More than a catchy phrase or an old cliche', I want you to really hear it from my heart .... WELCOME HOME! NewHeart has been all over the place throughout the Summer months.

We've been hittin' and missin' each other through overlapping vacations and family gatherings, as is the the case every Summer. From deep within my heart, I want to say ... WELCOME HOME!

I trust you found some respite from the daily grind and I pray for you that the transition to the Fall season will be one of anticipation and joy. You DO realize we only have 1/3 of the year left until Christmas, right? Anyway ...

Our Summer has been filled with a good review of our values with our current series, "Welcome Home!" If you've missed any of it, you can order the tape or CD at the Sound Booth counter or by calling the Church Office.

I've talked alot this Summer about our "culture" as a church ... the "essence" of who we are ... the things that anyone can feel, taste, smell and see. Those are our values. Whether they are stated and announced or completely unitnentional, every church has values.

You can sense what those values are just by hanging around, listening to conversations and watching how we function in our relationships with each other. As a growing group of people discovering God's place for each of us within this body called "NewHeart", it's important that we not just know, but that we embrace our values.

Into the Fall season, while a number of ministries rev into high gear again, we'll continue our "Welcome Home!" series by taking a good look at why we exist as a people called NewHeart.

We've invested the Summer looking at what we want to be like to the senses, but it's also critical to understand why we exist and what God intends to do with us as a church in this city.

The Church (ANY Church) is called and placed by God to fulfill His unique purposes in that place. As a matter of fact, the word the Bible uses for "Church" is the word "ecclesia", which literally means "called out by God" or "called out ones".

As such, we understand the "Church" NOT to be brick, mortar, stone, wood, buildings or property. We clearly see the truth that the "Church" (again, ANY Church) to be the people that make up that body.

One of the New Testament's oft-used analogies for the relational-functioning of the Church is family. Many places of the New Testament describe our relationships in familial terms of mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.

Any family desires their home to be a place where others are welcomed and embraced. Any Christian family desires their home to also be a place where anyone who enters can know the deep love that God has for them.

As a Church, we want to be a place where people can know that we all have purpose for our being that God created us to fulfill. This Fall, we'll continue our "Welcome Home!" series by addressing why God has "called out" NewHeart to be a church in this city. I hope who we are becomes more clear to you, because it is with clarity that God desires to draw people to His Son, Jesus Christ.

There's LOTS of great stuff happening at and through NewHeart! As you say goodbye to the Summer of 2006 and embrace the new things that God has in store for you and your family this Fall season, let's come together with aniticpation in our hearts for what God is doing!

Hey NewHeart ... WELCOME HOME!