Of course, the problem is that it’s a long way away! First, we lived in Fuquay-Varina. Then we moved an hour east to Bailey, and now we are another hour east of Bailey. So, these days, it takes 17 hours for us to drive from Greenville to Champaign.

And each year, we dread that long drive. We get all geared up with snacks, books on tape and reading material, and we set out hoping to stop as few times as possible. In our earlier (dumber) days, we tried to drive straight through, but for the last 15, we’ve stopped for the night. We’ve determined that the halfway point is Charleston, West Virginia.

Yet, seems like it takes forever to get to Charleston! Every other family seems to be traveling at the same time, and I-40 is bumper to bumper. This year, road construction on I-40 caused long delays. We finally arrived at our hotel after midnight and completely exhausted!

The next morning, we all got up with a renewed energy, however. We were only halfway there, but the next day seemed like NOTHING! The toughest leg of the journey was over, and it felt like we were almost there! We arrived excited and ready for a great week with Teff’s parents.

Likewise, believe it or not, we have completed five months of Crossing Together (our one-year initiative to complete Phase I of our building process) and we are HALFWAY there!

When we started Crossing Together, $1.44 million seemed insurmountable to raise in one year. Incredibly, gift by gift, given family by family over five months, has gotten us halfway there.

Hopefully from here, we will gain new energy and be encouraged to finish strong by next June!

So, I say,…let’s celebrate! To commemorate where we are as a congregation, we are going to have another Crossing Together celebration during worship to give praise to our God who continues to lead us! Mark the weekend of December 18/19 as we will cheer the halfway mark!

Branson

Many of you were here for my opening message in the new series called, “Sound the Alarm!” As you know, I presented the alarming fact that the Church in North America has lost (and is continuing to lose) an entire generation of its young people. Something has to be done, and it’s really up to us. If you weren’t here last weekend, click here to listen to the message: http://connect2covenant.com/media

For many of us, the problem seems so daunting and wide-spread, and we’re tempted to believe that there is not much that any of us can do. Don’t believe it! Nothing will happen until people like us decide that we are determined NOT to lose our children, and that our families will NOT look like the culture around us. It’s got to start somewhere, why not with a few of us?

A great example of an entire culture being transformed is the story of John Wesley. The efforts of one man not only fueled a great revival in England, but those efforts eventually brought about the transformation of whole nations.

18th century England was a grim place to live. The Industrial Revolution drew thousands of people to the large cities, but poor working and living conditions actually produced a miserable existence for many of those workers. Rampant disease, alcoholism, starvation, unsafe working conditions, child labor that was closer to slavery than anything else, and hopelessness were the norms. The Church of England was a place for the affluent to gather rather than the body to carry out the work of Christ, so the status quo was simply perpetuated generation after generation.

Then along came one man, John Wesley, who got converted and set out to (as he described it) spread scriptural holiness over the whole land. They began to preach to the poor and broken people of England, and it lit a fire that became one of the largest and most radical social movements of all time. By the end of his life, there were hundreds of thousands of people who called themselves Methodists (for their counter-cultural methods!) who were not only living for Jesus but also changing the culture in which they lived. Wesley’s work was not just preaching about Jesus. He put living for Jesus into practice by opening a medicine shop to serve poor people, providing free education for the children of factory and mine workers, starting a number of orphanages and homes for the elderly, and working for change in conditions that exploited people. Eventually, some of these Methodists went to other places (Australia, India, and the 13 colonies), and continued to live their lives in a way that changed the culture around them.

Change like that is possible today even in the culture in which we live. It will start when some regular people like us make the decision that we are going to live differently and raise our children to love God with all their heart, soul and strength. The more that happens, the more Covenant will impact everyone and everything around us. It could get very exciting, or even dangerous!

So, what about you? What do you think would make it dangerous for us? What excites you most when thinking about cultural shifts like this?

See you this weekend!
Branson

The way airlines charge for extra weight these days, there is a fifty pound limit, so you have to pack wisely. That means all clothes, toiletries, snacks, mosquito netting, and bedding for the whole trip has to fit in that one suitcase. So far, she is five for five! When each student has arrived at the airport, their bags have all been less than fifty pounds.

