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?