Sometimes I hear people talk about miracles as if they never happen anymore and I think about how they may just not be seeing the miracles that are happening all around them all the time. In fact, I would suggest that we may miss the miracles because they hide in the mundane. This past Sunday, God used something that happens all the time to help me appreciate something that doesn’t happen enough.

Every year during the month of December, our church receives a special offering called The Big Give. The premise is pretty simple: everyone brings $25, we add it all up, and then we give it all away to nonprofits in our area.

Over the years we’ve bought a lot of food, baby supplies, and toilet paper. It’s amazing how much of that stuff shelters and pregnancy resource centers need. We’ve also written some pretty big checks to help fund areas where those nonprofits were facing end-of-the-year shortages.

So giving an offering at the end of the year isn’t something new for our church. But this year, God did something new. He nudged us to use The Big Give to pay December power bills for families who would have to choose between celebrating Christmas or staying warm. We wondered how we’d find the families, and once we opened up an online form to allow people to recommend families, we wondered how we’d fund all the families. Our goal of 15 families was equaled in recommendations within the first week. As the number grew to 28, we realized that we’d never had a Big Give big enough to meet that need.

Not only that, but the nonprofits we normally support would end up getting no help since it would more than likely take all of whatever came in to pay the power bills. To add to the mounting impossibility, our church isn’t a wealthy church. I don’t say that a lot because I DESPISE A POVERTY MENTALITY and refuse to live as if the pie is only so big. Most of the time, I’m pretty sure our annual budget is normal, but every now and then in conversations with pastors of other churches our size or smaller, budgets come up and I realize that economically at least, our church is, let’s say, challenged.

Usually, that feels like a burden. But this past Sunday, it became a blessing. This past Sunday I preached from 2 Corinthians about the Macedonian church and about how they were rich in generosity (8:2). About how they were a model of gracious giving and examples to other churches of what it looks like to live and give freely (8:1). About how they were so eager to give that they begged for the opportunity (8:4) and then when given that opportunity, gave more than Paul had even hoped they would (8:5).

As I preached, I realized how much glory God received through the generosity of the Macedonian churches. What I didn’t realize was that I was preaching to one of them.

Not because our budget is one-half to one-third of other churches our size.

Not because we’re tested with many troubles or very poor.

But because I saw abundant joy – the sheer “we get too!” attitude – literally overflow in rich generosity.

I stood on the front row and watched what seemed like an endless line of people pass by a simple basket and drop in their part of The Big Give. Then, we waited until it was all counted, and what we found was a true miracle: this regular church filled with regular people on regular salaries (or, in some cases, no salaries) gave “even more than we had hoped” (8:5).

A lot more.

Almost two and a half times more than the largest amount in previous years of The Big Give.

Enough for all 28 families to have their power bills paid and still be able to do all that we’ve done in the past… and more.

And so this week I have praised God for always giving us a vision that exceeds our resources. That gap between what we can do and what only He can do is where the miracle is waiting. I’ve found myself less stressed about facing many troubles or being very poor (8:2) because the troubles we face “are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17), and the money we don’t have isn’t what the world needs anyway (Acts 3:6).

This year, The Big Give became The Really, Really, Really Big Give, and for 28 families and a whole lot more people who will be touched by our amazing local nonprofits, a Macedonian miracle became their Christmas miracle.

You see, miracles still happen, and when we open our eyes, we’ll often find that we’re right in the middle of one.

Reading Time: 4 minutesI know. Everyone is asking for money this time of year, and it can be so easy to feel like all people want from you is a dollar (or twenty!). But there’s one YUGE (sorry, Donald) reason that you and I can’t afford to simply shrug our shoulders and walk away from “generosity opportunities” this time of year (or any time, for that matter):

God blesses the generous.

Now, before you whip out your cash and get ready to invest in God’s great pyramid scheme, let’s qualify that statement just a bit, and then I’ll give you some insight from our church’s own 2016 case study to back it up.

God does indeed bless the generous, because He said He would in Proverbs 11:25. It reads “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” The key question, of course, is what does He mean by prosper?

The Hebrew word means “to be made fat,” which is weird because so many of us are trying to do anything BUT be made fat! But the point is that God makes sure that generous people always have plenty, and He does that for one very simple reason: God can give generous people more because He knows they’ll use it to find more ways to be generous!

[Tweet “God can give generous people more because He knows they’ll use it to find more ways to be generous!”]

In 2 Corinthians 9:11, God makes it clear that His purpose in giving TO us is so that He can give THROUGH us. “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (emphasis added)

Add to that the promise of 3 John 1:2 and we see that our prosperity is always tied to the condition of our souls. People who are prospering in their relationship with Jesus tend to always find ways to be generous. Their bonus becomes a way to bless another family. Their gifts include gifts for another. Their new car allows them to give away the older car instead of parking it in the driveway “in case we need it later.”

