I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

Hey NHA!
I hope you're all having a great week and that you were able to get out an enjoy those few hours of sunshine yesterday, hopefully we'll see more of that and less of the white stuff here in March. I read in the newspaper today that Mansfield had the most snow out of any Ohio city in the month of February. A whopping 49.1 inches! That is just amazing.
As many of you already know, I leave for Haiti this Thursday. I'll be down there for 11 days helping a church put the roof on their new building. This is the same church that I and a team of young adults from my church in Mansfield visited last summer and helped pour the foundation for the building. I can't wait! I love working with my hands and helping to share the love of Christ through tangible, hands-and-feet ministry. I can't speak Creole, the native language, but everyone understands hard work and the gift of a building to gather in to give praise and honor to God. If you think to pray for me in the next weeks, pray for strength, a good attitude, and for the health of myself and the other 13 guys going down. Haiti is a rough country and I know the devil is going to try and discourage us and I pray that we might have the resolve to lean upon God and not ourselves to make it though.
In my absence (no, I won't be flying back for Sunday mornings!) Dan Peterson from the district Converge office will be sharing with you on Sunday mornings. Dan has a deep passion for up-and-coming churches such as NHA and I know what he brings from God's Word will bless you. So, come and join us this Sunday once again at 11 AM in the Little Theater of Ashland High School. The coffee will be hot, the fellowship will be warm and inviting, and the Holy Spirit will no doubt enter in like a gentle breeze.
Bon voyage, auf wiedersen, ciao, and see you later, alligator!

This weekend at New Hope Ashland!

Isn't Ohio weather a great example of how insignificant we are and how great God is? I pray, I shout, I plead with the heavens and yet, only God knows what the morning is going to bring! Will it snow? Will it rain? Will the sun come out and warm this place up? Who knows! But lucky for us, God is good and has everything under control.

Thanks to everyone who came out to worship with us in the library this last weekend. It was cozy, the Word was brought, and the coffee was still hot, so I'd count it a success! This weekend we'll be back in the Little Theater at 11 AM and looking at what God has for us in Luke 15:8-10. "The Parable of the Lost Coin" is relatively short, but is packed full of instruction for us who claim to follow Christ. Do we value the lost like God values the lost? Do we value them like the woman in the parable values her lost coin? If we don't, we need to! Christ's gives us practical steps to finding the lost in these few verses and that's what we'll be looking at this weekend. See you there!

Now that small groups are underway, I'd like to hear how they're going. If you have a story that you can share from your small group that you think would encourage others in their journey with God, send them to me at jared@newhopeashland.com. Stay tuned for details on the next KIA event for NHA coming up in March! And finally, the baptism service for this Sunday has been postponed. Instead of moving from the high school to the Ashland University Rec Center this Sunday, we'll just stay at the high school for regular Sunday worship. Continue praying about being baptised if haven't already and just let me know when you're ready to take that next step!

May the Lord bless you and keep you this week, NHA!

Having a heart for the lost

This week starts our new series, "Lost and Found," based on Luke 15. Luke 14 ends with Jesus telling the crowds that following him will not be easy. They'll have to give up their families, their jobs, even their lives, if they really want to follow him. What are you giving up to follow Jesus? Consider the shepherd from the parable in Luke 15:4-6. Do you think he wants to leave home after a long day of work to go find the one missing sheep? He could get by with 99 sheep couldn't he? As Christians, it's easy for us to get stuck in our "Christian bubble" where we only associate with those who we feel comfortable with. What the shepherd does though is leaves his comfortable life behind and starts scouring the countryside looking for that one sheep. Jesus wants us to feel a measure of discomfort in life. If you can live life day in and day out and never feel out of place, you've missed the point! This Sunday, we'll be exploring this idea of abandoning our lives of comfort to find those who are truly missing.
I hope you all had a chance to hand out your "kisses" this last Sunday as part of our KIA event. Keep your eyes open for the next KIA opportunity coming up! Thanks again to Jamey Ragle for sharing with us this last weekend, I don't know about you, but I'm making a concentrated effort to be more compassionate now. Our world is desperate for some compassion, just think of the difference we could make if we lived compassionately! Small groups are underway but if you still want to get involved, we have room! Contact Jared at jared@newhopeashland.com to find out what groups are available and when. And don't forget our baptism service on Feb. 28th! Let Jared know if you're interested in taking this next step in your faith.
Have a blessed week, NHA!

The Lo-o-o-ove Issue

"I told my wife that a husband is like a fine wine; he gets better with age. The next day, she locked me in the cellar."

"Love is like a booger. You keep picking at it until you get it, and then you wonder what to do with it."

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."

"If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?"

"I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste."

"Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After marriage, the "y" becomes silent."

"Marriage is like pi. Natural, irrational, and very important."

"The four most important words in any marriage...'I'll do the dishes!'"

And one final thought..."Forget love. I'd rather fall in chocolate!"

Hey gang! With Valentine's Day just around the corner (it's Sunday...as in this Sunday) I figured we could all use a good laugh at the expense of love. Have a good laugh at the above quotes, but be sure to express your love to someone special this Sunday. The words, "I love you," are loaded with nuturing and healing potential. Tell a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend, tell somebody that you love them every chance you get.

This Sunday, Jamey Ragle will be back at NHA and will be speaking into our "Vintage Church" series on the importance of love in the Church and also about the mission of the Church. Small groups start this week and next, be on the look out for details concerning our women's small group, couples/mixed small group, and youth small group. And don't forget about the NHA baptism on February 28th! If you would like to be baptized, contact me (Jared) at jared@newhopeashland.com ASAP.

Have a great week!

"God bless me!"

Growing up, I had a friend who everytime he sneezed, if you didn't immediately say, "God bless you," he'd say real loud, "God bless me!" I was reminded of this over the weekend when Dan Peterson preached on being a blessing to others out of our blessed-ness. I have so much to be thankful for that I should be walking around yelling, "God has blessed me!" I could go without Starbucks or Jake's for a week and donate that money to a food shelter. I could take some time on a Sunday afternoon and volunteer to lead a ministry outreach at a nursing home. There's a lot I could do. I love that NHA has a ministry dedicated to blessing others out of our own blessed-ness. KIA exists to share some of what God has given to us with others who aren't as blessed. I can't wait to hear about this month's KIA event and be a part of this hands and feet ministry!
This Sunday, we'll be looking at discipline and unity in the church. These are deep, multi-faceted concepts in our world today and we need to know how we use them in the church. When we accept the challenge to be like Christ, we accept the challenge to be a part of Christian discipline and unity.
Don't forget that small groups start this coming week! We'll have all the details on those this Sunday. If you still haven't signed up for a group, it's not too late!
Baptism service on February 28th at the AU Rec Center! If you would like to get baptized, see Jared for more information.
Jamey Ragle returns February 14th to wrap up our "Vintage Church" series! He'll be sharing about love (it is Valentine's Day after all...) and the mission of the church.
And with Valentine's Day just around the corner, here's some advice men: "Girls are like phones. We love to be held, talked to, but if you press the wrong button you'll be disconnected!"-Anonymous

See you Sunday!