And the Award Goes To ...

Greetings Everyone!

Once again we are in the midst of a whirlwind of spirit-filled activities here at New Day! It’s been more exciting than the Academy Awards (at least to us). In case you haven’t been able to catch all of our recent releases, here are the highlights of our special features:

Sweethearts’ Delight – A romantic-comedy which opened Valentine’s Eve. Entire families enjoyed an evening of special activities in which the sanctuary was transformed into a dreamscape complete with balloons, dance floor, and full-flowing fountain for the adults, while the youngsters were entertained down the hall or at the bowling alley. 50 people enjoyed this debut. A sequel will be coming out next year.

Expo 2010 – A blockbuster which hit the town the first weekend of March. 2,000 eager attendees swarmed through the high school doors to take in this ever-popular annual event sponsored by the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce. Held on a Sunday morning and afternoon, this double-feature revolved around trying to clone the pastor so he could be two places at once. 600-700 visitors walked away with New Day coffee sleeves, coffee candies, coffee cups, and coupons for free coffee mugs. Tagline for this showing: At last a church that wakes me up! We hope to capture the buzz of next year’s expo as well.

Death by Fundraising – A suspense-drama which may keep you up at night (as it has for its church-planting leads). This classic saga captures the epic quest for survival of the young and faithful as they seek investors for their God-given visions. Will there be enough treasure found in time? Will they beat the odds with the help of outside angels, or will they crash in defeat after coming so far? No one knows how this one will end, but faith, hope, and love prevail throughout.

Solid Rock – A musical of youthful vitality to get your heartbeat a-pumpin’. Opens tomorrow night (March 20) at the local reception hall (Carousell Works) for a one time performance. Presented live by the Coon Rapids United Methodist youth, this special community event comes to Big Lake thanks to the heartfelt talents and connections of New Day’s Director of Worship and Music, Amanda Weber. A spin-off group of up-and-rising younger singers will be presenting their own inspiring performance at New Day on April 24th-25th; reserve your seats early since their last performance brought out record crowds last December.

These are the most recent highlights from New Day. The outreach to the community continues; new people continue to visit us each week; children continue to love our childcare room and new ministry programs; more and more adults are deepening their connections to God and each other; and the Holy Spirit continues to transform lives for Jesus Christ. Although the challenges are many, the people of New Day deserve all awards for the major and minor roles they play. For them, and all of you, we’d like to thank the Producer of us all!

Starting From Scratch

In just over a week (on Saturday, March 14th), we will be moving into our new space. I have been joking with people that the move shouldn’t take too long, because we have nothing to move in! Being a brand new church plant, we are starting from scratch, of course. This was dramatically apparent when we started hosting our first community events last fall, and we didn’t have a table to set things upon, didn’t have pens for people to use to take surveys, and didn’t have the basics which used to be at our finger tips in an established church setting. The absence of ministry resources was surprising, but God provided.

I’m sure we’ll move in next weekend and again be surprised by the absence of a pastor’s desk, the lack of over-stuffed chairs and love seats in the Gathering Area, and (heaven forbid!) the nonexistence of a coffee-maker and mugs. No altar? No pulpit? No music stands even? None right now, but God will provide.

Aside from the absence of things, we started from scratch in terms of relationships as well. We came to Big Lake alone. We had no history here, no small group of mission-minded families to bring with us, and none who considered us their friend. And because we are reaching out to those who are disconnected from God and church, we also found ourselves starting from scratch with people in terms of church knowledge, devotion to the cause, and experience with spiritual stuff in general. No congregation at all?! No trust? No commitment? No prayer life? None right now, but God will provide.

What has been amazing is how much God has provided in just over a year: buyers for our home (in less than 45 days); a relatively quick response from the bank to buy a foreclosed home (in less than 45 days); 60 new chairs; 24 sets of curtains; 14 beautiful wooden tables; a desk set; copy machine; computer server; Inkjet (color) printer; a Wireless router; and more!

But more importantly, God has provided us with connections to the wonderful people up here. As a point of illustration, last weekend was the Chamber’s Business Expo. A year ago, the Expo was the first event we volunteered at in the community. We didn’t know a soul when we walked into the High School gymnasium to help set up last year. This year, we walked in to set up our own booth, and before we had three things in place, I probably gave away a dozen hugs and warm greetings to my Big Lake friends. My, how God provides!

Stuff like tables, chairs, trust, and commitment all take time when you start from scratch. At first, we feel the lacking when we notice what we don’t have. Then we feel the coveting when we see what others have. But if we can have eyes to see and ears to hear what God is providing, then lacking turns to abundance, and coveting turns to generosity. Everything and everyone become gifts of grace from God above! For it is written...

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 NIV

Come Grow with Big Lake's Newest Church Plant!

(from the Pastor's wife, Janet)

Jim and I and two of our launch team handed out about 400 little planting kits yesterday at the Big Lake Expo! The best news is that about 170 registered for the drawings for the prizes and of those, 31 requested more information or were interested in keeping updated with New Day's progress!! Yeah!! This Expo is the first event that Jim and I volunteered at a year ago (when we didn't know anyone and were just getting started), and it was heartening to be back this year and recognize so many people.

