Hope Church LV Sermons
The Big Journey :: Countdown to Launch
Well, there are times in the life of a family that you need to pull together and just have an honest family conversation. I'm sure you may have done that with your family, that maybe there's some stuff going on in the context of your family, and you gather at the kitchen table, or you pull together in the living room, or maybe at a restaurant, and you just talk honestly as a family. Well, at Hope, we believe that the church is a family. We believe the church is a community, a family of faith, and we're at a point as a family where we need to pull together and just have a conversation. And so we've dedicated this weekend and next weekend for us as a church to simply have a family conversation. And if you're here today and you're visiting with us, I want to let you know that what you're going to hear this weekend, next weekend is not the norm. Normally, we're studying straight through a book of the Bible, unpacking the Word of God. But as I said, we're at a point where we just need to have a family conversation. And as we begin this morning, I want to remind all of us of the journey, the story that God has been riding through this church over the past nine and a half years. In February of 2001, 18 adults gathered in Pastor Vance's living room, and they birthed this thing called Hope Baptist Church. We have a picture of it there on the screen. You can see Pastor Vance rocking the sweater vest there at the front. But they began to gather in Pastor Vance's home and in 2001, I was a senior in high school. I was just kind of getting started in life and trying to understand ministry. And at my home church, we had a chance actually to come on a short-term trip. We were sent by our church to work with Pastor Vance and with the team. And during one of the services in his home, I actually had a chance to do a skit during one of the services. If you'll see the guy there in the white long-sleeved shirt with the full head of hair, that is me. And I had a chance to be a part of this church when it was just in Pastor Vance's home. And over time, as time went by, God just blessed what was going on there. He really did. And God just began to send the people to the point that there were too many people to fit in Vance's home anymore. So there was a transition. And Hope Baptist Church transitioned to a place called Studio 7. That was given to us. It was leased to us by a man named Randall Cunningham, a godly man, a very famous man here in our city. And we began to meet as a faith family there at Studio 7. But once again, over time, God just honored it. And people were being saved, people were connecting in the body, and Studio 7 filled up. And so we had to transition from there to a place called the Carpenters International Training Facility. And it was at that place that we continued just to see God bless and God honor what was going on. I'm curious, how many people are here today that connected with us, maybe at the Carpenters facility? Anybody here this morning? A couple of people? A couple of people? That's awesome. And we began to meet there as a church. And over time, once again, God filled it up. And so we got a little bit bigger than they were comfortable with. So we had to make yet another transition. And we transitioned from there to the Boy Scout Center that is over off of 215 and Warm Springs. And it was a great place for us to gather as a church. How many people here this morning actually connected with us at the Boy Scout Center? Several more. Okay. That's awesome. That's great. So we met there as a church. And it was while we were meeting at the Boy Scout Center that we actually purchased our very first piece of property over on 180 East Pebble Road. How many people here this morning connected with us at the Pebble Campus? Several people connected with us there at Pebble. We spent about five years there at 180 East Pebble Road. But once again, over time, God just brought people. And people were being saved. And we really just outgrew that facility. And we made the decision in 2009 to transition here to Silverado High School. And it's been a great time here at Silverado. We've been able since we've been here to see people join our church. We've actually started a second campus of our church in Boulder City, Nevada. But all the while by moving to Silverado, we realized this is not the long term plan. And as we've been on this journey, obviously you can tell that different locations are not a big deal to us. Transition is not a big deal to us. But we've realized that we need a long term home, a long term facility as we continue on this journey. And there have been several spiritual foundations, three specifically, that have really shaped us as a church as we've been on this journey. And as we begin this morning, I want to give those to you. I would encourage you to write them down. These are transformational principles and ones that have really shaped us as a church as we've been on this journey. We're going to put these on the screen for you, but here's a few principles that have really shaped us on the journey. This life-changing journey demands total dependence on a big God. We believe that this journey we're on as a church demands total dependence on a big God. I want to put a verse on the screen from Isaiah chapter 66, here's what it says, "Thus says the Lord, 'Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where then is a house you could build for me, and where is a place that I may rest? For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came in to be, declares the Lord. But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word.'" Here's what we learned from that verse, that God is in a category all by himself. God is great, God is big, and you and I are desperate for him. We're desperate for him during the crucial