Like many of you, I’ve developed some life-long friendships that mean the world to me. One of those is my friend Todd Lollis. Todd and I were roommates in college and seminary. We played jokes on each other and laughed and cried together. I even came close to getting him arrested one night but that’s another story. He’s just that kind of friend. Currently he’s serving as the Executive Pastor at Freedom Church in Acworth, GA (www.freedomchurch.tv)
Freedom Church had their first service on January 27, 2008 and since then, they’ve seen hundreds of people give their lives to Jesus. Not a few . . . HUNDREDS!!! They’ve had baptisms in the HUNDREDS also. Currently, they’re averaging around 600 people on Sunday mornings and they don’t even have a “church building.” They meet in a school and do things very different than the way you and I probably grew accustomed to.
But success in the church isn’t just about seeing people saved and baptized. That may be the most important thing, but it’s not supposed to be the end of the story. That’s where the hard work of discipleship begins. One of their core beliefs is to “Put God to the test” because they believe that they can’t “outgive” God.
Just this last week, their church decided to put God to the test. Instead of taking up an offering during their worship service, Freedom Church gave away $10,000 to their church members. They divided up the money in several portions, placed different amounts in envelopes, and asked the church members to be generous by giving their new money away to bless someone else. Some got an envelop with $1,000 and some got envelopes with $10.
To get the full effect on this level of generosity, check out these links below. The first is a news story that an Atlanta TV station did on them. The second link is the actual giving stories that people posted up on their website. This is a church doing generosity crazy good!! Praise God! May we all be generous people and generous churches!
How much do I owe you for the nice things you said :) Praise God for what He is doing through the Bless Back Project.
ReplyDeleteNot much . . . just another Waffle House experience!
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