Brad Wilkerson // COC Metro

Finish Strong

As we quickly approach the close of 2009 COC Metro is finishing this year strong.  We have been crazy busy the entire month with outreach events, toy drives, ladies' event, weekend worship, Christmas Eve prep work and one of the coolest baptismal celebration I have ever been a part of this past Sunday.  Click on the link below to check it out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7TXeCcsdZA

I am so proud of your 15 month old church.  COC is accomplishing things that most churches twice to three times our size only dream of doing.  We have always approached this ministry with the attitude that company is coming and acting like where we want to be rather than where we are.  This attitude has caused us to go from a church of about 120 this time last year to now pushing 400 in worship each and every Sunday.  We have seen 40 souls baptized this year, over 60 people giving their lives to Christ, delivering well over 500 toys this week to needy families in our communities (all of which were given through the generosity of the people of COC) and preparing for three incredible upcoming Christmas Eve Celebrations!  Of course those of you who were a part of our "It's a Girl Thing" Ladies' event last Sunday know that it was just awesome.  We had just over 115 ladies enjoying great fun, fellowship and of course hearing from Lisa Whelchel.  

So as you see, we are not coasting into the Holidays.  We are capitalizing on this most wonderful time of the year to continue to find ways to make His name more famous on the 380 Corridor.  I challenge you to finish this year strong as well.  Don't wait until January 1st to get busy for the Lord.  There is no better time than the present to just jump in and join God in His incredible work.  

PRESSURE

Have you ever had one of those moments when you just simply stopped and asked God to reveal just exactly what He is allowing to go on in your life and what the benefits are going to be from it?  Of late, that is the very state that I have found myself in.  Now I know, I'm a Pastor, and everything is always supposed to be a WINNING situation in my life but it just sometimes doesn't work out that way.  I also know that a Pastor is sometimes looked at as always being on top in every area of life but that is just not true as well. The pressures of life affect me and my family just like they do any other person or family.  So, with that said, I have spent a lot of time of late on my face before the Lord asking Him one simple question, "God why and why now?"  Simple questions yet questions I think most of us have asked Him a time or two.  Up until this past Sunday I haven't gotten my answer or at least I hadn't heard it if He had already replied to it.  But Sunday evening I finally shut up long enough to hear Him and I got my answer.  PRESSURE takes you to new levels and makes you the person He wants you to be.  The important thing is that you react to the PRESSURE as Christ would.  

 

Take for instance olive oil.  You cannot get the oil out of an olive until you press the olive itself.  Take an orange for example.  You can't get orange juice until you squeeze the orange to it's breaking point.  But look at our Savior as well.  On His way to the cross he stops at Gethesemene.  See Him there praying under such great pressure that the Bible records He literally sweat blood.  He was feeling the PRESSURE.  What PRESSURE you ask?  Oh, well lets see, maybe the weight of bearing the sins of all mankind from the fall of man until eternity.  Now that's some PRESSURE.  But take it three days further and see what happened as a result of that PRESSURE.  Our Savior came bursting forth from the grave on that first Easter Sunday and conquered death and hell all became better because of the PRESSURE.  Wow...what a great Savior we serve.

 

So today, this week, this month or this year, what has been your greatest source of PRESSURE.  Stop focusing on the element of PRESSURE and start looking for what God is trying to get you to become or do as a result of that PRESSURE.  Turn the tables on your enemy.  Take what he meant for evil and your destruction and let God use it for your good and your growth.  Romans 8:28 is still true.  Maybe that is the verse for you this week.  Press me dear God, if it makes me better and more like You! 

