Tory Farina

I am getting out of the blog world for a while. Twitter and Facebook seem to have replaced my blogs usefulness.

The Last Week...

It was 379 Sundays ago that we Launched High Point in a movie theatre. It was a great place to start. Plenty of parking, Everyone in the community knew where it was and it was affordable. Six years later we are saying goodbye. 

Their is a part if me that is a bit nostalgic. I loved the theatre. I loved being in the market place and watching peoples faces as they realized they had to walk by a life giving community to go watch their movie. 

Far more of me is outrageously excited about our new building. The theatre was good for a season. Itserved its purpose but like your first apartment you were never meant to raise a family in so our theatre is not the place we are going to blossom our church family in. Their is so much more we can do in our own space. More meetings, more services, more people, more kids space, more offices and so much more potential for growth.

Sunday is our last day at the theatre. It has been good but its about to get a whole lot better. It is the end of one stage of our church development and the beginning of our next level. I feel we have done all we can do in our current location and it is time to see what a new fishing hole will bring us.  

Don't miss the next few weeks at High Point it is going to be a fantastic ride!

 

We Have a New Location...

I am so excited for what this means for High Point. I believe we are headed for a breakout year in 2012. This building is a tool that God will use to take us as a church to the next level. More needs will be meet, more lives will be transformed and more people will come in contact with the power of God. We are living our Potential!

In the spring of this year we laid out our Make Room For More plan. It is worth watching the video again.

Since we launched this initiative we have been praying, planning and looking for a building that fit our needs. After hours of driving around, a list of over 80 properties, stepping foot on nearly 15 properties we have found our new home.

New facility walk through from Courtney Feia on Vimeo.

Our new Home will be located at 875 Blue Gentian Rd. it is conveniantly located 2 exits west on 494 from our current location. 

This location is exactly what we have been looking for. An attractive building, 24' ceilings, easy access to 494 and still within the southeast corner of St. Paul. 

Click to see a slide show of more.

The only thing standing in our way from this being a reality is the city approving our Interim Use Permit. The city meets on Oct 25th and Nov 1st. Pray they aprove us with no issue or delay.

Quotes from Steve Jobs...

Steve Jobs visionary work has been an inspiration to me over the years. I like how he designs great products that seem to make you want to use them. He resigned his post at Apple yesterday, due to health concerns. In honor of him here are some of his more famous quotes.

   -----------------------------------------

“The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people––as remarkable as the telephone.” 1985

"I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.[…] It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." [On being fired from Apple, 1984]

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. [ Wired, February 1996 ]

“For something this complicated, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” [ BusinessWeek, May, 1998 ]

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

“I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

 

 

Scriptures on Profanity and Speach...

As I was preparing these scriptures where helpful to come up with a biblical perspective on the tongue and profanity.

Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Matthew 15:10-11 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

James 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 3:6-8 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Ephesians 5:4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

2 Timothy 2:16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,

James 3:11-13 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Matthew 5:37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Make Room For More Update...

Giving Results Animation from Courtney Feia on Vimeo.

Sunday on May 22nd was Make Room For More Sunday. We brought our commitments and First fruit offering to the Lord. It was an unbelievable day! We had one powerful service.

I am pleased to announce that we surpassed our original goal by over 30%. We had over 100 family units jump on board to be apart of this monumental moment. We committed over a one year time to give above and beyond our normal tithes $393,400 and $145,500 was given in the First Fruits offering!!!

If you were not apart of the day or want to relive the moment you can listen to the day here... 

Their is still room for you to be apart of the miracle we are $7,000 away from our miracle goal and are still receiving commitments and First Fruit offerings. You can give during our normal time of Tithes and Offerings on Sunday, online here or mail your gift in to the High Point Office at 5838 Blackshire Path, Inver Grove Heights MN. 55076. 

WOW! Thank you for your faithfulness and support. I am excited to see what god has in store for our church and this city as we Make Room For More.

Isaiah 54:2-3

"Clear lots of ground for your tents!
   Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big!
Use plenty of rope,
   drive the tent pegs deep.
You're going to need lots of elbow room
   for your growing family.
You're going to take over whole nations;
   you're going to resettle abandoned cities.

Make Room For More Prayer...

Today is our 24 hours of prayer. Plan on spending a half an hour at some point from 10am Saturday through Sunday Service at 10am.

Join our Prayer Call in at 9pm today Saterday May 21st

1-213-342-3000

Access Code: 4544580

Five things to Pray For:

• Pray that you will hear from God.
• Pray for your church that we wqill hear from God.
• Pray for your church leadership.
• Pray for those who will be involved in building our facility.
• Pray for those who are yet to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Make Room For More Brochure...

If you have not seen our Make Room For More Plan I want you to have all the information before Sunday. Due to our overwhelmingly positive response by our leaders who pre-comitted $299,000 we are upping the goal to $400,000. This is a miracle goal and we are believing it means that God has something even greater than we imagined.

You can download it here Download Make Room For More Brochure. See you Sunday at 10am for service and Lunch to fallow.

Make Room For More Stewardship... pt 5

Brett & Emily - A Live Your Potential Story from Courtney Feia on Vimeo.

Make Room For More Giving...

Next Sunday, May 22, you will have the opportunity to complete a commitment card and join the High Point Church family, as we step out in faith and make financial commitments to this initiative. In addition, at the end of the service, everyone will be able to participate in a “first-fruits” offering to make an initial investment toward what has been committed.

We are praying that the Lord will speak to your heart regarding your participation and visionary giving. We are filled with anticipation for the miracles that God will do in your life as you listen for His voice, follow His leading, and watch His provision.

How Much Should I Give?
The amount of each individual commitment will vary. There is no set formula. Each of us should begin to seek the Lord for direction how much He desires to provide through us. Our giving should be above and beyond our tithe and should involve sacrifice and an act of faith on our part.
 

We give based on reason. We use our head to figure out what is “reasonable." What and were can you give from that you currently have access to.

We give based sacrifice. Sacrificial giving is foregoing, giving up, something we enjoy or care about in order to use that money for some other worthy goal. Things like cutting cable, taking a smaller vacation, selling something like jewlry, art, land, cars or clothes and using what we have in our hands to honor the Lord.

We give based on revelation. I want everyone at High Point to search your heart and determine your giving by praying, “Lord, what do you want to give through me?” This requires faith. When we make giving a matter of prayer, our decisions become acts of worship. Revelation giving is asking, “What can I do by faith with God’s help?”

 

 The Key is to Pray Every Day.

“Lord, I want to give sacrificially. Now please show me how to give a gift that will stretch my faith.” If you are married, pray with your spouse.

 

Give yourself time! Don’t rush your decision. You will find the longer you genuinely pray, the more ways. God will show you and you’ll be able to give more than the first amount that popped into your head. Allow God to show you how to “grow in the grace of giving.”

 

Plan a family conference. Discuss ways to give. Ask your family members to be thinking of ideas in advance. Be sure to involve your children, no matter how young they are. This is a great opportunity to teach and model giving and faith.

 

Step out in Faith on May 22nd with your First Fruits gift and your Faith Commitment and watch God do something amazing! You can also give online or by credit card here.