The All In Offering

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.

All In GC, the Next Phase

As many of you know by now, we are taking our next step as a church in reaching more people. For a while now, we have been at or over 80% capacity in our seating. Especially in the 2nd service. Our kids spaces are limited, especially in our younger age groups. The only way we are going to be able to sustain and see more growth is by adding an additional service to compensate for the growth. This is a very exciting time for our church, but I want you to know what this means for YOU. Here is what you should know:

The New Times
Our new times will be 8:30am, 10:00am, & 11:30am. With the cost of using the school, we wanted to limit the extra amount of time we would need the school as much as possible. With these service times, we are really only adding an extra hour/hour and a half to our proposed time in the school. We couldn't do a Sunday evening because we want that time for our student ministry; PULSE. And with us setting up on Saturday, we would be eliminating our Dream Team's weekends almost completely if we did a Saturday night service. We intentionally changed each service time to force people to a certain service. No one gets to just sit still and not make a decision.

Which Service Should YOU Attend?
Obviously, we want you to attend whichever one is best for you and your family. But here's something to consider. Most people who are looking for a new church or even those who are far from God, will probably attend the middle service. It's not too early for them to get up, and it's not too late for them to get out and do whatever activities they may have planned. 
If you are a Dream Team Owner, we are asking that you attend either the 8:30 or 11:30 service to allow room for growth in that 10:00 service. You can serve one of the other services. Remember, most of you get there around 7:00-7:30am anyways, so the early service shouldn't be that big of a deal. And as for the late service, we are only going 30 minutes longer than usual. Most of us don't leave the school until 1:00pm anyways, so it shouldn't be a huge issue. We try to keep our services right at an hour to an hour and 10 minutes. 

Won't It Look Empty at First?
Possibly, but remember, we are preparing for the people that aren't there yet. It's YOUR job to get those seats filled. What's one of our core values? 

WE SEEK THOSE FAR FROM GOD: We believe found people find people. We relentlessly seek to invite and welcome in people from all lifestyles to hear the gospel and experience the love of Christ. And we are intentional and creative in how we reach them. 

If you are "All In", you should have a relentless passion to invite people who don't attend church to one of our worship experiences. If God has changed your life, don't you want others to experience that, too?

Remember, It's About Big House, Not Big Service

Our goal is to build a body of believers and help them reach spiritual maturity by helping them discover their God given purpose, not just have big services. (Loving Jesus, Loving People, Empowering Lives) Let's not focus on an individual attendance each week, but on the fact that as a church we are seeing a gradual increase in all of our areas of health: attendance average, giving, and serving. We believe adding this service will help us reach more people and give more diversity in serving.

We Need YOU (yes you) To Get Involved

Another one of our core values is this:

WE SERVE: We believe saved people serve people. God has called leaders to “equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.” 

If you are not currently serving, what are you waiting for? An invitation? Here it is, Please, Please, sign up to serve somewhere. We have immediate teams you can serve on. Here are a few: Set up/Tear Down, VIP (Greeters), Hospitality, Usher, Production, GKids, and more! It takes a lot of people to serve a BIG dream. Are serving this dream, or are you weighing it down with your contentment? If you believe in the mission/vision of this church, then put that into action. 

Remember, March 10th is when this kicks off. Tell anyone and everyone. That is also our 1 Year Anniversary Service. Our sermon series will be called "All In". You do NOT want to miss this! It's an exciting time and another season of growth and change for our church. As we approach one year, let's serve with an attitude of gratitude. Let's serve together to reach our city with a relentless passion. 

So...who's All In?

The Blessed Life...It Works

As many of you know, we kicked off 2013 with a series entitled "The Blessed Life". We talked about tithing, generosity, and faithfulness. Going into the new year, I knew many people had struggles with finances, debt, and had probably never been taught such values in church. For the life of me I will not be able to understand why more churches do not teach on these principals. Maybe many of us have been caught up in the "American" way. You know, go into debt, live off of borrowed money, spend more than you make to get all you can get. Only to see people lose homes, jobs, live week to week, and our government encourages us to keep spending more money than we make. A trend they know all about.

But as a church, we have seen God do amazing things in people's lives in a very short time. We taught people through this series that we didn't want generosity FROM them, but FOR them. We wanted to educate and help people in this area. We offered a budget class and also extended a challenge to the church. For those who have never tried tithing (giving 10% of their income back to God as the Bible instructs), we issued a 90 Tithe Challenge. For 90 Days, give faithfully ( and leave within your means) and see if God blesses you. If at the end of the 90 Days, you don't believe the Bible and what it says about tithing, giving, and blessing then we'll give you your money back. But if the Word is true...look out! So many people signed up for both the budget class and for the challenge. I wanted to share this email from a family in our church who took the challenge. I left out names as to not embarrass them. Their story is like many more, but I wanted to share to celebrate:

Our 90 days are not up but I just wanted to take a second to share what this challenge is already doing for us.

