Day 1 Success... "Called to Serve"

Day 1 of the campaign was a huge success. We were able to sell a few shirts and add more ambassadors to help us sell shirts out in our community. At Carolina Forest Community Church, we are in the middle of a series called Centered...which is challenging us to look at what it means to live a life centered on Christ. Yesterday's message was so timely as we launched the community campaign, because Pastor Brad challenged us in the area of serving.

Out of this call to serve those around us, which is woven all throughout Jesus' teachings in scripture, was the birth of the community center ministry at Carolina Forest Community Church. The mission statement of the church is to reach and grow people across the street and around the world in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The community center is one of the strategic ways that we reach out to our neighbors across the street. We use sports and rec as an opportunity to build relationships with young people and their families, model servant leadership, and teach God's word through the platform of athletics.

This strategy is always a work in progress, and something that we will always be tweaking and seeking to improve, but this ministry has been an integral part of the DNA of Carolina Forest Community Church and our surrounding area. By supporting this massive fundraising effort, you truly are helping us carry this vision on into this new ministry season. The "Community Campaign 2008" will allow us to continue without having to take a step back in the level of service in any of our recreation programs that we have worked hard to establish.

Let me finish today by challenging each of you to read a passage of scripture that is very familiar and well known. Pastor Brad used John 13:1-17 yesterday to remind us again of the example that Jesus set for us as a servant leader. He challenged us to understand that Jesus is revealed when we serve. That is what I want to leave us with today... I challenge you to read John 13:1-17 and reflect on what it truly means to be a servant leader in the midst of the opportunities that God has blessed you with in your current season of life.

You can also watch all of yesterday's message online at www.carolinaforest.org.

Please come back tomorrow as we go through this 40 day journey together... have a blessed and wonderful day.

Serving and Leading together,

Brody