I am so excited for this coming Sunday at Rolling Hills. This is our Commitment Sunday. This is the day we come together to invest in The NEXT 20 Years, The NEXT Generation, The NEXT Ministry, The NEXT Mission and the NEXT One. This coming Sunday will impact lives for generations to come. Yes!
As a church family, we have had six Capital Campaigns in our 20-year history. Every time God blew us away and did more than we could have ever dreamed or imagined. Our first Campaign was called Wildest Dreams. We were meeting in the movie theater, and God opened the door to possibly buy this gigantic warehouse close to downtown Franklin. It was on the market for multi-millions, and we only had a few thousand dollars in the bank. But, we prayed and invested together. In one Sunday, our young church family gave over 1 million dollars. It was awesome! Truly a miracle like the fish and the loaves.
With every Capital Campaign, we have seen God take whatever we put into His hands and multiply it in ways we could have never dreamed. God has stretched us and blessed us in incredible ways. When we did our last campaign, we did not even have a place for our Nolensville or Nashville campuses, but we gave sacrificially and God blessed us immeasurably. Every time we look back and say, “Only God.”
Jesus talked about money almost more than any other subject. Why? Because it is a trust issue. Do we trust more in money or more in God? Jesus knows money is the chief competitor for our hearts. So, when we pray, stretch and give, we are demonstrating our faith and our trust in God. We are investing in the eternal. I have never regretted being generous. I have regretted a lot of the things I have bought in this world, but never invested in God’s work.
The Early Church came together and gave (Acts 5). Paul challenged all the churches he ministered to and pastored to invest financially in the Lord’s work (2 Corinthians 8-9). David, Solomon and the people of God in the Old Testament all came together to give and do something great for God. And, now this is our time and our turn.
As God’s Church today, we should set a new level of giving. We live in the wealthiest nation that has ever existed in the world. And, if you live in Williamson County then we are in the seventh wealthiest county in the wealthiest nation in the world. If you live in the United States, then we are in the top 95% of the wealthiest people in the world. This is truly an incredible time for us to give back to the God who has given us so much. God so loved us that He gave His one and only Son – to you! Then, He lavished blessing after blessing on us. Let’s give back to Him!
One of the greatest pictures in my mind is from our first Capital Campaign at Rolling Hills. We were meeting in the movie theater and we placed a wheelbarrow down front for us to come and place our Commitment cards. Before the adults came, our kids – our own children – came in first. They walked in a line up the side of the theater with their piggy banks. We thought they would pull out a few coins to drop them in. But, as they came up to the wheelbarrow, they took their piggy banks and turned them upside down and shook every coin into the wheelbarrow as their offering to God. I can still hear the sound of their coins hitting the wheelbarrow and seeing their joy of giving everything to God. After that, there was not a dry eye in the theater. All of us adults came down and gave what we had planned – and even more.
Today we are worshipping in five campuses plus online with thousands of men, women and students and children, sponsoring thousands of orphans in Moldova, investing in churches and pastors in the Amazon, serving the poor and underesourced in our own city and country, and still saying, “Only God.” Jesus always takes our sacrifice and does immeasurably more. All glory to our great God!
Don’t miss it! Don’t miss Commitment Sunday, this coming Sunday, November 12. You show up prayed up and ready to commit, then get ready to see God show off. He will do immeasurably more in your own life personally, in your family and in His Church. We are truly a part of something very special. Let’s give God our best this coming Sunday. I can’t wait to commit with you on Sunday and then see what our God will do…NEXT!