NorthRidge Church & Christian Academy

May 2013 Volume 5 Issue 1

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Our News Reaching You; Reaching Out to You In This Issue

A Message From Pastor David

I encourage you to find a Bible or click the link and read Acts 17:16-32. On the surface, Paul's experience in Athens stands out as one of his less successful preaching efforts. For example, you won't find a Letter to the Athenians in the New Testament. That suggests he wasn't able to start a congregation there. From all appearances, he stayed in Athens a short time and never came back. That's not to say he failed. What he did was to plant seeds of faith that took root and grew after he was gone. Luke puts it this way: "Now when they (the Stoic philosophers) heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, 'We want to hear you again concerning this.' Thus Paul went out from among them. But certain men joined with him, and believed" (Acts 17:32-34) The Areopagus was where the philosophers of the day met to debate the weightier issues of philosophy, science, politics and religion. Some even lived on the hillside. It had been home to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others. It's where the dream of a democratic republic was first born. It's also the place where the Christian movement took a giant leap forward. There's a historical marker at the summit that reads in part: " The Areopagus is also associated with the spread of Christianity into Greece. Sometime near the middle of the First Century, the Apostle Paul is said to have converted a number of Athenians by teaching the tenets of the new religion from the summit of the hill. Among the converts was Dionysius the Areopagite, the patron saint of the city of Athens, who, according to tradition, was the city's first bishop " Luke also mentions "a woman named Damaris, and others with them." (Acts 17:34). What this says to me are two things: One, you never know who's listening and how what you say is going to affect and influence others. Paul may not have persuaded the Stoic philosophers to accept Jesus as the Christ, but his message hit home with Dionysius and Damaris and, in time, that made all the difference in claiming this corner of the world for Christ and his kingdom. It also says to me that, in order to win the world to Christ, we have to venture out from our comfort zones. Paul's normal routine was to go to the local synagogue and try to convince faithful Jews that Jesus was their Promised Messiah. He did that in Athens, but, in this case, he did more. He went up to the Areopagus and proclaimed the gospel to a largely hostile audience. And this is what we have been called to center on this year. How is God calling us to take the gospel to the streets, to go where the people are, to listen to their concerns and share with them what we've seen and heard and experienced of God's grace and love. What would it take? What do we have to lose? What do we stand to gain?

Here's the problem: As long as we expect people to come to us, we'll always fall short in reaching them for the kingdom of God. Only as we venture out and bridge the gap between us and them whoever them may be will we make new disciples and grow the kingdom in this time and this place. I picked up an article off the Internet this week entitled, From Synagogues and Sanctuaries to Bars and Boardrooms: The Apostle Paul at the Areopagus, by Dan Clendenin. Here's one excerpt: At our worst, we Christians have isolated and insulated ourselves from our culture's mainstreams. We (tend to) be inward-looking, self-absorbed, self-important, and cloistered, instead of engaging people at our modern day Mars Hills. (For example,) a pastor told me that at his annual denominational meeting the delegates were, in all honesty, merely talking to themselves." I wonder, could our weekend services be providing a similar task merely preaching to themselves/ ourselves. We must get out among the people we must get to the Areopagus of our day we must get to where people live and do life. We have a message of deliverance that will never be heard as long as we are talking to ourselves. I really hadnt put the 70s music of the Doobie Brothers, Takin it to the Streets, to our focus this year until recently. The lyrics of Michael McDonald are a bit crude, but speak to our plight. The first verse reads this way . . . You dont know me but Im your brother I was raised here in this living hell You dont know my kind in your world Fairly soon the time will tell You, telling me the things youre gonna do for me I aint blind and I dont like what I think I see Takin it to the streets The reason we dont know my kind in your world is because they dont mingle where we worship and we dont worship where they mingle. Maybe that is why the church is not gaining ground in reaching a dying world. If we were a bit more intentional in meeting them where they lived we might be surprised at how our message of deliverance might find traction in their broken lives. In a few weeks we are going to formalize an impact team that will take on the task of keeping us intentional in impacting our community. We all will be involved in various activities this team will organize; some of you may desire to be a part of the praying, dreaming, and organizing of such team. Pray about how you will be involved in transforming our community.

