2010

Hello everyone this is a continuation of my last post New Year New Decade. For Christmas I received/bought the by Primal by Mark Batterson. Mark is the Lead Pastor at National Community Church in Washington D.C. This book talks about finding the lost Soul of Christianity and getting back to the Greatest Commandment: to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength (Matt. 22:36-40). I recommend this book to anyone in need of a restoration or refreshment in their life.

In the book Mark talks about God sized dreams. One of National Community Churches God sized dreams was to open a coffee house on Capitol Hill and today that coffee house named Ebenezer’s nets around $100,000 and all of that money goes to missions. What was even bigger about this dream is that the building that the coffee house is in was not cheap. The asking price for the building was around a million dollars, long story short they purchased that building for around $300,000. NCC had a God sized dream and He made sure that dream was going to happen.

So what are your God sized dreams that you want to reaching in 2010, 2011, 2012, etc. Go for them. In a time when people are talking about New Year’s resolutions, start talking about God sized dreams. In church world every church has a vision and the same should be true for your life. What is your vision? After all where there is no vision, you will perish (Proverbs 29:18).

Below I am posting my vision for my life in 2010 and the future. I hope it helps you get some ideas on where God may spark some of those God-sized dreams in your life.

My New Year’s RESOLVE!

I will not let career come before family.

I will not love my job more than my home.

I will not Choose to spend more time on “my” ministry…whilst forgetting my number ONE ministry at home.

I will not give my laptop more face time then my family…NO MATTER WHAT cool Apps come out that demand my attention.

I will not let fear or selfish ambition drive my decisions…nor seek to make my name great…under the cover of “ministry”

However….

I WILL spend more time in God’s word as an answer to our World’s “economy” issues, as an answer to fear of the future, as an answer on how to be the best dad I can, the best husband I can be, the best servant I can be, and as the guide for living the life He has called me to.

I WILL give My Saviour the glory in all things that He entrusts to me this year.

I WILL lead worship as a lead worshiper and out of the overflow of what He is doing in my heart and in my life as person of humility that realizes I am FIRST in line for making mistakes and falling short…as well as realizing I am not exempt from the things I say from the stage and continue to remember…WORSHIP is “so much more than a song!”

I WILL love my family, guard my heart, Laugh as much as possible, Hug and kiss my girls (and new baby) every day, Talk to my parents no less than once a week.

I WILL Make a HUGE deal of my 7th year anniversary to my wife and best friend Melissa!

I WILL sing and shout His fame with every opportunity I’m given…both on and off the stage…in how I conduct myself at the grocery store, in traffic, at home….as well as in front of people when it’s convenient.

I WILL boast in Jesus, even when my flesh and shortcomings, and strait up male stupidness make this list another failure to add to my already growing list in the years gone by!

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

All of the above… is my hope and prayer for 2010.

See ya Sunday
Mickey

Oswald Today

December 29, 2009
Deserter or Disciple?

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.

Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.

New Year, New Decade

Hello Fellowship Peeps,

We have come to the end of another year and the end of a decade. When I look back on what this past decade has brought us I’m flat out floored, just think: 9/11, War, Corporate America in turmoil, Saddam Hussein was executed, Apple Computers resurgence with the invention of the Ipod(Thank You Jesus), Social Networking (facebook, myspace, twitter), Global Warming, Hurricane Katrina, Election of 1st African American President, the greatest entertainer Michael Jackson died. The list could go on and on and I’m amazed how fast this decade has gone by. I look back 10 years and I would have never dreamed I would be in the position I’m in right now. I was a 20 year old college baseball player who’s aspirations were to be playing baseball the rest of my life. Thank God He had a different plan. I look back and can see the influence different people have had in my life and see that Jeremiah 29:11 is certainly true. I can also look back and see where the devil has tried to destroy everything in my life.

Enough about the past let’s talk about the future. What is it that God has been calling you to do? Maybe it’s to step out and go into the ministry(after all we are all in ministry), it could be to start a new business that doesn’t make sense in this economic time, or maybe to get rid of that girlfriend or boyfriend, or marry that girlfriend or boyfriend, some of you God may be calling to step up and serve more. All I can encourage you to do in this next year and next decade is to seek God, get in the Word and go after Him not holding anything back. 2010 is going to be incredible at Fellowship Church. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us. All I can say is you better hold on. Our goal is to make Hell a little less crowded.

What are you wanting to accomplish in 2010? Let us know by commenting.

I am going to post My New Year Resolve next week so all of you can hold me accountable.

Have a Merry Christmas

Mickey

Sunday WOW

Just thought i would take a moment to highlight the amazing day at Fellowship Church.

Baptized = 6
Salvation's = 1
People seeking = 3

Attendance = 390

Today we concluded the Harvest series with a talk about Giving Thanks. Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to Be joyful, pray and Give thanks in all situations. Over the last 6 weeks we have asked God to make us more intentional about sharing our faith. We have over 200 names on our Harvest wall and today we marked out two that have come to Jesus. God is Amazing.

As some friends say often, I never get tired of seeing peoples lives changed.

Final Thoughts - even in the rain and cold we had one of our largest attendance Sunday in the last couple of months.

I love our church and love all of those who call it home.

The Guest Services Team hit it out of the park today. You guys made sure everyone got in the building with umbrellas and the buses. You greeted everyone and made them feel welcomed. The Coffee bar rocked and I personally enjoyed the two cups of cappuccino. And you parking lot dudes, all i can say is wow, you guys stood in the rain and helped everyone find places to park. Thank you dudes and dudesses for your personal sacrifices, Fellowship Church is great because of you.

Missed Mickey today, but Stan did a great job leading us in worship with Celeste singing some amazing praise stuff. Good job Celeste and Stan.

Next Week: We will begin a new series called When Love Comes to Town and there will be a special song that U2 made great and we will be talking about the Gift of Jesus this Christmas season is some unique ways. Hope you all make sure you don't miss next week and bring a friend.

Have a great Thanksgiving week and honor God with Giving Thanks.

In Case you missed it.....

Here is a video from Sunday of the band doing Glory to God Forever by Fee. More to come on this later.

Mickey

Worship Night

Hello everyone back in September we had a worship night at the church and had about 250-300 people here so I thought those of you who where not able to make it that night could experience some of it on here so here are the videos of that night broken down into 4 different videos.
Thanks
Mickey

BYOB

Don't forget that this Sunday is BYOB (that's bring your own Bible). This Sunday is going to be different and some thing we have not done in a while so it will be great. So bring your friends because it will be incredible. Just tell them BYOB this Sunday @ Fellowship.

See Ya Then
Mickey

I noticed that cell phone alerts are the new call waiting.....

I noticed that cell phone alerts are the new call waiting.....

“Cell Phone vs. Bible” reposted by a middle schooler
By dccurry • October 15, 2009

This was reposted on Facebook by one of our middle school students and I thought it was BRILLIANT!

Cell phone vs. Bible

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we flipped through it several time a day?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?

What if we gave it to our kids as gifts?

What if we used it when we traveled?

What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go….hmm…where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think, where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!

Worship Blog

Hello Fellowshipians it’s me again to talk about another song that we have done at FC and did this past Sunday. It is Hosanna by Hillsong. This song is an incredible testimony to what I pray happens all across the country and world.

Hosanna tied in with the new series we started this past Sunday called The Harvest and Carley did a phenomenal job singing in both services. It tells the story of Jesus coming to be sacrificed and how we are to rise up to the calling. Just as Pastor Craig spoke about that we are to see as Jesus saw, feel as Jesus felt, and do as Jesus did.

