Monday Moment

If you were at Fairview Sunday, you know we had great worship and a great word from our pastor. 

My husband has always been amazing at taking a subject, that has a lot of emotion attached to it and can be a reason people find fault and hate, and preaching from a standpoint of love and grace that brings forth unity and compassion. It was sanctity of life Sunday for us and we were blessed to have representatives from Piedmont Women's Center with us. So thankful for all that they do and excited to get our people more involved!

As Eddie said, let's be quick to show love, grace and compassion to all for we are ALL sinners. God forgives sin when we ask, many times we just need to forgive ourselves.

After some amazing worship at Rise, John brought a great message from John 2. We find Jesus at a wedding when the wine runs out. Yes, we see the miracle,  but we also find some sweet truth about Jesus here. We see that everything Jesus does is the best. It wasn't the cheap stuff. 

We also see the truth that Jesus could've created wine from nothing or created water right there and then wine. However, Jesus told them to bring the water. Jesus makes us a part of it. He asks us to bring Him what we have, what He's already made available, and He creates a masterpiece. He creates out of His essence and that's always good. If we bring our best self to the table every day, others will want to know the source. Let's not settle for average.

Friday FAVORites

I have three favorites that all kinda go together. 

First favorite is family and my favorite family night. We finally got that family night downtown Greenville. We usually do it at Christmas, but as noted in previous posts it didn't happen this year. Thankfully all the Christmas lights were still up and it was a very cold night so felt like Christmas. 

Second, coffee shops! I love them. Fun to sit, read, and study in. Fun place for meetings and friend catch-ups. And yes, all kinds of coffee and coffee related drinks. I love Bella Latte, still hoping at some point they'll put one closer to Greer!! They have the BEST chai, hot or cold, anywhere! And Due South is another favorite one. Such a cool atmosphere. Soon I'll be sharing another favorite one with you ;)! 

And last but not least. What separates a good coffee shop from a great one? The barista of course. And my two faves are my own two boys. Perhaps because they see it as more than a job, but I also love knowing that they love what they do. Life on mission, even in a coffee shop. 

Monday Moment

It was a day of celebrating 2016 as well as looking forward for Fairview as Eddie shared the State of the Church Sunday! From surpassing a challenging, faith-based budget goal, giving to special offerings, missions giving and going, record number of baptisms and much more, it was a year that we saw God do much in and through the life of His church. 

It's always good to look back and celebrate, but it's even more exciting to look forward to what He has planned for us in this new year. As we prepare for what's ahead as a church, we are looking forward to new life groups, new and continual mission partnerships in the upstate and around the world, planting churches and helping plants, taking advantage of available technology and believing God for even better days ahead. May we walk forward together trusting that His plans for us are always for our good and His glory.  

Many thanks to Vince Dacus, our media guy, for making sure we all stay in the loop through communication means in every way. Text messaging is an easy and great way to stay in the loop and be encouraged. 

I admit it. There was great temptation to stay home Sunday night. It was raining. They were calling for torrential rain and storms. The playoff games were on. I was tired. It would've been easy to get in pjs and curl up under a blanket in my favorite chair. But easy isn't always best. And it's rarely what Jesus calls us to. So I didn't stay home. I went to our evening service we call Rise and I am SO glad I did.  Besides this Rise crowd is never scared away by rain or weariness. And I would've missed blessing after blessing. I got to hug necks I haven't seen in a while. I got to hear stories that made me happy. I got an escort from my car from one of our sweetest and most faithful volunteers who kept me from getting soaked. I got to experience some of the best worship music by some of the most talented young things on the planet that allowed me to know His presence was there and it was real. I got a great word from Nathan Brannon who didn't hold back on giving us a fresh word. He spoke of a perspective that needed to take a shift from ourselves to God. It was a reminder that when our mind is set and we get wrapped up in what we want and doing it our way with our own systems, we end up in a drought. As Deuteronomy 11:12 tells us, He is faithful from the beginning to the end. Our part is loving and serving the Lord and trusting Him to bring the rain. The dry seasons we pass through make us appreciate the rain that much more. The laborers are few people. Let's get to work loving and serving.