A few weeks ago Perry called an all staff meeting where he addressed the direction of NewSpring Church and expressed the vision that God had given him of the future. One of the things he mentioned was that God was about to bring in waves of salvation to NewSpring. In fact, Perry and the NewSpring staff are on board to reach 100,000 people for Christ in the upcoming years. An attainable goal if I say so myself, considering the fact that there will soon be at least seven NewSpring services held every Sunday across three campuses. That pumps me up!
Immediately following the meeting I prayed for the church and for some reason I felt compelled to read Isaiah, specifically chapter 54 (I’m not makin’ this up!). In this chapter God speaks about the future glory of Zion. Verse 2 rocked me! After reading this, there’s no doubt in my mind that God is doing a work through NewSpring. The timing was perfect (as God’s always is)! I’m so thankful to be a part of what God is doing to expand his kingdom!

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
-Isaiah 54:2

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I simply love NewSpring Church. Here are some reasons why:

But most of all, I get to see people come to Christ. It serves as a constant reminder that God is working through me to help make a difference in the lives of others. I want to do this for the rest of my life.

Parting Shot:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

This verse was listed on the back of today’s handout. What an awesome reminder/challenge on how to live my life. Today’s services were awesome. Perry did an awesome job explaining the seriousness of the Lord’s Supper. The atmosphere was incredible. You could just feel it.

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It’s almost time to add a few more projects to the work page. I have an FCA Leadership video that’s been tucked away for a while and I just completed a piece for NewSpring’s student ministry. Expect to see it around the beginning of next month.

With all of the projects that seem to be headed my way, I believe that it’s time that I take this stuff more seriously. When I made the decision to get into this field I wanted it to be solely for the glory of God. I wanted to be a tool for God to use to bring people to Him. A few months later, it seemed as if I’d forgotten that. I started thinking about all of the great things I could do; it became about me, not Him. Over the course of the last week God has reminded me of the purpose that He has for me. I truly enjoy what I do. I don’t know if this is what He wants me to do over the course of my life, but in this moment I’m where I need to be. I will follow Him where ever He leads. Isaiah 43:7 says that “everyone who is called by my name, I created for my glory.” I exist for no other reason than to glorify Him. I am both excited and humbled by this fact.

In the blogging world, it’s quite easy to hide behind the mask of the keyboard. People generally take what you say at face value, but I truly want to live out what I’m writing tonight, and with it bring the excellence and passion that He provides.

With all of that said, here’s what I originally sat down to blog about. I’m looking for ways to “beef-up” my design knowledge. I did a little research into popular books and I found a couple written by Jim Krause. “Creative Sparks” and “Design Basics Index” I ordered the books from Amazon and they should be here sometime next week. I am very excited about taking my skills to the next level.

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Tailgating before Baptism…. only at NewSpring.

Of course the best part was being there for my friends.
Erin and Felicia. Awesome friends. Not a bad pic of Perry either.

559 baptisms. Yeah God! what an awesome celebration.
This pic really has nothing to do with the baptism, but I thought it was cool.

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Today was my first day volunteering at NewSpring. I did a little camera work and started learning the ropes. Everyone was very encouraging. What a great team. I had a blast.
Another impressive sight is the amount of food that’s tucked away in volunteer headquarters. (I’m seriously wondering how many pounds I’m gonna put on in the future.) I’m talkin’ bagels with cream cheese, krispy kreme doughnuts (random…how sad is it that they’re going out of business? that SUCKS!!), coffee, water, juice, milk…you name it! (and that’s just the morning). In the afternoon they have pizza, cake, more doughnuts, soda, more coffee (i mean,…. 4 services? you gotta have it).
Why go through all that trouble? It’s easy. NewSpring cares about their volunteers. They care because they realize the importance of service and getting members plugged in. Perry wrote an entry on his blog a little over a year ago giving his thoughts on volunteering. I’m sure his opinion hasn’t changed much. You can read it here.

**UPDATE**
Okay, I need to settle this Krispy Kreme thing before someone goes nuts. It turns out that a friend told me they were going out of business. I can neither confirm or deny that this is true. Has anyone else heard of this?

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