Catch-up Sunday, May 20th FBC Holly Springs

ENCOURAGEMENT comes from a message to wait on the Lord found in Acts 1:4-8. The wait is always worth it! The power of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8 resulted in bold witnesses. In verse 11 of Acts 1 the men of Galilee are asked, “Why do you stand looking into the sky?” The time of

waiting is over; there is work to be done. He is ahead of us, looking for us to be faithful.

II Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His”. In other words, we need to Catch Up! He is waiting.

The phrase, Catch-Up, can be very positive. It means there is something great ahead and I don’t want to miss it! In the context of our church, a Catch-Up Sunday is an opportunity to catch up on our plans for ministry, our vision and our special needs.

Will you pray for His leadership with regard to your individual sacrificial gifts toward the Catch-Up Sunday offering? SACRIFICE means a decision to forego something, however worthwhile, in order to participate generously in support of these Catch-Up Sunday goals.

In a church’s life, as well as an individual’s, we have goals and dreams. FBC Holly Springs has ongoing ministry goals and dreams. We can simply exist from week to week or we can “press on” toward our ministry plans. We have before us opportunities to not only continue our ministry plans that are already in place, but to move forward. Catch-Up Sunday will help us achieve our goals of catching up on our budget giving as well as helping us get ahead with summer projects such as Vacation Bible School, community outreach events such as water giveaways, youth camp, the Yucatan mission project, the formation of our SHARE community food pantry, etc.  In just one example, it was such a blessing to see the fruit of last year’s VBS as little Layla was baptized two weeks ago during our worship service. To God be the glory!

The finance committee and I believe that a goal of $10,000.00 above and beyond our regular weekly budget need of $3,724.08, would be a faith goal for Catch-UP Sunday.  Notice I said a “faith goal”.  Hebrews 11:6 says ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” If we are to trust God with our eternity, we must also be willing to trust him with our finances both individually and corporately.  With that in mind, please begin to ask God to meet this financial need in a supernatural way as well as asking Him exactly how He would have you to be involved in the process. 

My prayer is that each family will make a genuine sacrifice with the same spirit as the Macedonian Christians – “not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice”. The result will be a new unity and a fresh dedication of the embership of First Baptist Holly Springs toward the Lord’s work.

Men's Retreat May 18th & 19th

We are considering a Men's retreat to simply regroup and challenge the men of our church to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.  My prayer is that every person in our church rise to the challenge of passionately pursuing God.  I sincerely believe this will begin with our men leading the way in their families and homes.  We are looking to go to a hotel type retreat center in Toccoa, GA (about two hours from Holly Springs) for a Friday night through Saturday at noon gathering.  We will be bringing in a powerful guest speaker who will be sure to instruct, encourage, and challenge us to pursue God and lead our families.  The tentative dates are May 18th and 19th.  The place we would be staying would provide supper on Friday night as well as breakfast and lunch on Saturday.  The cost would be approximately $75.00 per person and would include hotel accommodations for one night, three meals, snacks, and a notebook. I would love to get some feedback from our guys as to whether or not this would be something they would be interested in participating in.

Yucatan 2012 Summer Mission Project

FBC Holly Springs is currently putting together a mission project for July 8th through the 14th (leaving on Sunday and returning Saturday). The project will take place in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The focus of the mission trip will be construction, VBS, prayer walking, street evangelism, etc. God is moving mightily in this area and we hope to be the hands and feet of Jesus to these people as well as a support group to the missionaries who currently serve in that area. The cost of the trip including airfare, housing, transportation on the ground, and translators is estimated at around $1100.00 per person. We will be having our second information meeting on April 15th immediately following the worship service. FYI, a visa is not needed for this project but an up to date passport will be required to enter the county. If you have any questions whatsoever please feel free to email me at pastor.phil@fbchollysprings.com or call the church office.

Why Stay in a Dysfunctional Church?

I recently read an article by Joe McKeever entitled Five Reasons People Stay in a Dysfunctional Church. Although the entire article was very well written it was the fifth reason that really spoke to me. This is what Joe McKeever shares as the fifth reason to stay:

God called me here, and I'll stay until He says otherwise.
He/she is committed to God's will.
This is the only solidly Christian position, for my money. After all, it's the Lord's church, not mine. The program of ministry is His, not ours. The people belong to Him. And regardless of whose name is on the deed, who functions as trustees, or who can vote to sell the property, it's the Lord's church.
The only question for members of the Lord's church---I mean the only question--is "Lord, what will you have me to do?" It was the question Saul of Tarsus asked Jesus outside Damascus the day he was unseated from his high horse. And it's the right question for all of us today, pastors and people alike.
When we come into a meeting to discuss church finances and budgets, the only question is Jesus, what do you want done with your money?
When we come into a time of worship where we seek to quieten our spirits and still our bodies and find God, the only issue is Lord, what shall we do?
And when churches try to self-destruct and to linger there any longer threatens to give one a nervous breakdown, the only prayer is Lord, tell me what to do, please.
There is no more liberating thought for church leaders than this: This is the Lord's church and not mine. He died for it; I didn't. He has plans for it, and I don't. So Lord, tell us what to do with your church, and we'll do our best to obey.
Once in a while, the answer will come back that we are to leave this church and go elsewhere. That's not all bad.
A pastor told me today that some of the disgruntled members of his congregation are leaving. They led an uprising against his ministry and lost that fight, and now they are walking away. Ideally, we could wish they would have reigned in their rebellion and submitted to their godly leader--this is not an abstraction; I know these folks--but they chose not to do so.
So it was good for them to leave. The smaller congregation they leave behind will struggle for a while filling the vacancies in leadership and compensating for the loss in contributions, but the new peace and unity of purpose will be worth the effort.
I suppose we should go back and revise the opening statement. Maybe there are three groups of members: those who leave churches easily and often, those who plant themselves in concrete and will not be moved, and the reluctant ones who by their leaving bless two churches, the one they leave and the one they join.

