Look up! God says your future is bright!
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
It’s Saturday morning and nice and quiet in the house. I’m excited about sharing the Word this weekend on “the Life and Power of Words.” This may be the busiest time in my life. God is doing some amazing things at Summit Church. We are preparing to launch our third campus in New York City on 10.10.10. Really, God has been preparing me for this the past few years. When we moved into the theater in Indianapolis, we documented procedures for the setting up and tearing down of equipment, along with step-by-step procedures for each service department. Not only that, but the launch of “the City” (which will officially launch on 4 July, although you can jump on now if you like) provides the framework to help us to connect to one another, build community, and manage our multi-site structure. In the next post, I’ll share some details about how God supernaturally brought in the New York vision to Summit Church.
What an amazing, life-changing, historic Encounter we had last Sunday! Wow!!! I’m still high in the spirit about what happened. Let me catch my breath. The following took place on Sunday morning at the Fort Wayne campus. First of all, during Communion at the beginning of the encounter, I noticed that our guest speaker, Pastor Charles Kearse, was weeping on the front row. Then, when he got up to minister he had a connection card in his hand and announced that he filled it out to become a member of Summit! At first, I thought he was joking, but then soon realized that he was serious and I walked up and received it from his hand. Oh, let me tell you what happened on Saturday night at the encounter. Pastor Charles heard me speak about Floyd Thomas, our band director, but he had never seen him. On Saturday night, he saw Floyd on stage but didn’t know who he was. He told Floyd that he had a dream three nights ago about ministering at Summit and saw him in a dream. He proceeded to speak into Floyd’s life and tell him that God has some big things in store for him. After the encounter, he met Floyd in my office and it blew him away when he found out that it was Floyd who he saw in his dream! And it was Floyd, who told me that God was going to give us a site in New York City. BTW, Floyd really has the multi-site vision in his heart big-time and is fully aligned with my vision. In fact, we talk about multi-site frequently. Anyway, and oh, let me tell you this! Whoa, I’m so excited. While in Boston several weeks ago, I took a train to New York, I thought just to visit the Apple store and mess around. But really God used that time to give me a vision of NYC! Amazing! Instead of taking a cab, I decided to walk to the Apple store and take in all the wonderful sights in between. I love NYC (should’ve got one of those hats)! While I walked, I thought about all the shops and the things I saw on the way –Times Square, the United Nations building, the New York Times, and of course, Starbucks all over the place! And I wondered what is going on spiritually here? There are some strong ministries here, no doubt. That said, I thought that a Summit site here has the potential to make a tremendous impact on the people of New York who God loves and sent his son to die for. There are so, so many people to be ministered to there.
Now, I know how to do multi-site. I wouldn’t say I have it perfected, but I have a good handle on it. But the challenge about New York is, I don’t know the city. And in a big city like that, if you don’t know what you doing, that city will chew you up and spit you out :-) But, New York was not anywhere in my current plans. In fact, I have been in a “still” mode before God regarding direction for where to launch campuses and which one is next. Well, that’s enough for today. I’ll pick up on this story tomorrow.
Please pray for the New York launch.
Yes, this is real exciting. It sounded like you were about to jump in this blog and finish telling the story. LOL...awesome!!
Praise God, this means more lives being changed! Glory!!!
Posted by: Carla Jennings | June 13, 2010 at 01:03 AM
WOW! amazing I didn't know about the Floyd thing but this just keeps on showing me how this is ALL God! so glad to be apart of a Global Ministy! Tulsa Location, claiming it now so i'll have a Summit there :) I'm in 100000 percent!
Posted by: Amber Barron | June 13, 2010 at 06:22 PM
Thanks Hun!
Posted by: Al Jennings | June 13, 2010 at 09:23 PM
Amber: lol! BTW, congrats on your graduation! God has wonderful things in store for you!
Posted by: Al Jennings | June 13, 2010 at 09:25 PM
awww I have the nicest Pastor on the planet! Thanks for planting seeds in me, now i can take it all around the world! :) your awesome. Thanks for being such a cutting edge person,i can be there at Summit when i'm in Tulsa!
Posted by: Amber Barron | June 15, 2010 at 11:47 AM