My prayer as a church that we would live out the bridge to this song that says:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I walk from earth into
Eternity

This prayer has all three things; to see, feel, and do what Jesus did. May we continue striving and reaching out to the people who need Jesus in their life. Don’t forget to pray for the names on the Harvest Wall each day that they come to know Christ. We had 4 people receive Jesus this Sunday which never gets old and I personally can’t wait until this Sunday to see what God is going to do.



Sunday Set List:
Solution-Hillsong
Alive and Running-Kristian Stanfill
Glory to God Forever-Fee
God of this City-Tomlin Version
Hosanna-Hillsong

Worship Blog

Hello everyone it’s been a while so you will get a double dose this week. We will look at two songs that we have done recently and I’ll do my best to give you a little more insight into each song.

The first song is How He Loves by John Mark McMillan. This song has become one of the most sung songs in worship services all over the world and the funny thing about this song is it was never meant to be a worship song. This song was written about a youth pastor named Steven who was killed in a car crash. It was the author’s depiction of what Steven’s first encounter with Christ might have looked like. The first time I heard this song I was blown away by the power of the song and the compassion you could feel coming from John Mark as he sung.

However, this song has also caused some controversy within the Christian sector and among some church leader because of one line in the bridge, yep you guessed it “Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss”. A few other artists have also recorded this song including Kim Walker, Eddie Kirkland, The Glorious Unseen(awesome band), and most recently David Crowder.

Crowder’s version has also taken some hits because he chose to change that line of the song to, “Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss”. I will let you form your own opinion as to which line you would like to sing. I will tell you why I sing the “sloppy wet kiss” line.

When I think of something as beautiful as Heaven I cannot help but think of and relate it to my two children, their birth and their life. Many times I have kissed my children with food, snot, boogers, slobbers, and God only know what else. That act is very messy and sloppy, but at the same time very beautiful. So when we cease to exist on the planet and pass from life to death and into eternal life, it may be sloppy and messy up but it will be beautiful at the same time to see Jesus face to face.

Click Here to read some commentary from John Mark McMillan about Crowder’s version and his

Mickey

The Harvest has begun...

We were encouraged the past two Sunday's to invite. From invitations 4 folks now will spend eternity in Heaven instead of Hell. Please invite those your friends that you named on the wall or in you heart. They too could be the next Harvest if you will bring them next week.

Oswald Chambers
October 16, 2009
The Key to the Master’s Orders

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest —Matthew 9:38

The key to the missionary’s difficult task is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer, not work— that is, not work as the word is commonly used today, which often results in the shifting of our focus away from God. The key to the missionary’s difficult task is also not the key of common sense, nor is it the key of medicine, civilization, education, or even evangelizing. The key is in following the Master’s orders— the key is prayer. "Pray the Lord of the harvest . . . ." In the natural realm, prayer is not practical but absurd. We have to realize that prayer is foolish from the commonsense point of view.

From Jesus Christ’s perspective, there are no nations, but only the world. How many of us pray without regard to the persons, but with regard to only one Person— Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced through distress and through conviction of sin. This is the harvest for which we have to pray that laborers be sent out to reap. We stay busy at work, while people all around us are ripe and ready to be harvested; we do not reap even one of them, but simply waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities and programs. Suppose a crisis were to come into your father’s or your brother’s life— are you there as a laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? Is your response, "Oh, but I have a special work to do!" No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ’s own, "a servant [who] is not greater than his master" (John 13:16 ), and someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls us to no special work— He calls us to Himself. "Pray the Lord of the harvest," and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer.

Greatest Catalyst Moment

Each year at Catalyst the staff plans and prepares the schedule to give attendees what is known as the Catalyst experience. The Catalyst Experience is filled with outstanding talks by some of the foremost leaders in the Church along with comedy, crazy events and other information to move the audience to both praise God and be encouraged in their work for Him.

The theme of Catalyst 09 was On your Mark, with the question, what are you willing to do. The idea is for us to make our mark on the culture God has blessed us with we must be willing to do whatever He ask. So during this years conference the challenge to care for the 143,000,000 children around the world who suffer as orphans, lack of food/starvation and the ravages of war.

On Friday just before a presentation about adoption and caring for children Jimmy, a Rwandan child who received care from Compassion International told about how the $38.00 per month given for him brought him to Christ. Watch this clip to see what happened next. All I can say is WOW and i can't help but think about David the child Fellowship sponsors and pray that one day we will find out He too has received Jesus as Lord.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Accepting Small Group Leaders

I don't love him/her anymore...

Good morning Fellowship Family,

I received this great email this morning and wanted to share it with you. I hope you will stop by this page and then watch the video in the message. It all comes down to an open heart.

Marriage Click this for the message and video.

See ya Sunday

Say What You Need To Say

So some of you guys have been asking me how we got the idea to do the cards with the song Say by John Mayer. Well we can’t take full credit for the idea. I saw a church do this a while back and when we were planning for this series we thought this would fit and possibly be a very powerful way for you guys to understand how important communication is within our marriages and our relationships with other people. I hope all of you enjoyed it and my prayer for all of you is that God is speaking to you through this 3 week series. We will conclude it this Sunday with what is God’s role in the family through marriage.

Here is the VIDEO from Sunday

Mickey

Weekly Worship Blog

Hello everyone,

Wow what a day! Sunday was incredible, we had our second week in our Restore:Marriage series and it was great and a little tense and maybe awkward at times, but that is good if we are going to have outrageous marriages we need to be awkward for our spouse.

Today I’ll attempt to explain a song called The Broken & The Tired by Elevation Worship. This is one of my favorite worship albums out right now. Elevation is a church in Charlotte, NC that started a little over 3 years ago and has grown to over 7000 people in weekly attendance. You can check out the church at www.elevationchurch.org or their worship website at www.elevation-worship.com or you can download their album from iTunes HERE.

This song is evangelism at its finest. The chorus speaks to every person who has stepped across the line of salvation that God sent His Son to die so our lives could be healed from all the junk in them. I love how this song has the verses explaining how God has rescued us and brought us from death to life the chorus tells us what He did and the bridge is a prayer of confession to God and a prayer of thankfulness for His willingness to die for us.

My prayer for this song that we have sung each week during this series is that God can heal our marriages and restore them to the way He intended marriage to be. Many times in our marriage we are blind, deaf, weak, or numb but God sent His Son for us to be healed so we could dwell in His love.

Click HERE to see video of The Broken & The Tired

Mickey

A big kudos to Casey Thomas for filling in on the drums last minute notice he did a great job. Fellowship Church is so blessed to have talented musicians that are willing to let God lead their life.

Sunday Set List:
Your Grace Is Enough-Matt Mauer (Chris Tomlin Version)
Blessed Be Your Name- Matt Redman
The Broken & The Tired-Elevation Worship
Glory to God Forever-Fee
Say-John Mayer (I'll post video of this later today)


The Broken and The Tired Lyrics:
When I was blind
You gave me sight
You gave me eyes to see the colors of Your sky

When I was deaf
Without a sound
You gave me ears to hear the songs of Your love

Your love is kind
Your love's the only thing that's perfect in this life

You sent Your son to die
For the broken and the tired
And You healed my life
With my hands raised high
And my heart a burning fire
I'll give my life
To dwell in Your love

When I was weak
With tired feet
You gave me strength to run the race you'd given me

When I was numb
My heart grown cold
You gave me nerves to feel the warmth of Your love


Jesus, we confess
We were lost in brokenness
Til You came and conquered death
For love

Chattahoochee Mountian Fair

Saturday is the last day, Ya'll come!!

