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We Are Called To Be- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: We are loved, we are chosen, We are blessed.
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Speaker 2: We are renewed, we are gifted, we are empowered, we
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Speaker 2: are sick.
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Speaker 3: We are called. Whether you're watching online or in person,
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Speaker 3: we're very, very grateful that you're here in congratulations on
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Speaker 3: surviving Easter weekend. That was a wonderful weekend for the
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Speaker 3: Oak Hill Church. We had over fifteen thousand in attendance
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Speaker 3: and twenty different services around the city and in the
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Speaker 3: Hill country. And we're so very, very grateful. I was
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Speaker 3: a little concerned. One man came up to me and said,
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Speaker 3: that was really a great Easter sermon. I think it's
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Speaker 3: good enough to last me until Christmas. Wasn't my intent,
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Speaker 3: but isn't it great to have something to celebrate on
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Speaker 3: Easter weekend? Isn't it great? Don't you love being a Christian?
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Speaker 3: Don't you love the thought that every sin is forgiven,
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Speaker 3: the thought that it doesn't depend on your grip on God,
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Speaker 3: but it depends on God's grip on you, and his
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Speaker 3: grip is sure. Aren't you glad? God didn't say, now
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Speaker 3: clean up before you come in. He said, come in
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Speaker 3: and I'll clean you up. And it great being a
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Speaker 3: Christian isn't it great? Waking up with the knowledge that
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Speaker 3: today could be the day the day it could be
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Speaker 3: the day that the sky's opened, the trumpet blasts, and
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Speaker 3: the call from Heaven comes, and Christ descends that great
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Speaker 3: and that God presses that thumb against the collective cheeks
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Speaker 3: of humanity, and once and for all wipes away every tear,
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Speaker 3: every fear. Death is defeated, sin is defaned, and the
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Speaker 3: new Kingdom is ushered in. That could happen today, But
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Speaker 3: if it doesn't, that's okay, because we believe that all
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Speaker 3: things work together for good for those who love Him
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Speaker 3: and are called according to His purpose. I don't like hassles,
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Speaker 3: but God says I can even take hassles and heartaches,
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Speaker 3: and I can weave them together into a tapestry of goodness.
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Speaker 3: Don't you love being a Christian and just resting under
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Speaker 3: the sovereign hand of God? Because I love being a Christian.
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Speaker 3: I love the church do. I love what we do.
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Speaker 3: I love what we're about. I don't love everything that
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Speaker 3: churches have done through the years, and I don't try
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Speaker 3: to defend churches, but I do believe that God's idea
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Speaker 3: of church is brilliant brilliant, and I do believe that
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Speaker 3: the Church will prevail. This is the promise of Jesus.
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Speaker 3: He said upon this rock, I will build my church.
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Speaker 3: That's a statement of fact. I will build my church,
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Speaker 3: and the gates of Hades, or the strategy sessions of
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Speaker 3: Hell will not prevail against it. In other words, the
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Speaker 3: Church will prevail, though Hell would attempt to cause her
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Speaker 3: not to do so. So as a part of the church,
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Speaker 3: you're a part of the only eternal organization in the
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Speaker 3: history of the world. This will last forever. We'll see
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Speaker 3: each other in heaven and say, oh, we were part
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Speaker 3: of the same congregation. And there's really one church in
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Speaker 3: the world with many congregations or expressions, and every healthy church, ever,
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Speaker 3: so often has to regroup and say, Okay, what's next.
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Speaker 3: Where we headed? What's God telling us to do? Now?
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Speaker 3: If you're a guest today, well, we're so grateful that
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Speaker 3: you're here and you happened our way on a weekend
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Speaker 3: in which we're beginning a four week series in which
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Speaker 3: we're talking about the future of our church. We're talking
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Speaker 3: about buildings, we're talking about money, we're talking about strategy.
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Speaker 3: So it's kind of like you found us at the
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Speaker 3: dinner table having a conversation about the family and what's next.
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Speaker 3: We're grateful that you're here. If you're a guest looking
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Speaker 3: for a church home, this is a perfect we for
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Speaker 3: you to be here because you're going to get to
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Speaker 3: see the heart of the church, find out what we're
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Speaker 3: all about. And if you're a member, boy, this is
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Speaker 3: especially important for you. And I'm hoping that you've already
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Speaker 3: engaged in these forty days of prayer. If not, please
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Speaker 3: plug in because we're dedicating forty days of prayer asking
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Speaker 3: God to help us to see what's next. Here's the situation.
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Speaker 3: We are at six campus church soon to be seven,
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Speaker 3: and two of our six campuses are at absolute capacity.
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Speaker 3: This campus as you look around on Sunday mornings, the
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Speaker 3: prime worship hours on Sunday mornings have been at capacity
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Speaker 3: now for seven years, seven years, and we're at the
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Speaker 3: point where we're putting overflow in overflow, and so we're
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Speaker 3: thinking and praying and the elders have been ahead of
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Speaker 3: this now for two years and we've come up with
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Speaker 3: a plan to build a new sanctuary on the Crown
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Speaker 3: Ridge campus that would seat twenty six hundred people and
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Speaker 3: then convert this room into a little bit nicer room
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Speaker 3: Goodbye Bleachers, in which we are able to have nine
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Speaker 3: hundred seats and have simultaneous worship services between the two rooms.
