PULSE-Can't Stop, Won't Stop!

Tonight, I want to encourage all of those who work with our students at PULSE. Jesus is using Pastor Steven and the crew to do amazing things each Sunday night. If you have a teenager, or even know parents who do, I challenge you to get them there each Sunday at 6:00pm. Pastor Steven just finished a series entitled "Take the Land". Tonight, 8 students gave their lives to Christ!!! It was amazing! But he laid out a challenge to the students...get 200 students to PULSE by this Summer. Many students raised their hands, accepting the challenge to be "warriors" for Christ and to be unashamed to invite their friends. In a church culture where the average youth group is 12-15 students, in 10 months time we are seeing over 80 students on average attend PULSE. We have seen over 150 at several different times. Our leaders at PULSE are truly making a difference! 

Look around on Sunday mornings and you'll see students serving in VIP, GKids, Guest Services, and even on stage with the worship band! Generation Church is made up of passionate people who love Jesus and that includes our students.

Here's my challenge to the church:

1. Encourage Your Students to Attend

Pastor Steven and the PULSE leaders work hard every week to put together a service that is high energy, full of passion, fun, and yet challenging to the core. Not only should students be attending, but get involved. We just finished our first training day for students, get your teen signed up for the next one. You won't regret it!

2. Encourage Your Students to Apply the Message

Do you ask your teens what the sermon was about? Do you walk them through how to apply it to their lives? Pastor Steven has laid down a huge challenge, how will you keep them accountable and encourage them to be a part? At the end of the night, regardless if you like the music, videos, or not; the message is what matters. And our student pastor does a phenomenal job bringing the word!

3. Get Involved Yourself

Many adults come and "hang out" but few jump in and serve our students. PULSE needs security, ushers, production, and just adults to encourage these students. If you have a teen, the best way to ensure they attend is bring them and serve with them. Make it something you do as a family. It's not about your preference, it's about seeing these students become passionate about their faith.

4. Pray for Our Students and Their Leaders

Be intentional about praying for our student ministry. Encourage our student leaders, let them know they are making a difference. As a former student pastor, the best part was hearing encouragement from the parents of teens who were impacted from our ministry. I always say; gratitude is never silent.

And as a church, we have exciting things coming up for our students. Starting next week, we are taking applications for our first ever student internship. This will take place in June and July. It's a 2 month internship that will give them hands on training, ministry experience, resources, leadership training, and even spiritual guidance. They will go to camp, do missions, work with our full time staff each day, and be worked with one on one in ministry training and just overall life coaching. This is for students that are ages 16-21. If you are interested, just email Pastor Steven at steven.newhouser@generationchurch.me. This will be a GREAT experience for your teen. It's worth it!

We also have the Prodigy Camp. This is our brand new church camp taking place June 3-7 in Panama City Beach!! What student doesn't want to go to Florida for a week?! I will be preaching, Danya Band leading worship, and hip hop artist Kryst Lyke will be there all week! The most high energy, powerful, and yes FUN camp they will ever attend! They need to sign up today, because spots will fill up fast! We already have another student ministry going with us. That week will be life changing for sure! Maybe you would like to volunteer to go and serve that week at camp. Sign up!

If you want more info on our student ministry and how you be praying or get involved, just hit Pastor Steven up at the above email mentioned. 

So remember to pray for our student ministry this week, encourage it's leaders. And remember what the PULSE motto always says: If you have a pulse, you have a purpose!

Lead with Excitement

Has anyone ever told you; "you talk too much about your church!"? Or "you shouldn't always be bragging about your church"? Maybe people have said "There's no way you can be that excited every single week". 
Maybe they are right, I mean why should we always be excited about a God who raised from the dead, who has the ability to change lives, who has the power to pierce through every kind of darkness, can end addiction, heal the sick, restore the broken, and forgive us of our sins?
People always ask why I'm so passionate ALL the time. Others have even said that church shouldn't be fun. (maybe that's why no one attends theirs)
Jesus was, is, and always will be THE most exciting thing that can ever happen in someone's life! The story of redemption and love that He offers should be the driving force in all that we do as a church.

