The Great Commission Engine

Acts 2:41, 47

Acts 5:41-42

The Great Commission Engine:

• weekend services ("God is truly among you")
• groups ("circles are better than rows")
• teams ("every member has a ministry")

Current Stats:

• 240 in groups
• 328 on teams
• 407 average weekend attendance

What's now?

• Building refresh (updating our house)
• Faith property (where our church plant will meet)

What's next?

• Refuge Church launch
• Add a Sunday service (Sunday afternoon)

Missions around the world:

• Light Ministries (Mike Curry)
• Harvest Evangelistic Association (Greg McClanahan)
• Life Choices of Memphis
• Spirit of Elijah Ministries (Norm Wakefield)

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I've been sharing the vision of our church for over 25 years. And at the end of this service, we're going to baptize a brother and a sister, teenagers. But I can't. Before we get there, I got to mention their granddad. He's sitting right there.

His name is Greg Markham. Wade. Greg, you're such a private person. I want you to feel awkward. Is it working?

Let me tell you about Greg. When Angie and I were sent out to start our church back in 1999, Greg and I had been doing ministry together. Been in the same churches for, man, I don't know how long, but we went all over the world, well, all over the US doing mission trips and preaching the gospel. And we used to do this. We used to do this Jesus skit.

And Greg was Jesus in it, and it was powerful. And Greg, there's of the 12 or 13 people that went out that was sent out to start our church and you were part of that group. The Lord's dispersed everybody, different states and different churches. And so there's nobody left but Angie and I from that initial team. But I bet you couldn't imagine 25 years later and you live in North Carolina.

I'm not even sure there is a North Carolina. I think there is. I heard people live there. It's far away that you be coming back to see your grandchildren baptized into the church you helped plant. So I know it's a big day and you don't always get a chance to do that.

But grateful for you brother, I know it's going to be special here in a few minutes. I'm Trevor Davis. I'm GCC's pastor. Today we start four weeks of our Vision 2025, to tell you kind of where our church is, what the Lord's done this year, and what we expect him to do in us next year. So if you're a guest today, it's kind of a good kicking the tire Sunday because you'll get kind of a look at what we are, who we are, what God's been doing among us.

If you're one of our members, this is that time where God just reaffirms all of the effort and all of the service to the Lord and all the prayers you pray and all the offerings you've given and everything that by God's grace you've been a part of this year and what the Lord has been doing. So hopefully when you came in, you got one of these vision sheets, because I'm going to be referring to that a Little bit. And I'm not preaching a sermon today so much as I'm painting a picture. And I'm going to share some verses of Scripture, but just kind of tell you what is on the heart of our church, our leaders and what God's doing. And then the next couple of weeks, we're going to talk about how to be responsible with all of our material possessions.

At the end of this series, the fourth Sunday of the series, we're going to receive our special offering as we kick off our commitments financially to the next year we call the One Fund offering. So this is that time of the year. It's a lot of. It's interesting. It will impact your life.

And so I hope you'll stick around and get all of these sermons and things that we'll be doing.

But here's what I want you to know. Normally I'll spend all week in my Bible and I don't have an office here. I have one at my house, so it's upstairs. Got all the books that the Lord has provided. I got Bible software.

I don't Google other guys sermons or outlines. I don't normally borrow from other preachers. That's a little bit lazy to me. I just, I want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. And whatever sermons you get from me, they're mine.

And so if they're duds, you can blame it on me. If they're helpful, you can give God credit. But I'm not borrowing from other people. But I do just study, study, study. I read so much I get tired and have to stop and take breaks.

But I study God's word each week to feed God's people. The Scriptures on Sunday. But this week's different. I didn't prepare this message I'm speaking today. Your participation in our ministry prepared this message because it's going to talk about some of the results of what the Lord has been doing in our church in 2024.

And so this vision series is going to answer two questions. Where are we going as a church? Is Number one, where are we going as a church? Number two, it's going to answer the questions, what resources will be required for us to get there? So where are we going?