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Speaker 3: That would take us up to thirty five hundred, creating
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Speaker 3: more office space and children's space, and revamping all of
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Speaker 3: our children's space and adding new parking. So that's a
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Speaker 3: major facelift on this campus. Outer West. We have been
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Speaker 3: given a gift that has enabled us to purchase eleven
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Speaker 3: acres in the fastest growing part of our city. We've
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Speaker 3: already secured that property. Randy's going to be telling you
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Speaker 3: more about that next week, and our plan is to
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Speaker 3: build an eight hundred and fifty seat sanctuary there. We
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Speaker 3: have two ministries that we're thrilled to be a part of,
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Speaker 3: Pioneer Bible Translators translates the Bible for people who don't
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Speaker 3: have a Bible, and the Church in Tall Brazil. Those
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Speaker 3: two ministries we want to come alongside and get involved
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Speaker 3: in their work. We're already involved, get more involved in
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Speaker 3: their work. The idea is a thirty four million dollar project.
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Speaker 3: Four million dollars has already been earmarked and set apart.
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Speaker 3: Thirty million dollars we're praying about. We're asking every member
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Speaker 3: of the congregation, every regular attender of the congregation, to
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Speaker 3: engage in this conversation with us. This is kind of
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Speaker 3: how we do business here at Oak Hills. We're not
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Speaker 3: a part of a denomination, so we can't call the
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Speaker 3: headquarters and ask them, you know, to solve this issue
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Speaker 3: for us. We are who we are, this is the
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Speaker 3: Church of Oak Hills, and so we pray about it.
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Speaker 3: And one thing that we really encourage you to do
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Speaker 3: is pick up one of these books at Information Central
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Speaker 3: or download it online. Engage in this conversation with forty
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Speaker 3: days of prayer, get all of your questions answered, and
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Speaker 3: then on May second and third, we're going to receive
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Speaker 3: through your pledges in which Lord Willing will provide us
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Speaker 3: the resources that we need to take the next step.
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Speaker 3: One thing that's really helpful like this is as we're
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Speaker 3: looking forward, it's helpful to look back. Next week, Randy
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Speaker 3: is going to talk to us about what lies ahead,
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Speaker 3: and that is essential and exciting and wonderful. It's my
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Speaker 3: privilege to talk to us about what got us here,
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Speaker 3: how we arrived in this place, and so I'm going
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Speaker 3: to walk us through the Oak Hill scrap Book. Many
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Speaker 3: of you know this story. I would have a hunch though,
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Speaker 3: that all of you are going to learn something today
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Speaker 3: that you didn't know when you came in. Many people
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Speaker 3: are surprised to hear that our church began in nineteen
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Speaker 3: fifty seven ninety Some of you weren't even thought of
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Speaker 3: in nineteen fifty seven. A lot of people assume that
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Speaker 3: this is a relatively new congregation, but we're not. We've
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Speaker 3: been around a long time, and we trace our birth
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Speaker 3: all the way back to a meeting between four men
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Speaker 3: in a Balcone's Heights drug store north of downtown San Antonio,
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Speaker 3: in which fourign leaders from a church called Grove Avenue
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Speaker 3: Church of Christ. We're meeting to discuss the future of
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Speaker 3: San Antonio. Grove Avenue Church of Christ in her history
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Speaker 3: started sixteen congregations and then an accomplishment of a church
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Speaker 3: sixteen congregations. We are born out of that DNA. We're
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Speaker 3: all about the business of helping the city know Christ. Well.
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Speaker 3: The city had announced that a medical center was going
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Speaker 3: to be built in Northwest San Antonio. How many of
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Speaker 3: you have ever been to the medical center of Northwest
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Speaker 3: San Antonio. Well, these days. Nineteen fifty eight, it was
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Speaker 3: just an idea on a sheet of paper. The idea
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Speaker 3: was to build a medical center on near Fredericksburg Road
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Speaker 3: in Wurzbach. Back in those days, that area was like
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Speaker 3: Wimberly is today, like Hunt is today, just a single
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Speaker 3: black pop winding through dairy farms in ranches. Well, these
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Speaker 3: elders knew that the medical center was going to be
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Speaker 3: placed out there, and they thought, we need to get
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Speaker 3: a church out there. Eleven acres was for sale on
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Speaker 3: Fredericksburg Road. So these elders of the church were saying, now,
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Speaker 3: can we purchase this and help a church get started?
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Speaker 3: They said yes, And according to the minutes, one of
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Speaker 3: the elders, Lloyd Rutledge, said, well, somebody's got to write
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Speaker 3: the first check. And he reached in his pocket and
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Speaker 3: he pulled out a check book and wrote a check
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Speaker 3: for one thousand dollars and secured that eleven acres. So
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Speaker 3: the church began in nineteen fifty nine. Fifty nine families,
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Speaker 3: I'm sorry, nineteen fifty eight, fifty nine families began that
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Speaker 3: first worship service, and over the next three decades that
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Speaker 3: church sunk her roots deep into scripture discovering God's Grace
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Speaker 3: extended her influence all into northwest San Antonio. One of
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Speaker 3: our ministers back in those days, Charles Prince. Charles and
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Speaker 3: Minor Prince are still a part of the congregation, so
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Speaker 3: our patent Carrol Hile. They came to be a part
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Speaker 3: of the church in nineteen eighty two. They're still on
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Speaker 3: the church staff. Nineteen eighty eight, Jack Reese had decided
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Speaker 3: that he was going to leave Oak Hills and become
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Speaker 3: a college professor, in which he has done all of
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Speaker 3: these many years. He was my predecessor, so he announced
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Speaker 3: that in nineteen eighty six. In nineteen eighty seven the
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Speaker 3: church went on a hunt for a new preacher. I
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Speaker 3: was living in Brazil at the time. Rio dejian Aio Brazil.
