Don’t even think about missing church this weekend just because you lose an hour of sleep!  Celebration Church is in for incredible services this weekend as we host our very special guest, Pastor Craig Groeschel, speaking live at all services.  He is the founding and Senior Pastor of LifeChurch.tv in Edmund, Oklahoma.  If you have never had the opportunity to hear Pastor Craig Groeschel speak live, then you don’t want to miss out on his visit to Celebration Church.  Craig is not only a great leader and Pastor, but also a good friend of mine and I am so pumped to have him with us.

P.S. Don’t forget to set your clocks FORWARD one hour on Saturday night before you snooze so you can join us for an awesome church experience on Sunday!  If you want to sleep in, fine, you can always come to our Sunday, 6:00 PM service as your service choice this weekend at the Midtown Campus.  By the way, all families who attend on Sunday will receive a pre-release single of “Greater Than All” – a Celebration original from our upcoming CD this fall. 

Stovall

Second, last night was a great night as we kicked off my personal discipleship group called the 3Hundred. This select group of men will be the key catalyst in helping to forge the destiny that God has for Celebration Church. I am so fired up about this group, can’t wait until our next gathering.

Ok now…

I wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who attended the Sunday night service as their service of choice last weekend. Remember because we are going to an all Sunday service format our Sunday morning services are extremely packed and it really helps us reach more people by you freeing up your Sunday morning seat and coming Sunday night instead. Sunday night is filling up fast as well but there is some room there and we have opened the annex on Sunday night as well. Even though all services will be very full with the annex open, the egress will be better due to more margin and new exits. We had over 1,000 people attending our Saturday night service so that is a lot of people to move over to Sunday. Also remember, the Sunday night service is exactly the same as the Sunday morning services. Exact same message, worship and everything so by coming to Sunday night instead of Sunday morning you are not missing anything. The only difference is the Sunday night service has communion and a little more energy, a special presence of God there and I believe it is going to be the BEST service of the entire weekend!

I am asking everyone to please consider making the Sunday night service your service of choice. Even if just once or twice a month you go to Sunday night instead of Sunday morning it would be huge blessing to the church. By doing that you are really helping us to reach more people for Christ. Remember it is not about us but about God’s glory!

I know for some of you the Saturday night service was really convenient but as I told everyone back in January, in this new season for my health and my family, the all- Sunday service flow is the healthiest rhythm for myself, family, staff and our church as a whole. If you want to watch or listen my full story and reason behind this please listen to my message that I preached the last weekend in January entitled “Experiencing a God First Life” (audio, video). We feel this is a very strategic and necessary shift for the church in this next season. It has already brought a big lift to our campuses and great momentum in moving forward. We now have live feed to most of our campuses (soon at all locations) and as we open new campuses every year and open our new facility at Baymeadows and 9A in the very near future, we have plenty of options for everyone to chose a convenient service time and location.

The live feed to our campuses has just been awesome and it is great to see our church truly begin to come into being one church with multiple locations. Many people that previously attended Midtown now attend the campus that is closer to where they live in their own community and that is a good thing!

A few other things to know about that will help with the crowds at Midtown. We are opening up an additional 700 seats at the school next to our new property in August that we will be able to use (for free!) on Sunday mornings. So we think that will be a great venue for some people to choose. The school has a brand new theatre and it is amazing. Everyone that attends that venue will be able to see our progress on our new facility next door every week! But the truth is once Sunday night is completely packed we will have no more room at Midtown and will be in that situation until our new facility is ready at Baymeadows and 9A. We have room at some of our campuses but Orange Park Campus is close to capacity at all three services. The good news is that Orange Park will be expanding into a 1000+ seat sanctuary and a possible new location in the very near future. OP has seen amazing growth this past year. St. Johns Campus will be moving into their first permanent location in Julington Creek so that is exciting too! I will probably have some more info about this in a blog post next week.

I am so grateful for all that God is doing and all the incredible people at Celebration Church who are leading people to experience a God first life. Thank all of you for your faithfulness, serving, giving, praying, and sacrificing to enable the Kingdom of God to move forward. I am very humbled for all the growth and expansion and influence that God is allowing us to have in this season and I am absolutely convinced we are just getting started and the best is yet to come!

Thank all of you for your comments. I read them all!

See you Sunday,

Stovall

First of all, this weekend is going to be awesome. Don’t miss it! I can’t wait. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone.

Also, stay on mission and keep the spiritual breakthrough that you received during the fast.  Remember the Awakening: Total Life Challenge, this is going to be the best year of your life if it is your best year spiritually!

