As I share quite often, I have had the great pleasure to get to know and be influenced by some of the tops churches and pastors all throughout North America. 

One of my favorite influencers is Perry Noble from NewSpring church down in South Carolina.  Perry was one of our One Prayer speakers and one of the major reasons I like New Spring so much is that they are in a town and county of similar size to ours.

They are a few years further down the road than we are, but they are proof positive that God can use a church to become an Unstoppable force in the community and region in which it resides.  This past weekend I announced that we were starting a Experience because of our continued growth…well keep on reading here to find out what NewSpring did this weekend and to be encouraged that if they can do it, we can do it as well!

EXCERPTS FROM PERRY’S BLOG THE LAST FEW DAYS:

 I literally don’t know where to begin.  I remember standing on stage at NewSpring in 2006 and announcing we were going to begin a Greenville campus.  At the time I had no idea how…I just knew it was something that Jesus had placed in my heart.

Today that “dream” became a reality.  Here are a few highlights…

• We said if we had 1,000 people at the Greenville campus that we would call it a successful launch–we didn’t quite have 1,000…we actually had 1,710.
• THAT BLOWS ME AWAY!  In 1999 when we started NewSpring Church we had no idea this was possible.  God’s dreams are always larger than ours!
• What we did not expect is the INCREASE in attendance at the Anderson campus!  I literally thought we would be down in A-town…but we had QUITE A FEW first timers.
• Today was the largest non-Easter attendance for the year…and it’s JULY 13th…the majority of our college students aren’t even back yet!!!  (We had almost 9,000 people today total!  Seriously, I NEVER thought that would happen!)
• Oh yeah…by the way…we saw at least 50 people receive Christ today!

YET ANOTHER:

Jesus Is Blowing My Mind!

I didn’t take a nap yesterday afternoon. I tried…but I could not shut it down. All I could keep thinking over and over in my mind is, “Jesus, thank You for allowing me to be a part of this!”

When we started back in a living room in 1999 NONE of us would have ever thought that on Sunday, July 13, 2008 we would launch a NewSpring campus in Greenville that would have 1,710 people in attendance. Heck, we didn’t even think our Anderson campus would have that many people coming to it!

But it happened yesterday…and the thought that I really feel the Lord keeps bringing to my mind is, “This is ONLY the beginning if you will just stay faithful to me!”

I have a confession! I am OBSESSED with reaching people for Christ (read this if you didn’t last week!) AND…I’m obsessed with doing it through the local church. People have accused me in the past of being all about the numbers. Guess what–THEY ARE RIGHT! I am passionately dedicated to seeing LARGE NUMBERS of people step across the line of faith and become fully devoted followers of Christ. If that is what people want to say I am all about…that is AWESOME.

I can’t turn my back on telling people about Jesus. I refuse to reduce HIS church to 10-15 guys sitting in a room, all of them being white and my age, and entering into discussions about meaningless theological issues that will never be settled this side of heaven and then turn my back on people who need Christ the most.

NewSpring, we are not called to play it safe. We MUST be willing to continually passionately obsessed with who we are reaching rather than who we are keeping! We MUST keep in mind that in the NUMBERS I often talk about are people who happen to be near and dear to our hearts…and that seeing them step over the line of faith would be one of the most incredible things we can experience.

I am more committed to the vision of reaching 100k for Christ than I’ve ever been…and with what we saw happen yesterday in Greenville…not only do I now believe it can happen, I believe it WILL happen!

Jesus’ plans for His church are so much larger than ours!!! AND…the only people who get mad at the church for dreaming big are those who think the work of God should remain small and isolated. (hmmm, wonder what spiritual force is behind that line of reasoning!)

Jesus is blowing my mind…and what is coming our way is HUGE. Yesterday was just a taste…like I said back in June, “Hold on to your fork–there’s something sweeter in the kitchen!”

ONE MORE THING – To the pastor/church planter out there who may be reading this–DO NOT EVER APOLOGIZE TO ANYONE FOR DREAMING BIG!!! Don’t ever let anyone make you feel bad about wanting to reach large numbers of people for Christ!!! (Seriously, who is behind that? Jesus or satan?) Do not ever apologize for praying bold prayers, taking God-sized risks and offending those who wear the religious robes.

God is HUGE…and if you have an enormous dream for the church you are serving…guess what, God’s dream is BIGGER! In fact, I would argue that our dreams for His church would be small if He didn’t empower us to dream big simply because we all tend to want to play it safe.

But…if there is a risk you know you should be taking, a move you know you should be making, you know that God has set your heart on FIRE and you can’t keep it in…GO FOR IT! Life is TOO SHORT and hell is TOO HOT for us to worry about who likes us & who doesn’t!

Be who God called you to be–do what He has called you to do! Lift up Jesus, honor Him every single step of the way…walk intimately and passionately with Him and let HIM move your heart to attempt what others have told you is impossible.

Let Jesus blow your mind…and know that because you are willing to follow Him…eternal destinations will be impacted!!!