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Church at Work

For the last Sunday in October my good friend, Pastor Tim Blevins, and the crew at Life Community Church did a most unusual thing. They canceled their weekend service in order to take the church outside of their four walls and serve the community. Teams from Life Community served local churches, schools, parks, grocery stores, gas stations and more. Pastor Tim took a team to join the set-up and tear down crews at Lifepoint Church.

Life Community began their service this past Sunday with a video recapping what God did through their day of serving. My eyes were very sweaty as I watched what took place. Take about 15 minutes and celebrate with them.

I want to publicly say how excited I am about what God is doing through Tim Blevins and Life Community Church. I once heard it said that many churches could close their doors and nobody would even know the difference. That is definitely not the case for Life Community. The ROCK Church family and I are honored to serve our city alongside you guys.

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All about the numbers – Part 2

Numbers. There is a whole book of the Bible devoted to them. I have discovered that the only time people don’t want to talk about numbers is when they are ashamed of them. But, why are we ashamed? I do not measure my success against anyone else. I only have one measure of success. What has God said?

This past week, we took our staff to the All Access Conference at C3 Church. What stood out to me was the heart of the ARC leaders. Pastors of churches with 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000+ wanted to hear the stories of what God was doing in our church! It wasn’t, “That’s great. Did you hear about the 50 billion saved at our church?” NO! They know that every soul counts. Every date matters. Every win is a win! Don’t ever be ashamed of your numbers. Every one of them represents a soul… a life changed by Him!

Let me share a few more numbers with you today.

SEVENTEEN - In just seventeen weeks, ROCK Church goes double! That’s right, we’re going 2X every Sunday beginning August 30th. You can also listen to the Vision Night podcast when it posts later this week. I’ll go more in depth this week about the reasons we are going double. This is going to be epic! I’m counting down.

FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED TWENTY NINE – The current address for our friends at Life Community Church on Oleander Drive. They have been at this location for a while and it is TOO SMALL! Why? Because they have a God size vision. I’m not talking about in the future. I mean right now. I have been praying with Pastor Tim Blevins for a while that God would provide a new, bigger space.

THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED – The new, future address of Life Community Church in Independence Mall. That’s right, IN THE MALL! Talk about location. I believe LCC is about to go very big and I could not be more excited for them.

TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND – How much money Pastor Tim and his crew need in the next 30 days to upfit their new space. That’s a lot of money!

TWO THOUSAND – The amount I committed this week from ROCK Church to get Life Community started. Pastor Tim has been a friend to me and this ministry. He has prayed for me, opened up their church for our ministry staff to meet and had me minister to their volunteers. I believe in their vision and their ministry. So, it was easy for me to commit on the spot.

? THOUSANDS MORE – On Sunday, May 17th, ROCK Church will receive an additional offering for Life Community Church. Yes, our church will receive an offering for another church in our city. Not because they are in crisis. Not because they are struggling. We are doing it because they are dreaming and going big for Jesus! If they win, we win! ROCKERS, I expecting you to come strong on that day. I am praying and believing for a ridiculously generous offering to bless the people at Life Community.

Tomorrow, I will share some even bigger numbers with you. Until then, why not leave me a comment and tell me some numbers God is using in your life?

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Another church I don’t want to be

Pastor Tim Blevins is the real deal. I had the privilege of having lunch with him a few weeks ago and I left encouraged and inspired. Tim and his wife, Harriet, held the first service for Life Community on Easter Sunday of 2004 at Bradley Creek Elementary School. Over the last several years they have seen steady growth in their church. They currently meet in a building that was formerly Nevada Bob’s Golf Shop and have two services to accommodate their congregation.

On their website, Pastor Tim quotes John Wesley,

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell.”

Anybody who quotes Wesley is a friend of mine and fellow trailblazer.

Life Community Church and The ROCK are two very different churches leading people in Wilmington toward the same God. Each of us have specific callings, purpose and destinies. That is what makes us unique and I celebrate that.

Why not comment and tell me about other church in our city that are rocking it for God?

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I’ve been bad, but…

Yes, I know. It’s been too long since I last posted. It’s not that I have not had something to write about. The problem is that I have too many amazing things happening to pick one or fifty to fill you in on. So, I’ll just post some random awesomeness (Gabriel would say) for your enjoyment.

• Jen went back to the doctor about the new cysts that had formed on her ovary again. This was not good. After a lot of talk and prayer, Jen decided that, if the cysts were still there at follow-up visit, she would have the ovary removed. This was not an easy decision for Jen since it was her only, remaining ovary. But, when we went back, the tech performing the ultrasound said, “I don’t understand this, but the cysts are gone!” Yeah, God’s up to something and we can prove it!
• I’m an uncle again! Don & Abbye gave birth to Rylee Lyric this past Saturday! Actually, Abs did most of the work. MAN! Rylee is beautiful! I am so glad I did not have a girl. I would spend all of my money on a little girl and then hurt the first boy that tried to hold her hand.

• One Prayer has been incredible. Check out the lineup of speakers. Week One, Dad kicked us off with, “Lord, Make Us Joyful“. Then we had Craig Groeschel share his prayer, “Make Us One”. Then I taught, “Make Us Selfless“. This past Sunday, Dino Rizzo messed us up with “Make Us Extremely Generous”. This coming Sunday, Dad will finish the series with “Lord, Make Us Your Church”.
• I love that video made it possible to have men like Craig and Dino speak to us. We even grew as a church through this series… IN JUNE! I thought churches were not supposed to grow during the summer. Somebody should have told all of our ROCKERS who are inviting their friends like crazy!
• We are having our annual 4th of July party this Friday. This year, we are dubbing it “Blowing Stuff Up 4 Freedom” and it’s going to be huge! We are actually setting the fireworks to music. You’ll have to see it to believe it. If you live in Wilmington, you are invited. Find out more HERE.
• PC3 had their last services as a portable church this past Sunday. The next time they meet, it will be HERE. I am very excited for them. This move is going to be HUGE for them. GO PC3, GO!
• Jeff and the crew over at Lifepoint had some big news this past Sunday as well. This September, they are moving to Ashley High School. God is up to something HUGE there as well.
• Every day, I drive by Northside Baptist on my way to work. It is fun to watch their new building going up. It is HUGE and it gets me fired up every time I see it. Pastor Kenny Chinn and his team are doing an incredible job leading their church.
• I get to have lunch this week with Pastor Tim Blevins from Life Community Church this week. I’m hearing some amazing stuff about what’s happening there as well. They just kicked off their first weekend with the Angel Food Ministry. This ministry is going to make a huge impact in our city!
• I’ve been loving the music in our weekends recently as David Pray has been leading our teams. The more I get to know him, the more I thank God for joining him to our church for this season. Stay tuned…
• I could blog like this for at least 20, 30… a lot more.
• Needless to say, God is up to some HUGE things around here and I am loving the ride.

So, what’s God doing in your world?

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