I literally can’t believe another Christmas has come and gone…it seemed like when I was a kid that Christmas was so slow in arriving every year and now it seems like I blink my eyes and BAM…it happened again.
I wanted to share seven things on this last week of the year with you guys…
#1 - We saw God do AMAZING things in our Christmas services…around 532 people gave their lives to Christ and 19,224 people attended one of our 19 services in five locations. Each campus had record numbers of people show up…and I honestly don’t think I will ever get over the sound of all of the glow sticks breaking and then seeing them light up…WOW!
#2 - Found people find people...so THANKS to everyone who went all out to bring someone to a service. Our willingness to be like Jesus and embrace the uncomfortable DOES matter when it comes to eternity. AND…for those who invited someone and they did not say “yes” to the Gospel, don’t be discouraged, MAYBE that was the thing that God wanted to use to bring them one step closer. Don’t give up…if God is still putting them on your heart then there is a good reason for it…if HE is patient with them (II Peter 3:9) then we should be as well.
#3 - Saved people serve people - a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the amazing volunteers that stepped up to make sure all of our Christmas services happened…your willingness to do what you did made an eternal difference in the lives of over 500 people!!!
#4- I’m still amazed that I got to see a white Christmas…I’m nearly 40 years old and have never seen that in my life.
#5 - This coming Sunday has become many people’s favorite service of the year as we take time to celebrate all God has done. (Can you believe we had a service in the BILO Center about a year ago with 15,000 people?) God RICHLY blessed the ministry of NewSpring Church this year…and we are taking this Sunday as a time to say “THANKS!”
#6 - We are going into the 11th year as a church…and…wow, I wish I could share it here on this site right now…but trust me when I tell you that God is challenging me in new and huge ways to continue to step out on faith. I believe 2011 is going to be our most productive year ever as a body of believers and the Lord takes every single one of us to greater levels in our walk with Him…and as He uses our church to continue to IMPACT the communities in which we exist. Some of the stuff I’ve been writing in my journal is blowing my mind. I LOVE MY CHURCH and I LOVE THE VISION God is pouring out right now…He’s NEVER asked His followers to play it safe, so we will continue to follow wherever He leads.
#7 - I know I said last week in this post that I would write about the subject of weight and weight loss this week. I’m still going to do a post on that (probably next week)...I was going to do it this week but as I began to write it, well, it was/is a longer post than I expected, so I’ve had to break it up into two parts.
That’s about it…I hope all of you have an amazing week and I will see you Sunday!