J.R. Lee

The Bible is filled with incredible stories of faith, hope, and life-change.  Acts 4 is no different.

Peter and John are seemingly larger-than-life champions of the faith.   They saw miracle after miracle occur right before their eyes.  Theirs was a world full of wonder and amazement at the magnificence of God.  People were intrigued by their lives – even those who were in direct opposition.  We can learn a lot from their perception of these men:

Acts 4:13 – Now as they (their enemies) observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

Their lives were distinguishably different because of the calling of God on their lives and their obedience to answer that call.  They didn’t have extraordinary talent, education, or ability.  What they did have was an unwavering commitment to speak about what they had seen and heard

Acts 4:20 – “For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

All of us are talking about something.  What dominates our discussion?  We speak of that which is important.  That being said, what’s most important in our lives?  Our constant conversations will reveal the answer.

Guest Blog: Blake Goss, Worship Pastor

One of my greatest passions as the Worship Pastor at Freedom Church is
songwriting. Singing original songs is part of the culture at
Freedom. God speaks His vision to Pastor JR for our church and our
city. It’s my job to create worship experiences that make that vision
come to life. Part of doing that is writing songs that speak the vision.

It’s easy to fill a set list with songs by Hillsong. They write
amazing songs that were birthed out of the vision of Hillsong Church
and for the people in Australia. We write songs that are birthed out
of the vision of Freedom Church and for the people in Acworth. Any
worship leader who can play chords and carry a tune can learn worship
songs written by other artists. To write songs for the vision of your
church means you take the vision God has spoken to your pastor and you
prayerfully get before God and allow Him to bring it to life through
song.

One way we make this happen on a consistent basis is by having weekly
song writing sessions. Tyler Orr (Worship Leader) and I sit
down and develop songs based on upcoming series ideas that God has
given our Pastor. As time goes on more originals will take over the set list. We are very
excited about going into the studio in September to do a full-length
album of all original songs. This album and all of the songs would not
exist apart from the vision of Freedom. Our songs are written so that
people far from God can experience life in Christ.

Week 2 of Rebel! begins this Sunday!

Ever been in a situation where it seems that all of hell is coming against you – nothing is going right, you can’t perceive any of the answers, and it appears that God is distant? This week is for you!

Can’t wait til Sunday!  See you at 9:30 or 11.

By the way, I have seen the set-list – do NOT be late!

“You have so much potential!”  Hopefully, we have all heard that, but what does it really mean?  I read something about potential that pumped me up.  Here it is…

Potential is everything you can be but haven’t become yet.  It is everything you can do but haven’t done yet.  it’s everywhere you can go but haven’t gone yet.  Potential is the books you can write that you haven’t written yet.  It is the life you’ve wanted to live but haven’t lived yet.  It is like a huge engine-running idle.  It is energy still underutilized, power yet unleashed, and strength yet unused.

I believe that there is so much untapped potential lying dormant in the lives of people.  One of my goals is to help bring that out of myself and others!

• It’s been a crazy busy week!
• Great Fathers Day at Freedom.  All kinds of cool elements and a solid day all around.
• 9:30 was on the money but 11:00 felt way off.   Didn’t think I ever really got rolling with the message. 
• Can’t wait til this Sunday.  God has great things in store over the next 5 weeks. 
• Been praying for some specific people that I have been inviting to Freedom.  Breakthrough happens soon!
• We are in the middle of staff reviews.  It’s a grueling process but the conversation is priceless.
• I say this all the time but I love the team of people around me. 
• I normally write this early in the day but its right around midnight.  Shorter than normal cause I am going to bed.
• See you Sunday!