And what resources are going to be required? I want to start out with a couple of verses from the early church, the church in Jerusalem, the Book of Acts. In fact, the first verse I'm going to share with you is the summary. Luke's comment on what it was like on day one of the local church, the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. And after Peter preaches this powerful message on the spot, spontaneous, under the power of God, we'll read in Acts 2:41.

Then those who gladly received his word were what? Say it out loud. Baptized. Oh, you can do better than that. Those who gladly received his words were baptized.

You already saw some videos of some recent baptisms in the church and, and you associate baptism with the Christian faith. And here's kind of where it starts. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized in that day. About 3,000 souls were added to them. Okay, the them is the believers in the upper room.

In Acts chapter two, it's 120 of them. And then 3,000 individuals respond to Peter's preaching and the gospel call. And I don't know how long this took. I don't know how many people it took to organize it. I don't even know where they did it.

Probably a river or a stream outside of the city somehow. They baptized 3,000 people on day one of the church. Now look, there weren't church buildings for another 300 years. So if you go from 120 in your fellowship to 3120 without a building, how in the world do you even have a ministry? Well, fortunately for them, all those who believed were Jewish and they're in the capital of Judaism.

They're in the city of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem had a religious building. What was it called? The Temple. So in the middle of town, biggest thing there, all eyes drawn to the temple.

And the temple had courtyards and spaces that even non Jews could go to. There was a court for the Gentiles. So they were used to going to the temple and worshiping God. Now they're like, hey, maybe they'll let us gather here. And now you have this giant church and it's not even two days old.

This is the Holy Spirit eruption. This was not planned. None of the 121st believers ever thought anything like this was going to happen. And now they've got an infant church on their hands with thousands of people, and somehow they baptized all of them. Pretty good start, wouldn't you say?

Well, that's verse 41. Then verses 42. And following is kind of a summary statement of, well, what did those first Christians start doing? And they were committed to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. So those four spiritual disciplines and values is what they did.

They're sharing their meeting together all the time. And then we come to verse 47. It reads this way, they Were praising God. They were having favor with all the people. This is a happy church.

And the Lord added to the church. What's the next word? Say it with feeling. Daily, the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. And so the ones that are saved are rescued from their sins.

They're going from not believers, unbelievers to believers, so they're being baptized. I wanted to show you those two verses back to back, because I think it doesn't only describe what happened. I think it prescribes. It says, here's what all the churches are supposed to look like going forward. If I were going to summarize those two verses, I would say that God expects baptisms to be lots and often, because the first ones, they baptized 3,000.

And then often it's just what they did. Every day they're preaching the gospel. They're teaching the crowd that Jesus is the Messiah. They're saying, look. And these Old Testament scriptures, by the way, they didn't call it the Old Testament.

It was their only testament at the time. When you look into the scriptures and they point to a coming deliverer, we're declaring to you that it's Jesus. He's risen from the dead. Here's what we can know about him. So every day, new believers are believing.

Every Sunday, they're meeting in the temple courts. They're celebrating the resurrection on the first day of the week. And more and more unbelievers are coming to Christ having their hearts changed and their lives transformed. Lots of baptisms and baptizing often. And what I want to say to you is, nothing's changed.

God still has put us in a place even though we're in the Bible Belt. It has challenges of its own. But even in the Bible Belt now, most of the houses around this building, those who live in them, are souls that God created, people that God love. And most of them haven't ever responded to the gospel message. Even though you live in the Bible Belt, you live in an unchurched city.

The problem here is people pretend that they're not. I was talking to a pastor last week that I met. He's from Seattle. And he said, I was born and raised in Seattle, but I lived two years in Florida, so I've been in the south before. He says, I like Seattle better.

