To register for the Men’s Camp Out on October 7-8 fill out the form below. Also be sure to click the GIVE link at the bottom right of the website to pay the $20 registration fee which covers all meals and skeet shooting.
Author Archive for Pastor Steve
Text or call 757-472-4673 to find where a workcrew is that you can help.
- Here’s my notes from the Q&A this past week. The questions we looked at this past week were: What about the guy on a desert island whose never heard about Jesus, how can he become a Christian? Is it ok to be cremated? Can a person who committed suicide go to heaven? Is killing someone in war different than murder? If our sins are forgiven, does it matter how we live and is God going to replay all that we have done at the final judgment?
- Looking forward to this weekend: Pungo Parade & Memorial Day Weekend Cookout on Sunday. My kids always love any event that includes the bounce house!!!
- The women’s event last weekend was amazing. Heard lots of good things. I’m hoping to get a picture of the way they decorated everything. They did an amazing transformation on the worship center.
- My favorite pics from the end of the world thing:
- Here is the mother’s day video from last week.
- Easter Sunday… all I can say is WOW!!! I’ve been asked by several people what the attendance figures were. The final count was 630!!! Last year it was 315. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, that’s exactly double in one year’s time. I am overwhelmed and amazed.
- I can’t say enough about our essential volunteers. The nursery was packed, but they were prepared. The parking lot was overflowing, but they were prepared. The coffee and snacks was over the top… and we all came prepared to enjoy them. If you see someone who served on Easter Sunday, thank them for being essential!
- I’ve also been asked a few times, “who’s Jenny?” after this past week’s message. My answer is, “you are.” If this doesn’t make any sense, listen to this past week’s message here.
- I saw that our own Justin Harris is rising up the IndieHaven music charts with his song I’m on Fire. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to it and vote, click on the link and check it out and give him 5 stars. You can also check out his own site that has samples of his recordings.
- Softball season starts next week. I’m bummed that my shoulder injury will keep me out this season, but excited to go out and cheer on our teams. We’ve got a men’s team playing on Monday nights and a co-ed team on Friday nights. Pastor Bobby says we’re looking good. Check out the softball schedule here and plan to come out and catch a game.
- Great article by CNN opinion writer LZ Granderson: Parents, Don’t Dress Your Girls Like Tramps. If you have a daughter, you must read this article. (Read the article before you watch follow-up video on the link)
- Good blog post by Vince Antonucci, on the Time Magazine article I cited this past week on Hell. Some of you may know Vince who was the founding pastor of ForeFront Church here in Virginia Beach. He’s now out in Vegas planting another church.
- If you haven’t downloaded YouVersion for your portable device… do it now!!! It’s a free app in your smartphone’s app-store and it’s available for just about every kind of smartphone. Once you download the app, you can either access the Bible via internet connection or just download the version of your choice to your phone for free!!! There’s nothing like having the ability to read what your creator has to say no matter where you are.
- I would hope that if the Westboro group ever comes to protest a military funeral here in Virginia Beach, our community will respond like the folks in Brandon, Mississippi did. Read about it here.
- That’s all for now…keep striving through the narrow gate (Luke 13).
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Categories : Pastor's Blog
Saturday: Pungo Strawberry Fest Parade
What’s better than going to a parade? Being in the parade!!! For the past two years Essential Church has had a float in the Pungo Strawberry Fest Parade. We put our band on a flatbed trailer and crank out a sample of the amazing talent you get to hear every weekend. Since we can’t throw candy, we need you to join us in the parade and hand out candy that has a note about our church attached to it. It’s a lot of fun and the perfect event for all ages. You can bring strollers, wagons, or tricycle for the kids.
We’ll gather out at the Coast Guard Communication Complex between 8-9:30 to prep the float and get things ready. It’s one of the best events of the year.
Sunday: Memorial Day Picnic
After church on Sunday morning we’ll have a BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs out in the field in front of our building. We’ll have tents and tables for eating, bounce house for the kids, volleyball, corn-hole, and kickball. Bring some sunscreen and a side dish or dessert to share and enjoy a fun afternoon. This is the perfect day to invite a friend to come to church and then meet some new friends.
*If you have an Easy Up that we can use please let us know so we can plan for it’s use.
There are Service Opportunities with this event.
We still need volunteers to run the Bounce House, Work the grills, and take care of the food and drink tables. We would also love to have a few volunteers attend first service and help setup during second service. If you can help with one of these areas, please let us know ASAP so we can continue to plan the event. Click Here to Let Us Know
Final Destinations:
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s been a lot of interest in Heaven and Hell lately. This year on the NY Times Best Seller lists are the following titles:
- Heaven is For Real
- 90 Minutes in Heaven
- 23 Minutes in Hell
- I Hope the Serve Beer in Hell
- Love Wins, A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
Noticing the pop-culture buzz about Heaven and Hell, Time Magazine’s current cover is: ‘What if there’s no Hell?’ Inside it refers back to the famous Easter Issue from 1966 with the cover: ‘Is God Dead’. There’s a lot of questions swirling around right now about the afterlife:
- What about the guy on an island who has never heard about Jesus?
- What about the other religions?
- What about the friend of mine that doesn’t believe in God but is nicer than most Christians I know?
- What would we do for all eternity in heaven or hell?
- If all the people who seem to know how to really party are going to hell, doesn’t that sound like a better place to spend eternity?
With all the questions surrounding one’s Final Destination, we thought you’d might like to hear what Jesus said about the topic. After all, he’s the only one whose died and come back to tell us about it. Sure there’s tons of “near death experiences”, but history only has a detailed record of one man’s journey to the grave and back.
