Grow to Give
Just found out we had the largest offering in the history of National Community Church this weekend. And attendance was way down--the August effect.
It's so apropos that Zeb Mengistu was speaking. Zeb pastors Beza International Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. NCC helped plant Beza. And I spoke there a couple months ago. I came home from that trip with a "mantra" echoing in my spirit: grow to give, grow to give, grow to give.
My primary motivation for the growth of NCC is seeing people cross the line of faith and follow Christ. But my ulterior motive is missions! We need to keep growing so we can keep giving. We need to grow more so we can give more. We need to be giving millions of dollars to missions every year. And the only way to get there is to keep growing!
Our A18 series was all about missions. What's cool is that we really focused the challenge on going instead of giving. In fact, we had 200+ people sign an A18 card saying they wanted to go on a short-term trip.
I think this series and this offering is a harbinger of things to come. If we keep giving to missions, God will keep growing NCC!
It's so apropos that Zeb Mengistu was speaking. Zeb pastors Beza International Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. NCC helped plant Beza. And I spoke there a couple months ago. I came home from that trip with a "mantra" echoing in my spirit: grow to give, grow to give, grow to give.
My primary motivation for the growth of NCC is seeing people cross the line of faith and follow Christ. But my ulterior motive is missions! We need to keep growing so we can keep giving. We need to grow more so we can give more. We need to be giving millions of dollars to missions every year. And the only way to get there is to keep growing!
Our A18 series was all about missions. What's cool is that we really focused the challenge on going instead of giving. In fact, we had 200+ people sign an A18 card saying they wanted to go on a short-term trip.
I think this series and this offering is a harbinger of things to come. If we keep giving to missions, God will keep growing NCC!
6 Comments:
That's so cool! My family has such a heart for missions - and I love to see people signing up to move out of their comfort zones to serve others.
BTW, I ran across this quote this morning - and thought how funny - since I am reading "Wild Goose Chase"...
"The wise man in a storm prays to God - not for safety from danger....but,
for deliverance from fear." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is amazing. I love to see churches rallying behind foreign missions!
I am so jealous of your congregation getting to hear from a pastor in Ethiopia, and someone you partner with, so cool. Since we are adopting from Ethiopia I can't help but hang on anything said about that country. I feel like It is a part of us now. God bless your partnership there.
Mark I can tell you first hand that what you are saying true. When we started our church we had a commitment to missions. From day one we gave 20% of our budget to missions and have grown that one percent each year. Five years later God has blessed our ministry and has shown us His glory in amazing ways. Keep up the great work and may thousand cross the line of faith in and through your ministry. God Bless You!
I'm so excited to hear that we broke our offering record two weekends ago! Pastor Zeb rocked. I wanted to share a story of something crazy God did FOR me that night. After the sermon Pastor Joel grabbed the mic at Ebz and shared that he wanted to do another offering specifically for the Beza Aids outreach. I tithe online so when the sack came around prior to the sermon I passed it. Then, after PJ's request when it came around a second time, I'll be honest, I hesitated. I had a few selfish "I already gave" thoughts go threw my head. I even passed the sack when it came by me that second time. We started singing and not even a verse in I was just overcome with thoughts of how selfish I was being and questioning why I even hesitated. But I did hesitate and I do hesitate and I worry and I fear! What if I can't make a bill? What if my account gets overdrawn? What if my car breaks down?!! All sensible thoughts, right!? I realized in order for God to make me generous I think I need to push the "sensible" side of me aside sometimes. Here’s the real crazy part of the story, we were mid-closing song and I just knew I needed to find a pen. I knew I didn't have cash so I started filling out the handy "give by credit card" envelope. I did some quick math in my head and came up with a number that I was comfortable with. When I got to the amount field my “comfortable, worriless number” was repeating itself in my head but my pen wrote something else. It DOUBLED the amount I had "planned" to give in my head. I know this sounds weird but when I was writing I was seriously thinking "1" and the pen just wrote "2." The Lord really had a plan to teach me generosity and obedience that evening. As Jeff and I left church I told him the story and said I really had no idea if my budget could handle it, however I wasn’t worried! I knew what I needed to do, along with continuing to pray for God to "make me generous" I need to also request that He "make me worriless,” which often times is my greatest sin. I know God can do more with it than I can, funny how He proves that to us when we doubt it.
So cool Renee! I love it!
PM
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