Even though your weather is better and your food's better? He said, but the unbelievers in Seattle tell you, I'm not a Christian. I'm not interested in being a Christian. You're going to have to Work hard to convince me of why I need to know your God, he said, but in the south, everybody claims a church, and people will pretend that they have Christian faith so you'll leave them alone. He said, it's harder to win people in the south than it is in the Northwest.

I said, it rains too much where you live. I'm going to stay right here. Amen. But he's right. We have our own challenges.

But. But baptizing a lot and baptizing and adding to the number in the church daily is possible for us if our church will commit to be an effective evangelistic congregation, that we're inviting our friends and our co workers and those that are. We call them our ones. That's people that are close to us but far from God. Like, we'll make room, we'll buy more chairs.

We'll do whatever it takes. But I really do believe that those who don't hear the Gospel, those who say no to Jesus, those who never become Christians, I believe when they die, they're judged for their sins and they spend eternity away from God in a devil's hell. I believe that. And the church that believes, that reaches out and says, we need more and better disciples. And so this is what we're talking about here.

Let me tell you another. Let me share another couple of verses with you. In Acts, chapter three, Peter and John, two of the leaders of the first church that walked with the Lord Jesus were going through the temple gates one day, and they see a man who's paralyzed. He can't walk. And so back in that culture in the first century, if you couldn't walk, somebody had to carry you to the place where the traffic of people were.

And you had to beg and hope that people would have mercy on you. It's the only way to survive. They see this guy and he asks for money. And you know, do you remember what they say? They say, silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk. And by the power of God, they perform this healing miracle. This paralyzed man is no longer paralyzed. God heals him. And he raises up and everybody sees this miracle cannot be denied.

You know what it got the church leaders thrown in jail. You know who threw them in jail? The religious leaders of the city. So they're there, the church is praying for them. It's an injustice, but it's suffering.

And they pray, and God hears their prayers, and God causes them to be released from jail. But before they get released, from their prison, the leaders of the council, the religious leaders who oppose Jesus. You know what they told them? They said, look, we're going to let you go as long as you don't preach in this name again. You know what Peter and John said?

They said, it's nice of you to let us go, but we must obey God rather than men. And so God tells us to preach in Jesus name. We're going to, so let them go. Anyway, here's the summary statement of the aftermath. Acts chapter 5, verses 41 and 42.

So Peter and John departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Now here's the guy that preaches a sermon and 3,000 people respond to it. These are the two men that saw the empty tomb first. They were there on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell and they had just healed a paralyzed man. They had lots of reasons to rejoice in the Lord, but this one topped their list.

They're like, you mean God looked at us and said, tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to make an example of faithfulness out of you, and you're going to suffer and have a bad season, and it's going to be all because of the name of Jesus. And this is called treasure in Heaven. And so they're marveling at being able to suffer for the name. And here's what.

Then we read this next line. And daily in the temple, everybody say, in the temple. And daily in the temple and in every house. Say in every house. So you were wondering, how do you organize a church that has 3100 people in it and no building that they own?

Daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. The temple is the big meeting place. And the house is the private dwelling where you can really get people some help and get to the heart of what they need. And so in the temple courts and from house to house has been the modern church's example for 2000 years. Now, you see, we gather, and this isn't a temple, it's just a church building.

And this place isn't really special until the church gathers. Because the church is the people of God, isn't that right? It's the house of God when the people of God are here. But when we're not here, it's just a building. But it's like our temple.

It's a bigger room that we can all gather in. And then during the week, we don't have tons of classrooms here. If we want to meet together, we have to do it in every house. And what that leads me to tell you is that our church has gotten down to these irreducible minimums. These what are the most important things a local church is supposed to do?

And we build it on what somebody's branded it as the Great Commission engine. And this engine keeps us moving. And this engine moves on three pistons. And when the fire of the Holy Spirit is powering these three pistons, the result is a healthy, thriving, growing local church. And I'm going to tell you what those three pistons are of the Great Commission engine.

