LifePoint Church Blog

LifePoint Church is about reaching people across all ages, across all walks of life. In order for LifePoint to fully function, a common thread exists through all of our ministries. The church body, with Jesus Christ at the head, is not just about a certain group of people, but about all Christ-followers coming together for a common purpose: to point people to a Christ-centered life! John 10:10

This is the core behind what LifePoint Church is all about. Recently we were blessed to hear the testimony of a student (LifePoint Students) who gives thanks to a couple of people in his life for helping him down his path towards Christ. The people that Elijah thanks are the most important people in our ministry, the volunteers and the parents in this student’s life. Elijah’s testimony is not just of him coming to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior but of many members of the body of Christ working together to spread the Gospel.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12, ESV)

Elijah gives great testimony about becoming a Christ follower and the importance of each of us using our spiritual gifts to serve the kingdom of God.

Maybe you need to take the next step in becoming a Christ follower. You can visit our next steps page to begin that process. Or maybe you are Christ follower looking to get connected in how you can best serve the kingdom of God. Visit our serve page to see how you can get plugged-in.

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At LifePoint we love hearing stories of life-change. If you have been contemplating baptism visit our baptism page to discuss it with someone, or comment below.

Check out more baptism videos.

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Twice a year, the LifePoint Student Ministry (see lifepointchurch.org/students) puts on an outreach event titled RushHour, for middle school, and Fuel, for high school. These events are designed to encourage students to bring friends with the intention of countless students hearing the message of Jesus Christ for the first time.  Within the student ministry, it is our goal to provide a safe, comfortable environment in which students can come together where we know our staff and our amazing volunteers are going to exhibit the love of Christ to each teenager that comes through our doors.

Our most recent events were held on Sept. 2.  The fun took to the air in “Helmet Required” (see lifepointchurch.org/rushhour). The action was 40 feet above the ground as middle school students were treated to a BMX stunt show.

High school students found time kick back at “Aloha” (see lifepointchurch.org/fuel). The Luau themed party allowed students to surf, rock-climb, pineapple bowling with coconuts (they do that at all luau’s, right?!) and enjoy authentic hula-style dancers.

Over 800 students were at the FBCSmyrna campus for the events. After student director David McCaman shared the gospel to both groups of students, 56 teenagers indicated giving their lives to Christ and 101 indicated they wished to be baptized!

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Stuart and Diane are a young married couple with one daughter and another child on the way. They attend LifePoint Church and are a hard working, fun loving couple who are ‘doing life together’ in this fast paced world we live in.

After approximately four years of marriage they began to experience what is commonly refer to as “struggles.” Doing life together was not always easy, not always fun. They realized they had differences which at times caused arguments and the arguments caused division. Initially they thought their struggles were the typical marital issues everyone experiences, but began feeling otherwise when at times the struggles seemed unbearable. There were days they were ready to “throw in the towel,” until…

They were invited to attend Real Marriage. Real Marriage, led by Rodney and Selma Wilson,  is an event for married couples to experience incredible music, creative programming, and a relevant message—all designed to encourage and empower marriages. Each event focuses on one of the 6 Essentials of a Healthy Marriage, Cultivate Communication, Treasure Trust, Hurry Home, Celebrate Sex, Nuture Romance, and Include God.

Their initial reaction to the invitation was a negative one, Stuart and Diane had no intentions of attending, but decided “what can it hurt?”, so they went to their first Real Marriage event. That evening Rodney and Selma addressed “Cultivating Communication.” Quite honestly it could not have come at a better time. As they listened, Stuart and Diane began to realize the problems they were experiencing were actually quite common among married couples. They said, “We felt like Rodney and Selma were speaking directly to our problems, and offering us helpful advice. We realized that our problems were manageable, fixable.” They both agreed that as a result of listening to and applying what they had learned that evening, their relationship began to experience renewal.

Diane said, “The biggest thing I walked away with that evening was learning to build one another up by what we say to each other”.

Stuart added, “We didn’t know what to expect, never having attended before…a lecture maybe. It ended up being so enjoyable. There was a lot of laughter, great desserts and fun couple games. And wow, to hear people talk about sex at a church function…crazy!!! They even took snapshots of couples giving each other a little kiss during the night and then put the pictures up on the screen for us all to see. It was fun!

Rodney and Selma talked about real-life stuff and instead of just preaching to us, they talked to us as if we were their friends, really wanting to help us figure this whole thing out, they really care. The title of the seminar is very appropriate, they speak to Real-life Marriages. We are actually invited people to attend with us this year.”

