The Chester Mission Team had a great trip! Thanks for supporting them and praying for them. The majority of their time was spent working on, in and outside Tom and Vicki Anthony’s house. They were able to get some significant projects completed in a short amount of time. What an encouragement to Tom and Vicki! I’ve posted some pictures here. I’ll be adding additional pictures as soon as I receive them from the team members, so check back often.

We had a TERRIFIC service this past Sunday! It was so good to hear all the testimonies from this past week’s mission trip. I am so proud of all of you! It was very moving to hear story after story of all the people you served and lives you touched with the love of Christ. What a powerful testimony of what can happen when the church is unleashed to truly BE the church God has called us to be!

I was also very proud of our teens who led us in worship on Sunday (as well as each night of the mission trip). You did a great job! Thank you for stepping up and sharing your gifts.

Along with being super encouraged by all the testimonies, Sunday’s service also reminded me of something we constantly champion at Christ’s Church. One of the things that I teach in our new member classes is that a church’s “success” is determined, not by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity. (That’s not to denigrate large churches, the early church was a large church!)

But regardless of whether a church is averaging a hundred, a thousand, or even ten-thousand or more, the focus is never limited to how many people are showing up on Sunday morning, but rather, of that number, what percentage, over time, are actively using their gifts in ministry and mission as growing disciples of Jesus?

Sunday’s celebration of last week’s mission was an encouraging expression of that emphasis – P.T.L.!!

It was really good being back home with our CC family this morning! We were missing quite a few, but I’m sure a lot were out of town visiting their families over the fourth. I wanted to remind everybody to please pray for our team that will be taking a mission trip to our very own city this week. They are going to be serving in various sites throughout our community.

As I shared this morning, Tim has done a great job teaching the teens what an awesome opportunity this is going to be to share the love of Christ in tangible ways all over Martinsville. They’re pretty pumped about it and so am I. I appreciate all the planning Tim and Don have put into the week, as well as all the adults who will also be helping. As in years past, Chuck and Bobbie are handling all the meals and I’m sure they will be outstanding.

The teens will be leading in our worship next Sunday – it’s going to be a great day! Thanks for praying!

Most Christians are familiar with the verse that says that God loves a cheerful giver. Some are even aware that the Greek word translated “cheerful” is hilaron, from which we get the word “hilarious.” But this guy takes the expression of cheerful giving to a Whole-’Nutha-Level!

This post by Los Whittaker on “7 Keys to Becoming an Effective Leader of Worship” is DYNAMITE! The only thing I would change is that it is equally true for pastors! Amen, amen, and amen! Mark, you get this and it shows - thank you!
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An audiobook of Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love, is available as a FREE download at ChristianAudio.com during the month of July. Use the coupon code JUL2009 and enjoy! In the event that you’re not familiar with Francis Chan or the book, here’s a brief intro: