02/13/2017
PSA: THIS IS A LONG POST- Please bear with me as I bear my heart concerning my family's "life/calling" over the last six years.
Hello to all our followers, members, and the social Media Community at large.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything much personally on the church page, and there has been a reason.
Awaken Church of Gaffney has been going through some very trying seasons of challenge, chaos, and change as of late.
The major challenges that our fellowship have encountered over the last year and a half, maybe as far back as two, have to do with a drastic decline in involvement/investment by attendees. *The current cultural climate that we find ourselves ministering in is a very consumer driven culture. It’s not quite as easy to find members/attendees who are eager, desiring to serve and be used in the local church anymore. Just 20 years ago, as I was wonderfully and radically forgiven (saved), I remember anticipating the next opportunity to “YAY! I get to Go to church”----now, too often, it seems people have the attitude of “SIGH…I’ve GOT to go to church” and when church becomes a chore, it’s hard to be invested, not just on a financial level (offerings), buy emotionally and physically as well.
We have NEVER had problems RECRUITING a crowd, we’ve thrown Block Parties, Rented the Skating Rink out to provide FREE Skate Dates for the community, We’ve hosted Movie nights, huge blowout style fall festivals at the local city parks,and with other churches, taken multiple Youth trips to Gatlinburg, Winter Jam, Carowinds, the zoo(s), and water parks; *but honestly, we’ve seen very little lasting fruit/results from such ventures- not that they are a waste, but the goal is transformed lives, (for longer than a few weeks, or months). . Here’s some of the opportunities of ‘substance’ that we’re involved in:
• We have an ongoing partnership with the local homeless shelter (Harbor of Hope) where we go every month and lead chapel services, we also prepared and served the meal each month for 4+ years, until this summer, when the burden of preparing and transporting enough food for 40+ residents became overwhelming for the few that were consistently participating.
• We are active in the local Relay for Life, serving on the planning committee and hosting a team for several years now.
• We sponsor a Holt International Child/Children for going on 4 years now.
• We participate in the Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child Shoebox ministry yearly, not just packing and sending shoeboxes, but volunteering to work at the Charlotte Processing center, when we can get a spot.
• We’ve did trash pick-up & prayer walking in the local Habitat for Humanity subdivision.
• We’ve hosted Coupon classes, in effort to help anyone in the community to stretch their money, or assistance in effort to help families in our community in feeding themselves.
• We have provided monetary needs for families in distress (rent, power, medicine, Dr. visits, burnout victims, etc).
• We visit schools.
• I’ve been allowed to help/chaperone in the Cherokee County Special Olympics several times, and still have an open invitation.
• We participate in the Jerusalem Project, and go on mission trips to Memphis during the summer months.
• We’ve been invited & involved with the Cherokee County Sherriff when he called upon local pastors and ministry leaders to come to the Sherriff’s Office, and unite in prayer for our officers, our county, and our families.
• We’ve been active, along with several other pastors, from various denominational backgrounds in the annual National Day of Prayer, & I have been given the honor of addressing the crowd each year.
• We’ve assisted the South Carolina Baptist State Convention in Disaster Relief, following Hurricane Katrina, in transporting loads of ‘Mud Out Kits’ from the Broad River Association to the low country, in effort to serve the residents, and Disaster Relief Volunteers, in helping those devastated by the flooding.
• We’ve traveled to four or five different churches for participation in joint-baptism services, as we’ve been blessed to never have a baptistry, and this ‘need’ created several wonderful opportunities’ to “cross-pollenate” with other wonderful fellowships (teaching both churches that the point IS NOT the Method- but the MESSAGE; The Gospel of Christ).
Along those lines, we’ve seen around 60+ First time decisions for Christ, and I’ve had the honor of baptizing somewhere around 40+ of those.
• I have been personally Invited to come, and preach at a handful of local churches; some who were interested in my personal testimony, some wanted me to share our burden for Cherokee County, and the lost in particular- which is the foundation of why there is an Awaken to begin with, and others just wanted me to help them out while they were on vacation or such.
