One of the things that is important is that you have to start where people are.  You have to accept them, as is, and allow God to do the work in their lives.  Every church in America would agree with that statement.  However, I wonder if every church takes strides to do so.  To be honest, not much catches me off-guard anymore.  We have people in all phases of the journey.

The truth of the matter is we have no choice.  We can’t make someone be deeper along in the journey than they are.  We can’t force spiritual growth.  Our desire is to help them to move to the immediate next step, not become a small group leader in 10 days.

In 2 days, the Acworth Egg Drop is going down.  You won’t want to miss out as we drop thousands of eggs from a helicopter.  Yes, I said a helicopter!

There will be 25,000 candy filled eggs, easter bunnies, plenty of Freedom Church partners and a helicopter.  Why?  Just for you and your kids.

Come hang out… you’ll have more fun than you could ever imagine!

*The look of joy on the kids’ faces that received a new bike from Bikes or Bust.

*The parents who were crying because they were trying to figure out how to provide Christmas for their child.

*The way our partners were willing to stand out in the rain to make a child’s wish come true.

*The generosity of the people of Freedom Church and people all over the country!

*The number of times that I had to walk away to keep from crying after hearing people’s stories.

*A grandma who wept as she told me that her granddaughter was dreading Christmas because her mom was incarcerated.  This should help to make it a little more special.

Was 50 hours in lift in the rain worth it?  You’d better believe it!

We just finished up the 2nd Annual Bikes or Bust event.  We were able to get a lot of bikes for some kids who might never get a new bike for Christmas.

Here are some of my thoughts about the event…

1.  It was much warmer than last year.  It was in the low 60s during the day.

2.  It was MUCH wetter than last year.  It pretty much rained the entire time, yet people still came out.

3.  The lift seemed much more sturdy than last year.  It was also about 20 ft. higher.

4.  Being able to connect with people on the live feed made the event so much more fun.  It also allowed us to sell bikes online.

5.  50 hours + very little sleep = a tired Todd!

6.  We had a guy in Sicily buy 12 bikes.  Bikes or Bust is a worldwide phenomenon.

7.  Since we did this event last year, I know of 4 churches that have done very similar events.

8.  We had inflatables, Santa, camels, dance teams, and school choruses all on site.  It was a much better event than last year.

9.  The schools seemed so appreciative for the sacrifices that Freedom Church made to make this event happen.

10.  Our partners are amazing!  They kept us fed and worked many long hours!

HOSANNA

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

GOD OF THIS CITY

The greater things have yet to come
the greater things are still to be done in this city
There is no one like our God

God continues to give me a passion for this city!

Food…Inflatables…Live Music…Shopping.  The inflatables and music will be free.  The food and shopping… not so much!

We hope to see you in Downtown Acworth tomorrow night!

Here’s my observations from the week:

1.  They are the hardest working group of kids that I have ever been around.  They moved 2 ENORMOUS piles of mulch to help out McCall Primary and Acworth Elementary.

2.  They were also very polite and I never once heard them complain about the heat or amount of work they were doing.

3.  They helped us to pass out cookies/doughnuts to over 700 homes.

This was a good week for Freedom Church.  We were able to further our relationship with the schools and get the word out about our church to a bunch of new homes.

A HUGE thanks to Dan, the adult leaders, and students from First Baptist.  They helped us to move forward in the process.