mattfry

ED YOUNG - ALL ACCESS

All Access 09 is just one month away. C3 Church will be filled with pastors, staff, ministry leaders for three days of powerful leadership training, inspiration, relationship building, and good ole Carolina BBQ!  Such an honor to host this conference sponsored by the Association of Related Churches.  Our Guest Blogger today and one of our speakers will be Ed Young from Fellowship Church in Dallas, TX.

Ed Young is a straightforward communicator who uniquely connects God's unchanging truth with a diverse culture through compelling and creative teaching methods. He is the founding and Senior Pastor of Fellowship Church. The church has its main campus just north of the DFW Airport and operates three satellite campuses in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area and one in Miami, Florida. I had a chance to speak with Ed recently and he is fired up about coming to Carolina... His home state. 

“If you are a church planter or leader in any capacity, All Access Conference, hosted by my friend Matt Fry, is one place you need to be! Not only will you glean knowledge and experience from those who have gone before you, but you’ll also find yourself in a place where you can network with others from around the world.
I hope you are at C3 Church in April, because you don’t want to miss your chance to hear from these speakers. Matt, thank you for inviting me to be part of this amazing lineup. I can’t wait to see all that God is going to do through this year’s All Access Conference!” 

2 DAYS!

After months of praying, fasting, and preparing we are only 2 days away from the launch of C3 Church Raleigh.  This Sunday we will begin meeting at the North Hills Regal Cinema in Raleigh at 9am and 10:30am.  We will have a full children’s ministry, birth – 5th grade, live worship, and the sermon will be seen on the big screen.  How cool is it that on the same weekend you will see Julia Roberts, Nicholas Cage and C3 Church on the same screen?  John Clark from ABC 11 wrote an interesting blog post and you can read it here or by going to ABC11.com - John Clark’s blog.
Over the next two days here are some ways you can help us….
•    If you have a Facebook or Twitter send out updates and/or an email to your friends.  Invite them to come and if they live outside the area to be praying for us. You can also join our Facebook account by going here or get Twitter updates by following twitter.com/c3raleigh
•    Spread the word.  We have C3 Raleigh invite cards.  Come by C3 Church Clayton and get as many as you need or you can contact Rod Gray [email protected]
•    Direct people to our web site c3church.com to get all the info or go to my blog mattfry.com for updates and videos.
•    Pray.  Please continue to pray that above all else Jesus will be glorified and we will see lives changed.  Pray for Rod and Amie Gray and the C3 Church Raleigh team.  Pray for all of the tech issues to go well also!

This Sunday C3Church.com begins a new chapter.  After 10 plus years of being a one location church we are now One Church with Two Locations. Together we can make a difference!

"These guys are Crazy Part 2"

WHY C3 CHURCH RALEIGH?

It’s hard to believe that after months of prayer and preparation we will be launching C3 Church Raleigh in about a week!  There have been so many little and big miracles along the way to get us to this point. The only way to explain everything is that God has done it.  You might be wondering…. Why C3 Raleigh?  Do we need another church in Raleigh? What’s this all about?  Let me share with you a few things that are on my heart…

1. LOCATION. We have hundreds of people who have attended C3 Church Clayton from the Raleigh zip code.  In fact in 2008 there were 275 families that attended at least once that we know of. Having a campus in Raleigh will be a shorter drive and more convenient to bring their friends and neighbors.

2. GROWTH. Christmas weekend of 2007 we entered our new 65,000 sq ft. addition that includes a 2000 seat worship center. We started with 2 services and due to growth we now have 4 weekend services: Saturday, 4:30 & 6:30pm, and Sunday 9:30 & 11:30am.  In order to continue to provide seats for people who need hope we need to be willing to think “outside the box”.  By embracing technology we can video the sermon and use it multiple times in either location.

3. HOPE. There are so many people in the triangle area that have never experienced real hope. I heard recently that 79% of those who live in North Carolina are not involved in church.During these challenging times so many are searching for meaning to life and peace of mind that we know that we only find real hope in a personal relationship with Jesus.

4. GOD.  The final and most important reason we are launching a new campus in Raleigh is that I feel strongly that God has led us to. It’s much easier to stay in our comfort zone than to step out into new territory but when God gives the vision our responsibility is to just obey.  I don’t know all that God is going to do but I’m excited to see all that God does as we begin this new chapter at C3 Church.  

So help spread the word as we prepare to launch March 29 in the new North Hills cinema in Raleigh.  We will begin with two services, 9am & 10:30am. C3 CHURCH; One Church, Two Locations.

