When I was growing up my dad used to tell me that “we will never know the impact we have made on people until we get to heaven.” His point in this was to remind us to live in such a way that we make an impact on others even if we don’t get to see the results or the final product in this life.
This past weekend Megan and I had the privilage of attending church in Columbia, SC with her parents at Shandon Baptist Church. Shandon is a church that is near and dear to us because it is the church we attended while in college, it is the church where we had our wedding, and it is the first place I was on a church staff after being called into full time ministry. I spent my first year in ministry working in the student ministry of Shandon.
After the worship service on Sunday I ran into the parents of one of my favorite students from my time in student ministry at Shandon. It was incredible to hear from them that their son is now married and expecting his first child (this makes me feel old!). They also told me that he is now working in full time ministry on a church staff. As they gave me the update on their son they said, “You will never know how great an impact you had on our son’s faith”. What an amazing thing to hear! There is no question in my mind that God is the one who created the impact, but I was reminded that He used me in the process!
One life can make a difference!
How would your life look different if you could see the way you are impacting people today? What would you say differently if you could see the long term power of your words? What would you do differently if you could see the affect of your actions on other people?
You are making an impact with the way you live. What kind of impact will you make? Will you live a life that makes a difference for eternity?
Hey Cedarcrest, This is Wally Smith, and I’ve borrowed George’s blog to share with you how through Cedarcrest’s partnership with Samaritan’s Purse you can help flood victims from the recent storms. This past Saturday a team from Cedarcrest went into some of the hard hit areas of the community and began the clean up process for a local family. The impact this had on the family as well as the volunteers was incredible. Please check out this video to learn more about this past Saturday.
By partnering with Samaritan’s Purse, we have an awesome opportunity to send out more teams on Saturday, October 10th and 17th. If you are interested in serving on the 10th, please email missons@cedarcrestchurch.com by Tuesday 10/6, or email us by 10/13 if you would like to serve on the 17th. I hope you can join us as I know you will be a blessing and you will be blessed by serving! Thank you for being the hands and feet of Christ.
Are you aware of the needs around you? Do you know what is happening in the lives of your neighbors? Do you know the most pressing needs in your community? These are several questions I have been wrestling with the past few weeks while preparing to preach on the life of Nehemiah.
“Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.” Nehemiah 1:2
Even though Nehemiah had been removed from his home and had found a very comfortable life working as the cupbearer in the palace of the King of Persia, he did not become detached from the needs outside of the palace walls. He made the intentional effort to ask the men of Judah how things were going in Jerusalem. Nehemiah easily could have remained isolated and removed, ignorant to the needs of the people, but instead he made the decision to become aware. This is so huge to consider as we seek to live a life that makes an impact. Do we really know what is going on with people around us? Are we aware of their needs?
It is far to easy to remain removed and isolated from the needs of others around us. But ignorance is no excuse to remain uninvolved. God has placed you where you are for a specific and intentional reason. It is time to become aware!
I want to challenge you to open your eyes to the needs of others and become aware of the needs around you. If you long to make a difference with your life become aware to the needs of others. As you become aware of the needs, ask God to show you how He can use you to be part of the solution. You may be suprised how big an impact you can actually make when you open your eyes in awareness and become available to be used by God! You may also be suprised of the fulfillment and passion that you find when you realize God can use you.
This weekend I was again reminded of why God put college football on Saturdays. After Saturday comes Sunday! I went to bed Saturday night mourning the tough Gamecock loss to the Dawgs and I woke up grateful to go to church! Isn’t it ridiculous how much I care about college football!
Worship on Sunday was incredible. Here are a few thoughts wrapping up the weekend.
- Darly Roberts testimony absolutley blew me away! It is incredible to hear a real life story of someone at Cedarcrest who has been willing to step out on faith to be used by God. I am excited about the opportunity we have as a church to support Orphan Aid. Daryl said “let the burden God creates in you wreck you in such a way that you have to do something.” What a powerful statement! I am incredibly challenged and inspired by the faith of Daryl and his family!
- The music was incredible! I love the version of “Be thou my vision” we sung yesterday.
- “Revolution Song” is my favorite worship song right now and nobody sings it better than Kayla! I love considering the “marvelous mystery” of our God.
- We had several people join at Discover Cedarcrest yesterday. It is always a privilage to get to share the story of Cedarcrest and reflect on the great things God has done in a few short years at Cedarcrest.
- My inlaws where in town and came to the 10:00 service. It is awesome to have family visit Cedarcrest! I am forever grateful Megan’s family and the love and support they have given to us.
I can’t tell you how much I love being the pastor at Cedarcrest. God is doing great things and this is only the beginning!
This past Sunday part of the message dealt with the story of the rich young ruler’s encounter with Jesus in Mark 10. This is haunting story as this young man who has all the world can offer walks away from Jesus “saddened” because, while he wanted to inherit eternal life, he was not willing to let go of the comfortable lifestyle that his wealth provided. If you have not read Mark 10:17-27 lately, go read it now! In short, this rich young ruler was more in love with his lifestyle than he was with following the way of Jesus.
After preaching on this passage last Sunday it caused me to ask the question of my life, “Is the love of Jesus enough?” Would I be willing to part with every material possession I have to pursue the love of Jesus? Would I be willing to give my stuff away for the benefit of others?
These are difficult questions for anyone to ask and they create a tension in my life that makes me very uncomfortable. What would it look like if the love of Jesus really was enough for you and for me? How would it impact our decisions and affect our perspective? How would if change our lifestyle?
There is a very telling verse in this story in Mark 10 that shows us that the love of Jesus was not enough for the rich young ruler. Right before Jesus makes the million dollar statement that exposes the rich young rulers heart and reveals that he is more in love with his lifestyle than he is with the way of Jesus we see what scripture says in Mark 10:21: “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him…” Jesus is about to confront the heart of the issue with this young man. He is about to challenge him to choose between his lifestyle and the calling of Jesus. This young man is about to leave grieving because he is more in love with his stuff than with Jesus. Even though Jesus knows what is about to happen the bible tells us that “Jesus felt a love for him.” This is unbelievable! Even as this young man makes the decision that the love of Jesus is not enough for him, Jesus is showing a love for him. Even as this young man is about to reject Jesus and choose the things of this world, Jesus is showing a love for him!
The love and grace of Jesus Christ is so clearly on display in this story! The great news for all of us is that Jesus Christ feels the same love for us that felt for this young man who rejected him. Even if up to this point in your life the love of Jesus has not been enough for you, Jesus is still pursuing you with his love. Even if you have walked away from the love of Jesus to pursue the things of the world, Jesus is still pursuing you with His love. Even if you have been living with grief and sadness because of the decisions you have made, Jesus is still pursuing you with His love. To receive this love all we have to do is turn to Christ and accept it! When we return to Christ we will find that the love of Jesus truly is more than enough!
The question remains: IS the love of Jesus enough for you?
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!
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!
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.”
