Sunday!

Craig was not joking when he made the comment that the devil was running rampant here last week. Thursday my printer ran out of ink, so Craig had to make an ink run to Gainesville Friday morning. He returned around lunch time and proceeded to change the ink cartridge. As I was getting ready to print the bulletin, the power surged and my printer started smoking.

I was on my way upstairs to Craig's office when I noticed the floor around the baptismal. The floor was puddled with water. Celeste, Wendy, Rodney, Nancy and I spent the next hour and half mopping and shop vaccing the water up. (We never did find where the water was leaking from).

I told everyone something wonderful must be in the works for Sunday cause the devil sure was trying to bring it down...and it did. As Whitney, Tina and I were sitting in the back on Sunday watching person after person come through those doors and running out of places to put them and watching the baptisms, I said this was the reason Friday happened.

Sunday was our reward...and what a wonderful reward it was! The Praise Band raised the roof and the message from Craig telling us to ask God to stretch, ruin and heal us all came together by the glory of God!

I hope everyone got to see the progress that we are making on the build out of the office area and the kids area. If you didn't get a chance to go the kid's area, where there was once 4 small rooms, we now have 2 big rooms for the nursery and toddler and 1 small room for the small groups of the Kid's Clubhouse. As I walked in to the nursery and toddler room during the service Sunday and saw the kids getting to run around and play without stepping on another child...it was amazing. Just the few extra feet given seemed so much bigger. I invite you to take a look Sunday...you will be amazed as well.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Can't wait to see each of you back here on Sunday morning and then returning Sunday night to trim the tree and decorate the church!

I am thankful for each and every one of you!

Sunday 11-23-2008

Wow! Whatcha might not know is what went into making Sunday’s song set. The opener was a song from David Crowder’s CD Remedy, Can You Feel It. What a great song to complement the message series. We have to synchronize to videos, 3 sound loops and lights. What a great job the team did as we only started learning the song on Tuesday!



Lift High by Eddie Kirkland and Steve Fee was next on our list. I think this is a song we’ll enjoy worshiping together for sometime to come. Sorry to have hit you folks with two new songs in a week. Our worship time is gone over meticulously so we can worship God as a church with our best. To achieve this we repeat songs frequently to allow you time to learn and turn them into an response back to Our Savior.



Break Free was next and you folks did! This is a song we featured during Fireproof. I appreciate how the band worked on this and it sure is a pleasure to see the guys groove on such a wonderful tune. The second verse describes the love available if we would just break free.



Who would have thought that God would give his one and only Son
Taking a stand upon the cross to show His perfect love
So wont you break wont you break free
Get up and dance in his love
So wont you break wont you break free
Get up and dance in his love
His love never ending


The Baptisms was the Best part as we get to see God at work in peoples lives. This is what helps us as we work each week to bring you into an atmosphere of worship.

Sunday Recap

Each week I will attempt to keep you updated on how the day went. I am sure I will miss a week or two, but I will do my best. It is my hopes that Stan, Robbie and Amanda will post their thoughts as well.

• I felt like crude today, I have been fighting a sinus problem and last night is seemed to keep me awake all night.
• I also had an amazing time in worship today. God always seems to provide strengthen when I am down.
• It was awesome to baptize 8 people this morning. We are still counting, but it looks like we have baptized over 50 this years, YEAH GOD!
• My talk seemed to work this morning. We have been using Craig Groeschel's book "IT" as we have been working on our vision. WOW Craig, you hit "IT" out in this one! Thanks.
• During the reflection time at the end of the service we had a lot of people come forward for prayer.
• It was awesome to see our newly trained servants at the front ready to pray and guide those who came for prayer, THANK YOU for your commitment.
• The offering was good today and the 120 Days for $120,000 seems to be going well. I think we have a little over $500 given today.
  
• We still need workers in our children's worship area, if you are willing to serve please contact Amanda Anderson this week.
• Pray for me as I talk to and meet with Children's Pastor candidates. We have about 5 people that are prospects at this time. Pray for God to show us the right person.
• Once again the Band did a great job, thank band for kicking it up a knotch. You guys and girls rock!
• Great to see so many guest with us this morning. I hope you will follow up with those you invited and point them to our website and blog for answers.
• I had one couple ask me this morning to move to Charleston, not a bad idea. Tina and I went to Charleston last year for our anniversary and loved it. Just kiddin' about the move, but not about the invite.
• Once again a shout out to our Guest Service Team, faithfully every week you serve with complaining, THANK YOU!
• Thank you to Andrea Gaines for serving in our Children's Worship, Andrea, what we do could not happen without you, Keep those wins out front as a reminder that God is using you to see children come to Jesus.