GREG SURRATT - ALL ACCESS

Today's guest blogger is my friend Greg Surratt, Lead Pastor of Seacoast Church in Mt. Pleasant SC. I first met Greg about 8 years ago and he has been a huge encouragement and inspiration for several years. Greg is the founding pastor of Seacoast Church, one of the early pioneers of the multi-site model and in 2007 was listed as one of the top 10 most influential churches in America and in 2008 one of the top 5 most innovative churches. Seacoast currently has 29 weekend worship experiences in 13 locations. Greg along with Billy Hornsby are the founders of the Association of Related Churches (ARC). Check out why he is looking forward to the upcoming All Access Conference..

"As you know, there are now 100’s of conferences you can go to with your team to learn about what God is doing in the world of church.  Some of them are even helpful.  If I could only attend one, it would be the ARC All Access Conference (and not just because I’m speaking at it, at least I think I am).  In fact it is the one conference that we at Seacoast make sure all our campus pastors get to.

 

Why?
Several reasons:
1.     They are going to hear some great teaching on what it means to lead a church in the current reality.  Not from people just thinking about it, but by guys who are doing it.

2.     They are going to rub shoulders with people who are trying to do the same types of things that they are, at various levels in their growth process.

3.      They may make relational connections that will make a difference for years to come.

4.     They are going to be in a place, for about 36 hours, where is an expectation of the presence of God.

5.      It’s fairly cheap J

I hope you’ll consider joining us this year in Raleigh at C3 Church.  (C3 is one of my favorite churches and their pastor has great taste in shoes.)"
Greg Surratt

Seacoast Church
  

Need Some Drama?

C3 Church is excited to partner with CYT (Christian Youth Theatre) in hosting Esther this Thursday & Friday, 7:30pm and Saturday, 11am.  All three of our children are involved in this organization and everything they do is first class.  I want to thank Natalie Snapp and her entire Spiritual Twist Productions staff for their leadership and vision.  Here’s a preview of Esther:

Spiritual Twist's Esther: Chosen for Such a Time As This is the dramatic retelling of the well-known Bible story of Queen Esther. The story of Esther is full of drama, heroism, and most importantly of all, an amazing faith in God. We follow a group of young students as they find out through this story just how God works everything out for good. This production features original music and lyrics by Natalie Snapp, Shelley Snapp, and Jason Snapp. Some of the the favorite songs include the humorous "We've Got A Problem Here", through which King Xerxes' advisors inform him that he must banish Queen Vashti for her disrespect. Also featured is "Sackcloth and Ashes" sung by Mordecai as he laments over the Jews' sins against God. And of course the song which sums up the message of the story, "He's Gonna Work it Out".

Join us for this exciting event… bring your family or make it a date night!  It’s free admission so you will need to get here early for good seats.  A love offering will be taken up to help support CYT and their vision of Christian theatre with excellence.  I look forward to seeing you.

These Guys are Crazy!!

C3 Raleigh Update 3.14.09

RICK BEZET - ALL ACCESS

I want to introduce you to Rick Bezet. He is a great friend and one of the funniest guys I know. I have the privilege of serving with him on the ARC Lead Team. In 2001, Rick Bezet and his family followed the call of God and moved to Arkansas to plant a church with the hopes of attracting the unreached and unchurched of the region. Little did the Bezet's know the rapid growth that would take place at New Life Church, as people would quickly be attracted to the fresh and life-giving message of Jesus. They now have 5000 attending every weekend with three campuses and seven services. Check out what Rick had to say about the upcoming ARC All Access Conference:

“You've been to a hundred conferences.  Jump off the plane, fight off the impulse to upgrade the rental car, smell the complimentary sized shampoos at the hotel, eat a few Slim Jim's and chase it with a handful of Tic Tac's...all on the way to the conference.  

But at some point, you have to leave the conference, right?  And what do you have to show for it?  A bag full of flyers, custom screen printed frisbees and coupons to free church website templates.  Where are the people?  What about the relationships?

That's what I love most about the ARC Conference.  It's all about the relationships & connections with people who are in the trenches just like you.  It's so easy to hang out and talk to some of the founding members of the ARC...and get fired up listening to church planters talk about their dreams.  It's what keeps me coming back each year.  These conversations with people who are being real and honest.  Opening up about struggles and heartaches and high-fiving the successes!

I don't know of any other conference quite like this one.  Some people search forever to find connections in ministry like these...  It feels like a family reunion that just keeps getting bigger and I love it!”

C3 Raleigh Gathering Tonight

I'm looking forward to our final info meeting with all those that live in the North Hills and Raleigh area tonight at 7pm, Renaissance hotel. I am so fired up to share the vision for C3 Raleigh and how others can be a part of it. It's hard to believe that our first service is only about 2 weeks away! Our Grand Opening is March 29 at the North Hills Regal Cinema and we will begin with 2 services: 9am and 10:30am. If you would like more information on how you can get involved and want to stay up to date on all that's happening you can join the C3 Church Raleigh Facebook group and follow @c3raleigh on Twitter.  You can also check out c3church.com for more details.