7 ways to leverage Easter to reach MORE People

 Church, Church Planting, Faith, Jesus, Leadership, Missional  2 Responses »
Feb 112012
 

I took part in an online webinar with the outreachninja.com guys led by Bob Franqiz and it was excellent with ideas for leveraging Easter to reach more people.  My wheels have been turning and here are some ways to prepare to make Easter huge in getting the gospel of Jesus to more people

 

1.  Pray

There is nothing more effective than praying that the Lord of the Harvest will work on your behalf to reach more people with the gospel in and through your church.  As Pastor/Leader, start with yourself and then enlist your leadership and church to pray for people to engage, invest and invite their friends to join you for worship at Easter.

 

2.  Communicate

Easter is different than most holidays in that it doesn’t happen on the same day every year.  Sometimes it’s not even in the same month!  Most people in your church are thinking more about Spring Break than Easter right now.  You must communicate early and often WHEN Easter is on the calendar.  By the way, Easter is on April 8 this year.

 

3.  Creatively promote

Utilize fun, creative ways to promote Easter as an opportunity for people to invite their friends and family to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Troy Gramling of Potential Church in Florida utilizes the INVITE Bunny in “on the street” interviews to “stoke” the creative “fires” and to get people to invite their friends.

 

4.  Put something in their hands

Give the people in your church an “invite” card that they can give to their friends, family or people they come in contact with in the community.

 

5.  Equip people on how to invite their friends

Shawn Lovejoy of Mountain Lake Church teaches the people in his church how to invite their friends and neighbors AND he makes the evangelistic temperature in his church “white hot” leading up to Easter.

 

6.  Schedule Community Service through Your Community Groups

Nelson Searcy from Journey Church and Church Leader Insights encourages his Small Groups to do outreach events leading up to Easter to get the word out to the community about Easter Sunday.

 

7.  Utilize Lent Calendar for Prayer and Fasting

Mark Batterson of National Community Church utilizes Lent as a season of fasting and prayer to prepare his church for Easter.  They organize prayer walks and prayer lists to prepare people to reach out to their friends and family prior to Easter.

 Posted by at 11:08 am

Forgiveness is Not Optional

 Bible, Faith, Jesus  No Responses »
Feb 082012
 

For the follower of Jesus, forgiveness is not optional.

 Because of the Cross of Jesus, we have all lost our excuse for not forgiving others.

 Ephesians 4:31–32 (ESV)
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Paul addresses the causes of unforgiveness and addresses bitterness, wrath, anger and malice.  What are we to do with all of these causes of unforgiveness?

Stop it!  Get rid of it!

Often our response is, “I can’t get rid of it!”  ”If I get rid of it, I will lose an excuse!” or, “I would get rid of it, but I don’t know how!” God is trying to cover all the junk and all the causes of the junk that leads to an inability to forgive.  At the heart of redemption is forgiveness!  At the heart of the health and wellbeing of all our relationships is the issue of forgiveness!

You can get rid of all this stuff by forgiving one another!!

Pastor Andy Stanley states there are three important things to understand about forgiveness:

1. It is a decision you make.

We are commanded to forgive.

2. It is making a decision that someone doesn’t owe you anymore.

When we are hurt, there is a sense something has been taken from you.

It could be tangible–It Could be intangible.

3. Forgiveness is a decision to cancel that debt.

The result is being FREE!

Forgiveness really doesn’t make any sense unless you are a forgiven person.

As Christians, we are forgiven by God through Jesus Christ!  We have been completely forgiven of our sin.  Has forgiveness ever become personal for you?  The degree of which you understand your forgiveness is the degree to which you will feel freed up to forgive those who have hurt you.  If its not personal, there will be no forgiveness for others.  ”just as God forgave you”

Matthew 18:21–22 (ESV)
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Is there someone you need to forgive?

 Posted by at 1:45 pm

Five Reasons we are launched Church at the Grove Social Circle

 Bible, Church, Church at the Grove, Church Planting, Faith, Jesus, Leadership, Missional, READ THIS!  No Responses »
Feb 062012
 

Our Social Circle campus pastor Nathan Boyd (via Perry Noble) shared this with our launch team a few months back in preparation for launching our second campus in Social Circle.  We must continue to advance the gospel through church planting and multiplying movements!

1. Because we understand that found people find people…and we will not stop doing whatJesus commanded us to do.

  • Matthew 28:18-20- “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of age.”
  • Matthew 9:35-38 – “When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”

2. Because we understand that saved people serve people…and we will not stop doing what the Bible commands of us.

  • 1 Peter 4:10 – “Each of you should use whatever gifts you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
  • Matthew 20:28 – “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

3. Because we understand that growing people change…and we will not stop praying for Jesus to change us.

  • Psalm 139:23-24 – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

4. Because we understand that we can’t do life alone…and we will obey what the Lord has instructed us to do in Hebrews 10:24-25.

  • Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
  • Ecclesiastes 4:9 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.”

5. Because we understand that we cannot out give God…and so we will obey what God’s Word teaches.

  • Malachi 3:6-12- ‘”Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
  • Proverbs 3:9-10- “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine
 Posted by at 1:20 pm

Gravity is not good for the soul

 Faith, Jesus, Random Thoughts  No Responses »
Feb 012012
 

The older I get (no jokes, comments, or making fun of me please!) the more gravity wreaks havoc on my body!

Things sag where they didn’t before, clothes don’t fit the same and all of that, BUT the biggest difference is related to exercise and fitness activity. I have never been able to jump extremely high or run exceptionally fast or for extreme long distances, but the older I get, the STINKIN’ less I can do anything without killing me!

I have tried to reverse the process with adding P90x to my regular routine, but it is harder and harder the older I get.

It all comes down to gravity weighing the ole’ body down! I feel the weight more than ever on my body and the body feels good for nothing!!!!!

Isn’t that the way it is with us spiritually? The more weight we carry spiritually, emotionally, and relationally, the less we feel capable of being loved by God and we feel less capable of being used by God.

GOD WANTS US FREE FROM JUNK THAT CONTINUES TO WEIGH US DOWN!

Read Hebrews 12:1-2 here.

I talk to people that have turned to follow Christ and they inevitably say, “Yeah, I trusted Christ to forgive me for my sins, BUT……….THAT IS A BIG BUT! They always refer to something that keeps them from living free!

Either he forgave us or He didn’t. The same work that Christ did on the cross to forgive us from our sins is the same work He did to remove the baggage and free us from the baggage that weighs us down. GRAVITY WREAKS HAVOC ON THE SOUL!

God does not want….nor did He intend for you to carry baggage for the rest of your life! We are not built to carry sin, shame, guilt…..whatever it is, into eternity. I say get rid of it now.

I want to jump higher….run faster….dance more freely! God wants that for me too!

The Body can be good for something!

Jesus came to free us from the baggage…….

 Posted by at 11:37 am
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