Well that's about it for right now, I am sure I will think about some others things before the night ends. See you guys soon!

Craig

Weekly Updates and Reminders

I hope everyone has had a great week! We are in week two of our new offices and you would not believe the change that has already taken place around here. We have had some incredible workers out and about at Fellowship Church. I cannot wait until you see the changes already made on Sunday morning.

Small Groups -For everyone that missed the first one and for those who just want to refresh their memories, we are going to host another information meeting about the new and improved Small Group Ministry that will being in early ’09. This meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 3rd at 6:30 p.m. This is a no-obligation meeting that will last about an hour. Everyone is invited to attend!

Small Groups -For those that are interested in leading a small group, a training meeting designed to assist you with choosing materials, determining group structure, and answering questions regarding responsibilities of the Group Leader will be held Wednesday, December 10th at 6:30 p.m. This will be a very informative meeting and a “must” for anyone exploring the opportunity to lead a group.

Fusion Upcoming Events—Tuesday, November 25th from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the Youth will be participating in a video scavenger hunt. Please see Missy Crump for permission slips.

Tree Trimming— We will be hosting a tree trimming and church decorating party on November 30th at 6 p.m. Please bring an ornament for your family to place on our Christmas tree. We have all the decorations needed upstairs to decorate and get ready for this Christmas season. Finger foods will be served during the tree trimming party. The church will be providing the drinks. There will also be a sign up sheet at the Guest Service Counter on Sunday so you can let us know what you would like to bring. Can’t wait!

Church-wide Cleanup – If decorating isn’t your thing, we will also be hosting a church-wide cleanup day on November 30th at 6 p.m. We will be moving things from behind the curtain so it can be used by our landlord. Any and all help will be appreciated.

Tree of Hope

We have a wonderful ministry we are preparing for this Christmas season. In the past we have supported Jesus Christmas Shop; but, as many of you know, there will be no Jesus Christmas Shop this year. With the state of our economy and the number of people in our church who are struggling, we have decided to have our own version of a Tree of Hope. So, an undecorated tree will be placed in the church for those who are unable to afford Christmas this year for their children.

If you need help this holiday season, we want to help you. A table will be placed next to my office with an ornament that you can write on listing information pertaining to your child. This ornament will have a number assigned to it. There will also be a card with a corresponding number for you to fill out with your name and information. The gift giving is completely anonymous. The only persons seeing the information on the card will be the staff. Please know that either Pastor Craig or Pastor Robbie will be contacting you once you have filled out an ornament and card.

As the ornaments are completed, they will be placed on the tree. If you would like to help a family, all you have to do is choose an ornament from the tree, shop for the items requested, wrap them, and place the presents back under the tree with the corresponding number somewhere visible on the presents. Please know that you are not responsible for buying everything on the list. If you would like to just buy one or two items all you have to do is indicate that those items will be bought on the ornament and place it back on the tree for another individual to choose.

We will need to have all presents under the tree by December 18, 2008.

Thanks to everyone for helping spread some Christmas wishes this wonderful time of year.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Serving God Matters

At FC we believe that Serving God Matters. It's not that we want everyone to be busy, but we know that when you serve others before yourself is creates open doors into the lives of those you serve. What if everyone in your life, beginning with your family, then the people you encounter on the way to work, at the office and the grocery store, began to serve you. You would be blessed! Now consider what would happen if you began serving everyone you touched in a given day? It would change our world and you would be blessed even more.

Every Sunday an incredible group of people serve at Fellowship Church. It all begins very early as the different teams arrive and prepare for the day. Each week I will post some updates of those who serve, next time you see one of these servants of Christ, serve them and watch how the value of FC grows.

THANK YOU !

CATALYST ONE DAY

Each year in October I slice out the time to attend the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. Out of the 15+ years the conference has been held I have made most of them in some way. For the second year in a row I had the privilege to serve at Catalyst and about 14 of the Fellowship family were able to go with me. We had a great time, one that will never be forgotten. I think God stretched us and moved us to take new steps for the Kingdom.

This year Catalyst is doing something different (like that is new) by hosting One Day Catalyst events in three cities, Granger, IN, Atlanta, GA and Dallas, TX. We are fortunate to have one close to home so I encourage you to consider attending with us.