It is amazing to me to watch these high schoolers boldly going to other continents to serve Jesus and tell others about what He has done for them. When I was their age, I was playing baseball, going to the beach, and working in the tobacco field all summer. Maybe the opportunities were there to go, but I don’t believe that I would ever have dreamed of leaving home to serve as a missionary. Frankly, I was scared that Jesus MIGHT call me to go and I really didn’t want to. These young people will all tell you they believe they were called to go!

God seems to be developing a culture of going here at Covenant these days. It is no longer enough to support missions; now the Holy Spirit is calling us to go out into the entire world.

We’ve had over 30 people go to the Dominican Republic this summer, and we’ve got another large group going in August. We sent people from Covenant to Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and other parts of North America this year, plus there are hundreds of people now serving at what has become known as the Redemption Zone in West Greenville.

Personally, I am excited about this new “Culture of Go.” I believe we are becoming the kind of church Jesus can really be proud of as we mirror His commission in the Book of Acts:

Acts 1:8 (NLT) “But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

How about you? Will you be the next to GO?

I wonder, if you have been going recently, would you offer some encouragement to others who are thinking about it? Leave your comments below.

See you this weekend.
Branson

First, there was “the number.” As you know, I did not announce the total amount of our commitments together, mostly because everyone had not had the opportunity to turn in a card. Over the last three weeks, we’ve had another 100+ families join in the task of “finishing what we had started” three and years ago when we began our expansion. When I announced the number this past weekend, the worship center was electric.

Just imagine: We said we needed $1.4 million. Then, all of us went to the Lord individually and asked him what we should give. And- the total came out to $1.43 million!

One Covenant worshiper told me after she heard the announcement that she was absolutely floored as she realized that God had given us exactly what we needed…plus a little! The expectation was exactly where it should be, as we realized that it really wasn’t about us, or about what we were doing individually. We were excited instead to hear what God had chosen to do through us.

Then, there was the offering itself. How fun was that? I was thrilled to be among hundreds of Covenant families that placed envelopes in one of our baskets down front. What a unifying event it was to stand and sing about the goodness of God and to be living it out together in that moment. The offering was so exciting that we had over $19,000 in IOU’s from people who wanted to bring their gift in this week! Now, that is cool! In the end, we gave over $190,000 together toward our commitments in one day (about 14% of the whole thing)!

What a journey we’ve been on, studying scripture together and discerning what God wants for each of us individually and as a church body in crossing our own “Jordan River” as a whole! Through the stories and the events that have unfolded, it has been increasingly apparent that God is completely in control of our Crossing Together. I am proud of the great enthusiasm with which we have forged ahead together. When God’s people identify a goal, work through the issues together and prayerfully discern individual involvement, the results are beautiful. The hard work is worth it, and this spring’s initiative has been no different.

It will be hard to follow such a grand moment of celebration like the one we experienced this weekend. My hope, though, is that we will be able to celebrate many milestones in Crossing Together all year long. Just this weekend, we had quite a few families get excited and turn in their own commitment cards, now promising their presence and commitment as well. Now, we are a few stronger in our Crossing Together journey.

Again, I am so proud of our dedication as a church body to discern and follow through with God’s calling. Isn’t it amazing what can be accomplished when we truly and intentionally follow Jesus together?

See you this weekend!
Branson

A new role emerges: Executive Director of Ministry

One of the great benefits of working at Covenant has been having a right-hand man. In my last church, I did a little of everything from preaching to plumbing! At Covenant, however, I have been able to focus more time on the things I do best because of Charlie’s capacity to partner with me in leading this church. I know I need strong partners to steer this big ship.

The complexity of the Executive Director’s role at Covenant has grown a lot over his eight years on staff, and it is now time to split this job. We are not filling Charlie’s role but establishing a new staff position to manage a portion of what Charlie has been overseeing. The new position will be called Executive Director of Ministry.

This new position will oversee four of our five ministry “PODS” including Congregational Ministry, Outreach, Creative Arts and Next Generation (see diagram) and insure they are working together to fulfill the church’s vision to “intentionally follow Jesus…” Specifically, this staff leader will: (1) partner with me to drive a gift-based, passion-driven ministry; (2) facilitate and coordinate the implementation of the church’s ministry strategy and; (3) train, encourage and organize related equipping staff to remain focused on the mission.