Expressions of Worship:

When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. -Luke 12:48 A few weeks ago, my wife and I began a little home improvement project. Somewhere in the process, I realized that I needed to purchase a new tape measure since the one I had included both standard and metric numbers. I had a great fear in using this particular tape measure since there was the potential for miscommunication and inaccurate cuts of some semi-moderately priced floor tiles. I went ahead with the purchase of not one, but two identical (standard) tape measures so this would be less likely and the chance of us getting things right would be in our favor. I tell you this because I know our communication tendencies. Even though we both communicate a lot in our respective circles, we do it in different ways. While I believe that much can be said in an email or a text, my wife likes actual face-to-face conversations. I like everything short, sweet, and to-the-point whereas she prefers a more relational approachI like to give specific numbers for a tape measure and she prefers counting hashy marks. My fear is that in this relationship, much like the ones you have, there is a great chance that our communication preferences limit our ability to convey what we actually mean; and most of the time we do not account for it. It is during those times, that our miscommunication affects our relationships and our responses contain the potential for harm. When we struggle in communication, other things begin to fall apart. Maybe our finances suffer because someone failed to share information concerning a purchase or our family life deteriorates because of a missed event; it is possible that our friendships become strained because certain expectations were not accurately stated. It really becomes our role, then, to not only understand these peculiarities, but to make efforts to compensate for this difference. If we are counting on others to rise to our levels of expectancies, we will oftentimes be disappointed; but if we work together to improve our communication skills (with those both at work and at home) our relationships can improve. In reality, excellent communication should not be exclusive to our places of work; it must continue on into our personal lives. The truth is, our personal relationships should merit even more attention in this matter than anything in our professional lives. It was Zig Ziglar who said that people who have good relationships at home (aka, personal lives) are more effective in their place of work. I trust that ours might begin with this most basic of disciplines. By the way, the new tape measures did not miraculously bring about total accord in our marriage or perfectly cohesive communication. However, they did prove to be a step in the right direction.

-Terrill

From the Desk of Pastor Harold

Home-bound Ministry
Thanks for all who give their time and resources to this ministry. If you are considering where you might serve, please pray about getting involved with the Homebound Ministry. This is the current group of Home-bound with addresses that are being ministered to at this time. If you know of others that would benefit from this ministry, please contact Rowena Daley or call the church office @ (863) 422-4488 Ms. Irma Swain Spring Haven Retirement LLC 1225 Havendale NW Winter Haven, Florida 33881 (863)-293-0072 Ms. Lucille Tiner Savannah Court assisted living. 301 Peninsular Drive Haines City, FL 33844-5046 (863) 4225204 Ms. Vera Cook Brandywyne Health Care Center 1801 Lake Mariam Drive Winter Haven, FL 33884 (863) 293-1989 Not home bound, but limited in some way and could use a word or two of encouragement with a visit, call or card. Mr Russ Vincent @ home Ms. Dorothy Burgess @ home Ms. Regena Lyle Savannah Court 301 Peninsular Drive #7 Haines City, FL 33844. Phone 863-422-4157.
Frances Bradbury

Mr. George Price Spring Haven Retirement LLC 1225 Havendale NW Apt. 511 Winter Haven, Fl. 33881

Savannah Court 301 Peninsular Drive #8 Haines City, FL 33844. Phone 863-422-4157.

Senior Adult Day Trip

To Campus Crusade for Christ to tour the Jesus Film Project and more;
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Leave the church at 9:00 Eat lunch at Golden Corral We should be back to the church by 4:00 See the BEASLEYS for more info. or to sign up.

What a great time we had last month as we joined several thousand Christians in Orlando to celebrate and praise God for providing over 100 million shoe box gifts through Operation Christmas Child since 1993. If you have not joined the seniors on these short trips, you are missing a great opportunity to get out and fellowship. Plan on joining us on May 14th for the trip to Campus Crusade for Christ. See above.

There is Still Time to Register

2013 Cruise on Freedom of the Seas 7 day Royal Caribbean Cruise, leaving September 29, 2013 The newly enhanced Freedom of the Seas is a marvel of maritime engineering, packed with awesome innovations to stir your imagination. Share a high five with Shrek as part of The DreamWorks Experience. Catch a first-run movie in the 3D theater or poolside under the stars on the outdoor movie screen. Infuse color into your cruise with the artworks of the BRITTO Gallery or with the frosted confections of the Cupcake Cupboard. Plus, enjoy all the revolutionary features Freedom of the Seas has always been known for FlowRider surf simulator, rock climbing wall, ice-skating rink, Royal Promenade, cantilevered whirlpools, mini golf course, H2O Zone water park, and much more. Ports of Call: Port Canaveral, Florida; Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; Port Canaveral, Florida Please see Pastor Harold or Sharon ODonnell. To register please call (800) 859-7225 ask to speak with Lewis @ ext. 13168 Tell him you would like to have early dining with reservation 8211905. This is Pastor Harold and Gina's reservation number.