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Speaker 3: Do we have any Brazilians here today? Week? The boss
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Speaker 3: almostweet the police. At Typle C, a Kickool school, we
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Speaker 3: lived there from nineteen eighty three until nineteen eighty eight.
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Speaker 3: Two of our three daughters are Brazilians. You may not
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Speaker 3: have known that two of our three daughters were born
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Speaker 3: in Brazil. And we loved those years and loved Brazil,
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Speaker 3: but really felt a call to come back and assume
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Speaker 3: the role of a minister in a congregation. I wanted
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Speaker 3: to try preaching. I had never been a preacher, and
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Speaker 3: I had begun right and it would have been We
12:01
Speaker 3: decided it's a lot easier to do one thing in
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Speaker 3: one language instead of one thing and two languages. So
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Speaker 3: we started looking for an opportunity. And we heard about
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Speaker 3: this opportunity here in San Antonio, and I sent in
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Speaker 3: a resume in the church invited us to come up,
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Speaker 3: and boyd did we have a great weekend. We came
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Speaker 3: up and preached and talked and met and some of
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Speaker 3: the elders. I'm looking out here right now, there's Dave Carpenter.
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Speaker 3: He was in on that meeting. Against their better judgment,
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Speaker 3: they decided to take a chance. Do we have a
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Speaker 3: picture of us in the airport there we are coming in.
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Speaker 3: There's little Jenna in my arms, who's going to give
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Speaker 3: birth to her baby here in just a few weeks.
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Speaker 3: And so we came in and we had a wonderful weekend.
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Speaker 3: And honestly, the church was looking for a person with
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Speaker 3: experience in a few more years. I had no experience.
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Speaker 3: I was thirty three years old. But they said we'll
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Speaker 3: take a chance on him, and so we moved here
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Speaker 3: in January of nineteen eighty eight. Deanlon and I remember
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Speaker 3: driving here in January of nineteen eighty eight, moved our
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Speaker 3: stuff up from Brazil. We're driving in the city limits
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Speaker 3: when Charlie Pride came on the radio singing, is anybody
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Speaker 3: going to San Antonio? And I turned a deal and
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Speaker 3: I said, well, I guess we are, so here we are.
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Speaker 3: I tell you, those early years were phenomenal. So many
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Speaker 3: of you were here, phenomenal years, phenomenal years. We have
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Speaker 3: one picture in the church scrapbook of when the whole
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Speaker 3: church was able to be in one Let me correct that.
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Speaker 3: We have two pictures of two occasions in which the
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Speaker 3: entire church could fit in one room. Here's one of
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Speaker 3: those pictures. Christmas nineteen eighty nine. We could get the
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Speaker 3: whole church in one room. I can see some faces
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Speaker 3: in there I recognize, and the church enjoyed that. But
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Speaker 3: one service didn't last long. Soon we went to two services,
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Speaker 3: and two services didn't last long, and soon we went
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Speaker 3: to three services, and those three services were jam packed.
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Speaker 3: It was dangerous. One day we had so many people
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Speaker 3: on a church pew, the church pew broke boy, you
14:02
Speaker 3: talk about an interruption to a sermon. And so we
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Speaker 3: began considering, well, we got to do something. We considered
14:10
Speaker 3: knocking out walls or knocking out the ceiling. I don't know.
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Speaker 3: We tried everything we could think of. We couldn't come
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Speaker 3: up with any solution. I was not a big fan
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Speaker 3: of buying land and building buildings, and that came from
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Speaker 3: being a missionary. I guess. As a missionary, I thought,
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Speaker 3: you know, you get investing in bricks and sticks in
14:28
Speaker 3: the church goes downhill. That was kind of my attitude.
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Speaker 3: But I didn't have a better solution. And one day
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Speaker 3: I was in a conversation with a man who many
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Speaker 3: of you know, Buckner Fanning. He was the pastor of
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Speaker 3: Trinity Baptist and I was talking to him about this,
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Speaker 3: and he said, you need to go read Isaiah chapter
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Speaker 3: fifty four. I said, what in the world. Isaiah fifty four,
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Speaker 3: Verse two says, enlarger house, build an addition, Spread out
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Speaker 3: your home, spare no expense, for soon you will be
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Speaker 3: bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations
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Speaker 3: and resettle the ruined cities. This one passage helped me
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Speaker 3: to see that God has a heart for new people
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Speaker 3: and more people. Every church every so often has to
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Speaker 3: make a decision is it just us are we going
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Speaker 3: to make space for more people? And I believe that
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Speaker 3: it is the heart of God to make space for
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Speaker 3: more people. This came out in a meeting back in
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Speaker 3: those days when we were discussing options. Ron King, one
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Speaker 3: of our elders, said well, if we're not going to
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Speaker 3: create more space, I'm not standing at the door and
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Speaker 3: telling people to leave. And so we begin sensing this
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Speaker 3: idea that we got to move. We found these thirty
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Speaker 3: four acres on Interstate ten, prime property, but there were
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Speaker 3: three problems. City Church, another congregation, already had the deed
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Speaker 3: to twelve of the thirty four acres. The property was
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Speaker 3: a bit pricey for us, and we were wondering if
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Speaker 3: we could get the price down just a little bit,
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Speaker 3: and we needed at least one point nine million dollars
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Speaker 3: to secure the property and then start construction. So we
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Speaker 3: needed three answered prayers. City Church released their deed to
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Speaker 3: the property and bought our old building, freeing that building up.
