Pastor asked us to share our favorite moment of 2007 this morning in our weekly Momentum Monday and I sat stunned. I couldn't come up with a highlight!
Instead, I had hundreds of highlights streaming through my head. The fact is, this has been the most impactful, life-altering, jaw-dropping year of my life. I have taken more steps, made and kept more commitments, and seen more at Elevation than I can remember ever experiencing in a single year. Here's a brief list...off the top of my head:
January's GroupLink saw the number of Small Groups at Elevation Church double from 25 to 50.
February, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary with 1,200.
March, I came on Part-Time at Elevation.
April, I came on Full-time at Elevation as the Community Groups Pastor and Elevation Church started a second campus in under 40 days.
May, I graduated from Seminary having completed 97 hours in 3 years.
June, my first son was born.
July, we had our first Community Groups Current where I called all the leaders together to share the vision for the rest of 2007. We also had staff advance where we set the goal of seeing 10,000 people in 2010 worshipping at Elevation church.
August, we kicked off our Dominate campaign that culminated in commitments totaling 6.4 million dollars over 2 years.
September's GroupLink saw the groups structure almost double again to over 80 groups. October, we re-launched a Community Outreach initiative that will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars being strategically sewn back into our city.
November, we pulled together all five services and 2,500 people for one service under a tent.
December, we joined forces with New Birth Charlotte at the Cricket Arena where well over 5,000 people worshipped with us.
Some of the things I've left out include: over 400 people being baptized during our Deep series and over 1,100 people making commitments for Christ since February! It's been a good year!
The funny thing is, it's just the beginning!
When Jesus died the disciples were left with the sense that all that had been accomplished was done. They looked around, saw that the kingdom had not come (at least in the way they had expected it to come) and they went back to fishing. Then Pentecost! I would imagine that Peter was tired after his 3 year sprint with Jesus in the most revolutionary and miraculous 3 year ministry that has ever occurred. But it wasn't until the torch was handed over after Jesus' resurrection and ascension that the real fireworks began. On Pentecost, Peter, the fisherman, preached a sermon that saw 3,000 people saved in the midst of tongues of fire. Peter, defended the gospel in front of the Sanhedrin in a way that confounded the religious leaders of his day. Elevation, in the words of our Pastor, "We ain't seen nothing yet!" 2008 is full of opportunity all we have to do is keep our heads up, our hands open and our feet moving.
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1 comment:
John, thanks for that post. I was wondering how I was going to ponder this past year and what it has meant to me and the way you wrote everything has said a lot! It's amazing to think all that has happened. Some of it seems so long ago, other things seem just like yesterday and the crazy thing is, I've been given a chance to experience these things, seen them pulled off, and been a part of the action in some areas. And you're right...that's not even the half of it. God has let us in on a lot this past year and some things that happened this year we don't even know about.
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