Getting my house in order

So this last weekend we had the privilege of having Jeff Lestz speaking at our church. People often label Jeff as "the finance guy." He is a successful Christian businessman and author who has a heart to empower people to be financially healthy and also see churches raise finances to further the kingdom of God. He uses sound biblical principles to educate people and build leaders within churches.

But in reality he is a kingdom guy. He is a people guy. He is a freedom guy. He loves God and loves people.
He is also a friend, despite his terrible jokes.

There were so many challenges that were laid down across the weekend that it could be easy to get overwhelmed by them all but three things stood out for me. None of these where new, more of a reminder really.

The first was a reminder of the character of a leader from Paul to Timothy particularly around the issue of money. We need to have our financial house in order.

Not just for the next month.

But are we planning for the future, our grandchildren's future (Prov 13:22)? We are socially conditioned to live for the now. Buy now, pay later. We were challenged to live within our fiances so that we see and use money as a servant to see the kingdom of God expanded. Lets put plans and actions into place that will allow us to live in financial freedom in the future. I have been using this phrase a lot lately but it is still apt in this situation. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is now. Start now with your finances.

The second challenge was to think bigger but clearer. Have a CLEAR, CONCISE, MENTAL PICTURE of where we are going. Then put plans in to get there. I will be taking some time over the next few weeks to do that again.

The third challenge for me was a simple statement that Jeff made- Jesus was a friend of sinners and to be that He had to be their friend.

Yes I know that it is obvious, but sometimes we can overlook the obvious. Jesus was their friend. Not just friendly to them, but their FRIEND. Imagine that. He did what friends do. He didn't just hang out with them he supported them, challenged them, laughed and cried with them. Think of your friends right now. Think about what you do with them, how you feel about them. That was Jesus and his mates. We are not talking about his disciples, we are talking about those that were not like Him. The tax collectors, the party goers, the ordinary people, those with less than reputable backgrounds. Jesus was their friend. I guess I was challenged to ask myself if that's what I do.

I don't want to be just friendly, I want to be people's friend. Those outside my church community.

Jesus took time out to spend it with people who were not like Him but who needed Him. Do I?

Anyway hope you have found these simple reminders useful. 

The NCLC Foundation

First let me say how excited I am about the season that we as a church are in. So much has happened over the past few months and God is in it all. We continue to see people make decisions to follow Jesus week by week - and that is why we exist. It's our mission, our cause.

In the past year or so we have experienced some huge changes as a church community. We have changed venue twice, welcomed new staff to the team, added robust financial policies and procedures to take us forward into our future, and not least, we have settled into our offices.

The coming year is one which we have given over to increasing our health in four main areas: Spiritual, Physical, Financial and Relational. I believe this year will be monumental for us as NCLC, because as we know, healthy life grows. We are taking the Kingdom of Heaven into areas where we have not ventured before.

We are raising up young entrepreneurs with a kingdom mentality and heart.

We are also in negotiations to purchase our own building from which we can base many of our meetings and activities, including our Sunday services.

We, as a church, are on the edge of something significant in our history and future.

There is an excitement and momentum building within our community. I am very excited about what the future holds for us as NCLC, and that is why this year we are introducing the NCLC FOUNDATION.

The NCLC FOUNDATION is one of the ways that we believe can help us strategically advance and shoulder the financial burden of our God-given vision to impact our world with the Kingdom of Heaven.

Our current "world" of Tyne and Wear, Teesside and Mwanza City is home to over 2 million people, ready to be impacted with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is a lot of people - and many of them are "ripe for harvest" (John 4:35).

The NCLC FOUNDATION will enable people to give strategically over and above their regular tithes to FOUR initial areas with a FIFTH to be added at a later stage.

1. Buildings Fund - this is to establish a building that we can call home. A place to base not only our Sunday Services but also many of the ministries of the church. This will initially be in the central Newcastle area, but will also establish homes for our other campuses (Haggai 1:7).

2. Missions - there is a lost and dying world needing the hands and feet of Jesus, before it will ever listen to the good news of the Cross. We have already established a campus in Mwanza, Tanzania. The Foundation will help fund this until it is fully established and financially viable. In time, there will be other campuses and churches to help plant and fund. There are also other overseas missions that we will be able to give to, including Compassion and A21 (Isaiah 61).