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Speaker 3: Bill Worth, the owner of this property, decided to donate
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Speaker 3: nine of the thirty four acres to us, they're by
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Speaker 3: lowering the price, and then we set out to raise
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Speaker 3: the money. Here's a video of the day that we
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Speaker 3: announced how much money was raised in that project.
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Speaker 4: He is it a what?
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Speaker 5: But what a beautiful cathedral we find ourselves in this morning.
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Speaker 6: Amen.
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Speaker 5: We have the blue sky above us is the ceiling.
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Speaker 5: We have the hills around us is the wall. We
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Speaker 5: have God's grace at our feet, and so we're surrounded
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Speaker 5: by God's goodness. God led you in an outstanding, unforgettable
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Speaker 5: May eighteen to pledge and donate two point six million dollars.
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Speaker 4: Is heeding the one point nine million dollars that we
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Speaker 4: had so that we had money left over to build
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Speaker 4: our Far three golf course. And like the Israelies, we
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Speaker 4: want our first act to being an act of worship.
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Speaker 4: What a privilege to be gathered today to partake in
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Speaker 4: the Lord's supper.
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Speaker 5: The first of all, we pray will be thousands and
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Speaker 5: thousands of times that God's people gather right here to
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Speaker 5: partake of the Lord's supper. Let us now thank God
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Speaker 5: for our greatest gift, not the acquisition of the property,
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Speaker 5: but the salvation of our soul.
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Speaker 3: And hasn't God answered that prayer? That that would be
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Speaker 3: the first of Yeah, let's thank the Lord for that.
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Speaker 3: Amen would be the first of thousands and thousands of
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Speaker 3: times in which this church would gather to celebrate the
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Speaker 3: Lord's Supper and remember Jesus Christ. And that's proven truth.
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Speaker 3: We moved in, we occupied the territory, we built the building,
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Speaker 3: but the building proved too small. Quickly we began filling
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Speaker 3: up this room. So we went from one service to
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Speaker 3: two services, two services to three services, and one time
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Speaker 3: we got up to five services, and that about wore
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Speaker 3: us all out. So we cried uncle and went back
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Speaker 3: to four services. And we thought, well, maybe we can
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Speaker 3: expand by starting new campuses. And the idea of multi
18:34
Speaker 3: sighting was a new idea that caught our fancy, and
18:37
Speaker 3: so we found an opportunity to occupy the blue Bonnet Palace.
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Speaker 3: I always still think that's funny, the blue Bonnet Palace
18:46
Speaker 3: the dance hall, and we began meeting there that became
18:50
Speaker 3: Journey Fellowship. Journey Fellowship were one church, but we meet
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Speaker 3: on many campuses. So about seventy people left this campus
18:58
Speaker 3: and moved out there with our blessing to begin an
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Speaker 3: extension of o'kill's church. There that church celebrated ten years,
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Speaker 3: or that part of o'kill's church celebrated ten years. This
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Speaker 3: last month they had two thousand people in attendance last weekend.
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Speaker 3: They're just bursting at the seams, and so we're very,
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Speaker 3: very grateful to them. We found that multi siding is
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Speaker 3: a great way to extend our presence all over the city.
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Speaker 3: We did find also, though, that it doesn't create new
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Speaker 3: space on the sending campus. Those sixty seats were quickly occupied.
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Speaker 3: So we set about the task of thinking, well, what
19:33
Speaker 3: do we do next? Because we were at capacity. Okay,
19:36
Speaker 3: now we're in a part of the history that many
19:38
Speaker 3: of you were here for two thousand and six, we thought, well,
19:41
Speaker 3: maybe now is the time to build that sanctuary. And
19:44
Speaker 3: we set out to build a sanctuary that was larger
19:46
Speaker 3: than the one we're discussing now and more costly. We
19:49
Speaker 3: set out to raise twenty million dollars to build a
19:52
Speaker 3: forty million dollar facility. Well, we raised fifteen million dollars.
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Speaker 3: Fifteen million dollar was the most this church had ever raised,
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Speaker 3: but it wasn't twenty million dollars. And our elders had
20:06
Speaker 3: promised that we wouldn't lead the church into dangerous debt,
20:10
Speaker 3: and we just felt like twenty five million dollars was
20:12
Speaker 3: too much debt. We are a debt free church right now.