 

I was never taught anything about tithing growing up. I've always just given what I thought I "could give" that week.  (husband) and I have always struggled financially. Last year was the hardest on us and we are still trying to catch up from it. Right now, (husband's) job is in their slow time and we never know if he'll be working 3 days or 5 or none at all. So with all of that, I was terrified going into this challenge, but I also wanted to do it with all my heart.

 

Most weeks have been easier than I imagined. On the 3rd, however, as I wrote out my check, I knew that it was definitely going to be up to God to make it all work out. There was no way I could give 10% and have enough leftover for the bills I had to pay much less to have any left for gas and groceries! But I did it anyway even knowing I needed an extra $350 by that Friday to make it balance out. God did much better than that. By Thursday morning, our tax refund that the IRS had told me would be here Feb 28th was already in our bank account AND (husband's) job told him they needed him to work that Friday after all and to expect a 40 hour week this week :o) 40 hours at this time of year is a miracle in itself LOL

 

And can I just tell you, how great it felt to write that larger check this past Sunday for our 10% on that tax refund?!?! My problem wasn't that I doubted God could... I doubted that He would for me. I hate that I doubted Him but I am so thankful He proved me wrong. :o)

That is amazing! The Word of God is true, just test it! Not only that, as a church we saw giving nearly TRIPLE, yes triple, in one month's time!!! I even challenged non-believers. They may not believe the Bible, but try His principals when it comes to finances. No one has ever went poor being generous. NO ONE. You can NOT out give God, you just can't. My family and I live off the 10-10-80 principal. We tithe 10%, save 10%, and live off of 80%. God has been so faithful that we are now able to give above and beyond the 10%! The more generous we have been, the more God has poured out. 

Besides, if the way you're living now is leading to the stressed life: debt, week to week living, no savings, then what do you have to lose by trying God for the Blessed Life? 

Do YOU have a story? Email us at mystory@generationchurch.me. We would love to hear it and share with others!

Facebook, not "DE-FACE"book

Something God has put on my heart lately that I feel a lot of people struggle with. But I want all of us as a church to recognize this problem and distance ourselves from it as much as possible. As human beings, we all have disagreements. We all have times where we become mad, displeased, or even hurt. But a growing problem in our social media driven world is people lashing out or responding negatively or hurtfully on the internet. The Bible is very clear when it comes to correction, people who have wronged you, or even confrontation. Jesus says this in Matthew 18:15-20:

15Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

16But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

18Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

19Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall 

ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

I know it's hard to see people post things about you and not want to retaliate or comment. It's tough when you see people being rude, or even posting things that you disagree with and not want to share your opinion. But take in consideration what Jesus did when people were lying AT HIS TRIAL about things He had done that weren't true in Matthew 27:12-14:

12And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

13Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?

14And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

Sometimes, the best response is none at all. People who don't know Christ respond with venom and gossip. It's expected. But if we are to be like Christ, we must respond with wisdom and love. 

Here's why people post on the internet but never confront face to face or have a real conversation:

1. They Want Everyone on Their Side

When it comes to confrontation, people who post on social media don't care about the actual person or problem. They just want to be right and want attention. So if people see "their" side, then they win. If all you care about is winning an argument, you may lose more than you gain.

2. They Are Cowards

People are real bold and powerful sitting behind a computer or a phone. But as I just stated, the goal is not to make things right, it's to make THEM right. Confrontation should always be about making a situation right and the end result being love and a peaceful relationship. Cowards care for neither. Most bullies are cowards. Bullies go away when you stop giving them power...or attention in this situation.

3. They Have Unresolved Issues

Hurt people hurt people. It's that simple. 9 times out of 10 people who spew venom, snide comments, or make jabs on the internet have deep unresolved bitterness in their hearts. Jesus tells us that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". (Matthew 12:34) Bitterness destroys people. And it destroys the people around them. 

So the next time you want to comment or tweet something about someone, or at someone because it's "easier" than doing it in person; please don't. Pause, pray, and respond as Jesus did. If it's something that is eating at you, talk to the person. And remember the end goal: Love and a peaceful relationship/resolution. Practice giving people hope, not hell. Encouraging words and a peaceful spirit will develop wisdom and compassion. Otherwise, you end up bitter and always mad. That's how the Pharisees lived. Jesus wants so much more for us.

Always speak words of life...not death.

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!