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Urgent Warning Prepare For The Harvest- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:32
  Speaker 1: You know something, we don't do enough. We don't thank
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: our praise team and our tech team enough for the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: phenomenal work they do. Can you take a moment and
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: thank them on the cameras running the sound system, all
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the work that goes into everything from song selection to transitions,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: way to go to go. What a good group. You
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: know what. I think I am suffering from memory loss.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I can't remember why I brought that up. Now. The
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: other day, I was making eggs for Dinal and me,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and I don't cook ever, so don't think I'm trying
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to impress you. I know how to scramble eggs, that's it.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So I was making some eggs. Dealon was still getting ready,
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  Speaker 1: and so I spooned out my portion of the scrambled
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: eggs onto a plate, and I left hers in the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: pan until she got dressed. And then I noticed she
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: was sitting out on the patio drinking coffee, and so
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I got some coffee and I went out there, not
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  Speaker 1: knowing I forgot to turn off the burner. Well by
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: the time I went back in, and I didn't remember.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I just went in to get more coffee. By the
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  Speaker 1: time I went back into the house, the kitchen was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: full of smoke, the pan was red hot, the eggs
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: were black, and that spatula that I left inside the
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: prime pan was just about melted. It was a mess.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: And that was just the beginning from there. I went
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: to a bike trail to go on a bike ride,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and I don't have a bike rack on my car.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I just loaded in the back of my suv. So
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I got down to the bike trail, pulled the bike
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  Speaker 1: out of the back, take off on a bike ride,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: come back an hour later, open up the back of
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  Speaker 1: the suv and I feel this burst of cold air.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And my first thought was, well, what a well insulated
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: vehicle that it can sit in the hot sun for
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: an hour and contain all that A conditioned here. And
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: then I heard something. Anyone want to guess what I heard?
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: The car was running. I yeah, I had left it
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: running for an hour. I'd let the engine run and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: gone off on a bike ride. I don't know how
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I did that. I don't know why no one stole that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: But they say there's some pills you can buy for
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: a failing memory, but I keep forgetting to buy them. Well,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: it's one thing to forget about the eggs or the car,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: but you know something else entirely to forget about why
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  Speaker 1: we're here on earth and what God is up to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and what the purpose of a church is. And for
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: that reason we try to set aside some weekends each
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: August just to recalibrate and update you as a church
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: on our vision, where we're headed, where we are, and
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: boy do I have some exciting things to share today. Now.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: If you do struggle to remember things, you'll be happy
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  Speaker 1: to know that the gist of this message will be
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: emailed to you this week, and also a video version
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: of it is available online a conversation that I'm having
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: with our executive Minister Steve Green as well as you'll
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: be given this laminated handout as you leave today, giving
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: you some key terms from our conversation, as well as
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: just a card that hopefully you want the way that
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: you'll tuck it in your Bible or put it at
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  Speaker 1: someplace where you'll be reminded to pray about this over
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: the next few days and weeks and months. If you're
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: a guest, thank you so much for coming our way.
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  Speaker 1: You truly honor us with your presence, and you do
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  Speaker 1: happen to come our way on a you might call
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: this a family chat. We're sitting around the table and
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: having a conversation about the state of the family. And
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  Speaker 1: still we're thankful you're here, and we ask you to
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  Speaker 1: pray about what you hear. Maybe take an idea or
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: two back to your church or if you're looking for
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a church. You did pick the right weekend because you're
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: going to get a good one on one course in
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  Speaker 1: the history of our church and what we hope to
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  Speaker 1: be the future. Let's pray and then we'll get to work.
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  Speaker 1: Grateful Father for all you've done, how kind you have
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: been to us. We ask that you forgive our speaker
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  Speaker 1: because his sins are so many, and help us to
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  Speaker 1: see Jesus, just Jesus through Christ. We pray, and all
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  Speaker 1: the church said, Jesus said, what a huge harvest, What
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  Speaker 1: a huge harvest, and how few the harvest hands. So
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  Speaker 1: speaking to disciples like us on your knees, ask the
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  Speaker 1: God of harvest to send harvest hands. Our God is
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  Speaker 1: a great harvester. He's harvesting souls. He's reading for himself
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: an eternal kingdom, and he's populating that eternal kingdom with
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  Speaker 1: people just like you and me. And we're grateful to
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  Speaker 1: have been a part of his harvest initiative. Now for
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  Speaker 1: well over sixty years. Did you know that next month
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  Speaker 1: the Oak Hills Church will celebrate sixty years of existence.
