A Letter that made me cry and made me proud of you guys!

The following is a letter that was sent to the church this week. The author of the letter doesn't go to 5 Point, but here is what she had to say.

Dear Pastor Dean,

Enclosed is a memorial gift to 5 Point Fellowship in memory of my sister __________. Thank YOU - AND the BODY OF BELIEVERS that make up your fellowship - for being Christ to ______________. Through _____________________ many struggles in life, she always seemed to be trying to hang on to God - she KNEW that was important. But I do not believe she experienced the TRUTH to often that GOD was hanging on to HER!!! That is, until she found the love and acceptance at 5 Point that showed her the reality that God had redeemed her and made her his own - May God richly bless your faithfulness in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to ALL people

In Him,
______________

I have deleted the names for privacy reasons, but those of you who knew this woman's sister will know. Thanks so much for all you did in the Home TEAM ministry to show the love of Christ to ALL people! Without the great Home TEAM leaders and members, people wouldn't be touched in this way. Thanks for all you guys do!

The Blessed Life: Life, Not Law

THE WARM-UP:
What are your thoughts about ownership? Can we truly own anything?

READ Matthew 6
Here are a few thoughts to ponder after having read Matthew chapter 6.
• We need to acknowledge that we are stewards, not owners
• Tithing blesses God; and in return, He blesses the one who tithes, creating an upward cycle of blessing.
• True tithing comes from the heart – not from a legalistic mind.
• Tithing is not law – it is life.
• The devourer is rebuked!
• The righteousness of grace always exceeds the righteousness of the law.
While through this whole series on “The Blessed Life”, we emphasize the importance of giving to God first and giving to others, we learn here that it is useless to do so if our heart isn’t in it. Giving grudgingly or because it is what is expected isn’t what God wants from us. In 1 Corinthians 13:3, Paul tells us that even if we give everything to the poor but have no love, it profits us nothing.

THE TEAM WORK-OUT:
1. What are some ways God has blessed you?
2. What are some things our church could do if everyone were to tithe and give?
3. Why do you think we are held to a higher standard under grace than under the law?

Prayer Request

Please be in prayer for me and the team from North Greenville as we take off for Honduras in about 8 hours. I won't be blogging this week, but plan to be back at it with reports from the trip as soon as I am back near a computer. Have a great week!

Stuffing Eggs

With real eggs, they come pre-stuffed by the chicken. We thought it would be a bit messy to drop a half million real eggs from a hot air balloon, so we decided to use plastic eggs. You have heard/read from Dean, Tim, and I on our blogs and in person that we need lots of plastic eggs. Well, we still need more, but we also need a piece of candy put in each egg and the seam taped up so that it doesn't explode when it hits the ground. Yesterday, three ladies came in and volunteered to stuff eggs. They worked hard, but three people can't stuff 500,000 eggs between now and April 4th...so we need help. I am encouraging our Home TEAMs to find a time when the whole TEAM can come in and work on stuffing eggs together. Saturday the 14th of March, we as a church are planning to stuff eggs. The more the merrier! Ann is taking care of Volunteer coordination, so feel free to call her at the church to set up a time when your TEAM can volunteer.

April 4th Easter Egg Drop

5 Point Fellowship
Planning Egg Drop

5 Point Fellowship and Easley Parks and Recreation will sponsor an Easter Egg Drop Saturday, April 4, starting at 3 pm and lasting until 6 pm.

There will be food, rides and games as well as the main event—thousands of plastic prize- filled eggs being dropped by hot air balloons over the soccer fields at J.B. “Red” Owens sports complex in Easley.

The Easter egg hunt portion of the event is for children 12 and under.

For more information contact 5 Point Fellowship (864) 850-0580 or e-mail burl@5pointfellowship.org

Home TEAM Report - Finley Home TEAM

Last night, I went to the Home TEAM at the Finley's house! It was a great time for all! Good food, great fellowship, and Ann led a wonderful, biblically sound discussion. One point that she stressed that I want each Home TEAM Leader to work with even if you are using a separate curriculum is: Get your Home TEAM involved in some area of ministry serving outside the group, and preferably outside the church as well. We should all be serving in our church, but the point here is to look for a way to serve the community. Volunteering together at one of the other missions in the Picken's county area is a great way to build a group identity and strengthen the bonds between Home TEAM members. There were lots of great ideas at the Finley Home TEAM last night, and I expect many more great ideas to come as we all get involved in sharing the love of Jesus Christ with others!

Easter Egg Drop Sign Up Form

Here is the link for the Easter Egg Sign Up form! Thanks to Tim Winkler for creating this!

http://files.me.com/ttimw/s52sly

The Blessed Life - Lesson 2

Dear Home TEAM Leader,

I know that most of you haven't taught the first lesson in this series yet, but I am heading to Honduras on a mission trip with a great bunch of students from North Greenville University, so I am going to go ahead and send this before I forget. We have a two new Home TEAMs starting up! Jeff and Jennifer Fletcher are starting the Smoothie group for blended families, so if you know people in our church who fit that group and who aren't already involved in one, make an effort to introduce them to Jeff or Jennifer. Casper and I are starting a new group called DINKS & MINKS (Dual Income No Kids) & (Mono Income No Kids). We are really looking forward to working with that group! Thanks to all of you who are leading our Home TEAMs, 5 Point Fellowship couldn't do it without you!