REMEMBER:

• Stay faithful in your personal devotions.

• Prioritize your family.

• Plug into a small group or serving team.

• Make it a goal to invite someone to church or bring a friend to church every weekend.

Next weekend we are kicking off a brand new series entitled the Kingdom of God. We will be in this series the entire month of March. Bring your Bibles and get ready to dig deep into the Word of God. I think this series is going to be a defining moment in the life of Celebration Church and your life personally.

To all the men of the church: this Monday, March 1 at 7pm my personal discipleship group is meeting and this is your last chance to join.  After this Monday the group will be closed until August. You will really hear about the vision this Monday night. Our first gathering last month was just kind of an informational meeting with Q and A and I was very preoccupied with my surgery so I wasn’t really able to get into the vision of what the group is all about.  But, this coming Monday we will— and it is going to be intense. Hope you men can make it.

Book update: I am currently working on my first book entitled “Awakening”.  The book is about how to experience a personal awakening with God and how to keep that as part of your lifestyle. It is about keeping your relationship with God new and fresh and walking in a state of personal revival with God. A lot of the book is about understanding grace, prayer and fasting, and putting God first. It shows people how to hit the reset button when necessary and experience continual newness in their soul. The book is being published by the Christian division of Random House (WaterBrook/Multnomah) and will be in bookstores in the late fall. My prayer and my hope is that God will use this book to encourage the body of Christ in the areas of personal renewal and prayer and fasting. That the message in the book will ignite a passion in believers to seek and experience God like never before. The first draft will be finished in a couple of weeks. But any thoughts you have or anything that you have heard me preach that you would hope that I would include in the book please let me know. You can leave your comments here on my blog or on my facebook page and I look forward to reading them!

Thanks!  See you this weekend.

Stovall

After years of ups and downs, children, grandkids, hair-loss, clothing that have seemed to change and no longer flatter her, or even dental loss, she’s not just his wife – she is his bride. You see, the term “bride” describes relationship, whereas the terms housewife, mother, grandmother, etc, describe function and responsibility, even though these roles are just as important. The people I know didn’t limit their view of marriage to a ceremony but made it a lifelong romance.

Jesus Christ – the Ultimate Romantic, doesn’t just view His church as a “missional” bunch of people, or simply his hands and feet extended (though that may also be true), He is coming for a bride. A bride that is without spot or blemish – made pure by the blood He shed on the cross for her.

THREE TAKEAWAYS:

To the leader/preacher: Don’t let what began as a love encounter with the Savior to become relegated to duty or obligation. Let your passion for Him always trump your passion for ministry.

To the Husband: I realize that this may be a bit of a stretch for us get-it-done, told-you-I-loved-you-at-the-altar kind of guy. However, perhaps you can ask God today, to help you to always see her as a bride and not just someone who serves a function. It may help to keep your marriage new and full of life. It is in this place that her beauty will always overshadow her flaws.

To the believer: Whether you are content with your service to God or not, please know that He doesn’t love you for what you do, but for who you are. Don’t ever allow anyone to convince you otherwise. Choose to give your heart entirely to Jesus Christ, the Lover of your soul, the Ultimate Romantic.

Revelation 21:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

David

P.S. – I went to this physical in the middle of a 21 day fast and never broke my fast even after I got the news. Thank you Jesus for your grace!

Second, the fact that I have had this enlarged aortic root all my life basically means I have been at risk for a possible fatal rupture probably most of my life. The doctor told me that there are 2 things you don’t want to do as a young person if you have this condition I have. If you do these things you elevate your risk in a major way. Don’t play contact sports like football and don’t lift heavy weights. I said, “Are you kidding me? These are the 2 things I have basically done almost all of my life!” I played football for basically 10 yrs as a kid and in high school and have lifted heavy weights for all of my life. Then you compound that with my crazy drug usage in college that elevated my risk for rupture even more! The doctor said, “Stovall, it’s like basically your whole life you have been running around on a busy freeway not really paying attention and it is just a miracle you have not been hit. You were an accident waiting to happen.” The truth is the hand of God has protected me my whole life even when I was running from Him. It is a MIRACLE that nothing has happened to me. Proverbs 2:8 says “The Lord preserves the way of His saints.”

Third, it is a miracle how quickly they were able to hook me up with a great team of doctors who specialize in this type of surgery. It has only been 16 days since we found out about this and I am headed to Mayo in Minnesota on Tuesday for the surgery. I am so grateful to God for all He has done and His favor and protection in this entire situation. I am so grateful for all the love, support and encouragement me and my family have received from so many of you. Thank you for all the letters, emails, texts, calls, and comments. I receive and read all of them. I read all your comments on my blog and facebook.