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  Speaker 1: That's good. That's good. Sixty years and still growing. According
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  Speaker 1: to statisticians, most churches stopped growing after about a decade
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  Speaker 1: or so. But we're still growing, still expanding, impacting people
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  Speaker 1: on every continent. And thinks you're going to even get
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  Speaker 1: more and more exciting. A verse that has meant a
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  Speaker 1: lot to us through the years. As Acts chapter one
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  Speaker 1: and verse eight, when Jesus told his followers this is
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  Speaker 1: right before he ascended into heaven. He said, you shall
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  Speaker 1: receive power when the Holy Spirit has come up upon you,
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  Speaker 1: and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in
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  Speaker 1: Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: We call this a trifocal vision. This is what Christ
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  Speaker 1: calls each of us two a vision that sees near,
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  Speaker 1: and then far, and then farthest. His plan is that
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  Speaker 1: we start with Jerusalem. We start with the school we attend.
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  Speaker 1: We start with a neighborhood where we live. We start
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  Speaker 1: with the restaurant or where we like to frequent. We
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  Speaker 1: start with the people we know. We try to love
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  Speaker 1: them and encourage them and be a good friend to them,
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  Speaker 1: and pray for them and lead them to Christ. We
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  Speaker 1: start in our Jerusalem, but we don't stop there. We
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  Speaker 1: lift up our eyes and we look into our Judea
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  Speaker 1: and our Samaria. Now Judea was about forty five miles
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  Speaker 1: away from Jerusalem, very similar in culture, very similar in
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  Speaker 1: ethnic makeup, but sharing a different but using a different
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  Speaker 1: zip code. Samaria, on the other hand, was not only
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  Speaker 1: in a different zip code, but it had a different language,
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  Speaker 1: a different ethnic background. There was racial tension between this
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  Speaker 1: Jews and the Samaritans. But Jesus said, we want you
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  Speaker 1: to be bridge builders into the different ethnic pockets of
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  Speaker 1: your city. So don't just focus on your Jerusalem. Lift
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  Speaker 1: up your eyes and look into your Judea. Look into
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  Speaker 1: other parts of your city, look into Samaria, the ethnic
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  Speaker 1: pockets of your region. And He loves those who love
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  Speaker 1: the end of the earth. Christ has a white hot
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  Speaker 1: passion to harvest souls from every nation on the planet.
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  Speaker 1: He told his disciples, what go and make disciples of
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  Speaker 1: Can you finish the sentence? Just a few nations? Oh?
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, did I mist read that of all nations
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  Speaker 1: and his vision for the end of time, we'll see
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  Speaker 1: a celebration that includes people from every tribe and language
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  Speaker 1: and people and nation. So this is a trifocal vision.
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  Speaker 1: I think this is church one oh one, that a
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  Speaker 1: church should understand its region, reach to the adjacent region,
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  Speaker 1: and then have a passion to reach into whatever assigned
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  Speaker 1: population groups the Lord brings. So about twelve years ago,
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  Speaker 1: we as a church began thinking, now what could we
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  Speaker 1: do to have a more balanced, a better acts one
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  Speaker 1: eighth vision. At that time, we were one church on
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  Speaker 1: one campus, and so we began to pray and the
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  Speaker 1: Lord opened up possibilities for us to reach into the city,
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  Speaker 1: the hill country and beyond. Our first opportunities came in
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  Speaker 1: Selma and then on the West Side, and we launched
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: a multi site strategy. That's an important phrase. Multi site
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  Speaker 1: means one church but on many campuses, one central location
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  Speaker 1: making decisions, but being implemented more of a franchise model,
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  Speaker 1: and so we had one church on many locations. We
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  Speaker 1: began with a Crownridge campus as our primary campus, but
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  Speaker 1: then started Journey and West Side. West Side was originally Fiesta,
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  Speaker 1: then we changed the name and then we added campuses
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  Speaker 1: in Fredericksburg, about sixty miles north of here, Alamo Ranch,
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  Speaker 1: North Central, and Natall, Brazil. It's really been a fun,
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  Speaker 1: wonderful trifocal adventure and we have no desire to retreat. Today.
