Discover New Hope Fellowship

Proverbs 16:3 states, “Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed.” What a great verse for Labor Day. The holiday was first established to allow for a celebration of work and labor forces. Most Americans view this day as the official last summer vacation day. The Bible uses the word “commit.” Are you ready for a great fall season? Are you ready to “commit?” I think Labor Day is a great day to make a commitment to God and to His church. After a hot summer, I think it’s time for us to commit or re-commit to God’s work at hand. Happy Labor Day!

I’d like to do some remembering if you don’t mind. I remember our first church-wide fellowship as we met on that first Sunday at Tyson Park and discussed what we wanted our church to be. I remember the first year we started we received a love offering to help pay off a sister church’s debt. I remember the move to the RAC and the remodeling job we had to do. I remember Gary Burney filling the pulpit one or two times a month for me as I traveled while consulting and trying to make a living. I remember coming on full-time in 1997. I remember Bill Moeller Sr. standing and giving testimony to a church of love. I remember the tragedy when Doug and Beth Fisher lost their only son and the church’s response to their time of need.

I remember mission work and sending groups to Denver, Springfield, Nixa, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, Mexico, Turkey, and Western Peru. With joy I pray for our current mission sites of Montana; Rio Bravo, Mexico; Iquitos, Peru; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

I remember all of the Bodybuilders whether we were bowling, golfing, renting a Racquet Club, or simply having a picnic. I remember our church instituting “Trunk or Treat” and “The Great Giveaway” in Northwest Arkansas.

I remember the friendship and partnership of the Hancock family as our first music and youth ministers. I remember when we started New Hope North, which eventually became Northwest Arkansas Family Church, and sent many of our friends to help with that work.

I remember God’s abundant grace poured out on His people in this fellowship. The Apostle Paul stated it best in Ephesians 3 verse 20; “God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

Happy 15th Anniversary New Hope!

On the last Sunday in June, Josh Jenkins resigned from the staff of our church announcing that he would enter Regent Law School in Virginia Beach, VA. on August 1^st.

Josh has served faithfully at New Hope for 15 years. During the early years of the church, when Josh was in high school, he loaded up all the sound equipment in his 1990 Ford Thunderbird at 6:00am and then set it all up at the Holiday Inn. As the church grew, he bought a small pick-up truck and loaded it every Sunday. Expansion then required his truck pulling a trailer each Sunday. Soon after, the church secured two Step Vans and Josh drove one of them each Sunday morning. In the late 90′s Josh became the Jr. High Student Pastor and took full reign of the Student program in 2004. Through the years he has set up and taken down our worship center every Sunday morning…that’s about 750 Sundays. Josh has led our students to be on mission as they have served in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, New Mexico, Louisiana, Tennessee, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, California, and many other places.

We are now receiving a “Love Offering” for Josh as he goes off to Law School. Let’s all be generous and show our love for Josh and all that God has accomplished through him at New Hope. There will be a reception honoring Josh on Sunday evening July 18^th at 6:00pm at the Recreation/Activity Center located at Century and Kelly Streets in Springdale. We hope you will make plans to be there.

It ought to be against the law…but we think of it as a blessing!

Building My Faith

We just completed a preaching series entitled “Ordinary Lives of Extraordinary Faith.” The question arises, “How do I build my faith?” I believe the best way to build your faith is to get to know the Lord better. This means that we should all be in His Word on a daily basis so He can speak to us. It also means that we should make it a daily practice to pray daily so we might present our petitions to Him. The more you get to know God, the more you learn to trust Him in every segment of your life. Building your faith is simply learning to trust the Lord in every situation. How well do you know Him? Are you getting to know Him better every day? Are you building an extraordinary faith?

Building His Kingdom

New Day Ministries in Montana is alive and well under the direction of our Mission Evangelists Alan and Sarah Damron. The Damrons have restarted one church and have started another in a town 15 miles away. God is at work in the Western Valley of Montana.

New Hope Amazon Ministries continues to reach out and move forward. Our Mission Evangelist Brandon Carroll has been instrumental in starting a house church in Iquitos and continues to lead his staff to reach out to the surrounding villages on the Amazon River.

