Life Group Launch Day is just around the corner!  If you have been looking to connect with other couples, plan to attend Sunday morning, August 28th and sign up for a group this semester.  

Life Groups are a vital component to the NLC experience. We all need others to live life with.  Join us Sunday Night at 6pm as we celebrate Life Groups and cast vision for the next semester. If you have ever been curious about Life Groups, thought of leading a Life Group or hosting a home, come and check us out.

Just think…this semester could change your life forever!

Select the Link for more information!

Life Group Worship and Vision Night

Two years ago on Sunday, March 1st, our family walked into the Greater Little Rock Campus of New Life Church.

As we arrived that day, we were coming out of a great ministry where we had spent 17 years pouring our lives into others, building relationships, and doing as best as we could (with all our imperfections) to point others to Christ. Leaving was difficult, especially because of the lives of those we had loved from the moment we first met them, regardless of their circumstances. Sometimes we believed in them more than they believed in themselves. Watching God work in their lives even to this day is so amazing to us. We will always cherish our time there. However, as hard as it was for us to admit, we needed a breath.

We prayed for some "rest" and our prayers were answered in an unusual and immediate way...(another story for another time).

After almost four months of "rest", we began our sabbatical as a family. We had actually sat down at our dinner table the week before arriving at NLC and prayed and talked about how we could visit a lot of churches and our family could experience all aspects of their ministries. (We had five kids ranging from 15 through 4 at the time). The kids and I were excited while Christie was somewhat anxious.

We will never forget the environment that we walked into. We did not need to visit any other places. We could not have designed a place that fit our hearts so completely. The remainder of our sabbatical was spent at NLC and they allowed us to start our first life group a year ago. We now serve as pastors to couples at the Cabot Campus which was launched five months ago.

God is amazing. He took the call that He placed on my heart over 20 years ago and led our family to a place in His perfect timing, in a way that we could have never planned. He placed us in an environment where they believe in me more than I sometimes believe in myself. My heart said two years ago today...This Is Home!

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

Christie and I feel that Life Groups are an essential part of the walk of a believer. There is a big difference between a group that experiences life together and a group that just meets together. How can you shift gears if you are leading or hosting a group in your home and make the environment one of intentional community?

To start with, we do not just open the door and invite people in, we open our home. I cannot express how important this is. It is not just a place where we schedule a time for others to show up and we go over a bible study or lesson. It is where we intentionally invest in building relationships with others. We let them see who we really are and we want to know where they are in their relationship with Christ. Naturally, there is a study or topic that we use, but the main objective is to build those relationships through the study.

As the weeks unfold and the relationships grow in the group, we begin to share life together. What started out as several individuals or couples, quickly becomes a group that you cannot live without. You can experience the best worship service each Sunday and it will only take you so far. God intended us to live life together and build relationships.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47

Do you just open the door or do you open your home?

I've spent the better part of this day praying for others. I was at home feeling under the weather myself and couldn't go to work. Instead of just passing time flipping through the channels, I posted on FB that I had some time and wanted to pray for others. I was amazed at the response and the requests. Here are some things that I learned today.

1. By just being available to others, God will use that time to help develop community and deepen relationships. We need each other.

2. By listening to others we get a window of where God is working or trying to work in their lives and can encourage each other. We need direction.

3. By finding a more appropriate use of our time God tends to humble us and grow us. We need grace.

Thank you God for today and my reason for extra time. I won't approach spare time the same again.