Weekly Worship Blog

I’m back, I took a week off from the weekly blog because of a couple of reasons the first reason 1)Monday was Labor Day and I didn’t want to work when I didn’t have to, 2) I was busy getting things ready for our booth at the fair this week (which you should go check out because it is definitely the best booth there).

This week we will talk about My Deliverer by Chris Tomlin, who just recently moved to the great state of Georgia to lead worship for Passion City Church in Atlanta. He also has written some other pretty good songs like How Great Is Our God, Holy Is The Lord, and recently redid Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone). Maybe you have heard of some of those.

If there was a modern day book of Psalms this would get my vote to be included in that book. Well this book was really inspired from the Psalms so I guess it is kind of already in the Bible. When David was writing most of the Psalms it was during the time when God was delivering them from the hands of the enemy and David was bound and determined to lean on God for deliverance. Our mindset should not be any different today. We may not be fighting physically against an army but the Bible tells us we are in a spiritual war against the devil. We must build our foundation on Christ who will deliverer us from anything that comes our way as long as we are hiding behind His walls of salvation.

Click HERE to see video of My Deliverer from Sunday

Don’t forget Sunday September 27 at 6:00 p.m. we will be having a night of worship at Fellowship Church so make plans to be there and ready for a great evening of worship with the band.

Mickey

Sunday Set List:
I Will Go-Starfield
Jesus Paid It All-Passion Version
Shout Unto God-Hillsong
Our God Reigns-Passion Version
Hallelujah (Our God Reigns)-Hillsong
My Deliverer-Chris Tomlin

My Deliverer Lyrics
I will wait for You to move
For Your mighty hand to save
When the trouble water rise
You are my hiding place
You are my hiding place

You walls are salvation
Your gates are praise

My Deliverer
My Deliverer
My Deliverer
Is the Lord

Who is like You mighty God
Who can take me from Your hand
As I walk with You in freedom
You're the Rock on which I stand
You're the Rock on which I stand

Sunday Guest Services Team Lunch Sept 20

Hey folks, we are planning this Sunday for the Guset Services team lunch. We need a count on how many are attending so we can prepare enough chow. Please email fellowshipchurch@windstream.net by 10:AM Wed if you can attend. Thanks

Book Review: The Noticer Andy Andrews

Book: The Noticer
Author: Andy Andrews


Once again Andy Andrews does a great job of crafting a good principle for life into a story about life. While on vacation this year I was challenged to read Andy’s book The Traveler’s Gift. I came away from that reading encouraged, educated and challenged, but most of all thankful for the recommendation. It was a pleasant surprise to be asked to review the sequel to The Traveler’s Gift, The Noticer.

I think the thing that impacted me the most about the Noticer was that the gifts I give away by investing in others may never be recognized, however the impact is diminished in no way. I was reminded about those who had invested in me and taken the time to encourage me to move forward toward my goals.

You will be captivated by Andy’s ability to write a book that feels like a novel, however it holds some great truths within. A very quick and short read, this is a book useful for a day away or vacation list. Have fun hearing how the Noticer leads you on a journey to discover prospective.

Fearless by Max Lucado

Book Review: Fearless
Author: Max Lucado

As always Max Lucado takes the Scriptures and applies practical life experiences that everyone can understand. In his new book Fearless, Pastor Lucado takes on the single greatest emotion that plagues the church, FEAR.

It seems following September 11, 2001 everything changed in the culture and spiritual landscape of America. For the first time in American history a foreign enemy attacked the homeland and forever changed how we live our lives. Fear became the norm, would terrorist attack again? Where would they attack? Are my children safe? On and on the questions grew. Then the economic impact of a banking system gone wild caused a collapse in consumer confidence crushing the global economic growth of the 90’s. Job lose is at an all time high, the stock market collapsed and 401K’s began to shrink. Everywhere you look FEAR is the norm.

In this book titled FEARLESS, Max Lucado views fear through a Biblical lens that will help you overcome your struggle with fear. Each story and thought by Pastor Lucado will pinpoint the root of your fear and how to overcome by understand God’s plan for your life. Ultimately he concludes with the healthy fear of God that produces a dependence on God for our future.

So grab a copy of Fearless and spend an afternoon shedding the load of fear that fills your lives. Paul wrote to the Christ followers of his day about fear, listen to these words that are foundational to Max Lucado’s new book FEARLESS:
Romans 8:15 (NIV)
15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Thinkin 'bout...

Oswald:The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life

He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8 ) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— "This is the work of God, that you believe. . ." ( John 6:29 ). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.


Stan here, I feel like I am trying to flow upstream many times. Thanks for the encouraging words from Oswald Chambers for Sunday Sept 6.

Sunday Night Recap

What a day at Fellowship Church.

We continued the message series Marked and today we used Tattoo's as the ultimate example of one's being marked by Obedience to the call of Christ on our lives. Although the lead up to the message caused some concerns, I believe we present truth that encouraged all who attended. I can't wait for next week as we finish our study of Galatians, you can be sure it will push us closer to Jesus.

We had several guests today and their responses were good.

Tina and I just got home from a night of bowling and Mexican food. Almost 100 people packed out the Old Clarkesville Mill to bowl, that was funny and fun at the same time. I found out I have a new name, thanks guys, I don't mind being the Joker.

Thank you to Peublos in Clarkesville for taking us all on for dinner. Over all I think we had a great day at Fellowship.

Have a great week and we will see you on Sunday.

To anonymous blog poster

We have had a few post from people concerning the last post entitled "Will We Let Satan Win". We will always post comments from those who use their name, however we do not post responses from those who aren't willing to use their name.

I will say I read your post and do not feel you have a good pulse on the situation, and my guess is like most you heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend. Maybe taking a little more care in contacting the people directly related and involved in Fellowship Church would prepare you to better respond.

If you are a regular attender and giver to Fellowship Church I will be more than happy to sit down with you and discuss your feelings and concerns.

Will we let Satan Win?

Good Morning Fellowship Family,

I wanted to take a moment to share with you a concern. Last Sunday we announced something different would be presented in this coming Sunday’s message as an illustration. Since that time I have received several calls and comments of concern. Although I understand and appreciate each contact I can’t help but be broken hearted over how some have responded. On Thursday the staff and I sat down to discuss the potential impact of following through with the illustration and have decided that it would be costly to the body of Christ and we will not be using it.

You may think that is why I am broken hearted, but you would be wrong. I am broken hearted over some people’s tactics within the body. Some have resorted to a call brigade to members of Fellowship Church in an attempt to shore up support for their cause. I find it incredibly offensive that some would consider personal preference about tattooing vs. blatant sin of gossip and disunity! Rumors abound and most of them are outright LIES! I encourage you to consider your conversation and also understand that when you speak untruth about the church you are speaking untruth about the Bride that Jesus died for. The implication of that action is left in the hands of a Righteous God.

