On November 5th bring your car between 8:00am and noon to Project Share (5 North Orange St.) and receive a free 12 point check up.

NEEDED ITEMS: Windshield Washer Fluid, Jumper Cables, Financial Donations greatly appreciated. All money will be used to purchase supplies, parts and to repair vehicles. Supplies and donations can be brought to our office (42 W. High St.) or dropped off at Project Share on Saturday morning.

If you would like to be a part of serving at this event please email Pastor Ryan: pastorryan@newlifecommunity.us

Three weeks ago I sent out an email asking you as family and friends of New Life Community to be praying for our Leadership as we engaged in conversations around possibilities and dreams for ministry and community transformation. As we move forward in deeper conversation, strategic planning and discerning the direction of our Heavenly Father for NLC, we as leaders feel it is very important to begin the conversation and dreaming process with you. There are pieces of information that we are unable to fully communicate at this point due to confidentiality and because the conversations are so fresh that we really don’t have answers or details.

As I share I want you to know that we value and welcome your input and creative investment. In the coming weeks and months we will be providing many opportunities for conversation, idea sharing and brainstorming. I want to encourage you to take all that is shared into your times of prayer, to listen clearly for the voice of Holy Spirit and to share with us what you hear. I believe that there will be many of you who will need to step even deeper into intimacy with God and leadership in His church. I am very excited about what can happen and what will happen as we respond to the call of God in our family and as individuals…here we go!

Church Planting & Revitalization.

In 2004 at one of our first leadership retreats it was determined by the leadership that New Life Community would be a church that multiplies. It was a dream that NLC would be a church that plants churches and partners with churches to see lives changed and the Kingdom expand. In 2006 we began conversations with Bishop Ken Letner, and in 2007 we partnered with the Susquehanna Conference of the Brethren in Christ to plant a BIC church somewhere within a 20 mile area of Carlisle. At that time we had no idea that Engage Community would be launched and planted within 1 mile of our current location in the Theatre. God has blessed both NLC and Engage with substantial growth in the past two years. Engage will be moving into their third year as a BIC church. While planting Engage certainly wasn’t easy, it was what God was asking us to do, and through big risk He has proven Himself faithful.

A few months ago while at Exponential Conference in Orlando Florida, Bishop Doug approached Maureen and I about the potential of NLC revitalizing another local BIC church. Based on the track record of NLC in raising up leaders, revitalizing and planting churches, and our multi-facited downtown ministry, we’ve been asked to consider taking the lead in this amazing opportunity.

In the coming weeks I will be meeting with Bishop Doug and the leadership of this church for the purpose of further investigation and sharing. Because these conversations are so new, no decisions or commitments have been made. We need to pray and discern where and how God is leading NLC. As a leadership team we certainly feel that God is at work in this and desperately want to go where He is leading. There are many potentials and details that we will need to talk through, work through and creativily deal with as we continue converstaions. We want to ask you to join us in prayer and listening to Holy Spirit.

New Facility Potentials.

At our Annual Family meeting I mentioned that we need to continue to pray about our current ministry space and our need for more ministry space throughout the week. We believe that God has called us specifically to be a church that exists in the downtown of Carlisle and seeks to transform it. There are so many creative potentials for ministry that many of you have shared with us and have dreamed of that can only happen with more space. We have been in conversation with someone who has space in the downtown that would potentially give us more opportunity for increased ministry. We have no decision making ability in this and are praying and waiting for the landowner to make intitial decsion so that we can continue looking forward.

Daycare Center and Children’s Outreach.

One of the wonderful potentials of having a space that would be available for us to use during the week would be greater involvment in families and specifically children. One of the areas that we have seen tremendous growth and impact is in our children’s ministries. Pam and the team involved in this have done and amazing job of loving kids, teaching them God’s Word and encouraging families. How cool would it be to be able to go deeper and invest more time in the lives of families for Jesus? Another dream that we are starting to talk about and pursue is a Downtown Multi-ethnic Daycare Center. A place where kids would be loved throughout the week, families would be mentored and trained and our community would be impacted in an even deeper way. The potential to do on the job training and provide a place with not only daycare, but excellence is large. I get pretty excited about the possibilities as I dream about things like this. Glenda Baublitz is hard at work in the development of the dream and the many possibilities.

We are also starting to think about the potential for after-school programs and clubs that would provide our kids in the downtown another place to receive love, support in a Christ-filled environment. Karen Helmuth has started to share some of her dreams and desires with Leadership and we will be having further conversations and brainstorming times with her. Can you envision these dreams and the potential for reaching people for Christ?

Youth Ministry.

Youth ministry has been an important part of NLC for a number of years. I had been leading this area of ministry up until 2010 when I felt that it was too much on top of everything else I am involved in. At that point several of our students had graduated high school and were moving on to college. We are at a stage in our growth right now where there are a large group of Junior High students attending NLC and needing something more. A number of folks from NLC have had conversations with Leadership about the need for more for our students in the past few months.

