New blog address

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've moved my blog to a new location. You can access it using http://stovallweems.com. All the posts from this blog have been moved over, so be sure to update your bookmarks with the new address!

http://stovallweems.blogspot.com will no longer be kept updated.

MarriedLife--Sold Out

Tonight’s MarriedLife event is gonna be a blast. And as we expected, it is sold out. We have unfortunately had to turn a lot of couples away. If you were not able to get in this time around, remember to register early for the next one; and I think at the next one we will do 2 nights in a row to be able to accommodate more people. From what I understand we are also getting some calls from people concerned about can they still get in a MarriedLife small group this semester even though they are not at the event tonight. They answer is yes -- absolutely. Tonight we are only previewing some aspects of the group life and people can sign up for a group tonight, but you can sign up for a group all the way through the month of September. In fact, the groups don’t even start until the week after Labor Day so no worries.

C3 at Celebration

We are excited to announce that Celebration Church will be hosting the C3 Creative Church Conference led by Pastor Ed Young from Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, October 1. I encourage all of you church leaders in the North Florida area to make every effort to attend this conference where you will hear Pastor Young share the life-lessons and leadership principles needed to tackle the real issues facing leaders today. It is a one day, crash course in leadership that is packed with more than just theory and philosophy. It provides the practical tools you need to take your leadership to the next level. More details to come soon.

Is It Really Time for School?

I can’t believe that my kids go back to school next week. This summer just flew by. My son Stovie is also playing football this year. He is only 7 years old so I am going to let him test the waters and hopefully he will like it. I love football – I loved it when I played and now I love watching it and studying the game. It would be great if Stovie enjoyed playing but I am not gonna put any pressure on him. I am so thankful for my wife and kids.

Don't Forget to FLEX

Hey everyone---Just wanted to remind all you guys out there that our 2nd annual FLEX conference will be held the last weekend in January 2008 and you are not going to want to miss this one. Jentzen Franklin and John Bevere will be joining us as guest speakers and there are a few more surprises I'll save for later. So keep your eyes and ears open and be sure to sign up early. It's going to be an unbelievable event.

It's Gonna Be Great

Friday is the day where I focus on leadership development, book writing and finish up any open tasks I have left over from the week. I will usually do something fun with my family on Friday night. I love my wife and kids. Well, the weekend is here so it’s 18 services for God at Celebration Church on Saturday and Sunday. It’s gonna be great.

It's All About God

Thursday is the day where I plan and we work on making our ministries more effective. We do a couple of meetings on the coming weekend experience that are very important. There is usually some strategic planning going on. It is a very busy day and you wouldn't believe how much work goes into making the weekend happen as well as focusing on where we need to improve as a church. The goal of all of this is that people can experience the love of Jesus in the area of their needs and the gospel can go forward in power with as few distractions as possible. It is all about God and living life and doing ministry that honors God. That we would "walk worthy of the call of God" upon our lives and church.

Wednesdays are Key

Wednesday is the day where I really study and seek God and get His mind for what He wants me to say for the weekend. So I do a lot of message preparation on Wednesdays and also a lot of personal study. I try to stay fresh and be creative and Wednesdays are key for that.

It's Tuesday

This is staff meeting day here at Celebration Church. It is one of my favorite days because I love hanging out with our staff. My favorite of all staff meetings is the campus-wide all staff meeting we have on the first Tuesday of the month at Midtown. Sometimes we are real serious and get into the Word and pray. Sometimes we just hang out and have fun. I think today we are gonna do a little bit of both. It is great doing life with such an incredible group of people.

Channel 4 News Spot

Check us out tonight on Channel 4 news at 10:00p.m.! News anchor Tom Wills is doing a spot on Celebration Church, here's a preview of what they're saying now on their website about the spot:

Rockin' For Jesus
It may look like a rock concert or a night at Club Paris, but it really is a regularly scheduled worship service at a Jacksonville church. Tonight on The Ten O'Clock News, Tom Wills takes us inside to find out why this is one of the fastest growing churches in the nation.

Stovall

Here's What's Goin' On

Don’t forget about our new services and service times beginning this weekend. Check out the church website for info. We now have 18 weekend service options at 5 campuses. Also next month we will be announcing our new campus launches for 2008 so stay tuned (especially those of you who live at the beach) for the next round of campus launches.

Small groups -- as you know small groups are going to the next level here at Celebration – Keep up-to-date through our website at www.celebration.org.

August 10 -- You don't want to miss the big event that will kick off our new ministry for married couples... MarriedLife. The goal of MarriedLife is to provide you with the essentials for marriage and connect you with other families along the way. We are kicking off this new ministry with a night of fun, dinner and lots of laughs! You will have the opportunity to meet the fall group leaders and get connected with other families at Celebration Church. You can purchase your tickets at the resource center or online at www.celebration.org.

Life is Good

I am sitting here with Chris Brooks at Native Sun drinking a juice called "roots, shoots and fruits." This is one of my favorite health drinks. Life is good. Mondays are always better when we've had a great weekend of services at church. It is so good to be back. Please keep our Cambodia Mission Team in prayer this week.

