This Sunday at Cedarcrest Church is going to be incredible! We have an amazing day planned for our kids. All I can say is do whatever it takes to get every child you know to Cedarcrest this weekend! We are concluding our “Ten Hut” series in Elevate and Elevate Jr. this weekend and for the conclusion of this series we have a US National Guard Blackhawk helicopter coming to land at Allatoona for all the kids to see. Yes, you just read that! A Blackhawk helicopter is landing at Cedarcrest Church this Sunday for your kids to see!

As if the Blackhawk was not cool enough, we then will be celebrating life change with a special baptism service at Lake Acworth following our worship services. Everyone is encouraged to bring a picnic or pick up lunch and head to the lake for this exciting celebration. All I know is if I were still a kid this Sunday just might be the greatest day of my life! Bring someone with you to Cedarcrest this week! You don’t want to miss it!

To send someone an e-vite, just click this link: http://cedarcrestchurch.com/currentseries

We are also finishing our “United” series and I can’t wait to share the final message of this series with you.

See you Sunday!

This past Sunday as we continued looking at the prayer of Jesus in John 17 we talked about God’s plan for his followers. One of the things we talked about is how God’s plan points to what “could be” in the world. There is no question that as we look at the world around us it is clear that things are not the way they should be. I firmly believe that God has called the church to be the solution as we point to the life changing power of the Gospel and develop a vision for what “could be” as we live according to God’s plan.

In light of these thoughts I want to share with you some of the things I pray about as I think about Cedarcrest pointing people to what “could be” through the power of God. Some of these things are already beginning to happen at Cedarcrest and some of these prayers are a vision of what I hope for in days to come.

As I look at the future for Cedarcrest, here are some of the things I pray “could be”.

- A place that is grounded in the word of God. I pray that we would not waiver one step from the truth of God’s word and continue to hold up scripture as our true authority.

- A place that is known in our community for our love. I pray that we would be the first phone call people in our community make when a need arises because they know us as a picture of the love of God that will do all we can to address the need.

- A place that exists for those “outside of the walls”. I pray we would be so obsessed with reaching people with the good news of the Gospel that we never become consumed with those who are already coming to Cedarcrest. In case you were wondering, Luke 15 is the driving passion of my life! Look it up.

- A place of Unity. How could I leave this out as we focus on the prayer of Jesus in John 17. We better be about unity since it is what Jesus prayed for His followers!

- A place that keeps the fire marshal busy! I pray that God would move mightly on our behalf and that the life changing power of God would become so contagious at Cedarcrest that we continually run out of space. How exciting would it be if the fire marshal showed up at church and said there are too many people here!

- A place that gives away as much as it spends. Imagine the impact that we could make in the world if for every dollar we spent on ministry at Cedarcrest we gave a dollar away! This is a lofty dream I know, but there is no question the resources are available to do this if we will be obedient stewards of what God has given us.

- A place where selfishness is replaced with service. We can turn our community upside down if we will die to self and live for the benefit of others. I pray that we would be a picture of the Gospel and become a church that serves with no agenda except exposing the love of God.

- A place where men act like men. I stole this from the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 16 and it is a passion of mine. Paul challenges the men of faith to “act like men and be strong”. Imagine what our families would look like if men would take seriously the call to be the spritual leaders of our homes. This fall we are launching men’s mentoring groups and I pray that through these groups more and more men would become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ and start showing the world what biblical manhood looks like!

- A place where people are set free from bondage and addiction. I pray that Cedarcrest Church can become a place of healing and restoration for those who are living in bondage and addiction. This will take a lot of work and resources, but I look forward to the day when our church is known as a place of healing.

- A place where the light of Christ is blinding. I pray that the first thing people say when they talk about Cedarcrest Church is “that group of people is crazy about Jesus”! May we be known as followers of Jesus above all else!

These are just a few of my thoughts about what could be as I pray about the future of Cedarcrest Church. I look forward to sharing more in the future and I pray that God’s plans would be far bigger than anything that I can imagine! I am so excited about the journey we are on!

