Eddie and Martha Marie Smith

“Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.”

It’s not everyday that a senior in college (Matt Beasley) starts a non-profit organization that takes a full school bus full of teenagers to church twice a week so they can come to know, love, and serve Jesus.

Matt felt a call to take teenagers to church in his “freshcort” (name for his Ford Escort) so they could get to know Jesus.  It wasn’t long that the “freshcort” filled up and he felt the need to pray for a van.  A van was added to the mix and it wasn’t long that Matt felt to pray for a school bus.  Now Matt fills up an entire 45+ seater school bus on Sundays and Wednesdays of teenagers and homeless people.  People come to know Jesus every ride to church whether it be on site at the church, on the bus, or before they get on the bus.

Catch the vision at one of these sites:

• Matt’s Twitter
• Matt’s Blog
• L.O.T Project web site

Click here to donate to The L.O.T. project.

We heard Steven Furtick preach at NewSpring Church earlier in 2007 and I have been hooked on him ever since.  Steven Furtick is the lead pastor at Elevation Church and he just turned 28 last week. 

Elevation Church is located in Charlotte, NC and just celebrated turning 2 years old last week.  God has done so much through Elevation Church in 2 years.  In just 2 years Elevation Church has grown to 4,000 people in attendance meeting in 2 locations with 5 different services and they are still a portable church.  Over 1,300 people have given their lives to Christ in the first 2 years of Elevation.  They completed their first capital campaign in November 2007 raising 6 million dollars with the direction of God to keep it in reserves to wait to hear from His direction.

I listen to Steven Furtick on pod cast almost every week as the Lord anoints him to bring a fresh Word from God to His people.  I also recieve his blog via email everyday to keep me thinking.

Martha Marie and I took my cousin Dylan to a Christmas Eve service at Cricket Arena featuring Elevation Church and Newbirth Church and were blown away with the church service of 6,000 people praising Jesus!

Martha Marie and I have attended NewSpring Church for about a year now.  The church is located in Anderson, SC (about 30 minutes from us) about 8 years old and Perry Noble is the lead pastor.  They have about 8,000-9,000 people in attendance and 65 people on their staff.  They are starting a new video venue campus in Greenville, SC in a few months.  The biggest highlights of us attending NewSpring for the year 2007 was the fact that they gave a house away to a single mom and her son and that over 800 people recieved Christ for the first time through NewSpring in a 5 week series.  It’s neat to see God use a body of people to accomplish so much for His kingdom!

Yesterday Martha Marie, myself, and our family visited a church in Powdersville, SC called Stone Bridge Church.  They are 4 months old, have around 100 people and already have plans to launch 2 more campuses this year.  They already have a campus pastor in place for Anderson, SC and Travelers Rest, SC.  Sammy Clary is the lead pastor at Stone Bridge and has a great vision to accomplish the mission God has given him.  They plan to develop a teaching team to rotate between the campuses.  It is neat to hear about a different model of ministry that I’ve never heard of before.