They're kind of here on this, what I call the front page has these three dots at the bottom. They kind of look alike. So look on the front page with these three dots, you'll see the Great Commission engine in a column up there. And here's what they are. Number one is what we call Sunday or the.

Or the weekend experience. That's one of the pistons of the Great Commission engine. And we just kind of put a lot of effort and time and people power and financial resources into this, into what we do on Sundays. Hey, this last week, Angie and I didn't tell the first services, I'll tell you. Angie and I were given a gift from some former members of our church who moved away.

And they said, hey, we heard about this conference, this retreat for pastors and their wives. If we pay for it, will you go to it? And look, I'm no dummy because I know that free fits my budget. Amen. And so he's like, hey, would you like.

And so I talked to Angie. Can she get off work? And we did, and we went there. And when I got there, I just felt the Holy Spirit say, just don't talk at this thing. You talk everywhere else.

Just don't talk. Sit back and learn and listen. And so I'm at a table. There's probably 48 or 49 pastors and their wives. And this is put on by the American Family Association.

Have anybody ever heard of them? And Tupelo, Mississippi, AFR the radio. And it was good. We're at Pickwick Landing State park, about an hour and a half away at the lake. And the first people, you know, we randomly sat at the table.

And that was going to be our group for the two or three days. And this guy to my right, all the other tables had eight people, four pastors and their wives. We had three. And the guy to my right, they gave us those Lanyards with your names on them. And I looked and his name was Greg, but he said it said McCrory, Arkansas.

I know you don't know where McCrory, Arkansas is. I'm going to help you. It's right down the road from Bald Knob, Arkansas. Does that help? Actually, Bald Knob is two towns over.

The next town past McCrory is Augusta. And Augusta is where my dad grew up. And so my whole life I'm driving Highway 64. Pastor McCrory, Arkansas. So me and this Pastor Greg guy, we immediately hit it off.

And I'm listening to him. He and his wife are just faithful. They love Jesus and they pastor on Highway 64 in Arkansas. And his church isn't even big enough to give him a full size salary, full time salary. So he has to be a tentmaker, he has to do other things.

But he and his wife been pouring their heart into this church. And you know, he said, you know, we're nothing fancy, but we've got a small congregation of people who love Jesus. And I'm sitting there thinking we got a whole lot of fancy, you know, and we have a great congregation. But I began to think, you know, it's not the shell of the facilities and it's not all the toys we get to play with. What makes a local church is when God gathers some people, whether that's a small number or a large number, and he gives them leaders, he gives them elders and pastors and deacons, and they go, you know what?

Maybe, maybe we're not as educated. Maybe we don't have as many folks. And maybe we live in a dying community and we're never going to be a big church. But regardless, Jesus is still alive. And when we gather together, he meets with us.

Let me tell you, Sunday, the weekend service. This is so important. Can I tell you? You need to raise your children in church. They need to learn to sit with believers.

They need to learn to there's more to life than their cell phone, right in video games. Am I making sense? I'm not saying all that stuff's wrong. I'm saying that there's some value in raising your kids in church that helps them for the rest of their life. Not the least of which is that being in the local church is where they learn that darkness will send them to hell forever.

And Jesus is the light of the world. And so we just kind of put most of what we do into this gathering because there's something about the gathering of the church. And I want to just thank you for Coming here today because you probably drove past a bunch of great churches to get here, and you didn't have to be here, but when you gathered with us, it makes a difference. And I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that at some point you heard a sermon here you liked, and at least on one day, your kids greatly benefited from all those folks on the north side of the building that are glad to change diapers and make snacks and do crafts and teach kids from the earliest that they're able to hear about the Lord and understand things, that Jesus is God and Jesus loves them. And just maybe you come in here on Sunday and you hear one of the praise songs and you see people singing, and it just moves in your heart, and it was worth your time that day.

I'm telling you. Sundays matter, and they keep the Great Commission engine going. And you need to keep showing up. You need to keep showing up on the low Sundays. You know what those are?