Fellowship Church began as a dream to be a church that was different, to become a church where everyone was welcomed. This means that we allow people from all walks of life, not just those who look and act like we believe scripture teaches. In fact many in the church have been taught a false system of outward appearance (Pharisaical in nature) rather than an inward transformation. What I most desire as pastor is a church who stops acting religious and starts being Biblical. Our community is filled with people who are broken, hurting and need a loving hand from those who know Jesus. I pray for a day when church happens. Paul wrote these words:
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV)
19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
To those of you who have given your trust to the staff who lead Fellowship Church, thank you and know that we value your trust and will protect against violating it. We want to hear from you and will listen to your concerns. Sometimes we will change a course because we heard positive communication that caused us to consider the implications of a decision, but there will be times when we continue forward and lead this church into the future. But please do not call and threaten us, hang up on us when we are talking or use gossip to cause harm to the body, it just will not be tolerated and we will correct you in love. Let me thank those who have called with the right spirit and shared their concerns you truly helped us resolve a difficult decision and I am thankful for your Biblical actions.
I realize that some of you are caught off guard and may be wondering why I would respond this way. There are several reasons: 1) I am tired of people sinning by gossiping about Fellowship Church and will not stand by any longer listening to member comments that I know are untrue. It is enough that the religious community attacks us, but from our own is just not acceptable. 2) It’s time we either decide to do Fellowship Church or not. I love you all, but I also love Jesus and know what he has called us to do. We have been sidetracked long enough with petty differences that make no forward progress in the Kingdom. God has either sent you to Fellowship Church or not, only you know which, so get in or get out! “Pastor, you don’t love us!” YES I DO, I love you dearly, however if you think you can hijack the work of God here at Fellowship you are wrong. Everyone is valued, however, everyone is not in the right place. I realize some of you will stop reading right now and shut down, good, that is what I intended to do. For those of you who are tired of this stuff welcome, I invite you to enjoy the ride. 3) I just don’t have time to keep doing this. I will be 45 in a few days. I will be dead in a few years. But more importantly Jesus could come back any minute. People are dying and going to Hell and we have people intent on helping them get there, I just don’t get it. 4)Right now I believe our church is positioned staff wise, spirit wise and people wise to impact our community for Jesus. Let’s get with it! Now is the time and I can’t wait to see all that God has for us.
So just to be clear and open. Right now I am very frustrated, hurt and honestly mad. A pastor recently preached a message called “Get the Hell out!” Some of you are so caught up in being the spiritual police you are now mad at what I just wrote. Clearly you don’t get it. This pastor talked about all the junk going on in their church, in reality he called it “sin” or if you look at the Bible sin is also known as “Hell”. He invited those who were opposed to his church to “Get the Hell out!” If you are sinning by gossiping and lying about Fellowship Church. If your personal preferences are offended at Fellowship Church and you can’t let go and let God. THEN I TELL YOU “GET THE HELL OUT!” Oh, yeah you can send this to your friends and even point them to our blog http://fellowshipdayz08.blogspot.com, where I have fully posted this email.
I love you all and hope that you can read between the lines if you are a faithful serving, giving and loving member. I value you more than you can ever know, but it’s time to stop this. I will spend no more time on this junk, we are moving forward toward the great things God has for us. If you would like to talk to me please feel free to call or email. God bless you all!
Pastor Craig

Weekly Worship Blog

This week we will look at a song we have done multiple times, Came To My Rescue by Hillsong United. This song was released on their United We Stand CD a few years back and has become one of my favorite worship CDs. We have also done numerous songs from this CD in the past.

Came To My Rescue is about God helping us through the hard times in our life. If we call upon the God He will come to our rescue. I think this song is a great depiction of how worship takes place in our lives. 1st we must worship and seek His face. Next we must surrender our lives to Him in obedience and then He will answer our prayers and come to our rescue. Finally the song ends with a declaration and prayer after God has rescued you from you pit that in everything you do God be lifted high in our lives

No matter where you are right now in your life God is waiting on you to fall down to your knees in worship and call upon Him. He wants to rescue us. So do that right now it doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing just begin to worship the one who is our rescuer.

Mickey

Click HERE to watch video of Came To My Rescue
(Disclaimer: We were having audio input problems on the camera so it may sound scratchy at times from overloading the inputs.)

Came To My Rescue Lyrics:
Falling on my knees in worship
Giving all I am to seek Your face
Lord all I am is Yours

My whole life
I place in Your hands
God of mercy
Humbled I bow down
In your presence at Your throne


I called You answered
And You came to my rescue and I
I wanna be where You are

In my life be lifted high
In our world be lifted high
In our love be lifted high

Set List:
Freedom is Here-Hillsong United
Break Free-Hillsong United
Came To My Rescue-Hillsong United
How Great Is Our God-Chris Tomlin
Today Is The Day-Lincoln Brewster

Where are you looking to find Jesus?

After reading the blog that Stan posted yesterday it got me thinking about where we are trying to find Jesus. Not long ago I saw a movie named Henry Poole is Here, I would not recommend the movie to you unless you have 2 hours to kill that you will never get back. But the point of the movie is, a woman sees the face of Jesus in a water stain on the side of a house and the people of the neighborhood begin to bring offerings and worship the water stain as if it were actually Jesus, and the owner of the home insists it does not look like Jesus. Here is a quote from one of the actresses in the movie about her beliefs:

“I think there is a thirst in culture for some sort of spiritual sustenance and I think the movie kind of feeds that without preaching anything…I think the fact that it is the face of Jesus sort of suits the story and suits the street where the story is set. If it was in another country it would be the face of somebody else.”

Her comments are true there is a thirst for some sort of spiritual sustenance in culture today and so many times we seek that in a frying pan, or water stains, or through self help books, or other people, or even through spiritual/Christian camps. I’ve got news for you if you have crossed the line of salvation seek no more because the same power that conquered the grave lives inside of you. As humans we try to make it so difficult to get to close to Jesus, and there is only one thing that will get us there and that is total surrender of our lives to Him. Jesus is not in a water stain or a frying pan He wants to be in your life and in your heart but you have to let Him in by reading the Bible and being willing to surrender. Will you do that?

Mickey

Yep, its about the food

Some people will tell you that the Good Lord can show up just about anywhere, and lately there seems to be no shortage of religious images seen on commonplace items.



A Texas man he saw this image in his frying pan while he was cooking breakfast for his mother. ( See More Images Of Frying Pan)


Remember the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich? Well, now it's the Jesus frying pan.

Juan Pastrano, of Prairie Lea, Texas, said he was cooking his mother breakfast on Sunday when he looked close and saw what looks like the face of Jesus etched in his frying pan.

There's no word yet on if the family plans to sell the pan. But if they do, it could really bring in the bacon. A 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary recently sold on eBay for $28,000.

Want To Make your own check out the following link

http://www.jesuspan.com/

Enjoy!

Weekly Worship Blog

Hello everyone this week we are going to take a look at a song called From The Inside Out. This song was written by Joel Houston who is a pastor, worship leader, and pioneer in the country of Australia for a “little, small” church called Hillsong Church, maybe you have heard it.

This is one of my favorite worship songs because so many of us can relate to the lyrics of this song. From the opening line that says “A thousand times I failed, still your mercy remains”, we have all failed but yet God’s mercy remains and the only way to overcome those times when we fail is to be consumed from the inside out. Matthew 23:24-26 is about when Jesus was telling the Pharisees(church people) that they spend so much time cleaning the outside and the inside is filthy. How many of us are consumed from the inside out? Take time this week to clean the inside first and then the outside will also be clean. Give God control of your heart and soul and see what way He can radically change you.

Click HERE to see video of From The Inside Out

Also make sure you join us this Sunday as we continue the Marked series and we talk about being enslaved. I hope all you can come and bring someone with you. Until Sunday.

