russbutcher.com

Big Idea:
The Holy Spirit empowers every believer to make disciples.

Scripture Memory:
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Action Step:
Read through the book of Acts this week pray about how you can be used by God to make disciples.

Random Thoughts:

• Sunday was incredible at Church at the Grove!  Nathan did an outstanding job challenging us with the explosive history of the early church and how God can use US to continue to do His work through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• I love seeing new faces!  Even in these summer weeks, we continue to have many people worship with us each Sunday for the first time.
• I absolutely love the spirit of unity and love in our church!  I love the simplistic way we do stuff!  We had a short and sweet business meeting and installed a new Elder on Sunday.  Craig Ellington will be our new Elder and join our current team of pastoral staff and CATG Elders in leading our church as we grow.
• This was one of the busiest weekends I have had in a long time!  Wedding rehearsal Friday night, wedding Saturday.  Wedding rehearsal Saturday night, Church at the Grove Sunday morning, wedding Sunday at 1:30pm.  Josiah played in an All-Star tourney Saturday and we had a Romania Team meeting on Sunday night!  Crazy but good!
• I am so excited about going to Romania with Josiah and Abigail in July!  We had an awesome planning meeting on Sunday and we have a great group going to Romania on July 23.
• Nathan and our band did a great job leading at the “UNITED” area youth worship on Wednesday night.  It is incredibly difficult to prepare and preach 2 messages in a week like Nathan did!  Great job!  I love Austin, Shelley and our CATG band!  They are so solid and have such great attitudes and hearts to the Lord.
• We had a team of leaders attend a leadership conference on Saturday in Cartersville, GA at Oakleaf Church.  I am so thankful for such committed leaders!  They had an incredible time and came away with some awesome stuff to implement for CATGrove!
• We have a “NEXT STEPS” gathering coming up on July 11!  It will be a lunch at our home!  This is the place where you can learn more about CATGrove, our vision and dreams.  We share our beliefs, structure and it is a great time to ask questions about anything!  Let us know if you plan to attend.
• We have a baptism on Sunday evening July 18 at the home of Lynn and Barbara Bledsoe.  Let us know if you would like to be baptized.
• I am so excited about what God is doing.  We are working hard on some of the legal and zoning issues related to Miss Mattie’s home and hopefully will be able to begin some practical work very soon.  I love seeing the new people God is bringing us and I am so excited about this fall!
• We are working on some possible new changes regarding our children’s ministry for this fall.  I can’t wait to see it unfold!

Keep praying, keep investing, keep inviting!

Big Idea:
Unstoppable Faith is demonstrated by a relentless and desperate pursuit of Jesus.

Scripture memory:
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Action Step:
Read the gospel of Mark this week and take notice of Jesus’ interaction and the faith-response of people around him.  Take your tassel and put it somewhere where it can remind you of Unstoppable Faith.

Thoughts:

I love this series “Unstoppable”!   We have been challenged with “Unstoppable Courage”, “Unstoppable Generosity” and yesterday “Unstoppable Faith”.

We learned yesterday that Unstoppable Faith is demonstrated by a relentless pursuit of Jesus!  It results in:

• Spiritual Healing.
• Physical Healing and perspective.
• A life that stands out in the crowd.
• God’s response to faith.

The woman with the issue of blood can teach us a lot about ourselves.  We all have had (or have) desperate and hopeless circumstances.  God uses desperation to draw us to himself.  We have been financially hopeless, relationally hopeless and physically hopeless.  Jesus uses our hopelessness and desperation to move us to a place of complete dependence on Him and Him alone.  God wants us to respond with Unstoppable Faith!  He promises to never leave us nor forsake us!

Imagine what our church would look like if we collectively were pursuing Jesus with a relentless Unstoppable Faith!  Imagine the impact we would have, the people we would reach and the growth our church would experience!

Upcoming Important Dates:

• Don’t forget UNITED for our students on Wednesday nights!  This coming Wed. night our ministry team (Nathan, Gabe, and Austin) are leading UNITED!  I would love for as many of our students and parents to come out and support our CATG team!  It is at the Loganville High School auditorium this Wed. night at 7pm.
• Our NEXT STEP gathering is Sunday July 11 at the home of Russ and Jill Butcher.  This a great place to learn about CATGrove, our mission, values and story. It is required for membership but you don’t have to join if you attend.  Come to learn more about the church and meet some other people who have been visiting The Grove.
• Next Baptism and cookout is July 18 at the home of Lynn and Barbara Bledsoe.  If you are interested in being baptized, please let us and know.

Keep investing, keep inviting, and keep praying!