Well, the typical decline in a new church from service 1 to service 2 is around 50%, but we were able to overcome that barrier. We had right at 100 people, which included several people from last week and many more new faces. God is birthing something powerful and life-changing through our church, and I'm pumped about where He is taking us. Will it take time? Yes, it'll take all the time in the world because there will always be more people to reach. Our journey as The Overflow Church is just beginning, and until Jesus returns, this journey has no end in sight.
I was really excited to see and hear about what God is already doing within the lives of people just from our launch service to yesterday. Several people who came to our launch service brought new people back with them to the second service. Others came back interested in volunteering, and some people are finding healing and comfort from their situations as they reconnect to God and the church. God is really moving within our church already, and I can't wait to see how we continue to move forward.
RECAP
We kicked off "Confessions of an Imperfect Church" with the goal of communicating what our church is about and the commitments we are making as we move forward. We know in the past that Christians have occasionally acted perfect and judged people the wrong way, and since it may be too late for apologies, we're just confessing our mistakes and making a commitment to do better. The Overflow will never be a perfect church, and we won't try to be. However, we do believe that our perfect God can work through our imperfections to bring people back to Him, so we're excited about seeing that happen!
Our band rocked out "Apologize" by One Republic to introduce the series. I continue to be amazed at the musical talent God has assembled within church. Kyle is doing an excellent job leading our band, and each of the guys are working hard to be prepared on a weekly basis!
Worship set was...
-No One Higher/The Stand (Steve Fee & Hillsong)
-Blessed Be Your Name (a lot of people, but it was The Overflow version)
-Your Love Never Fails (Jesus Culture)
-Apologize (One Republic)
-We Will Exalt You (Hillsong)
Message...
You can watch the video of the message and read the weekly devotional thoughts on our website by Monday evening.
Confessions of an Imperfect Church #1
CONFESSION: We've failed to be authentic in the expressions of our faith.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
2 Corinthians 1:8-9
Acts 16:22-25
Isaiah 40:28-31
God works in us so that what He's done for us will overflow out of us.
-We won't stand accountable for people's decisions, but we're accountable for our actions that misrepresent the holy, perfect, and loving God that we claim to follow.
-There's a difference between shallow happiness and authentic joy. Through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we can discover how our current sufferings can be someone's future source of comfort.
-The comfort you can receive from Jesus will always be greater than the pain you are facing.
-While God can and often does "fill us up," we need to think of ourselves not as cups that need to be constantly filled, but as mirrors that are being pieced back together so that we can reflect/overflow the love and comfort God has brought to us.
-We envision a church where people understand not only what God has done in their life, but also how they can use their experiences to encourage the people around them. We see dads teaching their sons how to be men by authentically living life together. We see students encouraging other students during difficult times. We believe co-workers can find strength through our experiences as we live authentically.
COMMITMENT: Instead of hiding behind our struggles and failures, we'll testify about the comfort, grace, and love God has provided!
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