It's Beginning to Feel Like Christmas

Living in Texas in the fall and winter months rocks.  The weather is usually pretty good, which means year round golf!  Anyway, the downside to it all is that it really never looks like Christmas around here.  So instead of saying, "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas," I'll change the idea of look to feel.  We are finally starting to get some cold weather today and there is rain in the air and an actual chance of snow flurries tonight....NEVER HAPPEN...TRUST ME!  I think the weather men just like to say the word SNOW around here to get everyone in an uproar.  You can feel Christmas in the air from the radio stations continually playing Christmas music to the decorated stores and of course the upcoming community Christmas events.  The COC gang is doing a great job donating toys for this year's TOY STORY toy drive.  Keep on bringing those gifts for the next two Sundays!  This Saturday night is one of the most fun nights of the year for me and the people of COC.  This Saturday night is the annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Festival at Providence.  We are excited about his event again this year as our band will be playing (even in the cold), we will be distributing hot chocolate and just simply helping to make the event a grand success.  Of course, this is another great time for us to connect with our community and be a blessing back to them.  So you see, for COC, it's beginning to FEEL a lot like Christmas.  We follow up this weekend with our "It's a Girl Thing" Ladies' Ministry, Come Home For Christmas, event with guest speaker, Lisa Whelchel, on December 13th.  And of course we conclude the season with not one but three wonderful Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion worship experiences.  This year's theme is Silent Night...Holy Fight.  It is going to be a great Christmas Season and we at COC put CHRIST first in all we do this month.  He is the reason for this season and we plan on sharing that with as many people as we come into contact with.  So from all of us down here in mild weathered TEXAS....MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanksgiving Top 10

It is Tuesday, November 24th and I am in day two of my three day fall planning sabbatical.  I am in a hotel somewhere in Dallas but you'll never know where because that is the whole point of a sabbatical.  I am actually getting some much needed rest in the morning hours and then hitting it hard from just after lunch till at least midnight and then calling it a day.  I go through this process every fall as I get away to prepare my sermon calender for the coming year, schedule many of the church events for the coming year, as well as finish up budget prep work for the coming year.  I then conclude my week with getting on my face before the Lord and asking Him to renew my passion and my strength for the year that lies ahead.  I will then leave this place on Thursday morning and meet my family at my mother-in-law's for a pig out Thanksgiving lunch and conclude that evening with a great time with my family as we do chili and snacks for dinner.  Of course the week is truly not over until I join the men of COC on Friday for a mean game of Flag Football and hanging out EATING again.  Don't worry men, in my alone time with God, I am asking that no one breaks or tears anything!  Anyway, 2010 is going to ROCK at COC.  It is going to be our greatest year ever.  We have seen so many wonderful things since October 07 but we are only scratching the surface.  Just to tease you a bit, I have planned some killer sermon series next year.  Here are a few to wet your whistle:  "Close Encounters of the First Kind", "Hyde - n - Seek", "I Am Not But I Know I Am", "Pirates", and "Fallen".  Of course with the addition of Upward Soccer and our second Football/Cheerleading season, the best is yet to come.  I look forward to watching God continue to do His work in and through us next year.

Now being that this is Thanksgiving week, I thought I'd just list for you all some of the wonderful things that I am thankful for this year.  David Letterman has his top 10 but so do I.  Here it goes:

1.  My SMOKIN HOT wife and my two AWESOME kids.  Sarah is the most precious gift God has ever given to me.  She is such a Godly wife and mom and I am so blessed to  call her my soulmate.  Haley and Ryder, I love you guys more than I can put into words.  I am proud of you two and look forward to seeing you continue to grow into the lady and man that God has called you to be.

2.  My two sets of parents and my siblings.  I am blessed to have great parents who love me unconditionally but who also pray and financially support the ministries of COC.  Thanks Dads and Moms...you all are the best any son could want!!!!  Thanks to my brothers and my sister who not only love me but put up with me and my lack of communication with them sometimes.  I love you guys and I want you to know you mean the world to me.

3.  My Grandparents.  Thanks for praying for me everyday.  Without your prayers, I'd be a mess.  Oh yea, they all kind of love me pretty unconditionally as well.  Actually, I'll put it this way, I can never do wrong in their eyes!  Don't you just love grandparents.

