Life Church of Athens

a note from the new guy

2009-01-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

To those of you who have read this blog before, welcome back! To those of you who are just now finding our little blog spot, glad you found us and we hope to hear back from you! The team and I are going to do our best to make this blog a little more active with announcements, thoughts, discussions, etc. Check back regularly!

I just want to take a minute to introduce myself to everyone. My name is William Sadler and I am the new music and student minister at Life Church. I'm originally from Albany, Ga. where I was on staff at Sherwood Baptist Church. I was called to Life Church in November and I moved to Athens about 2 weeks ago. It has been absolutely awesome getting to meet so many new folks here in Athens and I am very excited to see what the Lord is going to do in the future with Life Church as we seek to make him famous!

For my first of many posts, I would like to just briefly share some of my thoughts regarding Life Church and Athens.

Life Church is an amazing place to be. Primarily because of all the folks that make up the body. Young, old, traditional, contemporary, etc., it's all represented at Life Church, yet everyone is united and striving towards the same goal: reach Athens with the life changing news of Jesus Christ.

It's exciting to see and hear about how the Lord has already so richly blessed our church with answered prayer(s) and countless blessings. The testimonies we have heard are just another testament to our God's faithfulness and mercy. I personally count it an awesome blessing to be a part of Life Church!

Athens has been a really fun place to live thus far. I'm slowly learning my way around town. (Note: If you see a white GMC Jimmy with UNC stickers on it riding aimlessly around town, please do me a favor and flag me down, ask me where I'm trying to go, give me directions and send me on my way. Thanks!) The town is beautiful. My roommate gave me a tour of campus this past weekend and I absolutely loved it. I can't wait to attend a football game (my first) come September. The folks here have been great. No doubt they deal with a lot of new people coming into town pretty regularly, so they've all been very quick to help out. The restaurants in Athens are second to none. Every new place I've been able to try has been outstanding! I still have a long way to go before I've tried them all, but I'm doing me best to try at least 2-3 new places a week. All in all I have really enjoyed my first few weeks in bulldog country and I look forward to continuing ministry and life here for a long time to come!

Thanks for reading,

-William

$10 Impacts The Kingdom - Again!

2008-10-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

(We are continuing to share how people used the $10 Life Church gave them as a part of the LIFE challenge to impact the community.) JAY AND BETSY BOSLEY WRITE: We have been debating on and waiting for a good time and a good way to use the life church money. We thought about the drive through thing but wanted some more interaction with people. Tonight was that night. One of those guys trying to sell a vacuum cleaner came by and cleaned our couches for free. I talked to him the whole time and found out he had lost his job at a plant in Thomaston Georgia and had moved here looking for work. This was his first week on the job and he only gets paid if he can do 24 demos. At the end of the time I told him that people at my church were trying to buy someone a free lunch this week and so I was wondering if I could give him $10 for his lunch tomorrow. You would have thought I handed him $100. He was so grateful and couldn’t even believe it. I also gave him a Life Church card and he said he is going to try and come this week.

FIREPROOFING YOUR MARRIAGE!

2008-10-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks - have you all seen the movie FIREPROOF yet? Please make time to do so - it is awesome! Take some friends with you. Really gives an important message about relationships that we all need to see - please go!

Also, wanted to remind you all that we will begin a 3-week series THIS SUNDAY at Life Church on "Fireproofing Your Marriage". The first 2 weeks we will go through 6 steps on how to affair-proof your marriage and then the last week, we will take a look at "Rebuilding After a Fire!" Please help us spread the word. See you there!

And can I digress just a second and something? OK - here it is - GO DAWGS!!!!

Pastor Tim
PS - I would still like to hear from more of you about the LIFE 101 challenge!

FREE WATER! More Life 101 action.

2008-10-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you know how we used the Life 101 challenge. ...I guess that I am one of those people where a tree stump makes me sweat...The Chaneys decided to hand out Free Water! Instead of just reaching 10 possible people, I decided to use the ten dollars to buy 2 packs (around 50 bottles) of water). I figured this could reach lots of people in a small way. One of the main reasons that it has taken so long for me to get back to you is that we were waiting for a saturday that we didnt have a football game so that we could hand out the water as a family. So, anyway. we decided to go to the intramural fields and hand out water to people who were exercising. We set up our camp near the forest trail at the back of the fields. It was a great success! There were only 2 couples that didnt want water, one was araid of getting a cramp and the other had just started their walk and had lots of water with them. People were very interested in why we were handing out free water. The conversation almost always led to what church we go to and what made your church want to do a project like this. It was so easy to use the water as a segway to conversastion with strangers. When I approaced someone about a bottle of Free Water, they were almost always taken aback and very very grateful. They said comments like it was so great that our church was giving back to the community and one family's experience was that churches were just a "holy huddle". I was also encouraged since maybe 80% of people were families coming to hike or walk pets on the trail. Since the girls were with me, it was easy to strike up things to say with them. Not to mention, Bella was like flagging people down wanting to give them water and tell them about Jesus! She admitted to me that she was actually nervous about doing it but I admitted that I was to and we prayed and asked God for boldness and away she went! Anyway, we have some bottles left and cant wait to find another opportunity to give them away.
Erica Chaney