Thank you Celebration Church for being such an incredible church family. I love you so much.

Stovall

I am really looking forward to church this weekend and will share some additional news about my surgery and what the next few weeks will look like here at Celebration Church.  It is times like these where I am so glad that we have such a great staff and team here at Celebration Church. We will not skip a beat and February is going to be a great month and this year is going to be the best year ever!

Actually, I was going to be out for a couple of weeks anyway this month speaking at a couple of great conferences. I was scheduled to speak at the C3 conference  this month in Dallas, TX hosted by Fellowship Church and Pastor Ed Young. It is an amazing conference and I encourage every leader and pastor who has a passion for the local church to attend. This conference has had a tremendous impact on my life and Celebration Church as well. I was also scheduled to speak at the Corazon Conference this month in Lima, Peru. This is another great pastor’s conference hosted by Pastor Robert Barriger and Camino de Vida Church. Obviously I will not be able to make these due to my surgery and recovery but look forward to being part of those again in the future.

I will try and send out as many updates as I can from the hospital via Twitter and Facebook.  I should be out of the hospital in about a week and will hopefully be fully recovered in about 4 weeks. My goal is to be back in church the last weekend of February and back to preaching soon after that.

I pray for a safe and successful surgery. I pray for a quick and speedy recovery. But most of all I pray that I glorify God during this time of rest and repair and make the most of knowing Him in this difficulty. I humble myself under the hand of the Almighty and know that He will lift me up.

Keep God First! (Matthew 6:33)

Stovall

This weekend at church was amazing—what a strong finish to the Awakening fast! Kerri and I are so excited about all the things God has in store for us as a church. 2010 promises to be full of God’s strength and grace!

If you missed church this weekend, I would like to take a moment to fill you in on some personal news that has come to me recently. A couple of weeks ago, during a detailed physical, a heart murmur was discovered. After more tests were run, it was discovered that I have what is called a bicuspid aortic valve. The condition is an abnormality in the valve that pumps blood through the aortic root into the heart. Although my valve is in good shape and does not need to be repaired, a side effect of this condition is an enlarged aortic root, which I have. The more the aorta enlarges, the thinner the wall becomes. As the wall grows thinner, it risks rupturing. This has found to be a condition I was born with and have lived with all my life.

Upon examination, my aortic root was discovered to be enlarged to a state of high risk. Because of this, the cardiologist recommended that I go in for surgery to repair this problem as soon as possible. By the favor of God, I’ve connected with one of the nation’s top surgeons in this field. After prayer and planning, I will be visiting the surgeon this week for consultation and plan to follow his best recommendation for surgery. The surgeon may recommend immediate surgery, postponed surgery, or discover that God has intervened in some other way. One way or another, I am confident that God has it all under His control.

“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” Isaiah 58:8

Although this surgery is serious, as is any open-heart procedure, Kerri and I have tremendous peace. We feel that the Lord brought this condition to light so that it can be addressed. Thankfully, it is a mechanical condition that can be completely repaired with surgery. I can go on to live a very active long life and I am very grateful for this. I would appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks. It is a joy to pastor Celebration Church, and I am looking forward to being at church this weekend (Feb 6-7th) to further update you on my progress.

All for JESUS!

Stovall

“As a church and within our staff and key leadership, we’ve experienced such tremendous momentum from doing this each year. We just know the results first hand from praying, fasting and seeking God like this at the onset of the year. From this has come our passion to inspire other pastors, churches and ministries to experience this for themselves and establish a culture of prayer and fasting in their own churches and ministries.”

Right now, over 1000 pastors, churches and leaders are participating in Awakening, and many are still signing up.  We’ve also asked these pastors and leaders to please focus their prayer, fasting and giving efforts towards the people of Haiti.  What an incredible opportunity as we are all praying and fasting for one another to also come together in supporting the relief efforts in Haiti. 

If you haven’t jumped in for Awakening, I really encourage you to do so.  It’s not too late – you can still be a part of this powerful experience. Visit www.awake21.org to sign up and checkout the free fasting resources available for pastors and ministry leaders.

Stovall

To read the entire interview with Brad Lomenick, Director of the Catalyst Team, click here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Join us for a Night of Prayer
Monday, January 18th 8pmET
Celebration Church, Midtown Campus

For more information on how you can help, Click Here.