Jehovah Jireh Baptist Church, our Hispanic Mission, has started meeting on Sunday mornings at the RAC. Pastor Avelino Berroa is working very hard and building a local church designed for our hispanic brothers.

We are sending a group of our young people and their sponsors to Guatemala once again this year. God is doing a work in the ministry of CASA as they raise and train children in a Christian environment. There are many churches working to support this vital mission and we are honored to be among the churches involved.

For the past two years we have sent a group to Reynosa, Mexico during the Christmas holidays. These voluteers have made a significant impact in the lives of the people living near the border.

I want to ask you to consider your place in our mission trips and plans for this year.

Building His Church

Great days lie ahead at New Hope Fellowship. Our 15th Anniversary celebration is planned for the weekend of August 14-15. Our Youth Group will be serving in Montana, Guatemala, and Oklahoma City. VBS will be wonderful this year. Rodeo Round-up Sunday is upon us. We hope to double the number of Lifebuilder groups for the fall. Our building fund continues to grow positioning us to move forward toward our own “planting place.” We are seeing people saved and baptized. Fifty people have been discipled through our Tuesday night disciple’s class. Our crowd on Sunday mornings continue to grow. God is good!

Be a part of what God is doing at New Hope!

Children’s Day, Mother’s Day, Graduate’s Day, Memorial Day are all coming to help make the month of May a special one! May 2nd our Children’s Department will be singing and helping lead us in worship. We’ll recognize Mothers in attendance on the 9th and Graduates on the 23rd. Memorial Day has a way of introducing summer and all of the sunshine activities. You will not want to miss one single Sunday in May!

In a little over three months we will celebrate our church’s 15th Anniversary. I believe the weekend of August 14-15 will be one of the greatest weekends in the history of our church. We have heard from many friends from the past already and they are planning to be back with us during our celebration. Our committee is hard at work with plans for the big day. Be sure to mark your calendar as this is a “must be here” weekend.

I met this past week with Pastor Avelino Berroa who leads our Jehovah Jireh Baptist Mission Church. Pastor Avelino is excited about this new work. In January they began having morning worship services at our Recreation/Activity Center (RAC) and have grown to 20 people each week. Be in prayer for our Hispanic mission as they move forward in outreach this summer. They are planning a major work the end of May and the first of June. We are planning some joint ventures with them in the future.

Have you thought about serving in our preschool or children’s areas on Sunday mornings? We need you to help teach and lead our children. Give us a call at the church office and join our teaching team.

This Sunday we begin a new series called “Ordinary Lives of Extraordinary Faith.” The next four weeks we will be covering some our our favorite Bible characters and discovering truth about their faith. The series will be as follows:

April 11  -  Samson: Faith that Glorifies God
April 18  -  David: Faith Greater than My Fear
April 25  -  Elijah: Faith for the Impossible
May 2    -  Daniel: Faith in Crisis

These are the most exciting days in the history of New Hope Fellowship. Last year we trusted God and experienced a 13% growth rate in attendance and giving. This year we are working toward purchasing property and starting a Day Center for the Homeless of Northwest Arkansas. In addition, we have a committee working on preparations for our 15th Anniversary Celebration to be held on the weekend of August 14-15, 2010. Soon you will receive a reminder in the mail to put on your refrigerator to keep the date in mind. We sincerely hope you will mark your calendar now for August 14-15 and be there for the fun activities we will enjoy that weekend.

Let me talk a bit about the Day Center for the Homeless. On February 15th we held our first informational meeting concerning the Day Center and had 42 individuals attend. It was a great first step. Step two came when we selected a steering committee to research and make recommendations toward opening the Day Center. Our committee is now meeting and they have started their work. If you attended our February 15th meeting (or if you didn’t attend but have a passion for this ministry) we want you to be involved in this process. In days to come the committee will form ministry teams for Day Center related tasks. We will be calling you to ask you to serve on these ministry teams. We still need your help and expertise on this project. If you have a passion for this work and you have not let us know, please contact us today to volunteer your time to help. You may call the church office at 750-HOPE.

