One of the things that God constantly reminded the Israelites in the OT was to NOT forget the past, how faithful He had been and all that He had done. As I sit back and reflect on the past seven and a half years at NewSpring Church I am blown away…
- I was blown away when 115 people showed up at the first service on January 16, 2000.
- I was blown away when 65 showed up the next week—DESPITE a major ice storm and the building having no power!!!
- I was blown away when the checkbook balance got DANGEROUSLY low…and God provided some MIRACLE offerings during the summer months of that year—when giving was supposed to bottom out!
- I was blown away when we had to go to two services in less than six months.
- I was blown away when we moved from the Sullivan building to the Fine Arts Center…and went from 188 to 315 in one week!
- I was blown away in 2002 when on August 11th we had 506 people, the next week we had 970…and within five weeks we had 1,600 people coming—there is STILL NOT AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS!
- I was blown away in July of 2003 when we had over 2,000 people show up for our service at the Civic Center.
- I was blown away in December of that year when we had 3,009 the first Sunday of that month—we broke the 2,000 and 3,000 barrier within five months…THAT’S GOD!!!
- I was blown away in 2004 when we bought the land we are currently on.
- I was blown away in 2005 when I nearly died and the church didn’t miss a beat—I learned an IMPORTANT LESSON…God is necessary, I am not!
- I was blown away in 2006 when we moved into our current facility with nearly 7,000 people in attendance!!!
- I was blown away on October 1st of ‘06 when we baptized 412 people in one day!!!
- I was blown away at Unleash this past March—without spending ANY $$$ on promotion we had right at 900 church leaders show up for a conference where we expected about 100 when we originally planned it.
- I was blown away Easter of this year when we had over 10,000 people show up for church!
- I was blown away during our Illuminate series when over 800 people received Christ!!!
- I was blown away the other Saturday when we baptized over 560 people!
- I am blown away EVERYDAY that God would take a screw up like me and allow me to be a part of this!
- I am blown away that God has surrounded me with a DREAM TEAM of staff and volunteers who are in love with Jesus…and crazy enough to follow my leadership.
God has been faithful…and has blown us all away…BUT—when God told the Israelites to remember the past—it wasn’t just to INFORM them of what He was capable of—but rather to IGNITE them to continue to move forward, trusting that He could do even greater things…and that is EXACTLY where we are. We MUST be thankful in regards to the past—but not dwell there—God has GREATER THINGS in store!!!
I say this all the time…and I mean it…God is just getting started! He is Holy and Awesome and CAPABLE of MUCH MORE THAN THIS! I refuse to think that Christianity is supposed to be for cave dwellers and naval gazing gurus…it is for THE WORLD…and we must THINK BIG because we have a BIG GOD…PRAY BIG…and then stand in awe as He continues to make Ephesians 3:20 come to life right in front of our eyes!