House Guests This Week

Tricia, Davis and I are honored to be hosting the Kauffman family this week (yesterday through Wednesday). It's Glenn and June and their kids Lia (13) and Austin (11). The Kauffman's have been missionaries through EMM (Eastern Mennonite Missions) to Hong Kong for 15 years and are planning to move back to the States. Glenn is the representative of Missions in Southeast Asia.

The best part for us...Glenn will be the new Bishop of the Baltimore-Washington District and the Kauffman's are moving to Laurel this summer and will be making CCF their home church!

They are lovely people and it is going to be a great joy to have them in our lives and community.

8 Principles of Pottery

After numerous requests since yesterday morning, I thought I would post the 8 Principles that I shared...here they are:

8 Life Principles from the Potter and Clay.

“Being Shaped by the Potter”

#1: God is the potter, we are the clay. (Genesis 2:7 and Isaiah 64:8)

#2: The Potter always has a purpose for the clay. (Jer. 1:5)

#3: The destiny of the clay is subject to how it responds to the Potter. (Jeremiah 18: 5-10)

#4: Clay is not intended to do the shaping, but to be shaped! (Isaiah 29: 15-16)

#5: The movement and momentum of the clay impacts its outcome!

#6: The Potter will always remove some of the clay during the process.

#7: Potter’s take stubborn clay and start over all the time! (Jeremiah 18:4 and II Chron. 7:14)

#8: Clay becomes strong when it goes through the fire! (I Peter 1:6-7)

Now, invite you to do me a favor! Leave a comment here if there was another principle that God revealed to you during this experience. I have already heard several perspectives and insights that the Lord revealed to some of YOU! I would love to hear more....maybe we could do a sequel someday! Comment if you've got one.

Pottery Sunday a HIT!

Today was an absolute blast! It was the realization of a dream that I had about 6 months ago while we were in PA visiting some friends. I have never been more distracted while preaching in my life ( I wanted to watch Becky make pottery the whole time)...but the grace of the Holy Spirit intervened and it still impacted people. It was so fun to see the illustrated message come to life for different people in different ways.

A big shot out to Becky from Greenbridge Pottery for coming in and making today even more special.

People were amazingly responsive to the message...my prayer is that we all continue to respond to the Potter, allowing Him to shape us beyond just today.

Want to share more later...gonna run and take our guests up to Annapolis for the evening.

Peace!

I am thankful today for...

...A great Executive Board Chair! I really appreciate my relationship with the Chair of our CCF Executive Board. If you don't know him, his name is Hal Smith. We work very well together and I really appreciate his support and our friendship. He has many years invested in this church, yet still is a visionary and forward thinker and very excited about where we are headed! Just met with him for three hours this morning and it felt like one hour. I am thankful for Hal today!

Bubble Wrap

Nuh huh...

Someone made Bubble Wrap on line.

Click here to waste your time like I just did!

Randomness

Hey, here is a few random updates/thoughts:

• Davis is not feeling well. Fever of 102.7 last night. Pray for the little guy. He is not himself and I have him today.
  
• Really looking forward to the message Sunday and how it might "shape" us. Cool point that came up in our Small Groups last night...Lopsided pottery is often still usable for its intended purpose....lots of lopsided pottery running around out there.
• We will be getting a new Bishop/Overseer in our District this summer. His name is Glenn Kauffman. The Kauffman family has decided that they will move into the Laurel area and make CCF their home church. They are wonderful people coming off of 15 years of missions work in Hong Kong. I look forward to how they may lead CCF into missions involvement in China. (Look forward to going back to china within the next year!!! Shhhhh....don't tell anyone yet!)
• Pray for our missions work in Guyana. Lots going on. Some things unfolded just yesterday. Please pray for peace and direction and for wisdom as we lead. We will share details as we can.
  

Gonna jet and run some errands with Mr. Davis.

--Peace be with you!

This Weekend!

Too much to work with!