3. City Care - this is the local arm of our mandate to bring justice and relief to the poor. This funding will help expand Servolution and CAP but also establish our food and clothing banks (Micah 6:8).

4. Humanitarian Relief - over the past few years the world has seen some catastrophic disasters. We have been able to stand alongside many other churches to help meet the needs of tragedies such as the Haiti earthquake. We want to not only receive an offering at the time of the event, but also add to that amount, because we have been good stewards and prepared for such a time. There will also be wells to be dug and houses to be repaired (Isaiah 1:17).

And finally, to be added as soon as we have capacity -

5. Legacy Investments - we are building a church not only for this generation, but for many to come. Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to leave a financial inheritance for our grandchildren in their church building? (Provs 13:22)


I pray that this will whet your appetite for the financial future of our church. Don't despise the day of small beginnings for your own contribution. I believe that God would have us plan for, and invest in, our future.

We will commence our NCLC FOUNDATION offering on the first Sunday in July and then on the first Sunday of every month thereafter.

I want to thank all of you who faithfully give financially to God through this local church. We have grown from 9 people in Starbucks six years ago to around 500 people calling NCLC home today. We have been able to do this through all of us adding our resources together.

Let's continue to partner together to build, not just NCLC, but the church across the world through the NCLC FOUNDATION.


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The Cry

Many of you who are from my home church NCLC will know that I have held little store in owning our own building as a base for our Sunday service venue. I could psychologise this as having moved around a fair bit as a child or just accept that maybe God wanted me to hold having a permanent base loosely in my heart.
That is up until now.
We have been moving around for the last six and half years. Last April we finally purchased our first piece of property- our offices in the centre of Newcastle. They are a very different setting from everything being run from what should have been our dining room.
We still have no home to base our Sunday services from and the many other ministries that I feel God has called us to impact our community with.
We have been looking for such a place.

Last week at our (too!) early prayer meeting we were praying for favour with the building and the local authorities in change of use. As we were praying I felt God impress on my heart the word "CRY". The building would be a place that evoke a cry.

The cry would be a cry from the broken.

A cry from those in anguish.

A cry from the desperate.

A cry that would change as people felt the presence of God in the building.

The cry would become a cry of release.

A cry of forgiveness.

A cry of wholeness.

A cry of gratitude.

How can a building illicit this?
Certainly not from a lick of paint or ambient lighting. A building can only see this response when it and the people who call it home are dedicated to welcoming home those in need and those who need to know the love, grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

NCLC, as a church will never be defined or confined by a building but a building that becomes a home can be an incredible tool. When we find a building that becomes our home, we will hear a cry that will resound across the North East.
Hope this helps you understand where we are heading as NCLC.
Love to hear your thoughts.



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Ch-ch-ch-changes

At this time of writing I am making some drastic changes within our church community. Some of the changes are around structure, some around leadership but some are to get back a few things that I see we have let slide, which are vital to the life of our church.

It feels like the last five years have flown by, going from a small connect group in Starbucks of nine people to two campuses in the north east with about 500 people. It felt like everything we had been doing was right, even in times of immense frustration, we were still on track and doing the right things. BUT in the last six months it has changed from doing everything right, to doing everything wrong. We hadn't changed anything. We had reached a level where what we had been doing was right to get there but was wrong to take us further. My choice was to stay with the familiar or head into the unknown. I decided to choose the later.

The unknown is the path of faith. That's the only thing that pleases God. It is the path that we have followed to get here and the one we choose to take us into our future.
Follow us on the journey.


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Which kingdom?

So this is my first ever blog. I have to try and gather the mess of thoughts that run through my head, unravel them, then put them down in written form. Not an easy task I can tell you.
It is very different trying to do this, but I guess it is good to step into unknown territory, even if they are small steps.
I am sat in my car reflecting on an interesting few weeks for us as a church. We are entering a new seasons with new influence & greater responsibility. Are we prepared for it? Am I prepared for it? With greater influence & responsibility comes a stronger temptation to BUILD your own kingdom as opposed to SEEKING God's kingdom. His Kingdom is something that is near, we inherit, enter in to, seek first, pay a price for, work for, considered worthy of, but NOT build. If I am trying to build a kingdom it will probably turn out to be mine.
Keeping my heart humble and after God is my priority.


-- Posted from my iPhone