I was studying this week and thinking through the beginnings of the early church in Acts 2 for a message on Christian community.  God really showed something awesome to me through my exploration of the Great Commission and the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the early church.  Today in the midst of our American church culture, thoughts and teachings with regard to the Holy Spirit tend only to be seen in charismatic circles where spiritual gifts especially speaking in tongues are noted as gifts of the Holy Spirit and being spirit-filled.  We, however, miss so much if we let only our charismatic brothers and sisters teach on the power of the Holy Spirit.  We have so minimized the Holy Spirit’s power and role in our lives as Christians that we have missed the driving force, passion, and energy behind our lives as believers.  Take for instance the Great Commission that Jesus gives His followers to go and make disciples of all nations.  This command comes with a clause that we so often miss.  It is the clause to wait until the Holy Spirit has come.  There are very profound implications from this clause.  The Great Commission is to be fulfilled not by our own strength, willpower, and passion but through the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us.  It is His power not ours.  It is His strength not ours.  It is His passion not ours.  It is His words not ours. It is His glory not ours.  Let us not neglect and avoid the power of the third person of the trinity to drive our mission and fill our lives.  The same Holy Spirit who took a bunch of uneducated, uncommitted fishermen and turned them into powerful and devoted proclaimers of the gospel lives inside of you.  Let us live lives fueled not by our own power and strength but by the Holy Spirit.

North Point Community Church’s ministry environments help them to effectively fulfill their mission as a church:

Our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by creating environments where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with insiders and influence with outsiders.

What I love about the mission and environments of North Point is that they are focused on both outreach and discipleship.  They are able to make church non-threatening and attractive in a way that unchurched people would feel comfortable and can meet Jesus.  They are also deep and focused on biblical community, accountability, and discipleship via small groups.  These intentional environments are the strategic tools that help to bring people from the foyer all the way to the kitchen table.

North Point Community Church’s middle school ministry is called Xtreme while the high school ministry is called Inside Out.  Both of these ministries are very similar in teaching principles and formats.  The major difference is the level at which the lessons are taught.  The messages and lessons are intended to be specifically for the middle school or high school.  These ministries seek to communicate the following 7 Checkpoints (which come out of an Andy Stanley book by that name):

1. Spiritual Disciplines- making your relationship with God and scripture an important part of your daily schedule
2. Authentic Faith- learning to trust and depend on God
3. Moral Boundaries- establishing limits on personal desires for the sake of your future potential
4. Wise Choices- understanding how to make decisions which are based on God’s perspective
5. Healthy Friendships- developing relationships which encourage positive lifestyle and spiritual growth
6. Others First- establishing a personal vision to make a difference in the lives of others
7. Ultimate Authority- choosing to respect and follow the leaders that God has put into your life

Kid Stuf is one of the most interesting children’s ministry concepts that I have ever seen.  It is a worship service for elementary children who have been through Up Street and their parents.  This is a high-energy, drama-driven service that seeks to entertain and connect to both children and parents.  Entertainment is part of the program, but it is not the only goal.  Kid Stuf was designed to make sure parents know what their kids are learning at church in order to discuss it with them when they get back home.  This allows parents to look for strategic teaching opportunities to connect what their children are learning at church with what goes on at home and in the children’s world.  Since Kid Stuf is an extension of the Up Street ministry environment, it does not have specific teaching points.  It does have some key priorities that I want to pass along:

• Family Centered- establish a consistent shared experience for parents and kids
• Kid Focused- target everyday issues in a kid’s life and world
• Virtue Driven- emphasize a specific virtue to help kids develop faith and character
• Creatively Wired- use innovative and creative tools to communicate a timeless message
• User Friendly- create a predictable and non-threatening place for families to bring friends
• Volunteer Fueled- develop a strategy to recruit and maintain volunteers

Today we will look at the second North Point Community Church ministry environment, Up Street.  Up Street ministers to elementary children through a Sunday morning program which includes large group environments, with a time of worship along with a teaching time, and small group environments, focused on discussion and activities.  Through both of these group environments, Up Street seeks to focus on three truths:

• I need to make wise choices.
• I can trust God no matter what.
• I should treat others the way that I would want to be treated.