I am greatly encouraged we have found a wonderful person for this new role. His name is Joe Cox.

Joe is well known in Greenville, having served St. James for 10 years in student ministry. His role at Covenant will be very different as he works with all ages and aspects of our discipleship ministries. He will also serve as the acting Director of Next Generation Ministries. (All PODS ideally have a Pastor and Director who partner together to provide holistic leadership to their ministry teams.) In this role, he will partner with the Pastor of Next Gen, Bob Wynn, and together, oversee all aspects of Preschool, Children’s, Student, College and 20 Something ministry.

Joe will begin his ministry at Covenant on July 1, and he is very excited about joining our staff team. This role will certainly allow him to provide broad leadership in all areas of our ministry. In a recent e-mail, he shared that “Marianne and I are both overwhelmed and overjoyed to come to Greenville again and to serve in a fabulous Kingdom ministry. It is truly an honor and a privilege to be invited by God to be a part of His ongoing work at Covenant Church.”

I look forward to serving with Joe in the years ahead and our partnership in the Gospel here at Covenant. Thank you, Lord!

There are also transitions beginning as a result of Mary Lou’s departure as a Guest Coordinator under Darlynn’s leadership in Congregational Ministry. Mary Lou has been grace-filled glue for our guest services during weekend worship services as well as our First Steps process and related care ministries. At the current time, we are discerning the best way to manage her departure and exploring the possibilities.

Finally, we have some staffing shifts emerging in Next Generation as we manage the significant growth that has been occurring. If you haven’t noticed, we have a ton more children each weekend now that we are in our new space, and our staffing roles need to evolve with this blessing. To better oversee and guide the ministry – and in keeping with our staff’s gifting – we are shifting the roles of Christine Schwager and Melissa Norris. Christine will partner with Joe to be air traffic controller for all “Next Gen” ministries and provide the critical planning support that is needed. Melissa will shift into a program oversight for all weekend children’s ministry. The result: We will be hiring two, new part-time roles in the Garden and Tree House. (The Garden opening is currently posted on website.) This week we are also blessing and saying good-bye to Mandi Nichols who has been serving our student ministry. She has discerned her next, right step is related to coaching and training as she did prior to her Covenant staff role.

I am excited about all of the future at Covenant. Growing churches don’t sit still. We certainly aren’t! Let’s keep advancing the Kingdom! Get ready for this weekend.

Branson

About ten years ago, I noticed that occasionally I sounded hoarse and had trouble with a raspy-sounding voice. I didn’t realize that it started with preaching. It was most apparent when trying to conduct a meeting, but ultimately it did affect my ability to speak in public.

People had their theories:

“You must be preaching too much (four services on the weekends).”
“You must be straining it by talking too loudly.”
“You must have allergies you don’t know about.”

Well, eventually I went to my doctor and then an ENT specialist, and then to a speech therapy clinic. The therapist told me my problem was most likely a combination of diet, posture, and lack of vocal exercise. So, I followed her prescription and started exercising my vocal cords any time I felt an attack coming on. (You won’t hear me doing it…the exercises are just too weird-sounding!).

Thankfully, these exercises have done the trick for about ten years. Unless I have had a cold that affected my chest, my voice has been pretty strong. UNTIL, this year! I’ve had three flair-ups since Christmas, the latest being the night of the Urgent Covenant Meeting. One of our newest Covenant members is a speech therapist, and she suggested that we take a look at my vocal cords.

Getting a picture of my cords would show whether I had an infection, or nodules, or lesions down there. It would reveal if the vocal cords were not closing correctly and would point out any swelling. Mostly, the picture would remove all the doubts and uncertainty about what I had been experiencing.

Good news, by the way! I do not have anything that requires surgery. My vocal cords (My doctor calls them “my instrument” since I use them so much professionally) looked pretty clear. There was evidence of a little swelling, which explains why I have been a little hoarse lately. I’m now on some medicines, AND I am getting tested for some allergic reactions that might cause my throat and nasal passages to react negatively. The picture made things crystal clear.

In a similar way, we invited everyone who calls Covenant home to something called an Urgent Covenant Meeting last Monday night. The response was overwhelming. We had between 600 and 800 people come out on a Monday! What was it about? Simply put, we needed everyone to see a picture. The foundational piece of the presentation was a video called “A Three Circle Story.” Everyone who attended the meeting got a clear picture of our continuing vision as a church as well as our challenge for the next 12 months. We all left with a sense of unity and with a “take away” in our hands.