If you're a leader in this church, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO BE EXCITED! You should believe that every week God is going to do something greater than the week prior. You should believe that the best is yet to come. You should do cartwheels when people give their life to Christ (ok, so that one may be impossible for some...but you should be fired up!)
We should lose our minds when people get baptized. We should celebrate when people have taken next steps and started serving as an Owner of Generation Church!

Did you know that the original definition for the word; "enthusiasm" means to be possessed by the Holy Spirit???!! En-Theos...In God!
God IS enthusiasm!!!! God BREATHED creation into existence, that doesn't sound like a boring God to me!!! 

Leaders, you are the examples. If you want people to be excited, then stop acting like you are auditioning for a terrible country song (pretty much every country song)! Live your life with purpose, passion and COMpassion. If the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you, there is something exciting happening. He is molding  you into someone new. He's creating in you an excitement that no one can take away. Why do you think the Apostle Paul was able to write this in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28:

23Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

28Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.

2 Corinthians 12:9b-10

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Even after all that Paul had been through, he was still passionate about his faith. Remember that our boasting is ALWAYS in the Lord! We are not capable of manufacturing a move of God like the one we are privileged to be a part of. It's only by His grace and our obedience that we are blessed to see such life change. God is the miracle worker, not us. I don't know about all of you, but I want to be a part of something that is exciting. When I read about the New Testament church, I read about a passion and a zeal that not even death could crush. May we be known for our passion for Jesus...and our passion for people. I love my church! And yes...the best is YET to come :)

Time to Step Up Team!

As you all know, we have HUGE goals for 2013. We are believing God for the best year yet! We are quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary...can you believe it? It's almost been 1 year since launching a church that has seen hundreds of lives changed. And the best is yet to come! We are seeing lots of momentum carrying over from Christmas to the new year and with it brings growth. And that is exciting! We are already averaging close to 600 people. Remember, we are believing to build the foundation to see 1,000 on average. Our Dream Team is also growing quickly which is amazing!!! The magic number that we said would sustain such growth would be 250 regular Dream Team servers. At this rate, we will be there by Easter if not sooner!! That is our ultimate win, church!

Here's what I'm asking our team to do: we need as many of our Dream Team Owners to try to attend the 1st service to worship. So if you're not scheduled to serve, we need you to move to the 1st service to create room. If you do serve, we need more to switch to serving 2nd service and attending the 1st service. At the rate we are growing, we are looking at adding a 3rd service by March 10th (our 1 year anniversary service). But if we don't move some people to that 1st service, we may have to add the service quicker. We really want to be prepared to add a 3rd service, so help us by making room in our 2nd service. 

Our new service times that we are looking at would be Sundays; 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30am. It's time for all of us to step our game up and do what it takes to continue to reach our community. Let's do this team! I absolutely LOVE our church and I love each of you!

Living Open Handed

We are on the closing stretch of our "Blessed Life" series and all I can say is WOW at the first two weekends of 2013! I honestly hope that you have opened your heart to the messages in this series. We are seeing an average of nearly 600 people to kick off the year! So many people taking their next steps...that's our ultimate win as a church! A few notes as we close out the Blessed Life series:
I believe in the power of generosity....God can not pour into a closed fist. But an open hand that gives generously is also ready to receive blessings. When we started this church, so many other churches taught me what it meant to live open handed. Churches with next to nothing in their budgets wrote us checks for hundreds and some even thousands of dollars. Why? Because it was for the Kingdom. Because they knew you could never, and I mean never, out give God. I've seen great pastor friends of mine give away thousands, and God turn right around and bless them with TENS of thousands. An open hand is ready to give and also ready to receive blessings. 

I want all of you to read Luke 9:12-17 this week in preparation for the last message on Sunday. I want you to see what God can do with a young boy who was willing to share all that he had only to see Jesus multiply to minister to thousands! The young boy probably had no idea that his willingness to give it away was all Jesus needed to pour out a blessing. So much so, that there was food left over! That's exactly what God promises in 
Malachi 3:8-12-

“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.10Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12“Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

Remember these 3 things to live the Blessed Life:

1. The Power of First
Put God first in everything. Give Him the best off the top of what you make. It belongs to Him. He gave His life for us, 10% is not too much to ask from us. He could ask for 100% if He wanted to...and He would deserve it.

2. Can You Be Trusted?
Don't live above your means. Make a budget, handle your blessings wisely. Live generously but not foolishly. God has entrusted you with resources, money, and time. Spend them each wisely.

