To give you a little background on how we got here; two years ago we were looking at our growth and realized that very soon we’d be out of space in our building.  We talked extensively at that time and actually met with a small group of men, all of whom are elders today at Friendship, and prayed through, talked through, and did research on whether or not we should consider building.  At that time we decided that it would be a better use of our resources to begin doing two services, even though all of the “experts” told us we wouldn’t be successful.  We believed that was what God was calling us to do.  It was a HUGE step of faith, and I’ll be very transparent and say, I was nervous!  We launched our two services for the first time in March of last year, a little over a year ago.  Since then we’ve grown by 35% or almost 100 people, we’ve seen over 50 people come to know Christ, disciple over 120 through our Workshops!  Suffice it to say, it was obviously the right decision and God has blessed us beyond measure. 

So far this year we are running just shy of 300 people each weekend, and our kid’s ministry is packed to the gills!  If we continue growing anywhere near our current pace, we will outgrow our facilities in a year or less.  We’ve spent the last several months, praying, talking, and researching all of our options and we are confident that this time we need to build.  Right now we are in the slow, not very exciting, phase of the process.  We’ve been talking with financial people and getting ourselves in the best position possible; we’ve had quite a bit of site engineering done, to make sure we know all the potential “surprises” that may come up; and we’ve met with the City of Greenwood to find out there…um…demands ( I jest of course, they’ve actually been very helpful).  All in all the process is going along very smoothly and we are excited for this next phase to begin!

Here’s how you can be praying:

• Wisdom: we are going to be making a lot of decisions as we continue to move forward, and we’ve got a tremendous group of elders.  However, you can never, ever pray or have enough wisdom when making decisions that will have such a significant impact as this potentially could.
• Vision: one of the reasons that I believe God has blessed Friendship is because we are constantly moving forward towards our vision of “Glorifying God as an Effective and Influential Church”. We don’t want to become so bog down in decisions and details that we stop pursuing the vision.
• Faith: God is doing some pretty amazing things, and I’ve been around long enough to know that when God is moving He’s going to ask us to take some pretty big steps, which means we’ve got to have some pretty deep faith.
• Focus: All of us elders have full-time jobs where we have responsibilities, and on top of that our families.  Times like this demand a lot of meetings, and extra hours of reading and research.  It can become overwhelming, and cause us to lose focus or get frustrated.  I don’t know about you, but no decisions I’ve ever made when frustrated worked out well!

Thanks for praying for us and for the future of Friendship Church!  That’s all for now, but keep an eye open for the next update…

Hey Friendship People,

Many of you will be receiving this letter from me, via snail mail, in the next day or two with your year end giving statement for your taxes.  However, I wanted to share it with everyone that calls Friendship home.  I believe God has great things in store for 2013 and I’m looking forward to what God wants to do with you and through you.  Here’s to the year of MORE!

I believe that the hope that comes from knowing Jesus Christ is the seed, the beginning of every good thing in our lives. This hope gives birth to a new way of living. It always believes for the best, even in the face of the worst circumstances.  As we look at our nation, our government, and our economy there are a not a lot of things that we can take hope in, but you can have hope today, no matter what surrounds you, because you serve a mighty God who cares, who knows you by name (Isaiah 45:3), who understands the desires of your heart (1 Chronicles 28:9), who knew you even before you were formed in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5)!

Let me encourage you to look up and keep hope alive in your life for 2013!  If you are facing setbacks that seem overwhelming, you can have hope! God is for you, not against you. His resources are endless, His love knows no bounds,  and no matter what is happening in your life, there is nothing that can ever separate you from Christ (Romans 8:35-39)!

This hope we have cannot be bought or sold, it can only be given away, and each and every weekend that is exactly what we do.  We “give away” the message of hope in Christ to those who need it the most, free of charge!  Your partnership with Friendship through volunteering, participation, prayer, bringing your friends, and financial giving has built a tremendous foundation from which we proclaim the life-giving message of Jesus Christ!  Because of you, and other like you, 2012 was the best year in the life of Friendship Church…THANK YOU, I’m so glad you’re here! 

I believe that 2013 will be the year of “More” for Friendship! 

I believe God will give us more salvations, more people to minister to, more volunteers, more space, more baptisms, more resources, and more of His overall blessing!  I also believe that God wants to do “More” in your life too, so I’ve enclosed an index card for you (you can pick one up at Traci’s counter). Please share with me a situation in your life that seems hopeless, where you want “More” of God’s intervention in your life. You see, I believe that through prayer, God can take any circumstance and transform it for His glory, and I’d like to pray specifically for that to take place in your life in 2013.  So, first thing every Monday in 2013, I’m going to take every card that I’ve received and pray through each one of them individually and specifically.  As God moves I’d love to hear from you through e-mail, a note, a card, you can even Facebook message me if you like!  You can turn in these cards in one of three ways: give it directly to me, drop it in the box marked “prayer cards” on Traci’s counter, or you can simply place it in the offering plate.  Please make sure to write clearly and to put your name on the bottom so I know who I’m praying for.

