happy new year!
| January 1st, 2008Time definitely moves faster as one gets older. I can remember being 12 years old and thinking “I wonder what I’ll be doing when the year 2000 comes?” Now here I am, 8 years beyond that, amazed at how quickly time passes me by as a twenty-nine year old.
This is a new year of incredible possibilities. A little more than a month ago I moved over 1000 miles to be a part of a movement that I believe God will use to help change the world, this movement called CoastlandTampa. I had several people tell me that I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into, and I’m realizing that they were right, and in a good way. The latent energy that is building and brewing here is something I’m excited to see realized in the very near future.
We are fast approaching our January 13th “soft-launch” date, where we will begin to meet in the Crown Plaza Hotel just off of I-75 and I-4 in Tampa. Our official launch is February 10th, so we will have 4 weeks to work out the bugs, so to speak. There is so much to do in the next 10 days to 5 weeks! Some of it is logistical/utilitarian, such as ordering hardware for FellowshipOne Check-in Kiosks, video projectors and screens, laptops and presentation software, redesigning the CoastlandTampa website, etc. I’m shoulders deep in all of that, as well as creating several videos (that have yet to be shot) for our series of messages. All of that is going well and I’m happy to be using my gifts and skills and experience, but what really gets me going are the conversations I and others are having with the people here in Tampa as we show God’s love in practical ways.
One of the big goals we are going to accomplish before our February launch is to touch 250,000 people through random acts of kindness. This Saturday we are going to be handing out water bottles to motorists, something we have done twice already in the last several weeks. We don’t expect nor want every person we touch to come to Coastland. That’s way too many people! : ) Instead, we want to change the perspective people have toward Christians and ultimately toward God by showing them God’s love in practical ways.
I have been shown God’s love in a very practical way by the families who have and are supporting me financially so that I can serve here at Coastland. I am incredible grateful for each of you and will be praying for you that God will bless you and give you opportunities to show His love to the people around you.
As this is a new year and resolutions are of the order, I will make it a practice of posting each week how things are progressing here in Tampa. Please pray for God’s favor as we bring everything together for the 13th!
Thanks for the post Tom. And will for sure be praying for the work that needs done up until the 13th, etc! May God bless you in 2008 and may His hand lead your team in reaching Tampa for Him!