Freedom Church: Dominate Week 1

Today was the beginning of the next stage in the life of Freedom Church.  After only 11 months at North Metro Tech, it was time to hit the road.  North Metro Tech was a great first temporary worship space.  However, if we are truly going to reach those who are far from God in Acworth, Georgia…we have to go right to the heart of where they are.  A few weeks ago the leadership met to pray that God would give J.R. and the staff clarity on where to go next…and we started making plans to head to Barber Middle School.

Today was the first day in what J.R. has deemed our “new temporary facility”.  Freedom Church is not about a location.  From the beginning, Freedom has been interested in being the catalyst for a revoluntionary movement of God in Acworth.  Barber will not be the final move…just the first of many!

The band and production team did an incredible job getting the stage ready for today…it looked awesome!  Even as we were driving through downtown Acworth, the new signs looked great.  We drove into the parking lot and the new signage looked good and there were greeters everywhere.  The lobby looked a lot better at Barber than it ever has because it is bright and a little more like the entryway in a person’s house rather than just a hallway.  Clint took a bunch of pictures and he said that the FreedomKidz area looked really good. In fact, next week we will be taking our daughter back there for the first time…and we are so pumped about Emma having an opportunity to experience God through FreedomKidz!

The message this week was part one of our new series called Dominate.  The text was from Acts 3:1-10.  The band opened with “We Will Rock You”…and they did! There was a ton of energy and that was an excellent way to kick off this new phase of the journey.

Here are some notes from J.R.’s sermon this morning.  Tons of great stuff!  I have the privilege of being a part of our creative team that meets to go over sermon ideas and a lot of Sundays I feel like I have heard part of it before…but with J.R. there are always some surprises.  Today was no exception and it was one of the best messages I’ve heard at Freedom.

-“We have the capacity to connect people to the power of God”

-“How often do we ask for table scraps when God wants to give us a feast?”

-“The same power that was on display through Peter and John can be on display through each one of us.”

-“God has a great plan for you that is exceedingly, abundantly more than you could ever think, ask, or imagine.”

And…to top it all off…4 people raised their hand to say that they had prayed to receive Christ!  How awesome is that?  God used a public middle school as the location for people to find salvation!

Great first Sunday of 2009…it will only get better from here!