As I close, I’d like to ask you to do something this year as well.  Every Monday I send out the Monday Morning Quarterback, when you see it sitting in your inbox would you pause for just a moment and pray for Friendship?  It can be something as simple as, “Lord, please bless Friendship Church!”, or you could pray specifically about the message series or some event coming up.  I believe in the power of prayer, and if all of us are praying for Friendship each and every week, I have no doubt that 2013 will be the year of “More”!

Thank You,

Dave Crandall

A very proud senior pastor!

Reblogged from andywendling:

On more than one occasion I’ve been asked this question, or something similar, when a tragedy such as this strikes, “Is God unable, unconcerned, or unwilling to intervene when things like this happen?”  I’d like to take each of the presented possibilities first, and then give you what I believe the Biblical answer to tragedy is. 

• Unable: Is God incapable or not powerful enough to have stopped this?  Well the Bible is very clear on this subject: “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37 
• Unconcerned: Doesn’t God care?  Is he just so far removed from us that this type of thing doesn’t even bother him?  I believe that the Bible is incredibly clear on this as well, John 3:16 says the God cares so much that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die in our place.  That Jesus loved us so much that he willingly gave up his life for us, no one took it from him (John 10:18).  So, maybe he’s just not involved…actually the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is not just aware, but actively interceding, or working on our behalf, at all times (Romans 8:34) 
• Unwilling: Okay, so God does care, is powerful enough to do it, but he just chose not to for some reason…really loving God, right?!  Well, here’s the problem with that thinking, we assume that everything that happens in this world is “God-approved”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  At the dawn of our world God created Adam and Eve and gave them an incredible gift, the gift of being able to choose, theologians call it “free will”.  God gave every human being the ‘right’ to choose whether or not they would serve God or reject God.  God refuses to force himself on anyone, because a forced love is not love at all.  But, if all men have free will, even those who do evil, than evil will always be present…even horrendous evil, and if men reject God then their minds will continue to be corrupted by sin…

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. – Romans 1:28-32

So, why didn’t God try to stop this young man from murdering so many people?  How do you know that he didn’t?  God may very well have been putting person after person into his life attempting to get him to steer away from his life of destruction and corruption, but he simply rejected them.  Maybe there were people in his life, who simply refused to do what was necessary to get him help, or discipline him the way he needed, or love him the way he needed.  This is not just about one man and God, this is about hundreds if not millions of people interconnected along the chain of his life, any number of whom could have been the key to keeping this tragedy from happening. 

BUT, here’s what I do know; No one of us is grieving more right now than God!  The heart of God is broken over the sin and the sinfulness that led to this tragedy.  Listen to how the Bible conveys the grief and the love that God shows those who are hurting and broken:

The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. – Psalm 23:4

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.  He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,  nor the disaster that strikes at midday. – Psalm 91:2-6

You may push back, “But I don’t feel God right now!  How does God give me comfort if he’s just a spirit?”  That is one of the purposes of the church.  We as Christians are to be his hands, his feet, we are commanded to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15. 

Now, what I’m about to say may offend some of you, but maybe it is necessary.  What happened today was an awful tragedy.  It was a despicable act by a man who had allowed sin to be in full control and as he spiraled into the depths of his depravity he took the lives of others.  We mourn today over those who are lost, we weep today with parents who lost children, children who lost siblings, and friends who lost friends.  But, this happens every day in our world.  In Somalia this Summer over 29,000 children died in a 90 day span because they did not have enough to eat or clean water to drink.  That’s over 320 children per day!  In Sudan, some 400,000 to 500,000 children have been murdered or made to engage in warfare where they were killed over the last 10 years.  That means that every day in the Sudan 100 – 120 children are killed with guns.  These are just two small examples, there are countless others.  

Friends the evil in our world is far more expansive and profound than anyone of us could possibly imagine!  That fact that things like this don’t happen in every community on a regular basis is proof that God is holding back the tidal wave of sin.  Do not let this tragedy derail you from your faith, let it drive you deeper in discovering your faith.  Pray for these families, but then pray for your world.  Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus?  But, don’t stay on your knees, get up and begin to do what you can to change your world with the truth of Jesus Christ.  