20:15
Speaker 3: We are. We do have some money we owe on
20:17
Speaker 3: the Journey Fellowship building, but it's only because the loan
20:20
Speaker 3: is so cheap. So we've enjoyed managing our money in
20:24
Speaker 3: such a fashion that we don't feel this undue burden
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Speaker 3: of unnecessary debt. And the elders and I agreed, said, well,
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Speaker 3: we're just not going to take on that debt. So
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Speaker 3: I came back to you in two thousand and six
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Speaker 3: and I said, well, we sensed the Lord's saying not now.
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Speaker 3: We don't send the Lord saying not ever, just not now.
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Speaker 3: And so we said, let's take those pledges and gifts,
20:47
Speaker 3: get completely out of debt, and set ourselves up for
20:50
Speaker 3: growth for the future. And we invited anybody who didn't
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Speaker 3: like that idea to come and we'd give your money back.
20:56
Speaker 3: One family came back out of the whole church. And
20:57
Speaker 3: I'm still kind of mad at that one family, But
21:01
Speaker 3: I don't know who they are. I don't know who
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Speaker 3: they are. I really don't. And so, man, we were
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Speaker 3: just in a posture for some wonderful growth then at
21:09
Speaker 3: that point, and we were very at peace with that decision. Boy,
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Speaker 3: that decision turned out to be a good one. Does
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Speaker 3: anybody remember what happened to the economy in two thousand
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Speaker 3: and eight? Okay that remember our decision was two thousand
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Speaker 3: and six. Within two thousand and eight, the economy went down,
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Speaker 3: and I think the Lord would have gotten us through
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Speaker 3: that season, but it was a lot easier to get
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Speaker 3: through that season without that debt. Then in two thousand
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Speaker 3: and eight, I was diagnosed with some heart problems, a
21:36
Speaker 3: heart issue, and that was tough. I mean I was
21:39
Speaker 3: hitting on maybe four of eight cylinders for about twelve
21:41
Speaker 3: or fourteen months. The Lord healed me of that. We
21:44
Speaker 3: got all that taken care of, but that was a
21:47
Speaker 3: that was tough sledding during those days. And during those days,
21:51
Speaker 3: it seemed very clear to me that it was time
21:54
Speaker 3: for Oak Hills to have a full time senior minister.
21:57
Speaker 3: Here's something that'll surprise you too, not been a full
22:00
Speaker 3: time senior minister when I was senior minister for twenty
22:03
Speaker 3: years because I was writing books, I was doing everything
22:07
Speaker 3: that comes with the books, and then leading the staff
22:09
Speaker 3: that worked. When the church was one thousand or two
22:12
Speaker 3: thousand or three thousand members. We got up around four
22:15
Speaker 3: thousand and then five thousand, and I was sucking air.
22:18
Speaker 3: I just felt like by the church needs a full
22:21
Speaker 3: time senior minister, and the timing was right, and so
22:24
Speaker 3: I went to the elders and I said, I don't
22:26
Speaker 3: want to leave, but if I can find somebody who
22:28
Speaker 3: will let me share the preaching and they'll do the
22:31
Speaker 3: hard work of leading the staff, I'll stay and preach
22:33
Speaker 3: and we'll see if we can make this work. I
22:35
Speaker 3: can't tell you how many people told me that wouldn't work.
22:39
Speaker 3: I'm serious. I had several people say that just doesn't work.
22:42
Speaker 3: It's kind of like a high school principal staying on
22:45
Speaker 3: as a part of the faculty when the new principal
22:47
Speaker 3: comes in. I said, I think it'll work. I really do.
22:51
Speaker 3: I think with the right person, we can make this happen.
22:53
Speaker 3: And we found the right person in Chicago. Randy and
22:57
Speaker 3: Roseanne Frasey. We're serving in chik and Randy kind of
23:01
Speaker 3: caught the vision for this. And I gotta tell you
23:05
Speaker 3: that that guy is just brilliant. He has served this
23:11
Speaker 3: church faithfully for seven years. He has exceeded every expectation
23:16
Speaker 3: that we have ever had of him. He will Amen. Amen.
23:28
Speaker 3: The sun will run out of heat before Randy runs
23:32
Speaker 3: out of energy. Under his leadership, we have doubled in size.
23:39
Speaker 3: We have gone from three campuses to six campuses soon
23:43
Speaker 3: to be seven. We have gone from forty five neighborhood
23:48
Speaker 3: groups hang on to your Hat to four hundred and
23:51
Speaker 3: fifty neighborhood groups in seven years. And we believe that
24:00
Speaker 3: the best is yet to be. I want to be clear.
24:02
Speaker 3: Oak Hills is not a perfect place. It's not. And
24:05
Speaker 3: there have been times that we moved too fast, and
24:07
Speaker 3: there have been times that we didn't move fast enough.
24:10
Speaker 3: But for every stumble and for every fumble, there were
24:12
Speaker 3: a dozen first downs and a lot of touchdowns. And
24:15
Speaker 3: we give God praise for that. That's not because of
24:18
Speaker 3: anything we've done. It's just because He has chosen to
24:21
Speaker 3: look kindly upon us. And I think a reason that
24:24
Speaker 3: he has been kind to us is because we followed
24:27
Speaker 3: the mantra of ron King. We're not going to stand
24:30
Speaker 3: at the door and tell people to go home. We're
24:32
Speaker 3: going to do our very best to create space. And
24:36
Speaker 3: that's really behind all of the decisions that we've made
24:39
Speaker 3: last weekend, we had fifteen thousand people on our campuses.
