New Blog

We have a new blog.  The blog address is much easier to remember.  www.fellowshipga.org/blog.  All of the information and posts will remain here, but from now on all posts will be made on the other blog.  So make sure you check it regularly for updates

Thanks

Yes folks, we did it

Sunday 11-6 we broke the goal with 351 folks attending Fellowship Church. That is Because We Understand That Found People Find People . I was excited as 4 of my invites led to 9. There are over 34 thousand people in Habersham county that do NOT attend any church. The harvest is plentiful and by inviting people to church you are inviting them to a relationship with Christ. Now, you may be saying, I didn't have any of my invites attend. I invited 3 people that didn't make it to Fellowship Church, but they might come this week. The point is, keep inviting. Every Sunday is an opportunity to invite people to church and Jesus.

11-6___325___The principles apply

Hey folks here is a blog published by Perry Noble yesterday that will help you understand and be successful following Christ to build the church.

CLICK HERE FOR BLOG

We may not reach 100k soon but the 325 is not the end goal either. The facility we occupy would easily meet the needs of 600 to 800 with multiple services. This is only .2% of our current county's population of 44,000. If we reach 10% of the county that equals 4400 changed lives! That would surely change what happens in our community. The church attendance of Habersham would be almost double from the current 5000 reported currently. Read the blog, invite people, pray, invite people, serve, invite people. Together we can bring more to Jesus.

recap:
#1 – Because We Understand That Found People Find People…
#2 – Because We Understand That Saved People Serve People…
#3 – Because We Understand That Growing People Change…
#4 – Because We Understand That We Can’t Do Life Alone…
#5 – Because We Understand That We Cannot Out Give God…

Occupy and the church...

Recently the news media has been buzzing with stories about the Occupy groups all around the country.  Amazingly when they interview individuals from these groups there seems to be no unity of purpose.  One wants to boycott big business, another is upset at a court ruling in the area, and Wall Street seems to get it's hits as well.  This morning while listening to the news about how the mayor of Atlanta cleared Woodruff park last night by arresting 50+ people, it got me thinking about the church.

Below are several of my thoughts:

1. What if the people in the church, members who claim to be fully devoted Christ followers would Occupy the church.  Unfortunately most only attend.  At Fellowship Church we encourage all partners to participate in the ministry by serving.  Those who are involved in the Occupy movement are taking ownership and willing to give up their time to make their voices heard.

Where are you Occupying at Fellowship?  What specific role do you play in the ministry to those who are far from God?  God created you with gifts that only you can use as a partner of Fellowship and we need you, to provide an environment for people to follow Jesus.  Will you consider Occupying with us?

2. The Occupy movement has been all about others joining what started on Wall Street.  The church should be a place that is so passionate about Jesus it should be contagious.  When others see the amazing life change that God can do in your life if you let Him, they will be curious and it will open doors for you to invite them to join.

On November 6th we are encouraging all partners of Fellowship to invite others to attend.  I have been struggling over the message for that day and this morning I believe God shared with me a special message that will be a challenge to us all.  Please, Please, Please invite someone for Nov. 6th.  I can't begin to tell you how important that day is for the future of Fellowship.

3. The core of Occupy was willing to go to jail for what they believed.  I choose not to go into my beliefs about the Occupy movement at this time, suffice it to say I am not with them, however I do honor them for standing up for what they believe.  Last night in Atlanta at least 50 people were so committed to it that they were arrested and face criminal charges for standing firm.  While I do not believe God would be pleased with us breaking laws to make our point, I do believe we should be more bold in our faith.  In fact to be bold in our faith does not require breaking any laws, but it does require breaking some social norms.

Does the work of Jesus in your life warrant being different so others will see Jesus?  Is your love for Jesus greater than you love for this world?  I am praying that Fellowship becomes a place where the unlovable are loved and they began to become so different in Christ that it causes a stir in our community.  One that encourages others to check out what we are doing at FC.

