• I was sitting in a movie last night when I received a text that FORTY-SIX people surrendered their lives to JESUS Easter weekend!!
• 46!!!!!!!!! I was overwhelmed with emotion and so humbled that God chose to Show Up and Show Off in the warehouse in such a BIG WAY!!
• 46 CHANGED LIVES is why we do what we do…46 CHANGED LIVES made EVERYTHING that our Volunteers did to Prepare for a Move of God ALL WORTH IT!
• Let’s do EVERYTHING we can to get those 46 people back next week, pray for and connect them, and see God continue His good work in them (Phil 1:6)
• This was, by far, my favorite and the MOST POWERFUL Easter service we’ve ever done!
• We literally used EVERY SINGLE CHAIR we had in the second service!!
• Compass – THANK YOU for going all out to “Egg” this city and INVITE your friends and family!
• Hey, if your guest didn’t come this week – DON’T GIVE UP – Keep Inviting them (Hebrews 12:1-3)
• I’ve never been so proud of our little warehouse – it was looking very SPIFFY!!!! (no words measure up to say thanks to all who worked behind the scenes to pull that off!!)
• Ushers, Parking, Greeting, Connections and Host Team – you rolled out the red carpet BIG TIME!!
• Compass Kids Volunteers – what can I say? You are THE BEST!!
• THANK YOU for doing EVERYTHING you do to make Sundays the BEST DAY of a child’s week!!
• Your special act of worship through service allowed parents and many guests to be in a service free from distractions so God could ROCK their worlds and CHANGE their lives….
• AND – THAT IS WHAT happened today and you were just as big a part of it as any song that was sung or message preached.
• Worship was intense, rocking,  and right on - NEVER heard it sounding better in the warehouse!
• My new favorite line from a song is “You’ve taken my old skin and made it NEW again.”
• Worship and Production Teams – You BROUGHT IT. Best Easter service on the planet!! Hey, the “Drums” – NICE!!
• EVERYTHING leading up to Easter was MESSED UP but JESUS made ONE DECISION that changed everything – He DIED for you and me and ROSE AGAIN!!
• THAT ALONE is what forever changes lives!!
• The church has made the Gospel all about CATCHING people in their sin but JESUS made it all about a mission to FIND people to CHANGE people not condemn them.
• EASTER reminds me that JESUS’ Response to my sin is NOT what I’d expect or what I deserve which is the beating He took for me!!
• RATHER, Jesus came to FIND us (Luke 19:10, Luke 15:32), RESTORE us, OFFER His forgiveness to us, make our dashed hopes LIVE AGAIN, call us FRIENDS, and REMIND us our BEST DAYS are ahead of us – BOO YAH!!!!!
• So, yea, I’m a little pregidous….there’s no other place and no other group of people I’d rather SERVE and CELEBRATE Easter with than right where I did today.
• I’m SO PUMPED about what God is doing in our church right now - I love seeing you guys get it, God Rocking your worlds, and people surrender their lives to Jesus!!!
• I am grateful, honored, humbled and LOVE being your pastor!!
• GET READY – Next week we kick off our new series on MAKING DECISIONS….POINTS – They All Add Up!
• After seeing 13 people give their lives to Christ on Saturday night, one of my prayer partners asked God to DO MORE!!
• I LOVED that Prayer – there are SO MANY MORE people who need Jesus in our community and SO MUCH MORE God wants to do in your life and through this church.
• I CAN’T WAIT – THE BEST is yet to come!!!!!

Easter separates the men from the boys…don’t believe me? Check the tomb – Jesus’ is the ONLY ONE that’s empty!!!

We’ve got something to SHOUT about…we’ve got something to CELEBRATE…we’ve got something to get FIRED UP for!!!

This PASSAGE of Scripture messed me up this week…”He was PIERCED for our rebellion, CRUSHED for our sins, BEATEN so we could be made whole, WHIPPED so we could be HEALED…He was DESPISED and REJECTED, and WE DID NOT CARE!!”… (Isaiah 53:3-6)

…And this thought CRUSHED me – WE DID NOT CARE!!

Compass – let’s not let that be said of us this week!!!

• LET’s CARE enough to INVITE (aka “egg”) everyone we know that breathes oxygen!!

• LET’S CARE enough to DO WHATEVER it takes to get them there this weekend!!

• LET’S CARE enough no matter how much of a LONG SHOT it may seem to invite the people God has laid on your heart – DO IT!!

God has placed them on your heart, He will go before you, and this is their year for Jesus to CHANGE their lives & ROCK their worlds!!!

We are adding a THIRD SERVICE for EASTER SATURDAY Night @ 6:00 pm (Yes, COMPASS KIDS will be open for 0-5th grade on SAT)  - you’ll be out in plenty of time to catch dinner afterward!!  EASTER SUNDAY services are at 9:30 and 11:15 am.

