Gladness
By David Branker
Hebrews 1:8-9 NKJV
“ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
“Jesus was ‘anointed with gladness’. Don’t believe for one second that Jesus was a condemning, religious, crabby person who brought condemnation, sadness and discomfort to those around Him. He brought life and joy wherever He went. People fought to get near Him and listen to His life-giving words. Why was that? Jesus was a positive person to be around and as this verse tells us, He was supernaturally empowered with gladness.
When was the last time you asked God to help you not only experience His joy, but bring it to those around you? Could it be that this is something a spiritual leader should add to his/her organization or team?
David
It’s Going To Be Amazing!
By Stovall Weems
As great as last weekend was this weekend is going to be even better! I am really fired up as this weekend kicks off the first part of the Amazing Series. Also the back to school blessing is this weekend as well as some AMAZING SURPRISES!
We are also thrilled to have John Bevere joining us for one night only this Sunday, August 23rd at our Orange Park Campus’ 6pm service.
Come this weekend expecting God to do something AMAZING in your life – and He will!
Stovall
Lessons from Fellowship Church – Part 2
By Stovall Weems
I gleaned a whole lot from Fellowship Church when I spoke there a couple of weekends ago. I have tried to narrow it down to what I believe would be the three most important takeaways for pastors and church leaders. In last week’s post (pt 1) I talked about the great atmosphere Fellowship Church creates in their weekend services. So here are the other two:
Great team spirit among the staff.
Fellowship has a great team. We really enjoyed hanging out with their staff. And therein lies the keyword enjoy. That’s the key for me- do you enjoy hanging out with this group of people? They were full of life, very real, relational and energetic. You can tell they are having fun, like being together, and know they are part of something special.
Reaching the right people.
What a great church to invite your unsaved friends to. There were several decisions for Christ at the end of every service. I could see from the response to the message and the vibe of the service that Fellowship was reaching the lost. Their environment was attractive and accepting of the unchurched and those far from God. It is so awesome to see churches that are reaching the right people!
My prayer is that all churches and leaders would understand how crucial it is to have the right people on the bus when it comes to staff, that we would value atmosphere and creativity in our worship services, and that we would stay committed to reaching the lost at our weekend services.
Thank you Ed and Lisa Young for all you do for the body of Christ!
Stovall
Get Ready for an Amazing Weekend
By Stovall Weems
This is going to be an amazing weekend and I am already getting fired up!
Get ready for some major SHOCK and AWE as this weekend will have several surprises. I am fairly confident that no other church has attempted what we will attempt this weekend. But the most important thing is that God will be there ready to do something amazing in your life!
This is a great weekend to bring people to church – it will be off the chain!
See you there!
Stovall
Lessons from Fellowship Church – Part 1
By Stovall Weems
What an incredible experience going over to speak at Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas this past weekend. Fellowship is led by one of the great leaders in the body of Christ today, Ed Young Jr. I really enjoyed speaking there and will also have the opportunity to speak at their church conference, the C3 Conference coming up February 17-19, 2010.
For many years Ed and Fellowship Church have had a huge impact on me and Celebration Church. We have learned so much from them over the years and it was great to finally be there in person for the weekend services and experience everything up close. Their church conference is incredible as well and if you are a church leader I really encourage you to attend.
Over the next couple of weeks, I want to share some lessons learned from my time at Fellowship Church.
1. Amazing Atmosphere.
The atmosphere was dynamic and amazing. From the moment you walk through the door until the moment you leave, you experience the presence of God and great energy. You can tell when a church has momentum and when the people are happy to be there. Fellowship definitely has “It”. The people are glad to be there and there is an excitement in the air. The worship was powerful and everything is done with such excellence and creativity. Atmosphere and creativity are so important in our weekend services. I think every church should value atmosphere and creativity and Fellowship definitely continues to lead the way and be a model in those areas.
Stay tuned for more lessons learned from Fellowship!
Stovall
The House Of God
By Stovall Weems
If you follow me on Twitter, you saw that earlier this week I mentioned I was going to start a new blog series entitled: “What’s Hot, What’s Not“. I have decided to hold off on that for now and instead get into something that has really been on my heart: the house of God.
I think a lot of us get into the habit of just going to church week after week and forget that we are actually entering the house of the living God. I feel like in this day of gymnasium and warehouse churches we need to have a bit of an awakening and realize how awesome it is to encounter God corporately every week in his House. We need to get the honor back in our hearts as well as in our attitudes.
Getting the right perspective on church can bring incredible life change EVERYTIME we step into God’s house!
Stovall
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