I will say that along with this blog that will be a book review of "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick. This will not be your typical review though. I plan to review in how this book spoke to me and what it did and is doing in my life.
The whole idea of the book is to live out and Audacious Faith through audacious prayers and asking God for what can seem to be the impossible. Steven uses the story of Elevation (where he is lead and founding pastor) and how God used a Sun Stand Still prayer to ignite the city of Charlotte, NC through Steven and the core team. I will say, if you have not read it, go get yourself a copy, a cup of coffee (or 3) and read away and be transformed in your faith. If you want a more in depth review of the "content" just google Sun Stand Still reviews and read away. If want real life application, please stay with me, grab a coke, and read on!
I grabbed this book about 3 months ago with the intent of blogging about it, since that is why I was able to get a free copy, that I would agree to blog about the book. I couldn't get into the book for some reason (no offense Steven). The content was great, and life changing, but for some reason I could not be committed to reading and get it done. I later picked up Erasing Hell by Chan, read that quickly (another amazing book) and then felt lead to pick up Sun Stand Still and finish. Well, that took about 3 days and now I now why I could not get in it. I needed the message now, and not three months ago. God's timing was perfect, mine, as always, stunk.
Over the past 6 months or so I have been in prayer about the next step in ministry (be it a lateral step or a step up) I just knew God was stirring my heart for something new. I think so often we feel that something new in ministry, means a new church, new people, and sometimes a new place to call home all together. There war times where I wondered where "next" was and where it was going to be, when all along God wanted it to be right here, where I am.
Recently Hal, the Rector (fancy name for senior pastor) I serve with, came to me about the realization of a needed change in focus at Trinity. The need was to begin becoming a church that lives out the Great Commission, Acts 2, in summary, be a church that goes and Evangelizes. Through prayer and discussions, the Holy Spirit laid on him a new mission and vision for the church and we began to move forward. As we prayed and took time to realized the demographics of our area and our congregation, we noticed on big thing. The communities around us are slowly getting younger, but we as a church are getting older. There is a huge gap of what we call the "Next Generation" (Ages 35 and younger) attending worship. So, with the new vision and mission we realized that a core of what we do has to target them.
With that stage being set, I am happy to say that I have been called to step into the role of the Next Generation Pastor here at Trinity. As of September 11, I will no longer be attending the Sunday morning worship at Trinity and will be developing a worship service that is geared towards the next generation and the unchurched that will take place onsite Sunday nights at 6:00 PM starting September 18 (you are invited). I will be responsible for leading and developing Evangelism, Outreach, Worship, and Discipleship for the Next Generation (I will still be doing Youth Ministry on Wednesday nights).
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