It used to be this. It used to be spring break either side, right? And then Memorial Day weekend, and then the weekend after July 4th, and then Labor Day weekend, and then what I call the last lonely Sunday of the year, the Sunday Christmas. Well, now our culture's added fall break, and all preachers here is good grief, Spring break number two, right? And so, look, there's two more bad Sundays, two more where the crowds are gonna be down.

Can I tell you, we need you on those days, too? Yes. And we had one of those like last week, and a lady. You already heard about a lady getting healed, and we weren't even praying for her to be healed, but the Spirit loved her and wanted her need to be healed that day. It was just the Sunday service.

Man, I can't wait for Sunday. Hey, and when I'm on vacation, most of the time. Not all the time, but most of the time, we're gonna find a church to go to, if we can, down there at the beach or wherever we are. Because I just like being with the Lord's people on his day. It's what happens when God saves a soul.

The Holy Spirit doesn't have to twist the arms of believers to go meet with other believers. Sunday matters. So that's the first piston. Here's the second piston of the Great Commission engine groups. Before I leave that, I needed to tell you the tagline on Sundays.

There's a verse in First Corinthians 14, and the context around it almost seems like the apostle Paul saying, just in case. Just in case, an unbeliever Or a friend or one of our ones wanders in here, and they see what happens in the room. You know what they'll say when God shows up in the church? His heart was right. They'll say, God is truly among you.

I want to be a God is truly among you church. Am I the only one? So, Sundays, here's the second part. Second piston. It's groups in the temple we just talked about.

Our church meets in this place, like a temple, in every house. And during the week, there's a few that meet up here. But most of the time, the people sitting around you will get in a small group, about 10 or 15 people, and they'll show up at one of the homes of our members. And here's what we say about groups. Circles are better than rows.

Let me tell you why. In the big room, everybody sits in rows. And you can kind of look at the back of people's heads, but. But you can't really have great fellowship in a room like this. Like this gathering is to inspire and get you to be ready to walk with God Monday through Friday.

But in a circle. In a circle with a smaller group, you can't hide. You can't really be anonymous. You get to be known and you get to know others. And it's in the circle where we even have an opportunity to obey one of the 30 something one another commands in the New Testament.

Love one another, pray for one another, bear one another's burdens, encourage one another, all of that. You can't really do it in rows, but you can do it in circles. So we have a group ministry. But do you want to know why? Because we're just following the lead of our master, the greatest small group leader who ever lived.

What's his name? You're in church and you know what? It rhymes with Jesus. And how big was this small group? About 12, right?

Give or take three or four, and then one's going to betray them. But the 12. And so he says, look, circles are better than rows. He's going to speak in rows at the Sermon on the Mount. He's going to speak in rows at the Olivet discourse.

Oh, but in circles. That's where he poured his life and ministry and his love into the 12. And we get to the Book of Acts, and the Bible says they turned the world upside down. You know what else it says about those men? They were unschooled, ordinary men.

And the people took note that they had been with Jesus. It's not what you know. It's not what you've achieved. It's not your pedigree. It's not the degrees behind your name.

If you want to have an impact, be with Jesus Christ. Get in a group now. I'm a huge fan of groups. You can see kind of the stats on there. We've got 240 teenagers and adults in a group right now because circles are better than rows.

And then the third piston of the Great Commission engine, weekend services. God's truly among you groups. Circles are better than rows. And then teams. Our ministry teams are usually up here.

In fact, some of them are exercising and being used right now on the north side of the building with our children's ministry. Some ministry teams have already been functioning here in this service. We're going to have another ministry team, the baptism team, that's going to do their work here in a few minutes. But. But when we have this Great Commission piston engine of teams, the idea is that every member has a ministry.

Can I tell you, you don't pay me to do the ministry here. I'm not your Pope. I'm not your chaplain, and I'm certainly not your priest. My job and the staff's job is to equip the saints. And you guys are the saints.