YET ANOTHER - 101 Ways to Reach Your Community

2008-09-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

DAVID WILLIAMS WRITES: I completed my 101 way challenge this morning. I used the $10 and matched it with another $10. I wanted to put a face with the Life Church cards. So i bought Starbucks Coffee and donuts then sat outside a local Athens supermarket and gave them away. I allotted my self about 45 minutes to do this. I printed a little sign as placed it on side of the coffee container identifying Life Church. During this time i gave away about (8) cups of coffee and about a dozen donuts. After the 45 minutes i took the remaining coffee and donuts to a local business- where i knew the people, and left it with them. I probably spoke to 15 people that did not take either the coffee or the donuts, telling them what we were doing. It was a lot of fun.

What about you? Let us hear from you!
Pastor Tim

Louie Giglio - Indescribable

2008-09-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

August 31, we did something a bit different at Life Church - we showed the 2nd part (45 minutes) of Louie Giglio's "INDESCRIBABLE" DVD. I wondered how people would respond to a DVD for the whole service, but the jury is in - it was awesome! You could have heard a pin drop in the room by the time he got to talking about the whirlpool galaxy and then the X (we still believe it was a cross!) in the core. If you get a chance to see this and you have not already, do it! The theme of our LIFE 101 day that day was "A LIFE OF AWE AND WONDER". It worked!

Next Sunday - "A LIFE OF LOVE AND PASSION". See you there!

Pastor Tim

MORE - 101 Ways to Reach Your Community

2008-09-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Carlton Guthrie reports: I used a wrinkle on the idea from the book where the author put a dollar bill with a church card attached on the floor at the mall and witnessed people pick up the $ and look at the card and pass it along to their friends. I see families and people often sitting in the waiting room at the ER at St Mary's. There are vending machines in the main hallway around the corner. A couple of times a day, I will walk by and tape a dollar bill and church card along with a sticky note that says "NEED ONE?" Every time I go back by, the card and dollar are gone. Hopefully it is getting into the hands of someone who needed something nice to happen to them.

Wendy Fletcher writes: At a local department store, the checkout lady was talking to another employee with whom she was angry because her attempt to jump start his car the day – seems it resulted in a cable coming loose on her car, costing $65 in repairs, and missed wages. As I left, I handed her $5 of the $10 we were given and told her I knew it wouldn’t make up for the $65 she spent but that she could now only consider it only $60 and that I hoped God would bless her for doing that. In shock, she said “no, I can’t”, pushing the money away, but I told her to have a blessed day as I walked out and she said “thank you” and smiled.

One dollar was given to a man who clears off tables at a restaurant – he just sort of looked at me and said “thank you”.

Another dollar given to a Walmart Greeter – told her that I knew she didn’t make a lot of money but was thankful she did her job with a smile (yes, I know they are supposed to smile but not all do) told me I didn’t have to do that but I insisted and she smiled and said “thank you”.

ANOTHER $$$ IDEA

2008-08-25T14:46:00.001-07:00

Sandi Hembree writes: I wanted to share my idea about the 10 dollars. I am going to get packages of life savers and attach the Life Church cards as well as a gift tag that has the dollar bill attached with the saying, "Let Jesus be your Lifesaver". I am going to leave these anywhere I go.

Good idea Sandi. THANKS!

TEN BUCKS TO SHOW GOD'S LOVE!

2008-08-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

Remember a while back when I told you about our giving out some books (101 Ways to Reach Your Community) and some money to our people at Life Church? Well, listen to a couple of their experiences - more to come later:

Jenni Reid writes: You gave me a great idea today when you mentioned the woman at the well. I wrote John 4:13-14 of the front of 10 Life Church cards. I wrapped a dollar bill around each card, and Chris and I are going to tape the cards on drink machines around Athens. Just wanted to let you know since you asked for feedback.

Jenn Tomasevic writes: Hey, This was really fun! I have had the 10$ since you gave them to us 2 weeks ago and felt like they were burning a whole in my conscience-JUST DO IT! Was playing over in my mind. I had a few ideas, but I think the Just Do It was the fun part...I got dinner at Sonic tonight and decided to unload my "conscience" there! I asked my server about it and said I wanted to give him a bigger tip too and he said he'd have to ask his manager. I waited and the manager came out to talk to me. I told him that our church was challenged with this 10$ to go and show the love of God to people in a real way. He asked me about our church and if it was non-denominational and such questions, then said sure that the car hop could do it. The carhop came back out and I said " Okay, are you sure you feel comfortable doing this?" and he said yeah, so I said " You can just say sth. like this crazy lady came by and wanted me to give you this dollar off your meal and a card to her church." That was about it, we introduced ourselves and all too. I guess it just was a very fun rush to do it-I am excited to hear about what others have done. I don't feel all that original about it, but I "just" did it!

