NorthRidge Church & Christian Academy

May 2012 Volume 4, Issue 4

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

A Message From Pastor David

Page 2 (or click here)

Expressions of Worship
Page 4 (or click here)

From The Desk of Pastor Harold

Page 6 (or click here)

Youth Happenings
Page 9 (or click here)

NorthRidge Christian Academy News Page 10 (or click here)

Upcoming Events, Birthdays and Information Page 11 (or click here)

A Message From Pastor David

In November of 2011, we set forth a challenge to NorthRidge Church to prayerfully consider how we might do the impossible pay off a $674,000 debt. I am sure by now all have heard that on Easter Sunday, that debt was paid in full. The ability to accomplish such a task was solely because we, the body of Christ, accepted the challenge, gave sacrificially, and believed this was of the Lord. Now what? The Lords work is not complete, although we have a mortgage note that states Paid in Full. We must understand that giving to Gods work is an ongoing process that will continue until He returns. Many have spoken about our plans toward giving in terms of an investment with eternal rewards for both the giver and the beneficiaries of the gift. In regard to the giver, Jesus said: For the Son of Man is going to come in His Fathers glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what He has done (Matthew 16:27). There are also eternal benefits for the recipients of the gift. For example, when you give money to your church, and through the work of your church someone accepts Jesus Christ as personal saviour, then that individual will be in heaven for eternity. Although investing to provide for future family needs is something that God wants us to do (1 Timothy 5:8), giving to Gods work is even more important, as it stores up treasures in heaven. Jesus said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19, 20). It is easy to become focused on building your portfolio. However, these investments are temporary: For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. (1 Timothy 6:7). As God blesses your investments, avoid hoarding. Jesus warned, Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a mans life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). God instructs us to give him the first fruits. Proverbs 3:9 states, Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. When we make giving to Gods work a priority, God has promised that he will bless us financially. The Scripture gives us a term that becomes a benchmark to our giving the tithe, or ten percent. Remember, the tithe is the smallest percentage mentioned anywhere in scripture, and the emphasis in Gods Word is to give generously. (See Luke 6:38 and Matthew 13:4446). Scripture also gives instruction as to where we are to give the tithe, the local storehouse where we are fed spiritually; specifically your local church. Anything above the tithe becomes an offering and the Scripture then gives freedom for us to give to other faith based organizations with the offering above the tithe. (continued next page)

If you make giving to Gods work a priority, God has promised that He will entrust you with even more money (2 Corinthians 9:6). Why? So you can spend it on yourself or hoard it? No, Gods purpose for entrusting you with more money, is that you can give even more to his work! Now *God+ who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:1011, emphasis added) Jesus promised that if we sacrifice now, the return on our investment (as a result of giving to Gods work) will be a hundredfold in eternity! And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19: 29, emphasis added) Remember, there is absolutely no earthly investment that provides a hundredfold return and is guaranteed by God! What now? What are our dreams with the dollars once spent on building debt repayment? These dollars were in excess of budget dollars not part of our weekly offering. Provided these dollars continue to arrive the dreams are twofold. One is that we will invest a part of those dollars into local missions primarily dreaming and focusing on the rebirth of the Care Center (a ministry to assist needy families in our area both with immediate needs and ultimately with their need for Christ). Secondly, we plan to begin placing the other part of those funds into a Capital Improvement Fund to ensure that future needs within the facility will be taken care of without continually asking for more money. These large building needs are not budget items that are paid for through our weekly offering, but come in addition to those offerings. Presently, we need to replace the roof on the Preschool Building and our bids are coming in excess of $200,000. These are the kinds of needs that we must occasionally address, but it is much easier to address them from funds that are allocated already for such tasks than it is to continually ask. We move forward believing that our greatest goal is to reach Haines City with the gospel of Christ and God has provided us the great staff, facilities, etc. to assist us in accomplishing this goal. Lets all make sure we do our part obeying Gods instruction to give to His work and then investing our time to accomplish His work. I close with Pauls closing remarks to that great resurrection chapter; Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

-Pastor David

Expressions of Worship:
NorthRidge Church is holding Operation Inasmuch Day on June 16, 2012, from 8am to noon. Based on Jesus words in Matthew 25, Operation Inasmuch is an event designed to be a display of love for our community.
Operation Inasmuch began in Fayetteville, NC, in 1995 as a ministry of a local congregation with a desire to impact their community. Since 1995, it has grown to be a popular, interdenominational event held worldwide. It has also been adopted as a major community emphasis by about hundreds of churches in several states and has been conducted in other countries. Most recently, the greater Haines City area has been impacted by projects sponsored by the Heart of Florida Coalition of Christian Churches. This group began working with Operation Inasmuch in 2009 and saw great success in meeting both physical and spiritual needs of people in our community. Projects have ranged from car washes...to landscaping...to ministry at nursing homes...and much more. Last year, NorthRidge Church sent out over 80 delegates to participate in Operation Inasmuch through the coalition. This year, the coalition will still be hosting a larger event in the fall, but NorthRidge is also going to get involved in this work on June 16 as a congregation. We are still lining up projects as well as ideas, and we are striving to find a variety of family friendly activities that encourages the modeling of Christ-like service, regardless of a participants age or physical ability. To get involved in the NorthRidge Church Inasmuch Day on June 16, you may register online at any time or be on the lookout for registration forms in your bulletins in the coming weeks. It is free to register and participate, but donations are always welcome to help offset costs for supplies, etc... If you are interested in donating funds or items, please contact Pastor Terrill. As with anything, we need prayer support more than anything, and covet your diligent prayer. For more information on the NorthRidge Inasmuch Day, make sure you stay current with us on Facebook or by visiting our website.

