Vision Sunday / Ministry Fair - 1.23.11

This past Sunday was our annual Vision Sunday! Rather than going through the annual calendar highlights for the year, discussing "data," and setting numerical goals; I tried instead to cast a vision that was very simple. It included terms like, "Back to Basics," "Making Disciples," "Impacting Eternity," and "Saved to Serve." Churches are filled with spectators and we are striving this year to increase our number of participants, to help people grow in their faith, and to build a body of believers that is more than just a headcount on Sunday mornings.

This past year, we removed all of our attendance numbers from our Sunday bulletins. Our attendance has been strong and growing, but too many churches focus on the numbers. Go to the average pastors' meeting and all you hear is "How many does your church run on Sunday?" As the old saying goes, "Figures lie and liars figure." Rather than focus on attendance, I'd rather focus on the 62 who were saved in our services in 2010, the 48 who followed in baptism, the 54 new members, and the 483 who were saved through outreach events and discipled by EBC and other local churches. That may not sound like much to a mega church in a metropolitan city, but in a town of 8,000 people with over 100+ churches... we praise God for what He is doing at EBC!

Our Sunday morning service went a total of 50 minutes, then we dismissed to our annual Ministry Fair. Over 40+ booths were setup to generally represent the ministries of our church. As our teens and adults walked through the Ministry Fair and signed-up to serve, over 364 volunteer positions were filled for 2011. THAT WAS EXCITING! We allotted 45 minutes for the Ministry Fair, but people lingered for over an hour. We actually had to encourage them to leave and go pickup their children. I left encouraged and people left excited about serving Jesus.

1.16.11 - One of the best Sunday's ever

Words cannot describe what happened yesterday, but I'll try to convey it briefly. In the morning service, we celebrated "Sanctity of Life" Sunday. I preached from Psalm 139 reminding people that David was praising God for giving him life, forming his body, allowing him to be an image bearer, and for creating a plan for his life. Through a monologue, Micara described how God worked in spite of her mistakes and the difficulty of a her child's birth defect, to bring her back to God and create a beautiful little girl that brings joy to everyone who meets her. Thank God that she chose life! There wasn't a dry eye in the Worship Center when she finished. We concluded the sermon by asking our folks to take baby bottles to collect loose change for the Carolina Family Planning Centers, a prolife pregnancy care center in our community.

On Sunday evening, Teresa sang a song about praising God in the tough times. The congregational songs followed a similar suit. As I began the sermon about communion, it was as if I could feel God telling me that someone had something to share. I backed up and opened the floor for testimonies... people shared for 45 minutes... one right after the other. They shared deep things, personal things, they were transparent, and made themselves vulnerable. God was working. We closed by asking people to pray together and encourage one another. Groups gathered to pray around those with needs. Prayers were lifted, relationships were mended, hearts were encouraged. At their leisure, people came and took communion at the altar. IT WAS AMAZING!

I can't tell you exactly what happened yesterday, but I can tell you that God showed up!

Snow... Snow... Ice

I can't believe it... nearly 8" of snow at our house! That's the most we've seen since moving to SC. Our family had a blast riding our knee board up and down the street behind a golf cart, and of course we built snowmen, had a snowball fight, and made snow angels in a few pristine yards! Last night I drove our Jeep to pickup one of Lindsay's friends who was spending the night. The roads were already icy and what had been cleared earlier in the day, had been replaced by several additional inches of snow and freezing rain was adding the final layer.

Schools and businesses were closed and temps aren't supposed to get much above freezing this week. Limited road equipment due to limited annual snowfall is going to make this a long week, but I hope everyone took advantage of spending some quality time with family. We played in the snow outside, sat around the fireplace playing games inside, and built some family memories that will last for many years to come.

The most amazing thing to me is that we had beautiful weather on Sunday! If we are going to have rain, snow, sleet, or hail... it seems to happen on Sundays. This past Sunday we had beautiful weather as Justin preached in the morning and Milton Frazier in the evening. I wasn't the preacher, so my family rode to church together and even sat together during the service. It was strange, but wonderful. We even had our oldest daughter home from college to top it all off.

Cruising the Caribbean

Flora and I just returned from an 8 day cruise in the Caribbean on the Norwegian Epic. It was an incredible ship! Some dear friends made this possible and it was a wonderful, relaxing, and rejuvenating experience as we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. In addition to the great food, entertainment, and all of the other great aspects of a cruise; one of my favorite teachers, Dr. David Jeremiah with Turning Point Ministries, led daily services. There was also teaching by Phil Waldrep, and concerts by Sheila Walsh, Charles Billingsley, and the Hoppers. We had a great time! I turned my phone off during the cruise to avoid the outrageous roaming charges and just tried to relax; but throughout the cruise, Flora and I would see people who reminded us of friends from back home... we couldn't get our church family off our minds.

The cruise left from Miami and we visited St. Martin/Maarten, St. Thomas, St. John, and Nassau,Bahamas. Some other friends had a relative in St. John and set up a wonderful day for us to tour the island then spend beach time at Caneel Bay Resort where we enjoyed snorkeling in the beautiful Caribbean waters. It was like swimming in an aquarium! Flora and I both agreed that was our favorite day.

An extra special part of this experience was spending two days before the cruise with my parents. Not only did they provide free parking and free shuttle service to the port, but we also enjoyed time eating, golfing, and shopping together. It was just good to be with them for a few days. They just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past June!

So, in 24 hours... supper in Nassau, breakfast in Miami, lunch in Florida, the supper in South Carolina. From Caribbean beaches to the Sandhills. From shorts and flip-flops to sweatshirts and heavy coats. That sounds weird, but that was how we spent our last 24 hours -- and it was WONDERFUL! Thank you, again, to those who made this trip possible, and to our pastoral staff for being so reliable that we didn't have to worry about a thing while we were gone.