SERIOUSLY – If you haven’t invited anyone to Easter yet – What are you waiting for?!!!! Jesus is Alive and if you know Him, you know HE’s the ONLY ANSWER we will ever need – LET’s DO THIS!!!

Click Here to invite your Facebook friends.

“Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything…So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash His disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel He had around Him….I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you….That is the path of blessing.” (JESUS - John 13:3-17)

When Jesus was the most powerful person in the room, what did he Do? He “TUT-ed” – he Took Up a Towel and washed the disciples feet…He SERVED!!

All week long I’ve been watching Compass VOLUNTEERS “TUT” by Serving the City AND working their butts off to make the Compass Warehouse Shine and get ready for Easter!!

I read a blog the other day about the “secret sauce” that one pastor feels makes their church unique – I agree and it got me thinking about this passage!

So check this out –  last night I’m eating at Zaxby’s and that means chicken fingers and yes – EXTRA ZAX SAUCE!! I double dip because I can’t get enough of it!!

Any person living right knows chicken fingers without ZAX SAUCE doesn’t work. And then IT HIT ME – Compass without our incredible VOLUNTEERS doesn’t work either.  The “Compass Zax Sauce” that makes EVERYTHING BETTER is the Unexplainable yet Undeniable PASSION of our SERVANT LEADERS. .

Now, I know some would argue JESUS is the ‘zax sauce’ that makes everything better and you’re ultimately right….without Jesus, we can do nothing. BUT, WE are His Hands and Feet to this Generation and HE does His best work through People.

Our Volunteers have begun a tsunami of generosity as you have “TUT’ed” 100s of hours serving the city the past two weeks.

Our Building and Grounds Teams have “TUT’ed” countless hours remodeling, bringing up to code, and now painting & landscaping our warehouse – doing things most would only hire out at their own businesses.

Our Creative Team, Band, and Worship Leaders spend 100s of hours planning, preparing, and sometimes even scrapping a completed element they’ve worked on to make our worship the best possible experience every single week.

Our Volunteer Leaders have literally freed up our staff to be FOCUSED on praying, planning, and preparing for the BEST EASTER EVER!!

Our Set Design Team was hard at work this week “TUT-ing” to get our Easter set ready (BTW – watch your backs – Sheryl & the Admin Volunteer team are scheming!!)

Our Compass Kids Teams “TUT” every Sunday by changing poopy diapers, calming screaming children, and imparting life changing truth to our rug rats every single week – and ALWAYS with the most incredible Attitudes and Smiles!!

Our Host Team “TUT” rain, cold, or sun to welcome, greet, and park guests every single week.

On our Administrative Team, I noticed them this week “TUT-ing” wearing out the keyboards and ink entering first time guest data, sending hand-written welcome notes, and preparing 1000s of mailers and welcome packs. Most have no idea of the tedious daily labor of love that goes on behind the scenes. But that’s not why they do it.

On and on it goes.

COMPASS VOLUNTEERS – thanks for “TUT-ing” with PASSION every single week and making EVERYTHING we do BETTER! You ROCK and JESUS ROCKS through you in every single act of service and generosity!!

QUICK HIT ABOUT EASTER

Our Creative Team says this is going to be the BEST FLIPPIN EASTER SERVICE of all time.  I CAN’T WAIT to see WHO shows up and WHAT God Does.

We are adding a THIRD SERVICE for EASTER – SATURDAY Night @ 6:00 pm - you’ll be out in plenty of time to catch dinner afterward!!

If you haven’t invited anyone to Easter yet – SERIOUSLY – What are you waiting for?!!!! Jesus is Alive and if you know Him, you know HE”s the ONLY ANSWER we will ever need – LET’s DO THIS!!!