24:42
Speaker 3: On the Crown Ridge campus, we had two thousand people
24:46
Speaker 3: in overflow rooms, two thousand in overflow rooms, and some
24:51
Speaker 3: of those were in overflow to the overflow rooms. We
24:55
Speaker 3: had people walk in and say it's just too crowded
24:57
Speaker 3: and turn around and leave. Allis that you can't always
25:03
Speaker 3: make space for everybody. But our thinking is you just
25:06
Speaker 3: do the best you can with what you got, and
25:09
Speaker 3: our philosophy is to max out every single campus from
25:13
Speaker 3: now on and create create more space. And so here's
25:17
Speaker 3: where we are. That's the past. Randy's going to really
25:21
Speaker 3: unpack the future for you next weekend, but here's the
25:24
Speaker 3: two minute version of it. We're looking to add a
25:28
Speaker 3: new sanctuary on the Iten side of the property. From
25:32
Speaker 3: the very beginning, we have created space on the IT
25:35
Speaker 3: side of the property for a large sanctuary. This one
25:38
Speaker 3: is a twenty six hundred seat sanctuary. We would take
25:43
Speaker 3: this existing sanctuary, remodel it, make it a little bit nicer,
25:47
Speaker 3: reduce it in size, and that would give us a
25:50
Speaker 3: chance to create more office space that we need. In
25:52
Speaker 3: classroom space, We'll redo all of our children's wing, really
25:56
Speaker 3: update our children's wing, make more room for kids. We'll
25:58
Speaker 3: add more parking and we would be at a capacity
26:01
Speaker 3: of thirty five hundred people at one time on campus.
26:05
Speaker 3: Worshiping that is driven by parking. Parking is what drives
26:09
Speaker 3: the decision, and that's all the parking we can find.
26:14
Speaker 3: And then I think we're getting a little close, but
26:16
Speaker 3: we're going to add more parking, and so we would
26:19
Speaker 3: do all of that to this campus. And then in
26:22
Speaker 3: the Outer West, where we have a gift of eleven
26:25
Speaker 3: acres waiting on us, we want to put an eight
26:28
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty seat sanctuary. I was in the Outer
26:30
Speaker 3: West yesterday conducting a wedding. That place is exploding. There
26:35
Speaker 3: are people on top of people out there, and so
26:38
Speaker 3: we want to do what Lloyd Rutlives and the team said,
26:41
Speaker 3: get out there where the church, where the city's growing,
26:43
Speaker 3: and see if we can't establish a strong campus there.
26:46
Speaker 3: Randy's going to give you great details next week about
26:49
Speaker 3: pioneer Bible translators in the church Intaull Brazil that we
26:53
Speaker 3: want to get behind. Here's what I want to say
26:56
Speaker 3: in closing. Adenon and I are all in on this decision.
27:01
Speaker 3: We are we've already had our forty days to pray.
27:04
Speaker 3: The leaders took forty days last fall to think this
27:07
Speaker 3: through and pray about it, and Delon and I are
27:10
Speaker 3: all in. We have two or three reasons. One reason
27:14
Speaker 3: is that the best years of Oak Hills lie ahead
27:17
Speaker 3: of us. I love telling you the history. I'm much
27:20
Speaker 3: more excited about the future. There's a reason that the
27:23
Speaker 3: windshield is a lot bigger than the rearview mirror, and
27:26
Speaker 3: that's because what lies ahead is a lot more important
27:28
Speaker 3: than what lies behind. So let's be grateful for our past.
27:31
Speaker 3: But then let's close the scrap book. It's time to
27:33
Speaker 3: start writing new stories. And that's what we're really excited about.
27:37
Speaker 3: And I believe that the greatest chapters of o'kill's Church
27:41
Speaker 3: are yet to be written, and you're going to be
27:42
Speaker 3: a part of those, and I want to be a
27:44
Speaker 3: part of those. My wife and I are asking the
27:47
Speaker 3: Lord and the elders if we can stay for another
27:50
Speaker 3: ten years or so of ministry. I know I look
27:53
Speaker 3: real young. I'm not as young as I used to be.
27:55
Speaker 3: I'm sixty years old. I think that I can hang
27:58
Speaker 3: around for another decade, maybe a little bit more, Lord willing,
28:01
Speaker 3: I'm just so excited about what's coming next. So that's
28:04
Speaker 3: one reason reason number two we're behind this. I don't
28:08
Speaker 3: know a plan B. I don't anything we do at
28:13
Speaker 3: this point is short term solution. We could squeeze in
28:17
Speaker 3: another Saturday service. We could pay people to come on
28:20
Speaker 3: Saturday nights. One time we offered bananas flits to those
28:24
Speaker 3: who came on Saturday nights. But anything we do only
28:27
Speaker 3: gets us two or three hundred seats, maybe four hundred seeds,
28:30
Speaker 3: And so I just think it's time. I don't know
28:33
Speaker 3: a plan B, but I'm excited about plan A, and
28:36
Speaker 3: I really don't want to be the person standing at
28:38
Speaker 3: the door and telling people to leave. And then reason
28:41
Speaker 3: number three, I just sensed in my heart God saying
28:44
Speaker 3: it's time to build. I think he spoke to me
28:47
Speaker 3: last not this past Easter, but Easter before last last year.
