This Past Sunday

Wow! What a worship service last Sunday morning! It was our pleasure to host Kerwin and Vicki Dees at both services to start our series: One Month to Live. Their testimony, stories, and God empowered joy, made the services some of the strongest moments we have ever had at Rejoice South. So many people were challenged, encouraged, and reminded of the grace of God and the life-changing gospel, through the Dees family. Here are a few conversations that I heard just from last Sunday alone:

*I have never been in a church service like that one just now...this will be a moment that I will never forget!
*I have been battling cancer for the last 12 weeks, and this was the first Sunday I was able to come back to church. Their story was exactly what I needed today.
*God really convicted me and spoke to my heart this morning...I really need to get my eyes of my problems and on His grace.
*The only problem with the services on Sunday was that they were too short, I could have listened to the Dees' family talk for another hour.
*I hope God gives me a portion of the grace that He has given to Kerwin and Vicki.
*The Dees family has always been an encouragement to me and they were encouragers again today.
*I can't wait to go to heaven and meet Jesus too!
*God has given both Kerwin and Vicki so much grace.
*Today I left wanting to be more like Christ!

Here are a few other conversations that happened on Sunday:
*This was our first time to be at Rejoice and we are definately coming back.
*I am really starting to feel comfortable here, it seems like I'm really going to be able to get to know people.
*I'm learning a lot at this church.
*We moved here from North Carolina and we enjoy the environment/atmosphere of the people and the hospitality.
*Our kids are learning so much during church...
*Oh, so you have two churches in Owasso? I will be back next Sunday.

What did you think or hear? What did God teach you last Sunday? How is God challenging you to think or act differently?

rejoice church is kxoj's church of the week

Congratulations! KXOJ has nominated you (us), as church of the week! You can catch a 45 second spotlight about Rejoice Church all this week on 100.9
Way to go-you are making a difference!

South Campus Special Guests: Kerwin and Vicki Dees

Do you have certain people that have had an impact on your life and you will never forget them? Kerwin and Vicki Dees are two of those people in my life. Coach Dees was my basketball coach in high school, and had to put up with both my bad shots and turnovers. (As well as my low vertical jump...) Both Coach and Vicki Dees have always been an encouragement to me, have made an impact on many of my close friends, and really live with the joy of Christ in their lives. Kerwin and Vicki have been through an incredible battle against cancer over the past 12 months. You can read more about it at her blog at www.vickidees.blogspot.com Vicki has been fighting small cell liver cancer for what seems like a short time but feels like a long time! By God's grace, Kerwin and Vicki will be at our south campus services at 9:30 am and 11:00 this Sunday, April 19th. Please pray that Vicki will have enough strength to share her testimony in both services. Make sure to invite a co-worker or neighbor there story will be unbelievably challenging. -casey

top 5 ways people hear the gospel through the local church

Ed Stetzer and his team recently released one of their largest surveys on Americans response to people inviting them to church on a typical Sunday. See in the graph, the top 5 reasons or ways that people decide to attend a church. The problems seems to be that while people are most likely to attend when a friend or family member "invites them", those of us who know Christ and attend a local church are actually less and less likely to invite them. In other words, Stetzer's continues, we seem to be infatuated with evangelism but very few of us will actually take the time to invite. Even though just "inviting" is easier than actually sharing our own "God-change" story more and more people are even afraid to invite their friends or neighbors. Why do you think we have such a hard time inviting those around us? Too busy? Too afraid? Not trust church leadership to delivery on Sundays? -What do you think? How do you plan on inviting someone to a Easter service at Rejoice? -casey

the guy on the plus sign?

In a recent article by James Emery White, entitled In the Land of Swedes, he discussed the alarming stat from a recent Time Magazine study that suggests that the fastest growing "faith" group are the NONES. Have you heard of them? The NONES, are actually a fast rising group that declare themselves as people who have no faith at all. In other words, when given a box to check on a list of "faith" beliefs or doctrine they check the NONE box. Even more alarming, is the group of people in America (in the shadows of Sweden) who say that "belief" or "eternity" or "faith" doesn't even cross their mind during a typical year. In fact, one story tells of an Episcopalian priest from South Carolina who recently told of “a couple came in to my office once with a yellow pad of their teenage son’s questions. One of them was: ‘What is that guy doing hanging up there on the plus sign?’”
What would you say if someone asked you that? Could you give them a clear and concise answer? As we head toward Easter have you taken time to explain the death and resurrection of God's perfect Son? How do you and your friends or family plan on celebrating Easter? Who could you tell that doesn't know?