3. The Power of Multiplication
Come next Sunday to hear this message but one thing to remember...little placed in the hands of a big God is always better than in our closed fist.

Remember, I want generosity FOR you. I want generosity for myself. I want to be blessed so that I can be a blessing. I want to be able to give outrageous gifts to the church and to people in need. I want to see Jesus take my little and make it much for the building of HIs Kingdom. I never want to see our children's ministry and student ministry have to do fundraisers to accomplish big things. I want to see our church fund the two most important ministries at GC. 

We have a big dream. Big dreams take big faith. Big faith requires HUGE obedience. Living open handed has never caused anyone to go poor. The people that God has blessed most are the people who give away the most. Let this series change your life...forever.

Sweat the Small Stuff

Do details or small things really matter? Ask the person that has ever been to a public restroom and discovered one of these issues: no toilet paper (AFTER you finish), no soap, no paper towels. Details matter.

Have you ever posted something on social media but failed to do a quick check before sending? You know, when auto correct decides to ruin your day? We quickly type and hit "send" and before you know it, you've posted something to this nature: "so excited for Stephanie to be porning this Sunday!" when you meant to send: "so excited for Stephanie to be opening this Sunday!" Yea, it happened to me...details matter.

Have you ever stopped at one of your favorite fast food places for a quick bite to eat? While you are there you notice the tables haven't been cleaned in a while, the floor seems to stick to your feet with every step, and your sandwich seems to have been sitting under a heat lamp for the past 2 days. Details matter.

My point is that in most aspects of our lives, we all demand some sort of attention to details or excellence. But why? Because when we see excellence it says 3 things:

-You care about what you're doing
-You want people to take notice of what you do
-Its important

We can all pretty much agree with all of those statements. We enjoy eating at places that are clean, have nice employees, and go the extra mile with customer service. I believe Chick-fil-a is successful not only because of their Christian standards but because of their excellence in customer service. 

My fear is that when it comes to doing church sometimes, the small stuff doesn't matter to people. Or at least it doesn't matter to the ones that have been there for a while. Here are 3 reasons why I believe excellence is overlooked in the church:

I Don't Get Paid For This
Many people approach serving like a job instead of a privilege. We often put more excellence into something that we know we are going to get paid for than something that we volunteer for. Ask a kid to clean his or her room and they'll complain. Tell them that they are getting an allowance and they'll clean it with a toothbrush. When the church looks at serving as an honor and a valuable way to give back to the body of Christ, excellence will be evident. When we hire staff, we don't hire people with the mentality of "I would do more if you paid me". We hire people that we can't do without because their value is in their hard work, attitude, and excellence. What we have to remember is that we DO get a reward. (Read Matthew 24:45-46 NLT)

Leaders Don't Empower
When leaders refuse to let go of ministry, excellence suffers. Why? Because it all rises and falls on that one person's ability, availability, and knowledge. One or two people can't see all of the holes, short comings, or issues in a ministry. They spend so much time doing the big stuff, that they miss the small stuff. I have even seen ministry leaders "hope" that the ministry suffers if they are absent. That way they will be more appreciated. That leader cares more about themselves than about the church or the people its reaching. (Or not reaching for that matter). If you want to see your church become stagnant and frustrated, simply keep all the ministry to yourself. Pretty soon the details become huge eye sores.

It's Really Not For Jesus
The most frustrating reason why people show up late, bail on serving without so much as a phone call, half prepare for a kids lesson, choose the song list five minutes before service, refuse to tithe, prepare for a sermon late Saturday night, refuse to smile in the parking lot, or even talk to people they don't know is because it's really all about their comfort level and not about giving Jesus our best. Colossians 3:23 tells us: 
"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people."

Working for the Lord, rather than people. 

Believe me, God is all about details. Look at the human body or our planet. God was so detailed that He formed a plan to save us BEFORE we even sinned! Have you ever read the detailed plans to build the first temple in 1 Chronicles 28? Wow, I would not have wanted to be on that building committee! 

I just want to encourage all believers, and especially all of our GC peeps today. Do everything with the best effort and attention to details as possible. Yes, excellence is measured differently to many people. But when people come in to our church, we want them to know that we care about what we do, and we do it as if it was for Jesus Himself.