Academy News
There is still time to give. God is providing and we are moving forward with providing Mimio, an interactive whiteboard system in every classroom at NorthRidge Christian Academy. If you have not contributed, please consider how you can help impact the life of our children. If you write a check, please write Mimio in the memo line and the finance office will know what to do with it. We have approximately $25,000 pledged to date. Our goal is $40,000. This will allow us to place interactive whiteboards with a new laptop in every classroom of the Academy. The walk-a-thon is scheduled for May 3rd. Our students are excited and working hard to make this years walk successful. All money raised in the walk will go toward the Mimio project. On Friday May 3RD, @ 1:00, in the church sanctuary, CHRISTIAN ILLUSIONIST DON SPIVEY WILL BE ENTERTAINING AND SHARING THE GOSPEL WITH US IN A UNIQUE WAY. EVERYONE IS INVITED TO ATTEND. INVITE SOMEONE TO COME WITH YOU. If you know any Home School families, please invite them to be here.

We are planning for next year and enrollment is in full swing. If you know families who may be looking for a school that is focused on providing a strong foundation for students to thrive spiritually, socially, and academically, invite them to come see us.

Youth Happenings
Greetings Church Family, This month, I am asking you all for prayer. We are taking our youth to North Greenville University for this years Centrifuge camp. We will be leaving June 9th late in the evening and returning on June 10th, again, late in the evening. I have a list of prayer requests that we as the Church can begin to pray over for the people going. 1) Pray for our leaders who are going to camp. While the messages are handled by camp staff, our students will be spending time with our leaders. Open the hearts of the leaders to be responsive to the need of the students. 2) Pray that God reveals to the students what they need to get out of this week. Camp is a fun time filled with games and activities, but a student can get that at any camp. The reason we go to this camp is for the spiritual backing that the students receive while they are having fun. 3) Pray for the parents of the students going to camp. When you spend a week with 1000 other teens who are excited about Christ, its easy to "be on fire" for God. When they get home, things will get rough, and the parents will have to pick up where camp left off. 4) Again, pray for our students. Every year, God does an amazing work on this youth group while we are at camp. The last two years, the prayer has been for God to change the hearts and lives of our students. Continue that prayer, but with one addition. Many of our students have continued all year what started at camp. Now we need to pray that what they receive at camp will be so filling that it spills out to their families, friends, and the entire community. Thank you for your prayers and support. Next month I will write the final list of who is going to camp so you can pray for each of us individually, and as a group. Please continue to pray for us in the weeks leading up to camp. We do still have 2 fundraisers going on before we leave. May 4th we are having a car wash at the Rent King in downtown Haines City from 9 AM-2 PM. We also have Rent-a-Kid going on until May 19th. If you have any work you need done, please contact the church office to set up a date and time. Thank you again for supporting our students! I can't wait to let you know what God has done in the lives of these students. Stepping out in Faith, Derrick Whiteman

Events and Announcements

Saturdays
At 7:00 am
A

new study will be starting soon: Learning to Follow Jesus See Dennis Graffious

May Birthdays
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY
1

THURSDAY
2

FRIDAY
3

SATURDAY
4 Beth Newberg Bob Walker

5 Mark Del Mazo Mary Harold Barbara Newberg

6 7 Elizabeth Hileman Janice Merritt Jason Bryan

8 Daniella Dorville William Snively

Rowena Daley

10 Veronica Nobles

11

12

13

Junior Daley

14 Joanna Wilkinson

15

16 Emily Gilians Randy Meigs

17 Kaeden Graham

18

Cassia Price

19 Mariah Reeves Kristen Yurick

20

21 Roger Lumsden

22 Malachi Fields

23 Chereise Williams

24 Diane Hill Dillon Rocker

25 Carolyn Sheek

26

27 Jimmy Reeves

28 Anthony Ellis Clay Snively

29 Jacob Bryan

30 31 Zachary Cantu Damaris DelMazo Katie-Jane Shytle Ana White Andrew Woodell

Wednesday services

Sunday services

5:45-6:45 -Prayer in Sanctuary 6:45-7:45 -Coffee and Bible study in Fellowship Hall

Sunday Morning Caf -8:45am Sunday School -9:20 Worship Service -10:30am (also Kids' Church K5-3rd)

Church Office
Hours-Monday -Thursday 8:00am-4:00pm. If you need to contact the Pastor On Call you can at any time by calling the Church Office 863-422-4488 and leaving a message in the On Call mailbox (ext. 2104) The Pastor that is on call for the week will return your call ASAP.