Mickey

Sunday’s Set List:
I Will Go-Starfield
Glory to God Forever-Fee
From The Inside Out-Hillsong
My Deliverer-Chris Tomlin
Hosanna-Hillsong


From The Inside Out Lyrics:

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

My heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Weekly Worship Blog

Another newer song that we introduced last week was Alive and Running from Kristian Stanfill. This is the 1st track on Kristian’s new CD Attention go get it if you don’t have it, it is an awesome worship CD, and he is from ATL.

This song comes from the Great Commission which is found in Matthew 28:16-20. The title of this song says it all, that we are alive and running to the world to bring salvation to every part of this world. Christ died not just so we could go to heaven when we die, if that were the case when we accepted Christ we would leave this earth and go to heaven. He died so we could live a life pleasing to Him and do His will. I blogged about it a couple of week ago that living in God’s will is not always easy, but to be alive and running to the world you have to be willing to go across the street before you can go around the world. Click HERE to see video of Alive and Running

This Sunday we are continuing our Marked series and we will be talking on Galatians 3 and the title of the sermon is No Pain, No Gain. It’s going to be another incredible Sunday so make sure you are here and you bring a friend

Sunday’s Set List:
Alive and Running-Kristian Stanfill
Everlasting God-Brenton Brown (Lincoln Brewster version)
How Can I Keep From Singing-Chris Tomlin
Fire Fall Down-Hillsong

Alive and Running Lyrics:

Salvation came to us
Now we are free forever
Made alive by the Savior's touch
Now death can't hold us under
Right here, right now, come bring Him adoration Rise up, sing out, this song of joy and freedom

We have seen the Son
Jesus, risen One
His light came down to us
Now we're alive and running to the world

Beauty revealed to us
Our eyes are wide with wonder
Caught by the brightness of
The glory of the Father
Our eyes, have not seen, something so captivating We'll go, where You lead, to the ends of the earth proclaiming

There is none shining brighter
Than the Son of the Father
Who has come to bring freedom
To the heart of man

You shine brighter than the brightest light that the world could show

Weekly Worship Blog

Worship Blog 8-9

Your Love

Welcome to this week’s edition of the weekly worship blog. We will look at a song by Chrystina Lloree Fincher called Your Love. This past Sunday was the 3rd time we have sung this song and I really think it hit home this week. Celeste did an absolutely phenomenal job in both services singing this song.

This song is about the greatness of God’s love. We all know John 3:16 that God loved us so much to send His Son for us and it’s by His blood that our “deepest stains are clean”. There is no more shame because Christ has bought our sin when he died on the cross. He did all this just because He loved us. So it is by His love that everything in our life has been made new. Thank God for Jesus.

Sunday was a great day we saw 6 people accept Christ and others want to learn more about starting a relationship with Christ. As you worship this week remember that Galatians 1 says that salvation is not anything that man has made up or gotten from any other person, but salvation comes from God. I love having the privilege of seeing God working in people’s lives, and seeing people surrender to Him. This is awesome, Thank You GOD! I can’t wait until next week

Sunday’s Set List:
Alive and Running-Kristian Stanfill
Salvation is Here-Hillsong
Your Love-Chrystina L. Fincher
All Because of Jesus-Steve Fee
Revelation Song-Gateway Worship Version

Mickey

Click HERE to watch video of Celeste Singing Your Love

Your Love Lyrics:

Your love is unfailing
Your mercy pours over me
Your grace is never ending
Your glory revealed in all I see

And I will lift you up
I’m singing all my days

Of Your Love
Your Love
Your Love

It’s your love that rescued me
Your love has set me free
By the blood my deepest stains are clean

There’s no more shame
You’ve given me the only thing I ever need
My chains are gone I am free

You are You are the great I am
I’ll never be the same again
You are your are the great I am
I’ll never be the same

Weekly Worship Blog

I’m starting something new called the weekly worship arts blog. Here is how it is going to work. I’ll take one song that we did the past Sunday and basically write a blog around the theme of that song. Hopefully this will give you a little more in depth meaning of some of the songs we sing on Sunday morning.

This week we will look at a new song that we did Sunday called I Will Go by the band Starfield. The verse reference for this song is Is. 6:8. Which was when Isaiah was talking to God and God wanted to know if anyone was willing to go and tell the nations about Him, and Isaiah said “Here am I, Send Me.” As we finished our short series about serving and doing what is necessary to go and reach the community this song was a perfect fit for the message this past Sunday.

The lyrics to this song stick out as a depiction of humility in the cry that “I want to live for you go where you lead me, I want to follow You” , those words mean we must completely surrender our lives to the Lord. I am learning in my time as a worship pastor that is a dangerous prayer. Most times we are willing to do what the Lord wants as long as it lines up with our plan. If God was calling you to move across the country to serve Him would you go. How about if God was calling you to go across the street to serve a neighbor would you or could you go. Living in God’s will and completely surrendered to Him is not always the easy path. After all Jesus lived in the will of God and He ended up getting crucified.

Are you willing to go? Go where the Lord leads, I’m not saying it will be easy, but I can guarantee it will be rewarding.

To the desperate eyes and reaching hands
To the suffering and the lean
To the ones the world has cast aside
Where you want me I will be

I will go, I will go
I will go, Lord send me
To the world, To the lost
To the poor and hungry
Take everything I am
I'm clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me

Let me not be blind with privilege
Give me eyes to see the pain
Let the blessing You've poured out on me
Not be spent on me in vain
Let this life be used for change

I wanna live for you
Go where you lead me
I wanna follow you

Sunday Set List
I Will Go-Starfied
Tell the World-Hillsong
Marvelous Light-Charlie Hall
Beautiful the Blood-Stave Fee
Amazing Grace(My Chains are Gone)-Tomlin Version

To check out the video of this song from Sunday click here

Mickey

Jesus Christ is the King of Leon

It’s a breezy yet warm Sunday morning.
Jesus is heading to church, and for some reason, this morning, He thought He’d change it up a bit..
He’s got his iPhone in his pocket and is listening to the Kings Of Leon.
That album is heavenly, admit it.
This morning, without anyone knowing, He used and moved us. Literally.

To us in Habersham, White, Stephens, and Banks Counties our churches are spread between miles, trees, Walmart, mountains, cultures, and agendas. Churches on every corner. All going for it on Sunday mornings. Sincerely going for it. I drive by 11 on the way to Fellowship Church from Clarkesville.
This morning however, it’s different. But the same.
See this morning, Jesus has moved all our churches in these 4 counties off the ground, and landed them centrally in a field off 365 . This happened during the 11 o’clock service once everyone had come inside. No one knows.

I know what your thinking. How?
I don’t know. He’s Jesus for Christ’s sake. Literally.
He can do whatever He wants.

And also because He’s Jesus, He has allowed every worship leader in Habersham to start the service off with the exact same song. They thought it was their idea.

So Jesus walks around the corner to see this field. Filled with all these churches. Right next to each other. It looks like Wisteria Lane on crack. Big churches next to little churches. Shiny churches next to dirty churches. He’s smiling because He knows what everyone inside those building does not. We are singing the same song to Him at the same time. But we have no idea because our walls are in the way.

While He’s strolling down the sidewalk a mom comes running out the doors of First Presbyterian Church of the Clarkesville. The song that is playing in her church has moved her to tears and she needed some air. As she wipes her eyes, and she sees her surroundings, she quickly runs back in.