I have been in conversation with a young lady from the area who has sensed a call to youth ministry at NLC. In the coming weeks we will be having further conversations and looking at how we might be able to pull this together. We currently do not have the resources to hire a youth pastor and will need to get creative if this is to happen. Leadership team is looking into the possibility of her coming in a support raising role and working a part time job. The vision God has given her for youth ministry aligns with the DNA and identity of NLC. We need to pray for discernment, resources and clear direction as we move forward.

I am so humbled as I share these exciting possibilities with you! I believe that the Church in this next decade will be called to be engaged in even greater ways in the community, meeting needs that it has neglected to meet over the past number of years. Eddie Gibbs says that, “The church needs to become infiltrational rather than invitational”. The dreams and vision that I am going to share with you will potentially lead NLC to becoming even more infiltrating in sharing the gospel of Christ with a community desperate for Him!

Each of these things that I have shared with you are the dreams, ideas and resources of other people. Leadership team and I are amazed at how quickly these ideas have moved from casual conversation to ideas worth investing time and prayer for serious consideration. We have not had long to contemplate these ideas and are grateful for the prayer, support, and wisdom we know God will provide through each of you. We believe that God is calling us to step out in bold, courageous, risk taking faith. On their own these things are far beyond our ability, resources and power, but through the leadership of Holy Spirit and the power of God the Father we believe all things are possible.

I know that this may be overwhelming as you read and take it all in. The one mistake that I feel we made when planting Engage was not sharing information soon enough. We want to share as much as we can as we walk through this together. Decsions will be made by leadership team, but not without having conversations and recieving lots of input from each of you. We will be enlisting the wisdom and advice of trusted denoninational leaders, community leaders and friends of NLC as well.

The two things that we ask of you at this time are simple…

1. PRAY for each of these things. Fast and pray for clarity and wisdom. Ask Holy Spirit to speak loudly and to lead us clearly. As you pray I would encourage you to journal and share with us ideas, thoughts and concerns.

2. GIVE sacrificially and faithfully. If each of us gives the bare minimum of a 10% tithe we would have no financial pressure. If each of us gave sacrificially as Holy Spirit leads NLC would have abundant resources. While money isn’t the greatest issue by any means, it is needed to keep moving forward. I believe that God will pour out even greater blessing as we are faithful.

Keep your eyes and ears open for more information. We will be sharing more through email, website, facebook, Sunday mornings and in small conversational gatherings.

I love being your Pastor,

Ryan

We will be holding a memorial service for Don Nelson on Wednesday April 20, 2011. The service will be held at the Carlisle Theatre (40 W. High St. Carlisle) beginning at 6:30 PM.

Some days hope can be pretty hard to find. Even at Christmas, it’s challenging to avoid thinking about all of the negative stuff we see and experience. Even during the darkest times however we can find strength and hope in Jesus’ birth. Come join us and re-gain hope this Christmas!

Service: 6:30- 7:30 PM @ Carlisle Theatre

“ON THE ROAD”
3rd Annual Car Winterization
@ Project S.H.A.R.E. (5 N. Orange St. Carlisle)
December 12, 2009
8:00 am-12:00 noon

Car Winterization Voucher

Join us tonight at the Carlisle Theatre (40 W. High St.) from 7:00- 8:00 Pm as we celebrate Christmas Eve. Everyone is welcome to join us for this time of worship, sharing, and candle lighting.

Will be offered on Tuesday evenings beginning September 23rd and concluding October 14th. Classes run from 6:30 to 8:30pm (childcare will be available). Each class will be limited to 10 participants. Please register by September 12th. Pick up an application at Welcome Central.

Saturday, September 27th and October 4 from 9:30am to 12pm @ the YWCA. The first session is titled: “Fight Like a Girl”. Session two is entitled: “Girls on Guard”. Sessions cost $30 ($15 per session). Please pay in advance. For more information contact the YWCA Carlisle @ 243-3818. Also see welcome central.

Do you enjoy little ones? Are you interested inparticipating in a much needed ministry? A local MOPS group is in need of loving volunteers (men and women needed) to care for preschooler children for 2.5 hours twice a month while their mothers have an oppertunity to be encouraged in the task that God has set before them, being the best moms they can be!

Please see Aimee Hand or call Aimee @ 240-1299 for more information on how YOU can become involved.

Sunday             09/14          12:30-4pm                Children’s Ministry Team Event @ Trindle Bowl  

Saturday          10/04          5pm                          NLC Fall Fest @ Lehman’s Retreat             

Sunday             10/05          2-4pm                       Small Group Leaders Mtg @ Pastor Ryan’s