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27

1. An amazing family of creative, expressive, and talented individuals.  Yes, I know that everyone, even the idiots on those award shows who’ve been divorced 5 times, thanks their families, but allow me to explain.  God has blessed me with a perfect wife as a compliment to my strengths and my weaknesses.  She speaks truth to me when I allow my reality to become distorted and is my biggest encourager and cheerleader when things don’t go as planned.  Her role in my ability to lead cannot be overstated!  I have also been blessed with two amazing daughters who keep me grounded and fresh.  They could not be more alike and more different at the same time and with their combined perspective and quick wit they keep dear old dad on his toes.  These three ladies are such an incredible inspiration to me, and I am so thankful that God chose me to be their dad and husband!
2. An unbelievable staff that grows me and with me.  One of the principles of leadership is, “speed of the leader, speed of the team.”  Which translates into: as my team continues to grow, so must I, or else I risk stifling their leadership potential.  Over the years God has continued to bless us with high capacity people who have stepped in and done an excellent job in their area of ministry.  It’s not always been easy, as many of them are transferring from the secular workplace to ministry, but it’s always been worth it.
3. A phenomenal church that gave me the gift of allowing me to be me.  For the first 10 years of ministry I was in churches that wanted me to fit into their mold of what they thought I should be.  For the past 8 years Friendship Church has taken a very different approach, they (you) have allowed me to be who God created me to be.  This has allowed me to truly grow into the roles and responsibilities that I excel at and find others who will do the same.  I believe this is part of the reason we have seen God do so much at Friendship, everyone is “playing” the part they were designed to play!
4. An awesome team of leaders.  For the first several years at Friendship I led the youth group, organized the children’s ministry, trained all of the small groups and chose their curriculum, sheesh, I even lead the music for a while!  There are certainly times in ministry where you must carry a heavier load, until you can find someone else who can do it better!  God has blessed us with a great team of Ministry Leaders and Directors who have taken those areas and allowed them to blossom.  God has also given us a great team of Elders who lead with me and help make the tough decisions so that we continue moving in the right direction.

The bottom line is leadership, at least good leadership, doesn’t happen in a vacuum!  It takes a team of people both seen and unseen to help you reach and expand your leadership potential.  Who’s your team?

I am, the same as you, disappointed at how this election turned out on a national level. I understand your frustration, and I understand your concerns. But, those concerns are only temporary. The Apostle Peter was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and eventually crucified, yet when he thought about all those things in comparison to all that he had gained in Christ he called them “…light and momentary troubles.”

If tomorrow morning we wake up and a dictator has taken absolute control of America, would God still be God? Is somehow God’s power less effective today because of the result on Tuesday? Of course, his sovereignty and divinity are not decided by minuscule elections of mankind. And, I don’t mean to shock you here, but America isn’t promised anything in Scripture, don’t put your hopes in the USA, put them in Christ!

Finally, I want to challenge you on some things I’ve seen or heard. Where in Scripture does it say that a person’s political affiliation will determine their eternal destiny? Who gave you the authority to question a fellow believers love for Christ based upon who they voted for? Question them as to why, sure! Walk them through why you voted how you did, absolutely! But, to take it to such lengths as I’ve heard and seen on Facebook is shameful. You should look up those fellow Christians you attacked in such a manner and ask for their forgiveness, then you should go to God and ask him to forgive you for attacking one of his children. We are told by Paul to not look out only for our interests but also the interests of others and to consider others as better than ourselves. I fear that many on the right may have violated that very important principle from God.

NOW, let’s work towards seeing more people enter into the Kingdom…Shall We?!

I am thankful first of all that this election is over, and I hope that the man that you believe in will do all that you had hoped he would do. I do not mean this sarcastically in any way, shape or form, for I know YOUR heart. I know that you truly do want what is best for this country, you believe that your candidate will make things better for the people who call this great nation home, or you would have never voted for him. Even though our votes were not cast for the same candidate, our desire to see our country prosper is identical.

I want to express my deep love for you as a brother and/or sister in Christ. Our differences in this political realm are absolutely minimal in comparison to what we share in Christ. I also ask for you to notice that I have at no time from the pulpit or via social media or un-social media for that matter bashed your candidate. Certainly I disagree with him on a great number of issues that I feel are deeply rooted in Scriptural truth and principle, but he is not your candidate anymore, he is OUR President. I commit myself for praying for him and his family’s well-being, for God’s wisdom to rest upon his shoulders, and for God to correct him whenever he may stray from the path of God’s choosing for him.

