant's meeting room and was just big enough to hold 60 people who came! I'm amazed of the turnout! We ate first and then after dinner, we dismissed the 10-12 kids. Honestly, we didn't know what the kids were going to do. The original plan was to let the kids play in one of the enclosed basketball court, but when we got there, it was being used. So, Joe Dumar's hooks us up by letting the kids do all the fun stuff - for FREE! It also helps that one of our newest members of Lakepointe is the assistant manager.

Meanwhile, I spend time with about 50 adults for about 2 hours. I was a little blunt about church and about who we are and about what we EXPECT. I think many churches make the mistakes to not share expectation because they don't want to push people away - I believe those churches will pay later. Anyway, at the end of the night, this was our results:

• 48 new members!
• 7 decisions for baptism!

We will be doing our next Starting Pointe class on Sunday, June 6th. As of right now, we have about 20-25 interested in our next class that couldn't attend last night.

Sunday Aftermath

What another great day at Lakepointe yesterday! We continue to see new guests (average 15-20) every week since our launch and yesterday was no exception. The attendance was good and we continue to see lives being changed.

• Spoke on "Is there Hope when I feel like Quitting?" God continues to speak into people's lives in this series. Can't wait for the next two messages in the series.

• We announced the different Adult Life groups that begin on the week of May 16th. A good number of people have already registered.

• We had our first Starting Pointe class on Sunday night. We had 60 in attendance (include 12 children). About 48 people became the first members of Lakepointe Church! Also, we have 6 people who made decisions to get baptized on May 16th. More on this in another post this week.

• LP Kids continues to be tearing it up! I constantly hear good things about it through the parents. Way to go, Jared!

• Our worship band continues to improve over the past few weeks. We have made some new friends in our area that has some great talents. Also, last week we landed a permanent practice place for the band to practice every week. Thanks to Harvest Baptist Church! So proud of the work that Ben has been doing!

• Lakepointe Church is underway and just about in full force. We have a few things to implement, mainly LP Students. This will begin in May as well.

Looking forward to next Sunday! If you're in Macomb County in Detroit area, come visit us and see what it means to "Rethink Church, Rethink Life."

Easter Sunday Aftermath

Today was Lakepointe Church's 3rd weekly service and we celebrated the HOPE that is found in Jesus Christ! A few highlights from this morning:

• Saw 126 in attendance. This weekend is the beginning of spring break, so naturally some of our regulars attenders were out of town (approximately 20-25).

• Also had 20+ first-time guests!

• Lately, it seems that every week we have been having different technical issues. Today, everything works like it was supposed to do! BTW, the worship team did a great job!

• Our children's environments have been improving. Love what I'm seeing and hearing in LP Kids!

• Since our Launch Service on March 21st, there has been a great response to the call of salvation! This morning we saw 8 new believers in Christ!! All together in 3 Sundays, we have seen about 15 total decisions! THAT NEVER GETS OLD!

• Started a new series this morning: "Is There Any Hope for Me?" The topic this morning was: "Is there Hope for My Broken Heart?" Below is the testimony video that I used in the message.

Can't wait to see what God does next week! Thanks to all of our volunteers and ministry team leaders! The sky is the limit; let's go high for God!