Eddie's Blog

November 1st Time Change

On November 1^st the clocks will “fall back”, so we gain an hour!

 

One of the things that we’re doing at Marathon is that we’re trying to target our lost community. We are basically trying to figure out when the best time is to have services so they will come. Research tells us that the best times to reach people in South Carolina are at 9:30 and 11:00.

 

Now, we have already baptized 140 people this year! So, what that tells us is that we are close to hitting our target. Now we’re honing in on 9:30 and 11:00 for our new service times, in order to take Marathon’s ministry to a whole new level.

 

The 9:30 service will be our Classic Service, where we will have the praise and worship music that has been in the early service and the Venue Service, and bring them together. The 11:00 service will be our Contemporary Service where we will have the music that we currently have in the main room at 10 and 11:30.

 

So, people have been asking us how we are going to get everyone in there. Well, it is going to be tight for a little while, and we will have to add a 3^rd service somewhere, once we work all of the details out. But now that we have the expanded children’s space, we are able to move to these 2 services, reach more people, and better serve our community.

 

So it’s going to be packed out. It’s going to be tight for a little while, and then we’ll be adding the 3^rd service (that’s just like Marathon), but we are going to be reaching more people, and THAT is what we are here for!

Faith’s First Bike Ride!

 We bought a bike for Faith last Christmas, and we’re just now getting to it. I remember when I was growing up; we didn’t have helmets and elbow pads, and stuff like that.

 

We just bled.

 

Well, more than that… we’d bleed, we’d cry, and then we’d get up and do it again.

 

Things are a little different now. We have helmets and pads, and all the other safety stuff that goes with it; and yet I’m constantly worrying that she is going to fall and get hurt, but I know it’s going to happen. She’s got training wheels on the bike, and she’s still falling. So, what do you do? I guess I just have to let her go and pray for her safety.

 

It’s been great watching her figure out how to ride a bike, and being able to experience that for the first time. Everyday when I go home now, we suit her up in all of the padding and get her looking like she’s ready to play football, so she can ride her bike.

 

It’s been fun. I LOVE being a dad!

Five Points Fellowship

 I took Sunday off and visited Five Points Fellowship Church, and I got to spend the day with Dean Herman their Pastor. Five Points is currently running between 600 and 700 people in the old Easley Colony theater downtown. It was amazing seeing how they have transformed that theater into a church – the way they do their music, and their children’s rooms. They have taken what they had and used everything to the best of their ability to reach people. It was a great experience.

 

I got to spend time with their staff, and we did what we call “walk-throughs” which is where we go to each other’s churches and just walk around as any visitor would, so that we can let each other know what their new comers are experiencing when they come to church. We do this, because an “outsider” can see things and recognize issues, where a person that sees the same thing every day won’t notice it.

 

I was a fantastic experience. Dean does a great job, and is an incredible communicator, and he is ALWAYS wanting to get better – always wanting to improve in order to reach more people.

 

They do a great job, and it made my day to see them in action.

The Wii Series

 We’re starting a new series that we’re calling the “Wii Series” – Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Remote, all of that stuff that we’re going to tie into the Christian walk.

 

I’ll tell you what I’ve learned; I love this game! We play baseball, and Tennis and Bowling, and the sad thing is that Faith can beat me at some of this stuff and she’s only 5 years old!!! So, I’m trying to get better at it.

 

One of the things that we’re going to talk about during this series is how practice makes us better. The more I practice, the better I get.

 

So HANG ON for the Wii Series! You are going to love it!!!!

A Shout-Out To Kip Kelly

 Kip Kelly was our Executive Pastor for many years at Marathon, and has recently moved on to another adventure in life. He played a huge part in making Marathon into what it is today, and we miss him and all of the fun things that he constantly had going on around here.

 

Hopefully, if I ever manage to get my shoulders back into shape enough to hit a ball, we’ll be able to play golf again! For now, I just want Kip to know that we love him and we miss him.

 

Thank you again Kip for all that you did. We love you, and we can’t wait to see what God is going to do in your life!