Starting Point

Weekly Update November 10th

Happy Monday and top of the mornin' to everyone.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  For those of you who missed it, we had a great discussion on Sunday after re-polling the group for their latest questions they would ask God if they knew he would answer them.  We had a lot of questions raised about the validity/reliability of the Bible, and for that reason we will launch into some discussion on that topic this Sunday, starting with "Where did the Bible come from?".  Please be sure to attend.

 

Also yesterday, the church had its first "Deeper" service last night, highlighted by the baptism of 23 new believers, including one of our own, Shannon Peck!  It was a great night, and I'd love to hear thoughts from anyone who attended.

 

Finally (as always), please let Roger, Blake or me know if there is anything you would like to discuss, either in the group or 1-on-1.

 

Thanks,

Matt

Update October 25th 2008

Gang - just wanted to pass on this week's Preston Trail 'Trail Notes', which includes a note about the upcoming baptism at PTCC.  I encourage everyone to attend this event - it is always one of the highlights of the year for me, and we've got a few of your Starting Point commrades being baptized, so I encourage you to come and celebrate with them.  
Additionally, if you have any questions about what baptism is, what it means, why people get baptised, or if it makes sense for you to be baptised, Roger, Blake and I would love to speak to you about that.  Feel free to shoot us an e-mail.
Thanks - see you Sunday. 
Matt

http://prestontrail.typepad.com/trailnotes/

Weekly Update October 21st

Morning Gang! For this Sunday's Starting Point we be covering the topic 'What's So Different About Christianity?' We will be discussing the differences between many of the major world religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity).

I hope to see you there! As always if you have specific questions to topics to discuss feel free to contact myself, Matt, or Blake.

Roger Myers

Weekly Update October 7th

Good morning and happy Tuesday!  I can say that now that we are almost done talking about hell, the devil, etc.  Seriously, I am really grateful for the discussions we've had the last few weeks on those very important topics.  This Sunday we will wrap up our discussion of 'how can a loving God send people to hell', and start a new series.  The series is entitled 'Don't All Religions Lead to God?', and here is the set of topics we will cover over the next few weeks:

• Don't all religions teach basically the same thing?
• Is Jesus really the only way to God?
• What happens to people who have never heard of Jesus?

Many of you have asked these questions in our meetings, so I thought this would be a good series to go through.  Please join us this Sunday at 11 as we kick things off.

Separately, I'd like to ask those of you who feel led to pray for Roger.  It sounds like he has a herniated disc in his back (he's getting an MRI and going to the doctor on Wednesday to confirm) and he is basically immobilized and it a lot of pain.  Please pray for an accurate diagnosis, good treatment and a speedy recovery.  Also, he has declined any assistance for now, but I told him that we would be happy to help him if need be (I'm never shy about signing us up for duty!).

Thanks,

Matt

Weekly Update October 3rd

Hello one and all.  Hope you are hanging in there in the midst of the great depression-I mean recession and bailout-I mean rescue plan.  Don't worry - I'm sure our home values will start rising again in about 35 years.

Anyway - on to cheerier topics.  We will discuss HELL again this weekend.  Last week we started our way through the topic 'How can a loving God send people to hell?'  As you can imagine, this topic sparked a lot of discussion, and we didn't get too far into the materials (which is just fine).  So the good new is if you missed last week you can join us this Sunday and still be get exposure to the bulk of the materials on the topic.  Please join us at 11AM - I'll look forward to seeing you.  And trust me, I'll be in a good mood :).

Matt

Weekly update August 28th

Happy Thursday! I'm sure this has already been a long week for many of you, with cranky kids going back to school and summer drawing to a close. But look at it this way - football is almost here! Okay, maybe that won't cheer everyone up as much as it does for me :)

We have been making great progress in going through our series on "How could God allow suffering and evil?" In the past two weeks we've addressed the questions of "why doesn't God do something about all the suffering in the world?" and "Why do innocent people suffer?". This week Blake McMillan will lead us as we will discuss the question, "Is the devil for real?" You do not want to miss this - please plan to join us at 11AM this Sunday.

As always, please let me know if you would like to discuss any topic or question in the group or 1-on-1 with Roger, Blake or me. And be sure to invite a friend (or an enemy) to Starting Point - we don't bite!