Jesus knows time is short so He starts counting.
One…
Two…
C’mon, get to the chorus…
Then, at the same time, with the snap of His fingers, every church building disappears. All the sound systems and instruments are gone. Poof.
For one moment, all the Christians in all the churches in Habersham are passionately worshipping God together, singing the same melody.

A lady walking into Babyland General. is knocked over by the power of the noise.
Windows at the courthouse in Clarkesville are broken from the rush of sound.
The homeless man in Banks Crossing. is awaken from his sleep by the wind that rushed over him.
In fact, even up in Batesville, Ted Turner heard this sound and was moved.
The sound was even heard as far as Athens, GA

The largest sound this area ever heard was produced. Over 2 million people heard the name of Jesus at the same time. Not because we were individually trying with all our might to reach the lost, but because we were doing what we were created to do. Worship Christ. Together.

Back in the field the panic from this experiment Jesus tried was quickly replaced by volume. Only seconds earlier, if you were standing 1 foot from this field you could not hear a thing.
Suddenly the sound produced was as thick as a sonic boom.
And it just got louder.

Northeast Georgia is listening.
News vans pulled up. CNN even shows up and was breaking the story. The noise was heard.
Jesus smiled, put His earbuds back in, and hits play.

I’ve been roaming around
Always looking down at all I see
Painted faces, building places I cant reach

You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody

Oh to dream

*this is an exert from a blog by Carlos Whittaker but changed to fit our area

He is Our LIfe...

Colossians 3
He Is Your Life
1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Guard my heart and mind....

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Verse of the Day

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Things I need to remember

Philippians 4 (The Message)
6-7 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Book Review: The Principle of the Path

Today, I finished reading a new book by Andy Stanley entitled The Principle of the Path, How to get from where you are to where you want to be. I can only wish I had this book when I graduated from High School some 30+ years ago; and, definitely, recommend it for those in pursuit of their dreams.

In true Andy Stanley style, the book causes the reader to take inventory of life; and, exposes through the lenses of Scripture, those truths about how to live in right relationship with God. Each chapter of this book compels the reader to consider past decisions and the resulting consequences, against the reality of how those decisions were made without proper Biblical application.

I love how Andy takes stories from his past to illustrate the truths of his writing. Some writers only draft information learned by book knowledge, this book relays practical life lessons learned and how they affect your future. Books like this will help others avoid the mistakes made by the author and hopefully relieve some undue pain.

Ultimately, this book will guide the reader to understand that complete trust and faith in God will guide you in whatever you do. Once we apply Scripture to our lives, whatever happens will be for the Glory of God and that ain’t all that bad.

This book will definitely be on my list for people who struggle with finding God’s best for their lives and knowing how to make good solid life decisions. I will most likely consider this book as a graduation gift as well. You never go wrong reading Andy Stanley and this book would be scored a triple!

Generosity

Craig's message Sunday will be on generosity. We have a chance now to help one of ours who is in need. As many of you know, Brent Clark's house was destroyed in a fire on Wednesday evening. We need your help in supporting this family during this time. Brent's daughter, Emilee, is 8 years old and in need of some clothes. She wears a girls 14/16 shirt and girls 16 pant. Any help will be greatly appreciated for this family. You can drop off items at the church (706-894-1500) or call me at 706-968-2059 and we will arrange a way to get these items to Brent & Emilee.

House

As many of you know, I love to watch the TV show House. I believe it's one of the coolest and most of the box Television shows. To believe that someone can be so intelligent and yet so unhappy, to think that someone could have such ridiculous ideas and belief, and come up with a crazy different case while trying to intertwine the lives of these doctors week after week is mind blowing!!! By far one of the best shows ever created.

What do you think?

Just the other day, there was a House marathon on. I had them all recorded. This meant I got to watch House back to back, without commercials, and without having to wait a week!! I loved it!!!

That's not why I wanted to talk about House. See Craig and I were discussing House the other day. He mentioned how he really enjoys the show and watches it every week, but he's not 100% into the show. I mean he likes it, but not enough to remember names and past history of the characters. For me, I enjoy getting involved in the lives of the characters, understanding the cases, and trying to figure them out...which I never do!!!
But the other day something happened, when the patient came into the hospital, I started to apply his symptoms to my life!!! I started to think I was dying. As I sat there hooked by this patient’s outcome, I started to think what in the world am I going to do!!! Should I dial 911??? Call Brittany and tell her one last time that I love her??? I was freaking out!
As we all know I didn't die, it was just a bad case of Taco Bell! This made me think. Why don't we do this on Sunday? Week after week we come to church, watch Craig, and then go home. What would happen if we got involved in the message, as I get involved in House? What if we started taking the symptom of Christianity that Craig talks about and start to measure them up to our lives? Would we be changed?

The book of James speaks about how the Word of God is like a mirror, and how foolish that person is who looks into it sees a problem but doesn't fix it. James 1:25 says-But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
So do you forget? I hope this Sunday people across the whole church listen to the sermon in a different light. I pray that people are so freaked out about their sin that they are compelled to change and worship God! I know that when I write this blog, I'm compelled to change, how about you?
Nate out...

We're Back!

Hey Fellowship Family,

It was great to get to take a Sunday and spend it with family. Tina, Nathan and I went to Dublin, GA to share mother's day with Tina's mom. It was great to just get away to relax and enjoy family.

While away we visited New Vision Church in Dublin, GA. Will Cooper is the pastor and we had a chance to spend Sunday afternoon encouraging he and his wife. New Vision is a church plant getting ready to make a difference in Dublin, GA like never before. Will, know that Fellowship Church is praying for you and we can't wait to hear the great stories about the work of God at New Vision.

On the way down we saw something really crazy. We went through Commerce on 441 and as we cross I-85 at the Denny's there were about 30 men with suites and ties holding signs that said things like:
Gays go to Hell!
Jesus hates fags!
Repent or you will burn!

I can't tell you how I felt. I was embarrassed at first, mad next and then broken over how people will hijack the message of Jesus to hate people. I really wanted to turn around and go speak to them, but the better part of judgment told me it was not time well spent.

Question: Does God hates gay (homosexual) people? The quick answer is no, but careful consideration brings us full circle to the fact that God hates sin, and any person who chooses to live a sinful life is being rejected by God. So careful review tells us any sin is rejected by God. Their signs should have said, God hates adulterers, God hates liars!, etc. But does that mean we should use the fact that God hates sin to reject people? No! It is not our place to judge people, but our job is to tell people about Jesus. What they choose to do with Jesus is there deal, not mine! Some will reject, so be it, some will receive it. Who you might ask? I don't know and you don't know so let's focus not on the sin (sin is God's problem to deal with) and let's focus on loving everybody, it just might make a difference.

I can't wait to see you all on Sunday. Have a great week.

Craig

What's Happening this Week at FC

1) Don’t forget that we are heading to LACI tomorrow night. If you have signed up to attend this special Mother’s Day Worship Event, remember we are leaving the church at 5:30 p.m. Also, a few things that we can and cannot do:

a) We cannot wear shorts or tank tops;

b) You must have a picture ID in order to be allowed into the prison;

c) You cannot bring anything with you. This means purse, etc. You will be asked to leave your keys at the check in counter; and,

d) Please pay attention to what Warden Howerton says regarding movement once the ladies begin arriving in the gym.

We have some special events planned for the ladies and we cannot wait to love on these moms.

