Sunday!

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am thankful for each and every one of you!

Sunday 11-23-2008

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



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



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



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


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

Sunday Recap

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

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

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

Craig

Weekly Updates and Reminders

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tree of Hope

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serving God Matters

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

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

THANK YOU !

CATALYST ONE DAY

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

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

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

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