Overwhelmed

Team: This article was written by Perry Noble.......and while it applies to Newspring Church, it does us good to look back sometimes as well.........

This past Saturday on "daddy date day". I took Charisse to the campus of Anderson University for a walk.

AND GOD ROCKED MY WORLD!

We were walking around the campus together and I was telling her about how Lucretia and I used to live there. We spent some time on the swings and enjoyed walking by the tennis courts.

When all of a sudden I looked up and we were in front of the Sullivan Building and I froze and could not move for a couple of seconds as I thought, "That is where Jesus allowed us to begin NewSpring Church."

I am amazed at all He has done; at His INCREDIBLE favor and faithfulness He has shown. I still remember:

• When we owned NOTHING! Everything we had was borrowed and broken, yet we seemed to be able to pull off church every Sunday.
• The summer the air conditioner was ! broken nearly every week and no one complained.
• Sitting outside on January 16, 2000 (our first service) and wondering if anyone would actually show up.
• Sitting at home the night of January 16 (after it was all over) and wondering if they would actually come back!
• The decision to hire Lee full time, even though we didn't have the money, knowing that it was a step of faith that Jesus had called us to take.
• The time Jenn Sangl (who was sort of the church secretary at the time) came to me and told me our money was just about gone and that we might not be able to pay the bills that month (July of 2000 in case you are curious!)
• Getting the staff and leadership together to pray about our financial situation and then taking up more money in our offering the next three weeks than we did the first two and a half months! ($2,500, 2,500 and 3,000 in case you were curious!)
• The time the dude in the bathing suit showed up to an evening service and gave his life to Christ in the lobby during the music.
• Going to two services and people sitting outside of the room on the steps listening to the service.
• Making the decision to move to the Fine Arts Center; a room which would seat 1,100 people (and we had around 180 coming.)
• Challenging people to give generously towards and offering to move so we could actually buy some sound equipment and such and 52 people giving $26,000.

Telling the people at the last service in the Sullivan building that when we got in the Fine Arts Center we were going to fill it up not once, but twice. (I was wrong. We filled it up four times.)

All of these thoughts hit me like a ton of bricks, and it caused me to revisit the original reason why we started NewSpring Church.

I wanted to create a church where people could meet Jesus and walk with Him every single day of their lives. I feel like He called me to that, and it absolutely overwhelms me every time I think about how far He has brought us. Our passion today is the same it was back then: to make the name of Jesus famous one life at a time!!!

Lamentations 3:23 says His faithfulness is great, and I am living proof that HE IS!!!