Join us this month for a thought provoking look at our Final Destination.
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Categories : Current Message Series
When we go into marriage thinking that marring the “right person” will allow us to live happily ever after, we’ve left reality in hopes of living a fairytale. The real person you married isn’t the fantasy person you were looking for when you were dating. Perhaps you need to trash the fairytale and love the person instead of loving the fairytale and trashing the person.
You and someone you know probably needs to be here for this series which runs from March 27th to April 17th. If you missed a week, you can listen here.
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Categories : Current Message Series, Pastor's Blog
- This week, a friend of mine will be preaching at the 9:30 service. I’ll be speaking at the 10:45. We’re both sharing the same message. He’s interviewing at another church in Virginia and this will give them a chance to hear him. He and I served as missionaries together to the Super Bowl back in 1999. Show him love if you come to the early service.
- Childcare is being provided for Date Night with Brock Gill!!! Now there’s no reason not to get tickets and invite someone you know.
- Sermon note: “There is a difference between unconfessed sin and unconqured sin.” Unconfessed sin seperates us from God (Psalm 66:18). Unconqured sin is something we continue to work on until we go to heaven. (Philippians 3:12-21) Because some sin is so difficult to conquer, we are tempted to give up trying. Don’t give up, don’t ever give up. Fight the good fight, finish the race.
- Love this story from Blue Like Jazz: “He asked Bill Bright what Jesus meant to him. He said that Dr. Bright could not answer the question. He just started to cry. He sat there in his big chair behind his big desk and wept. I knew then that I wanted to know Jesus like that, with my heart, not just my head. I felt like that would be the key to something.”
- Here’s the article about the pastor who has banned Facebook due to the number of people in his church who ended up committing adultery with a Facebook friend. Husbands and wives need to be 100% transparent about what they’re doing with Facebook and other things like the internet surfing, email, cell phones, and so on. God’s plan is that the two would become one flesh. Knowing that secrecy is the breeding ground for sin, get real with each other and be honest.
- Several people have asked me about Rob Bell and his new book Love Wins. This morning he was on Good Morning America talking about it. The controversy surrounding the book is that Rob Bell, who is a well known pastor of a large church in Michigan, is teaching that there is no such thing as hell. I have always enjoyed listening to Rob Bell teach because he is always challenging the status quo when it comes to church, ministry, and our understanding of Scripture. He has forced me to rethink many traditional interpretations of Scripture… however on this issue and many others, he’s out in left field. The Bible is all too clear about the reality of hell. Most would at least agree that Satan and his demons end up there, (Matthew 25:41). Further, it’s awful hard to explain the most famous verse in the Bible (John 3:16) if there is no hell. What’s the shall not perish line all about if there is no hell? Why would Jesus say whoever believes? Should he have just said, it doesn’t matter? This kind of thing happen a lot when people develop an entire theological thought based on a few verses from the Bible without looking at the rest of Scripture. If you want to read a review of the book that summarizes the book and offers a critique check this out.
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Categories : Pastor's Blog
Join the Essential Church’s Tournament Challenge on ESPN. March Madness is about to begin and it’s time to fill out your bracket. Use whatever method you want to use: pick the winners based on their seeding, their jersey color, or even based on where you have friends. It really doesn’t matter, it’s just fun to play. You must enter before the first game (around 11:30am) on Thursday, March 17.
Group: Essential Church
Password: essential
* Please use your name for the name of the entry so we know who is who.
- As of right now, almost half of the available tickets to the Date Night with Brock Gill on March 24th have been sold. When it sells out, it’s sold out. Even if you can’t make it, buy two tickets for a friend who doesn’t go to church. I can’t think of an easier way to invite someone to your church.
- I just finished reading (which means I listened to the audiobook) The Holiness of God by Jerry Bridges. Great book. The first half made me feel like an absolute heathen. The second half is full of ideas to help you take steps toward living a holier life. Needless to say I liked the second half better than the first, but I think all of us need the first part from time to time. The book goes well with the last line of Jabez’s prayer: Keep me from evil that I may not cause pain.
- At our Guys Night Out group we started doing dinner together before our discussion of Blue Like Jazz. This past week was Malbon’s BBQ. It’s the perfect small group for guys who don’t like the thought of going to a small group.
- Sunday night I am going to the Financial Peace University (FPU) group with Melissa. I’ve read Dave Ramey’s books, heard him speak numerous times, listened to my father-in-law talk about money, and taken the similar course offered by Crown Financial. Being good with money is 50% knowledge and 50% application. The refresher course is a great reminder to keep applying the principles. I strongly recommend taking FPU the next time it’s offered. No matter where you are at financially, you need to take it.
- Several of you have asked about the story I shared on Sunday. Here’s a link to the Des Moines Register’s series of articles on the Eric Jacobs story. Here’s the video I showed on Sunday with Eric’s Story.
- Every week I prepare stuff that never gets said in the message. Here’s one from this past week’s message: “God is everywhere, but we’re just not aware of it. When God answers someone’s prayer, I often hear people say, ‘God showed up.’ As if he hasn’t been around until that moment. The truth is that God has been there the whole time and it was at that moment that they realized his presence in their midst.”
- I like the way the Amplified Bible translates Romans 7:6 - So now we serve not under (obedience to) the old code of written regulations, but (under obedience to the promptings) of the Spirit in newness (of life).
- Below is the Family Guy video that I think of when I read Luke 11:5-8.
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Categories : Pastor's Blog
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