You're the baptized believers, and you do the work of the ministry. I'm not your pope because the Bible doesn't have a pope. Amen. Let's get that out of the way. I'm not your priest either.

Did you know that? I can't help you get your sins forgiven, and neither can anybody else. That's between you and the Lord. I can just point you to him. But there's one mediator between God and man.

The man, Jesus Christ. So we're just kind of pointing. Point to Jesus. Point to Jesus. But I'm also not your chaplain.

Some churches, perhaps they don't have pastors. They have chaplains. That's the guy who has the sermon every week. And when we need our. When our daughter is going to get married, he's going to do that.

And when somebody dies, he's going to bury us. And, you know, maybe we'll have him pray over the meal at the fish fry, right? That's chaplain work. But that's not the assignment God's given me or the staff or the elders here. We're shepherds.

We're under shepherds of the flock of God. And Jesus is the chief shepherd, and he's the cornerstone, and all the saints make up the congregation. Does that make sense? Not only that Jesus lives in you, the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So what I do is I shepherd people who have Jesus living in them and I point the way on how to walk with God and that's kind of what I do.

And then there's ministry to do. We do these on ministry teams and it takes an army for all the ministry work to get done for a church to keep thriving and to be helpful. And so look, if you're a Christian, do you have a ministry in the church? Which one do you have? And if not, may I just politely ask you to not treat the local church like the movie theater, like the cinema?

Well, that's the place. I go and get a comfortable seat and I watch what's going on and I take it all in and I leave and I decide and then I get on the judges panel, I go, well, I'll give that Sunday a 7.2 or man, that was really good. That was an 8.5. We need to fire ourselves from that position and go, no, I'm every member ministry. The leaders of our church are equipping me and I need to fill a position, I need to fill a role at the church that if I don't show up, it leaves a hole for them.

Does that make sense? You're indispensable and I love doing all this stuff with you. We do it together. So those are the three pistons of the Great Commission engine. I want to talk about.

Flip the page over. I only have a couple minutes left. I want to talk about what's now and what's next. If you look on the sheet there, what's now. We have something called the faith property.

If you're new, let me tell you what God did. Does God give good gifts? Yes or no? Is he a better giver than anybody else? He is.

And we have a church plant. We've sent about 35 people out, men, women and children a few months ago. And they're targeting Bahalia, Mississippi and the surrounding area. And we sent them out the way our mother church sent me and my wife and Greg out 25 years ago and to start a new work. And for the last year and a half they've been kind of meeting and together and training and they're having trouble finding a place to meet.

And we were looking, literally we were going, okay, we found a place in town, it's got a basement. We're going to raise money and we're going to renovate the Basement. There going to be church in the basement because we couldn't find anywhere else. And in the middle of all of our church in the basement plans, there was a dying congregation. And the man that was holding everything together died in a just kind of an unexpected accident.

And their 10 or 15 people went down to seven or eight and they're grieving and their pastor that they had wanted to retire and they're like, what are we going to do with all this? And we don't want our church to die, but we don't have any kids or young people anymore and this thing feels like it's fizzling out. What would the Lord have us do? And they began to pray. And the conclusion they drew was, well, we just want to give our facility to a like minded, like practice church.

And when they made that decision as a church, somebody in their congregation heard about our church plant and they contacted us. And the long story short is that dying congregation passed off handed, gifted to us all of their property and all of the cash left in there from their offerings and said, please plant a living church here. Is that pretty cool? What if I told you it's worth about $1.3 million just out of the blue? And so now we're renovating that.

And so we got this faith property and we got a group to meet in it. And so that's exciting. That's what's now. It's also what's next. Another thing is what's now.

Did you notice that we're refreshing our building after about 12 or 13 years, it looks a little different and, and we're getting that ready for our target audience. And so I hope you enjoy the new flooring and the new paint and Jennifer Jones and her team and all been doing a great job on our building refresh that's happening right now. And here's what's next. What's next is in 2025 we expect to launch Refuge Church Bahalia. By the way, that building they gave us is just north of the Bahalia city limits.

