SAME BLOG, NEW NAME!--by Linden Malki

This blog is appearing this week with a new file name and title.  It has been appearing under the name "ncflife" since its original appearance in 2012, with NorthPoint Christian Fellowship, San Bernardino, CA's pastors Paul and Chris Reinhard as contributors. In March of 2012,  several other members of the church family were added, including me. Over the next few years, there were additional contributors added and some dropped out, and by 2014 I remained the only regular contributor.

It has been posted to the NorthPoint San Bernardino Facebook page as well as having subscribers through Blogspot. However, due to upcoming changes to the Facebook page because of a major upcoming change involving the church, we will not be able to continue posting in its original format. We as a local church are in the process of becoming a part of the Sandals Church family which is based in Riverside, California, and has been interested in developing a ministry in San Bernardino.

Calvary/NorthPoint  has been struggling financially since our sanctuary was essentially destroyed by an arson fire in 1999, and we were in the process of rebuilding when the events of 9/11 set off a liquidation of our insurance carrier, resulting in a suspension of payments when we were well into the rebuild but  $1.6M short of completion at a time that the local economy was struggling. In spite of our fundraising efforts, we had to borrow against the property to complete the rebuild, and the effect of the debt as well as other local factors were bringing us face to face with a small but growing congregation, effective but limited leadership, and a financially demanding facility. The merger with Sandals Church will bring much-needed resources and backup, bringing new energy to a troubled community that needs Jesus.

I have been encouraged to continue writing the blog; I have found it to be a challenging discipline and the interesting experience of  ideas and insights provided as I write, never quite sure where it's going until it gets there. I have been using the week's sermon and discussion topic as a starting place; will continue to do that through the next several months. I have also been posting daily Bible readings, also coordinated with the study topic for the upcoming week, for a number of years, and when the Facebook format change is complete, may post that on this forum as well.  It will be interesting to see where God will lead this effort in the future; any comments, questions and suggestions are welcome from all readers.

The link will also be posted to a new Facebook page,  entitled "Linden Malki's Musings and Meditations".  I have also been posting daily Bible readings, also coordinated with the study topic for the upcoming week, for a number of years, and it will be posted on the new Facebook page. This may also include shared posts from the church's Facebook  page, as well as other posts from other sources. There are members of my extended family and friends that are involved in interesting and inspiring ministries and activities that may be included as well.