One thing that really impressed me about all of North Point Community Church’s ministry environments is that each environment had several teaching points which would be driven home with the children and students over the course of their time within that environment.  The environment that I am going to start with is the birth to preschool ministry environment called Waumba Land.  The name comes from the Swahilian word “Waumba” which means creator.  So the environment name is “Land of the Creator.”  While in Waumba Land, the kids are focusing on the following teaching points:

• God made me.
• God loves me.
• Jesus wants to be my friend forever.

I have several friends who have recently had children and posted proud parent posts with pictures on their blogs.  Well since I am not married and the proud parent thing is a ways away, I figured I would make a proud purchaser post.  I finally broke down and bought a MacBook last night.  I had been wanting one ever since I started working at Student Life where I got to use one every day.  For some cool yet strange reason, Macs tend to have a cult-like following around the office.  Then my best friend, Josh, decided to go out and buy one which only increased my desire to get one.  Plus with all of the Awestruck Ministry websites going Mac, I felt like I needed to get into the game.  The thing that was holding me back was that I had a three year old HP laptop that had been my faithful friend for years.  It was “reliable,” and I had no legitimate reason to replace it.  But then Saturday, good “ole faithful HP” decided to have a black out.  So after a week of debating whether replacing the laptop entirely was a good decision, I decided to jump in and go for the much awaited and anticipated Mac.  So, I wanted to introduce you to my new addition.

Last Sunday, I was in Atlanta for the Passion Conference and decided to stay over Saturday night and go to North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia where Andy Stanley is pastor.  While at North Point, I went on their tour of the ministry environments that they have from birth through high school.  I really enjoyed the trip and learned a lot from the tour so I figured that I would pass the information along over the next few days. 

I have had the opportunity to come in as a visitor to several large churches and of those churches North Point is for sure the largest.  I was really impressed with the general hospitality and friendliness of the volunteers.  I was quickly directed to guest parking and was greeted enthusiastically at the door.  The volunteers were very helpful and focused on making sure I had everything I needed. 

One neat and innovative thing that North Point seeks to do for first time visitors is that they have a form on their website where people can sign up and let the volunteer team know that they will be coming.  This then allows the church to be intentional about placing a volunteer with the visiting family to show them around the campus.  Visitors are also given reserved seats in the worship service which is a blessing considering North Point runs approximately 20,000 people through Sunday morning services on their three Atlanta campuses. 

This hospitality and service to people who are not members of the church or who do not know Jesus Christ and are just coming to check it out helps to form the foyer experience of the North Point ministry philosophy.  This allows people to feel comfortable in a new environment that they may be apprehensious about.  I was really impressed with the friendliness and welcoming spirit of the North Point volunteers to make sure people feel comfortable and are open to experience God and possibly coming back to church again!

Tonight Passion Atlanta finished with a session almost entirely focused on worship and anticipation for the Passion World Tour.  It is encouraging to see Passion seeking to take the Gospel to the nations.  I feel like they are in touch with God’s global mission.  I am greatly encouraged by this weekend and look forward to coming back to a Passion event again sometime soon.

I just left the third session of the Passion Atlanta Regional.  In this session, the David Crowder Band led worship and Louie Giglio spoke.  Louie’s message centered around focusing on the cross in the midst of trials and tribulations.  The part of the message that impacted me were some of the things that Louie outlined that we can hear from the cross of Christ with regard to our trials:

• “God loves you.”
• “God allows freedom but maintains control.”
• “God can take the worst and use it for God.”
• “God paints on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand.”

If you find yourself in the mist of trials and the unknown, I hope that these truths are an encouragement to you.  They were definitely an encouragement to me.  More coming after session 4.