NLC News March 16 2023

March 15th, 2023
by Mark Isaac

Bunk Bed Delivery Day for our Home Resource Center

Moe, Joe, and the loading crew with a full trailer of bunk beds from Fresno Pacific University

NLC Celebrate Recovery team members pitching in with the unloading at New Life Community

30 bunk beds ready to meet the needs of families through our Home Resource Center
Praise the Lord!

CLICK FOR CHURCH CALENDAR

THIS WEEK/WEEKEND:
THURSDAY, MARCH 16
5:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Dinner - Dining Room
6:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Worship / Lesson: ACTION! / Small Groups

SATURDAY, MARCH 18
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Healing Rooms Training - Dining Room - REGISTER TODAY 559-768-5285

THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 19
8:30 a.m. ADULT GROWTH CLASSES - NLC KIDS ministry for parents in growth classes ONLY

NEW Video Class: Romans - Room 111
Faith & Finances - Room 114/115 (final session)

9:30 a.m. CONNECTING POINT (Dining Room) and Connecting Point for Kids (Rm 101)
10:00 a.m. WORSHIP - NURSERY - NLC KIDS CHURCH - NLC CREW

Come prepared to share about your "Armor of God" experience this week
Pastor Steve speaking: "Hold On! Don't Let Go!" - Luke 19:1-10

11:30 a.m. AFTER CHURCH

KIDS MINISTRY GET-TOGETHER - All NLC Kids Ministry volunteers are invited to come and pick up Easter VBS materials at 11:30 AM - Room 207

Ready to Volunteer for VBS this Easter?
Come by Room 207 after church and join the team!

THIS COMING WEEK:
TUESDAY, MARCH 21
6:00 a.m. NEW Men's Bible Study - Gospel of John, part 2 - Dining Room
6:00 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Women's Step Study - Room 114/115 (the group is full)
6:30 p.m. Healing Rooms of Dinuba offers healing prayers - Church patio/library

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22
6:00 p.m. Worship Rehearsal - Gym
6:30 p.m. Prayer Gathering - Room 113

THURSDAY, MARCH 23
5:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Dinner - Dining Room
6:30 p.m. CELEBRATE RECOVERY Worship / TESTIMONY NIGHT / Small Groups

FRIDAY, MARCH 24
6:00 p.m. - Women's Ministries "Taco 'bout Ladies Game Night!" - Dining Room

SATURDAY, MARCH 25
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Celebrate Recovery "Identify and Manage Anger" Seminar - Dining Room

COMING EASTER WEEKEND
APRIL 7-9 - "Created New Experience" weekend Vacation Bible School for kids ages 4+

FRIDAY/SATURDAY, APRIL 14-15
West Coast MCC Relief Sale

LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AWAY!
WEDNESDAY- SUNDAY, MAY 3-7 (or any of those days) - ALL-CHURCH CAMPOUT
Morro Bay State Park - Click below to register

Giving at NLC
God is using your gifts and offerings to transform lives!

Received Last Week (3/5)........$4,467
Received this year: .……... $200,243
Budget to Date: ………….... $226,990
Budget Goal: ……….......... $421,553
Needed Weekly: ……......….… $9,221

Pray for preparations of our Easter Weekend Vacation Bible School, April 7-9. Pray for leaders, and that children's hearts will be open to Jesus. Praise the Lord for one of our children who prayed to accept Jesus during NLC Kids last Sunday morning!
Praise the Lord for Chris, who gave his life to Christ last Sunday during the service, and for two others who rededicated their lives to Christ!
Karen Madrid's cousin Paul, Jr. passed away on Sunday after being on life-support following a heart attack. She rejoices he is with Jesus, but asks that we pray for his three sisters who do not yet know the Lord.
Please continue to pray for Mark & Laurie's friend, Vanessa. Her parents, brothers and sisters have all flown in from Kansas to be with her. She was in critical condition over the weekend and is still awaiting oncology results.
Continue praying for those undergoing treatment for cancer including: Glen Zimmerman, Eugene Enns, and Mike Naylor. Also remember JR Southard, Rolando Solis, and two people suffering daily with vertigo.
As we thank God for abundant rains and snow, please remember to pray for those forced to evacuate from their homes during these recent storms. Pray especially for families who have lost loved ones or their regular sources of income. Remember farmers whose crops and livelihoods are being affected.
Pray for Erick Parra whose two dogs were killed and other items stolen last week.
Pray for Pastor Mark in Indiana for his nephew's wedding this weekend, and for Otto & Marjorie Ekk in Portugal encouraging believers there.
Please pray over the urgent need for adult workers to help once-a-month with children's ministries on Thursday nights.
Pray for Dinuba's First Southern Baptist Church and pastor Gary Rankin.

NLC Vision

I remember having two big reasons for starting this blog. Well, three actually. Someone actually encouraged me to do it, so there's that. But my two reasons were (1) to increase the flow of communication during the pandemic, and (2) inspire the church toward our vision. It appears that both of those things continue to happen, praise the Lord. I'm not planning to stop the blog!

Our church vision was affirmed at a church meeting in November 2019 after a year of prayer and planning. It says, "We envision New Life Community as a diverse family of faith, continuously transformed through Jesus Christ, authentically loving God, each other, and our community." It doesn't seem so radical now in our 5th year of implementing it because we're actually seeing it!

Our church is indeed a diverse family of faith in more ways than we had imagined. Anyone can walk in the doors and join this "new life community". It happens every week on Sunday mornings, through NLC Kids and Crew, and at Celebrate Recovery. And we're going out to meet people with those same open arms every week through a combination of ministries like the Home Resource Center, Pray & Go, Grab & Go, Faith & Finances, and Homeless ministry.

At our 75th anniversary celebration in 2000, our church stated that we wanted to be "transformed to reach the 21st century". There are still some coffee mugs around with that on them. Our vision to be continuously transformed through Jesus Christ takes that earlier aim and personalizes it. We will not remain the same. Because of the work of Jesus Christ in our life, by his Word and by his Holy Spirit, we are being transformed daily. That defines our discipleship. In other words, we're not adding Jesus to our lives. We're letting Jesus make us into the people he can use for his Gospel and his glory. It's also true for us as a church. Because the church is made up of people who are being transformed, we let Jesus do the same with us as a body.

I still wish we had worded the last part of our vision differently. Shorter. Less "divided". Rather than saying we'll authentically love God, each other, and our community, I see it just as authentically loving. Maybe we need the reminders to love each of these separately, but that's not exactly how God's love is described. It simply says, "For God so loved the world," and "God is love". It's good that we don't think about "us" and "them" anymore when we think about our church and our community. It's just "each other" now, whether we're with people who attend NLC or not. And it's just "our community" now, whether we're gathered in our facility or out on the streets.

Walls have come down.
NLC is diverse and growing.
People are coming to Jesus.
Love is increasing.
And Jesus is still transforming us.
Praise the Lord!