Generosity isn’t at the mercy of our situations; it comes from God’s mercy in our situations. That’s why it’s NEVER a good time to throttle back on generosity, because our souls are prospering independent of our circumstances. Let me share a story to show how God continues to bless us if we continue to show generosity, even in tough times.

2016 has been a tough year at The Gathering, the church that we planted in 2011. Don’t get me wrong, people are still coming and Jesus is still very much alive in our services. But this year we experienced the move of God by, well, moving. What we thought would be a short skip and a jump from one location to another has turned into a longer stay in the “in between” place. Waiting is hard, and when the waiting is tied to the renovation of an old 14,000 square foot building, it can cause one to want to keep all the money in reserve “in case we need it later.” Sounds a lot like that old car parked in the driveway, doesn’t it?

In the first 4 years of our church’s existence, we’ve been able to give away anywhere from 16-21% of our annual income to missions both at home and around the world, and this year – even while facing the unknown of a future building renovation, even as we brought on our 2nd full-time staff member, and even while we faced a “yet to be determined” lengthy transition – we decided that we couldn’t afford to NOT continue being generous.

The result? We’ll give more to mission this year than in any previous year, and it’s not even close. When the ball drops on 2016, our church will have given close to 27% of our income away, and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

And how did God show Himself to be the faithful God who promised to refresh us if we were generous? We’ve had the funds for a down payment on our “new to us” building as well as being able to self-fund the initial demo and drawings needed to prepare for the up fit.

And there are no lottery winners in our church. Just generous people who believe that God gives to us so that He can give through us, and then He gives to us again so we can repeat the cycle.

[Tweet “God gives to us so that He can give through us.”]

Tomorrow, our church will have our 4th annual BIG GIVE, and even though it’s tempting to take up an offering just for us, we know that when we take 100% of this offering and give it away to non-profits in our area, that God will keep His promise to refresh us.

Souls set free, addictions broken, a city finding hope in Jesus. All of these and more refresh us, and we expect that God will give all of them in full measure to us as we give what we can to Him.

Perhaps you’d like to be a part of THE BIG GIVE? Simply click the link to learn more about it and give securely online.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

One of the hardest things in church planting is defining the win. Wait, let me rephrase that. One of the hardest things in church planting is remembering how we defined the win. Yes, much better. Let me explain why.

Most new organizations (and a church would fall into that category) don’t have a hard time defining the win early on.  Of course, most of those wins are on paper, which is worthless for the most part because it doesn’t actually count. (If wins on paper counted, the Carolina Panthers really would go to the Super Bowl this season!)

Early on churches say the right things, like “we reach people for Jesus” or “we invite the unchurched” or something similar.  But lots of times those wins disappear in a flurry of activities that feel very different than what we expected.  Let’s be honest: coming early and setting up a heavy sound system week in and week out doesn’t feel very much like a win, and it doesn’t take long for us – and I don’t care who you are, if you’re breathing, you’ve struggled with this – to start to wonder if we are, in fact, winning.

(Insert your favorite Charlie Sheen joke here, even though it has been way overplayed and you should stop telling it.)

Back to the point.  This past Sunday was one of those days when all of us who have invested our time and energy shaking hands, pouring coffee, smiling at first-time guests and making phone calls were able to get in our cars after The Gathering’s worship service and say, “Ahh!  Now that’s a win.”  While I appreciate all of the kind words and all of the effort that went into making Pastor Appreciation Day so much fun, it was the constant pointing to Jesus that made my day.  Did you see it, too?  Did you hear how many people told different stories with the same themes?

“Umm.  This is the first time I’ve ever shared my story in public.”

“I used to attend church but didn’t like it.  I came to The Gathering and loved it.”

“I used to wake up on Sundays and think, ‘Man. It’s Sunday.’  Now I can’t wait for Sundays!”

“This place doesn’t have a layer of religious crap.”

“This place is real.”

“This place just has…it.”

To everyone who shared a testimony about what Jesus is doing in your life, thank you.  You could not have done a better job of defining for all of us again what it looks like when Jesus wins us over.  To everyone who has worn an orange shirt, has come early, has spent time in prayer asking Jesus to shine His glory on our city, let me say congratulations!  Sunday was the day that you could enjoy the fruit of so much of your labor, and I know you felt the same way I did: it is worth it to see the change and hope in people’s lives.

Are we done? Heck no!!  We’re just getting started, and I can promise you that there are days ahead of us when we will all feel tired again and the win won’t seem to be quite as clear as it was on Sunday.  But that’s what happens when  ordinary people answer an extra-ordinary call. This task is bigger than you and me combined, but on the days that we feel overwhelmed, I invite you to pull this entry back up, read it, and remember that we are winning!

I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!