Diane and Stuart also said another important fact that was shared during the course of the night is that when you argue, and you will, learn how to talk things out, be honest with each other, but do it in a way that is not belittling the other, talk things out and talk each other up, keeping in mind that men need praise and women need to feel secure.

Stuart and Diane strongly believe that their marriage is much better today because of what they learned at Real Marriage, ‘took home’ and applied to their relationship. Is their marriage perfect? No, but they continue to work each day to build one another up and cultivate communication.

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Witnessing the life change that Jesus creates, never gets old. It can come in many shapes and sizes. One of the ways that LifePoint’s members can exhibit and witness the love of Christ is through our network of volunteers. Serving as a volunteer at LifePoint allows our members to engage in personal ministry using each of the unique gifts that God has given us all (see lifepointchurch.org/serve). Our volunteers serve as the basis of our ministry and they help connect our members and guests by being the hands and feet of the body of Jesus Christ. Here’s a story from a LifePoint volunteer.

I haven’t been a Christian long. But thanks to the incredible ministry at LifePoint Church, I realized what was missing in my life and have allowed Jesus to begin radical changes within me.

Shortly after receiving Christ, I began to serve in the Preschool ministry. I was so thankful to God for the chance to bring glory to His kingdom by allowing me to teach and influence some of God’s most precious gifts, children. At first I didn’t realize that being the hands and feet of Christ wasn’t just limited to teaching little ones. God was also using me to reach one of the most important persons in my life, my husband.

At the time that I let Christ into my heart, my husband was a recovering alcoholic who had not yet found Jesus. Through all of my excitement of my new found life in Christ, my husband began to become interested in what this “church thing” was all about. At first he started to attend church every now and then, when he was motivated to get out of bed or it didn’t interfere with kickoff to a Titans game. This went on for a time, until I could begin to see Christ working in his life.

My husband began to transform and began attending LifePoint on a weekly basis. Up until this point he still had yet to completely surrender to Jesus. After attending the first service, my husband would go home while I served in Preschool, during the second service. As I continued to pray for my husband, the change finally happened.

My husband and I, now both surrendered to Christ, attend service on a weekly basis and also serve alongside each other in Preschool ministry. Our lives are so radically different with God in control and our friends have noticed the changes in our lives from as recent as a year ago. We thank the ministry of LifePoint for communicating to us the value of God’s love and grace and we try to teach that to preschoolers while remembering that we are there to love on those beautiful children as well as all of the adults that the Preschool ministry can reach as well.

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We want to introduce the LifePoint Global missionaries who are going to be part of our church planting teams in Belgium and Bangkok. Below are their names and ways to stay connected while they are on mission.

Names are from left to right with Pat separating the two locations.

Belgium Team

• Dan and Elizabeth Christensen. Dan’s Blog. Dan’s Facebook. Elizabeth’s Facebook.
• David and Angie Ebensberger, children – Abbie, Emily, Phoebe and Ruby. Ebensberger’s Blog.
• Bryan and Cassi Wolski. Wolski’s Blog. Bryan’s Facebook. Cassi’s Facebook.
• Rob and Cynthi Law, children – Ryan, Ruthie and Ross. Rob’s Facebook. Cynthi’s Facebook.
• Kyle, Amy Goen, children – Jordan, Peyton, and Evan. Kyle’s Blog. Kyle’s Facebook.

Bangkok Team

• Bret and Susie Cox. Susie’s Facebook.
• Kyle Tanner. Kyle’s Blog.
• Brett (not shown) and Beth Clark, children – Aiden, Niah and Adley (sent by Ridgeview Community Church in Franklin, in partnership with LifePoint) Clark’s Blog.
• Brandon and Crystal Hathcock. Hathcock’s Blog.
• Seth Hood. Seth’s Blog.

LifePoint currently has missionaries in South Asia and West Africa, as well.

• South Asia – Steve and Tiffany VanDyke, children – Leigha and Kevin. (Will move from current location in December to join the Bangkok Team)
• West Africa – Rick and Jeanne Schroder, children – Matthew and Luke.

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At LifePoint Church we are all about pointing people towards a Christ-centered life and influencing life change that can only be accomplished by the love of Jesus.  It is the core of what we are all about (John 10:10b). In order for us to be the hands and feet of the body of Christ, we must stay connected to not only the Word of God but also to one another.  One of the ways that we accomplish this is through our small groups programs and curriculum. (See lifepointchurch.org/groups)

The following is an example of a small group understanding what it means to be a part of the church, the corporate body of Christ, by serving their community together. This small group shows us how service can be something a little different than what you may have pictured in your head, it could even be as simple as having fun at a pool party.

