Lots of catching up to do...

Wow! It's been two months since I've posted anything on this blog. And it has been a busy two months! We started waaay back in November with an amazing revival with John Ritcheson. There were some very powerful services and I think that it was a great way to begin the holiday season. December was a blur of Christmas activities. Now we have started a new year and I am so excited about where God is directing the vision for our church. First of all, if you haven't checked it out yet, we have a new website: www.freedom7.tv. Sometime in the near future, our blog will be moving there and you will be able to read blog posts from Pastor Trey and Sister Haven. Keep checking out the blog, I'm going to try to get some pictures from the SHIFT Ski Trip to North Carolina in the next couple of days. God bless!

Meet our new Student Pastors

Here they are: Trey and Haven Thompson, along with two of their three sons. We are looking forward to getting to know them all and moving forward in faith and ministry together.

Trey and Haven are excited to be given the opportunity to serve the Fyffe Community as Student Pastors of the Freedom Seven Student Ministries. Trey and Haven met at Lee University while they were members of the Lee University Campus Choir. They have 3 Children all boys, Beau, Luke, and Reid. They have been in ministry now for 5 years as student pastors in Georgia and South Carolina. Both Trey and Haven have been Licensed Ministers with the Church of God since 2007. They are excited to see what God has in store for them and for the students of the Fyffe Community.

A new season

On behalf of Freedom 7 Ministries, we want to say a great big, "Thank you!" to Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger for all they have meant to us. They have touched literally thousands of lives with the message of God's salvation. We are going to miss them, but we know that they are following God's direction for the ministry He has for them.

We are beginning a new season here at Freedom 7. We will be welcoming our new student pastors, Trey and Haven Thompson, on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I'll be posting updates as I get them, and hopefully I'll some information to pass along to you about them in the next week or so. Have a blessed day!

Pictures from the Trunk-r-Treat

Wednesday night we had our annual Trunk-r-Treat at church. We had an unbelievable turnout. We gave out close to 200 bags of candy and we ran completely out of hotdogs! Freedom 7 set up two inflatables inside the student center for the students who came out. I think that everyone had a great time and went home with a sugar rush. :)

Look! Jason dressed up as a pumpkin.
Natasha and Chris are on youth staff. Here they are with two of their kids.

Here are pictures of a few of our students.

The prettiest trunk of all.

Ryan showing off his backwards flip.

Mallory is also part of our youth staff.

Sister G and me.

Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger :(

As many of you already know, Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger have resigned as the youth pastors at the Fyffe Church of God. They are following God's leading to Greer, South Carolina to continue in youth ministry at Praise Cathredral Church of God. To say that we will miss them is a tremendous understatement. They have served here for six years and are loved not only by our church and students, but also by the community. On Wednesday night, Pastor Wayne tearfully announced that they were moving. He also left all of you with a message to continue to seek after God with as much passion as you have been, even more in fact. Sister G exhorted everyone to cling to God and to depend on Him. There is no doubt that this was a very hard decision for them, but I know them well enough to know that they are a man and woman of God who have sought God diligently. There is no doubt they are following God's direction. So, to the students of Greer, South Carolina, you are getting the best youth pastors in the world. Lucky! Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger, Tyler and Gracyn, we love you and are going to miss you.

My apologies

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything on the blog. We have had a lot of exciting things going on here at Freedom 7. First of all, our fall program, Collide: A Collision Course with Destiny, is going very well. We are seeing students make commitments to Christ and grow and mature in their relationship with God. Also, our new Sunday School program is awesome. I hope that all of you are enjoying our new schedule of having Sunday School at night. I know I am! Our attendance is increasing, which means that more souls are being reach with the gospel. Another exciting announcement is that we have new Children's Pastors, Jeremy and Teresa Johnson.

Well, that's all for now. I promise not to keep you waiting three weeks for another post. :)

Kidsfest 2008

This weekend was our annual Kidsfest at our church. We had a great turnout (about 500 each day) and many kids as well as parents asked Jesus into their hearts (Praise the Lord!) Saturday was a community day with activities for the kids and presentations by the fire and police departments. We served over 500 free meals. Saturday and Sunday we had services by our Kidslink team and our guest speaker "Fritz".
Freedom 7 contributed to Kidsfest as puppeteers, seat moniters, clowns, praise and worship, clean up and drama. Here is a picture of the drama team performing New Americans.
Hannah and "Sparkles" sang along with the junior praise team.
The girls' team won the offering contest, so the boys' team captains were handcuffed and served pie in the face.
Fritz gave Pastor Jamey a lesson in fire eating. Man, is he hot, or what?lol

Here is a video of Fritz eating fire.