TGs May Spotify Playlist: I decided to dig a bit deeper this month with my music selection. One of the things you may notice is the relative age of some of this music. I thought a coffee shop approach to music might be in order for a change. One of the things youll notice in most of the music posted in my May Spotify Playlist is that youve never heard it. I think one of the things I value the most in this music is the freshness of it...thinking about that first time you heard a particular song and the way it made you feel; the artist and the song was at their most vulnerable state. Happy listening!

Justin Cross Listening to Ghosts

John Mark McMillan The Medicine

Josh Garrels Love & War & The Sea In Between

From the Desk of Pastor Harold

May moves many of our seniors back to the north, but food, fun and fellowship is still marvelous for those of us who remain in sunny Florida all summer. Get on the phone, email, text, twitter or yell across the fence and tell someone about our monthly luncheon. Go see or call someone you have not seen in a while and bring them with you. Our Very own Cindy Beasley and Teri Schaffer are planning to be with us this month. Invite someone to come and enjoy our time together.

Senior Adults, Plan Now to Join Us for an October Cruise

For additional information email or call Pastor Harold hbutler@northridgehc.com 863-422-4488 ext. 2118

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 Home-bound Ministry. This is the current group of Homebound with addresses that are being ministered to at this time. If you know others that would benefit from this ministry, please contact Rowena Daley 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) 422-5204 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. Ms. Ruth Copeland Savannah Court. 301 Peninsular Drive. Haines City, FL 33844-5046 (863) 422-5204 Mr Russ Vincent @ home Ms. Dorothy Burgess @ home Ms. Regena Lyle Savannah Court. 301 Peninsular Drive. Haines City, FL 33844-5046 (863) 422-5204 Mr. George Price Spring Haven Retirement LLC. 1225 Havendale NW Apt. 154. Winter Haven, Fl. 33881 Joyce Dillon Spring Haven Retirement LLC. 1225 Havendale NW Apt. 163. Winter Haven, Fl. 33881 Home phone: 875-7070 Joyce Cell 419-6794

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All men all invited and encouraged to attend breakfast each Saturday morning at 7:00 Themes for each week: May 5th, Lord, Rescue Me! May 12th, Be Your Wifes Best Friend May 19st, Take Action! May 26th, When Life Knocks You down

Our devotional comes from Men of Integrity. If you would like a devotional booklet, please see Rick Johnson or Pastor Harold. You may also read online @ www.christianitytoday.com/moi

Youth Happenings
We are just over 2 months away from our summer camp. I cant begin to tell you how excited I am about this. We are taking 29 kids and 6 adults back to Ridgecrest. This is almost double the students that we took last year. If last year is any indication, we are going to see lives changed drastically this year. The week of June 18th we will be having our rent-a-kid. This will be an opportunity for you to get some work done that you need, and also help our students go to camp. After Mothers Day I will be posting a list of students and the types of work they can do. Each student or group of students will have an adult with them. This will go on the entire week. No job is too small. Also, please come visit our table in the foyer. We have a prayer board there that has pictures of some of the students going to camp and some information about them. Please pick up a card and commit to pray for that student. Our youth need our prayers, and these cards are a great way to put a face to the prayers. If any of you feel led to help support a child for camp, please feel free to contact the church office. As always, please continue to pray for our youth and youth workers. Thank you.

Stepping out in faith, -Derrick Whiteman

NorthRidge Christian Academy News

NCA is hosting a Basketball Camp for Academy students (boys and girls) in grades 4-10 on Tuesday, May 1st, Thursday, May 3rd and Friday, May 4th from 3:30-5:30 each day. Cost is $10. Camp will be run by Mr. Tom Grothouse.

NCA will be hosting the Aquafina Major League Baseball Pitch, Hit and Run competition on Friday, May 11th for Academy students ages 714. Birthdate of any participant must fall between July 18, 1997 through July 17, 2005.

Upcoming Events and Announcements

May Birthdays
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 1 WEDNESDAY 2 THURSDAY 3 FRIDAY SATURDAY

4 5 Mark DelMazo Bob Walker Landry Foote Lisa Grimo Aiden Forrester Beth Newberg Barbara Newberg
Eithne Shelton

6
Jason Bryan Brooke Dunnahoe Elizabeth Hileman Lauren Macumber Janice Merritt

8
Daniella Dorville

9 10 Rowena Daley

11

12
Junior Daley Dvontae Oliveira

13

14
Angela Allen Joanna Wilkinson

15

16 Randy Meigs

17

18 Cassia Price

19
Buren Cook Mariah Reeves Josiah Rowell Kristen Yurick

20

21 Roger Lumsden

22

23
Chereise Williams

24 Diane Hill

25 26 Carolyn Sheek Kari Francisco

27
Jimmy Reeves

28 Clay Snively

29
Elizabeth Appratto Jacob Bryan Harold Gould Christina Miner

30
Katie-Jane Shytle

31
Damaris DelMazo Marie Wiley Andrew Wooddell

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.