Finally, my friends, I ask you to consider this as we move forward. I have heard several of you cast aside the question of abortion as if it wasn’t a significant issue. Even some of you have said that it will never change, so why make it an issue? Did you know that the same thing was said regarding slavery, women’s rights to vote, race equality, and many other issues? Did you also know that it was the church that caused all of these issues to become a reality? Don’t be so quick to abandon such a clear mandate from Scripture simply because to our feeble and finite human eye it looks to be impossible. I believe that Jesus Christ said it most clearly when he said, “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” If you believe in the economic, foreign, and immigration policy of our President, that is most certainly your right. However, if you are a child of God, where God has clearly spoken, you no longer have ‘rights’. Our sovereign King has declared murder and the abuse of the innocent as evil in his sight, and we as citizens of his kingdom must fight against it with all of our might, whether we see it as a winning battle or not!

Stay tuned for: An Open Letter To My Right-Leaning Friends!

Some of these I’ve not touched on previously so I will spend more time and flesh them out, others those I’ve given significant time to or even several blog posts to and I’ll just state them outright and allow you to go back and look at what I’ve previously written.

You should vote for whichever candidate..

• Holds most closely to (publicly and privately) the morality taught in Scripture.
• Gives our nation the best chance to be prosperous. I know that this may sound non-spiritual but listen to this: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” ~ Jeremiah 29:7
• Teaches and exemplifies personal responsibility and accountability. No one else will have to give an account of your life, but you!
• Has a biblical view of government. This was to be a blog post all by itself, but I just ran out of time. Essentially, here is what the Bible says governments role is:

To protect it’s citizens and wage war if necessary Romans 13:1-7; Proverbs 21:15
To establish just and fair laws Proverbs 8:15-16
To punish the guilty Romans 13:4
To reward the righteous 1 Peter 2:14
To allow us to live peaceable and quiet lives 2 Timothy 2:2
To administer unbiased justice Jeremiah 12:12; Leviticus 19:15
To uphold God-given rights of all mankind Genesis 1:26

• Has by their actions, not just words, given of themselves and spoken for those who cannot speak for themselves. (Unborn, poverty stricken, destitute). “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” ~ Proverbs 31:8-9

Folks, your vote matters. Don’t waste it by voting for someone who does not line up with what the Bible teaches, don’t waste it by voting uninformed, and don’t waste it by not voting at all.

To get the ball rolling I’m not going to talk about whether or not Gay Marriage should be legal, illegal, banned, or supported.  This series of posts is written from a Biblical not political standpoint.  The one and only thing I’ll say in that regard is this; you cannot legislate morality, at the same time you should not legalize immorality…I’m sure that everyone will read into that whatever they like!

So, biblically is Gay Marriage something that a Christian can support?  Since homosexuality is clearly laid out as a sin (see last post) then a homosexual union of any kind is not something that a Christian can support and still be biblically authentic.  Now, before you print this off and start taking victory laps around your living room, consider this.  Sex and sexual promiscuity before marriage is also a sin and something that a biblically authentic/consistent Christian cannot support; as is an affair, as is pornagraphy (yes, “Magic Mike” and “Fifty Shades” would fit here), as is a marriage where the husband doesn’t love his wife and the wife doesn’t respect her husband.  God’s plan for marriage (as laid out in Creation through Adam and Eve) is one man, one woman, for life in a meaningful, fulfilled relationship.  God’s plan for sex, and when it is best and most thoroughly enjoyed is within the context of marriage where the husband and wife are completely vulnerable and open to one another and are more interested in fulfilling each other’s needs than their own.

How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. – Matthew 7:4-5 NLT

Jesus makes an unbelievably powerful statement here!  He is saying, if you look at other people with judgment you will always see their problems and end up ignoring your own, this is to your and their detriment.  Instead, look at yourself first, make sure that you are on the right track, and then come along side those who are hurting or blinded and assist them in seeing.  For far too long Christians have been focusing on the sins of the world around them and not focusing on their own sins.  Do you want to change the world, change our political landscape, change the cultural decay, increase the spiritual temperature, free people from bondage?  Then the church needs to do 2 things.

1. Be consistent in our application of Biblical truth.  The world around us sees our inconsistencies, you see they have a hard time believing in biblical marriage when even in the church it doesn’t “seem to be working”!
2. Be Christ-like in your relationships.  Do you remember what Jesus did with the woman who was caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)?  Did Jesus, who by the way was perfect, condemn and attack her?  Did he vilify her and belittle her?  Did he scream in her face and tell her she was going to Hell?  No, in fact, he defended her from those who would do that.  Then he gently instructed, after she accepted him, to go and sin no more.

Listen friends, Jesus says that he is the “Light of the world” and that when he is lifted up he will “draw all men to himself”.  Instead of proclaiming your political agenda, proclaim Christ.  Politics cannot and will not fix the cultural decay that we see in America, but Christ can.  No, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox news probably won’t cover it, but he is imminently more powerful and influential than any political party, piece of legislation, or candidate.