Like I said, more to come! Send us your story.
Pastor Tim

PERSONAL NOTE FROM PASTOR TIM

2008-08-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it was 2 years ago THIS WEEK that Life Church was born and had its first worship service! What an exciting and awesome time this has been! It is constantly a challenge to grow a solid, Biblical church in a transient college town and in such a liberal, humanistic atmosphere. BUT, God has blessed us and we plug on! PRAY for us! And, join our team if you have not already - we could use the extra players!

On a more personal note, it was 28 years ago this weekend that Kim and I were married in First Presbyterian Church in Kannapolis, NC. We had dated for 4 years, so it has now been 32 years that we have been together! I am a blessed man and Life Church is a blessed church to have such a godly woman as Kim in our lives! Thank you God!!!!

Pastor Tim

YOUTH and AWANA

2008-08-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last night was our back-to-school kickoff for Youth and AWANA. The AWANA went smoothly with a healthy number of adult workers and listeners present. We still have a large percentage of the kids coming from outside of the church - good! The Youth met at the Yarbroughs' house and after pizza, we watched ANSWERS IN GENESIS by Ken Ham. It was a little too deep for some of the younger youth, but most caught on well. The discussion afterwards was pretty lively - evolution vs. creation. I was amazed at just how DOGMATIC the schools are at "pushing" evolution and trying to make kids feel stupid who do not accept this flawed theory. PRAY for our kids! They really have a challenge in defending the faith in the midst of hostile and liberal school systems.

Sunday was great! And random stuff . . .

2008-08-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 17, we began our series, LIFE 101. The first topic was "A LIFE OF HOPE AND HAPPINESS". There were a LOT of first-time guests at Life Church for this service - and a couple of folks who returned after coming the last Sunday. The praise band was really "ON" too - GREAT!

You know, I am really excited about how well our folks do at being warm and welcoming - and people would notice if it were fake or contrived. Guess what? I really LIKE Life Church! Hey - it's a good thing for a pastor to like the church where he serves. Many pastors I know do not, so that makes me even more thankful for a great bunch of folks!

RANDOM STUFF - Can I be random for a minute? Went to the American Idol concert tour in Atlanta tonight. That really is good, family entertainment. My daughter, Lauren, got to meet Jason (with the dreadlocks) and wouldn't you know it? Our camera JAMMED as I was taking a photo of them together! Result? No photo! Made me sick!

Really late - thanks for checking out my blog. God is good!

Pastor Tim
www.lifechurchofathens.com

BY THE WAY . . . August 17th!

2008-08-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

LIFE 101 begins this Sunday at Life Church - an 8-week sermon series about LIFE. A life of HOPE, a life of VICTORY, a life of PEACE, a life of AWE, etc. You get the idea? After all, Jesus said that He came to give us LIFE - abundant LIFE. So, what does that really mean? We hope this will be a helpful and exciting series for a lot of people.

We sent a really nice 5.5 inch X 8.5 inch mailer to 50,000 homes in and around Athens last week. GREAT feedback and response so far!

Pastor Tim
www.lifechurchofathens.com

August 8-10 Weekend at LIFE

2008-08-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

WOW! If you missed last weekend at Life Church, you really missed it! Starting Friday at 6:00PM, we began a 36-hour prayer vigil in our new church offices. There were stations of prayer for the church, for friends, for the nation, for the world, for special requests, a station to take the Lord's Supper, a station to write down and then shred your sins, and a kneeling station for prayer. Our folks signed up for an hour or more at a time and prayed those 36 straight hours! The presence of God was powerful in that room!

Sunday AM, there was such an awesome sense of expectation. (Duh . . . do you think the prayer time had anything to do with that?) Our worship room was PACKED too. We watched video clips from Centri-Kid and Snowbird camps this summer, had some fantastic worship, and STIX (our movement-dance-drama group) closed out our worship time with a powerful performance. In the sermon, I used a big whiteboard and talked about the differences between "fishing" activities and "boating" activities, then challenged the church to leave the boat to go and become fishers of men. At the altar call, we gave everyone who made a commitment to get out of the boat (TONS of people!) a copy of the book, "101 WAYS TO REACH YOUR COMMUNITY" by Steve Sjogren. In each book, we put in an envelope with 10 one dollar bills with instructions to share this money in the community for the sake of the kingdom. We can hardly wait until testimonies of how people responded begin to trickle in.

After the service, we had a killer cookout! Hamburgers, hot dogs, slaw, beans, chips, and DESSERTS! This was a GREAT day! To GOD be the glory!

Pastor Tim
www.lifechurchofathens.com