Pray for me to have wisdom on what to trim back for my message this weekend. After a good 5 hours on my message so far today, I have way too much material! Their are some power-packed principles from pottery that connect to the Christian journey. The bible is also rich in supporting these pottery principles and applying them to God's people. I am having a blast researching pottery, it's history and it's biblical relevance!

Pray that I trim up and shape up this message with sensitivity to what the Holy Spirit wants to do with us on Sunday!

Purpose Statement Finalized!

This ought to make the Washington Post after all the time and work that we put into our discernment process. Smile. I am thrilled to unveil our CCF Purpose Statement. (Another blog reader privilege to get it here first!)

CCF Purpose Statement (Simple Edition):

Love God, Love People, Live as Disciples

CCF Purpose Statement (Expanded Edition):

Capital Christian Fellowship places its focus and resources on its purpose…to Love God, Love People, and Live as Disciples (Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 28:18-20). CCF is totally committed to developing disciples of Jesus Christ whose lives serve as a witness to all (John 13:34-35). CCF expresses incredible diversity, but is completely unified in its purpose of loving God and loving people as we know that it was Jesus’ main focus (Matthew 22:37-40). We embrace that community is central to how people were created. As a result, CCF structures its ministries around people gathering in large and small groups (Acts 2:42-47) for community and relationships which leads back to our purpose of Living as disciples! We know that we will accomplish our purpose by impacting one life at a time!

_______________________

Get ready to see this appearing everywhere and stated repeatedly until it is memorized.

Stay tuned...we are going to be rolling out a church-wide memorization campaign. Every time you are caught reciting our purpose statement, you will get....we shall see!

Maybe $100.00 ;-)

Before the Womb

This verse has been haunting me the last few days. It's Jeremiah 1:5. It says "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."

I have know Psalm 139:13 by heart for years...it says "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."

This morning, the comparison between these two verses blessed me!! I toggled back and forth between them for a few minutes just thanking God.

One says that He formed me in my mom's womb, but the other says that he knew me even before that...and SET ME APART!

What exactly does "set me apart" mean? And what was there about me to "know" before I was formed in the womb? And why me?

Be encouraged today with the truth of the word of God! You are known and formed and knit together by God himself and you are SET APART!

God, make us AWARE and COMMITTED to the purpose for which you have set us apart for today!

Discovering CCF...Tonight

Have YOU or anyone you know been coming to CCF for a little while and want to know more about us....behind the scenes....an inside look?

If so, join me this evening at 6:30pm in the Worship Center for Discovery 101.

We will discuss:

• Who we are
• What we believe
• How we operate
• Our Finances
• Our Leadership structure
• Our History (past)
  
• Our Story (present)
  
• Our Vision (future)

Come join me this evening or call some new person and send them this way!

Discovery 101 and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ are our only 2 prerequisites to membership at CCF. Also, know that anyone is welcome to attend 101 whether they wish to join the church or not.

Pottery Sunday is Shaping up!!

This Sunday is going to be really special. I will be communicating an illustrated message about Biblical principles of the potter and the clay (God and You). There will be a live potter on the stage with me throughout the message. Come out this week expecting that you will be "Shaped by the Potter!!"

--Noah

The Automatic Millionaire

A few months ago, a friend of mine (Ben) recommended a book to me. I trust Ben's taste and took him seriously when he said that it was one of the most influential books that he had read in 2007. I made a mental note to get it and last week, while Tricia and I were down south we went to a Barnes & Nobel and picked up the "The Automatic Millionaire"by David Bach. Throughout our vacation and in the car ride, Tricia read this book to us and we finished it before we got back to MD.

This book was outstanding!!!!!! I am telling you the truth when I say that it will impact your finances and your future tremendously if you read it and implement even a little bit of it.

Basically, the book walks you through the value and steps of automating your best financial decisions. It denounces budgeting, suggesting that none of us are wired to be controlled by our money, but that we would rather control it. If we will make the decision ONE TIME to save for our future, then we can automate it and never think about it again. Imagine taking the decision out of your hands every month. Instead of deciding every 30 days what you "think you can afford", you have already automated your savings out of your bank account first...even before you pay your bills...hence, paying yourself first!

