Sunday

We kicked off week 1 of God's Purpose Right Now. Here are a few highlights of Reveal:

• Steve preached from Acts 13:36.
• He introduced the Now and Later Principle which will be a very important part of the next two months in the life of First Baptist Church.
• The Now and Later Principle is this - Future opportunities to serve Christ are dependent on being faithful to Christ in the present.
• He asked the question - If you died today, what would be written on your tombstone? Not what would YOU want written but what would be written if the truth about your life was written.
• He showed some tombstones. Here's the funniest one.
• He also called us to live with purpose and asked the haunting question, "Am I living by default or by design?"
• He also pointed out that obedience matters and challenged us to seize the opportunity that God gives to us when He gives it to us.

Attendance has been steady over the first three weeks of Reveal. Make sure you make a point to invite someone to join you next week at Reveal.

Also, we are beginning some discussions about starting some small groups. Shoot me an email (jamieb@fbcrockhill.org) if you are interested in being a part of leading or hosting a small group.

Have a great week.

-- Peace, Jamie

Basketball Ministry

Here is a cool story that arose from our "Impact Sports" basketball ministry.

This past week, we had band practice on Tuesday night instead of our normal Thursday because one of our members had something on Thursday night. We went about our normal routine and I didn't think too much of it. Then on Wednesday, I was stopped by one of our FBC members after supper who told me of a woman who was in the gym and heard the music and asked about it. She asked how much it cost to become a member here at FBC. She, of course, was told that it was free, no cost at all. She asked about the music that she was hearing and it was explained to her that it was the band for our new service. She asked how much it cost to come to come to that service and, of course, was told that it was free. The member that she was talking to invited her to church and she is planning on coming this week.

REVEAL - Don't doubt that God is working in powerful ways in Rock Hill. Be faithful and ask Him to provide opportunities to lift up His name and He will provide.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger

Will

Felt Needs

There is an old saying: "No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." And man is that ever true in today's world. Did you know that 80% of Americans don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ? And York county is no different - 80%!!! And you know what, they are not just going to walk in through the front door of our church. Which of course means that we have to go to them. And that means in some way to meet their felt needs.

Does anyone listen to 91.9? I personally don't, I listen almost exclusively to CD's, but my wife, Lori, does. And back in December, they started doing this thing where they challenged people to pay for the person behind them in the drive-thru line at fast food restaurants. Well, this week, Lori felt that God was calling her to do just that over lunch. She paid for the person behind her and she said that workers in the restaurant were all looking at her to see who would do such a thing. Now I know that financial times are tough right now, but what a powerful way to meet someone's felt needs.

So, REVEAL, I challenge you to find a way to meet someone's felt needs. If you do decide to do the "drive-thru" thing, hand the person at the check-out a REVEAL card. You never know what could come of it. In fact, God could repay you in a cool way. It happened to us last night. Lori and I were having our weekly date night (more on that in a later post) and as we got up to the counter to pay for our meal, a member of FBC came up and paid for us. How cool is that? God's blessing may come in unexpected but very cool ways. (Thanks to that couple, you really made our night.)

Dream Big...Pray Bigger.

Will

Party Time

This video cracked me up, mainly because the bouncer guy was SO intimidating. Great job, Hunter.


If the video gets the song stuck in your head, you can check out the full song here.

Words Matter

What we say and how we are heard are important. What do you think?

Set List 02.01.09

Here is the music that we used on 02.01.09 - Red Letters (Week 2):

In The Light (Charlie Peacock as performed by dc Talk)
Madly (Steve Fee)
Agnus Dei (Michael W. Smith as performed by Third Day)
Word Of God Speak (MercyMe)
Worship You Forever (Todd Fields)

You ever have one of those days when everything just seems to go wrong? Well Sunday was that day for me, at least at the start. See Jamie was out of town so there were several extra things in my routine that needed to get done. And as a result, I was a little out of sorts mentally. This resulted in me starting off the first song of the 10:30 service in the wrong key. I was embarrassed to say the least. (I am hoping that Miller can edit that out before it goes to CN-2). Then, in the last song of the set, I sang the wrong lyrics. Boy what a great way to start off the day.

When I got down to the Apex, I still had several things to do before REVEAL started. By the time everything got done, I was already emotionally spent. I went over in the corner and spent some time in prayer. More than anything just trying to calm down.

Now I don't want to "over-spiritualize" the situation, but I feel that this is just another way that God is saying "Will...Me not you, My strength not yours." I guess that I am just hard-headed because I seem to find God reminding me of that a lot. But in spite of my "feelings", once we started worshiping, all of the other "stuff" faded away.

That, more than anything, is what I want to point out. When we focus on ourselves and our circumstances they seem big and many times overwhelming. But when we put our focus on God, all that "stuff" fades into the background.

Random Facts about Sunday:
1. I sang "Word of God Speak" at 10:30 and Reveal but in different keys.
2. We had about 70 people in the Apex.
3. The sermon intro video was really funny.
4. The "God's Purpose...Right Now" promo video was AWESOME! (Hunter this is the best one yet, keep up the great work.)
5. Pastors aren't perfect, we make mistakes too.
6. I continue to see new faces in Reveal.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger.

--Will

Sunday

While I was not in Rock Hill yesterday, I got great reports from everyone about Reveal yesterday. I will be back next week as we kick off the "God's Purpose, Right Now" series. If you don't already know, most of our launch advertising has ended. So, for new people to get to Reveal, it's going to take a personal invitation. Make a point to invite someone new this week to come to Reveal.

A quick review of my weekend looks like this - a 4 hour drive to Myrtle Beach, rocking worship with Rush of Fools, an in-your-face call to action by Clayton King, 10 hours of sleep in two days, a trip to Broadway at the Beach, a Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet, Krispy Kreme Hot-Now doughnuts, hanging out with 35 cool Winthrop students and 800 other SC college students, and the 4 hour drive home. If you didn't join us this year at Converge, plan on going back to Myrtle Beach with us next year.

-- Peace, Jamie