times and the tragic times and during the big stuff, but we're also absolutely desperate for him, moment by moment, and day by day. And we believe as a church that it's healthy for us just to take time to stand in awe of this big, great God. And the journey that we're on demands dependence on him. Here's a second foundation for this journey. We believe that this life-changing journey involves joining this big God who's at work in a big world. We believe God is at work all over the world. I'm going to put a number on the screen for us this morning. It's just over 6.8 billion. It represents the population of the world. Obviously, that is changing moment by moment, but roughly, that's how many people are living on the globe today. Now, these 6.8 billion people are divided up among about 11,000 people groups in around 195 countries on seven different continents, and here's the reality, God is at work among every one of them. Now it looks different, and some have seen a lot more progress than others, but you can know this morning that God is at work all over this big, huge world. I want to put a verse on the screen from the book of Acts, and it's something Jesus said before he ascended to heaven. Here's what he said. "But you, speaking to his disciples, will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth." Here's what we learn. God's mission is global. It's not just for Americans, it's not just for a certain type of people. His mission is a global mission, and he desires passionately to redeem humanity and draw them into an intimate love relationship with himself. This big God is at work in a big world. Here's a third spiritual foundation that has really shaped us as a fellowship. This life-changing journey is God's invitation to a big life. Here's the beautiful part, that this great God who's at work globally is inviting us as humanity to join with him in his activity and experience something that's bigger than us, that will outlast us. He's inviting us to share in his kingdom activity. Look at this verse from Philippians 1, Paul said, "I thank my God and all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my first, every prayer for you all. In view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now," what was he talking about? He was talking about the Philippians getting involved in God's activity, sharing in something that was bigger than them. Yes, God invites us into hope and life and purpose, but he invites us into a life that is significant, that counts for something. And those principles for us at hope have shaped us, that we are on a life-changing journey that demands total dependence on a big God who's at work all over the world and who has invited us as humanity to share in a big life. And in 2009 as a fellowship, we took another significant step on this journey. You see, we knew that Silverado wasn't the long-term plan. And we really begin to wrestle together to say, "God, what is it that you want the long-term plan at hope to look like?" And in May 2009, we did a couple of things. One of those was an act of faith, and we as a church, many of you will remember this, we put our "yes" on the table. We said, "God, as we pursue this permanent home and what that needs to look like," we know you're going to call us to do some stuff that maybe we're not comfortable with. We're going to lead us to some places we don't know about right now, but, God, we want to tell you up front as your children, whatever the question is, our "yes" is on the table. And something else we did in May 2009 is each of us, many of us, made a financial commitment to help pay for this long-term home, this launching pad for us as a church, and many of you were a part of that. We said, "We're going to give over and above our normal giving as a sacrificial investment into what God is leading us to as a church." Because we realized that what God was doing here was bigger, it exceeded the capacity of our current facilities. We really wrestle with it, but that's where God led us as a church. And a lot of you have heard this language of big journey, and maybe you're not familiar with it, but here's what it is. This big journey is a spiritual journey to understand the heart of God concerning the long-term plan for a permanent campus for our church, and our personal sacrificial investment in that plan. That's the big journey. When we say that, that's what we're referring to. It's about us determining as a church. God, where are you working, where are you leading, and us joining his activity and trusting that he's going to take care of us in the future. That's the journey. So this morning, here's what I want to do. I want to look at a passage of Scripture that I think really is going to set our perspective in the right place. It's going to help us really get our mind around why we're about to do what we're about to do with this campus, and give us a few principles there, and then at the end, I want to come back and ask and answer a few very basic questions as it relates to our new campus on Cactus Avenue. So if you have your Bible, would you turn to the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament, chapter 20. And I want to read three verses for us in just a moment. The Gospel of John, chapter 20, and in just a moment, I'm going to start reading in verse 19. And if you didn't bring a Bible this morning, we're going to put it up on the screen for you so that you can follow along. But here's what's happening. We're about to read something that took place on the Sunday that Jesus rose from the grave. It's that famous day. He rose early in the morning. Well, it's later on in the evening. Scholars tell us it's after the sun had already gone down. And the disciples, those who follow Jesus the closest, they're scared to death. They're sealed together. They haven't walked away from the faith, but they're