Good Afternoon,

We are planning on having a work day for rebuilding a flood damaged home on Saturday, July 31^st, 2010 for a member of Lifepoint and his family who suffered a total loss on their home.  We will be installing and mudding drywall.  Anyone willing to come out and help would be much appreciated, there is no skill required for this type of work. 

We would like to form 2 teams of volunteers:  One to hang drywall for about four hours in the morning and then a second team to follow up by beginning the finishing process, taping the seams and mudding. 

We will begin at 8 am on that Saturday and work until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon.    Anytime that you can give that day would be great.

The address is 504 Lake Farm Road in Smyrna .  If you are coming from Lifepoint Church or from I-24 and Almaville Road exit, go back toward Nissan on Nissan Blvd. , go past Enon Springs Road, Turn Right onto Lake Farm Road –  it is the first right past McDonalds and Sonic – , the house is on the right side of the road, it is a brick home with white vinyl siding, a white vinyl fence, and a green metal roof.   

 Thanks for all that you do,

 Ken Anderson

Lifepoint Church Disaster Relief

636-4169

My friend Steve Gladen of Saddleback Church has put together a list of great ideas for your Small Group this summer.  Check it out on the Small Group Networks blog… http://bit.ly/dmgNT9
The book “250 Big Ideas” is available from our GroupLife office if you would like a copy.

Eddie Mosley

Last week Lifepoint Church had hundreds of kids at both campuses praising God during Adventure Week. In addition to their praise, bible, snack and rec time, they each have a craft time in which two days were focused on Missions projects. Thursday, at the Stewart’s Creek Campus, they worked on pencil packs to send with the Africa missions team later this month. It was a simple task to make bags of pencils, erasers, a sharpener and a note made by each child to go along with it.

We asked the small groups at LifePoint Stewart’s Creek Campus to donate the items necessary to complete their missions project, and our small groups sure did step up to the task! I asked one of our coaches to send out a simple email asking for donations to his groups as well as the other coaches at our campus. A simple email… And donations started pouring in! We had more than enough donations! Our craft leader had the kids bag up our extra supplies to use as teacher packs for the missionaries. We had a 5 gallon bucket full of extra supplies in addition to our two 5 gallon buckets full of complete pencil packs. It was a blessing that we did not have to buy anything to complete our missions project!

Thanks so much to the small groups at SCC for really stepping up! Shortly some of the children in Africa will have some basic supplies that we take for granted here, thanks to our Small Groups and our kids at the SCC.

-Kristin Aune
SCC Kids Adventure Week Coordinator 2010

LifePoint Church, Smyrna, TN is a church filled with sports enthusiasts. A few months ago in Men’s Fraternity a man approached me and shared how his future was about to change forever. Had I not known Billy I would have thought he meant he was going to give his life to Christ. But Billy Wheeler has been active in LifePoint Church for years. His passion for sports is almost unequalled in most settings.’

Billy was sharing how, due to health issues, he was not going to be working anymore. Frustrated, he wondered what God had in store for him. He loved his job selling sporting goods to the high schools and colleges in Middle Tennessee. He shared his feelings, fears and prayers with Pat, Kyle and me.
What was next? We came up with the idea of having Billy serve as our volunteer LifePoint Sports Chaplain. He will be leading and working with others to set up Chapel Services for local travel teams, sports leagues and talking with local schools about the services of LifePoint Church.

Here is a little info about Billy Wheeler, LifePoint Sports Chaplain:

I became a Christ follower at the age of eight. I was baptized at Saturn Drive Baptist Church in Nashville, TN. I have been involved in sports all my life I started playing baseball at the age of six. When I got into high school, my health issues starting catching up with my ability to play sports. So I became a sports manager for the football, baseball and basketball teams at McGavock High School. The summer after my junior year I attended a sports trainer camp at Clemson University. Then I attended Vanderbilt University on a basketball manager’s scholarship. During the summers while at Vanderbilt I worked as the Clubhouse manager for the Nashville Sounds baseball club. After college I got into the sporting goods business, first in retail, then team sales selling to high schools and colleges. The last five years I have been with Riddell Sports.

“I think we are ready to go to the next level” our small group leader challenged us in the den of the Plunkett residence. Despite this stirring monologue, a hush fell over the small gathering of “twenty-something” married members. I believe the question in all of our minds was quite similar…what does the “next level” even look like?

It’s amazing to think back over the last several years and acknowledge the obstacles we have helped each other through. Between all six couples recently purchasing their first house, two families with their first child, several job transitions, college graduations and countless other milestones, there has been no shortage of growth opportunities. In the course of these events the bonds that our group share have developed into something quite remarkable. There is no questioning the power and benefit to sharing life with believers who are in the same stage of their journey. Even so, the challenge has been placed before us to keep moving forward.

Sometimes taking that next step to becoming more like Christ can be tough. It’s even tougher without a strong living visual guiding you along the way. “Someone whose hindsight can become your foresight” as the Chinese proverb so aptly stated. For many of us this guidance comes from within our own families. For many others, we look to our church family to provide this all-important mentor relationship. By coupling ourselves with established Christians who have been walking the walk for years we can see what that next step looks like. We can see what it means to discipline our children with love, learn the true meaning of hospitality, and differentiate ourselves from the concept of worldly success that has so intoxicated our generation.

Luckily, our small group is not the only one who has sensed the importance in this model of mentorship featured in Titus 2:3-5. There is a group of older, wiser, reputable Christians who have made a huge impact in our community and our church. This group, led by the Fraizers, have graciously offered to demonstrate the next step for us. To date, we have not turned this into a science by breaking out the workbooks and debating topics of importance. What we have done is enjoyed a casual cookout in the park. Even something this simple afforded opportunity to ask questions as we got to know one another. Each of the younger crowd benefited from a special connection or some type of individualized take-away. For me, you can’t put a price tag on watching Godley men love their wives and raise their children to fear the Lord.

One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4)

- The Bartemus Small Group

What about your group? Can you mentor or be mentored by another Small Group?