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

Jesus was a master at using images, stories and metaphors to communicate kingdom truth, and on Monday at our Urgent Covenant Meeting we sought to do the same. Those present had the opportunity to get an eastern NC river rock, and I hope your family picked one up. (If not, stand by for how and when to get yours.) We thought it would a great way to make a kingdom and Covenant point.

The relevance of river rocks is found in Joshua chapter 4. Through Joshua, God instructed each of the twelve tribes to get a rock from the Jordan River. The nation of Israel had just miraculously passed through the river on dry ground, and God thought it best to guarantee their collective memory. By building a monument, those present and those in the future would more easily remember His amazing and faithful provision.

Sounds like a good plan for us as well.

In the coming weeks, you will be hearing much more about Crossing Together; a process of completing a journey Covenant began years ago; it’s one we will be completing as a congregation in the next 12 months or so.
If you were not with us, I hope you are curious.

We will be sharing this same urgent Covenant update at three upcoming Town Hall Meetings for those that were not able to attend. Since we took attendance on Monday night, we will be sending out targeted invitations to those who couldn’t make it, so everyone can hear directly from Branson and get their rock.

The dates and times are as follows: March 24 and 25th at 7PM; March 28th at 6PM.

PromiseKids will be available for each, so be on the lookout for a postcard reminder or our weekend bulletin for specific instructions.

We can never do enough to remind ourselves of God’s goodness and the urgency of getting the Gospel message out to the lost sheep Jesus cared for so much.

Please be sure get your rock!

Remembering Grace,
Charlie

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.