Filed under: Church, Connections, Friends, Personal | Tags: Baptism, C3 Church
I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of my good friend Bryan getting baptized by yours truly. I’ve known Bryan for years and of course his lovely wife Gina. It’s really cool when you can be a part of something so significant in your friend’s life. Oh yeah, I wanted to make sure he got all the way under as evidenced by the second picture. 🙂 Congratulations Bryan and to all the C3’ers that got baptized on Wednesday night. C3 Rocks!
Tonight I had the privilege of helping with our monthly baptism service. We had 15 people that were baptized at C3 tonight. It is so amazing to see how many new people have made decisions to follow Christ and have had their lives change forever! God is really doing something great at C3. The best is yet to come. It is nothing short of phenomenal! Congrats to all of the C3ers that took the plunge and identified with Christ and announced to the world that they are Christ-followers!
(New Billboard Design) 
Filed under: Church, Connections, Pop Culture | Tags: Bodacious 80's, C3 Church, Something Believable, Yugo
If you remember the 80’s you’ll remember the Yugo. An unbelievable deal! A new car for under $4000. What could be better? Well the Yugo was made in the communist block nation of Yugoslavia. It was a car that was too good to be true. Totally unreliable and a complete failure as a mainstream car. Obviously this car was something that no one could believe in and no longer even exists. In fact the country that the car was made in, Yugoslavia, as it was in it’s form in the 80’s, no longer exists. So the Yugo was not believable but tomorrow we will discuss what we CAN believe in as Pastor Byron speaks tomorrow in our Bodacious 80’s series. So don’t miss tomorrow. I promise it will be more believable than a Yugo!
Alright, I know we’ve needed the rain but isn’t it just a little much? So I say, “rain, rain Fay go away!”
FYI: The color scale on the right side of the picture is a scale of the # of inches of rain so far.
Filed under: Church, Connections, LOVE, Personal | Tags: C3 Church, I, Me, Myself, Needs, Others, Spiritual Growth
I know that I have written about this particular subject before but it is just really heavy on my heart today so, I’m going to write down a few thoughts again today. I guess you could say that I am just burdened for some people today. Not because people have treated us or our church badly but just because a few people we know and love seem to have themselves front and center in their vision and not others. Don’t get me wrong. Doing something just for yourself is not bad in itself and can even be therapeutic at times but when it comes down to deciding what church or ministry one chooses to attend it might not necessarily be the best criteria to look at.
Why do you say that, you might ask. Well let me share my thoughts with you. Andrea and I have never been more excited to be in ministry as we are today. Now you might ask, why are we so excited about being in ministry today? Is it the way that C3 is doing church? Is it the music that C3 does? Is it because C3 is in the theaters? Is it because C3 is a relevant church? Is it because C3 is a contemporary church? All of those things are great and we love them but none of those are the reasons that we are more excited than ever to be in ministry. The reason that we are so pumped up about being a part of C3 is because we are reaching others. C3 is about others.
Personally Andrea and I have seen more of our unsaved friends who we thought would have never come to church become Christ-followers and are growing in their Christian faith. Andrea is an “inviting to church” machine and because of that I have seen such spiritual growth in her and I as well. We are consistently and always looking for the relationship that we can cultivate in order to point that person to Christ. We are not focused on ourselves we are focused on others. When you are actively investing and inviting people to church you are not only helping them but you are helping yourself. When you are investing in other people you will grow spiritually more than you ever have.
If Andrea or I were just focused on what C3 is doing for me or what am I getting out of the worship service or the community group I attend it would be a shame, because the friends that we have focused on would have never come, because we wouldn’t have been focused on them, we would have only been focused on us. It is so easy to fall into the trap of “I”. I don’t feel like I fit in. I don’t think that enough people like me attend the group. I prefer different music. I want this or I want that. I, I, I, I. It is all about me! When this is your perspective watch out! Believe me, it is very easy to shift your focus to yourself. It takes a lot of work and commitment to keep our focus on others.
So basing my choice of which church I attend because of my needs might not necessarily bring me the most desired results, especially if the result I’m looking for is spiritual growth. I humbly believe that the greatest spiritual growth takes place when you are focused on others. So a church like C3 that is all about reaching others, others who don’t know Christ, others who have physical needs such as food, others who don’t have anyone or anywhere else to turn, others, others, others, that’s the church where I want to be. Loving God and loving others, it’s the only job the church of Jesus Christ has and when a church is fulfilling that mission it then means it’s not about me!
Filed under: Church, Connections, Pop Culture | Tags: 867-5309, Bodacious 80's, C3 Church, Rubik's Cube
All I can say is you do not, I repeat, do not want to miss Sunday! I can not wait for Bodacious 80’s. It is going to be TOTALLY RAD!
Filed under: Church, Connections, Pop Culture | Tags: 80's, Bodacious 80's, C3 Church, Invest & Invite
I grew up in the eighties. I graduated high school back in 1987 (I know, I’m ancient). It was a decade of glamrock, big hair, parachute pants, stonewashed jeans, Rubik’s cube, Pac Man just to name a few. It’s also the decade that C3 Church will revisit for the the next five weeks as we find out how God can change lives looking through the lens of the eighties. So put on those classic Reebok high-tops C3’ers and get ready for “Bodacious 80’s”. Invest & Invite, Invest & Invite, Invest & Invite! It’s back to the future all over again. “Dude, totally rad!”
This weekend Andrea & I celebrate our 5th year wedding anniversary. I am so blessed to have the most loving, beautiful woman in the world as my wife! The first five years have flown by. It seems just like yesterday we were walking down the isle. I look forward to growing old with you, Andrea. So here’s to five glorious years of marriage and a lifetime of loving memories to come! I love you, “Honey Bun”. Happy anniversary!
This last Sunday was another great day at C3 Church. We kicked off the new sermon series 20/20. This series is based off of 2 Chronicles 20:20. Barry Leathers preached a great message on how we can become distracted in the details of life and worry about how to handle situations in our lives when we really just need to give it to God and trust Him to work things out. Pastor Barry shared how King Jehoshaphat (Big J) was asking God to help him defeat the enemies of Judah which seemed almost impossible to Big J. Then the prophet, Jahaziel (Little J) told the king and all of Judah that God would help them and that they didn’t need to worry. Pastor Barry related this story to our personal lives and how we need to trust and rely upon God. It was a great sermon and another incredible day at C3. Remember Pastor Byron is back next week to wrap up this incredible series and we have an even more unforgettable service planned for this coming Sunday. It’s going to be the most unique service you will ever attend at C3 so you don’t want to miss it! Remember to keep investing and inviting and that Love Wins!
loveworshiplovelife 