God help us to listen and obey the voice of God!

Yucatan Mexico Mission Trip

Details are beginning to come together for our mission project to the Yucatan Peninsula this summer. The tentative dates are set for July 9th - 14th. We will be having a information meeting on Sunday, March 18th immediately following the morning worship service. If you have any interest whatsoever in this trip or feel the Lord leading in any way please join us as we discuss the many avenues of ministry that will be available on this project. At this point, the need is for general carpentry, prayer walking, vacation Bible school, etc. This is going to be an incredible opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and experience life change. I promise, if the Lord leads you to take part, He will radically change your life as a result of ministry on foreign soil. Stay tuned for further details and feel free to email me with any pre-meeting questions.

Go God!

Pastor Phil

Relexion

God is good and has been moving greatly in the midst of the first part of the summer. Vacation Bible school was awesome. Several kids gave their heart and life to Jesus and their lives will never be the same as the result of the time they spent on our campus hearing about Jesus. We are currently in the process of follow up and discipleship with them. Student camp begins next Tuesday. Many of our students will be traveling to Lee University for Student Life Camp and we are trusting God to do BIG things in their lives. I am grateful to God for our student pastor Matt Sawyer and his love for them and his investment in their lives. This coming Sunday we will begin the service with baptism, celebrating changed lives for the glory of God. I am super pumped about our new interim worship leader Scot Luman and his wife Katie being on board. I am grateful to God for his passion for the Lord and overwhelming desire to take us to the throne in worship.
With all that is taking place and all God is doing I want to offer a challenge. I want to encourage you to pray about increasing your giving to FBC Holly Springs – but not so that FBCHS has more money. I want us to give sacrificially so that we can give more to the nations. Michelle and I have committed to pray about increasing the percentage of our giving so that we never grow stagnant in our sacrifice for God’s work, and God has never let us down. He has ALWAYS met our needs, especially when we have sensed His call to give in a way that stretches our faith beyond discomfort. We’ve learned that He is never worried about the state of the American economy. As we move through the summer, please be faithful to your giving to God’s work. At the same time, I really do challenge you to seek God’s face about increasing your giving. Consider an increase of 1 percent of your income . . . or 5 percent . . . or $25 a week . . . or whatever God expects from you. Remember, though, that your giving is not about just making sure that FBCHS has money in the bank. While having a reserve is not wrong – it is still money unused for the gospel. As you and I give, a percentage of those dollars make a quick difference around the world for God’s glory through cooperative giving. That’s why we need to sacrifice more.

Jesus and Bad Advertising

The following is from an article by Steven Furtick. This truth could not be more relevant to the church today...

"I believe the most important message in the world deserves the best presentation. " Steven Furtick
I was on a road trip about a year ago, and Elijah needed to use the bathroom. There was a gas station that said “clean restrooms,” so we pulled in.
But the restrooms were filthy. Pee and trash everywhere. It was disgusting. Elijah looked at me and said, “Why does it say clean restrooms when these aren’t clean?” I said, “I guess they lied to us.”
Not too long after this, Elijah and I were in a nice hotel, and we went into the restroom, and it was super clean. He said to me, “Daddy, does this restroom have a sign that says it has clean restrooms?” It didn’t. Then he responded, “Why do some restrooms say they’re clean and they’re not, and then other restrooms are clean and they don’t say that they are?”
I don’t know.
And I also don’t know why this same dynamic continually plays itself out in the Church either.
The Church is fond of saying that the world offers everything but has nothing. And that’s true. But from my experience, the Church offers everything but doesn’t know how to really advertise it. Either corporately or individually.
People come into our worship experiences and hear us say Jesus is great, but then they see us celebrate Him with mediocrity.
People look at our lives and hear us say we’re Christians, but then they see very little difference in us that would compel them to want the supposed hope and joy that we have.
I’m tired of the world selling their product so well when their product can’t do anything for anybody. But I’m equally tired of the Church having something that can do everything for everybody, but we make it look like it can’t do anything for anybody.
I believe the most important message in the world deserves the best presentation. That’s why I’m so adamant about the Church being known for excellence. And that’s why I’m also so adamant about people living up to their full potential in Christ. It’s not that we’re trying to impress people with how great we are. It’s that we’re trying to impress into people how great Jesus is.
Some people might respond by saying that Jesus doesn’t need us to make Him look good. In fact, by presenting the gospel with excellence, we’re taking away from it. We’re stealing glory from God. Making people love the messenger rather than the message.
They probably should have told that to Moses when he was making an ornate Tabernacle.
To Paul when he presented the gospel with skill at Athens.
And to Apollos, who was a skilled orator and was used by God powerfully.
Of course, Jesus doesn’t need us to make Him look good. But I also don’t think He wants us to make Him look bad either. Or neglect to reflect how great He is.
We’ve got the greatest message in the world.
Let’s not make it harder than it has to be for people to realize how great it is.