What a way to end the weekend, church! After a long week filled with hospital visits, surgeries, funerals, memorial services, injuries, it gets capped off by someone stealing our tech trailer with all of our sound equipment and lighting. And what would cause some people to become discouraged or even defeated, vaulted our church into greatness! Our team stepped up in an amazing way this weekend. Upon discovering our trailer being stolen on Saturday morning, they calmly came together and organized a plan to get sound equipment and enough lighting to pull of service today. All being done without me even knowing about it! I was so proud of all the people who worked so hard to make sure people had an opportunity to meet Jesus this weekend! And that's exactly what happened. A total of at least 12 people came to Christ today!!!
I am honored to serve as the pastor of a church that has created a culture of passion that can not be snuffed out by anyone or anything. I love you church, heart and soul!
So, as you all know, we are 2 weeks away from our 1 Year Anniversary Celebration. It's hard to believe it's already been a year! Not only are we kicking off our "All In" series, but we are kicking off 3 services; 8:30, 10:00, & 11:30am. When we had our vision casting night back in December, we talked about our next steps as a church. Many people always ask the big questions such as; 'when are we getting our own building?'. We wanted people to understand that even though we have a huge vision, there are small steps we must take in order to make large strides. One of our immediate goals was to eliminate budget burdens by paying off our start up debt. Once we do that, we can focus on pouring extra resources into purchasing land or an existing building, or whatever the Lord provides. As a young church, it's tough sometimes to catch up financially to the numerical growth that we've seen. But our God has been and will continue to be faithful!
One of the things that we have been challenging the core of our church to begin praying about giving a one time special offering to help eliminate our start up debt. Right now, we owe just over $40,000 in start up costs when we launched the church nearly 1 year ago. (Probably close to $20,000 of that was stolen this weekend). I challenged our church to give a gift that is one of faith. If just 200 people gave a gift of $200, our debt would be completely knocked out. But here's the thing; I believe we can do more than that! My wife and I are already excited about our financial gift that we are praying about giving. On the 3rd and final message in the "All In" series, we will have a special offering at the end of the service. You will have a chance to bring forward your gift. I believe we can not only take up enough to clear our debt, but also cover expenses for new equipment! Our God is THAT big!!
I know that for some people, a faith gift might be $200. But for some, it could be $2,000. Maybe even $5,000. I also know that a faith gift for some might be $50. But my challenge is to not just give what's "safe", but give a faith gift. Something that you know is hard for you to do, but you are believing that God is going to not only bless it and multiply it. But also provide your every need as well. I believe we are continuing to see a culture of generosity be multiplied in our church. I can't wait to see what God does on March 24th!
So as we approach 1 year, ask yourself a few questions:
Is the vision/mission of Generation Church something I want to be a part of?
If so, am I "all in", or am I just sitting on the sidelines?
If I'm "all in", then what am I doing to contribute to the mission?
What gift can I give to help see our church go the next level when it comes to reaching people in our community?
There's nothing like being a part of the local body of Christ. Jesus instituted the church to be the difference makers of the world. I believe we are making a difference church. And I believe we will continue to make a difference as long as we follow the plans God has laid out for us.
I look forward to seeing how God uses this trial and turns it into a great victory! I love you church...heart and soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment