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Our 10th (& 50th!) Anniversary
Feb 09 | Pastor J.D. | 6 Comments |
Summit, this weekend we celebrate our 10th anniversary as a church. 10 years ago I stood in front of a group of about 300 faithful members of the Homestead Heights Baptist Church and challenged them to prioritize the mission over their preferences, to go wherever God told us to go, and to do whatever it took to reach and bless our community.
This past Sunday we baptized 305 on a single weekend. Our newest campus, the Cary campus, had nearly 800 people and baptized 47 on Sunday. God really has done exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or imagine.
The Holy Spirit has a way, I’ve learned, of “signing” certain things He does. We did not intentionally plan this past weekend’s baptisms to fall right before our 10th anniversary. We certainly had no idea we’d baptize over 300. But I think God wants us to reflect on what He has done with our five loaves and two fishes. He is a God who is willing and able to save. The limitation is never in His compassion or power; it is always in our willingness to believe, and take a dare, on those things. In the past 12 months, we have baptized over 900, more than 3x the size of that original group. The individual stories I continue to hear from those who make up that 900 make me want to weep. Whole families being baptized together. A newly saved girl at our church bringing her mother to be baptized. People from all over the world and from many different ethnicities. Former Mormons. Former Muslims. Ex- and current prisoners (one on Sunday who uses his 2 hour supervised leave to come to our church). Newly saved college students bringing their friends. Neighbors. Sons and daughters.
A month ago we were able to commission another team to go and live among an unreached people group. What made that group special is that it consisted of 8 recent college graduates, 7 of whom were not Christians when they came to college here in the Triangle and started to attend our church. This week we welcomed onto our staff 14 new college graduates as fulltime interns, all of whom were saved and baptized at the Summit (in large part through our campus ministries and Campus Outreach).
I want us to commit ourselves this weekend to two things, both summarized in “the Gospel prayer.”
As You have been to me, so I will be to others.
We will do whatever it takes to reach people locally and globally. That means laying it all on the table. That means joyfully embracing a cross of sacrifice for the salvation of others the way that He embraced one for us.
As I pray, I’ll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection.
I want us to boldly ask for more. When we experience great grace, we have a tendency to think that we probably shouldn’t ask for a lot more, because we don’t want to impose upon God. That’s certainly how we relate to other people–if someone gives you a huge, expensive gift, you don’t turn around and ask them for something else. But that’s not how God works. Past grace is a promise of future grace. We honor God by now asking for more, not less. We are asking for the sake of God’s glory and for the sake of the lost world. We are asking God to bless us not simply for our sake (though God loves to do that, too) but for His name’s sake and the sake of others. Like Solomon, we are asking that God “make us great” for the sake of “this great people” (1 Kings 3:8-9; Psalm 72:1-2).
As the title of this blog indicates, this is not only our 10th anniversary, but also our 50th. 50 years ago Sam James felt led of God to plant the Homestead Heights Baptist Mission in North Durham to reach a part of the Triangle that had no church. He got it off the ground, and then left to be a missionary in Vietnam. The work he did there was so significant that the IMB named their educational facility after him. Every IMB missionary that has been trained in the last two decades has been trained in the “Sam James Educational Facility.” I’m excited to tell you that he will be with us this weekend.
So be here this weekend. This is one of those times we drive a marker into the ground, in Scripture called “an Ebenezer” (1 Samuel 7:12, meaning literally “Up until now the Lord has helped us.”) This is a time to reflect on, and give God glory for, what He has done in us and through us. It’s a time to thank Him for His salvation and for the gift of one another. It is a time to presume upon God’s grace and ask for more.
Be there (which campus should you go to? Check out Summit Home Page, and click ‘select a campus’).
Bring a friend. You’ll never forget it.
6 Responses to “Our 10th (& 50th!) Anniversary”
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[...] weekend we’re celebrating both our 10th and 50th year anniversary. (We can do that because we’re just a bit schizophrenic.) It’s going to be an amazing [...]
When my stepfather was serving in the Vietnam War, Sam James had a Bible study for the servicemen at the nearby base. This many years later he still fondly recalls the way that Mr. James opened up his home to him and the spiritual growth and encouragement that he received as a result. What a small world that he is the one that helped start Homestead Heights!! Amazing!
Christ is Risen! With the five loaves and the two fishes Christ showed us that he was the new Moses, giving manna in the wilderness. Only this time he didn’t bring law, he fulfilled the law for our salvation. He is more than able to provide. Praise God for your evangelical zeal and love for others, Summit at Raleigh, and for praying with the expectation of God’s great mercy.
I read your gospel prayer and a question came to mind. The prayer says, “In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make you love me more and nothing I have done that makes you love me less.” I’m wondering, would it be wrong, in your opinion, if that continued, “… and there is nothing I could do to make you love me less?”
Hey J D, just saw your blog spot and wanted to say hey! My family just returned from 10 years as Missionaries with Word of Life in Germany. Have started 2 Bible Institutes for them, but are back in the states working on my Masters in biblical counseling (Paul Tripp was one of my profs). We are planning to join a church plant in Everett WA. blessing in Christ! Matt 616-916-0291
Thanks so much JD! Here is something based on prayer that you and Tullian have influenced into my own life–how the gospel affects our prayer life. thanks for your encouragement in my life!
http://christianityapplied.com/2012/02/11/what-inspires-prayer/
Pastor J.D.,
Blessings to you, your family, your church…I pray for you often as I thank God for His work and ministry through you in my life! I was just listening this morning, to your “Gospel and the Culture” talk from your time in FL with Tullian. I can’t get enough of your teaching!
Glory to God on your anniversary! Thank you for being faithful…