2) Sign Ups for Summer Semester of Fellowship Connections will begin on Sunday. We have revamped the lineup for this semester only to help Fellowship Church and the members and attendees grow. There will be a sign up table located in the back together with Facilitators available to answer any and all questions you may have. We are excited about the way this has unfolded and cannot wait to see lives changed this summer!

3) Next Sunday we have a busy day planned.

a) If you are facilitating a small group for Fellowship Connection this Summer, we will be hosting a training session beginning at 4 p.m. This will help you understand the 201 Class, answer any questions you may have, and we will also be doing a mock run through of a class. We will be providing child care; and, once again, if you would like to help with child care, please let me know.

b) As Craig has been mentioning, we have decided to rethink the way we handle Communion Services. We don’t want to just tack this onto an event; we want this to be the special time it is suppose to be. We will be hosting a special evening Communion Service beginning at 6:30 p.m.

4) If you have been attending Fellowship Church and would like to make the next step, we will be hosting another Discovering the Joy of Membership Class on May 31st at 5:30 p.m. here at the church. We will be providing a meal and child care for you if needed. You can sign up at the Information Table on Sunday or by emailing me back. Also if you would like to provide child care for this class, please let me know as well.

5) We are in the process of making CDs of the Elephant in the Church Series. If you would like to purchase a CD set, you can do so by signing up at the Information Table. The cost for the series is $15. Please make sure if paying by check that you mark in the Memo line for Elephant Series. If paying by cash, please place in an envelope and indicate for Elephant Series. These should be ready in the next couple of weeks.

6) We have downloaded the Town Hall for Hope DVD message from Dave Ramsey. If you would like a copy of this DVD, please go by the Guest Service Counter. There is no cost for this DVD.

We have some very exciting news to share with you! As Craig mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have been in talks with The Journey Church in New York regarding a mission opportunity this summer. Those plans have been finalized. The mission trip will be from June 13-19th. The cost is $500 per person. This does not include meals or other expenses you will be occurring. If you are interested in attending, you can sign up at the Information Table. We are asking for a $50 commitment deposit by May 24th. Also, we need a minimum of 10 people in order to attend. This should include 5 men and 5 women. For more information, you can pick up a flyer on the Information Table.

Also, Nate is preparing some fun activities for the children and youth this summer. Just a heads up for the Youth:

a) June 22nd—You will be going to Helen to tube the river. The cost will be $15 plus food and tube rental. We will leave the church at 8:30 a.m. and get back around 5 p.m. Sign up sheets are on the Information Table. Deadline for sign ups is June 14th.

For more exciting events, please pick up the flyer on the Information Table!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend!

Amanda Anderson
Administrative Assistant
Fellowship Church
P. O. Box 10
230 Industrial Park Rd
Baldwin, GA 30511
706-894-1500
FAX: 706-778-0966

All Jacked Up!

This picture is not an endorsement or critic of modular homes, just used for fun!

I'm Jacked up like a Alabama Mansion (please don't get mad, laugh you know you want too!)

I love Fellowship Church! I hope you know that I love you all! WOW ain't God good!

Well you might think I am excited, but that would be an understatement. I am crazy excited about how things at Fellowship Church are going.

1. God has given me some incredible peace, peace like I have never seen. Some of you know that I don't sleep, one of the things I believe is I can sleep when I'm dead. Well lately I can't get enough sleep. I have been resting like never before. Now before you go drawing up any conclusions, it's not that I am not resting at night. I am, it's just I am fully at peace with where I am. I have said for years that I am becoming more of what God wants me to be than ever before. I love it!

2. I am watching you guys step up in incredible ways. This is really why I am jacked up today. Today in the office, we are putting the finishing touches on the Fellowship Connection booklet for Sunday. For those who don't know, we are doing something different for the Summer. We will be hosting Fellowship Connection at the church in a large group time, then breaking into smaller groups for discussion (you will hear more about that later). The thing that jacks me up is when I pitched the idea to the small group leaders, we have received an amazing response.

In the last day or so I have received so many phone calls and emails with buy ins, and that just encourages me to no end. Thank you for allowing me to lead, I realize that sometimes it's hard to understand us but thank you, thank you, thank you for trusting in us.

I can't wait to see how God uses Fellowship Connection this Summer.

All Jacked Up!

Fellowship Ambassador's Wanted

It's me again, I know how in the world could I post twice in one day. Well I get these blog burst and can't wait to share with you.

Just checking to see if there are any Ambassador's for Fellowship out there. To get this post you will have to read the last one I posted and then go to Brian's blog to get it.

I'm in!

See ya

You gotta read this!

Hey gang,

Do you ever have times when you try to express something, but no matter how hard you try to communicate you just don't seem to do it justice. Well, this morning I read a something that I hope every member of Fellowship Church will read. Seriously, tell everyone you know that is connected with Fellowship Church about today's post, it just may the best thing I could point you to.

So what is it I read, Click this link Brain's Blog. Without a doubt I think we could all learn to see things like this guy does.

Thank you God for pointing me to it this morning.

Love you all,Craig

Fellowship Members must read!

I read several blogs during a given week. This week I came across Perry Noble's blog and thought every member of Fellowship Church should read it. (And I don't care if you think we are trying to be like NewSpring, we aren't, but we are learning from them)

Four Wishes for Church Leaders Pt 1
Four Wishes for Church Leaders Pt 2
Four Wishes for Church Leaders PT 3
Four Wishes for Church Leaders Pt 4

I hope you will take the time to read it.

Craig

Learning some valuable lesson's lately.

It has been a few days since I posted anything on the blog, mostly because it has been a very crazy couple of weeks, however I have seen God do some amazing work.

Let me give you some insight to what I have been learning: Yesterday one comment came from a group of pastor friends whom I meet with monthly to encourage me and it hit me that God was stretching me lately. I am so grateful that God loves me and wants to make me a better person. So here's the comment:

You will never grow your church beyond the pain you are willing to bear! WOW! WOW! WOW!

Until I am ready to endure the next level of pain I am not ready for what God wants to do in my life. I have seen this to be true and also heard it before just differently. Steven Furtick spoke at Catalyst and his message talked about the fact that God is preparing you for what He has prepared for you. We can't get to the prepared place until we are prepared people. Moses had to spend time away from Egypt in prep for leading Israel to the Promised Land. Abraham (whom we have been talking about) had to spend over 20+ years roaming Canaan before God brought him a son to complete the promise of God to make him a great people. Jesus spent three years enduring great disappointment and pain in preparation for the Cross. Now before you blow off, I did not liken myself to Moses, Abraham and certainly not Jesus, I am just using their lives as an example of the truth I have learned.

Often times we think life should be pain free, but I remind you that pain causes us to:
1. Appreciate being painless.
If we never had pain we would get comfortable with the status quo. God never promises us a perfect passage, but He does promise getting us to the desire destination.
2. Acknowledge situations and circumstances in our lives.
Without pain we would know something is wrong. When you cut a finger the pain tells you it is cut, without this sensation you would bleed to death. God in His infinite wisdom provided pain as a protective measure helping us see things as they are.
3. Adjustments made to make us better.
No pain no gain. Pain, if viewed from the right prospective will help you and get better. I remember as a kid being at my great-grandmothers house in Carnesville. It had coal burning heaters, often we would be warned that the heaters would burn us, but until I actually experienced the pain I didn't believe it burned. I touched it once and became a believer.

So what does that have to do with you?

Simply this, if you want to walk closer to Jesus tomorrow then you must be willing to endure pain. Sunday we will be talking about Endurance. So many people quit just before the payoff. We give up and miss God's best.