• We saw people in both services today surrender their lives to JESUS – why we do what we do!!!!
• Wesley Odum (706 Student Pastor) spoke today. He BROUGHT IT!!!
• Now, you know why I keep screaming you need to get your students and their friends to THE 706 on Wednesday nights – their worlds will be rocked by Jesus!!
• BTW – we now have commitments on 18 of the 22 Student Camp Scholarships we need – BOO YAH!!
• BUT, we also had 10 more students sign up today for camp which means…
• …we might end up tripling the number we took last year!
• If you want to scholarship a student for camp this summer email Wesley Odum here and let him know as soon as possible so we can plan accordingly!!
• THANK YOU for INVESTING in the NEXT GENERATION!!
• BTW – the video of Chris and Nick’s scholarship and camp life change story BLEW ME AWAY – THAT is what it’s ALL ABOUT!!!
• Several things I wrote down that were said today that need to be repeated…
  • This Generation is ok w’ God, Spirituality, and Jesus, BUT they can’t stand the CHURCH!!
  • Why is that a big deal? because of how people view the church ONLY 4% of this current generation will surrender their lives to Jesus!!
  • CHURCH – that WILL NOT happen on our Watch and we WILL NOT let that happen to this Generation – we’ve got WORK to do!!
  • The church is called to FILL IN THE GAPS in our city with GRACE FILLED GENEROSITY (Nehemiah 6:1-3)
  • If you are not willing to be generous, you don’t know what Jesus did for you!!
  • If our mindset is “people don’t deserve our help – they should help themselves,” you don’t know what Jesus did for you!!
  • QUIT PRAYING about building a wall of hope in this city and BEGIN PREPARING for God to do it!!
  • Satan isn’t concerned that we STARTED building a wall, he’s concerned with us FINISHING the wall – WOW – that’ll mess you up!!!
  • The lack of Generosity in the church today leads to a Half Told Gospel!!
  • Without Generosity my Generation is going to grow up without understanding what Faith & Hope is (1 Corinthians 13:13)
  • The Gospel is not about STARTING something it’s about FINISHING!! (2 Corinthians 8:10-12)
  • Jesus didn’t die for HALF-IN, He died for ALL IN!!
  • Sometimes God will call us to GO FIRST (2 Corinthians 8:1-9)
  • My Generation sees a church that is totally IN TO THEMSELVES!!
  • My Generation is waiting for a church to “Step in the Box…Grab the Bat…Fill in the Gap…and Finish Strong” for this generation by pointing us to Jesus!
• Tonight’s REFUEL – Night of Worship was the BEST ONE we’ve ever had….our worship, creative, and production teams are second to none!!
• THANK YOU for taking us where we needed to go – STRAIGHT to the THRONE of Jesus!!!!!
• Did you notice something different about the building? YEA – BAM POW!!
• I have to say I’m absolutely BLOWN away by our VOLUNTEERS and their passion to take the warehouse God has blessed us with and make it the BEST POSSIBLE PLACE for People to CONNECT with JESUS!!
• These guys are AMAZING…it is going to look AWESOME for Easter…
• …much to do this week (painting, landscaping, etc.) – CAN’ T WAIT to see it when it’s all in place!!
• BUT – it’s all WASTED EFFORT if we don’t BEG GOD to BREAK our Hearts for the people of this city and GET THEM them here this EASTER!!
• Compass – in a 10 mile radius of our church there are 178,000+ people that don’t go to church!!
• I’m not asking God just to Show UP and Show OFF on Easter Weekend but rather to FOREVER CHANGE THIS CITY with His love and passion for them.
• That begins with us being HIS HANDS & FEET to the 178,000 people in our community who need JESUS!!
• Read that again – if 178,000 people that need Jesus doesn’t break your heart and move you to action – then YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT JESUS DID FOR YOU!!
• JESUS changes people, NOT us…BUT it is our job to get them to a place where He can ROCK THEIR WORLD!!
• I CAN’T WAIT  to see what God does EASTER WEEKEND!
• Let’s PRAY like crazy, work as hard as we can to EGG this City for the glory of God, and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get people to church EASTER WEEKEND so God can ROCK THEIR WORLDS with JESUS!!
• DON’T FORGET!!!! - we are adding a SATURDAY NIGHT SERVICE Easter Weekend!!

We’ve FINALLY received permission from our building owners to make a few upgrades. Special thanks to our 706 Students on Wednesday evening and a Host of incredible volunteers for getting the building ready for a fresh coat of paint before Easter. If you want to get in on the action of preparing the warehouse for hosting 100s of guests on Easter Sunday EMAIL US HERE,  like RIGHT NOW and someone will let you know what time to drop by the church this weekend and next week.

5 BIG THINGS TO PRAY ABOUT TO GET READY FOR THE NEXT 10 DAYS –

#1 – SERVE THE CITY

The reports are coming back in, yesterday was AMAZING, you guys are AWESOME, and most of all people are SEEING JESUS with skin on and not just hearing about Him!!!!

#2 – EGG THE CITY

Have you heard? Compass is EGGING THE CITY for Jesus this Easter. 1500 people have already been egged this week with an INVITE to one of Compass’ THREE EASTER SERVICES (don’t miss this years SATURDAY NIGHT EASTER SERVICE!!). We’ll have 500 more eggs waiting for you this Sunday!!

What can you do?

• PRAY and ask God to open doors for you to invite people to church Easter weekend.
• EGG them with one of our EASTER EGG INVITES (pick them up this Sunday).
• BEG God to do something BIG in their lives this EASTER!!