The other really fun thing that happened last week was a call from a young couple (engaged) who we had met at one of the picnics last fall. They have been wanting to get connected, but just hadn't taken the time to contact us. They came to the class we held THAT NIGHT (Discovering Your Spirituality Type)!! I thought it was pretty brave of them to come to our home, entering a group of unknown people in a class that had already begun (this was the 2nd in a series of 6)!! The group is a mix of ages, but it warmed my heart to see the younger couples so open and excited to grow in their faith and connect with others on this journey. It reminded me so much of Jim and I in our early years and I pray that these folks will be blessed with experiences to build relationships like we had, that have sustained and nurtured us throughout our journey.

I have been pretty much totally focused on getting the website built this past week or more. What a job! Please visit and send your feedback: http://www.newday-umc.org/. I am so grateful to niece Kristi for sending the proper format of the logo (3 times, since I couldn't make up my mind which version was best!!) and to son Scott for technical support via phone and helping improve the first draft IMMENSELY!! It is a work in progress - we'll be tweaking and changing things as time goes on, but for now at least we have something! Let me know especially how your computers handle the links, etc. - or if there are any problems you have getting into anything...

Please pray for our next community event to be held at the new church, Sat. March 28. It's a family planting time - families will plant flower seeds to take home, to share with the community and to decorate the gardens at the new church! Music and story-time included. It should be fun! Also, prayers for the 1st preview worship service -- an Easter Eve Vigil. You are all welcome to join us - Sat. April 11, 7:00pm. Jim will be starting to really focus on getting this together. May God's spirit guide all the preparations and our hearts...

Granted, It's Just Money

(from the pastor's wife, Janet)
Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!
Here's the latest news from Big Lake...

The first exciting news is that New Day UMC will be receiving a grant! Our application was 1 of 10, nation-wide, that was selected by Path1 of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church! YEAH!! It is a media grant which could cover things like marketing research, a billboard, TV ad, internet ad, etc. all in preparation for our launch this fall. We don't know how much will be granted, but anything is better than the nothing we started with!! Having some professional advice from the larger church is the best part. So, we're celebrating that gift!!

We also will be receiving a donation of around 20 small wooden tables (card table size) that will be wonderfully versatile to use in our new sanctuary/fellowship hall! These came from Love INC Heartland - you may remember Jim's involvement in starting this wonderful ecumenical non-profit organization that reaches out to the needy in the community. We toured their new space in Delano just yesterday, and were inspired by the growth and the numbers of people (almost 16,000 needs addressed last year!) being served by this great organization after only being in existence for 5 years! Sure gave us hope and encouragement for New Day Church! Terri Harris, the director of Love INC Heartland, also said that everything at their new space has been donated. That, too, was inspiring as we begin the process of furnishing New Day's new space. We were reminded to have faith and to be open to the gifts that God will choose to send... look what He has provided already! AWESOME!!

The New Day Church building is changing each week - front doors have been installed; sheet rock hung, taped and painted; they are working on the ceiling and electricity today. Exciting!! Jim has been showing EVERYONE the progress; anytime you want to take a road trip to Big Lake, we promise a tour!

We've had several small group meetings at our home the past few weeks: launch team, baptism class and Discovering your Spirituality Type class. So far we've learned: 1) that the dog is best shut in his kennel, in the garage, in the back of the car, 2) the cat is best shut in the guest bedroom, and 3) our home is not conducive to child care!! (Ha, ha!) It has been a wonderful blessing, really, to finally open our home to these great people. It is heart-warming to connect in fellowship and learn more about our awesome God and our spirituality together. We are humbled and uplifted by their presence and their openness and willingness to join us on this new church adventure.

Preparations for the Big Lake Business Expo on March 1st are progressing. We're really excited about this opportunity to get the word out about New Day Church! Since we're a new church "plant" we've decided to go with a gardening theme and will be giving away seed packets (sunflowers or pumpkins) each with our new logo on them, clipped onto small peat pots, with peat pellets that expand when watered. (A little family growing project!) A refrigerator magnet/clip holds it all together. And our theme will be something like - "Check out Big Lake's new church 'plant' - Come GROW with New Day United Methodist Church". We have 2 Grand Prizes to give away: one including a "$50 off any room" certificate at the Holiday Inn in St. Cloud, and the other including a $100 gift certificate to Dan & Jerry's Greenhouse in Monticello. We hope to add a few more items (gift cert. to a kid-friendly restaurant, gardening tools, etc.) to each prize package. We'll have drawing slips with contact info - and a box to check for those who want more info about New Day Church. Pretty fun!

Hope you all have a wonderful, love-filled Valentine's day! Remember, you're not loved because you're beautiful; you're BEAUTIFUL 'cause you're LOVED.

Looking ever forward to a NEW DAY in Christ,
Janet :->