The 25 Days of Christmas - Day 8/Sing Off

Our family has really enjoyed the show Sing Off this December!  Really crazy talent in mixed vocals, no instruments!

Tonight the NewSpring Greenville campus choir met to lay down some augment tracks for the Christmas services.  This group was pretty amazing too.  In a matter of 30 minutes, this group had the melody and harmonies down and tight!  I was thinking as we were singing that we should be trying out for Sing Off!  That was a lot of fun!

We're really praying God uses this song in a big way to bring HOPE to all who will hear!  Christmas services are Dec 23 at 7pm, Dec 24 at 10am, 4pm, and 6pm, you can get your FREE TICKETS HERE!

Season Change

Well, it's that time already!  Where did summer go?  It still gets pretty warm during the day, but the mornings are beginning to have the autumn feel!  There's nothing in the world like the changing of the seasons, the different smells and feels as planet Earth tilts a little in our hemisphere. 

It seems to be ingrained in us to associate different activities with different seasons, and for fall it can be football, hunting, hiking, exploring new little towns in the mountains, bonfires, camping..

Seasons come and seasons go... to everything there is a season... there are different seasons of life too.  This year we begin a season of having a kid in college.  New challenges figuring out the ropes of getting Steve all set for courses, books, new job, etc.  So far, so good!

Seasons of ministry... I look over the past of our involvement with the Church.  Youth pastor, worship leader, home church, currently volunteering with our church's video production team, and excited about where our church is venturing into with serving our community.  Working through ministry ideas with a good friend regarding using our speaking and musical abilities.

What's your favorite season?  What season are you at in life?  Seasons come and go, learn to embrace them and give all you can to them.  You'll be better off for it!  They are gifts from God.

HopeATL Workday

Wow, what an amazing day with the folks at HopeATL.

Around 100 of us from NewSpring Church had the privilege of going to Austell, GA (just southwest of Atlanta) to do some clean up in the neighborhood of Sweetwater Creek.

4 weeks ago, due to a tremendous amount of rain hanging over the Atlanta area, this neighborhood (less than 10 years old), experienced major flooding when Sweetwater Creek swelled out of it's banks and began pooling in the lower areas of the subdivision.

As you can see in the pictures, many had water up to the second story! What happened after the rains stopped was that many churches began disaster relief efforts. One in particular was Courageous Church led by Shaun King. This church has done a great job with awareness and rallying the body of Christ into action. All of these homes had to be gutted down to the stud walls and made ready for reconstruction. In the process of gutting, people's lawns were completely covered in drywall/sheetrock pieces (totally nasty!) and when we got there, our job was to bring the color GREEN back to this neighborhood.

It was pretty crazy and amazing to be a part of what was like a Colony of Ants on a pile of Sugar! We just kept going and going and by 4pm had touched over 40 home's yards - raking, sweeping, shoveling, and bagging. At one point, I looked up and saw about 3o people pick up a 10 by 20 foot deck that had floated 5 houses away and carry it back to where it came from!

Of the homeowners that came around (all had to move out!), our interactions with them brought many tears! I cannot fathom what they went through - one homeowner we met, described that day with, "One minute, there was 2 inches of standing water in the street, and within 1 hour, the water was licking at our rooftop!"

This is part of what it means to BE the church, and it was a blessing to get to be a part of this event!

Prayer

Just a quick post as the girls get ready for school...

There is so much going on, that life can seem to go by in a blur! The enemy would love for me to run that treadmill constantly and have such a crazy view of life that I never stop. God calls us to times of rest and refreshing. He knows our frame, He knows when we need renewal, He calls us to spend time with Him. Just as Jesus made it a habit to connect with His Father, we, so much the more, need that.

Take time regularly to connect with the Father and be refreshed and lift your needs and the needs of others to Him. Praise Him for who He is and His power to overcome and conquer the craziness and to bring a deep sense of purpose for your life as you fulfill your true calling and place in the body of Christ!

For the Christian, we have access to THE one and only GOD who is limitless in love and power. Plug in!

Where Is The Church? Where Am I?

From June 29, 2009


With all the talk by so many churches wanting to be like it was in the book of Acts, I wonder how far we are willing to go to test that! The real model seemed to be not so much in preaching to grow but in serving and experiencing growth as a by-product. I read a comment by our campus pastor, Howard Frist, that got me thinking about this; he said, "I wonder what would happen if we as the "C"hurch followed Jesus pattern when He was here and worked to meet peoples physical needs first?"
Tonight, Kim and I were at the home of a dear relative who recently has been drawn back to God through the encouraging environment of New Spring Church and the teachings of Perry Noble. She has had it rough in her life, a combination of a rough upbringing and bad choices, living most of her life as a single mom; currently separated, and now, clinging onto Jesus like never before and sharing Him everywhere she goes. Life is still hard for her in many ways and Kim and I discovered many things she needs help fixing around her house so she can sell and remove a lot of financial pressures as she seeks to honor God.
It's time for me to stop saying "Be warm and filled" and start serving like Jesus and BE the church more than just writing a check and running video at my church. Those are important too, but it's too easy to get disconnected from my "Neighbor" and cross to the other side of the road when I leave the four walls of a building.
The church in the book of Acts first met the needs of people (so much so that servants, ie deacons, were needed to help distribute money, food, etc) and that was what drew people to the Church after that first day of Pentecost. If we as the Church really want to see a move of God, it will start with me and you truly being out in the trenches and loving on people in a tangible way!
I'm rolling up my sleeves...