28:51
Speaker 3: I don't think a church should base the decision on
28:54
Speaker 3: what one person hears. But when that one person hears something,
28:57
Speaker 3: then someone else hears it, and then someone else hears it,
28:59
Speaker 3: and all the elders here and then this staff here's it.
29:02
Speaker 3: I think that's something we pay close attention to. So
29:06
Speaker 3: we're all in. We're excited. About it, and we're ready
29:09
Speaker 3: to press forward. I told you that we have two
29:11
Speaker 3: pictures in our scrap book in which the entire church
29:14
Speaker 3: was under one roof. I showed you one of those
29:16
Speaker 3: Christmas nineteen eighty nine. But here's the second one. At
29:20
Speaker 3: and T Center, fourteen thousand people breaking the glow sticks,
29:24
Speaker 3: holding it up, promising to be a light in a
29:27
Speaker 3: dark world. Way to go a church. That's you. You're
29:30
Speaker 3: doing that. I think we can say we've outgrown the
29:38
Speaker 3: AT and T Center. We need to check out the
29:40
Speaker 3: Alamodome and I'm serious for what's coming up. These are
29:44
Speaker 3: good and wonderful days. Lord, thank you that you have
29:47
Speaker 3: been so good to us. And may your blessing be
29:49
Speaker 3: upon this church through Christ. We pray Amen. The big
29:54
Speaker 3: dates May second, and third is when we're going to
29:57
Speaker 3: collect our pledges. Would you prayerfully consider in your family
30:00
Speaker 3: making a three year pledge. If God says no, then
30:04
Speaker 3: you say no. If God says give a modest gift,
30:06
Speaker 3: give a modest gift. If God says do something miraculous,
30:10
Speaker 3: then you do that. Turn your attention to the screen place.
30:13
Speaker 3: Here's the history of the Outer West Campus.
30:32
Speaker 6: I have to confess that Chuck had a dream for
30:36
Speaker 6: a campus in the outer West, in this part of town,
30:41
Speaker 6: and when he mentioned it to me, I was not
30:44
Speaker 6: for it. It was his dream and his desire to
30:49
Speaker 6: do it.
30:50
Speaker 7: I think Chuck was one of those guys that was humbled,
30:54
Speaker 7: and I think he had a vision, and I think
30:57
Speaker 7: that he saw it where God was wanting to move.
31:01
Speaker 6: From the very beginning of knowing Chuck, he always had
31:05
Speaker 6: a vision that San Antonio would be one for christ.
31:10
Speaker 7: I remember the words of Jesus as he was coming
31:14
Speaker 7: into Jerusalem and he saw Jerusalem, and the words says
31:17
Speaker 7: that he wept over the city, he cried over the sea.
31:22
Speaker 6: He believed in Max and in Randy, so he started
31:28
Speaker 6: talking to the other elders. He started presenting it to them.
31:33
Speaker 6: They said, well, I don't know if we have enough people,
31:37
Speaker 6: and he continued and continued. Finally they said, well, we
31:44
Speaker 6: need an elder, and he says, I'll be an elder.
31:47
Speaker 6: Let's just present it to the congregation and see how
31:51
Speaker 6: many people are interested in the I think there were
31:55
Speaker 6: like three hundred and seven people. And at the time
32:00
Speaker 6: he had just come out of the hospital he was
32:03
Speaker 6: enable to attend. It was just one one sickness after
32:12
Speaker 6: another after another.
32:18
Speaker 7: You see, the Father sees ys not for where we are,
32:21
Speaker 7: but where we're going to be. And I believe that
32:25
Speaker 7: God has already been in this moment, and we're just
32:29
Speaker 7: journeying with him to meet him where he's already been.
32:33
Speaker 6: Well, the people met, those three hundred and so people
32:37
Speaker 6: met together, excited, anxious to hear what was going on.
32:43
Speaker 6: And then when Chuck passed away, it just kind of
32:47
Speaker 6: lay dormant.
32:48
Speaker 7: The idea of an outa West campus pretty much. He
32:52
Speaker 7: was putting up Paulos Well, I think.
32:54
Speaker 8: What happens is is God moves in ways that you
32:57
Speaker 8: can't even think about.
33:00
Speaker 3: You know.
33:00
Speaker 8: His timing, you know, occurs when we think we're doing
33:03
Speaker 8: the planning, we find out he was there before we
33:05
Speaker 8: ever even thought about it.
33:06
Speaker 6: God pushed through that interference. There were men who had
33:10
Speaker 6: stepped up and said, we live in that area and
33:15
Speaker 6: we are interested in getting this started continuing this vision.
33:21
Speaker 6: Then all of a sudden, there it is even.
33:23
Speaker 8: A couple of years before they started meeting at the Marriott,
33:26
Speaker 8: they were actually meeting here at the Crownridge campus. And
33:28
Speaker 8: we'd identified a group of people of about one hundred
33:32
Speaker 8: that were going to go start a new campus out
33:34
Speaker 8: on the other west side. Didn't know exactly where what.
33:37
Speaker 8: I got a call from Frost Bank from their trust department.
