Be A Good Quitter
By Stovall Weems
Next month our staff will begin planning for 2009. Every year, there are two main questions that we ask ourselves: “What do we need to stop doing (or say no to)”, and “What do we need to put more energy into.” This is always difficult for me, because there seems to be so many opportunities for our church. But every pastor and leader has to be disciplined to say no, or to quit certain things that might be good, but are not moving the church forward. This is strategic quitting. We all quit-the question is are we quitting the right things?
Faith Works
By David Branker
bq. *Ephesians 1:19-20*
. . . ^19^ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ^20^ which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
Simply put, faith in God works. Once we have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we now have access to a power that exceeds anything the world has to offer. This power is given so that you and I can have a greater resource to draw from – a higher realm at which we can live. Unfortunately, many of us find ourselves in a place far beneath God’s very best. We resort to what we know or think we know. Here’s how it plays out. When we place our trust in ourselves we choose to live a life without power, a life that is easily overcome – because the very best efforts of our flesh are weak and feeble.
But God has made His power available to us. His unlimited, mighty strength is available to us so that we can live life to the fullest. Yet, we must choose.
We must choose to:
* Stop trusting in ourselves and our limited abilities, and place our trust entirely upon Jesus Christ.
* Stop worrying over things we have no control of.
* Place our hope in Him and Him alone.
* Live to honor Him in all our ways, and not to appease our nature.
Can you think of anything that might require more strength than what it took to raise Jesus Christ from the dead? You’ll be hard-pressed to find anything that does. That means that there is nothing that we cannot trust God for. We can trust God to resurrect our dreams, our families, our relationships, our finances and our future. It’s the only way. It doesn’t mean we are not going to experience problems – we just need to keep our trust in Him and let His strength take us through. What remains true is that faith in God always works.
Economic Food For Thought
By Guest Blogger, John Shiffert, CFP, CRPC
With all the disturbing things happening in the economy today, this is a key time for Christians especially, to learn the lesson that to trust in anything but God is ‘but chasing the wind’. This is a good time to pursue a career with purpose rather than a job, because the truth is, it will be at least 2 to 5 years before the economic landscape mirrors where we were just 12 months ago. Fortunately, we will likely have one more big boom, then America will likely cease to be an economic superpower as China continues to rise.
This Weekend: Bringing God Honor
By Stovall Weems
This past weekend, I talked about how to live a complain free life and how not to be offended. Thanks to so many of you that posted comments on the blog about that last Friday. They were really insightful, and I think they will help a lot of people who read this blog.
I honestly think that taking offense is the number one thing that can derail us from God’s best for our lives. Whenever I am offended, the first thing I do is immediately go to God, and pour out my heart to Him. I find that being in constant communication with God about what is bothering me actually guards my heart from the offense going too deep. What are some practical applications that help you guard your heart?
This weekend, I’m going to be talking about what brings God honor. It’s not what you’re probably thinking. I bet you’ll truly be surprised to know what bringing God honor looks like in our everyday lives.
Stovall
Checkout this article that was written about Celebration Church in Wednesday’s Times Union.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091008/lif_329909048.shtml
Spread The Word
By David Branker
I couldn’t help myself – I had to check out our new Internet Campus again last night. It is so cool to be able to provide a place for people to connect with the church when they are out of town or traveling. You no longer have to miss the weekend service.
Beyond just being really convenient for Celebrationers out of town – it is also a great option for people who are not yet attending a church but love the cyber-world and would be open to an online church experience.
Internet Church – happens every Sunday 11:30am and Tuesday 9pm EST. We now offer our complete church service online. The Internet Campus gives you a convenient way to enjoy a Celebration Church service wherever there’s an internet connection.
The Internet Campus allows you to:
Enjoy the same worship that you experience at any Celebration location.
Always stay up-to-date with the latest message from Pastor Stovall – the same message as all our other weekend services.
Hang out 30 minutes before and after the service in our Internet Lobby to chat, meet and kick back with others attending the Internet Campus.
