Good Things!

Last Sunday turned out to be a great a day! Roger shared a terrific message and I decided to participate in ways that I could see the good things God is doing at our church. I wasn't disappointed. I helped the set up crew at 7:15 AM and it was amazing to see the dedication of the team and trailer pullers. I can't say thank you enough to Jaime Derrick, Carl Dobbs, Matt Lavezzo, Joe Tilchen, Joanna Thomas, Brent Christierson, and everyone else who got there early to set up so that we could have church. I was also excited about the worship team and our time of singing. For the last three weeks we have had three different worship leaders and each has done a wonderful job. This Sunday, Andrea Hamburg did an incredible job guiding us into God's presence! Thank you!

Following first service I overcame a huge fear in my life. Each Sunday I stand up in front of adults and talk, which for me is not a big deal. But this Sunday, I decided to teach our first and second grade class. Wow! That was a big deal. I was so nervous. I kept wondering about how I was going to keep the attention of 20 first and second graders for 90 minutes? Luckily, Mischel Zamobory was there to help and she had taught in the past. We ended up having a lot of fun and my sons, Michael and Liam, insisted that I come back again the next time I am not speaking in the main service. In my opinion, our children's ministry is one of the strongest areas of our church. This weeks Kid's Camp showed that again. They had a huge turnout and a lot of fun. I also want to say thank you to all of the adults who pitched in to make Kid's Camp a success this week! Thank you! My kids look forward to our church kids camp every year and this year they were not disappointed.

After church Sunday, I drove home thinking about all of the good things that God is doing at New Song. I had lunch with Brad Franklin from Lakeside this week and he made an interesting observation. Brad described how he has seen some people throw away their marriage and get a divorce just because 10% of it is bad. They often ignore the 90% that is good and focus only on the 10% that is not. Then, many times they get remarried and their marriage is only 80% good and they realize they may have made a mistake. After Brad and I were talking I thought about how I often focus on the 10% that is not working in our church and ignore the 90% that is great! Last Sunday, I was able to focus on the 90% and see that God is doing some really good things in the lives of people at New Song. Here are few of the good things that I see happening at New Song...

• People are finding freedom from addictions.



• People who excluded are being included.



• Marriages are being saved.



• Kids are growing up with a mommy AND a daddy.



• People are finding financial freedom.



• People are living a new life in Christ.



• People are serving the poor, prisoners, children, and the homeless.



• People are serving and sharing the gospel in third world countries.



• People are changing their lives to match God's plan for them.



• People who are wrestling with guilt and shame are finding hope and forgiveness.



• People are having their eternal destiny changed - they are being saved!



• The gates of hell are getting pushed back a little more.



• And God is getting the glory for it all!

Next week, I am off to Tahoe for three days to pray and plan out the message calendar for the upcoming season. I have some great ideas that our Super Tuesday creative team helped put together. I'd also love to hear from you too. If you have concerns, theological questions, spiritual interests, and ideas for sermons that you believe your unsaved friends would be interested in please let me know. You can email me at dale@newsongchristian.org

I'll be heading to Tahoe Sunday night and I would appreciate your prayers while I am there!