God Provides

This morning we woke up to a beautiful sight! Fresh
snow and lots of it! Our small town of Lunenburg
recorded the highest levels in all of MA with 15.3
inches of beautiful, heavy, wet snow! You simply
had to watch the news or  ask anyone in town who
had the backache to prove it!

But God's provision goes beyond just gorgeous
views.

Charlie and I spent yesterday preparing several
pots of soup for a church luncheon to be held today!
For a while we wondered how and where we could
store the soup overnight. All those large pots would
fill our refrigerator so when we looked outside to
those mounds of fresh snow we realized that God had
provided us with the natural refrigeration needed! 

That's so neat! Just as Charlie and I were pondering
how and where we could store all that soup, our God
provided! I just love that He cares about everything,
even to the smallest details in our lives!
posted by: Sally

Winter Service

Our Growth Group is enjoying a great winter quarter
getting to know our newest members better while
studying and discussing the Joyce Meyer DVD
Battlefield of the Mind and working on a couple
of service projects.

This week a few of us enjoyed serving our local areas'
Teen Challenge with a painting project for their new
prayer room!

Ruth and Donya  are all smiles getting us started!
It's obvious that our work was just beginning.

Each wall had been painted a different color but
the room needed lots of cutting in and clean up!

I'm on my tip toes over an open stairway for our
most challenging wall. How did we do? We're pretty
happy with the results! The wall looks good and we
didn't suffer any broken bones! The best part of our
evening was seeing the smiles when we unveiled the
finished project.

When our current snow (12") stops, several young adults
from NLC plan on working on the next phase of this project
by stenciling scripture verses on several walls. The room will
then be ready for furniture and all of the finishing touches!
No doubt the girls will enjoy this quiet spot to speak
with  and hear from God!

Join a Growth Group in January!

January is the perfect time to be a part of a Growth Growth.
Pastor Rick Warren would like you to consider six reasons
to be a part of a small group.....

1. A Growth Group moves me out of a self-centered
isolation. It's a lab for practicing unselfish, sympathetic
love. It's a classroom for learning how to get along in
God's family. You learn how to care about others and
share the experiences of others. It's biblical! 1 Cor. 12:26,
Eph. 4:16, Rom. 12: 4-5, Col. 2:19, and 1 Cor. 12:25.

2. A Growth Group helps me develop spiritual
muscle. Being a passive spectator by just attending
worship services will never help us grow to spiritual
maturity. Eph. 4:16 tells the story. If you want to
develop your spiritual muscles be sure to give them
a regular workout by participating in a small group!
Isolation breeds self-deception because we go
unchallenged. Real maturity shows up in relationships.

3.  A Growth Group confirms my identity as a 
genuine believer.  "I can't claim to be following
Christ if I'm not committed to any specific group of
disciples." John 13:35, Gal. 3:28, John 17:21
1 Cor. 12:27 When we come together in love as a
small group from different backgrounds, it's a witness
to the world.

4. A Growth Group is the best way to share my
God-given mission to the world. Think of the model
that Jesus shared with us. Even he had a small group.
Together, we are to spread and share the Good News.
We are his hands, feet, eyes and heart. Eph. 2:10.

5. A Growth Group will keep me from spiritually
backsliding. We help to keep each other on track.
Hebrews 3:13 tells us to 'Encourage one another
daily...so that none of you may be hardened by
sin's deceitfulness.'

6. The Body of Christ needs me! God has a unique
role for each of us to play in his family. This is called
your 'ministry' and God has gifted each of us for
this assignment. 1 Cor. 12:7. Your Growth Group is
the place God designed for you to discover, develop
and use your spiritual gifts and talents.

Micah 6:8 Shoe Box Style

We've come a long way over the years with
our shoe box numbers and our strategy to get
the job done but one thing that has never changed
is the blessings shared and received for the
givers and the receivers!

