Howdy NewSpring, six things I want to share with you today…
#1 - This past Sunday was a record setting Sunday in the history of our church…we had 14,289 people attend one of our five campuses for the second week of our series in the book of Revelation. We’ve never had that many people attend on a Sunday…EVER, God is doing some amazing work in our church right now and I want us all to take some time this week to THANK HIM for all that HE is doing.
#2 - I’m really thinking about the following truths from Sunday…
- What we value will ultimately determine what we do.
- The church isn’t called to contain Christ but rather PROCLAIM Christ.
- We will live out what we lift up!
- We’ve GOT to be more concerned with repentance rather than our reputation! (This only happens as we realize that church is an “all skate!”)
#3 - FOUND PEOPLE FIND PEOPLE! This Sunday is THE SUNDAY we’ve been praying over and preparing for for months! I’m especially pumped because every time in the 11 year history of our church that I’ve asked everyone to step up and bring their lost friends and family members to church…well, you guys have responded. Let’s make sure that this year is THE BEST YEAR EVER. Do WHATEVER it takes to get people to a NewSpring campus THIS SUNDAY…and let’s pray like crazy all week long that God will do something absolutely amazing! I’m praying for Him to save over 1,000 people…will you join me?
#4 - I want to encourage those of you who feel like you’ve tried and tried to get people here and they just won’t come. You want to give up…don’t!!! Take some time to read Romans 10:13-17 and Galatians 6:9! We serve a God who was very patient with us when it came to our salvation (see II Peter 3:9)...so, let’s be more like Christ when it comes to sharing Christ with those we love and NOT give up on them! (Aren’t you glad that God didn’t give up on you???) Let’s allow what matters to God to matter to us…He deeply cares about people that are far from Him…and if we are His followers then what matters to Him should matter to us! Reality is…EVERYONE spends eternity SOMEWHERE, and…if we truly love/care about someone then we will get past ourselves and step out of our comfort zones and have the tough conversation!!! (I wrote about a conversation I had with my dad several years before he died about his salvation here if you didn’t read it yet.)
#5 - I’m really excited about getting to go to our Columbia campus and preach live on Saturday night!!! Columbia campus is EXPLODING…and we almost had to begin to turn people away for our 11:15 service…and this week we are expecting more people!!! So…in order to create room for Sunday I am going to preach live in Columbia on Saturday night at 6pm. NO, we are NOT beginning a permanent Saturday night service!!! BUT…after speaking with Alden Ellis, our campus pastor in Cola, we felt that making this move would open up more spaces in the Sunday morning services. It’s going to be a GREAT WEEKEND!
#6 - I DO LOVE MY CHURCH! Don’t EVER feel bad about saying great things about the place where you belong! Heck, other people talk about the things they love…for some reason it is perfectly normal to love things such as ice cream, a hobby or a car…but when it comes to the VERY ORGANIZATION that JESUS HIMSELF established, died for and reigns over…people think you are weird for loving it. Well, as my friend Craig Groeschel says, “I’m WEIRD BECAUSE NORMAL ISN’T WORKING!!!” I love my church!