And I kid you not, it's on Byhalia Road. And so kind of, kind of fits all the, it kind of checks all the boxes there. So we're excited about the faith property because the faith property is about to become home to Refuge Church by Helia. And remember I told you we sent them out with 35 people. They're already having 65 people on Sundays.

They haven't even launched yet. They're not even doing all the stuff. And so the Lord's going to do that. We expect to launch them. By God's grace.

This is not a promise. It's a. It's something to shoot for. We expect to launch them publicly a few weeks before Easter next year so they can be ready. Because you guys know what happens to churches around here on Easter.

We've already expanded the parking lot at the new faith property for refuge Church by hell, you. So what's next is our church plant, and then we're running out of space here for children and some other things. And so how do you make room? We are praying about a third Sunday service in 2025. But I got to tell you, we've already done this before, and it about killed us.

I mean, we did 8:30, 10, and 11:30, back to back to back. And then Covid happened, and we didn't need three anymore. And so then when we started talking about a third service, people panicked. Pastor, are you getting ready to do that again? Because it's so hard.

It's like, no. What we learned was we don't want to cram everything before lunch on Sunday, but we also want to be targeted. And so right now, what's in our head is that when we open a third service, perhaps next year, we hope it's next year that it would be in Sunday afternoon before youth ministry on Sunday night. And we want to target three or four different people groups. Number one, we want to target those weekend travelers.

You know, them, they got a boat, they go to the lake, or they got the ball tournaments, baseball, volleyball, whatever those are. And there's just. In our culture now, it's here to stay. There's this weekend traveler mindset. But a lot of them told me, pastor, we're usually coming back in Sunday after church in the afternoon, and a Sunday evening service would fit our schedule.

I'm thinking, wow, we can target, as a missionary endeavor, the weekend travelers. But then we learned, being a church like this, that there's also men and women who love God, but they have unconventional work schedules. Their work second and third shift, and they just can't be here when we meet. And so a Sunday afternoon service would help them. And we also have this phenomenon of sometimes we'll have a hundred teenagers here on Sunday night in this room, spilling out all over the place for our youth ministry.

And 90% of them don't know the Lord. They're not Christians yet. They don't come from Christian families, and they're not here on Sunday mornings because they're still unconverted. And we're thinking, what can we do with them. And we thought maybe that Sunday afternoon service would be something that they and their families could come to.

We could reach their moms and their dads. And so what's next for us is to make room and to do it, because I don't know if you noticed, it costs a lot to build things today. And so when we started talking to architects, how much to add onto this building, it was astronomical. And we thought, well, we're not there yet, but we'll get there. And we'll get there by adding Sunday services and just preaching points.

And as long as I can leave after the second service, get some lunch, and maybe take a quick nap, I can preach all Sunday night. It doesn't matter how many services we want to do. No big deal. Let me also say this as I get ready to close this sermon, because a lady, one of our members, came to me and we were talking about what the Lord's been doing in her life. And she said, hey, I want you to pray for my grown daughter.

She's away from the Lord. She's a lesbian, too. And I thought, really? Well, I got a story for you. Now, I remember a few years ago, a lady in our church, her daughter was a college athlete, and female college and pro sports are overrun with the perversion of lesbianism.

It's a peer pressure. It's taken over. I have a second job in the NBA. The NBA, owns the wnba. I have sources in this.

It's just one of those deals. So this lady had a college athlete daughter, and first semester she comes home and she says, mom, I have a girlfriend, and I don't even know if I'm a Christian anymore. And I'm a lesbian like all the girls on the team and our coach. And so the mom calls me hysterical, and I said, look, we're just going to trust Jesus. Jesus made your daughter.

Jesus hasn't stopped loving your daughter. And I said, I'm not a prophet, but I'm going to make a prediction. I'm going to predict that this is a passing phase that she's in. It's not going to last. And in five years from now, she's going to be married and have children.