scared to death because they think the Jews are going to come and find them and murder them just like they murdered Jesus. And so we're going to start reading in verse 19, and I want to read through verse 21. But here's what happens in that scene. So when it was evening on that day, meaning resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and he stood in their mince and here's what he said to them. "Peace be with you." Now you need to know that's not just like a hello or a polite greeting. No, Jesus shows up and they're all scared. If they were scared before, they're really scared now because they don't know what's going on. And Jesus speaks to them and says, "Listen, the peace of the all-controlling, all-wise, all-good everlasting God, I want that to be in you and with you right now. And I want you to take some comfort in that peace. Be with you." In verse 20, and what he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So now they're at a place where they're comfortable. They understand, okay, we saw him die, we saw him buried, but he's come back to life and this man we follow, this God-man, he's still in control. What he said is true and he's alive right now, so they're comfortable. And now he has their undivided attention and I'll be honest with you. If somebody in this room, if I say you die and buried and you show up in my room and you start talking, you have my undivided attention. And so what Jesus chooses to say right here is very significant because they're honed in to what he's saying. Look at verse 21. Here's what Jesus chooses to say. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you, the all-controlling peace of God. Be in your hearts and with you." Then he says this, "As the Father," meaning God, "has sent me, I also send you." He could have talked about a lot of stuff, but Jesus chose in that moment when he had the attention of his disciples. He didn't talk about their safety. He didn't give them an out. He didn't talk about how bad it hurt to die on the cross. He didn't talk about how amazing the resurrection was. He didn't talk about what his plan was to do next. He chose to cut right to the heart of the mission when he was talking to the disciples, which raises a great question. He says, "As the Father sent me so I send you," how did the Father send the Son? Well, there's a lot of answers that you could give, but here's one that's got to be in everybody's list. He sent him with a purpose. He sent him with a purpose to love and redeem humanity from their brokenness and from their sin. And Jesus says here, "Just like my heavenly Father sent me to the earth for that purpose," listen here, you're my disciples, and I'm sending you for the same purpose. That's what he said. In this word, "sent" is so significant, it means to be commissioned to be sent out for a very specific purpose, and it's that passion, that desire that we see in this text from Jesus that really shapes us as a fellowship. It's this idea of seeing people come to know Christ to enter into a relationship with God, be discipled into the principles of the Scripture, and then be launched out for the sake of the gospel and for the nations. That shapes us as a fellowship, and it's the very words that Jesus says here. Listen to this reality. This is very significant. The more we are conformed to the image of Jesus, the more we will develop a heart and passion for the nations. The more we are conformed, we are shaped into the image of Jesus, his likeness, the more you and I will have a heart that is broken and that is passionate for the nations. That's why at Hope we have said time and time again that we don't judge our healthiness as a church or our success as a church by our seating capacity. We gauge it off of our sending capacity. That's one of the ways that we measure health here at this church, and it's very important that you understand that. Here's why, because there's going to be some decisions we make in the future, and if you don't understand how passionate we are about launching people out of here, there's some stuff we do or stuff we don't do that you're not going to understand, and you may even get upset about if you don't understand that principle. You see over the past few years, why is it that a church that is so young would give away millions and millions of dollars as an investment in the nations? Well, it's because we understand we've been born for the kingdom, not just to take care of us, not just to make sure that all our bases are in a row, no, we've been birthed for the sake of the kingdom of God and everything we do, we want to reflect that. It's very important to understand this morning, and I believe that's the essence of what Jesus is sharing. Here's what I want to do. I want to give you a couple of insights that I think really give us a right perspective on the stuff we're talking about because it's easy to jump straight to square footage and money and details and buildings. That's easy to do. What's difficult to do is to make sure that our perspective is right so that we see it through the lens of kingdom and not through the lens of our flesh. That's very important. So let me give you a couple of insights that will set our perspective in the right way as we talk about a launching pad. Here's the first one. When God birthed our church, he had the world on his heart. When God birthed this church in 2001, he had the nations, the peoples of the earth, on his heart. It's been overwhelming as the story is unfolded to interact with people, that we find out we're praying for this church, we're praying that God would start a church in Las Vegas that taught the Word of God and was passionate about the nations, but the thing is they were praying for it way before 2001. People all over the world. Why is that? Because when God birthed his church, he was answering their prayer. He had