Eddie's Blog

Baptism

 We always tie baptism in with Praise Night and it is a real exciting thing for Marathon. We bring in bleachers, and try to figure out where to put everyone, and since we’re still growing, that is getting more and more difficult, but it is a wonderful problem to have!

 

We’ve just Baptized 80 more people! God is doing great things, and more wonderful things are happening everyday! People are getting saved – people’s lives are being changed – and we get the honor of baptizing them!

 

It was an exciting day, and we can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!

Palmetto Pride

 One of our members, Tom Bailey, has been appointed by the state as the new Chairman of the Palmetto Pride organization (www.palmettopride.org). Palmetto Pride encourages businesses, Churches, and Schools to create and participate in projects to help beautify South Carolina.

 

So Marathon has applied for a grant to help us beautify Roe Road, and the Marathon grounds. So you may be seeing some new trees planted around Marathon soon, and we will be partnering with Palmetto Pride to clean up Roe Road.

 

I just want to thank Tom for bringing this opportunity to us, It is going to be a great thing to see how many people that we can get involved, and what we can do.

 

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through this.

1st Timer’s Luncheon

 About every 6 weeks we have a 1st Timer’s Luncheon. We send cards out, and invite the people who are new to Marathon, let them meet the staff, share the vision of the church, and just let them know what’s going on and how they can get involved in what God is doing at Marathon.

 

But I think it does the most good for those of us on staff, because we get to here all of the stories about how Marathon has helped people and how God has changed lives. We need to hear that as often as possible, because we get wrapped up in the details of everything that has to happen to make Marathon work, and many times we miss what is going on. It’s hard to keep the main thing, the main thing.

 

These luncheons bring us back into focus. People are our business. Changing lives is why we are here. It’s good to be reminded every now and then, of just why we do what we do.

 

The average church member just doesn’t realize all that goes on, and how hard it is for us to get to Sunday. Scheduling all of the volunteers that it takes to pull off a Sunday service – nearly 400 volunteers every week – and scheduling 2 different bands, and video, and media, and greeters, and donuts, and all of the things that have to happen just to get to Sunday will make your head spin.

 

It’s really refreshing to be reminded why we’re here, and remember that lives ARE being changed, and people ARE being saved. It is so good to hear how God has changed so many people.

 

Children’s Remodel

 You will be seeing some construction going on over the next few weeks around the Children’s areas at Marathon. We have grown so much that we have to knock out a few walls, and expand. It’s great to be out of room!

 

Once we’re done, we will have enough room for 700 children. It will be an amazing sight to see.

 

This is going to cost us about $4,000 of money that is not in our budget. Since we always try to stay within our budget, we’re going to try to raise this money with a special offering on Sunday. An extra $5 from everyone will take care of it.

The Distracted Life

 I speak every weekend to thousands of people who come in to see and hear just exactly what is going on at Marathon. Try to imagine what it’s like to be in a place where every word that comes out of your mouth is being played over and over again and being constantly analyzed. All the Twitters and Tweets, and Blogs about what I say that are sent out and analyzed over and over.

 

Placed on top of all of that is the responsibility of running a staff – keeping things running, and everyone focused, and on the same page. It’s very difficult; because the goal of the enemy – Satan – is to make sure that we stay distracted, and off our game.

 

I think it was Bill Hybels that said that “Vision leaks” and it’s really true. We have to be reminded over and over again that people are our business. That’s why God left us here. We are to be the physical witness for Christ here on Earth. So Satan does his best to move us off our game and keep us distracted.

 

I will sometimes get complaints (believe it or not) from other churches about how we do things, and it is amazing to me the people who have the time to worry about what someone else is doing, but that ends up being one of the biggest distractions, because it’s so much easier to point out something that is being done wrong somewhere else than it is to do what you are supposed to be doing.

 

Do we really have time to be worrying about what’s going on down the road? Shouldn’t our energy be focused on carrying out The Great Commission and on the things that Jesus Christ told us to do? That’s why I have to keep people focused.

 

I think that if we can ever get to the part of loving God with all of our heart and soul and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourselves, then I think we’ll never get distracted.

 

Paul said that we need to finish well, and that’s what I want to do. I want to stay focused on what Jesus told us to do. I want to avoid distraction, and reach people!