Well, it's my first ever prophecy that came true because four years later, she's married with three children. And not only that, her husband's like this big hoss of a guy. He's 6, 7, 200. I mean, just the other way, she just went the other direction. Walking with the Lord.

I was able to tell this mom who in the lobby earlier, I said, look, I think this won't last. We're going to pray for your daughter. God's going to bring her back to the truth. And that leads me to this last story on the how God Saved a Mom years later. You can read the details, but what I want to talk to you about is a web movement, because instead of what I just told you, there's a girls volleyball team in the school that's closest to our building.

And the Lord brought the coach to our church, and some of the volleyball players have come to know Christ, and we baptized them this year. And check this out. It's either two or three. I think it's three, but I know for sure two. Two of those volleyball players that have been saved brought their moms, and their moms have come to Christ, and we baptized their moms, too.

And so it's a web movement. I mean, look at what God's doing. That's just an illustration. It's just an example of what happens when a church prays, when a church is committed to the good News, when a church loves God and loves each other, he just kind of gives you these. And instead of worrying about female athletes becoming lesbians, like what used to be happening, it's the opposite here.

The Lord's just doing a great work. Oh, we praise the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And some of you, some of you have seen what we've been talking about, and you need to believe in the Lord, and you need a baptism, and you need to put on the jersey of Team Jesus, and you need to become a part of our church. And I hope some of these testimonies will get you thinking about that. And you can mark on your ministry card there.

I've got it somewhere here, like the top two or three. I'm ready to trust Jesus for the first time. I want to rediscover my faith in Jesus. I'm ready to be baptized. Some of you need to take one of those next steps and let our church walk you through what the Bible says about how you can have eternal life so that you can be transformed by the God of heaven like these others we've been talking about this morning.

I want you to think about that as we pray together today. Lord, we're excited about the baptisms we're about to be witness to. But now we pray God for those baptisms that still need to happen. These men and women, these girls and boys, these students. God, I pray you touch their heart.

Don't let the enemy steal the seed that was planted today by hearing all this good news. And I pray during this vision series, God, that you would light a fire again in the church. Rekindle it, Give us a great 2025for the glory of Jesus. The faith filled church said men, amen.

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Come and join us this Sunday at the Great Commission Church for a truly remarkable and uplifting experience. Great Commission Church is not just any ordinary place of worship; it's a vibrant community where faith comes alive, hearts are filled with love, and lives are transformed. Our doors are wide open, ready to welcome you into the warm embrace of our congregation, where you'll discover the true essence of fellowship and spirituality. At Great Commission Church, we are more than just a congregation; we are a family united by a common mission – to follow the teachings of Christ and spread His love to the world. As you step inside Great Commission Church, you'll find a sanctuary that nurtures your faith and encourages you to be part of something greater than yourself.

We believe in the power of coming together as a community to worship, learn, and serve. Whether you're a long-time believer or just starting your spiritual journey, Great Commission Church welcomes people from all walks of life. Our vibrant services are filled with inspiring messages, beautiful music, and heartfelt prayers that will uplift your soul. Every Sunday at Great Commission Church is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with God and connect with others who share your faith and values.

At Great Commission Church, we believe that faith is not just a solitary endeavor but a shared experience that strengthens and enriches us all. Our church is a place where you can find purpose, belonging, and the encouragement to live a life in accordance with Christ's teachings. Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church and experience the transformative power of faith in action. Be part of a loving and supportive community that is committed to making a positive impact in our world. Together, we strive to fulfill the great commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We look forward to having you with us at Great Commission Church this Sunday, where faith, love, and community intersect in a truly amazing way.

Great Commission Church is a non-denominational Christian church located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. We are a short drive from Germantown, Southaven, Collierville, Horn Lake, Memphis, Fairhaven, Mineral Wells, Pleasant Hill, Handy Corner, Lewisburg and Baylia.

See you Sunday at Great Commission Church!