WOW! I am sitting here with one of the worse “preaching headaches” ever (get them every Sunday)...and yet I am COMPLETELY overjoyed at all God allowed me to be a part of this weekend…I STILL can’t believe He saved me and allows me to do what I do! Saying all of that…here are some thoughts on the weekend…
- We saw 220 people stand to their feet and pray out loud to receive Christ…that NEVER gets old! WOW!
- I wish you could have seen the people who were with the men & women who stood to receive Christ…the joy and excitement on their faces was uncontainable!
- We had over 14,000 people attend our services this weekend…definitely shattered a record.
- We had 272 people show up in Florence…they watched the 4:00 message from Saturday in Anderson via DVD…and four people received Christ. Uh…yeah…video teaching works!!!
- Greenville definitely shattered their attendance record today with nearly 2,800 people total. They had their first 6:00 service tonight with over 800 in attendance…gotta feeling that may soon be an every week thing!
- Our campuses went nuts when we announced that we are launching a campus in Columbia next year…and we had LOTS of people from Columbia today in our services! Pray hard…it looks like it is going to happen sooner rather than later!!!
- For those who were not there…it wasn’t a “typical Christmas message!” I pretty much preached on the fact that God has a breaking point where His kindness and mercy are no longer extended & He will allow us to step into eternity without Him.
- Why preach that on Christmas? Uh…that’s when people need to hear the Gospel the most. I don’t want to EVER be so into Christmas programming that we miss the opportunity to share the Gospel!!!
- “It Is Well” ALWAYS moves me…but this weekend is moved me all five times I heard it. Amazing!
- For the record…I thought our production team did an incredible job of using the gifts God gave them to make sure the name of Jesus was heard and seen loud and clear.
- As I said today…it is a dangerous thing for people who are immersed in religion…because it is possible to go to church, know the Bible and still MISS JESUS!
A few other things before I head to bed…
- Next weeks service (the 28th) is literally going to be so much fun…AND I think unforgettable. We are going to celebrate all that God has done for our church this past year…and thank Jesus for allowing us to be a part of it!
- Yes, we will be showing video of when we went into the schools and gave shoes away to 1,665 children!!!
- Thank you NewSpring for your incredible generosity…because you give we are able to do things like that.
- No, I was not joking about the chocolate chip cookie dough covered in white chocolate…those things were amazing and I NEED MORE OF THEM!
- I also wasn’t joking about the chicken flying out of my nose…it happened…and it was quite painful!
- To all of our volunteers who served today in Greenville, Anderson and Florence…THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! EVERYTHING you did this weekend MADE A DIFFERENCE!!! Our church is being used to advance HIS KINGDOM because of YOU allowing God to use YOU!!!
- Blogging may be a bit more sporadic this week (and next) as I will be trying to catch my breath and spend some time with my family! (But…I have written posts for tomorrow and Tuesday already.)
- Marathon training begins this week…going to be a little tough as I “tweaked” my hamstring on Friday doing some speed work.
- Going to get a new pair of running shoes tomorrow!
I hope you have an awesome week…Merry Christmas!!!