Keyes for the Kingdom

Series ends on Sunday...

This is the LAST week in our series on JONAH - what a guy he was! Find out this week about one of the most amazing revivals in the history of the WORLD - led by guess who? One of the world's worst all time evangelists!

I hope during this series that is has affected you for GOOD - I find myself so much like Jonah in so many ways. Do you?

After our service this week we'll have something VERY unusual. There's an all star karate team that's been in town traveling around and doing shows - they had a big one over at Brookwood recently - We're letting the us our van. They plan to visit our service this Sunday, so this wild and crazy idea came to the minds of some of our church leaders...

How about we dismiss the service and ask those that would like to stay for 10-15 minutes to see these guys perform some of their act?

We'll give people time to go get kids if they'd like to see a short demonstration of some amazing acts! 

Should be WILD!!! Oh well, - we'll take a risk and go for it!!!

Kid's songs...

I grew up in Baptist Sunday School since my earliest days. We used to sing quite a few "Bible songs" - like "Zacheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he" - I used to feel sorry for "Zac", but also felt kinship with him as I was rather short myself! Another song we sang was "The wise man built his house up on a rock... and the rain came tumbling down"...

The obvious question about THIS song, is this: What is the ROCK in this song/story?

I think when teachers asked our class this question, some brave soul would answer "Jesus - or God, or even The BIBLE!" - Though these answers all "sound good", they aren't even CLOSE to what Jesus is saying in this particular story at all!!!

Here's the verse in context - see what YOU think the ROCK represents now...

(Matthew 7:24-25)  "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

So what is the ROCK? The rock is OBEDIENCE - hearing God's word and THEN DOING IT - living it in day to day life situations. This is where so many "Christians" blow their lives all the time. They hear it over and over and over again in church, classes, radio, etc... but it never gets down into their..... LIVES!

I shudder to think how many people come to CRCC each week to "hear" me preach...then go to lunch, home to watch the NFL, snack around with family, go to bed and NEVER even THINK about doing anything differently in the week ahead based on what they "heard"... Wow... scary, huh?

Amazing People!

We have some awesome people here at CRCC! During our VELOCITY series, we've highlighted some people who "do ministry" for God's Kingdom - NOT as an official part of our church, but JUST because they saw a need and felt led to step up and fill that need! We'll be doing some more testimonies over the next few weeks to highlight these people for you. I've always sensed that "stories" really motivate people. I saw this on Sunday after Jamie shared his story - people were standing in line to talk to him in the lobby after the service.

Speaking of "story" - that's what we're mulling over right now for our Christmas theme - "Story - the chronicles of Christmas". It's definitely a story that never grows old... an amazing story... worth repeating year after year...so pray for me and Rich as work on this exciting theme for the holiday season.

We're also making BIG PLANS for the new year ahead - new programs, new people, new budget - wow, I love Rich's heart in leading our church into the next new year. Can't wait to share it all with you soon!

Not yet...not now...

Thanks for your prayers for our downtown facility. The foundation chose not to help us at this time - This is an awesome group of people that give away lots of money to Christian causes - They support many, many groups of Godly people, and this year, we just did not make the cut with them.

My first reaction: discouraged - second reaction: acceptance - third reaction: "What is God going to do now?" - As our lead pastor, Rich Butler, often says, "our vision stays the same with or without a building". We do want to RADICALLY serve our city in the coming year - both here in Simpsonville and also in downtown Greenville. We want to partner with other ministries to impact our city for God's glory and Kingdom.

Pastor Rich reminded me today that Jesus asked his disciples to go get a donkey for him to use for Him to ride into the city on Palm Sunday. Jesus said, "tell the owner that the master needs it" - They told him and man said, "SURE... it's all yours!" - How strange was that? Rich said, "hmmm... I wonder if we presented our need for this building to the owners and told them the Lord needed it" - MIGHT they even.... gasp.... give it away? Who knows? Let's continue to pray that God will open a door that none of us right now can even comprehend!

New People

One of the most interesting things about being a pastor of a church is what happens just about each and every Sunday morning. NEW PEOPLE show up - they are often invited by friends, or find us on the web, or just drove by and came out of curiosity ... I always enjoy meeting them and hope they felt welcomed and enjoyed the service. As a guest they are usually checking out four main things: Environment (building and grounds), Preaching, Worship Music, Children's Ministry... if they "like" those things, there's a pretty good chance they'll come back. Throw in a case of friendliness/ first impressions and you've got a winning combination.

Recently we've just been getting a LOT of new people - not just any people, but some very dedicated and solid believers in Jesus. People who really want to do "DEEP" in their faith - they are coming to our groups, Monday night prayer, and seeing how and when they can serve. New people, however, are "new" only for a short period of time - they soon become "old timers" - "regular attenders", even "members"... that's good too, because we LOVE our church family to grow larger and CLOSER at the same time! Larger AND smaller at the same time (getting in a group or class).

I wonder who's going to walk through the door THIS WEEK? Who will it be I'll meet this Sunday who will become an integral part of our church family? This is the FUN part of my job for sure!!! Bring  your friends and we'll say "WELCOME to CRCC! - we're THRILLED to have you here!"....

Last night I received prayer for my neuropathy (tingling/numbness in my feet) - it usually happens late at night and make it hard to sleep - I slept the BEST last night that I have in weeks and today have hardly ANY signs of this illness at all... I'm believing God CAN and WILL heal me of this and give me...(like we're talking about each Sunday: BREAKTHROUGH!)

The Three Chairs

This Sunday I'll be teaching about one of the most powerful Biblical principles that has greatly impacted my life and family over the last 25 years. I learned it from Bruce Wilkinson, former president of Walk Thru the Bible Ministires. Bruce came to my former church home (Southside Fellowship) and taught this before 2000 people.

We're in a new series called "Spring: A Season for Breakthrough" - - if you want to to see spiritual breakthrough in your life and in the life of your kids, DO NOT MISS THIS TEACHING!

I have three awesome kids - sometimes people ask me "the secret" - "how'd you raise these guys?"  - It is by he grace of God that my kids are where they are today, but I DID learn this principle and did my best to put it into action. You'll learn what you MUST do in your family to raise Godly children and leave a lasting legacy for the glory of God! JOIN US - 9:00 or 10:30

After the second service, we'll have a family FUN DAY with inflatables, games, great bar-b-que chicken lunch (profits will go to our Boy Scout troop) - Kid's plates available too...

The future...

We had a great staff meeting today led by Rich Butler - helping us to look forward into the future of CRCC and see what we could do today to help us move there by faith. We answered tough questions and had such a great heart of unity around the table by our staff team. Shawn Thompson came in to share some great reports of what's going on in our children's ministry. Volunteers have stepped up to the plate to serve, kids are learning and growing, and enjoying passionate worship. She suggested that one Sunday we dismiss the parents to go down and worship WITH THEIR KIDS - what a great idea! We'll do that on Sunday, March 8!

I remember the story of when the children of Israel sent out those "12 spies" to check out the land of Israel before the people crossed over to possess it. What if you or me could send "spies" into OUR future? I'd LOVE to be able to do that - Would I be fearful to learn what lies ahead? Would I think what they saw was IMPOSSIBLE to occur? Hmmmmm...

The land they entered was a land of "milk and honey" AND "giants". I think those are the two things the spies would tell me are coming for me in the near and present future! Both AND, not either OR!