The Laminin Small Group partnered with the management at Mill Creek Apartments in Antioch to assist them with their annual summer pool party upon the request of Melanie Bibbs, Mill Creek’s property manager, who attends LifePoint. Our mission was to establish relationships, share the love of Christ with the hope of planting seeds for small group studies among the tenants, and just have good fun with a positive vibe!

Our group helped plan and set up the event working hand in hand with property management and the maintenance crew on the day of the event.

We had fun throwing the Frisbee with the children at the pool, participating in the Hoola-Hoop contest that was led by the D J, and serving hotdogs, chips, drinks, and popcorn. Todd Graff and his son Cameron, also LifePoint members, gave their time to bring their cotton candy machine and donated all the ingredients…it was a giant hit with everyone. We also provided and set up a jumper on the tennis courts for the children, which they thoroughly enjoyed.
We were able to share God’s love by answering the call to be ambassadors from LifePoint for His purpose. Our presence was greatly appreciated by the staff and the tenants.

The Laminin Group t-shirts we were wearing made for the perfect ice breaker. People were asking about Laminin’s meaning which allowed us to share how Christ holds us together. We shared the benefit of being involved in a small group for weekly Bible study, being an encouragement to one another through prayer support, and holding one another accountable as Christ followers. Stories were shared from those who were broken and searching for God. We were excited to see how God was moving in their hearts and we look forward to seeing a harvest in that place. Seeds were planted in those we shared with and we hope to have another opportunity to serve there in the near future.

As a group we learned that even in the midst of playful laughter, there are hurts from things unseen, and people who are crying out for someone to care. It was an awesome day for us to care for those folks and share the good news that there is hope in Jesus Christ. Our group’s mission statement proved to be real that day. Not only as individuals but as a Body of Christ, “We are held together by Christ for His purpose”.

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Renovation, planning and excitement are underway as LifePoint prepares to open its second campus. The new Stewarts Creek Campus will open in the coming weeks. We hope to announce the Grand Opening date in a few weeks. If you have not viewed the story and vision from Pat at LifePoint’s special called business meeting, you can view that on our news page. Here are a few pictures:

See more pictures on the LifePoint Church Facebook Page.

At the new Stewarts Creek Campus, attenders will experience the same exciting worship, life-changing messages, engaging environment, and great Next Gen programming as our FBCSmyrna Campus. Also in the coming weeks, LifePoint’ers will hear more details on how they can commit to ‘making the move’ to the Stewarts Creek Campus to help LifePoint reach another apart of our community with love, compassion, excellence, and relevance. We challenge everyone to pray and consider how they can support this new campus, especially those who live in the Stewarts Creek community. Many will commit to attending and serving at the new campus. Many more will hopefully step into service and greater leadership to help the FBCSmyrna Campus launch our new campus as well as FBCSmyrna Campus’ move to three services in August.

LifePoint’s vision is to point people to a Christ-centered life. Now we have two campuses to expand God’s Kingdom by His grace along with our growing Global reach and the incredible ministries of LifePoint. It is a great day to be apart, serve and connect others to LifePoint.

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Camp Whatever ‘09 was an amazing week.

We took 427 total students (and 98 adults) making it our biggest one so far… it was a feat we accomplished only because of Christ and the great volunteers we took. Of those students, 23 talked with adults about accepting Christ, 7 would like to follow through with baptism and 19 noted that they are called to ministry/Christian leadership.

Here is the last day’s video from camp:

More videos and pictures of camp can be found on the Camp Whatever page.

If you would like to hear more about what happened at Camp Whatever ‘09 we would like to invite you to the Camp Share Service on July 15 at 6:30pm in the LifePoint Auditorium.

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With the launch of the new LifePoint Church website, we released a new page called Guided Tour. This new page is designed to make it easy for guests to have a great first experience at LifePoint. The page includes tips for navigating a pleasant Sunday morning experience and offers a guided tour for guests.

This past Sunday was the first guided tour our Guest Services team has given. And it was a success! Here’s an email sent to one of our staff from the first time attender.

…TJ was a great host/tour guide. The Church was everything we expected and more. The kids had a great time and knew some of their teachers and other children in their class. Which was a plus, they were kind of hesitant when I told them we wanted to try another Church.

We plan on coming back…

Thanks again

Lisa

We could not do this without a great first impressions team, who are willing to serve and be a smiling face to guests.

Hopefully this continues to be another tool that breaks down some of the barriers people have when attending church, and allows LifePointer’s to feel comfortable to invite their unchurched friends to use the guided tour.

Here are the links:

• Guided Tour Page – http://lifepointchurch.org/tour
• Guided Tour Form – http://lifepointchurch.org/tour#form

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