What an awesome Sunday! Free to Grow, Baby

God is so amazing! For six months, we have been saving, scrimping, praying, planning and letting God move and in just ONE Sunday 441 OGBC'ers came together to worship and be used of God with the goal of removing ourselves from the bondage of debt! Our goal six months ago was $240,000 however, while we have been planning and preparing we have also been faithfully paying our debt down with regular payments – so today's target – Just shy of $232,000! At the start of the service, we prayed and took our offering – committing to God the gifts that we have been planning on for months now.

We sang songs of worship and praise throughout the rest of the service led by Grace College's Sound Investment and then at the very end I was handed an envelope with the numbers! DRUM ROLL, Please!

177 people or family units participated in the miracle! A record one day participation for giving!

Actual in hand gifts - $199,875! As I shared that with people someone handed me a $125 check to make it an even $200,000! Isn't God amazing! Indescribable? Unfathomable? Abundant?

"Yours, O Lord, is the GREATNESS and the POWER and the GLORY and the MAJESTY and the SPLENDOR, everything in heaven and earth are yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, You are exalted as head over all!

Wealth and honor come from You, you are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and honor to exalt and give strength to all.

NOW, our God, we give YOU thanks and PRAISE YOUR glorious name!" 1 Chronicles 29:11-13

God working through His obedient people willingly sacrificing as a family!

PS – General Fund was over $13,500, too !!

F. to GROW challenge and Cool Story #3

Amazing and Divine Protection

I love the story of how the Old Testament prophet Elisha was informing the King of Israel of the ambushes and plans of the Aramean king and his army in order to prevent them from being trapped and captured.  He does it several times because the Lord has given him the information and finally the king of Aram is so frustrated as he finds our Elisha keeps foiling his plans that he brings his forces and surrounds the city where Elisha and his servant live.  Once again, God proves faithful in the protection of His servants. 

2 Kings 6:14-17 (NIV)

Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. {15} When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. {16} "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." {17} And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Would you pray for that kind of protection for you and me in the coming few days!

Another Story Time

I received this the other day and was so encouraged by the miracle that God has already done through people's lives in stories like this and so many others!

"I've hesitated to pass along my Free to Grow experience with God to anyone until now.

Last August a former (now deceased) plumbing mentor's daughter asked me to remodel her kitchen in January of 2008. I was honored to be asked and agreed to do so. The income I was to receive would pay for Christmas gifts for the family. That was my plan! Then, the Free to Grow plan was revealed shortly afterwards. I prayed about it and felt led to give any additional income above and beyond my forty hour a week job at the printing company during the month of January to Free to Grow. My additional income sources are from; plumbing, music performance and private music lessons. January seemed like the right month to commit due to the promised kitchen remodel job.

A couple months passed and the kitchen remodel date changed! It was moved to the week before Christmas! I thought God wanted that money! My plan stunk! OR He had a better plan. The latter prevailed.

After I spent the kitchen remodel money on Christmas for the family, opportunities came knocking.  January's additional income for music lessons increased by two new students.  I performed with music groups every weekend, and started and finished two large remodel projects, along with several smaller plumbing repair projects. My phone continued to ring all month long and I did not want to say no to anyone. As a side note here; the older I get, the more I say no to when it has to do with plumbing. (i.e I don't work in crawl spaces, clean drains, work in Elkhart or any part of Michigan and about twenty other excuses for not getting dirty.)

After January both Shannon and I were able to commit some additional monies in spite of Satan's numerous attempts to derail us. 

I had a plan. God had a better plan.

I believe with all my heart Free to Grow will succeed! 

Dave Lee"

God is faithful and always comes through as we live out His will each day!

F.t.G. challenge and Cool Story #2

I heard the other day of someone that said they had experienced the blessing of God in such a way over the last several months that just last week they decided to try to double their commitment to "Free to Grow" - as soon as they did that they had an appliance failure!  Isn't that just like the evil one to foil a plan.  God will still triumph though - guess what happened - the very next day they received a call from a family member who had an extra appliance of the kind that failed! a few hours of work later and the installation was complete! God loves faithfulness and rewards it in His own time!

Psalms 27:13-14 (NIV)

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. {14} Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

When God's People Respond...