Our Pastor’s Advisory Council members are looking at the possibilities of various locations for property acquisition. They will soon be joined by our Pastor’s Advisory Board to discuss these matters and begin to move on some very important decisions. Please pray for this group as they lead us toward purchasing our own property. We are thankful for those of you who have joined us in “Our Planting Place” fund-raising for the new property. We are still praying for 100% involvement in our fund-raising efforts. You may join “Our Planting Place” by signing a Commitment Card at the table in the rear of the auditorium this Sunday.

Lastly, it is an honor being the Pastor of such great people. I do not take the task lightly. Together, in His steps, we can accomplish so much more for the Lord. Thank you for your faithfulness to Him and to His church.

The Best is Yet!

You will not want to miss this Sunday as we begin a new sermon series titled, 24.  Over the next 4 weeks we will be studying Jesus’ last 24 hours before His crucifixion.  Each of these lessons will help us see His sacrificial death more clearly. These 24 hours begin in an upper room and end in a borrowed tomb. Make plans to be with us for each of these messages.

March 14 – From the Upper Room – Arrest
March 21 – The Trials
March 28 – The Cross to the Tomb
April 4 – The Resurrection

This Sunday, March 7th, is our “Missions Sunday.” For years now we have celebrated “Mission Month” in March. During that month we celebrated the mission work of our church and received an offering that helped serve that work around the world. As you have realized, mission work has become an every Sunday thing here at New Hope. We send groups in the summer to Guatemala, Peru, and Montana. In the winter we send a large group to Mexico. Our youth travel on mission trips each summer. Our Women of Hope work in Northwest Arkansas feeding the homeless and helping the hopeless. We participate in the largest mission organization in the world through the SBC Cooperative Program. We have Summer Mission Wrap-Up Sunday in August to review our work. Soon we will open a Day Center for the Homeless. Our year is now filled with mission opportunities locally, nationally, and globally. All of that, coupled with our tremendous need in giving toward “Our Planting Place” building fund, led us to the decision to go to “Mission Week” in March instead of the usual “Mission Month.” We ask that you use this week to pray for missions and give to missions. Our envelopes have a designated place for you to indicate your mission offering. One hundred percent of what we receive in our mission offering goes directly to missions. Give this Sunday!

Soon you will be seeing a renewed emphasis and programming in the area of prayer. We must continue to seek the wisdom of God as we move forward as a church making disciples. I hope you are praying daily for your Pastor, your Staff, and your Church. Also I would like to ask each of you to pray for our Pastor’s Advisory Council, Pastor’s Advisory Board, Day Center for the Homeless committee, and our 15th Anniversary committee. As I look at what lies ahead in days to come I must remember, “God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” (Eph. 3:20)  Pray!

January was a whirlwind of excitement. We announced plans to purchase property, unveiled a new fund-raising plan for the property, and presented the vision for a Day Center for the Homeless in Springdale. Let me outline each of these three items:

1. Purchase Property
We plan to purchase property on which to house our church for years to come. The property will be purchased during 2010 and the building will follow.

2. Fund-raising Plan
We are calling the plan “Our Planting Place” based on Ezekiel 34:29. We believe this plan will help enable us to purchase property that God will use to plant ministries for years to come. We are asking everyone to complete a commitment card and join the effort. We are not asking for equal gifts but for equal sacrifice. If you have not completed a commitment card, please do so this Sunday and return it in one of the receptacles located at each exit door. Together, with the guidance of God, we can see this vision become a reality.

3. Day Center for the Homeless
We have rescheduled our informational meeting for February 15th at 6:30 PM at the RAC. We will use this meeting to lay out the vision, note interest, and develop a steering committee to help develop this vital ministry. We see the Day Center located in a place close to downtown and on a public transportation route. We will make it a priority to raise funds for the Center outside of the church membership.

These are some of the most exciting days of ministry in our short 14 year history. God continues to bless as we are growing numerically, financially, and spiritually. I hope you are positioning yourself to be in the middle of all God has for us in the days ahead.