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  Speaker 1: I come asking your blessing on the next generation of
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  Speaker 1: the Acts one to eight. The in a paragraph, it
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  Speaker 1: reads like this, we sense that God is calling the
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  Speaker 1: Oak Kills Church to pursue a focused and deliberate strategy
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  Speaker 1: to plant churches in the San Antonio Hill Country area,
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  Speaker 1: starting with the release and planting of our existing congregations.
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  Speaker 1: Our target date is August thirty one, twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: By this date, each campus will either be an independent
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  Speaker 1: church or declared as a mission of the Oak Kills Church.
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  Speaker 1: We want to transition from one church on many campuses
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  Speaker 1: to a family of independent churches. Now, a family of
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  Speaker 1: independent churches is a collection of churches who operate and
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  Speaker 1: function as autonomous congregations, but remain linked by personal relationships,
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  Speaker 1: by shared history, by values, and even services such as
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  Speaker 1: it HR. Now why would we do this, why would
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  Speaker 1: we move from multi site to multi church? Well, the
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  Speaker 1: answer comes in the form of three words, capacity, context,
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  Speaker 1: and sustainability. Again, all of this will be in the
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  Speaker 1: email you receive as well as the handout you're given.
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  Speaker 1: But let me look at these words with you first.
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  Speaker 1: The word capacity. Each of these campuses began as a
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  Speaker 1: small group, began as a handful of members, began meeting
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  Speaker 1: in rented facilities, in one case a hotel ballroom, just
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  Speaker 1: a handful of people. They didn't have much capacity to
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  Speaker 1: do much more than unstack the chairs and welcome the guests.
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  Speaker 1: But you know what has happened over the years, These
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  Speaker 1: campuses have grown up have They've increased in numbers, They've
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  Speaker 1: appointed their own elders, They've given sacrificially to meet their budgets.
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  Speaker 1: They have grown up, they have stood up, they have expanded,
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  Speaker 1: some of them well over one thousand in attendance. We
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  Speaker 1: think it is time to release them to be for
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  Speaker 1: others what Oak Kills has been all these many years.
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  Speaker 1: We envision a family of churches. You know what's happening.
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  Speaker 1: These campuses are behaving a lot like old teenagers or
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  Speaker 1: young adults. They're growing up, and they're starting to take
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  Speaker 1: on more responsibility, paying a few bills, showing that they
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  Speaker 1: can manage their decisions and wise parents do what wise
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  Speaker 1: parents release them. They Sometimes we want to release them
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  Speaker 1: too soon. Times we might keep them home too soon.
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  Speaker 1: It's all a matter of timing, isn't it. Releasing these
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  Speaker 1: campuses happens when they have reached the capacity we think
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  Speaker 1: they have the capacity. They have demonstrated wonderful leadership, made
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  Speaker 1: some terrific decisions. They are reaching people in their regions
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  Speaker 1: and it only makes sense that we release them to
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  Speaker 1: do this. We want to release Journey Fellowship to reach
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  Speaker 1: New Bronfels. We want to release the West Side to
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  Speaker 1: impact the south Side. We want the Fredericksburg folks to
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  Speaker 1: be released, and they're ready to be released to reach
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  Speaker 1: out into other towns around Fredericksburg. Alamo Ranch is telling
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  Speaker 1: us they're ready and eager to reach the West side
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  Speaker 1: outer west of San Antonio. The North Central Folks need
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  Speaker 1: to be released to reach beyond the Central Corridor. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this could happen as multi science, but it seems like
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  Speaker 1: it happens more organically, more authentically, as churches become autonomous
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  Speaker 1: churches and they then are released. And this is the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Acts model, isn't it? The Book of Acts models?