the world on his heart when he birthed his fellowship. And from day one, we've realized it's bigger than just our church. It's bigger than just what you and I see week in and week out here. God has called us to something so much bigger. He's called us to be passionate about expanding his kingdom to the very ends of the earth. When he started Hope Baptist Church, he won an impact Las Vegas, but he also wanted to impact the West and he wanted to impact the world. As long as this church exists, we will have a global mission. It'll never just be this city. It'll never just be this country. We will always have a global mission because our heart beats for that, because I believe that's what the heart of God beats for. And here's the easy thing to do. In a few months, we move into campus and guess what's going to happen? The tendency is going to be to go, "Whew, success." That's wrong. That's wrong. Because here's the deal. The church isn't the goal. The church is the platform. The nations are the goal because when God birthed our church, he didn't do it. He just birthed his church so we could build buildings. He birthed his church so that we could engage nations with the gospel. That's so important. And that sets our perspective in the right place when God birthed Hope Baptist Church. He had the nations on his heart. Here's a second insight that I think is very important. God has blessed us to be a blessing. God has blessed this church to be a blessing. There's a verse in Psalm 67 that says this very, very clearly. It says this, "God blesses us that all of the ends of the earth may fear Him." Now we say that a lot, and a lot of people are agreeing with me this morning. But I want to give you a tangible expression of that. And here's what I hope. I hope this messes you up like it messes me up when I saw it. I want to put a map of the world on the screen. A lot of you know this. It's a normal map. It's got everything proportionally across the globe. You'll see the United States, you'll see Africa, you'll see Australia, you'll see everything. I want to show you this map through a filter of the world's populations. Here's what that means. That means the places where there are more people in the world are going to get bigger and the places that have less people are going to get smaller. So put the map of population up there. You'll see on the map China and India got much, much larger. Why is that? because they have more people than anywhere else in the world. So you get the point. Now I want to show you this map through a filter of resources. You'll see the United States got much, much bigger. Everywhere else in the world got much, much smaller. Here's what that means. That we have more resources in America than any other place on the planet. God has blessed us. Let me show you another map through the filter of energy usage. You'll notice the United States stayed very, very large and everywhere else stayed very, very small. We consume more energy in America than any other place on the planet. Let me show you this map through a filter of basic health care. Same pattern. What should you think about that? It changes the way you look at Psalm 67. I want to show you this map through the filter of child mortality. You'll see the places in the world where more children are dying than anywhere else on the globe. I want to show you one more and let's do the filter of HIV and AIDS. What should you think about that? It's kind of embarrassing. God has blessed us. I know a lot of people in the room are walking through some hard stuff, but even so God's blessed us. Here's why he's blessed us, not to sit on it, not to build monuments unto ourselves. He's blessed us to be a blessing. Listen, you have what you have to expand the kingdom of God. That's why he's entrusted you with what he's given you. You think about resources, you think about talent, you think about anything. The reason you have what you have is for the sake of the kingdom of God. Here's another insight for us this morning. Last one. Number three, a stronger platform locally will increase our capacity to serve globally. We've come to understand over nine and a half years that as we develop a stronger platform here in this city, a stronger ministry here in Las Vegas, a base platform, here's what that means, that means we can have greater influence on the other side of the world. As we strengthen our ministry here locally, it will increase our opportunities, our influence, our effectiveness all over the world. CT Stud said this, the light that shines the farthest shines the brightest at home. You got to know that's the heartbeat behind building a new campus. It's not just so we can have a nice place. It's because we want to strengthen the platform from which we can send and engage the nations with the gospel so that people in this room in the years to come can be launched from a healthy, vibrant, strong church, a strong platform so that we can effectively engage the nations for generations to come. Let me give you a summary. God did not raise us up to have a wonderful place to worship. He birthed this church to join in his activity of changing lives, multiplying churches and exalting himself among the nations, the relationships with others. Let me tell you a couple of stories and then we're going to talk about a couple of specifics. Last year I had the chance to travel to Southern Africa and we were working with some pastors there, some people that we were training and this one specific guy from kind of a remote part in Southern Africa came up and he said, "Pastor, I need a favor." And I said, "Man, if I can do it, I will do it." He said, "Every week I travel from my home a pretty good distance to an internet cafe." And I go to that internet cafe because I want to download the sermons that you guys just taught that week at Hope Baptist Church. He said, "My