We need your help to spread the word. Here are some simple things you can do:
- 1. Make a list of people. People who may be less intimidated attending church online. Those in the military or un-churched friends and family who live out of town.
- 2. Email those on your list a link to the Internet Campus page. http://www.celebration.org/campuses/internet/
- 3. Spread the word through MySpace/Facebook pages.
- 4. Word of mouth. <– You really can’t beat this. Arming people with the knowledge that we now have this option will be huge.
Just think of how many people we can reach online that may have difficulty getting to one of our locations. The truth is the message doesn’t change but we will continue to use every creative channel to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Internet is a powerful communication tool and we’re gonna use it to communicate the most powerful message of all time – the gospel of Jesus Christ! We need your help – let’s get the word out!
Extension Services – Off and Running
By Stovall Weems
Wow! What a great weekend this past weekend. You can just feel the momentum and buzz around the church with all of the church life ministries kicking off as well as our extension services and gatherings getting off to such an incredible start! Both of our new locations were packed and we are going to need to get an additional theatre at St. Augustine. It is so exciting to hear the testimonies and stories of lives changed as people are taking church to their communities and areas of influence. We have a lot to learn over the next few weeks as the current gatherings get into a routine and new ones are launched. But the initial feedback is really good so far. The attendance numbers are big but I’d like to wait 3 or 4 weeks before highlighting that. We want to see how much of the growth “sticks” or in other words how many of the new people we reached look like they are going to be regular attendees. Thanks so much for your participation and prayers. Extention hosts- thanks so much for “going into all the world” and making a difference for Christ. Please be in prayer as many of our national and international gatherings are launching over these next few weeks as well.
This Weekend at Celebration Church
By Stovall Weems
Can I just say – this weekend is gonna be off the chain! I am pumped about it and the message for this weekend. I am going to talk about how to live above being offended and how our lives can become free from murmuring and complaining when we let God work in our life. Does anyone have some good stuff to share on these points? I might use it in my message. Also, all of our groups, classes, ministries and church life stuff is kicking off over this next week. And for you early risers, don’t forget about the 8:30am service in the Annex. Communion will be available at that service as well.
Look forward to seeing you all this weekend.
Stovall
A Couple of Updates
By Stovall Weems
As you all know, we are launching a couple of our newest locations (St. Augustine and Camden County) this weekend along with our Internet Campus and several of our extension services. We have decided that instead of launching all 200 services at once, we are going to launch about 100 this weekend and then add the rest each month following. We have realized that we are going to be launching several extension services every month for the long haul, and therefore we need to adjust to a more sustainable pace. We will be able to learn a lot from this first batch, and that should help us make some quick adjustments for the others. We are also looking forward to testing the systems we have in place for these services. Go GOD! Let the mayhem begin!
Also – if you have to work this weekend or you are going out of town, remember that we now have a Friday, noon service at Midtown. I’d love to hear your feedback – what are your thoughts about a service at noon on Fridays?
Great 10 Year Anniversary Weekend!
By Stovall Weems
Our 10 year birthday weekend was awesome. It exceeded all of our expectations in so many ways. We wrapped up the weekend with an incredible water baptism and land dedication service out on our new property. It is so exciting to be getting under way on Baymeadows and 9A. A big thank you to our entire Celebration Church family for 10 awesome years of doing life together!
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Recent Comments
- Raj and Ruth, INDIA!: Great, Pastor Stovall! Thank you so much for the blog. Thank you for your regular blogs.We are...
- Lin Holyfield: I don’t, but I have a few friends that attend Celebration…they’v e shared a few CD...
- Jesse: Wow – great insight. Thank you. Enjoying your blog immensely. Jesse
- Tina: Great response doing these 2 things. Thank You
- Tina Kirby: Thanks Pastor Stovall, I’ve been praying for God to help me say and do the right things. I pray for...
- Alisa H.: Great info! Thanks Pastor, will help me with preparing for Hardee Sisterhood!
- Jill Dykstra: Ameeeeeeeeeen Amen Amen