Today was an incredible day as we kicked off our third service at Cedarcrest! I am absolutley worn out tonight, but I wanted to share a few thoughts about today.

- The energy in our worship services was incredible! There was a buzz running throughout the entire church!

- We have the greatest volunteers in the world! Adding a third service created a bunch of new volunteer needs and Cedarcrest stepped up in a major way! It was great to see so many people serving this morning! Thanks to everyone who is serving!

- People were excited about 8:30! This really blew me away this morning. Even though is was our smallest service in the number of people today I was totally caught off guard by the excitement and energy in the service. I can’t wait to see how God uses this service for His glory!

- Britt and the worship team did a great job bringing back some classic hymns with a new vibe. Thanks for all your hard work leading three services to worship our Savior!

- The student ministry is blowing up! I walked into the new middle school area at 10:00 and every seat was filled! I can’t believe the way the student ministry has grown. I love the life and energy our students bring to Cedarcrest!

- God is moving! I had no idea what to expect going into today, but I firmly believe God has positioned Cedarcrest Church for an incredible fall. May He alone be glorified as lives continue to change through the power of the Gospel!

I can’t wait until next Sunday! I love this place!

After several months of planning and prepartion our new worship schedule begins tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect, but all I can say is I expect great things to happen as we take this step of faith. I am praying that God uses this fall to absolutley rock our world at Cedarcrest as we seek to follow Him and live the Gospel in our community. Please join me in praying that God would be glorified through His Church!

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

This past Sunday in our “United” series we looked at the prayer of Jesus in John 17 that His followers would experience the power of God in their lives. It is an incredible thought to consider that the power of God is available to all who trust in Him. However, if you are like me there are times when I question God’s power in my life. I can think of thousands of reasons why God would not use me and it is easy to get discouraged and conclude that He needs someone better qualified to accomplish His will.

When I have those thoughts our questions I am encouraged by a verse in Acts 4.

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

This is an amazing verse! In the eyes of the religious leaders Peter and John were uneducated, untrained, and totally unworthy of being used by God. It became clear that the only reason they had the power of God in their lives was because they had “been with Jesus.”  As I read this verse I am reminded that only reason why anyone recieves the power of God in their lives is because they have been with Jesus! I don’t know about you, but for me this is the encouragement I need! There will always be someone who has better qualifications, more education, and seems better suited to be used by God, but the only qualification that God is looking for is that we are devoted to following Jesus.

If you desire to be used by God and see His power revealed in your life for His glory, don’t get sidetracked by the qualifications that the world would say is important for your life to count. Don’t be discouraged by comparing yourself to others. Don’t conclude that you are uneducated or untrained.

To see the power of God come alive in your life simply look to Jesus! He is the source of our power and He is all you need to accomplish what He has called you to do!

“For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

It is hard to believe that the summer is over and school is now officially in full swing. After way too long away from the blog world it is time to get this thing fired back up! I am so excited about all that God is doing in the life of Cedarcrest Church and I look forward to sharing some thoughts with you again on this blog.

This week is a huge week in the life of Cedarcrest Church as we change our worship schedule to add a third Sunday morning service.  Begining this Sunday, August 23rd, our new schedule will be 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30. I cannot wait to see how God uses this new service in the life of our church! As we take this step of faith on Sunday I have two requests for you:

1. Pray, Pray, Pray! - Please be in prayer that God would use this new schedule to connect with more and more people who are searching for the truth. I believe God has great things in store for Cedarcrest and He is giving us this opportunity to increase our capacity so that we can reach more people with the Good News of the Gospel. However, I never want to assume anything on God and I want to make sure that we are looking to Him as we step out on faith. Please join me in praying that God will use our new services times for His Glory!

2. Bring someone with you Sunday! - An additional service means plenty of addiditonal space for people to join us at Cedarcrest. Be praying this week about who you can invite to come to church with you!

To send someone an e-vite for this Sunday click this link: http://cedarcrestchurch.com/currentseries 

I can’t wait to see you this Sunday as we launch this new schedule! Be sure to check back here for further updates.