Easter Weekend April 13, 2009

What an incredible weekend! In case you haven’t heard, 15,473 people attended NewSpring this weekend during the 14 services! 322 Salvation’s!

Life change happened this weekend.  A huge wave of salvation’s.  Thank you to all those who served with us here at NewSpring.  Thank you for your ministry.  Your services prepared the way for so many to come to know Christ.  As a church we should point to Jesus with everything we do.  It starts in the parking lot.

My nephew was one of those 322 who accepted Jesus.  I know that many of you know someone personally who made that decision yesterday.  That’s what it’s all about, life change.

It’s a joy knowing and serving with each of the volunteers.

keep running the race April 13, 2009

I got this e-mail the other day and wanted to share with you…

Hello,

My name is Jayson, and I’m on staff at a fairly large church near atlanta Georgia. (Mt. Paran North COG)  A large portion of our staff visited your church during the unleash conference.  I enjoyed every part of the conference especially the volunteers.  I had such a good time and was so impressed that I began to wonder if your church was like that every Sunday, or did you just pull out the red carpet for that day.

Well, my family and I drove from woodstock Georgia this past Saturday just to attend New Spring on Sunday morning.  I just want to share briefly with you how we were treated.  We saw the sign at the entrance requesting visitors to turn on their flashers, so we did.  We didn’t even make it to the front of the building before we were met in the parking lot by a very nice man named Dan.  He welcomed us, gave us coupons for a free drink, and began to ask us about ourselves.  Dan walked us in and took my wife, two boys and I to Kids Spring and made sure we got the boys registered.  We were a bit early, so after that, he took us on a tour of the church, introducing us to almost every volunteer.

I can go on and on, but I won’t.  Let me summerize by saying, we had a great experience from the parking lot to the pulpit.  You guys really showed us the love of Jesus.  I saw Christ through a volunteer named Dan, the fabulous music, and I can’t leave out the fantastic Christ centered, Holy Spirit filled message by Pastor Perry.  His message was right on the money.  The message was simple enough for someone, who was just seeking Christ, yet challenging to a spiritually mature believer.

I want to encourage all of you to continue to be the church that Christ has called you to be.  It is very evident that New Spring is not only making an impact on Anderson South Carolina, but God is using your church to make a huge impact on eternity.  I will be praying for Pastor Perry and everyone that has been called to serve under his leadership.

Keep running the race,

Colorful March 6, 2009

My journey in ministry at NewSpring Church began seven years ago, but in a way feels like it’s just begun. The purity of living life hit me smack between the eyes as I stepped off a bus in Kenya in February 2009. I was greeted by the most colorful, pure joy you can imagine. The people of the Samaria community displayed the love of Jesus with everything they had, and it was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. I could not understand their language, but I did not need to. Their actions expressed their love better than any words could have. They live a life that displays the love and joy of Jesus Christ in a world of poverty. They choose to be a light in a world of desperation. While every day brings another challenge in training and equipping volunteers for ministry, my thoughts are always consumed by communicating our call in ministry. We are called and equipped to live a colorful life for Christ.

“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” Ephesians 4:1

Pure Joy March 1, 2009

This is Faith

kids of the Samaria community

Beautiful people

dancing

beautiful people

smiles

Kenya February 2, 2009

Going to Kenya today for 10 days.  Myself and five other staff from NewSpring are going to visit seven different villages.  Pray that God will direct our path and make the mission for NewSpring Church obvious.  Pray for our safety and the physical and emotional exhaustion.  Pray for our families.  I will not have much internet access so I will talk to you guys when I get back.  I will take lots of pictures for you and journal daily.

Unleash 2009 January 22, 2009

Unleash 2008 was Great! We got so many comments from leaders about how awesome our volunteers were. They could not believe that over 350 people were here just to serve them. We had a blast last year and used every opportunity we could to go over and beyond for our guests. Here’s one experience that was mailed in…

“On the way to Unleash yesterday, I found out it was a volunteer’s birthday. We were already on the bus, though, and I was racking my brain for something we could do for her. During lunch I asked one of your stellar volunteers (I think her name is Christine – young with blond hair) if there was any chance you guys kept candles in VHQ. Within minutes, Christine returned with several candles AND a lighter and we were able to celebrate our volunteer’s birthday over a candle-lit Chic-fil-a bun! It was just ONE MORE example of how NewSpring volunteers EXCEED expectations and WOW guests EVERY TIME THEY SERVE! I am so proud of the volunteers at NewSpring! The Guest Services department really showed our Elevators how to improve their service! Our volunteers went on and on about how great NewSpring volunteers are!