Great Time in Australia

Kerri and I had an awesome time in Australia this past week. We were at the Hillsong Conference and it was absolutley incredible. TD Jakes, Brian Houston, Ed Young, Jospeh Prince, Louie Giglio, Jentzen Franklin, John Bevere, and Christine Caine were some of the speakers so needless to say it was heavy. It was great to hang out with friends and get a snapshot of what God is doing globally. Kerri and I are very thankful that God has connected us into this world and has allowed us to get to know several of these incredible leaders in the body of Christ. We are on our way back now (about 24 hours of flying) and we are looking forward to being back and seeing everybody this weekend. I am really "full" spiritually and ready to preach this weekend!

We’re Not Changing---Just Getting Better!

Don’t worry---we’re not changing. I’ve gotten a few comments about my blog that talks about the new traditional service we are starting in July. Some people have been concerned that we are changing our overall service format. But, fear not; we are not changing. The new traditional service is just one of the new service options we are adding for you. This new service will be the only service that will have a more "traditional" feel. Our other services will still give you the same Celebration Experience you have come to love over the past few years--we will just have more of them--a total of 9 weekend service options by the end of July at the Deerwood campus alone. As we grow, we realize that everyone has different needs. We want to make Celebration a church where everyone can feel comfortable and connect with God in an atmosphere that works best for them. Even though we are calling this new 8:30 a.m. service a “traditional service”, you can bet it will still have the Celebration feel. So if you have friends or family who haven’t been quite comfortable in our services, invite them again. This may be just what they are looking for!

I'm Back!

I'm looking forward to being back this weekend. Kerri and I took the kids to visit family and vacation a little bit in Louisiana last week. Last weekend I spoke at Healing Place Church. It is a great church pastored by one of my best friends---Dino Rizzo. Their youth group and ours were together at Submerge (youth camp) this week and I heard our youth had an incredible God encountering time. It is awesome to have friends like Dino and Healing Place Church where our churches can do things together and build relationships together. Having real relationships in your life with the right people is so important. While I am good friends with several pastors of large thriving churches, I am really tight with about 8 guys (other senior pastors) who pastor incredible churches. Of those 8, Dino and John Seibeling are probably 2 of my best friends. I thank God for that. Well, we are gonna have great church this weekend! I will see you there. There is no place like Celebration -- every time I am away I miss our church so much -- I am so thankful to God for my wife, my children, my family and Celebration Church!

I've Got Rhythm

I am getting into the flow of blogging now and I feel like I have found a rhythm. It is basically writing from my blackberry whatever is on my heart at the moment; so I think my blog will be a mixture of personal stuff, leadership principles, inside info about the church that I want people to know and basic kind of what's going on stuff. The key for me is blogging works when something is on my heart that I want to communicate to the church. If I have to think about what to write, then it just doesn't work. Fortunately for me (as with most preachers), it seems I usually have something to say. So I am really fired up about this next season at Celebration -- the new growth track, small group strategy, the new service times later next month, and especially our staff unity and staff dynamic. Our staff is so awesome. I have never been more at peace about what God is doing and where we are headed as a church. I think we will all be blown away by what God does through Celebration Church over the next 10 months. Not just in the numerical growth and church expansion -- but in the impact God is beginning to allow us to have in this nation and even around the world. I just want to stay in love with Jesus and keep following Him. I am so grateful to God for His goodness to Celebration Church!

Traditional Service?

Celebration with a traditional service? Absolutely! There is a lot of buzz about the new tradtional style service that is kicking off on July 22 - so here is an idea of what our new "traditional service" will look like. We realize the word traditional means a lot of different things to different people but basically the idea is a softer, more "reverential" feel to the Celebration style. I just really want to be able to minister in Celebration style to a demographic that would prefer a softer, simpler sound with redone hymns and mainstream worship classics. There will be kneeling and communion and no moving lights. While I think people of all ages will enjoy this service, I am especially hoping that we can better minister to our 50's and 60's+ in our church and provide a worship environment where they will feel more comfortable bringing their friends.

A Church of Groups

This is good stuff, new stuff-- so get ready -- our fall groups are going to be the best ever. God has so impressed upon my heart how crucial group life is in this next season here at Celebration. We are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and faciliate true Christian community (Acts 2:42-46) and you just cannot do that without intentional, strategic, group life. The reason why I am so excited about our small groups this fall is because this will be the first time Celebration Church will truly have a group driven ministry philosophy. What that means is groups are not just veiwed as an option for people to connect, but a crucial part of our strategy and mandate to make disciples. We are restructuring several key ministry areas to help drive and facilitate group life here at Celebration Church. We are currently training over 100 additional group facilitators and are excited about cirriculum based material groups as well as groups that are going to be lesson based around the weekend message. Groups for married couples, singles, men, women, co-ed, college, student and children will all be available. You can chose a group based on interest, age, or location.