whole church, my whole community, we listen to it. We listen to it every week. It's the highlight of our week." He said, "But I got one problem." He said, "The speakers that we have, they're just not very good." He goes, "So if you could tell the people at your church to turn up the volume just a little bit so that I can hear it, it would help us so much as we seek to teach your sermons on the other side of the world." Let me tell you something, when God started this whole thing, He was thinking about pastors and villages in South Africa who needed to be discipled through the teaching of this church. People had a chance last year to go to Northern Africa. And as I was there, I had a chance to encounter some refugees who had come from a country where sharing the gospel was illegal. I couldn't do it. And they had been caught sharing the gospel and so they ran. They were refugees, but they wanted to come to the training conference we were a part of. And I was sitting with what I'm just talking about, "Man, how's it going? How can we help?" And he said, "Travis, I want you to know this." Hope is so different. See, in all the other churches in America, and I said, "Well, tell me this. What makes them different?" He said, "Here's the difference. You guys don't just care about your city. You care about the world." He said, "You care about my country like I care about my country." He said, "You'll never know how much that means." That's a big deal. Then he went on to say, "You know what, another thing that's so significant about hope is, you guys just don't write checks and send money." He said, "You send people." He goes, "Travis, go back and tell your church. As many of them that can come and serve in my country, we would be honored to have them and to lock arms with them for the sake of the gospel." That's why we're building the new launching pad so that we can launch people to the ends of the earth for the sake of the gospel. So with that perspective, with that heartbeat, I want to talk to you about a couple of specifics, and I even hate to go here because it just messes with us, but I just want to give you some updates. So I want to ask and answer three very simple questions specifically as it relates to our campus, and here's the first one. What does phase one of our new campus include? What does phase one of our new campus include was, we told you last year, there were several things we desired to see happen through this campus, and here's a few of them. We desired a place of community. We went to campus here in the city where we could hang out, where we could connect relationally. We say it all the time. It's all about relationships, and so we wanted to design a place that would allow us to hang out. The thing that we wanted, we desired a place that was relevant to our culture. We know we live in an unchurched city, people who don't have a lot of church context, and so we would design a place that was fitting, that was attractive for them, and also for families. A large part of our city or our young families, and we weren't a place they could come and feel connected and hear the gospel and be changed. We also desired a place that was designed more for function than style. Our hope was not to build a monument to hope at this church. We weren't a place that we could use in as many ways as possible. Another thing that we wanted out of this place is we wanted a place of life change, that changes lives. And even the very design of our campus, we wanted to communicate that. As you look at the drawings, you'll see in the very middle, that's where we're going to be baptizing, a place to represent life change. And out of that center point is a spiral that shows everything that happens here, spirals out to touch the ends of the earth, a place of life change that changes lives. And so we really wrestled with what's a right first phase. As a stewardship of the resources God has given us, what does phase one need to look like? And as you most of you know, God blessed us with a piece of property on Cactus Avenue. We're going to put a map on the screen so that you can see it. It is right between Maryland and Amigo there on Cactus Avenue. And God blessed us with that piece of property. And we began to wrestle through designs and logistics. And we believe God has given us a very beautiful and functional master plan for our campus. And you're going to see it up on the screen. This is kind of the long range plan for us as a church of what we would love to see developed there on that property. Now for phase one, what we have found to be almost the most bang for the buck has been to build building A and building B. And you'll see those reference there on the screen. One to serve as a sanctuary and one to be a multipurpose building. But that's what we're going to be able to build in phase one. Let me show you a picture that is actually what the campus is going to look like when we move in day one. You'll see a building A there and building B. You'll see the spiral there in the middle and then parking and those types of things. That's the actual drawing of what we're going to be moving into for phase one. And here's what phase one is going to consist of. It's going to be on 15 acres of land and it's going to have the two buildings. Building A is going to be our worship center. It'll be the main place where we gather adults and students and young adults to worship God. Building B is going to be a two-story building. The bottom floor is going to be all family ministry space, places we can create environments for the next generation. And the second level is going to be dedicated to administrative offices and multi-purpose rooms. This square footage for phase one is going to be just over 44,000 square feet. Now just to give you some context, our building on Pebble Road was 12,000 square feet. So we're talking