There is something special that resonates inside of you when you are a part of something good. When a group of people comes together unified, they become an unstoppable force to be reckoned with if they maintain unity. Sadly, this is not how the Church is anymore.
I don’t regret for one moment how I grew up in a different church than I attend now. One reason for that is because I created a foundation for my faith at the church I grew up in. However I also created some Pharisaic qualities in my life.
Two years ago my parents started to visit Elevation Church. They finally convinced me to go and I absolutely hated it. I didn’t know anyone, there were so many people, we were meeting in a highschool auditorium, and we had to watch the pastor on a video screen. It had all of the qualities that I had taught myself to frown down upon because I was convinced that is not how you run a church. I told my parents I didn’t like it, but they kept going back there. Which of course meant that I went with them when I was home from school.
Have you ever seen how when God throws you out of your comfort zone, He is right there waiting to teach you something new about yourself and about Him? This is exactly where God put me–at the end of my “church comfort zone.”
The more I went back to Elevation, the more I began to realize I was learning biblical truth, I was growing, and I was seeing growth in my parents. God has taught me so much through Pastor Steven over the past two years and I know that this is the church that God has called me to.
For the first time in my life I get excited every Sunday morning I’m in Charlotte to get up and go to church. It took a few months to get to that point, but I praise God it happened because he slowly and gently showed me how to get rid of my Pharisee attitudes toward church. I no longer care that there are a ton of people that I don’t know; I praise God that attendance continues to rise and that people are getting saved all across this city. I no longer care that the campus I attend meets in a YMCA basketball gym; God moves no matter where you hold church. I no longer care that we have to watch the pastor on a video screen most of the time; I still learn and grow every week and ingest truth straight from God’s Word. I am no longer afraid to invite people to my church for fear that they won’t fit in; I know that everyone will be treated the same.
Yes, Elevation Church is unconventional. Yes, Elevation is large. Yes, Elevation Church is continuing to grow. But there is still a long ways to go.
As Elevation reaches its seven year anniversary, I am excited to see how the plans for the next seven years will unfold! I know that God will make Elevation a church of 100,000 people. There’s no doubt in my mind that He can and will do this.
I understand that not everyone is in love with Elevation Church and I have come to learn to be okay with that because I have been there. I used to view Elevation as the competition. Now I see it as the example.
There are far too many people in the city of Charlotte that are far from God for us to be concerned about what the “Pharisees” say. I pray that the momentum that Elevation Church will carry in to the next seven years will never wane or stop. Our city is in desperate need of light.
I pray that you begin to ask God to give you a passion for being a part of His Church wherever that may be. May He begin to show you that it is okay to break free from your comfort zone; He wants to change your life in an amazing way. May you begin to become excited about waking up on Sunday morning to worship the Creator. May you begin to not be able to contain your excitement about your church. May God give you a momentum in your life to find a way to make His name famous in your city, your country, and the world.
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