It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog post and I apologize. The last two weeks have been a dream come true for me. On September 13, 2009 we had the very first service of Coastal Community Church. It was probably the 3rd greatest moment of my life besides accepting Christ and marrying my wife. We had 357 people show up for that first service. The room was filled with anticipation, people gave their all in worship and the word of God was preached. At the end of the day I was exhausted but at the same time I was invigorated. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I am not an emotional guy but when the commitment song, Came to my Rescue, was being sung and I looked out and saw hundreds of people worshipping God I just broke down. There is nothing greater than seeing the Spirit of God move in peoples live to draw them into His presence.
I am so thankful to all of you who have been praying for Shayla, myself and our team. You have no idea what is about to take place in Ft. Lauderdale because of your faithfulness. To all those who have contributed financially to the vision before it was a reality, thank you so much for your belief and faith in us to do a Greater Thing down here. Finally, to those who sacrificed by moving your families and giving up jobs, family and friends, you are my heroes. We could not have planted this church without you and you have been such a huge encouragement and source of inspiration to us.
I think about the season of life that I am in right now. God has called Shayla and I to the most amazing call in my opinion, to help build His church by starting Coastal Community Church in Ft. Lauderdale. The promise of God building His church is something that I stand on all time and get pumped up about in life. Then when I think about the payoff of peoples lives being transformed, lost people being found, hurting finding hope, broken being fixed and fearful finding faith it is energizing. The thing about both of those areas, the promise and the payoff is that they are not seen on a daily basis unless you really look for them. Most of the time, all you see is the process. The process can be the most trying, complicated, confusing and frustrating thing you ever face, but I think this is the place where true growth and faith takes place. I found for myself that I don’t grow in the promise or payoff stage of life but when I am in the process. I really believe that is where God wants each one of us in life, in the process. That is where we are refined, shaped and molded to be more like Jesus. So many times in the process we give up because it is to hard or painful. Here is the thing that I found to be true in my life, I only change when there is pain or pleasure. When the process is painful enough, I will make change. Whether that is not relying on my own strength but Gods or finally breaking down my pride and submitting to what He wants. We need the fire of adversity to test the strength of our faith.