Tag: Jesus

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Is It Our Responsibility?

nehemiah-wallSeveral weeks ago I asked our people at New Passion, “Do you see the mission Jesus calls us to as your personal responsibility?”

I love the story of Nehemiah. One of the things that keeps sticking out to me is how everyone worked together for the common vision that God gave Nehemiah. There is no doubt that each person saw this mission from God as their personal responsibility. The Bible says that each person repaired the section of the wall in front of their own home. This mission was very personal.

I love the fact that it points out in one occasion that the people worked with enthusiasm and how Baruch zealously repaired an additional section of the wall. That means he didn’t have tunnel vision – he saw the entire project as his responsibility, not just his piece of the wall…he went above and beyond…Passion will cause you to do that. It’s kind of like the Lays potato chips challenge, “I Bet You Can’t Eat Just One” – When God puts a passion in your heart, you won’t be satisfied with a mundane approach to the mission he calls you to, you’ll want more! The Nobles  and Officials agreed to give back to the poor the interest they had charged them and to require no more payments for their debt to help relieve the financial stress and pressure on the lower class. These people were willing to sacrifice in order to unify under a common vision and a  common mission. They saw it as their responsibility!

So what about you? Do you see the mission Jesus calls His followers to as all of our personal responsibility? I believe when we get to that point, it adds a whole new dimension to the way we live out our faith. I believe it is an essential ingredient needed to change the world with the gospel.

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Velocity 2010 – Steven Furtick

stevenfurtick-buttonVelocity 2010 Church Planters Conference

Speaker: Steven Furtick (Twitter)

“Jesus Told Me To”

“Imitate the faith of others, not their miracles”

“The most important criteria that will determine your church plants success (outside of God’s power) is your ability to sense what God wants you to do next along with the courage to do it & the leadership to get others to do it with you.”

There is no substitute for the gospel

Mark 11:1-6

[Jesus tells the disciples to go get the colt…if confronted, reply “Jesus told me to…”]

If Jesus didn’t tell you to plant a church…DONT!!!

Jesus May Be Telling Us To:

1. Make a Costly Personal Sacrifice as a Leader –

Velocity is not generated from the outside in, its generated from the inside out.

“Its the things you do when no one sees that produces the results (fruit) that everyone wants.” – Craig Groeschel

– – There’s a cost to your calling.

2. Painful Relational Shifts –

Some people cannot go to the places where God is calling you.

If someone can walk away from you, let them walk.

Steven Furtick – “I live by the value, leave people in better condition than you found them” [Do not use and abuse people. Love them, but don’t let them hinder you from doing what Jesus tells us to do]

3. Repent of Secret Sin –

4. To Take a CS (Crack Smoking or Christ the Savior) Step of Faith –

Its valuable to have a team that says I’ll go get the colt with you, even if we get arrested, we’ll go to jail together.

Steven Furtick had 7 “crack smoking” families help him launch elevation

[MY NOTE] New Passion – – We had 20 “crack smoking” adults plus our children help us launch New Passion. We had VERY little money (even had to borrow money), we had no guarantee of success, very little equipment (and what we have is mostly borrowed), very little skill (that’s me!). All we had was “Jesus Told Me Too…” Thank you all for Embracing a Faith Bigger than Ourselves…I can’t wait to see what God does through all of us! He’s already changing lives 🙂

Velocity Conference: Main Session 1 Highlights – – Main Session 2 Highlights – – Breakout Session 2 with Pete Wilson Highlights – – Main Session 4 Highlights – – Breakout Session 3 with Tony Morgan Highlights – – Main Session 6 Highlights

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52 Days

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On Sunday we kicked off our 52 Day Campaign believing that we serve the same God that empowered Nehemiah and his workers to completely rebuild the wall around Jericho in 52 days. As a community of faith, we are learning that Jesus has called us out to be on mission to change the world. I believe if we are going to move with God, we must be willing to take Risks, Sacrifice personally, and Mobilize people to take this journey with us.