4.  My Mother-in-law, Margaret Coulter.  Margaret you light up the room with your overwhelming JOY.  Thank you for the gift you gave me in Sarah.  You are a great mother-in-law and have always supported us in our endeavors in the ministry.  Thanks and I love you.

5.  The Pastoral & Elder Team of COC Metro.  Wow, what a great team of like minded and like spirited people.  You all make my calling a joy not a burden.  I could name hundreds of Lead Pastors who would love to have our team as their team....Sorry, you're not getting them.  They are at COC to stay!!!  Thanks men and ladies for being willing to serve the Lord through the ministry of COC.

6.  The people of COC.  Wow, what great people God has blessed our church with.  I am amazed every Sunday when I look around me.  Your heart of generosity not just in areas of service in the church but to those outside our four walls just blows me away.  Keep on keeping on.  Don't look inward, always look outward and our church will soar.  And of course, keep on worshipping!!! 

7.  Our mother church, Midway Baptist, and our sister church, Church of Celebration in Maricopa, Arizona.  Pastor John and Pastor Josh, you are two of my best friends in all the world.  COC Metro would never have gotten off the ground without you guys not only having vision for this but a heart for me as well.  Love you guys and look forward to looking back with you all someday and saying, WOW!

8.  My golfing buddies that most of you at COC do not know.  Jim Morgan, Ken Adams, Steve Rebhan, Craig Jones, Matt & Kenneth Beresford, and Chip Knost.  Thanks guys for calling me and saying, "Get out of that office and get your butt out here with us!"  I need that.  I appreciate your friendship and the competition.  Remember guys, "I hope you have the round of your life and I beat you by one."

9.  The people of the 380 Corridor.  I don't know most of you but I am thankful that you are here...because that is why I am here and COC exist.  Look forward to meeting you all in 2010.

10.  My Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am amazed that you called me to do this.  I am also amazed at your patience with me throughout my life.  Your love truly is amazing and your power is overwhelming.  Thanks for calling me into the ministry and thanks for the vision to plant a church on the 380 Corridor.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Sunday Reflections

Since many of you that read my blog each and every week are not able to attend COC because you live in other areas other than the 380 corridor, I'd thought this week I'd give you some reflections about COC.  For those of you who each and every week are faithful in your attendance to COC, this will help you in continuing to celebrate what God is doing in our midst.

 A few thoughts on an amazing day...

• Sunday’s message was specifically targeted at the things that the enemy uses against us to steal our JOY.…Saw some serious breakthroughs in people's lives and the emails I have received since Sunday are incredible…I love how the Holy Spirit works!!!  SO WHAT...WHAT DOES IT MATTER...Philippians 1:18
• REALLY excited about how awesome our two service format is going.  It is awesome to see both services full of excitement and ready to worship.
• BTW…saw some serious financial needs met Sunday with an incredible offering.  You all are doing great in the area of generosity!!!
• Speaking of generosity, we have been challenged again to get out the box and live beyond ourselves.  Pastor Dane challenged us to give 500 new toys this year during our 2009 toy drive for Christmas!!!!  Come on COC...lets git r dun!!!!
• DANG....our worship at COC is incredible.  Ryan Oliver (COC worship pastor) YOU ROCK!!!  Band...you all are awesome.  You will never know what role you play in our entire celebration process.
• Brian and Amy Holt (Children's Pastor & Wife aka...wonderful assistant)  You all are crazy cool!  From birth through 5th grade our kiddos have a first class/excellent program designed to teach them on Biblical theme each week.  My 10 year old, Ryder, considers it one of the best things that happens to him each week.
• John and Jess Theisen, thanks for your faithfulness to our teenagers each and every week.  Your TRL mid-week youth worship service was a hit this fall.  Thanks for your sacrifice of time that you gave to our student ministry.  Love you guys.
• COC Ladies or should I say, "It's a Girl Thing" ministries, wow, already over 75 tickets purchased for your Christmas Dinner and evening with Lisa Welchel from the hit sitcom The Facts of Life and now one of the key note speakers at the Women of Faith Conference.  This event is going to be awesome.
• Our volunteers.  I watch you all each week and all you do to make this church happen.  Being portable is not easy but you all are awesome.  If I named all the names I would leave someone out plus there would not be room enough to contain them.  I love you all and appreciate your gift of service to HIS ministry each week.
• Oh yea...BTW...we collected shoes and blankets to send to Missionaries Lance and Melanie Gotcher, in central Manilla, Philippines.  COC gave over 1,000 pairs of shoes and over 100 blankets....yea baby, that's true generosity and it feels stinkin great!!!!

