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Countdown to Launch // Friday E-Devotion

For the last four months we have been gearing up for this weekend, but all along the way we have been ‘taking care of business’. I am talking about the launch of The Community Fellowship, a brand new church that I have the honor of being their pastor.

Much like the giants and gurus we watch at NASA in Houston and the Cape, people have been doing every thing possible to have us ready to Launch a church that is willing and able to impact our community and beyond for Christ. As an act of faith and in obedience to God, this was a step we are honored to take. But it seems we are already in place and doing what we are supposed to be doing. You are right, if that is your observation.

Yet this weekend is D-Day (stepping it up to demonstrate the love of God to our community) and this is the time for us to expect God to work as we commit to be and do what God wants.

As I look toward this weekend, I want to lay the ground work spiritually speaking for what the Lord has birthed in my heart. Here are three verses that have played a huge role in this vision:

1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (nasb) --- … I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Isaiah 43:19 (nlt) --- For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

John 3:17 (nlt) --- God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.


Those three verses don’t just lay a foundation for the vision God has placed in my heart for the new church, but they hold our challenge and our call directly from God. They remind us to (1) do all we can to tell people about Jesus, (2) watch God work miracles in all kinds of ways and shapes and forms and (3) to make the main thing always the main thing. It is all about Jesus!

The two statements that our folks have heard me say over and over are as follows:

>>> We are to do all we can to get the attention of our community, and while we have their attention, tell them about Jesus.

>>> The church should be the most creative institution on earth because we have the greatest message to share.


This launch is not about a pastor or a building. It is about God who wants to work in awesome ways to change lives by using people He loves so much, you and me. What are we willing to do to tell our community about Jesus? It is the final countdown to launch…

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