Fearless

Well, fearless week is in full swing here at Eastview. Working at memorizing Matthew 16:24...a very fearless and following passage. Our vision at Eastview is to be a fearless church of Christ-followers and yesterday we gave a fearless vision for our future...some highlights: 1. We will not be afraid of growth...since we don't bring it, God does...we will be faithful with all he entrusts to us! He has grown Eastview by 8%/yr. the last five years and that means we will be a church averaging 7,200 in weekend attendance in 2017 if this continues. There is much to be afraid of: where will we put our kids? Parking? Who will we need to hire? More teachers/leaders of small groups? More volunteers? More toilet paper?! Whatever the challenge, God will provide the growth and the strength for us to be faithful. 2. We will not be afraid of finances. Obviously, everyone is a little tense about economy these days, but God has all the resources in the world! He's not worried, he can get the money to do the ministry here any way he wants. It's just more interesting (and for us a privilege) for him to involve us in doing it! So, we are adding $1M to our budget for next year...over $200K of which is going for outreach (overseas and domestic). This is a big step, but God has provided and we are convinced he will continue. If you can give more why wouldn't you? 3. Finally, we will not be afraid to speak. As God brings the growth, our voice in this community will increase and we will be opposed. But we are committed to preach Jesus as the living Word of God and the Bible as the written Word of God...no matter what. We are working at increasing our voice by using more and more social media to get the word out about our Savior...so if you are on facebook - friend the Eastview page. If you have an i phone go to the Apple app store and download the Eastview App and (this is the craziest one yet) if you are on Twitter you can follow me @bakerpastor - yes, the man who never learned to program a VCR is now "tweeting" that really is fearless! Praying for you to have a fearless week!