Take It Up A Notch!

Take it up a notch!

I don't know how to start this "blog". I have so much on my mind and trying to get it typed up is difficult. Plus, I just had one of those large RedBull's!

Let me talk about Celebration Church for a second. I don't know if everyone realizes what we have. I have attended many different church's over the years, but to have what we have is a true blessing. I have NEVER been to a house of God like ours.

Worship: Even pastors and members of LARGER and more well known church's than ours all say that our worship band is amazing. And it's true! We have great writers, great singers, great musicians, whom have all been touched directly by the finger of God. I mean, alot of the time, I truly feel that Hillsong would have a hard time keeping up with our talent. My mom watch's the internet campus from Indiana from time to time, and she is totally amazed at what we have. She goes to the big time conferences of Joyce Meyer and the huge youth events that are in stadiums and such. She has told me that our worship is like those, or even better. We must be careful not to worship the worship, but be thankful that we have what we have to bring us close to the Lord.

Pastors: Ok, I still don't think that I know how many pastors we have lol. But, look at it. Each one is annointed and all of them in different ways. Our Sr. Pastor (Stovall) has the energy of 15 year old kid thats drank a case of Red Bulls. He's funny, entertaining, but teach's the Word and makes his messages relevant. All of the pastors that I've heard live have different gifts and you can just tell are annointed by the Spirit. This is so refreshing!

Building: Ok, some people may complain that we are in a warehouse. My first time attending, as I pulled up I was like "Really? A warehouse church? Please, no!". When I walked in, I was in amazement. You just can't tell that it was once a warehouse. We have a coffee shop, friendly people and a HUGE sanctuary. Our building is amazing. It is! I love it and feel honored that I can worship God in that house!

Congregation: Not sure if any of you have noticed, but we have some of everything at church! I mean if you need a banker, lawyer, invester, lawncare guy, stump grinder (that would be me LOL). I mean we have musicians (Blameless is awesome), real estate agents, and every other career person you can think of. If you need ANY kind of service, and take time to ask around, we could probably find it "in house".

Groups: singles, overcoming addictions, overcoming homosexuality, older folks, young'ins, couples, etc, etc, etc. There will always be like 4 different groups for each person!

I'm saying all of that to say this. We are blessed. OUR PASTOR JUST PREACHED AT THE HILLSONG CONFERENCE!!!! One of the most well known church's, at one of the biggest conferences in the world! Do you guys understand this? God is doing things here!

You see what all that I've said that we have now. I haven't even began to touch the surface. People know of our church and our pastor world wide! Think once we get this building, what more we will do here at our home base. God is going to provide, no doubt. But, do we really not want to be part of HIS work? HIS will? HIS glory? HIS praise? HA! I REFUSE to be one of the people that when I get to Heaven I have one less reward to lay at Jesus' feet. We all raise our hands and worship inside that building, but we need to get up off of our butts, grab that check book and add another $10 to the Imagine campaign above what we already send. TEN DOLLARS! Thats 2 Starbucks visits.

..... And if you're not tithing.... Please start with that. Tithe and tithe for the right reasons. I believe that the rewards that the Scripture talks about are heavely rewards for our tithes, but trust me from experience, TITHE! Even if it's not Celebration, PLEASE TITHE!

We need to "Take It Up A Notch"! Our Imagine campaign is lacking, and it's because of us. I don't believe it's because of the economy. If we have faith, and I mean TRUE faith, then the economy has no bearing on us.

I'm sorry if this seems like I am rambling on. I have a passion for tithing, and even though Imagine isn't tithing, my passion has spilled over into this. I believe in the name of Jesus that we will pay cash for this building, with no financing needed!

-chris