It’s not too late for you if you were not able to attend the Urgent Covenant Meeting. We are having a series of TOWN HALL MEETINGS this week, so share the picture with those who missed it. We want everyone who calls Covenant home to understand our corporate challenge for the next year. You can choose any of these three to come to…I will be there to make a short presentation, and we will show you a few clips from the Urgent Meeting. At the end, there will be time for Q&A. I do not anticipate these meetings will last longer than an hour.

Here is the list of Town Hall Meetings with times and places:

Wed, Mar 24 @ 7pm (West Campus Student Center)
Thu, Mar 25 @ 7pm (Main Campus 203)
Sun, Mar 28 @ 6pm (West Campus 102)

By the way, if you came to the Urgent Meeting and still have questions, please come out to one of the Town Hall Meetings. I, or one of my teammates from the C-Team or the Steering Team, will do our best to answer your questions. I hope to see you there!

And one last thing. Easter is next weekend, and we have a very special and powerful experience planned. Our big question to folks is simply, “Who will you invite this year?” All the advertising in the world couldn’t replace the simplicity and sincerity of a personal invitation from a friend or colleague.

Thanks.
Branson

We have multiple services. We print vital information in the bulletin. But, if it’s really important stuff, I speak it out loud. I always try to say things the same way at the Saturday service and at both services on Sunday. Sometimes, however, I go home wondering if I shared the information with all three groups the same way.

Not everyone comes every week. On any given weekend, we may only have ½ to ¾ of our folks in attendance. There is never a weekend when everyone is here.

People come late. Sometimes when I share information that everyone needs to know at the traditional time for such communication—the announcement time—there are those who miss what has been said because they’re not yet in their seats.

Not everyone reads the mail or emails from Covenant. I understand. I don’t read everything sent to me, either. We send out things, knowing that ministry briefings, Web announcements, and letters in the mail don’t communicate to everyone. Even the readership of the Covenant Weekly (which you are reading now, thank you!) is only about 23% of those who actually receive it!

Hence, you now understand the reason for next week’s Urgent Covenant Meeting. We need all those who call Covenant their church home to come….everyone who has a stake in the mission to which our Lord has called this church.

Let me calm your fears. This meeting is urgent, but it’s not an emergency. There has been no scandal, and no staff people are leaving. We call it “urgent” rather than just “important” because some of the information that we need to share with you is time-sensitive. We are asking you to come because we need for everyone to hear the information in person and, preferably, at the same time.

At this meeting, we will be updating everyone on the next phase of Covenant’s ministry. It has been very clear to me and our staff team that we have many people (including many of our most faithful and regular servants) who are in the “dark” about our next steps. I would like to have an opportunity to briefly share about some specific directions that we believe are vital to the work of God at Covenant over the next year.

We will also hear from Don Cousins, a trusted and seasoned ministry partner to our church over the years. Don’s training material, called LeaderShift, is the primary textbook for us as we train leaders and ask God for guidance into the future. He is the former Executive Director for one of the country’s largest churches. Don will give us an encouraging word as we embark upon our next journey of faith as a church.

So, I’m inviting you to come out on a Monday night for a congregational meeting. As the name states, it’s vital that you attend and that you know meetings like this one are not the norm at our church. We simply want everyone to be on the same page!

Branson

PS. Please register (if you haven’t done so already) by clicking here. If you need childcare (through 5th grade), you can sign kids up on this same form as well.

As a church, we’ve been asking ourselves the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Over time, we’ve discerned the Holy Spirit leading us to focus our neighborly efforts in three places: West Greenville, the Dominican Republic and our Main Campus.

This weekend, we’ve prepared an innovative worship experience to take you to all three of these strategic locations via our fictitious CovenantAir.

On Saturday night and Sunday morning, we will “take off” for West Greenville where all of us will be participating in a neighborhood block party right here on campus. There will be music, dancing and drama that will be out of the ordinary for a Covenant worship service, but I think it will be obvious that what God is doing on one city block in Greenville is truly the work of the redemption of individual souls and of a part of our city.