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  Speaker 1: How church after church after church was planted and then
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  Speaker 1: planted other churches. So it only makes sense that we
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  Speaker 1: do this capacity because they've reached they have the capacity
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  Speaker 1: to do it. That's one reason. Context is another. So
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: about a year ago we began asking the question, is
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: it time to cultivate the unique expressions of the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: in the settings that are unique to each campus. Initially
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the answer to that was no, We needed a cookie cutter,
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  Speaker 1: We needed a franchise model. We needed a one size
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  Speaker 1: fits all. We needed to all be doing the same
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  Speaker 1: thing on all campuses. Again, because it was all these
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: campuses could do to get the nursery staffed, to get
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  Speaker 1: the chairs set up. They didn't want to be taking
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  Speaker 1: on more decisions. But as they have increased their capacity,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: they have begun to well, tell me, hey, we know
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  Speaker 1: more about reaching Fredericksburg than you do, and we know
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: more about reaching the outer West than you do. May
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: think you know how to reach the West Side, Miguel
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Fettier tells me. He says, no, I know who lives
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  Speaker 1: in the west Side. Who better understands the context of
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: a region than the people who shop in the grocery
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  Speaker 1: stores there, who attend the schools there, who live in
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  Speaker 1: the neighborhoods there. I know we're all kind of a
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: part of the same culture, but we have ethnic pockets,
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  Speaker 1: do we not. The folks in Fredericksburg are small town
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  Speaker 1: folks there don't think exactly like cosmopolitan folks around Crown Rage.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And the folks that outer west in an exploding area
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  Speaker 1: of our city don't think exactly like the north central
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: folks just north of the airport. It's just understanding the
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  Speaker 1: nuances of the culture that we're finding are more and
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  Speaker 1: more important. So now that we're seeing that these campuses
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  Speaker 1: have the capacity, they're able to pay bills, they're able
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: to build teams, they're able to preach and lead, doesn't
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: it make sense that we acknowledge you probably know more
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  Speaker 1: about ministering to the people in your region than we do.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Multi Siting has allowed us to establish the beachheads, but
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  Speaker 1: now multiplying will allow us to reach the people in
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  Speaker 1: that region. And with this challenge that as a campus
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  Speaker 1: becomes a church, it begins immediately dreaming of starting other churches.
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  Speaker 1: And if a campus is not ready to become a church,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: that's okay. We will declare that campus as a mission
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: of the Oakhill's Church and continue to work with it
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  Speaker 1: until it is ready. So we think it's inevitable that
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: these campuses are going to become churches. You know what
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  Speaker 1: it reminds me of. It reminds me of a sidewalk
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  Speaker 1: we have on this Crown Ridge campus. Next time you're
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: up near the outer outside baptistry, you know what I'm
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: talking about, the outside baptistry over here by the north
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  Speaker 1: parking lot, notice that there is a sidewalk that cuts
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: diagonally across that square of property. Did you know that
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: that sidewalk was not in the original plans. It's not there.
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  Speaker 1: You know why it's there because you walked there. You
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: saw a shortcut and you didn't want to walk the square.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: You just walked right across the grass. So when we
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: saw the grass becoming dirt and the dirt becoming a trail,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: we said, duh, might as well put a sidewalk there.
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  Speaker 1: Are you going to walk there anyway? It's inevitable, folks,
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  Speaker 1: Some things are inevitable. It's just understanding the right time.