The date for Catalyst One Day Atlanta is Thursday February 26 at North Point Church in Alpharetta. Let me encourage you to block that day if at all possible. I promise you will leave appreciating the opportunity to attend an event such as this. The cost is $79 of we order our ticket early, so let us know if you want to attend.

Special Offer for blog readers: The first 10 to sign up will go free! How do you sign up?
Click this email link and ask for a ticket (2 tickets per family please). Tickets

You are cordially invited to the

Fellowship Church Ladies Tour of Homes

December 7, 2008

4:30 p.m.

Dinner is Provided!

Meet at the church parking lot at 4:30 p.m.

We will leave promptly at 4:35 p.m. on the bus

Bring only a friend and cheerful spirit!

Please RSVP to either Stephanie Nunnally (706-754-8703 or nunnallyfamily@yahoo.com) or Bonnie Holbrook (706-499-2804 or bonnieholbrook@windstream.net) by November 30, 2008, so we can have an accurate head count for dinner and for seats on the bus.

First, let me say a big thank you to everyone who donated for the LASP Christmas Mission. Chaplain Jett came by on Wednesday morning and was very thankful. He wanted everyone to know how grateful he was. This will help provide some everyday essentials to the 1,600 plus ladies who are at LASP.

Secondly, our offices are now completely moved in to the church. Craig is using the upstairs storage room, and I am occupying the downstairs storage room. This will be a lot easier for us on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. Thanks to Jason Smith for being a wonderful host during our transition period. So if you need us during the week, we are now at the church.

If you currently have a CDL, we need your help. We currently only have 3 people who are driving the buses on Sunday mornings. This doesn’t leave any room for unforeseen emergencies. If you are willing to help drive the ladies to and from church on Sundays, please email me and let me know.

On November 30th at 6 pm, we will be hosting a Tree Trimming and Church Decorating Party. Please bring an ornament for your family to place on our Christmas tree. We have all our decorations upstairs that we need to decorate and get ready for this Christmas season. We would love to have you here!

Also on November 30th, we will be having a clean up day. If decorating isn’t your thing, please come and help us move things from the other side of the curtain. Our landlord is going to be using that side for storage, so we need to get our items moved. Any and all help would be appreciated.

We have some very exciting plans in the works that will be put in motion in the next couple of weeks. You won’t want to miss any of them.

Free CD Download from Phil Wickham and Tooth and Nail Sampler

Phil was on tour with David Crowder Band last fall. We saw him and them at the Tbernacle in Hot 'lanta. Did I tell ya we are on the DVD... uh thats another story. Anway I am down loading the CD now. If you would like to ghet it, go to Click Here

Just got the Tooth and nail sampler. its rockin' Click Here

Office Move

Many of you know that the church offices have been off site since we moved into our new location. Well, the time has come for us to get our daily operations moved to the church location. Although we don't have space ready we will be making it work until we can finish the upstairs offices.

Thank you to Jason Smith for allowing us to park our offices in downtown Cornelia, it has been a real blessing.

I am excited about the move because it is very hard working off site, especially on Sundays.

So our new official office address for the church is:
230 Commercial Blvd.
Baldwin, GA 30511

706-894-1500

Weekend recap

This past weekend was pretty busy at FC.


13 from the Guest Services Team went to the Because People Matter conference at Foothills church in Seneca, SC. We were hosted by a the ministry team at Foothills following the conference for a one-hour question answer time, wow! We learned a lot!

Also a big thank you goes out to Mark Waltz, first impression guru from Granger CC.

Thanks Foothills for the investment in FC.


Sunday was a great day as well. We had 312 in attendance and several guest.


The message for the day was the last session of Financial Peace University. FC has retired some $160,000 in debt over the 13 week growth class, great job!

Dave Ramsey knocks it out of the park when it comes to being a generous giver.

If you didn't take FPU this fall, consider taking it during our Small Group's that are launching in January.

Weekly Announcements

This Sunday is the last day for you to help with the LASP Christmas Mission. As of right now, we have 20 packets ready to be picked up on Tuesday. We still need more! If you are interested in helping, but do not have a needs list, please email me and I will let you know what is on the list. Also, if you aren’t able to provide everything on the list but still would like to help, we are in need of a few things that would bring the total packages to 25. These items are lotion (16 oz with shea butter, if possible, in plastic bottle with no pump), baby/body powder (15 oz in plastic container that shakes out), petroleum jelly (3.75 oz), stick deodorant in plastic container.