A change is in the air

Hey Freedom 7,

I'm sure you all know, but I wanted to remind you that we will starting our new service schedule this Sunday. Here it is:
10:00 am---Worship Service
5:15 pm---Sunday School
6:00pm---Youth Service/Kidslink/Worship Service

Well, I hope that you all have a great weekend!

Recap 8/24/08

Hey guys! Today's services were awesome! I love when the Word of the Lord is preached with such anointing and power. The Word of God is able to transform our lives and we need to be reading it daily so that God can speak to us through His Word. James 1:25 speaks of someone who "is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts--that person will be blessed in what he does." I don't know about you, but I do not want to be a forgetful hearer. I want to take God's instruction and apply it to my life so that it can change my life, attitude and character. Tonight's message is so vitally important to our relationship with Jesus that I wanted to post the main points here so that we can remember them all throughout this week. The main theme is that Jesus must be Prophet, Priest and King of our lives.

As Prophet:
He convicts us of sin in our lives and calls us to repentance.

As Priest:
He provided our atonement for sin on the cross and is now the mediator of our covenent with God. Because He is our priest, we are able to approach a holy God through the blood of Jesus.

As King:
He is master and Lord over our lives. We must be completely surrendered to Jesus in every area of our lives. We are no longer in control, but we must invite Him to take control and work His will for our lives.

Have a great week!

SHIFT Young Adult Ministry

This past Thursday, the Freedom 7 Young Adults, newly named SHIFT, met to kick-off the ministry for this fall, headed up by Pastor Heath & Hayley. I took a few pictures, so here they are! :)

Brittany, Kayla, & Hayley

Alisha, Mallory, Chelsea, & Monica Jo, Zack, Josh, Josh, & Pastor Heath

Challenge

Tonight we were issued a challenge: Make the sacrifices necessary to go deeper with God so that we will see His promises fulfilled in our own lives and in the youth group. As I was reflecting back on tonight's service, it really got me thinking about what we make sacrifices for. I am reading a book right now by Kelly Minter called No Other Gods. In the book, she talks about how an idol is anything that you make sacrifices to/for, something that controls your life or determines your decisions. By that definition, idolatry can be anything that becomes more important in our life than God. I believe that it also means that worship requires sacrifice, whether it is to a false god or to the True God. We can choose to sacrifice our emotions and purity in a bad relationship, or our time to an unhealthy hobby. Sometimes the object of our worship isn't even a sinful thing, but if it becomes more important in our lives than God, it has just moved into idolatry. Friends, God is the only source of life. He is the only thing that will bring true fulfillment and satisfaction. If we are to worship Him, we will be required to make sacrifices. It may cost us relationships or popularity. We may have to fast some meals or miss hanging out on the weekends so that we can spend time in prayer, but the rewards are worth it. Any other god that we sacrifice to will leave us empty and broken, but our God gives life and joy and eternity in heaven. Tomorrow you will all be going back to school. Know that all of the staff will be praying for you. I hope have a great week.

Teen Talent 2008

Yay!!! I am so excited about our students that are going to International Teen Talent to represent our church as well as the state of Alabama this year. The bus will be leaving out at 5:00am Saturday morning with a bus full of students and their parents headed for San Antonio, Texas. Our drama team is competing in the human video category in the drama division. They will be performing a drama to "I Want it All Back". It is awesome. I have seen it so many times, but it is still powerful everytime I see it. Also, Jessica H. will be competing in the female solo vocalist category, singing "The Love of the Lord Endures" and Kyle W. will be singing "Gentle Savior" in the male solo vocalist category as well as competing in the brass category in trombone. Kyle H. will be competing in the art division. We are so proud of the talent that God has blessed these students with and pray they will continue to further the kingdom of God. Those of us who are not traveling to San Antonio will still be able to watch the drama team and Kyle and Jessica perform via the internet.

Click here to watch.

