Make War, Locally

So far in the New Passion series, Make War, Nick has covered many stats globally. (poverty, clean water, sex slavery, education). These stats are staggering. While I think this information is extremely important I also think that we need to know what is going on in our back yard. Here are some stats on what is going on in Grovetown, where we live, where we serve, and the reason New Passion Church was planted.

- The average age of people living in Grovetown is: 28.3. (national average is: 35.3)

- Percentage of High School graduates in Grovetown: 75.1% (national average is: 80.4%)

- Percentage of Batchlor’s Degree or higher in Grovetown: 12.2% (national average is: 24.4%)

- Percentage of families living under the poverty level: 16.3% (national average is: 9.2%)

- Percentage of individuals living under the poverty level: 18.6% (national average is: 12.4%)

Basically being put along side the national averages Grovetown as a community is younger, less educated, and has almost double the percentage of families living below poverty levels. There is only one hope for our community, the local church. We at New Passion put missions and serving the needs of the poor second only to the Gospel. As Nick said in week one we are not cause centered but cross centered, meaning we do not do these things for God to save us but as an act of worship because we are already saved.

So in the next weeks and months a couple of things will be going on.

1. Hope Tree – As a congregation we will have the opportunity to give families a Christmas that would not be able to have on their own. So keep an eye out in the next few weeks for this campaign to kick off. New Passion responded greatly last year by sponsoring 4 complete families a Christmas. I know we can step that up this year.

2. 10:16 Project – New Passion has partnered with Columbia County Cares to provide elementary students in lower income families at Cedar Ridge lunches for Saturday and Sunday. 22 students that may be sitting next to your child in class live in a home where poverty and hunger are a reality. We believe that is unacceptable!! We have been involved in this for several months now but keep watch at the start of 2011 the process will be revamped to be able to better serve these children.

All this to say keep your eyes open for opportunities to change your community by leading people to a passionate relationship with Jesus. One meal, one conversation, or one helping hand could alter someone’s eternity. So stay alert!!

What are some things YOU are doing to better Grovetown?

Make War

The last two weeks at New Passion Church Nick has been preaching on what as Christians we need to stand up and fight for. Nick covered a ton information and gave us many disturbing stats. These numbers are extremely overwhelming and leave us with a feeling of helplessness. What I want to do as missions director at new passion is give us a practical ways to get involved to make war. Below I am listing a number of links of organizations that are doing a great job combatting injustices around the world.
If you’re like me and do not like to just write a check and say I did my part, so take a few minutes and look around these sites and see how you can best wage war.
Also new passion will be traveling to Honduras in July 2011. So if you want to jump on a plane and get your hands dirty in a tiny village and make a difference keep Dec 4th open at 4pm for an informational meeting. Email me for location and directions here

Read about and take advantage of an opportunity With Charm City Church at Nicks blog

A21 campaign

World Vision

Blood Water Mission

Compassion Int

Nashville Flood Relief

Taken from Nick Carnes Blog

Hey New Passion (and anyone else interested):

Nashville, Tennessee was devastated with massive flooding yesterday. Pete Wilson tweeted some of the bad news as he was hearing from his people and today reported on his blog that many people from his church, Cross Point Community Church, including their staff have either been displaced because they have lost their entire home or because their homes have been severly damaged. Many of these people do not have flood insurance.

Church, this is our family! We are going to do what we can to help! I know we are not a huge church, but I’ve seen our people show up big when other opportunities to live out our faith have come calling. We’ve set up a special website so you can get involved: http://flood.newpassionchurch.com

You can also follow @npmissions, @newpassion, @Billy_Wilson, or Me on Twitter or join our Facebook Page to stay up to date on the details of our involvement.

Go to the site, call, text, email your friends & family and get them involved. Do what you can, but please do something! Thank you!

Easter: Focus on Mission Table

Hey New Passion Church!! With our 52 Day Challenge coming to an end there is a ton of stuff going on this Easter Sunday at the focus on mission table.  First our ONE:27 project, we still have room for a couple more people to sign up to serve at The Golden Harvest Food Bank on Sat. the 10th at 9am – 12pm.  Second, if you love our coffee we serve in the morning, you can now fill out an order form and enjoy it at home!! We use Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee. At New Passion we believe that everything we do can be missional, including our coffee. 1000 Hills coffee is a ministry from Atlanta, GA that purchases all of their coffee beans directly from coffee growers in Rwanda.  In this ministry Rwanda’s workers are now paid a fair wage which has boosted their economy since the 1994 genocide.  OK this is a new opportunity being introduce Easter Sunday that we are really excited about .  New Passion is putting together care packages for local soldiers that are deployed in the Middle East.  This is an extremely simple way to get involved in telling our military that you appreciate all they are doing in defending our freedoms!!  Just stop at the table and grab a card with a soldiers name and items that would bring a little bit of home to them while away from family and friends.  If there are any questions feel free to shoot me an email, leave a comment, or see about any of these opportunities on Easter Sunday at New Passion Church.