Yes, it’s a statistical fact that 50% of Americans would come to church on a Sunday IF THEY WERE INVITED. There’s no better window than EASTER to invite – what are you waiting for…Go Egg Someone!!!!!

#3 – EASTER

Need I say more! Jesus is alive! We have something to SHOUT ABOUT!! Let’s beg God over the next 10 days to show UP and show OFF and CHANGE LIVES like we’ve never seen before! If you know someone (we all do) that needs Jesus to rock their world, do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get them here on EASTER!!

#4 – THIS SUNDAY

Looking forward to closing out our LET”s DO THIS series in a BIG WAY!!!!

#5 – REFUEL – THIS SUNDAY’S NIGHT OF WORSHIP

Can’t Wait to Worship with all of you!! Starts at 6:00pm. Yes, You want to GET THERE EARLY to get a seat!!!!

WOW!! My thoughts on an AMAZING, CHALLENGING, and INSPIRING Day…

• Whenever someone surrenders their life to Jesus it’s an AMAZING day…that happened today!!!!
• My oldest son, MacLean, was recently asked “What kind of a church we were?“…
• …not really knowing how to answer that he told them “Compass is a JESUS CHURCH!!“
• BEST answer I’ve ever heard…Yes, I bowed my chest out a little when I heard that (very Biblical thing to do – Mark 1:11)
• We’re not real good at that yet, BUT we are trying to be obedient and live that out!!
• BTW, what Jesus said will totally MESS you up!! (Matthew 5:42, Acts 20:35, Matthew 25:35-40, Luke 12:48, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Luke 4:16-21)
• BTW, the religious people rejected Jesus and killed him for what He came to do!!
• BTW, YES, we are called to CONNECT PEOPLE TO JESUS,  BUT as the local church we are also Commanded, Commissioned, and Called to HELP the poor, FEED the hungry, CLOTHE the naked, CARE for the sick, and INVITE strangers in (Matthew 25:35-40).
• We have so FAR to go, BUT today we took some GIANT STEPS towards being a GENEROUS JESUS CHURCH!!
• #1 – we introduced THREE STRATEGIC PARTNERS we will be partnering with in 2010 to meet needs in our community…
  • Northeast Georgia Food Bank, Habitat For Humanity, Fowler Drive Elementary School.
  • This Video Link from our Strategic Partners says it all – CHECK IT OUT HERE!!
  • I can’t explain it all – check out this Sunday’s Podcast for all the details.
  • Yes, this is just a start and I pray over the next 10 years we can partner with dozens and give away millions!
• #2 – we introduced  SERVE THIS CITY - a strategic initiative of 300 hours of service over the next 14 days
  • What is it? SERVE THIS CITY will kick start us to become the Hands and Feet of Jesus in NE GA 365 days/year
  • What’s your part? GO FOR IT by giving ONE HOUR of service over the next two weeks and TOGETHER reach our goal of 300 hours of service
  • What Do I do? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR YOUR ‘One Hour of Service‘ - We’ve filled almost 200 hours and counting so far!!!
• #3 – we announced EGG THIS CITY our Easter Promotion to invite 3 Friends and perform one act of Generosity b’w now and Easter (info overload – more on that tomorrow)
• Here’s what I know…
• …up to this point we have been SPONTANEOUS with our Generosity (meeting whatever needs we could at the time – John 6:5-9)…
• …From this point we MUST become STRATEGIC (Isaiah 32:8) where Generosity is a Priority, Planned, and a Percentage is set aside…
• …and SACRIFICIAL (it’s going to cost us something!! – Mark 12:44)
• Jesus didn’t die on the cross for us to give SOMETHING, He’s asked us to give Him EVERYTHING!!!!
• Most of us are not real good at this, INCLUDING ME, but we are going to figure it out!!
• WHY? “Because God has given us SO MUCH MORE than we deserve, we are going to learn how to INTENTIONALLY give others MORE!!”
• I love and am humbled to be your pastor…I see God so at work changing, shaping, & molding our hearts to be GENEROUS one person at a time – let’s open our lives to Him BIG and let Him DO HIS THING!
• LET’S DO THIS and Let’s GO FOR IT!!!!
• If you have not signed your students up for 706 SUMMER STUDENT CAMP, you can do that here.  We have a limited window as parents – let’s position them for life to do great things for God in their generation. Summer Camp is one of the BEST INVESTMENTS you’ll make in your student’s life this year – PROMISE!!
• CAN’T WAIT for next Sunday’s Night of Worship beginning at 6:00 pm (GET HERE EARLY) as we come together to worship,  prepare our hearts for Easter, and BEG GOD to Show UP and Show OFF BIG Easter Weekend.

GOD DID IT

QUICK SHOUT OUT