mattfry

103 Degrees

We are in Chennai, India training leaders and pastors.  This is my fifth trip to Chennai as we are partnering with Equip led by Dr. John Maxwell. My first trip to India was 5 years ago and I am always amazed when I come here.  As I reflect on the conference here are some thoughts...

*It is hot!  They told me that May is the hottest month of the year in south India. Lucky me! I checked the weather today and it was 103 degrees here and 47 degrees in Raleigh.

*The Christians here are passionate for God!  And their passion is contagious.  Many of them have paid a high price to become believers.

*The Christians here are fully committed. Our host Pastor is David Moham of New Life Church. They have 35,000 attending one of their 13 services. Their first one is at 5am with over 4,000 attending that 
service.

*The leaders here are hungry to learn and grow. Every 6 months they come together from all over south India for training. They listen and apply the teaching and then share with at least 10 others.

*The Pastors here think BIG!  Pastor Mohan has a vision to build a 50,000 seat worship center with campuses all over south India.

Pray for Martha and I as we fly home. Our flight from Bombay to NY is about 14 hours. See you soon!

(Martha and I with Pastor Mohan and my interpreter)

(Martha with some of the Indian leaders)

Training Leaders in India

Martha and I are in Chennai, India trainining about 800 pastors and church leaders. What a privilege to be equipping pastors that are being used by God to reach their local communities all over south India! On the way to India we stopped in Paris and visited Hillsong Paris. What an amazing experience. This church is only a few years old but has about 800 people meeting in a downtown theatre. They are a bright light for Jesus in a city that needs God's love and hope.

(Here's a picture of me and Martha at Hillsong Paris)

Frontline Leadership

Pastor Stovall Weems taught a powerful message to our ministry staff yesterday (you can listen to it on our C3 Leadership podcast). He shared three components that are needed in your staff to be frontline leaders from Mark 10:35-45:

1.    There’s A Price To Pay – Are you willing to pay the price to go to the next level?
2.    Submitting To Authority – Submission is tested when we disagree.
3.    Understanding Your Identity – we need to have a servants heart.  Do you see yourself as a leader who serves or do you see yourself as a servant that has been given an opportunity to lead?

He has noticed in the ten years he’s been the pastor of Celebration Church that as they’ve grown from a handful of people to over 7,000 that these components are needed for the staff to go to the next level and be with you for the long haul.  This is one of those teachings every Pastor and staff that wants to go to the next level must listen to.

(Martha and I with Stovall Weems)

Pastor’s Roundtable

We also had great time eating lunch with about 15 pastors from NC and VA.  We spent a few hours sharing ideas and challenges… I love opportunities to get real with other leaders and Pastors and to help each other go to the next level.  We had pastors from the following churches involved:

Journey Church, Raleigh, NC
Lifepoint Church, Wilmington, NC
Faith Baptist Church, Knightdale, NC
Whitley Church, Princeton, NC
Wave Church, VA Beach, VA
Living Word Family Church, Raleigh, NC
Everett Chapel, Clayton, NC
Celebration Church, Jacksonville, FL
C3 Church, Clayton, NC

(Pastor Stovall speaking at the Pastor's roundtable)

First Wednesday

To cap off the day we had an amazing and passionate night of worship and teaching.  The Celebration Church worship team and the C3 Church worship team led together and it was powerful and high energy.  You could sense the presence and the power of God, and Pastor Stovall rocked the house as he shared about “What Do We Do When Our Dreams Have Died” from 2 Kings 4.  You can check out the podcast here.

(Powerful worship at First Wednesday)

Stovall Weems at C3

Our special guest for tonight's First Wednesday is Pastor Stovall Weems from the Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL. Pastor Stovall and his wife Kerri launched Celebration Church 10 years ago and is now one of the fastest growing churches in the country according to Outreach Magazine and has an attendance of over 6,500.  You will be blessed by Stovall’s passion for God and humor.  Some of the worship leaders from Celebration will also be here and will combine with the C3 worship team for a passionate night of worship.  Tonight is going to be a great night!  It all starts at 7pm.

Defining Moments

Life is filled with defining moments.  This past weekend I shared some of the defining moments we’ve had at C3 over the last 10 years…

October 1998, Kick Off Service with 167 people attending.
Spring 2001, Purchased 33 acres on Hwy 1010 (Cleveland Rd.)
March 2002, Entered our first facility, 20,000 Sq. Ft.
March of 2005, The Dream was launched to begin moving forward with our new 2,000 seat worship center
Christmas 2007, Our first Sunday in the new building and both services had overflow crowds.
Easter of 2008 – 4,200 people attended in three services.

