JerelLaw.com

Great Sunday!

hi folks - yesterday was awesome!  we saw 5 kids give their lives to Christ during FX, and 2 adults during the Sunday Service.  God is at work!  It is fun to see the results of God moving, and also how He uses the efforts of so many who volunteer at Connection Church to bring people into His kingdom.  It's humbling that God would even include us in His work here on earth.

I'm out until next Sunday, recharging with the family up in Virginia Beach, with my brother and his wife and kids.  Gonna check out Busch Gardens and some sweet roller coasters....should be fun!

See you next week.

Upcoming Series Stuff

A quick note about upcoming an upcoming message and a message series we are really excited about.  This Sunday we finish up God Love Sex, which has been a blast.

Next Sunday, May 27, I am doing a stand-alone talk called simply "3" - we are going to talk about 3 ways to grow as a Christ-follower, 3 steps to take that will unlock greater growth than you ever thought possible.  That's gonna be fun.

After that, we start a 3-week series called Zip It - all about the words we use.  This is going to be, I believe, a powerful time as we learn that the tongue has the power as the Bible says, of life and death. 

I know I need to hear that!  I think we all do.

Make sure you are inviting new folks to come to these upcoming Sundays!  We have great, meaningful services planned and we are praying that God will give us courage to invite friends and see their lives change before our eyes!

Our Facilities Team Rocks!

A shout-out to the Connection Church Facilities Team - you guys are awesome!  This team arrives before anyone on Sunday morning to set up church.  Every time you walk in the Lake Norman Y on a Sunday, anything you see related to church has been moved out of the shed, rolled out, and set up by a VOLUNTEER!!!  Routinely these guys come out on Saturdays to have cleaning days or build-a-cart days and various other kinds of days. 

Here's the coolest thing - this team totally GETS IT in terms of where their hearts are and how they play such a huge role in the mission of Connection Church.

Way to go Jon, Bill, and the entire team - you are the backbone support of our church and what you are doing MATTERS to God and to people!! 

Leadership

"The church rises and falls on leadership."

This has been said by many church leaders, most notably guys like Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church - someone who has been influential on all church leaders and planters today, however young or old we are.

I am convinced more and more each day that this statement is true.

God blesses and God can always do whatever He wants to do - but it seems that He blesses churches that take one thing seriously - LEADERSHIP.  The Bible says that those with the gift of leadership are to lead, and do so "diligently".  With perseverance, with all our strength, with consistency, with focus.

So let me challenge you, if you are a leader - what are you doing to grow in your leadership?  Are you in a leadership position?  Are you stepping up to the leadership plate?  Or are you just waiting to be asked, or even worse, sitting back and complaining instead of getting in the game? 

Don't be that guy.

I was watching Brian Houston from Hillsong Church in Australia last night, and he said an interesting thing.  That if the church is like a team, that there's a huge difference between being a team full of champions, and a champion team.  Our church has a lot of champions - but are we a championship team? 

As we lead and grow, our challenge will be to not only to lead well individually - but to be a team together that comes together to serve and lead together - for the greater cause, the Kingdom of God.

Let's be a championship team - not just a team of champions.

Reflections on God, Love, and Sex

OK, we are halfway through our series now - God Love Sex.  And I have to tell you, this is more fun than I thought it would be.  The response has been great.  I have had personally, more conversations after services about this topic than most weeks.  Trust me, it's not from any great teaching ability - the reality is that God's Word is living and active and sharp, and we are opening it up and letting it penetrate lives, hearts, relationships...even the sexual relationship!  It continues to amaze me how PRACTICAL God's word is to our lives.  If we will just apply it, there is so much good that comes out of it for life.

God wants to transform our marriages and our relationships, from the inside out!  As a church, we're going to continue to try to push the envelope on this one, worship our guts out, open up God's word, and let His truth pour out over our church and the community.

God's up to something big at Connection Church - aren't you glad you are here at the beginning?  It's going to be cool in 5 years to look back and see where He brought us.

Ready for the journey with you---

Jerel