NewPointe pastor challenges readers in new book

SUGARCREEK – Dwight Mason believes that with God, anything is possible, even when the circumstances seem otherwise.

“I was a late bloomer with delayed speech,” says Mason. “When I finally did talk, it was obvious that I couldn’t do it confidently and clearly. I stuttered and struggled to speak, and ultimately, withdrew. But God changed my story.”

Today, in what some might consider a twist of irony but he credits to God, Mason speaks to thousands each week as the lead pastor of NewPointe Community Church. Since Mason took the helm in 1985, NewPointe has grown from a church of 75 people to more than 3,500 with campuses in Dover, Canton, Millersburg, and Coshocton.

“While I still have some speech struggles from time and time, I never would have pictured myself doing what I do now,” says Mason. “Only God could heal my stammering tongue, embolden my timid spirit, and change my story like that.”

Mason, who is married with four children and lives in Sugarcreek, shares his story and several more like it in his first book, “Only God,” which releases Friday, Feb. 1 from Uhrichsville-based Barbour Publishing. In the book, Mason encourages and challenges readers to take a step of faith and move outside of their comfort zone to allow God to write the story of their lives, a story, he says, that is bigger and more life-changing than anyone can dream.

“You often hear people say that they want to change the world, but that can feel like an unattainable goal,” says Mason. “It’s my experience though that when individuals cooperate with God to write bigger and better stories than they ever could on their own, God changes them so they can then, in turn, affect their world.”

With endorsements from notable leaders such as best-selling author and leadership speaker John Maxwell and Pat Williams, senior vice-president of the Orlando Magic, “Only God”leads readers through the process of coming to understand their own story, how it impacts their life and the people around them, and the importance of breaking free of things that might hinder them. Mason shares multiple examples from his own life, and the lives of others, of God at work in unusual and extraordinary ways.

“In addition to my speech struggles, I also suffered from a physical disability as a child,” says Mason. “I dreamed of being an athlete but a bone in my leg started growing at a right angle. The doctors told my parents I would never be able to run and that I’d have to wear a leg brace 24 hours a day.”

Again, Mason says, God changed his story. After a season of prayer, his dad removed his leg brace and the bone grew, straight, without any other intervention. Mason went on to play high school and college basketball and even set a record for assists.

Category: Faith