Eddie's Blog

Nuts and Bolts

For the past 10 years, I have been a Pastor of a great church in Powdersville, SC. Marathon Church is a great place to be on Sunday morning and I love going. A lot of pastors I have talked with don't like going to their own church. In the past 10 years, Marathon has taken a lot of abuse from the religious crowd around the area. The question I always ask people, (our critics) "Have you ever been?" (99% say 'no') When you start seeing people's lives change and salvations happening every weekend, it tends to change your opinion  about what's going on. If people are the business of the church then I would ask "How`s Business?" Business is good at Marathon and getting better. The truth of the matter is that people aren't looking for a religion - they are looking for a relationship. Jesus made it clear what we are suppose to  do: "Love God and Love People." Jesus always had a way of making things simple when the religious crowd wanted to complicate it.  For the religious crowd, just so we can help you , FYI : we DO use a Bible every weekend, we DO talk about the blood of Jesus, and we DO baptize, and by the way, we Do talk about Hell, but we would rather people go to Heaven than try to figure out what religion they are!

70% if we would Ask?

I woke up at 6 AM to get ready for three services. Sunday is what we call Game Day at Marathon; that is when the most people show up. Everything we do is geared to reaching the most people we can with the resources we have. People are our best resource. We have a great volunteer base, and it takes about 200 volunteers to carry out a Sunday morning service. I was able to pray with the greeter team out front at 8:30 AM. I asked them for prayer requests and who they had invited, so we could be looking for them. Vision can be lost over time.It is important that we all remember that Sunday is more than a video or a band; it is about people. Getting people to connect with God. Sometimes we have to be reminded that church just isn't for the Christians: It can't become MY church, it has to become  OUR church. Everyone is welcome at  Marathon, can't be treated as if it is a secret. We have the chance to offer hope, so let's do it! The question I ask this morning is when was the last time you invited someone to church. Statistics tell us that 70% of people would come to church if someone would just ask. We've been talking about outrageous Christianity just like in the New Testament. Jesus used ordinary people to build His kingdom. I guess you would say  Marathon has been built on ordinary people who want to make a difference in the world!!    

Outrageous to Contagious (Music Fest)

Sometimes Sundays can be business as usual for any church but not this past Sunday. Marathon turned it up a notch, and the community responded. Over 6,000 people came and backed up traffic to Hwy 153 and beyond.This Sunday, we saw what the kingdom of God is going to look like. This was the first time many people, even from our surrounding community, came to church for the first time. I can't tell you how many people said, "This is what I have been looking for." I would describe this event as a Tailgate Party meets Upper State Fair ,meets Community Church. We talked about being a contagious to an outrageous Christian.The New Testament Christians were outrageous. The religious crowd called them in the Greek terms "idiots"; they were crazy for God because they had been with Jesus.Marathon looks a little crazy sometimes; we aren't the normal church. Jesus chose people who were broken, forgotten, (even tax collectors) to be on his team to change the world. The world isn't looking for normal; they know what that looks like. They are looking for people to be contagious about life, people who live what they believe and are not afraid to say or share it. I am proud of you Marathon! We are exposing the world to the Gospel and we are seeing more and more lives change every weekend. Church isn't just here for us, we are the church and we are here for the world!!!!!!!!!!         

The Wall

Right before Easter this year we decided to do something that would change our church and do something most churches would never do. We decided to pass out Sharpies (black felt pens} at the end of  each service. I spoke on reaching our world, and that it starts right where you are, family, friends, and people at places like Bi-Lo.

"So," I said, "If we are really serious then go write their names on the wall of our worship center." We talked about what we thought might happen as a staff; we were hoping for at least half the people in the worship service would write on the wall. What we saw was almost all the people in all three services came down and wrote the names of the people who they wanted to find God and change their lives.There were thousands of names on our walls in our worship center. Last weekend, I saw more people after the service, 5 months later, still writing names on the wall. I hear a story almost every weekend of someone who came to church for the first time or hadn`t been there in in years. One Sunday, a member told me that they had writtten the names of a couple on the wall in the first service, and that couple showed up the last service on the same day. When you add the power of God, the power of the pen and mix in a little faith,people find God!      

 

Thank You Old Navy

Recently our church took on a project in which we bought Old Navy and Shoe Carnival gift cards to help Foster kids buy school clothes. We were able to raise almost $5,000 and help with their clothing needs for the fall.

I watched those kids come in with basically nothing and come out with bags of clothes. We sometimes take for granted we have shoes, sometimes 10 pairs. But imagine having only one. I got to see the faces of those kids. I got to see the tears from the foster parents who told me if it hadn't been for Marathon they wouldn't have had the money to buy one outfit, much less three. When you put a face on the giving it is different story.

I met one child  at our church who had been run  over by a car by  one of his parents as a form of  punishment. A 5 year old last month ended up in the hospital because his dad beat him with a stick . DSS has a huge task ahead of them and there are more children than there are homes. These stories are common as more and more kids are comming into system. Thanks Marathon for all you have done including many of you becoming Foster Parents. We will be have a Foster Care Weekend on Novenber 3rd, 2007, if you are interested in helping.

Remember Marathon`s mission is to "LOVE ALL - SERVE ALL " and when you take care of children you are following the example of Jesus Christ.