I owned one of the first Samsung Galaxy S Android smartphones that came out.
I got robbed in Costa Rica last Summer and my Galaxy S was among the booty that the thieves acquired so I was able to upgrade to a HTC 4G Sensation. I love it! I can use it as a wireless hotspot and as we discovered during a Saturday set-up at New Passion, the 4G has enough power to stream live college football games through my laptop and onto a projection screen. Oh the beauties of technology. At times, it’s worth the upgrade.
One of the guys at work just bought the new Samsung Galaxy S III. Like my HTC it’s 4G and carries some of the same specs on the camera, etc., but it has some awesome additional features like motion sensors, no more need to swipe, just motion; tap to share and other great features. Holding it just makes you want to upgrade to it.
There are times where it’s beneficial to upgrade things. If the mobile phone you use is still in a bag, it might be time for an upgrade…just sayin! There are times where you need to upgrade your vehicle, your house or your technology. And, when we feel that we can justify that upgrade, we don’t hold back. It’s what we want…It’s what we need!
Now I’m talking to my New Passion family! It’s time to upgrade our church! It’s not time to upgrade so we can say we have a cool new auditorium or that we are using some great technology for our services. It’s not time to upgrade for any reason outside of the expansion of the Kingdom of God. The technology, the auditorium and the larger children’s worship environments are all a bonus and they will help us as we draw more people, but they are not the end goal for our upcoming move.
Upgrades are investments. You are investing in a tool and a resource that will benefit you in a variety of ways. Likewise, this upgrade or expansion of New Passion is no less of an investment, in fact, it is a greater investment than any technology we can buy. The Grovetown High School is a tool and a resource that God is providing for us to serve as a platform for the preaching of the gospel and as a launching pad for us to live that gospel message out in our community. This is an investment for your neighbors’, your friends’, your family’s and your children’s eternity! If you are a regular at New Passion, you know that the gym is not the ideal location for a worship service, it works and we make it work, but as we continue to grow the gym will become increasingly difficult to use and will require a lot more work on our team to make Sundays happen. In addition we are almost out of space for our PassionKidz worship environments and with just a little more growth this will be come a major problem. We’re a very fertile people…what can we say? The bottom line for us is this, the upgrade to Grovetown High School is a necessary and beneficial move for our future.
Friends, if you know me, you know that I am going to shoot straight with you and it will be no different here. We need to raise $10,000 in less than two weeks. Praise God, we have already received approximately $4,000 of that goal and are only $6,000 away. I believe God can provide our needs and I believe he will use HIS people to do it. Will you consider how God would have you invest in the short-term with this expansion opportunity he has brought our way?
In the long-term, we have to increase our regular giving by at least 30%. I am challenging all of New Passion to consider how God would have you to do that. The bottom line is this, a large portion of our people allow a smaller portion to carry the financial load of the church. God has not blessed us with jobs and finances so we can invest more in our technology upgrades than we do in our Kingdom upgrades. The Lord uses the faithful, worshipful giving of his people to meet the needs of his local church. For some, it may be that you are not giving anything at all, or you are just giving what is convenient and reachable in your pocket. Pray and ask God what he desires from you on a regular basis. This is the church where God has assembled us all together at and we are a family. Let’s reach this goal together! Let’s not hold back!
For us to understand the gospel we must understand that generosity is not an option it is a lifestyle.
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