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  Speaker 1: It was inevitable that these campuses become churches. We knew that,
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  Speaker 1: we just didn't know exactly when it's inevitable, and since
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  Speaker 1: it's inevitable, it's healthy. And the reason it's healthy is
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  Speaker 1: because it's biblical. And because it's inevitable and healthy and biblical,
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  Speaker 1: I believe it's going to be blessed. I believe it's
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  Speaker 1: going to be blessed as we celebrate the context of
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  Speaker 1: each of these unique sections of our city, as we
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: release the capacity that's pent up on these campuses to
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  Speaker 1: do more and do it in a way that makes sense.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be healthy for us to
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  Speaker 1: become less dependent upon one teacher and distribute the teaching
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  Speaker 1: responsibilities to all of the campuses. I think it's great
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  Speaker 1: that we can celebrate our ancestry as a church. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: we are a church plant and what we're doing is
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: continuing that legacy. God bless these campuses as they now
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: begin to dream of planting of the churches. So the
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  Speaker 1: three reasons. First reason, capacity we have the capacity we
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: have the ability. Second reason, contexts just understanding the unique
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: culture around each area. We want to take advantage of that.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: But there's a third reason, and that is sustainability. We
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: want to move into a new season with a model
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: that we think will sustain our church over the next
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: decades sustainability. I think a healthy tenure for a senior
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: minister is about seven to ten years. Over my thirty
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: years that i've been here, I've come to see that
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: you need about seven to ten years to articulate a vision,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: implement the vision, and unpack that vision. As a sixty
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: almost sixty four year old, I've prayed and talked to
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  Speaker 1: my wife, and I just don't think it's time for
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: me to sign up for another seven to ten year stretch.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: I think it's time for me to return to the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: role that I've had for many years, and that is
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as a teaching minister, and then release a generation, a
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: whole stable of capable leaders that we have on each
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  Speaker 1: of these campuses to become lead ministers. So, as of
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: September one, I'm going to go back to teaching minister
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  Speaker 1: of the Oak Hills Church, and we're going to ordain
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  Speaker 1: and appoint the next generation of leaders on each campus. Crownridge,
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  Speaker 1: You're not surprised Travis Eed's will be our lead minister.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Pruett at Fredericksburg, Miguel Fetia at Westside, Sam Gonzalez
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: at Alamo Ranch, Mario Gagos at Journey Fellowship Brian Caruth
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: In the Tall Brazil Rich Ronald at North Central does
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: not feel the call to take on the lead minister role,
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  Speaker 1: but he's staying there as interim until we can fulfill
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: that role, and we're praying with them now. Next weekend,
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  Speaker 1: Lord willing, we will ordain each of these campus ministers
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: with a new title and an expanded responsibility. They'll go
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  Speaker 1: from campus minister to lead minister, and that will mean
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: that they will be providing leadership for everything that happens
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: on their campus. And we'll begin this con we will
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: continue this process of getting closer and closer to releasing
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: a campus to become a church. The soonest that a
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: campus will become a church is one year from right now,
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  Speaker 1: September one, of twenty nineteen. So this gives us a
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: year to make sure the house is in order, financial
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: capacity is there, and a few more decisions are made.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I will, as of September first, go back into the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: role of teaching minister, and I'm going to see this
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: as a kind of a semi retirement. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: step out of the leadership roles in the decision making
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and focus on what I love to do. And that's right,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: sermons and teach the Bible. And we have this great
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: group of folks, these seven campus ministers becoming lead ministers
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: who are then going to lead these champ campuses to
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the point that they will become churches. Now, Steve Green
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: are very capable executive minister is going to oversee this
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: process of transition from campuses into churches. Now, are you
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: suffering from information overload? Again? You'll get all of this
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: in an email. Pick up the handout as you leave.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: There's a video online that explains it all. We want
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: you to understand it. But here's that paragraph again. We
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: since that God is calling the Oak Kills Church to
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: pursue a focused and deliberate strategy to plant churches in
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the San Antonio and Hill Country area, starting with the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: release and planting of our existing congregations. Target date is
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: what August thirty first one, So we have three years
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: hoping to do this over the next three years. By
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: this date, these campus will be an independent church or
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: a declared admission of the Oak Kills Church. Again, the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: earliest that any campus will become a church is one
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: year from right now, September of twenty nineteen. So how
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: does this transition impact all I can think of a
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: few months. Would you join me in thanking God for
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: his abundant provision to the church. We have just been
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: blessed beyond what we could have ever imagined. You know,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: even over the last fourteen fifteen, sixteen months, which definitely
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: has been a time of transition and decision making, the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Lord has us over three hundred baptisms in the last
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: twelve months. And that amazing three hundred baptisms. And did
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: you know that as we conclude our budget at the
