One of the most exciting – and challenging – parts of following Jesus is that He will lead you to new “firsts” – new things to try and new ways to trust Him. Our church is having our first “double service” – meeting at 9:00 and 10:45am for Easter. This will be our first, and there are a lot of new things we are figuring out – but we trust Jesus the whole way. We are praying for the Lord to bring a lot of new people to hear about His hope!
We are also looking at purchasing property, and raising $120,000 in 90 days. We have already raised $25,000 in 10 days! This is a new first for us. I have personally never been as pastor of a church that bought property or raised this much money in this short of time. I trust Jesus. I trust Him in knowing we are ready to own property and use it for His work. I trust Him to move people’s hearts and raise the money needed. These are big challenges, and we are following Him.
It reminds me of when we started the church plant. People were looking at me to be an expert in church planting. I looked right back at them and said, “I don’t know what I am doing, either – this is my first time planting a church!” But we learned. I read a lot of books, humbly asked a lot of questions to church planters, and prayed a LOT. God has showed us how to be the church plant He wants us to be – with authentic love and humility, and having a lot of fun together. And we are strong in Him.
We will follow Him on Easter with our first double service, with hopefully many more double (and triple!) services to follow. We want to continue to invite people and reach people with His love and hope. We will follow Him in property and buildings and always stay focused on His mission. We will follow Him when He leads us to new firsts in the future, new challenges for His glory. We are willing to be stretched; we want to do great things for the Kingdom!
Look forward to enjoying an early service for a change!