Tag: Grovetown

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New Passion Launches

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I’m a little late on this, but wanted to blog about New Passion’s launch last Sunday, September 13. I wanted to get a post up last week, but I am quickly finding out that serving in the role of “Bi-Vocational” pastor is not that time friendly, so we’ll see how it affects my blogging in the near future.

Here are some of my thoughts and highlights from our first week as a new church:

  • We kicked off with a series entitled “Re-Discover Church” with the idea that whether people had been in church before or whether New Passion is their first experience, everyone has preconceived ideas about “church.” We don’t want preconceived ideas to be a barrier for people to check us out at New Passion, so we are laying the foundation of who we are as a church.
  • We pointed out that we want to be about a Life Altering Message and a Focus Altering Movement. Our Vision is to lead people to a passionate relationship with Jesus, that starts with a Life Altering Message, and He will lead them to a Focus Altering Movement. We used Paul as an example…immediately after his conversion, his focus changed.
  • We had 1 person put their faith in Jesus Christ at the launch service.
  • We experienced some challenges on the first week: Technical difficulties with our video monitors and no A/C in the hallways (where our birth – K4 meet), but it shows from the beginning we are not perfect and have some stuff to work on!
  • We have an amazing team. It is awesome how God led our team together. We are a small launch team of 23 people, but I could not ask for a better group to launch a church with.
  • Sunday are a lot of work, a lot of stress, and long. But putting it into perspective of Hebrews 11:35-37, the 4 hours of sacrifice and hard work are nothing compared to what God called some to (being killed by the sword, stoned to death, imprisoned, sawed in half, etc.) – The life change that we will see happen in Grovetown is all worth the sweat, the sore muscles from setting up, breaking down, and reloading the trailer every week, and anything else that comes with it.
  • We are proud to be friends with and serving along side a Kingdom minded church in Stevens Creek Church. They launched a new campus  in Grovetown on the other side of the city on September 13th as well. Their pastor Marty Baker stopped by on our launch Sunday and gave us a card and a gift to our church. Very classy!
  • We kicked off our first service with 108 people in attendance, 15 of which we knew would not be back. This week we had 97, several of which were brand new faces and the others returned from our launch week. I am so proud of our team, because we started with Nicki; my wife, Gavin, Tristan, and Hailey; my kids. God took us from 5 people to a first service of 108, I am blown away and amazed.
  • Now the work begins. Satan hates us, especially since he knows we will unashamedly preach the Gospel of Jesus to the world. I can’t wait to see what God does with New Passion Church in Grovetown and around the world!
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Its Bigger Than Me

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I was driving home Sunday night from guest preaching at a church out in the country. Since I was all by myself, I decided to come back by way of Grovetown, the city where we are planting New Passion. Anytime I get a chance, I love to drive through there and to think about our plans, to dream up new ideas, and to ask God what it is  that He’s specifically thinking.

Sunday night I felt prompted to take a few new turns in the city as I was driving through.  Ever since I first drove to Grovetown and prayed about launching a church there, I’ve had specific neighborhoods that I’ve kept my eyes on and I’ve watched them over the last couple of years grow tremendously with new people and new families. As I turned down these new roads Sunday, I could not believe my eyes. Its the same feeling I get every time I take this kind of drive in Grovetown.

I was blown away! I could not believe all of the new homes being built in the crevices of this city. Ever since I stepped out to launch New Passion, I’ve understood and known that this whole thing is BIGGER than me. However, every time I go to the city, I drive away feeling overwhelmed and with a greater & sobering feeling that this thing REALLY is Bigger than me!

I wish I could put into words the potential that lies in neighborhoods 0-2 miles from where we will be meeting. Soldiers, Couples, Children, Teenagers, College Students, and Single people…they are all there! People who need Jesus in one way or another in their life. The potential is not people to grow a church, the potential is people who need to be introduced to Jesus. Our churches external reach has huge potential within the community with all of the new residents moving in, but our potential on a local level for our external reach increases dramatically when considering that most of the existing neighborhoods are 0-2 miles from where we will be having services as well. Believe me, the 8 main churches within the main city are not even touching the existing residence with the Gospel, there is no way they can reach all of the new growth alone, especially if they are not going to add services or change the way they currently meet. Don’t get me wrong. A churches reach does not always show in their attendance, but I believe attendance says a lot about the health of the church. 8 churches in the main city of Grovetown are reaching on average 235 households! (Avg. 29 households per church) New Passion is all about the Kingdom. Our goal is not to come into Grovetown and uproot the existing churches or try to overshadow them. Our goal is to add more people to the Kingdom. Consider us the spiritual reinforcements if you would like.

I wish I could get everyone to see the potential like I see it. I wish I could convince Christians who are simply sitting in a chair at some church or out of church doing nothing or not being used to strap their work shoes on and come help us launch new passion. I wish I could get selfish people to be selfless and to reach out of their comfort zone to see lives changed. I believe the world can be changed from Grovetown, GA. I believe a generation can be transformed from Grovetown, GA. I believe God wants to do something amazing with New Passion. I believe it takes people to reach people.

I’ll just be honest here…When I see the potential for what God can use us for in Grovetown and then I see where he is placing us. I want to run BEG everyone I know to partner with us and make this thing happen. But then I remember…that wouldn’t be smart! This thing is bigger than me and I want God to build it with the team he has planned. So, if you will, continue to pray that God will build this amazing team.