Also, if you are interested in being baptized on November 23rd, there will be a meeting at the church on Sunday at 5 p.m. to answer any questions and video your testimony. Please see Stan if you are unable to attend.

Sunday is shaping up to be an awesome service, please remember if you are currently in FPU to bring your books as this will wrap up our time together (Sunday night group still has one more lesson Sunday night). If you have friends that are asking about FPU and the changes you have made, this Sunday would be a great time to invite them and let them discover the power of FPU. We are living today like no one else so we can LIVE like no one else later! You won’t want to miss this life changing event.

Pray without Seizing

Another struggle I have had with the election is how people have used prayer as a magic trick found in some mystical book, instead of a powerful took in the hands of weak vessels.

During this election season I received many emails encouraging me to pray that the election would go God's way. I wonder how much God appreciates our praying for Him to have His way, that's mighty white of us (yes I said that, that another post for another day). In reality what these prayer messages were asking for us to pray is that the Republicans win, as if God were a card carrying politician and a Republican. Do you think?

Some of these emails asked me to pray for one minute a day, others encouraged readers to pray at a designated time each day. I wonder if they believe God only listens for a minute or at a certain time.

The question I have is why don't we pray always as encouraged in 1 Thess. 5:17 (pray without ceasing). Why make prayer important only when our back are against the wall. If we really want to see God move on our behalf why don't we change what we pray for and how we pray, instead of praying to seize. You know praying to manipulate God into our agenda.

Here's a thought: To think that God care about who is President of the United States more than the millions who lose their lives each day to evil dictators and starvation while our money markets stumble is arrogance at it's fullest. We are so full of ourselves and our country. Don't get me wrong, I love America and am very grateful for the privilege of being American, but it just seems to me we are creating a culture of expectation on God that were never part of a Christ following life.

How about making prayer more about us? What if we focus our prayers not on the government, our messed up schools, the high taxes we pay or the price of gas and focus our hearts back toward repentance individually.

I extend my thoughts in this post to those "Spiritual Leaders", many of who I have great respect, however their reaction to this election has puzzled me. To not vote because your candidate didn't get nominated is ridiculous. To slam the president elect on a platform of ministry claiming God gave us what we deserved smacks with Pharisaical religion!

It's time that the Christian (I really don't like that label) community stop praying to seize and start praying without ceasing for revival to sweep our world for the days are short and Jesus is coming soon!

The Sky is Falling

Tonight while watching TV and interesting commercial caught my attention:

The opening shot is of a man holding a small square hamburger, sitting all alone on a park bench with people walking in the background. He takes the hamburger and begins savoring every bit with great anticipation. As he begins to take a bit someone in the background yells, "The sky's falling!" Suddenly puffy white clouds begin to hit the ground. One, then two, another and then another. With each thud the crowd begins to run for their lives.

As the scene continues attention is placed on the clouds, one of which squashes an SUV while people pile out from every direction. Quickly the shot pans back to the burger eater. As if frozen in time he takes a bit and acts as if nothing is happening around him while just yards away another cloud booms from falling to the earth.

I wonder how many of us believe the sky is falling. If I heard it one time I heard it hundreds over the last week, "If Obama is elected what are we gonna do?" Unfortunately I get included in the question as if I agree with the summation.

Do we really believe the sky is falling? Can one man have that much influence? Should we be scared?

Incredible those who were crying "the sky is falling" don't understand the promises and truths found in the Bible. Why is it that so many who claim Jesus as Lord, react in fear when times are uncertain.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)
⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Psalms 20:6-7 (NIV)
⁶ Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Just in these two verses we find a followers response to troubling times. The word timidity is translated as fear. Fear paralyzes so many in a time when standing firm on the hope of Christ is important to those without Him, those who need Him most. What do you trust in?

The economy, the president, the United States?

Christ follower, stop letting the winds of this world blow you into unbelief.

Obama will be president only because God allows it.

By the way the commercial I noted was for Krystal, that great stomach bomb hamburger joint. I too tend to forget the things around me when I eat those little colon cleansers.

New Blog

Our recent growth has caused us to take a look at how we communicate with the people of Fellowship Church. Probably the most difficult task of any church is to help people know what's happening through out the week.

Blogging has grown in usage over the last couple of years and although we have tried this before we think the new format with be helpful. Instead of this blog just being the thoughts of our Pastor Craig Lee, it will include input from all the staff.

Check back often for updated links, information and helpful things to connect you with FC.

I hope you enjoy this new approach and make sure you tell all your friends about our new site.

The Staff