I love this story of the preparation to build the tabernacle for worship...

Exodus 35:4-9 (NIV)

Moses said to the whole Israelite community, "This is what the LORD has commanded: {5} From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze; {6} blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; {7} ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood; {8} olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; {9} and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

So what happened?

Exodus 35:20-22 (NIV)

Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, {21} and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. {22} All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.

Did they reach their goal?

Exodus 36:3-7 (NIV)

They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. {4} So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work {5} and said to Moses, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done." {6} Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." And so the people were restrained from bringing more, {7} because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

What if we had to say "Stop giving so much?" Wouldn't that be a blast? What if the giving continues week after week – How will God bless that sort of commitment to His church on mission?

Free to G.R.O.W. Challenge and Story #1

Pray for Protection!

The Final Message in Living Beyond Our Means was a great reminder that we are not ever supposed to be relying on ourselves - We must rely on God, through intense prayer, and as we do the ripple effect of changed lives will move so far beyond our own circles to the rest of the world that we may not realize the effect for many years to come!  However, as we approach Free to Grow Sunday, we are going to need much protection and reliance upon God - spend some time this week praying for God to protect us as we hit the final 6 days before Free to Grow Celebration!

1 Corinthians 1:9-11(NIV)

"...this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

Cool Story #1

Someone shared with me today that they had been a victim of bank fraud and thus, while all of this was getting straightened out, they were minimizing the writing of checks for fear of overdrawing their account.  The bank was working with them and yet they were still a little hesitant.  The reason for the call to me was that they wanted to put a commitment note in the offering this Sunday instead of a check because they wanted to be a part of the miracle and will write their check as soon as things settle for them. 

Praise the Lord for changed lives - I believe that the real miracle here is that a large part of our church has experienced a greater dependance upon God as a result of this leap of faith!  Changed lives are what it is all about!

Get up and Keep Running

Sometimes life gets you down but it takes real strength – the kind that only God can give to keep you going. My son is an avid runner and competes on his high school cross country team along with quite a few other "competitive events" around our area. He loves to run – in fact, over the weekend he said, "I am going running… I don't know exactly where yet but I plan to be out for a while." When he returned 50 minutes and I asked where he had been he described this course to me…east down CR 22 to "Five Points" then east on CR 118 to CR 3 where he turned north to Mishawaka Road. Then east on Mishawaka Road to SR 19. He turned north on SR 19 to Lincolnway and then west on Lincolnway to the County Line. He came south across the tracks and then back east on Mishawaka Road to CR 100 and then home.

I google mapped the route and it is 9.1 miles! He loved it and I would have hated it!

It was not always so easy for him though…In his first competitive race in junior high school, he ran into a little trouble. You see, my son has a hereditary eye disease which prevents him from see in dimly lit places. The course he was running went from the open field into a wooded area and then back out again. On the first curve of the course, the crowd he was running in went into the woods and turned. He followed the white t-shirts in front in order to make it through and keep the pace. Suddenly the runners in front of him parted to the left and right and he, momentarily thought "how odd", and then crashed face first into the tree that they were running around. It knocked him flat. He pooped back up and apologized because at first he did not realize it was a tree – once he realized it – he felt stupid and embarrassed. He tried to make his way on a little further and eventually, despite the pain, made his way out of the woods.

He was ready to quit. In fact, he slowed to a walk and was ready to give it all up and then alongside came his CC coach who said "come on, I'll help you along". His coach ran alongside him for the rest of the race encouraging him, challenging him and giving him the desire to keep running. Since then, my son has won many races and been part of several winning teams. He learned to keep running – even when things get hard. He learned to push through the pain even when it wants to force him to quit. He now runs 9.1 miles just for fun!

Folks, we have it the same way – life can get hard but Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God are right there with us. They are not simply running alongside, though, they are actually giving strength to do it. They are encouraging you to never give up and never give in to the struggles that get you down. Jesus knows what it is like so he feels what you feel, he hurts when you hurt, he cries when you cry BUT He also pushes when you want to stop.

Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV)

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

He does not want you to quit – even when you crash face first into an unmoveable object – get up, pray more, decide to keep going and keep running!

Philippians 3:12 – 14 (NIV)

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."