Sunday review

This past Sunday was amazing at Foothills Community Church. Every year at this time I do a series on our vision at FCC. It is one of those messages that unify the church, and bring us back to the reason we do what we do. Nothing fires me up more than talking about the heart of our church!

* I spoke on Luke 15, but the real focus was the older brother in the Prodigal son story. I compared the heart of the older brother and the heart of God.

* The older brother had forgotten what was important... his lost brother who was now found. Instead he refused to participate in the celebration.

* The Father never gave up hope that the prodigal son would one day return home. When that day finally arrived, the Father ran to his son and restored the relationship and then threw a party because he had returned. (Let's not forget that this in this story, the prodigal son is all of us, who have sinned against God, and the Father represents God, who is waiting with open arms for us to come to Him.)

* Some churches have become like the older son. Their focus shifted from ministry to maintenance. It moved from others to themselves. They don't see life change, because they don't celebrate it.

* At FCC I want us to have the Father's heart. To continue to be a place that opens its arms to the lost, broken, and hurting. In order to do this our focus must be EXTERNAL.
Our mission statement is to help people FIND and FOLLOW Jesus. It has to be balanced between those things, but we can never lose the heart to reach lost people.

* Having said that, in 2012 we are also going to put a great emphasis on helping people FOLLOW Jesus (Discipleship). In fact on January 22nd I am going to do one of the most intense and challenging messages I have ever preached in regards to becoming a TRUE FOLLOWER of Jesus! Trust me, this message is not for the faint of heart.

* Sunday was also Membership renewal Sunday. If you didn't fill out your renewal, you can do it online now. (Remember, you must have already gone through the Get In The Game Class)

* If you would like to become a member of Foothills Community Church, then you can sign-up for our next get In The Game Class here.

* Here are some of the stats from 2011 I shared on Sunday:
* 438 people gave their lives to Jesus
* 323 people made a re commitment to Jesus
* 168 people were baptized
* 185 people went to Get In The Game class
* 706 different people served on a ministry team
* over 12,000 prayer requests were prayed for
* over $40,000 was given to local families in need from our benevolence fund
* $12,500 was given to our Christmas offering to provide gifts for children
* Over $150,000 was given to Project reach and distributed to do ministry in Haiti, Harlan County Kentucky, Church Planting in North America, and 5 local agencies helping the hurting in our community.
* Over 4,500 volunteer hours outside the walls of the church to help people.
* 3 mission trips to Haiti and 2 trips to Harlan County Ky. Many teams serving with our local ministry agencies.

* I am so excited about 2012. I believe we are going to see God do more than we've ever seen, so put on your seat belts!