Blessings,
Matt

weekly update August 20th

Greetings and happy Wednesday to all. I hope you are all having a good week. Here are this week's SP notes:

1) Gregg update. Our nearly-fallen comrade Gregg is doing much better and recovering nicely from his pancreatitis, appendicitis, new baby, rainy weather, etc. He is at home, feeling better, and is looking forward to running this weekend. Please keep Gregg in your prayers.

2) Group update. Last week we had several new attenders to the group. Please welcome our newcomers!

3) Curriculum update. Last week we launched into our discussion of why God allows suffering and evil in the world. We covered the first of six topics in this area, where did evil come from? This week, we will discuss the second topic, why do innocent people suffer? Please make a point to attend this Sunday if you have questions about this issue.

4) Logistics update. Starting this Sunday, Starting Point will be permanently moving to west atrium room (the glassed-in room immediately to the right of the front doors of the church as you walk in). I am excited about having this space because it will be quieter and allow us to put a Starting Point sign above the room.

As always, if you have any questions and want to discuss them either in the group or 1-on-1, please let Roger, Blake or me know.

Thanks,
Matt

Weekly update July 16th

How's everyone doing? I hope you are having a good week. Last week was one of those weeks when we took a diversion from our scheduled topic, and as usual it yielded a fascinating discussion. Instead of covering chapters 7 & 8 of More Than a Carpenter, we discussed the boring, non-controversial topics of abortion and homosexuality (bet those of you who missed are bummed now!). I think more than anything else, our discussion resolved once and for all that Anthony is a very, very attractive man :) .

Anyway, we will at least plan to dive back into the McDowell book this week, so please read chapters 7 and 8 of the book (if you have not already done so) and prepare your questions and thoughts.

One other note: please make every effort to attend one of the three worship services at Preston Trail the weekend of August 9th. Mike Koenig, Shannon Peck and I will be joining Jim Johnson on stage to briefly share our thoughts and experiences on Starting Point. You will not want to miss this - after all, it's not often that you get to see a grown woman become sick in front of 400 people! Just kidding, Shannon!

Blessings,
Matt

5/27/08 Weekly Update

Gang - I hope you are all doing well and had a great Memorial Day weekend. We got a lot of rest at our house, which was very, very welcomed.

This Sunday we will start our study of More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell by discussing the first three chapters of the book. If you have not already picked up your copy of the book, please do so right away - I'd like everyone to be there this Sunday & be ready to discuss.

As you read chapters 1-3, I'd like you to consider the following questions, which we will discuss on Sunday:

Chapter 1: did you identify with McDowell's personal story? If so, how?
Chapter 2: is it accurate to say that Jesus did not claim to be God? What are your thoughts on the argument that he was a "good teacher" or a "very moral man"?
Chapter 3: where do you stand right now - was Jesus a liar, lunatic, or lord? Be honest!
Thanks, and as always, please let me know if there is anything you would like to discuss, either at SP or 1-on-1.

Blessings,
Matt

5/22/08 Weekly Update

I hope everyone is having a great week this week. Last weekend was a big one for Starting Point. To recap:

On Saturday night, we had our second SP dinner. We had a great turnout and a great time. Thanks to everyone for coming and pretending to like my grilled delights.

On Sunday morning, Jim Johnson visited our group and shared some background on the birth of the different Christian denominations and answered our questions about how the Bible message got distorted by different denominations over time. Jim did a great job of concisely covering this topic that many of you have asked about.

On Sunday night, two of our own were baptized at PTCC's baptism event. Congratulations to Sean Dattoli and Mike Devore for celebrating their "new life" with everyone!

Moving forward, I have two ideas for things we can discuss in the next few weeks. Please respond to this message by indicating which you would prefer.

Option A: Read through and discuss More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell. This very short book is one of the classic texts of Christianity and would be on most top-5 lists of key books for explaining the faith. It is also one of 3 books I read (in addition to the Bible) before becoming a Christian. Gregg and I were going to read it together over the next few weeks, but I wonder if the rest of you would like to join us. It's a quick (~100 pages; I would plan on covering it in ~4 weeks) and easy read, and covers some very core issues. We have enough (free) copies for everyone at the church.

Option B: Continue to process through questions. For example, one question raised on Sunday was "how do you reconcile the God of the Old Testament with that of the New Testament - they seem so different?" If you'd like to go this path, please submit the questions you'd like to cover in response to this e-mail.

Thanks, and see you Sunday!

Matt