If you are a "yeah butter" saying "yeah, but I barely make it now" or "yeah, but I live paycheck to paycheck" ...then Bach will speak to you!

Probably the most influential part of the book for us was identifying our "Latte Factor". This is basically how much money we waste per month x 12 plus interest if we saved it (providing you an annual savings amount). That is your "Latte Factor." You can identify yours by clicking here, but you really need to read the book to get it.

I will stop ranting now, but I am telling you, if you have ever listened to me before....read this book! With your spouse! Soon!!! If you wait to long you may cost yourselves a couple hundred thousand dollars. Tricia and I read it just in time!

Today we finished automating everything and we are feeling so good about our recent financial decisions!

What a day!!!

Easter service this morning was so amazing! It was what we prayed for, hoped for, and planned for! A packed house with over 480 people present, the presence of the Holy Spirit during our worship, and people broken before the Lord and making new and renewed commitments to Christ all over the room after the service. These are the things I have dreamed of.

...And to think...the BEST IS STILL YET TO COME! Lots of lives still in need of transformation!

Hope your Easter is a great one!

--Noah

Want to hang out tonight?

Somebody called a last minute party at the church! I wonder who? Do I hear community building? Tonight it will be called "Nintendo Wii building" and "X-Box Building" and "Carry-in-food-when-we-get-hungry-building".

Any blog readers out there (I love creating blog-reader privileges) that want to come to the church and hang out in the Upper Room this evening are welcome! There will be a group assembling around 5ish tonight at the church. Unofficial. Impromptu.

Just come! Join us! No RSVP needed.

Promo Video for Upcoming Events

Who have you invited to church this Sunday?

Sleeping in our own bed...

Tricia, Davis and I are really excited to be sleeping in our own bed tonight. We had a great time away, but there comes a point when you just long for your bed, your chair, your house....

We are back. It felt like the wind blew us in. Sunny trip up the road, but fought the high winds the whole way. We had great family time this week. Lots of Mommy, Daddy and Davis time.

This pic is of Davis driving us up I-95 today (insert "yeah right" here). He was a fantastic traveler. Barney, nap, Elmo, nap, Veggie Tales, nap, repeat. Traveling is easy when you are 15 months and spoiled. DVD player made 1,800 miles seem like 500.

Now my heart and focus shift to tomorrow's Good Friday service and Sunday's Easter Services. Getting excited about a great weekend ahead and waiting in expectation for God will do among us by the power of His Holy Spirit!

--Love!

Potter Found!

Things "shaped up" and we found a potter for March 30th! This is going to be a cool Sunday with an illustrated sermon. Thanks to my sister, Selah, we have a lovely Christian Potter who runs her own pottery center in the Columbia area. She and her family will be joining us on the 30th. She will not even allow us to pay her. She says it is her gift to the Lord and to CCF. Here is their website: www.greenbridgepottery.com.

--Gonna be creative and profound....get ready!

Blog-iversary!

Six months ago today I posted my first blog! I have absolutely positively enjoyed this addition to my life.

• Over the last six months I have developed an intense passion for writing. I write far, far more than I post here. Sometimes when I write I feel like I am on holy ground.
  
• I am thrilled about the memories that I have been able to capture through this forum...to be remembered forever.
• I love to communicate. Period. Not sure why or where it comes from but I get stoked when I can communicate with people to have them informed and on the same page. This is a dynamic place to do that.
• I have appreciated the fact that many friends, family and co-laborers in ministry from other states and around the world can keep up with what's up with us and the church through this blog. (I am aware of readers from several different continents, which is cool.)
  
• Blogging has helped me to organize........in some strange way.....my thoughts, my day, my vision, my feelings, my dreams, my life....it's hard to explain, but it's real.

It is my hope that you have enjoyed checking in and reading as much as I have enjoyed writing. However, I doubt that's possible. It has become so meaningful to me that I would do it if not one soul ever read it.

--Noah