Good morning! Matt asked me to let you know that care group will be meeting at Matt & Stacie Childs home, this week. Check your inbox, we have sent you their address and phone number. Didn’t receive it? Call the church office at, 864.346.2361.
We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday @ 7pm!!!
Yes, we will be back at the Rawlings on the following week!
In light of the Family Meeting on Wednesday, there will be no care group tomorrow night (Friday).
I don’t know about you, but the older I get the more I realize that money just doesn’t grow on trees. And we all know that time is money. Taking time off for a conference can be a huge step of faith. Spending a couple hundred dollars can seem like millions. Why go? Especially when you can just download the messages from the comfort of your home. I recently came across this blog post and thought it may encourage you, get you excited about the conference, and answer some of those “Why” questions…
If you are like me, each year as you get ready to type your credit card code to sign up for NEXT; try to walk through the months of the year to figure out what month “9” is so you don’t mess up the expiration date; you eventually ask yourself this question “Why am I going to NEXT? Why spend the time? Why spend the money?”
For me it isn’t the thrill of packing in a hotel room with three other guys. It isn’t the rush of joy that I get seeing a Ninja in the morning with a fresh cup of coffee or the head ache I acquire from staying up until all hours of the night. Or the joys of trying to find your way to your Family Group in the morning. All those things are great don’t get me wrong…. They make awesome memories and God uses memories to build friendships so lets keep doing it!
But I keep coming back to NEXT year after year because I encounter the living God. I encounter God through the messages that cut through my sinful soul and strengthen me with truth; I encounter God in those sweet conversations late at night with a brother or sister in Christ; I encounter God through genuine worship to God through both singing and applying God’s word to my life. I walk away each year reminded, my God is real, he sent his son to redeem me and he is worthy of all praise I can give him.
I don’t know where you are at… maybe you punching in that credit card number just because you have done it year after year. Or maybe you have never been to NEXT, you don’t know anyone and it seems like a huge jump into the unknown. Or maybe you are college student and you have discovered money doesn’t grow on trees. If I could just urge you do what you can to make it to NEXT ’10….
I don’t know what God has in store for you, but I know this…. God will be there and you will encounter him…. And when Christians encounter God, wow big things happen! So sign up and maybe we will run into each other getting coffee from a Ninja.
Oh and by the way, September is the 9th month in the year….
Post taken from Next Blog: Why Spend The Time? Why Spend The Money?
I want to go to Next ‘10, but I don’t have the finances. Times are tight and you can only budget so much. The Staff at Next know that it can be hard to find the dough to attend Next. So, they have come up with a couple of posts on the Next blog. Hopefully, it will give you some ideas and make finding cash a little easier.
You can find the link to their first post below. Check their blog later this week for more posts on practical fundraising.
I’m Too Poor To Attend (Fundraising Ideas) by Christopher Cooke