My burden:

Over the last several weeks God has been allowing me to struggle and be burdened for Fellowship.  Are we accomplishing what God wants for Fellowship Church?  Am I doing all I can to be right with God as I lead Fellowship Church?  How can I better prepare for Sunday's and the messages God is birthing for you each week at FC?  What is the missing link for us to grow and be a healthy Bible Church?

I invite you to join me in praying daily for Fellowship Church.  Not just a quick two minute, "God bless FC, Amen", but a cry out to God for his favor and blessing.  If God does not move at FC then we are wasting our time and God's time.  I don't know about you but I want to be right where God wants me and no where else.  I want to be pleasing to Him and to be lifting Jesus name up for others to see.  I am begging God for life change, for souls to be saved and repentance to be seen.

Pray with me, seek with me, fast with me and let's see God move.

Answers To Some "Why" Questions

Hello everyone it’s not that often that I blog usually because of the simple fact I’m usually being sarcastic or joking 95% of the time.  Since we are coming to the end of our Why series, which has been incredible, I figured I would blog a little and answer some of the “Why” questions I get from time to time.  As worship pastor most of the questions I get are about music but there are times when I do get some other questions mainly about our church.  Here are some of the questions:

1. Why do you do what you do?   The easy church answer would be Jesus, isn’t that the answer to all church questions.  But for me, while that is the correct answer, I do what I do because of what Jesus has done in my life.  Before I started attending Fellowship Church I was typical 20 something male who loved Jesus but was not in love with Jesus.  I was radically transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit through our church and I know there are other people just like me who need a radical transformation.  Trust me the rest of their life depends on it.
2. Why is it that every time I come to your church your stage looks different?    Remember I told you I was sarcastic.  The answer to that would be you need to come more often.  We have had two stage changes since Easter.  Everyone remembers the white boxes and then our current set up.  But truthfully we attempt to bring every visual element possible to engage congregants.  Currently our stage has newspaper clippings of tragic events that have happened in history.  Each one was cut out and tied together with yellow string.  That idea came from one of our creative team members that she borrowed from the movie “Conspiracy Theory”.  Sometimes we will transform the entire worship center to fit the theme of our current series.
3. Why is the music so loud?  This is probably the number #1 question I get.  The first reason is that it’s commanded in Scripture, Psalm 33:3 tells us to play skillfully and loud.  Also when the walls of Jericho came down the Israelites weren’t worshipping softly they had to play pretty loud to bring those walls down.  Ultimately, we believe God enjoys when you worship loudly.  On the other hand that doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate you worshipping in silence either.  But after all, if you read Revelation it says that heaven is going to be loud.  If you don’t like it loud now you might hate heaven because that is a lot longer than 30 minutes a week.
4. Why is it so dark during church?  This honestly I continue to explore whether it’s better to have it blacked out during worship or have the lights on.  I have talked with other church leaders who believe both sides work the best.  Lately, we have been trying to keep the house lights up more because it’s pretty tough to see when you first enter the building if it’s completely black in the room.  There may not be a perfect formula for this but we will continue to try anything to make people feel more comfortable during church.

Ok this is the #1 “Why” question I get

      5. Why do you wear v-necks and skinny jeans?  

        Well I’m just going to leave that up for people to still  

         talk about.  

I hope this helps if any of you have asked me one of these questions or if you have wanted to ask me one of these questions.  If you have any other “Why” questions you would like to ask feel free to email me mickey@fellowshipga.org or comment on this post.  Thanks

Mickey

How to Invite Someone to Church

I found this post through a Perry Noble twitter.  On Nov. 6 we are challenging Fellowship Church in a high attendance push.  Click the link below for a post with some great advice for how to Invite Someone to Church...

Gwinnett Church - How to Invite Someone to Church

Communication Improvements

We are trying to better our communication to you.  Each day, I will be blogging about different ways we are trying to improve this process.

Today's focus is our text message system.  You should have received a text message today from FC.  If you did not, you can click here to be connected to txt signal, where you can enter your name, cell phone number and phone carrier and be added to our list to receive periodic messages.