Helpless

Well it’s one of those nights. I’m laying in bed and can’t shake the images of the destruction in that tiny poor country of Haiti. I have my parents visiting from NY this weekend so I can’t even jump on the computer to write this without waking someone. So here I lay typing this on my iPod in bed. In 2 weeks I was supposed to jump on a plane and head to Haiti but it was decided by me to put it off until the fall. Believing God is sovereign, there must be a reason for the change. Although I wish I stuck with the plans for Feb.
I now have this helpless feeling, having to totally rely on Christ to direct me to making the right decision on what is the best way to jump in and help. As for New Passion Church we already are finding ways to help out. Me, not being very important or having all the knowledge on how to pull any of it off I’m trying to gather information from different websites and other leaders from different churches. Pastor Nick Carnes has been putting together a plan for the church to get their hands dirty and help in anyway possible. For those that don’t see any of the behind the scenes, Nick has been on top of this situation from day one, his mind is much faster and more creative then I could hope to be. This being said everyone part of New Passion just know your leaders are working on getting aid to Haiti and finding a way to get on the ground there to serve the country of Haiti. Right now there is a site set up for the CSRA to stay informed and relief organizations you can get involved in. Caring For Haiti

Drink Coffee. Do Good.

As just a little background in history.  In Rwanda there are three ethnic tribes: Hutu, Tutsi and Twa.  For many years the Tutsi tribe was in power as a monarchy.  In 1957 the Hutu tribe published the Hutu Manifesto, stating that he Tutsi tribe was a monopoly of power.  This pushed the Tutsis out of power and scattered out of the country.  Skipping many details in 1994 this led to a complete civil war within Rwanda. (For more info). Approx. 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed.  This all to say at New Passion Church we have partnered with Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company.  Check out their video to see what it’s all about….. At New Passion we will be serving Land of a Thousand Hills coffee, providing info and an opportunity to purchase your own bag to take home and enjoy through December and January.   What if your coffee could transform a village? It can. Embrace the power of the bean. Drink Coffee. Do Good.

Halloween renamed?

This post was sparked by Pete Wilson’s post on his blog without wax Well it’s that time again. It’s getting cooler and we’re dressing up our kids as their favorite characters to haul in a load of sweets. Along with that we Christians are having the Halloween debate yet again. I realized one thing though this year. As Christians we totally get bent out of shape with the nonchristians as they say “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas”. We also do this thing of renaming. Instead of Halloween we call it “fall festival” and still go through the motions of everything else involved in this “holiday”. It just seems strange to me, “happy holidays” doesn’t take away Christmas and “fall festival” doesn’t take away Halloween. Christians trick or treet and nonchristians sing silent night, we’re trying to fool ourselves but what ever name we call it we’re all still engaged in both. So settle down dress your kid up and enjoy the free candy.

Slayer, Sesame Street, and Elevation Church

I know I haven’t touched my blog in months but I need to keep up.  I know, seriously this is what I am posting?  Ok… the second video is just ridiculous, two of my favorite things in the 90′s Slayer & Sesame Street… This first video is becoming one of my favorite songs.  On Aug 16 we attended Elevation Church.  We were given their new worship CD: God With Us. I can’t stop listening to it.  We got the VIP treatment from all the volunteers and staff that took the time to chat with us.  They are doing amazing work and ushering in the Kingdom to Charlotte…..

Honduras day 3

Well today we arrived in the village there were so many things that happened. Of course we did the construction installing concrete floors in bedrooms. There was an instant connection between our team of 5 and the locals. Very overwhelmed now ….. Maybe post something later when I get home.

Honduras Day 1

So now I have been awake for 30 hours. I’m on the plane on our way to tegucigalpa. I can’t sleep on the plane but my head is spinning with lack of sleep. I’m totally excited I can’t wait to get to the ranch so I can take a breath. I love travelling but I hate the process getting there. Says a lot I guess. Well now I am listening to a message from Matt Chandler. I’m going to try to sleep but I’m not sure what is going to happen……