This year two Growth Groups joined together to
complete our Micah 6:8 projects. We inspected,
sorted, and packed more than 400 shoe boxes,
donated by members of New Life Church,
to be delivered for Operation Christmas Child.

 

 This year we ordered the official Go Boxes and they
 certainly made things so much easier than when
 we first started back in 2001 raiding our closets
 for available shoe boxes to fill and wrap!

Through people's cash donations and bags of
extra goodies, we work filling lots of additional
boxes.

Samaritan's Purse shipping cartons have really
helped with the packing for shipping. Our guys did
a great job assembling, packing and tracking our shoe
box count! By the time we finished, we had filled 28
cartons with 428 shoe boxes from the New Life
Church family and friends.

Check out our teams at work!

Friday morning a new team gathered at church to
load the trailer for delivery!

They may look a bit young but let me assure
you, they are strong and very eager to help!
This special team is Pastor Paul and Ann's
 grandchildren visiting from Costa Rica!

The trailer fully loaded, we all headed out to make
our final delivery for the season.

A special 'Thank you' to everyone who helped us
make this another great success. Each shoebox
if filled with so much more than mere toys, treats
and school supplies. Each box is filled with love,
the love of the person who packed it and the love
of God! It doesn't get any better than that!

Paraphrase It!

The members of our Growth Group are sharing an
exciting adventure together and we're seeing people
change and grow right before our very eyes! Last night
we watched with delight as God continued His great
work in a member of our group during our discussion
time while learning about the Paraphrase method
of Bible meditation. As we read  Hebrews 4:12 over
and over again, thinking about what God was saying to
each of us and putting it into our own words, we
witnessed as God spoke to one gal's very pressing and
personal needs and provided comfort, and reassurance
that He is always with her, at her side, no matter what!
Watching her catch this message that was so personal to
her was inspiring. We Listened as she prayed aloud,
feeling safe and accepted. After a while longer as we
hugged and said our 'good-byes', we agreed that we
are thankful for the opportunity to spend time getting to
know one another and God so much better!
By the way, I checked in with our 'gal' today and she is
still 'pumped' by the work that God did in her last night!
We are truly blessed!

Probe It!

One of the things that I love about this Rick Warren study
of '40 Days in the Word' is the weekly introductory information
like last weeks' teaching about how to enjoy 'quiet time'
with the Lord! This week our memory verse James 1:22
sets the stage as we learn that Bible study without application
in our lives is dangerous! You read right, it's dangerous
because it can lead to pride and arrogance.
Applying the Bible is hard work but the Holy Spirit
provides the strength, determination and will power
needed to press through to apply the truth and make
the needed adjustments in our own lives."The challenge
in Bible application is to discover the eternal
truths that never change, and then apply them in a world
that is always changing."

The Probe It! method of Bible meditation by applying
S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S.questions.....
S- Is there a sin to confess?
P- Is there a promise to claim?
A- Is there an attitude to change?
C- Is there a command to obey?
E- Is there an example to follow?
P- Is there a prayer to pray?
E- Is there an error to avoid?
T- Is there a truth to believe?
S- Is there something to praise God for?

Write down your thoughts and applications! Notice
that every phrase in S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S.  contains a
verb! That means that we're expected to take action!

What a Team!

Meet our Growth Group team for the fall 2012 quarter!

You might recognize some familiar faces and notice some new ones!

L to R: Paul & Pam Gionet, Kristi McIntyre, Darlene Ouellette,
Brian & Laurie Babcock, Sally Dyer and Danielle Caron.

Last week we met new Believer and Kristi's beau
Colonel Ryan Voss! Colonel (his name)  joined us for the
first time! Welcome Colonel and Congratulations for your
your new life in Christ!

Our study of Rick Warren's '40 Day...' has really been exciting!
We're learning lots and enjoying great discussions. All Growth
Groups have been challenged to complete a Micah 6:8 project
and we are excited to once again fill, sort and pack shoe boxes
for Operation Christmas Child. I'll post pictures after our
Dedication Sunday, early in November!