Our goal is to see a 52% increase in our overall attendance at church by Easter Sunday. You may ask, “Why are you worried about increasing attendance?” Well, I am happy to answer. By increasing our attendance by 52% that gives us concrete evidence that we are fulfilling one of our goals as a church, to reach people. That’s 52% more people that we have the opportunity of leading to a passionate relationship with Jesus, its 52% more people to partner with us in this movement of God to see the hungry fed, the needy clothed, and the brokenhearted loved. It’s 52% more people who can discover the passions God has placed in their heart in order to serve mankind, locally and globally. 52% may very well be a challenge to us, but it is mere simplicity to God. In New Passion’s first 5 months we’ve seen God grow our community by 100% – I’m trusting Him for an additional 52% by Easter.

Hey New Passion! Are you with me? In the next 52 days, let’s find ways that we can Risk, Sacrifice, and Mobilize in order to fulfill the mission Christ has called us on. Join the Social Media revolution! Grab the main picture (right click & “save picture as”) and place it on your blog or facebook photo albums, or grab the photo below (right click & “save picture as”) and replace your Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace avatar with it. If you are on Twitter, tweet how God is using you to Risk, Sacrifice, and Mobilize and tag it with #52Days, so we can all check out what God is doing in your life!  What can you do to live out Jesus’ mission this week?

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People of the Second Chance

There’s been a buzz around Twitter today. Here’s what its all about. Keep your eyes open for this: I Copied this from POTSC –


potsc_logoToday something starts anew.

It is the first small step into officially beginning People of the Second Chance (Website).

What is People of the Second Chance? Truthfully, we’re still sort of figuring that out.

But we do know this…we have dreamed for years about a movement of people that would let radical integrity and radical grace consume them in their life and leadership.

And in God’s perfect and ironic timing, People of the Second Chance is no longer just a nice concept with some stickers and tee shirts, but the very story we are living out right now.

In the past few weeks of learning, loss, tears, and experiencing a significant valley in our lives, we are more certain than ever that God does his best work in brokenness.

But let us be very clear here. This isn’t about us. It never has been. You see we have this simple belief that deep inside of all us we are desperately wanting grace, forgiveness, second chances and a fresh start.

We realize this is a little sloppy, unclear, and a bit rough around the edges. Even so, we still want to humbly and with sincerity invite you to join us.

Every journey must begin somewhere. This is our very simple somewhere. Welcome to the People of the Second Chance

Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite

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A Thunderous Roar

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This past weekend the CSRA Youth Ministry Network hosted the 2009 DNOW for our local area. Typically each student ministry that participates in the local DNOW schedules a fun activity on Saturday morning/afternoon for their students to have a little fun as a group. This year we wanted our students to definitely have fun, but we wanted to use this weekend where we had 700+ students’ attention to engage them in opportunities to live beyond themselves and to invest in the lives of other people. After all, the theme was “Your Kingdom Come” and it seemed very appropriate to initiate service projects for the students to participate in.

I am a firm believer that a huge part of our spiritual discipleship has to do with our engaging in ministry and actually doing the things that we’ve been told in scripture to do. Studys have proven that the stuff we learn has been retained in our memory based on 1 part data and 6 parts emotion, essentially we remember what we experience. Therefore when we talk about discipleship, I don’t think we can remove elements that provide experience in what we are learning.

Saturday night was dynamic! The praise coming from this group of students sounded at times like a thunderous roar. In all of the local youth events, I cannot remember students so in tune with who God was at that moment in their life. I truly believe that Matt Papa is anointed and we had the privilege of having his band lead us in worship, but I mostly believe Saturday night had a lot to do with the response from earlier in the day where students were engaged in what God is all about, living sacrificially and loving other people.

I believe this picture with my buddy Steve White best sums up what the day was all about…

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