THE WARM-UP:
How do you view money? Do you see it as a test from God?

READ Exodus 13:12-13
In our culture we have a saying: Time is Money. Do you agree that the firstfruits principle of giving the first and best of everything to God should be applied to both our time and our money? Give an example of how applying that principle would change how you use your time and money.
We should be giving to God first, before we see if we are going to have enough. This is a tough principle, but God continually challenges us to do so. Just like the Israelites who had to redeem or sacrifice the first born animals, not knowing for sure if the they would get a second born, we are called to give God the first of everything. Proverbs 3:9 tells us to honor the LORD with our possessions. The experience of centuries of Christians who tithe tells us that it is impossible to out give God! He will always take care of our needs if we put him first. Satan uses fear to keep us from being faithful with our time and especially our finances.


THE TEAM WORK-OUT:
1. What can you do when Satan attacks you with fear about tithing?
2. We often talk about having accountability partners, should we have them for tithing?
3. Other than tithes and offerings in church, what are some other ways we can honor God with our possessions?

Easter Egg Drop (Post 2)

There are about 15,000 eggs on the stage right now, and maybe 5,000 pieces of candy. If you or your Home TEAM have time between now and April 4th, 2009 to come in and help put candy in the eggs, that would be greatly appreciated! Did I mention that it would really help out? You may be wondering why filling eggs is so important. Each kid that comes to the April 4th Egg Drop will scramble out there on the field to collect eggs in his or her basket. Only a few will find an egg with a prize ticket inside, but every kid will find eggs with candy in them. To a kid, that is still winning! That also means that when the kid wins, we have put a chink in the parents "anti-church armor". The kid got something from the church that made him or her happy! We smile, and let the parents know that we are glad they are there, but none of that can happen if all the eggs are unfilled and sitting on the stage at 5 Point Fellowship instead of finding their final destinations being dropped from a Hot Air balloon over the soccer fields at J.B. "Red" Owens Sports Complex.

Easter Egg Drop (Post 1)

I put (Post 1) on this because I am sure there will be more. Last night at the staff meeting, it hit me that we only have a month until the Easter Egg Drop out at J.B. "Red" Owens soccer fields! There is much to do. If you have time to come in and help put candy in eggs and wrap them with tape, please contact Ann. She is setting up getting people together to work on that! I am hoping to have a volunteer sign up sheet finished by the end of the day. The hard part is figuring out how many volunteers we need for each part of the day and on which days. For egg stuffing, we can use as many as possible until all the eggs are filled and taped! While we are on the egg subject, Walmart had boxes of 250 eggs for about $8.00. I cleaned them out last night, but you might check there for getting eggs. That is the cheapest I have seen. I love you guys! Thanks for all you do!

Dinks and Minks

We are starting a new Home TEAM on April 10th for couples (Married or seriously dating) with no kids, thus the name Dinks(Dual Income No Kids) and Minks (Mono Income No Kids). The group will help couples who don't have kids yet get together with others who won't be discussing Juniors diaper rash. (Parents, this is not a slam on you, just a reality that those without kids think differently about some issues than those with kids.) This new Friday night group will meet at Burl and Casper's house in Pickens. E-mail to Burl for more information or call 878-9379. Hope to see you there!

Home TEAM Lesson

THE WARM-UP:
What are some ways that you feel God has really blessed you? Is it hard to give things or money away? On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your ability to hear God?

READ Deuteronomy 15:10 & 23:20 & 28:1-14
Over the next few months, our series, The Blessed Life based on the book by Robert Morris will challenge and hopefully change our lives. Giving generously is something that seemingly few people are really good at. God tells us in Deuteronomy 15:10 that if we do so, He will “bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” Does this mean that you will be suddenly rich? Not necessarily, but it does mean that God will bless you. Sometimes those blessings are in cash, but sometimes those blessings are in friendships, lives changed, seeing people come to know Christ… If we will trust God first, He does promise to provide for all our needs. When we get our hearts right, we will act right with our pocketbooks and possessions. In Chapter 23, verse 20 we see another principle. We are to not take advantage of our brothers and sisters in Christ for financial gain. God promises to make it up to us. He will bless us in everything we put our hand to if we will follow His plan. In Chapter 28, we see all the many ways that God promises to bless us, IF we obey the Lord our God.

THE TEAM WORK-OUT:
1. What can we as a Home TEAM do to help out a ministry that doesn’t benefit us directly?
2. What is the most joy you have ever received from giving a gift?
3. Why are people afraid to give to God?