Make a Difference in The World, Lead Now

hey everyone, last year we had the privilege to host a fantastic leadership event at Northpark called Lead Now. We hosted our first ever young adults conference completely on our own and many of us were blessed and encouraged, a group even came from as far away as Bakersfield.

This year however, we are going far beyond last year’s humble beginnings…partnering with three other churches, we are hosting this year’s event at The Bridge EV Free church.

I hope you will all consider attending, this is a one day conference that will help equip you with skills and strategies to reach and transform youth and culture today. But even more importantly, this day is an opportunity to allow God to transform your heart.

Sign up in the courtyard during the next two weeks, tickets are only $10 and that includes lunch. if you’d like to volunteer, the event is free. Talk to Raul or Dani this coming Sunday for more information.

Stand Up!

A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR BOB

PRAY – CARE – SHARE

We recently finished a series entitled, “Doing What Jesus Said To Do”. It was based on Matthew 22:34-40 (NLT):

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again.
35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question:
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

I challenged each one of us to begin to pray for, care for and share with our neighbors [our "near-ones"]. Well over 200 of us said “yes” to that challenge! And we are not alone! Churches and Christians throughout our community are beginning to embrace the exact same challenge that you did.

It is crucial that we now…

Begin to do what Jesus told us to do and what many of us have already committed to do:
PRAY for your neighbors; beginning with those living under the same roof, those living on your street, your co-workers and classmates,
Show them you CARE by taking the time to stop and talk with them, and when you become aware of any needs do what you can to help,
As God’s intervention is activated thru prayer and His love is made evident thru our caring, we will eventually be given the opportunity to SHARE our faith – that’s exactly what our neighbors need to hear; DO IT!

Check out the map in the lobby. Every dot represents a Northparker who has promised to do what Jesus told us to do by praying, caring and sharing on their street. If you have not already committed to doing so you can join us.

Take one of the brochures, entitled “Loving Our Neighbors” and a commitment form from the lobby, fill out the commitment card, drop it in the communication envelope box, and start doing it.

Also if you have a testimony regarding the opportunities God has given you, please email me at bob@northparkchurch.org and let me know about it. We are already beginning to hear some pretty remarkable stories! Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing them with you soon.

Bob Willis

Weekly Update Oct. 4th, The Five, The Way

Hey everyone, we have had a great month of September launching several new groups and seeing more people than ever attending our on campus ministry The Way.

Tonight at The Five, we will unveil a new look with our backdrops and stage set up, in addition to kicking off Missions Emphasis Month with our special guest Scott Wester from YUGO in Ensenada. Also I want to remind everyone that LEAD NOW on Nov. 7th is just around the corner!

Here are some videos  Owen Chappell has shot and edited for us from The Five. Owen has been so kind as to use his skills to help us in creating video content for the web and also has shot and edited a video for next week’s talk!

The Way, Psych 106

Hey everyone, today we meet for the first time in Psych 106 on campus at Fresno State. Hopefully we’ll see you there at 12:00 pm. Also I wanted to share this brilliant song that I will be playing for the group of students as we seek to answer the question, “Is Jesus The Only Way to Heaven?”

The 8 Bible Study tonight, New Videos, International Peace Day

Tonight, the 8 Bible Study rolls on. Co-led by Penny Murray and Rebekah Townsend, the Bible Study is open to women of all ages and meets from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Young Adults room 202/206.

Today, Sept. 21, is International Peace Day … I think it is unfortunate at times that we as Christians can sometimes leave the work towards peace (which the Bible commands) to humanitarian organizations, some of which are faith-based but many of which are driven by humanism. I don’t think that humanists should out-duel Believers on issues of Justice and Peace. At the same time, I think that we should work together with anyone that shares our goals, even if we don’t agree on everything.

Small Groups announced for Fall 2009

On the heels of a very special week for us at Northpark, we are pleased to bring you the complete list of young adults small group opportunities through the end of this calendar year.

On Monday this past week, men of all ages came to Men’s Fraternity, led by Jamal Jones and KMJ’s Paul Loeffler. Nearly 50 of us were there. The same night, Northpark’s first ever late Bible Study, The 8, debuted for women. 14 ladies of all ages attended. Additionally, The Way had 23 people and 14 attended The Group. Now, of course, numbers have very little to do with effectiveness at times, but I believe that these stats do demonstrate a real hunger for spiritual growth that we have not seen in the last several years until now.

If you are not currently in a small group or bible study, I highly encourage you to consider it. Contact info is available for all of our leaders and we are always ready to help out here in the office.

Have a great weekend and God bless.

Ryan.

Photos From The Way

We had 22 people this past Wednesday at our lunch time Bible Study at Fresno State, this week we’ll be in front of the science building again at 12′oclock sharp. Hope to see you there. Bring a friend because we are bringing more pizza.

The Way

Every wednesday i get free pizza for lunch. I get to spend time with friends. I get to hang out at fresno state and talk about Jesus. I dont go to fresno state, but im there every wednesday. Why? The Way Bible study. This week we talked about what the core beliefs of our faith as christians are. What do you absolutely have to believe to be a christian? This isnt exactly as easy a question to answer as you might think. We didnt even fully come up with an answer in the 45 minutes we were together but i know that this question definitely got the gears in all our heads in motion to figure it out. We all pretty much agreed you have to believe in God, and some sort of atonement for our sins. Because the fact is, as Miles said “I’m not ok, and neither are you.”
We have a whole lot of really awesome topics lined up for this semester, a lot of which are pretty hard topics that i know will stir up some good conversation. So come join us at 12 pm at fresno state, eat some pizza and be apart of The Way.

-Danielle Minassian

Weekly Update Sept. 6th, Happy Labor Day

Hey everyone, it may be hard to believe with the smoggy miserableness outside right now but Fall is on the way and along with cooler temperatures come a variety of new things at Northpark.

Though it’s a long holiday weekend, we will be in full swing on Sunday as Bob starts a new series. Sunday is also ICE coffee day and at The Five we will be doing several new songs and debuting a new video on prayer.

Mark your calendars now with these important dates:

Sept. 14th
Men’s Fraternity starts, 6:00 am MPR
Sept. 14th
Bible Study for young ladies over 18, 8:00 pm YA Room
Sept. 28th
Extreme Leadership with Rebekah Townsend
Nov. 7th
Lead Now conference for 20/30 something leaders

see you this weekend,

Ryan