Ladies accept second best for a mate and end up regretting a marriage.
Men take another job for the greener grass, but end up missing a greater promotion.
Athletes take illegal substances in hopes of winning it all, but fail to realize their potential was greater than the goal.

What pain have you been enduring? Get ready the payoff is coming. I promise, I have seen it more lately than ever before and I am thankful for it.

Oh and by the way. I am ready for the pain. I want Fellowship Church to be even greater and would never want to hinder the work of God for self.

Love you all and see you Sunday

Upcoming

Just a little reminder that auditions sign up for the worship team will end this Sunday May 3rd. If you are interested in signing up please pick up a commitment form at the table by the door in the worship center.

Also you are not going to want to miss this Sunday we start are new series called Heroes and for the first time every person children to adults will be learning the same thing. We are very excited about this and what it could create in your homes as you discuss what you learn at church (I hope you are doing this). The band is working up some great songs for this series too so you will probably hear some different songs that pertain to Heroes.

One last thing I love being a part of Fellowship Church it is awesome to see God working in so many people's lives. None of it would be possible without each person doing their part for the kingdom. Thanks. Until Sunday

Mickey

What's Happening at FC

Baldwin Clean Up Day---IS NEXT SATURDAY, MAY 2nd!!!! If you haven’t signed up, please do so this Sunday. Here is a breakdown of what we need help with:

Times will be 8:30 am-1:30 pm.

(1) We need someone to come by on Friday and get the coolers. You can go by Quality Foods to get them filled with ice. If you can do this, please email me back and let me know.

(2) We need help in preparing the building (stacking chairs, getting everything out of the worship area, setting up tables and black chairs, etc). If you can come by Tuesday night, please let me know.

(3) If you are helping with food (serving, etc), we need you here around 8:15 a.m. We are not serving breakfast this year, but we are having coffee and juice available to everyone.

(4) Tony and his crew will be preparing BBQ. We will be having the BBQ, chips, slaw, bread, and drinks.

(5) If you are helping with cleaning up the church afterwards, please know that this means you will be here past 1:30. We need your help with sweeping, mopping, emptying trash, cleaning bathrooms, putting chairs back out, and whatever else is needed to get the sanctuary ready for Sunday morning. This is really important and the more people we have helping, the faster it will go!

(6) The kid’s area will be locked. Please help us in making sure no kids go in the back and that no kids go behind the curtain.

LACI Worship Night—We have scheduled our next worship experience at LACI for Saturday, May 9th. This is Mother’s Day weekend and we felt that it would be a great opportunity to love on these ladies. We will have forms to fill out and also an Expectation Sheet on the Guest Counter for you to fill out and return. Even if you went last time, you will still need to fill out another form.

Fellowship Connection—Summer is just around the corner! Our Summer Semester classes begin filling on May 10th. There are several important days coming up that are important. We will be having a meeting on Sunday (April 26th) at 4 p.m. here at the church for anyone who is interested in facilitating a small group. Also on May 17th, we will be hosting a training session for all Facilitators. This is a very important class to help you. Please let me know if you are planning on attending both events.

Communion Service—We are planning on having a communion service on May 17th at 6:30 p.m.

Joy Class---Our next Discovering the Joy of Membership Class has been scheduled for May 31st at 5:30 p.m. here at the church. You can sign up at the Guest Service Counter or by emailing me back.

Fellowship Praise Band Auditions---Auditions have been rescheduled to May 13th. You can sign up at the Guest Service Counter (when you do, please also pick up a Commitment Form as well). Stan or Mickey will contact you to schedule an audition. Deadline to sign up is May 3rd.

Everyone enjoy the wonderful weather this weekend!

Be Careful.........

Hello everyone,
So this week I'm in New Orleans to do some school work and the last two days have been sitting in a classroom with 15 other worship leaders from the Southeast and we have been discussing our ministries and how we can become better worshippers. I've enjoyed hearing what God is doing in the life of other churches around the area. One of the things that troubles me is how quick some of us are to criticize others ministries because their methodology doesn't line up with what their church does or what they feel the church needs to do. The message does not change, Jesus is still the Savior and he still rose again, but how we convey that message may be different. We have got to be careful what we say and how we act when we speak about ministries, WE ALL HAVE ONE GOAL IN MIND-TO REACH LOST PEOPLE.

This morning I read Numbers 14 this is a story about how the Israelites rebelled against God and the leadership God place over them(Moses and Aaron). They cried out that they would have been better off as slaves in Egypt, and that God led them out in the wilderness to be miserable. So what did they want to do, overthrow the leaders and get a new one. Then Joshua stood up ripped his clothes off and told them they are crazy, but they still didn't listen. What happened next is amazing God told Moses "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?" WOW. So God did all these miraculous things for them and they still did not trust God and believe He would deliver them. The bad news is there are consequences for our actions. So God then brings down his judgement by not allowing the Israelites who are over the age of 20 to experience the Promised Land.

You might be asking where do I fit in? Well have you ever sat around talking about the people who are leading people in the correct path, but not doing the way you have always done it. This may be someone on TV, down the street, at work, or it may be your pastor. We learn from this passage in Numbers that God calls us to get behind the people He has appointed as leaders. This goes beyond just the church, and includes every aspect of our lives the workplace, the home, or school. God has placed these people in leadership for a reason respect it and treat him the same way away from work or school as you do sitting at the table with them. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not good at this. I sometimes think there is no way an old hymn can still work, but it does every Sunday across the world. I challenge you to be careful when you speak about another church or your church.

See Ya'll Sunday
Mickey

Hang in There...

9 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Galatians 6:9

Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest
April 22, 2009
The Light That Never Fails

We all, with unveiled face, beholding . . . the glory of the Lord . . . —2 Corinthians 3:18A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, ". . . no one stood with me, but all forsook me . . . . But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me . . ." (2 Timothy 4:16-17 ). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When "important" individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do— to look into the face of God for ourselves.

Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware— ". . . Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him" ( Exodus 34:29 ).

We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant’s life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.

For Paul it was a dangerous time to be a Christian. (The Romans were making sport and snuffing them) But when is it safe? Let's not be safe but dangerous for spreading the gospel. Again, Galatians 6:9 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

What does it cost?

Have you heard about Miss California? Proof that Satan is never happy and always up to no good.

During the televised Miss America Competition on Sunday night, Miss California answered a questions from one of the judges. It just happens that the judge is a raging male pro-homosexual activist that not only wants everyone to acknowledge his lifestyle, but demands that everyone accept his and many other peoples lifestyle of homosexuality. You can read more about his arrogant and abusive shock jock lifestyle by googling his name, Perez Hilton.

Here is the question he asked, "What do you think about gay marriage?" Miss California responded with her belief not that gay marriage was wrong, but that marriage should be reserved to a man and woman. Some have suggested her comments cost here the Miss America crown?

On Monday Perez Hilton showed his true colors when he called Miss California a "dumb b_ t _ h", really classy don't you think. So because she believes differently than the judge she suddenly becomes dumb and a _________? Talk about lacking tolerance!

Satan is never happy with anything that goes against his wreckless agenda. His main focus is to steal, kill and destroy and you can be sure he will resort to whatever works to support his cause.

Thank God for Miss California not being a prostitute of truth for a earthly thrown and crown. She has learned a lesson that all Christ followers will one day face, when you stand for Jesus it will cost you something.

What has your faith cost you lately?