The times are as follows:

Monday, August 4th
10:00 am: Kyle W. singing "Gentle Savior"
7:00 pm: Jessica H. singing "The Love of the Lord Endures"

Tuesday, August 5th
9:00 am: Drama team performing "I Want it All Back"
8:30-12:30 am(?) Kyle W. on trombone (we do not know the exact time he will perform)

Also, look for an article in the Times Journal tomorrow about our students!

Have a blessed day.

We love you, Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger!!!

Today is Staff Appreciation Day at our church and we will be honoring our student pastor and music pastor. Truly, Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger love students. From praying for you and encouraging you in your spiritual walk, to planning activities and having TWO fundraisers in one weekend, they show how much they care for you all. After working alongside these two amazing people for the past several months, I am confident that they are people of integrity who love God with all their hearts, and who have a passion for seeing souls won for the kingdom of God. Let them know how much we love them today. Also, you can leave a comment on this post and it will be emailed automatically to them. Have a blessed day today.

F7 Yard Sale: part deux

We had another yard sale today to finish raising our money for International Teen Talent. We prayed off the rain for most of the day and thanks to our wise leader, Sista G, we moved all of the stuff under the breezeway just before the rain came. I didn't hear the final count, but I think we made around $900.00 (thank you, Lord). Several students had a little fun "modeling" some of the more interesting items for sale today.

I think Jen and Jessica actually purchased these outfits to wear for 80s day this year.
Okay, so Katie isn't modeling, but I had to put this picture on the blog. She turned our yard sale racks and tables into her very own skate park.
Caitlyn looking fabulous in the $2.00 prom dress.
Somebody call the fire department, we've got some hotties here.:)
Check out Abby's "make offer" sticker.

Oh my....what can I say about Josh in this picture...wow.
They look good to have biked an hour and fifteen minutes to the yard sale, don't they?

Every girl wants a guy who looks this great in a pleather skirt. Eww.

Announcements

July 31st the junior high students will be going to Spring Valley Beach water park. We will be leaving from the student center at 10:00am that Thursday.

August 14th we will kick off our college and career Bible study. We will be meeting the second and fourth Thursday night of each month to discuss relevant topics and really dig into God's word.

We are having a yard sale this Saturday, July 26th. Friday night we would like for anyone who can to come out and help us set up and price items. We will be starting early Saturday morning at 5:00am.

Last, but not least, this Sunday is Staff Appreciation Day. We will be honoring Pastor Wayne and Sister Ginger and Pastor Brandon and Sister Autumn. Let our awesome staff know how much we love and appreciate all that they do for us. We are having a dinner immediately following service for these amazing couples.

Have a GREAT week!

"Jump on it" video

Brittany's birthday was this week (happy birthday!:), so we had a celebratory dance. Enjoy!

Pictures from 7/9/08

Here are a few pictures from Wednesday night.
Praise team singers: Jessica and Autumn
This is Cafe 7's very own "cashier boy", Josh.
Taylor and Katie. They're awesome!
Kayla and Brittany are part of our youth staff and also involved in the college and career ministry.
Okay, it rained so hard Wednesday night that there was about four inches of rain standing in the back of the student center.

Chelsea and Morgan.
Here's John, Elizabeth and Charlie.

Last, but definately not least are Alex and "little" Joe. I had to take five pictures to get "the one". They look as if they are saying, "We have a lovely youth group."
Hope you love the pictures. I am trying to think of some new ideas to make the blog better. If you have any ideas of things you'd like to see, leave a comment. Love you guys!

Laying hands on people

Laying hands on people is a very important part of our denomination. I found this hysterical post describing some of the people you encounter during a "laying on of hands". I hope that you enjoy it. Click here to read.

Testimonies from the beach retreat

I'm hearing some wonderful things about the beach retreat. Everyone I have spoken with has said that they were able to relax and really focus on God. I would love to hear from some of you guys and post some of your testimonies about the retreat here on the blog. Comment here or email me at hayley_croft@hotmail.com and I will get it posted. Click here to read Monica's story.

Beach Retreat!!!

Hey guys,

It has been over a week since I have posted...sorry. This summer has been really action packed at Freedom 7 and there is more to come. Tomorrow, a group of about 45 will be leaving to go to Panama City Beach, Florida for our annual beach retreat. This is always a highlight of the summer for F7. Everyone always comes back refreshed and with new vision, ready to serve God with greater passion. For those of you who will be going, we pray that God will manifest His presence in your life. Have a great Fourth of July!