We’re then going to “fly” you to the DR, where for the last four years, our church (hundreds of Covenant people) has been concentrating our efforts in La Romana in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the world. Partnering with a number of local Methodist pastors there, we are connecting with these neighbors to make a physical and spiritual difference that has truly eternal value.

We’ll have a layover in the DR and then, Sunday night, I strongly encourage you to catch the return flight at 6pm as we fly back to our main campus to continue to share what God is calling us as a church to do in Greenville and beyond, including a very special and intentional Night of Worship. It will be a night that you will not soon forget!

A couple of reminders:

Remember that we’re inviting everyone to arrive 10 minutes before the flight begins!

Also, remember that we’re encouraging families with children to come to the Saturday night service this week and stay for the Fiesta to follow!

See you this weekend!
Branson

Not that the other three weeks of our “No Regrets” series haven’t been powerful, but I, like many of you, were blown away as hundreds of people during the weekend remained in their seats instead of taking communion. People took me up on the challenge to bypass receiving the elements this month until they could make a relationship right, forgive someone who had hurt them, or at least, “as far as it depends on us…make every effort” possible to repair brokenness in a relationship.

I talked to dozens of people. They all have stories similar to these (paraphrases):

I want you to know that I stayed in my seat Sunday. I realized as you were speaking that I have some people I need to talk to.

I did not take communion today. I haven’t talked to my sister in years so I went home and wrote her a long letter…

I got up after church and went right over to someone that I am not right with and asked them to forgive me…

You might have noticed I did not take communion. I had a conversation last week that did not end right…I’ve got to do something about that this week…

I knew that I could not take communion Saturday night. I have someone who has hurt me deeply, and I know I need to forgive them. Could you share some steps…

All I could say is…WOW! I was struck by so many people humbling themselves in this way. I was impressed that so many people took Jesus at his word in Matthew 6: “Leave your gift at the altar, go make it right with that person, and then come back and worship.”

It occurred to me later that an even bigger thing was going on at Covenant Church this weekend. As a corporate body, I believe we are becoming more and more open to the words God is whispering to us through His Spirit. As a church, we desperately want to be people who are intentional about our walk with Jesus.

That’s why this weekend was so incredible. When we get the little things right, God can really use us. I believe that the Lord has some big plans for us in the future, and we are making it our business to get ready!

By the way, it’s not too late to respond to the message of the week. If there is anyone you are not right with, then humble yourself and apologize, forgive, make up, or whatever you need to do. You don’t want to get to the end of your life with a trail of broken relationships.

Branson

Apparently Jesus understood the power of a small contribution. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a tiny, little mustard seed. It starts small and then becomes a tall and powerful tree. You might remember that Jesus said if our faith is even the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains.

Many times we think that our small acts of service, our individual steps of faith, or seemingly small monetary gifts don’t count for much. What a strategy of Satan! “It won’t matter if you worship today. No one will miss you in that big crowd. Why give that little bit of money. My tithe is not significant and won’t make any real impact in the total offering. It won’t matter if I show up for my turn in the nursery today.”

Nonsense! What difference can one person make? The answer, of course is…a lot!

Being a student of God’s word today will not change me much, but if I make it a regular habit, the scriptures will change my character over time.

Last week, we collected a $25,000 offering to help the Haitian people recover from their disastrous earthquake. We had a few $1000 checks, but the most prominent monetary units in the offering were ONE DOLLAR BILLS.

I’m discipling one man right now. Just one! Imagine, though, if I were to keep doing that over and over; eventually I would have helped a whole army of men become mature in their faith.

That’s the way the Kingdom works. The Holy Spirit speaks to one person about their sin. They are moved to repent, to turn away from that sin. They make decisions about honoring Jesus with their lives. They grow. They take a small step of faith and then the Spirit speaks to them about another area of their life. They learn what obedience is and they take some more small steps of faith. Eventually, they are much more mature than they even realized.

In a church like Covenant, there are hundreds of people going through a similar process of taking small steps of faith as they learn to listen to the Lord’s leading in their lives. Individually, it may not look like much, but together it’s a powerful movement of God!

What about you? What small steps have you been taking that you have considered to be insignificant? Will you share it with us and, in doing so, encourage others who will read this article and your experience with this? Please comment now.

See you this weekend,
Branson