But this past weekend I believe could be the most defining moment of all… (check out the podcast or vodcast here).  We not only celebrated all that God had done and all He is going to do… but we made a commitment as a church family to be a Kingdom Building Church.  Hundreds of families made a commitment to sacrifice their time and finances to build the Kingdom of God here locally and around the world. 

I am so proud of everyone of you who stepped out on faith and said I want to be a Kingdom Builder.  I also want to thank the C3 staff and leadership for your “above and beyond” example to our church. 

Kingdom Builders Celebration Weekend!

We’ve prayed… we’ve fasted… we’ve prepared… and now it’s here… our Kingdom Builders Celebration Weekend!  This is one of those defining moments in the life of C3.  I want to encourage you to pray and seek God as we prepare for Sunday.  We will celebrate all that God has done and all that He’s going to do as we bring our commitment cards and our Kingdom offerings.  Also this weekend we will give out some cool give aways.  See you Sunday!

Special Message From Pastor Matt

These are exciting days at C3 and I am so pumped to see all that God is going to do.  I spent some time today with Chris Pipes talking about C3 and the journey that we’ve been on.  I want to encourage the C3 family to go to our podcast and check it out.  Martha and I are so thankful for your faithfulness and support and I know that God’s best is yet to come. 

A couple dates to remember:

May 4, Kingdom Builders Celebration!  This Sunday, 9:15 and 11:15am.  Everyone will be bringing their KB commitment cards and first fruits offering.

May 7, First Wednesday with Pastor Stovall Weems from Celebration Church, Jacksonville, FL.

For more details, visit c3church.com.

Be Strong!

In scripture we see so many times where God says to “Be Strong”.  For example Ephesians 6:10 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.”(NIV) 

For the past 9 days the C3 family has been praying and fasting… and we have just one day left.  It seems like every time I fast and pray, I see the power of God AND I feel the attack of the enemy. I have felt it physically and spiritually.  Satan doesn’t like it when believers get serious about God by fasting and praying for The Kingdom of God.  So if you feel tempted to give up and quit, remember what God tells us… Be Strong in the Lord!

Those of you that listen country music on WQDR (94.7) have probably heard the Q Morning Crew talk about Marty joining us for the 10 Day Daniel’s Fast.  He shared with me that tomorrow morning they are going to have some fun with him by bringing in a bunch of junk food and try to tempt him to break the fast on the last day.  If you want to put an encouraging word for Marty, comment below or you can email him at myoung@curtismedia.com.  Let him know that we are in this thing together!

(Matt and Marty eating some fruit for lunch)

Tomorrow night will be powerful as we gather together for a time of prayer and worship at C3.  When God finds a group of believers that are fully committed to His Kingdom, big things happen and we are stronger together.  As we pray, remember to pray for the Kingdom Builder’s Celebration this Sunday.  Let’s pray about what God would have us to commit to give to build His Kingdom here at C3 and around the world!

Finishing Strong

As we come to the end of our 10 Days of Praying and Fasting, lets finish strong together!  It is so clear to me that God has been doing something special in my life and in our church during this time of seeking God.  One person shared with me that the last two Sundays have been two of the most powerful weekends ever.  If you missed either of the services I’d encourage you to go check out the podcast or vodcast.  I spent the last two Sundays explaining what a Kingdom Builder is and how God wants us to work together to do great things.  This Wednesday night we will conclude the fast with a Night of Worship and Prayer.  I have a feeling this will be a night we will never forget.  Even if you haven’t been fasting I’d encourage you to attend as we seek God together.  We will meet at 7:00pm in our worship center.  I’d love to hear what God has been doing in your life.

2 Down... 8 To Go!

We are coming to the end of day two of our 10 Days of Praying and Fasting.  If you’ve joined us with the 10 Days of fasting this is when it starts getting tough!  Remember the first few days will be the most challenging as our body is being cleansed.  Not only is it a time for our body to be cleansed but also a time for our heart to be cleansed.  Take some time today to pray and ask God to cleanse and strengthen your heart.  God is up to something big in your life and we need to get the junk out of our heart so that He can fill it back up with His power!

Today I want to encourage you to read Daniel 1 and notice Daniel’s example.  When Daniel decided to not partake of the King’s delicacies the Bible says in Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies…”(NKJV)

Notice Daniel “purposed in his heart”.  He was determined and made up his mind from the beginning that He was going to stand strong.  Let’s determine today that we are going to finish strong. Let’s purpose in our heart that we are going to seek God with everything we’ve got… heart, soul and mind. 

By the way if you want some great recipes and other fasting ideas check out Martha’s blog... MarthaFry.org.