Sunday Reflections

Yesterday wrapped up week 2 of the series "Carbon Copy". It was a great look at the public and personal life of Jesus and how was should strive to live the same.

Some thoughts on Sunday's worship experiences....

- We had an awesome guest worship team from The Avenue Church in Social Circle, Georgia lead us in worship. Bryan Hoover and his team are planting the first LifeChurch.tv Network church in GA. They have relied on Life Church Franklin for some information on being a LC.tv network church and we are enjoying a great new friendship and partnership. The LCF leadership team is exploring other possible ways to support The Avenue Church as they launch in January.

- LifeKIDS is blowing up! We need your help. If you have a child in LifeKIDs we need your help. This part of Sunday mornings is hugely important to us. We want all the kids to have a safe, fun experience. Everyone that volunteers at LCF is awesome, but all the LifeKIDS volunteers have a special place in my book. They are pouring into your kids and mine. They are building The Church.

- NO CHURCH this SUNDAY! Don't forget that we will not have any worship experiences this Sunday at the theater and Fun Factory. We will meet back on Sunday, December 13th for a new series called "The Blessed Life".


See you in 2 weeks!

Patrick

What To Be Thankful For

This morning I was thinking of some of the specific things we have to be thankful for right now. Here's what I came up with.

Thankful for...

- Jesus
- every breath
- God's faithfulness
- opportunity...opportunity to share the Gospel with many that are far from God
- family
- real friends
- fake friends...it just means we can love them and point them to Jesus!
- thanksgiving day food
- LifeChurch.tv...their partnership, that costs us nothing, is amazing!
- Life Church Franklin...what God has done in less than 2 years is crazy!

Ok, so the list could really go one forever. We each have so much to be thankful for. The fact that Christ died for you and forgives all your sin, shame and guilt is enough alone. Believe me, I am forever grateful!

Lastly, I just wanted to comment on what I am thankful for at LCF. This time last year we had 100 people meeting in an old transmission shop worshiping Jesus and building community together. It was awesome! Now we have over 300 people meeting at the SMCFPA and the Fun Factory every week. People are finding Christ, allowing God to change them and even building more community. It's even more awesome! I say all this because I am so thankful for what God has done through our church. I am thankful for all the "Lifers" out there who are connecting with each other, loving and serving together.
I am also thankful that greater things are still to come. The fields are full and we are the workers to bring God's harvest of souls to know the grace, mercy and love of Jesus.
I am thankful for what He's done so far, but I am even more thankful that there is more work to be done and we are the ones called to do it!

Thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in His name. Thanks be to God!

Patrick

Show Box Party

What an incredible time last night at the Life Church Shoe Box Party! We had a packed house and tons of fun. We met at our old Depot Street location and enjoyed pizza, music and packing all the Operation Christmas Child boxes. I will have a final count this afternoon, but it looks like we prepared at least 150 boxes to be sent to kids all over the world. Last year we did about 50 boxes, so we tripled in one year!
Thanks to everyone who donated and prepared boxes.
Thanks Life Church!
P

Living Filled With The Spirit

At the end of our Sunday worship experience I had the honor to pray over at least 40 people wanting a fresh or new outpouring of God's Holy Spirit in their lives. I prayed the same for me and my family.

"16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." - Galatians 5:16-17

I pray we are a people who not only hear and listen to the whispers of God through the Holy Spirit, but act on His promptings. When we live by God's H.S. we live an unselfish life. It becomes not what we want in our flesh but what God wants.

So this week, what is His spirit showing and speaking to you? How will you respond? Turn off your selfish desires and follow His lead.

P

Talk It Over - The Ghost - Week 3

How can You Pray For Life Church Franklin?

There are lots of exciting things being processed and prayed through for Life Church Franklin with our elder team and other team leaders right now. So, I thought I'd share them with you so you can pray with us.

Here is a list of things to be praying specifically for in the coming weeks and months:
- Pray for our 11/12 year old worship experience on Sunday mornings. We are actively planning and praying about the best way to facilitate this age group on Sundays. We have several options and lots of great ideas. It's more organization and getting the volunteers together than anything. Pray for many to step up and lead and volunteer for these young people.

- Pray for our older youth. We are praying and seeking a passionate leader who can be relevant and lead our high school youth in our Switch ministry. Statistically, about 80% of youth who grow up in the church are walking away from their faith after high school. It's a scary figure, but one we can help change as we meaningfully and relevantly love and lead these youth to a fully devoted relationship with Christ.

-VOLUNTEERS....we do and will always need more volunteers. We don't want to be a spectator church. We don't want people sitting on the "sideline" watching everything happen. We want everyone to be involved and volunteering a small meaningful piece of that. If your not volunteering, pray for God to how you a place to plug in. If you are volunteering, pray for a chance to encourage someone else to do the same. I do have to give a hug shout out to all our volunteers we currently have. You guys are amazing!

- Pray for me and our elder team as we seek God's plans for the church. Pray that we will be bold with God's Word and do things no one is doing to reach people no one is reaching.

- Pray that God continues to bring more and more people for us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with many here in Franklin, NC and this area. There is a huge opportunity before and it's serious business. Lets not take it lightly. There are many people in this area looking for hope and truth, not religion. Lets pray for opportunities to share Jesus Christ with them and show them the grace, mercy and love found only in Christ.

I hope you will seriously join us in these prayers for the future of God's Church here in Franklin, NC.
These are exciting times!

Patrick

Do You Know Your Spiritual Gift?

Yesterday was week 3 of "The Ghost" series. Specifically, we heard from Craig Groeschel and what spiritual gifts are and what they are not.

This week I hope you are allowing Romans 12 (see bottom) to soak into your hearts and minds as you pray and seek to better understand those spiritual gifts God has placed on you. As I look at many of you at Life Church Franklin I see this gifts on display. The gift of kindness, giving, leading, encouraging and so much more. It is so awesome to see these gifts being used, but I also realize many are not using the gifts they have been blessed with. I am praying this week specifically for these people. If you are one, I encourage you to pray hard about this. Get in God's word and ask him to reveal your spiritual gifts.

If we can be a church that acknowledges and uses are spiritual gifts to bring fame to Jesus Christ then we will definitely see doors and opportunity to lead more people to become fully devoted followers of Christ here in Franklin and beyond.

That's the heart and vision of LCF. So, I'm praying for you this week. What is your spiritual gift? Tell someone about it and use it. I'd love to know about it too. Shoot me an email and let me know so I can be praying for you as well. franklinlifechurch@gmail.com

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS?
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Romans 12:6-8 NLT

Operations Christmas Child Promo

Talk It Over - Week 2 - The Ghost