NewSpring Vols – Thank you for all your hard work for Unleash! Thank you for sacrificing your time! Your IMPACT reaches far beyond what you will ever know! Yesterday you had the opportunity to serve over 2000 people whose job is to serve others. By ministering to them, you have indirectly ministered to multiplied thousands. You have IMPACTED how ministry is done all over the United States (and the UK!). What an honor it is to have met you! I hope you were as encouraged as we were by Unleash and I hope you realize how important you are! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

Sweet! Here’s your chance to do it again and even better. The chance you’ve all been waiting for. Are you ready to serve thousands of church leaders from across the world? Are you ready for an opportunity to show Jesus freaks how to be freaks for Jesus? Are you ready to set the example of the body of Christ functioning to its fullest to make the name of Jesus famous?

Thursday, March 12, 2009 is your chance.

We are ready to get you committed to be contagious. Here’s what you need to do…

Go here http://tinyurl.com/unleash09and and enter the initial info that we need from you at this time. Go ahead and mark your calendar and we will follow up with you with more details as we set the schedule.

Thank you guys in advance for blowing the minds of those attending Unleash 2009!

Anderson Campus January 19, 2009

Anderson Campus, originally uploaded by sherry.moorhead.

Just sharing a view from the sky. This is amazing.
I had a volunteer tell me yesterday of a family that she met at church last weekend when we had barf bags on the seats. They starting talking because of the curiosity of the bags on the seats and what they were for. She was telling me that she joked with them that the bags were probably for the people that can’t handle the cool aid. Ha, ha. She said they laughed and then proceeded to tell her that it was their first time here at NewSpring. oops! ha.
They then told her that they were from West Virginia and came to Anderson for the weekend just to attend NewSpring. She said her husband had watched online and they wanted to come see it in person. People, that really happened. Wow.

Parkers ROCK! January 19, 2009

Heard two comments this morning about how awesome our Parking team volunteers are.  One said that every Sunday they make sure they pull in the same entrance to see “Bulldog”, an amazing volunteer.  They said he’s always smiling and they love to see him on Sunday mornings.  I had another that came to church for the first time Sunday say that they were blown away by our parking team and how happy they were as they directed them to a parking space.  Our Parking team is amazing and I want you all to know that what you do every week is showing people Jesus.  Thank you for starting the service in the parking lot.

Words of a Volunteer January 8, 2009

I got this e-mail the other day from an amazing volunteer whom I love dearly.  He shared this with me and it’s too good to keep all to myself.  Thank you, Barron.  Check this out…

Hi All

As the first day of the New Year came to a close, I took a sunset flight, and just looking at God’s beauty from two thousand feet, I just think it is so awesome how blessed we are. This is not a special photo with any alterations, just God’s ‘regular old sunset’.

We should all thank God for blessing us in ways that we never realize. Despite all the resolutions and things that we promise ourselfs that we are going to change to be better, lets just focus on what God already provides for us, and pray daily and thank Him for His mercy and grace He provides.

Lets just be still and listen to what he says, take that time every day to focus on Him…and listen.

We don’t realize how good we have it.

4:15 is back January 8, 2009

9,314 people were at church last weekend and the college students are not even back yet. Last year we were at 7,895 in attendance.   This weekend is going to be way over 10,000 in attendance.  There were 2300 people at the 6pm service alone.  People, I just said at a 6pm service.  That’s crazy!  At student ministry last night there were 629 kids there and 76 received Christ.  NewSpring Greenville had 1,959 people in attendance this past weekend.  God is huge and showing us things here in South Carolina that most people never get to see.  We saw over 1600 people receive Jesus into their lives in 2008 and 933 get baptized.  These numbers will triple in 2009.
There are only 95 people currently on staff at NewSpring. 95 people.  That is all.  Obviously, we are not the only ones in ministry.  There are 2,478 volunteers in Anderson and 293 volunteers in Greenville and Florence.  2,771 people serve in ministry every week to make NewSpring happen.  2,771 volunteers selflessly served in 2008 so that 1600 people can spend eternity with Jesus.  Numbers do matter.
Thank you for you and your passion to make the name of Jesus famous.  Thank you for your willingness to do whatever, whenever.  Thank you for embracing change.  Thank you for loving people where they are.  Thank you for being committed and contagious.
As we move forward and embrace the huge numbers of people who will be attending NewSpring over the next year we are adding back the 4:15pm service on Sunday, January 18th.  As we staff the 4:15pm volunteer opportunities please let your leader or staff coordinator know if you would like to step into serving at this service time.  Your leader or coordinator may be contacting you about this opportunity within the next few weeks.