Kenny Hibbard

This morning I was driving from Peak Fitness at 6:30am heading to the office. As I was coming down Mount Harmony road a huge six point Buck galloped across the street. This boy was huge! The kind we see every year when we go to my parents house in WVA for Thanksgiving. I could not believe a deer that big was running through the suburbs!

All over the country hunters are getting what they call “Buck Fever.” They are getting ready for Deer season so they can go hunting. I personally am not a hunter. I love to be in the woods, love to shoot guns and would think it was great to have a chance to shoot a Buck like I saw glide over the road this morning. However, I don’t want to spend the money on all the stuff you need, I don’t have the extra time and more specifically I have no interest in spending hours upon hours sitting in a cold deer stand. I have tried it…..my ADHD kicks in about 15 minutes into the “hunt” and I get bored and trigger happy. Once that happens I just want to shoot something and get out of the tree!

I have a question for you? Do you ever get “Lost Person Fever?” Here is what I mean….do you ever get amped up about sharing your faith in Christ with someone you know does not attend church and maybe is not a Christian? Are you willing to take the time, maybe read up, gear up, spend some money or do whatever it takes to help lead someone to Christ? I wish most Christian got as fired up about helping people come to know Christ as deer hunters do about “bagging the big one!”

Jesus tells a parable in Luke chapter 14 that explains what lengths Christians should go to in reaching out to those who are not connected to Christ. He says at the end of the parable…”Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel (do whatever you have to) them to come and hear about the love of God, so that my house will be full!”

Today the streets are full of people who need to hear about the love and grace of Jesus Christ. I hope you are geared up to share with them! We are starting a new parenting series that I promise you will be like nothing we have ever done before. This would be a great series to invite a friend or co-worker to attend.

At our 2007 vision night I introduced a new ministry that we would be launching and putting a lot of CSF power into over the next 16 months. We are calling it “Public School Impact”, and our passion and mission is to get hundreds of CSF volunteers into the public schools. We want to serve those who teach our kids. We want to assist those who help raise our kids. We want to show our city, the parents, the teachers and especially the kids that attend these schools that CSF has a mandate from God to help make our city a better place.

We don’t care if they ever come and sit in our seats on Sunday morning. If our Fellowship is just about how many Christians gather on Sunday morning…we have missed the great command of Jesus!

We want to make an impact in the lives of kids/teens while they are at school and school activities. We want them to see the love of Christ working through us……so that they are drawn to Him AND so that we can help make their journey through adolescence better and more productive.

We are off to a great start! I am proud to introduce these folks as our point leaders for this great CSF ministry:
* Kristine Wood
* Lisa Crosby
* Jennifer Mowery
* Kendall Taylor

These folks are making school board, principal, and teacher connections so that we proceed correctly and within public school policy. However, I can assure you thus far we have not had a principal or administrator say anything but….HELP! As a matter of fact CMS superintendent, Peter Gorman, said in a speech recently that churches needed to get involved in the public schools and work with CMS to make this a great school district for all kids.

Even as we are getting organized CSF is “doing something” in our schools. Tonight we are hosting the Butler High Varsity football team for a pre-game meal and devotion.

Tomorrow, many volunteers from CSF will be leading out and serving at Porter Ridge High School at the area Band Competition. We will be working at tables and helping with all the activities that go on at a regional band competition. When the band director and principal was told that CSF…”had it covered”…they could not believe it!

This Sunday you will see a table set up for the book drive for the “high needs” kids at Benton Heights Elementary School. The books will be given to these kids as they cannot afford to buy their own books or do not have means to get to a public library. We want to provide these kids with their very own books! More info this Sunday!

Of course we are also getting ready to launch into our Walter Bickett Christmas Mission. That is the project we have done for the last 5 years. The people of CSF prsoanlly buy over 700 gifts for each kid at the school and we give them to each kid personally on the last day of school at the Christmas Party we provide at the school.

Our vision is to do more than just projects like this. We have been doing this for years at CSF. Our vision that will go into full drive in January 08, is to start having CSF volunteers on campus on a regular basis. Our goal is to have hundreds of CSF volunteers making a weekly difference on the campuses of our local schools! That is where we are going……I hope you will be a part of this public school revolution!

I have started reading a new book called “True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership”. The tag line in the book reads…”just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership. When you follow your internal compass, your leadership will be authentic, and people will naturally want to associate(work)with you. Although others may guide or influence you, your truth is derived from your story and only you can determine what it should be.”

Thus far it seems like it will be a great leadership book.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the Bible also teaches us about our True North when it comes to each one of us being a vital part of the “Body of Christ..His Church.” The Bible teaches that we each have different gifts that have been given to us by God. We each have specific passions that God weaved into our souls that makes us unique. Add to that our own life story and you have a very special person created by God to do great things on His Team in a local Fellowship.

CSF, like every church, only functions as a healthy body when all the parts are actually engaged in serving in their passions, gifts and according to the purpose of that local Fellowship.

Please take a few minutes to read through chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians and ask yourself….what part of the Body am I? Am I doing my part?

Great questions…..when you are fully engaged in doing your part, the CSF team, the Body of Christ here…Thrives!

And speaking of THRIVE…we will be launching our winter quarter of THRIVE in January 2008. Outstanding workshops designed specifically to help you discover and live your True North will be offered. Biblical financial management; sharing your life story with those in the Crowd; knowing what you believe by knowing what others believe; cultivating a rich and intimate marriage…those and much more! Be looking for registration opportunities in the coming weeks.