about well over triple of what was at Pebble is going to be in phase one. And one third of that square footage is going to be dedicated to family ministry space. We want to invest in the next generation. And so just over 13,000 square feet is going to be dedicated to family ministry environments. In the sanctuary, we'll have a seating capacity of 950 people. We believe this is the most cost-effective step for us in phase one. Second question for us. What is the latest update with our construction? Obviously, that's what everybody wants to know. Well, I want you to know that we've had numerous construction professionals and our building team here at Hope have been going over and above to serve this church in ways you don't even know about. God's given us some people in this church who just specialize in this area and who have gone over and above to serve us. But as most of you know, we officially broke ground on February the 13th of this year. And since that point, a lot of the groundwork and infrastructure has been put in. We've actually poured the slabs on both of our buildings. And most of the value engineering has been done to really get our budget exactly where we need it. An important date for you. August the second, August the second, just about two weeks from now, we will begin tilting up the walls on this campus. And we are very excited about that. It's going to take us about seven days. There are almost 80 walls that are going to be going up. But once the walls are up and the steel is in place, we will be able to hone in really on a specific date for move-in. And we should have that information by the end of August. But right now, what our construction professionals in building team are saying is that at our rate of construction, we will be moving into this campus in February of 2012, which we are so excited about that opportunity. So what that means is we're about six months away. We have six months from now. We will be moving into our new campus, which leads to the third and final question for us this morning. How do we prepare to launch this campus? How is it that we as a church need to begin preparing today to launch this brand new platform of ministry in Las Vegas? What an opportunity. I want to give you a couple of specific ways, and then we're going to be done this morning. Here's the first specific way we can prepare. We can prepare by praying. As you sat down today, there was a card in your seat. I want you to grab it real quick. This is a tool that we want every person in our church to have this weekend, and here's what I'm asking you to do. I'm asking you over the next week that every day you would gather with your family, and you would pray over some component of this card. There's no strategy, there's no plan. We believe that it's more powerful than the people of God crying out to our Heavenly Father and asking for His provision and direction with this project. You'll see places here to pray for our church, to pray for our city, to pray for our project, and to pray about your involvement. I want to challenge you to take this series. There's a magnet on the back. You can put this on your fridge, you can put this in your office. When you need it, pull it off, spend some time praying together, and then put it back where it was so you'll know where it is. We say it hope all the time. It's the quote on the top. We don't pray before we work. Prayer is the work, and then God works. I want you to look at one more quote by a guy named William McDonald. Here's what he's in. Ordinarily, we would rather do anything than pray. But it is only when we wait before God in desperate, believing, fervent, unhurried, united prayer that the reviving and energizing power of the Spirit of God is poured out. Can I encourage you to pray this week? We've given you a great tool. Let's bombard Heaven this week as a church family with these requests and lay them before our Heavenly Father. That's one way we can prepare another way that we can prepare is by serving. It's by serving. On this journey, obviously, we're going to be praying together, giving together, going through what we're going through together. But another major component is we need to serve together. And a lot of times in church cultures, there's this idea that only the pastor or the pastors can really do effective ministry in the city. Can I just tell you, that's a lie from the devil? Here's the deal. If we're going to launch this campus successfully, yes, it will be because the pastors do their job, but it's also going to be because the church as a whole steps in and gets involved and you do your part as well. That's huge. That's such a big deal for us. And we want to spend the next six months preparing for that, and I don't know what that's going to look like for you. I don't know if that may be investing in the next generation, if that's being an usher, if that's being out in the parking lot, but here's what we would love the next six months to look like, we would love to get some teams established, and over the next six months you would gather together as a team and you would pray and you would plan. And here's what's going to happen. Some people in this room in the future, you're going to start serving, you're going to love it. And God's going to break your heart for it. You're going to fall in love with it. And in the future, here's what I think is going to happen. Honestly, there are going to be people sitting in this room right now, and in the years to come, you're going to become small group leaders. You're going to become people who stand on this stage, and we commission you long-term to go overseas. There's going to be people who start serving because of the launch of this new campus, and you're going to be a church planner one day. You're going to be a campus pastor one day. Who knows what God is going to do, but we want