33:40
Speaker 8: And probably ten years before that, this couple had a
33:44
Speaker 8: will and the gentleman they're anonymous, so we don't know
33:47
Speaker 8: exactly who they were, but they'd left us just under
33:50
Speaker 8: two million dollars. They couldn't have had any idea of
33:54
Speaker 8: what was going to happen ten years later. But first
33:56
Speaker 8: the gentleman died and finally the woman passed away, and
34:00
Speaker 8: in about four or five months of getting that money
34:02
Speaker 8: process to the church, we had the opportunity to buy
34:05
Speaker 8: the property out in the west.
34:06
Speaker 7: I remember we're at a staff meeting and I think
34:10
Speaker 7: it was Randy who just, uh, you know, gave an
34:13
Speaker 7: announcement and said, hey, you know, after this, we're going
34:16
Speaker 7: to head out to the bank. And also this this uh,
34:20
Speaker 7: this anonymous gift that this uh donor hat you know,
34:23
Speaker 7: provided for the church. I was, I was really in shock.
34:28
Speaker 6: When we saw the bulleting piece.
34:31
Speaker 9: And yes, I rejoice.
34:36
Speaker 6: That there's a deep sadness that shock would have been
34:42
Speaker 6: thrilled to have been able to see that.
34:47
Speaker 7: This is much bigger than us. This is this is
34:50
Speaker 7: much bigger than any one of us. And God has
34:53
Speaker 7: graced us to point to us and say, hey, you guys,
34:57
Speaker 7: start this up and no telling what will happen in
35:00
Speaker 7: ten fifteen years from now.
35:02
Speaker 6: Outer West is full of people who have strong servant
35:09
Speaker 6: hearts and that's what it requires.
35:13
Speaker 7: God can do mighty things when we just humbly submit
35:19
Speaker 7: to Him and say, yes, Lord, lead us. But this
35:22
Speaker 7: is not about us, this is.
35:24
Speaker 3: All about him.
35:25
Speaker 8: Well, I'm just amazed that God would provide the money
35:29
Speaker 8: to make the purchase, but more than that, that he's
35:32
Speaker 8: providing us the opportunity to.
35:33
Speaker 3: Serve as people.
35:34
Speaker 6: The place that we're meeting at right now is just
35:39
Speaker 6: perfect for a short time. We don't want to stay there,
35:46
Speaker 6: but it's a perfect beginnings.
35:51
Speaker 7: That plays that ball room, whatever that is, it's turned
35:55
Speaker 7: into a holy place where the Princess of God just
36:00
Speaker 7: shows up and and people's hearts are touched and people's
36:04
Speaker 7: lives are transforming. To me, that is just incredible.
36:19
Speaker 3: M hm h m hm, m hmmm.
38:47
Speaker 9: I'll be all right. You don't have to stay if
38:55
Speaker 9: you've already chosen. I won't stand in your way.
39:03
Speaker 3: I can feel it in your distance.
39:06
Speaker 10: And the way you barely speak, like your heart is
39:11
Speaker 10: somewhere else now, somewhere I can't reach.
39:17
Speaker 9: I was trying to just to hold us.
39:21
Speaker 10: Why are you slowly slipped away?
39:25
Speaker 9: Now I'm left with all the silence.
39:29
Speaker 1: You didn't want to say.
39:34
Speaker 9: Maybe I just held long.
39:40
Speaker 3: To something.
39:42
Speaker 7: Already gone. I'll be fine.
39:48
Speaker 6: You can't leave.
39:50
Speaker 10: You don't know anything if your heart has found Louis.
39:58
Speaker 3: How do what we used to be?
40:01
Speaker 10: Hobby?
40:02
Speaker 3: Fine?
40:03
Speaker 7: Don't look back?
40:05
Speaker 10: How survived this sempty space?
40:09
Speaker 9: Not tonight, maybe not soon?
40:12
Speaker 10: But holler.
40:15
Speaker 3: To be okay.
40:20
Speaker 9: We don't need to fake the feeling I can see
40:25
Speaker 9: in your eyes. There's no reason left the stand.
40:31
Speaker 7: When the love already died.
40:36
Speaker 9: Through the quieting your voice, I.
40:44
Speaker 3: Can't hear your choice.
40:49
Speaker 10: Hob be fine, you can't even You don't know me
40:55
Speaker 10: anything if your heart has found noise? How do what
41:02
Speaker 10: we used to be?
41:05
Speaker 8: Be fine?
41:06
Speaker 10: Don't look back? How survived this empty space?
41:12
Speaker 3: Not tonight?
41:13
Speaker 10: Maybe not so much, but I learned to be okay.
41:20
Speaker 3: I don't need a reason why.
41:24
Speaker 10: I can see it in goodbye, and it breaks me
41:29
Speaker 10: in Dutch, but I won't ask you to stay. I'll
41:38
Speaker 10: be fine. You, Kelly, you don't know, want me anything,
41:45
Speaker 10: Give your har hotest fine away. How do what we
41:50
Speaker 10: used to be? How be fine?
41:54
Speaker 9: Don't look back?
41:56
Speaker 1: How survive?
41:57
Speaker 10: Have this empty space? Not a lie? Maybe not so,
42:03
Speaker 10: but I'll learn to be okay, I'll be all right,