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: end of this month, as we conclude our annual budget,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: we budget from September one to August thirty first, as
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: we conclude our budget, we will conclude our budget from
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: one point five million dollars in the play, not in
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the red. That's a good news code, that's good news.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: We'll not wonderful And that's and that's thanks to your generosity.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: It's thanks to our team managing money very carefully, and
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: it's just most of all on praise to God. And
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: did you know that we are of our expansion projects
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: that we began about four years ago, thirty seven million
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: dollar expansion projects, including this sanctuary and some expansion on
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: this par in a new building out out at Alamo Ranches.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Thirty seven million dollars we have paid twenty two million.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Twenty two million has already been realized. And that's something
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: now I realize that leads us with fifteen million. That
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: is the equivalent to our annual budget. And that's always
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: been our guideliness to not old more than two or
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: three years worth of our annual budget. We've got it
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: all the way down to one year, and we're going
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: to keep chiseling away at chiseling away at it. We
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: will once again, God being our helper, become a debt
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: for church. We're on our and we're continuing our focus
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: on places like that. We're Brazil, Burkina, Fosso, El Salvador, Mexico,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and a variety of mission points around the world. So
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: we can be grateful. Can we not how good God
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: has been to us? Secondly, can I urge you to
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: renew your commitment to your campus. Some of you are
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: in this room, but you attend another campus. Most of
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: you attend right here at Crownridge. Can I encourage you
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: to find your spot on the Crownridge campus or whatever
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: your campus is, roll up your sleeves and get to work.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Be a part of a group, Be a part of
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: a class, Be a part of a ministry, Be a
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: part of our host ministry, Be a part of the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: parking lot ministry. Help out with the babies. Find something
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: where you can plug in and be a part of it.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: As these campuses become independent churches, more than ever, we're
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: going to all need to roll up our sleeves, write
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: our checks, bend our knees, do our part to see
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: these campuses become healthy churches. Can you pray for Steve Green,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: my good friend, our executive minister. Yeah, he's got big shoulders,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: he's a brilliant guy. But even somebody with big shoulders
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and a good brain needs the help of the Holy Spirit.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: And he's going to be overseeing this transition over the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: next We're not sure how long it's going to take,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: but no more than three years of transitioning these campuses
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: into churches. Pray for him, and this is very important.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Pray for your lead minister. Pray for your lead minister.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: If you're a part of Crownridge, Pray for Travis and
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Alicia Eads in their wonderful family. How many of you
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: know that The devil doesn't like ministers. How many of
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: you know that as a minister takes on more responsibility,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: the devil pulls out more darts. So we're going to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: pray around him and his family. Okay, we're gonna pray
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: around him. Can I raise your hand if you promise
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: to pray? Just wanting to make sure. If you didn't
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: raise your hand, you and I need to talk. Let's
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: pray for him. Let's pray for him. Let's pray the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Lord would bless him with decades of fruitful service right
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: here at Oak Hills in San Antonio. And then, also,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: as long as we're praying for things, would you pray
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: for Max to turn off the burner and the car
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: before he starts a fire or gets robbed. Was making
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a prayer list. I just had to throw that on
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: there now. But honestly, let's pray for our memories. Let's
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: remember that God is the one in charge, that Jesus
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: is the one building the church. And would you join
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: with us in this vision of dreaming of a family
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of church planting churches. I think the Lord talked to
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: me a few months ago during a communion service right
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: here in this room. I sensed him saying, it's time
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: to get ready for the harvest. It's time to get
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: ready for the harvest. And as we begin praying about that,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: we began envisioning all these churches beginning to pop up
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: around San Antonio, churches that are able of reaching their region,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: some of whom will become citywide churches like the Oak
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Hills Church, positioning ourselves to receive the harvest as Christ
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: brings them in. Can you imagine as two churches become four,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: as four become eight, as eight become who knows how many?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Twelve and sixteen? Won't that be exciting? And we can
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: say we were here to see it happen. Amen. So
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: thank you Father for your kindness, your provision, and for
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: your goodness. Father. The only vision that matters is the
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: vision you give, and you've told us without a vision,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: people perish, and so Father, we want your vision so
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: that we can be alive. Thank you Father for this opportunity.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: We already begin praying blessings on Travis and Elisia and
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: his family, asking You Lord to encircle them and to
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: give them wisdom and strength. Steve Green as he oversees
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: this transition process for this Church, and Lord, we're excited,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: excited about what you will do, and we're thankful for
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: what you have done through Christ. We pray, and all
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the church said