you to be involved. We're estimating that we need at least 100 new volunteers to launch this campus effectively. A hundred people who right now are sitting, and you're not involved. We need you to get involved. And today as you leave, we've got a bunch of ministry captains out in the courtyard, and they want to meet you today. Now, walking up to them does not mean that you're committing. It just means you're interested. You want to get some information because you want to be a part of launching this campus effectively. That's the heartbeat. And here's what I'm praying. I'm praying that day one when we open up this campus, that new people flood in the building, and we're able to say in the parking lot at the front door and from the stage, "Listen, we have been waiting for you. We've been praying for you. We've been engaging this community, and we're honored to serve you as a church." Let me show you another way real quick that we're going to do this. We have taken roughly, we're going to put a map up on this screen, roughly about a three-mile radius around where our campus is on Cactus Avenue. You'll see the logo there where our campus is. And we've mapped out about a three-mile radius. And within that three-mile radius, go to that next slide, if you would, within that three-mile radius, we've identified 80 ministry points. And this September, when our small group's launched, we're going to ask every small group, if you'll go to that next slide, we're going to ask every small group to adopt a ministry point. And here's what we want our small groups to do, to engage that community. We want small groups saying, "You know what, I want 47. I want 52. I want 13. I want to engage whoever lives in that ministry point, every home, I want them to know that Hope Babish Church cares about them, and we want a minister to them and their family." So you need to be looking for that, but today, your first step is to stop by the Info Center and just connect with some people about serving as we launch this new campus. Well, here's the last way that we can prepare and that I'm finished, still giving. Obviously, a project like this, there's a financial component, and at Hope, we value generous living. We live life ready to make a difference in the lives of others. So it's not awkward or weird for us to talk about this. In 2009, we stepped out and we began to make a financial commitment, and I want to show you, just give you an update of where things are right now. Thus far, there have been 532 people, pledges, who have stepped out and pledged just over $4.5 million. That was the pledge. Amen, that's awesome. And since you're so encouraged by that, let me give you another number. Currently, to date, we have seen contributions that are just over $2.6 million, which is a lot of money, it's a lot of money, but it's not $4.5 million. As you leave today, you're going to receive a brochure, and in that brochure that you're going to get, there's a commitment card. And next weekend, we're going to have a time of commitment as a church, and there are really two groups who are going to be involved in this. First of all, there are new commitments. Maybe you've just connected in this fellowship over the past few months or in the past year, and you're not involved yet. Can I encourage you to get involved? And there's a section here just for you that says, "I'm a new commitment," and you fill that out in next week as we take an offering together, we're going to have a moment and we just commit these things to the Lord. And I'm praying that we would see somewhere between 30 to 50 new commitments engage in the big journey. But there's also a section that says, "I've already committed." And here's what we want to encourage of you. We want you to commit to finish strong. We need you to finish strong. Maybe you've gotten behind or some stuff has happened. We want to encourage you to really wrestle within your heart, finishing the journey strong or God may put on your heart to raise your current commitment, and we love that too. I mean, we'd love to pay this thing off straight up. That's the goal, but we know that one way we're going to get there is by the generosity of God's people. And in the past, I know we've had some goals that we've set financially and people have asked, "Well, is there a goal this year?" Well, here's what I can tell you. At our current projection of finances, if we continue the way we're going, we are going to come in $120,000 short of our original pledges. So here's what we're praying for, either through a cash offering, generous living next weekend, or until we move in the campus, we need to make up $120,000. And I don't know how God's going to do that, but that's what we're praying for, and we're trusting that He's going to stir the hearts of His people to be involved in that. That's another way that we can prepare for what's going on. So as you leave, there's going to be people handing out these brochures. Be sure to get yours, spend some time this week praying over this commitment card. What is God leading you and your family to do? To become a part of the journey, to finish strong, or to raise what you're doing? So that's an update for you as a church. And I want you to know today, if you're here, and you don't have a relationship with God. The reasoning we're talking about sacrifice, like we're talking about, and building campuses like we're talking about is because we love you. And we want to see people like you have a place that you can connect in a church. That's the whole purpose for the whole thing. So if you're here today and you don't know Jesus, we're going to have a lot of volunteers and people standing out in the courtyard and lobby after church. Would you just come in and talk to us? We would love to share with you how you can be born again and have a relationship with Jesus. [BLANK_AUDIO]