Either way, I have had several precious opportunities in building relationships with sister churches here in Cherokee County. And there are so many stories of those who’d been hurt by a church somewhere in the past, or had just slipped out of a local fellowship somewhere along the way- and thought it too hard to get re-acclimated- We loved them as they were, but refused to leave them in that way. We pointed them to Christ, and now, several of those are plugged in, serving, and leading at/in other churches all over Cherokee County. ***But I’m not writing this to prove how awesome Awaken Gaffney is- I’m just expressing my gratitude and astonishment at the tons of opportunities that we have been afforded in just six (6) years!***
BUT- for the last 18 months or so, the atmosphere has changed. The new faces each week have slowed. It may be in part because we decided that it should be the Gospel that would bring people in, and create life change, in individuals, in families, and in our communities- . not bouncy houses, block parties, or giveaways. . We’re not opposed to those things, but in a consumer driven culture, we kept running into the mindset of “What’s the next event/party/shindig!?” but we were seeing many with little to no lasting, deep life change- and that’s the point, Life change by Decisions and discipleship. . And so, as we reworked our core values, and began to trim any unnecessary spending, our momentum began to slow, (which was expected). We began to feel the financial crunch, as our attendance numbers began to drop, compound that with the simple reality of, when you’re pursuing hurting people, they generally don’t have many resources, financially speaking, to contribute, and so we don’t/can’t/didn’t expect them to. We moved venues in September, at the promise of a local business owner, who approached me, saying that if we could make a smaller building work, he would commit to covering our rent, {which was almost 2/3 less per month than the location beside the County Jail}, in full, for at least two years, as long as he remained anonymous, stressing that he did not want any praise or recognition. And so, we agreed, trusting and believing it was a blessing. Our previous landlord graciously gave us her blessing to go, in hopes that we would be able to turn things around. At the end of August, we signed the lease, payed the deposit for the first month, and a month in advance-
. and the business owner hasn’t fulfilled not one dollar of his commitment. . Add to that, the $1,600.00 in utility deposits, plus the materials, and lumber to rehabilitate/update the new building to accommodate into a church setting, and it sent us into a financial tailspin. . . We still hoped that the new place would provide new buzz, new families, and that we would pull out of the tailspin before it got too bad….it didn’t. And that’s where we are today. We still have 4 families that are coming, and hoping for something great to happen, not for themselves, but for Awaken, as it’s their/our church, and we love it. So, after several business meetings, round tables, and prayer- the decision was made to return to the in-home, small group model. Since our two primary hindrances have been: 1. Overhead ($), & 2. Assimilation. We looked (back) at the early church, in the book of Acts, in the New Testament, and we see how the early disciples met in homes, with meals and meaningful community- and the Lord added to them daily, Scripture says. As a result, we have been on a sort of “sabbatical” for three weeks now, catching our breath, continuing to pray, and honestly providing our people the opportunity to visit other churches; to see that accountability, holy living, sacrificial giving, and personal involvement are standard expectations in ALL Protestant churches, not just ours. *Also, it very well may be that our church might not fully recover/bounce back, or possibly the Lord is about to do something different with/to Awaken. ---->Honestly, I am not sure as of this moment. I do know, and have always asserted that, "It’s never been ‘My Church" it’s His, and He can do as He pleases with it.- Even if it's shutting it down.
The (tentative) projected future for Awaken is to host once weekly home groups. We’re starting with ONE, on Thursday nights, in our Home, from 6:30-8:15ish pm. Once we reach 13-15 people +/- (begin overcrowding), we’ll start another one, in another host home, (the day/time will be at the host’s discretion). . Once we multiply to more than one group, we’ll find a fun way to connect at least once per month as a corporate group/church, and I will preach/address all of the small groups, still, as the lead pastor.
We are planning to pursue this model at least until the end of May, unless something Big occurs (good or bad). This structure will still free our families up to both visit around (since we’re all on the same team anyways, right?) and retain their involvement at . . It will also enable my family to visit around, and be fed- as I’ve been doing 97% of the preaching/teaching for the last six years. Also, it makes ME available for Pulpit supply, Evangelism, and revival-type work, as I still will maintain our existing partnerships that allow me to work/serve/ and teach the Gospel. {Maybe a local church will be looking for a ministry minded, ‘nut’ of a pastor, and we could simply integrate our families into their congregation, lol - - - -> In Church planter training, it’s a variation of a Merger). We simply want whatever Jesus does. If He’s dissolving Awaken, my prayer is that our people, including my own family, will find The Lord’s perfect spot for us to Grow, serve, and be challenged. If He’s orchestrating a “Hard Reboot” of Awaken 2.0, my prayer is that in doing that, He will send us likeminded leaders, who have only one Agenda: . To make much of Jesus- So, this Thursday night, is our FIRST Small Group, Dinner is at 6:30, Lesson starts at 7pm. It will be a family-integrated setting, meaning that the children will be present in the lesson (How else will we teach them the value of worship at church?), and it will also help the parents in leading their own kids in knowing how to interact in a worship setting (not for the sake of silence, but for reverence, which seems to be lacking as a general observation). . . As always, the Keurig will be percolating, and the Word will be central to all that we do. We are still convinced that Christ wants to Have His way in the lives of the Residents of Cherokee County- regardless of race, socioeconomic standing, background, or geographic location. . If you may be interested in attending, leading, hosting, or providing/helping with dinner, please contact my wife Jeanne Peterson, or myself for more information.
Thank you for your time in reading!
In Christ, and for His Kingdom,
Rev Everett Peterson
864-838-3124