I thank God for the days to come....trust me and get ready...2010 is going to ROCK!!!!!

That’s about it for now…except for a few challenges to EVERYONE who attends COC…

• If you will…PRAY for our services this coming Sunday EVERY DAY this week.
• PRAY for our upcoming 3 worship services this coming Christmas Eve.
• INVITE someone to church this week…seriously…step out of your comfort zone and do it!!!  AND…
• Be generous to someone this week…seriously…just do it!  Give the server @ the restaurant a HUGE TIP…pay for the person’s meal in the drive thru behind you…WHATEVER...just make it happen.

Time For Some Roundball!!

November 10th is finally here!!!  It may be 75 degrees outside and feel like spring but none the less High School basketball for the Wilkersons starts tonight.  That's right, Haley has her first game tonight in Prosper High's new 3,000 set arena complete with a college style score board with a jumbotron.  I tell you, everything is bigger and better in Texas!!!  That is also why my property taxes are crazy high on my house.  I guess when it is all said and done, I am the one helping to pay for that over the top score board.  To say we are  proud of Haley is a slight understatement.  You see 17 freshman girls went out for basketball and of that 17, 5 of them made the Junior Varsity team.  Haley was one of the 5.  She is stoked and of course so am I.  No doubt her basketball talent, whether she wants to admit it our not, comes directly from ME!!!!  I promise I am not living vicariously through my daughter but I am a pretty proud Dad tonight.  She is wearing number 20 but she is number 1 as far as I am concerned.  (She tried to get number 34 but they didn't have that number...it was the number her aunt Natalie wore from High School all the way to her college playing days at Southestern Oklahoma in Durant, OK)  So Tuesday night when most of you were just beginning to arrive at home from a long day at work, we were wearing our green and white and cheering on the Lady Eagles!  Go Haley and Go Eagles!!!!

Juicy Fruit

This weekend we will begin our new message series called, Juicy Fruit.  We will be looking at all the pieces of fruit of the Spirit that make up ONE piece of fruit that is called a Christian.  We will be looking at each piece of this JUICY FRUIT and breaking it down to see how we can make sure that it is a part of each of lives.  One of the interesting things about the fruit of the spirit is just that...it is a fruit not fruit (s).  It is singular not plural.  You cannot just choose the ones you want and discard the others.  You must possess all the fruit to make up the complete piece of fruit that God intended for us to be.  For instance, everyone wants to have a little love, peace and kindness but no everyone wishes to obtain self control.  Well, it doesn't work that way.  It is not a buffet...they all work together and you cannot be what God intended for you to be without possessing all the pieces.  This week we will look at piece number one:  LOVE and we begin to put this JUICY piece of FRUIT together.  See you Sunday!

Upward Awards!

I can't believe the Upward flag football/cheerleading season is already on its last week.  It seems like it was just yesterday that a group of dedicated COC guys were in Houston learning how to use a simple sports program to reach families for Christ.  And we've managed to do just that the last 3 months.  I'm so proud of how our church looked at something impossible and said "through God all things are possible" -- and with that attitude pulled off a great season!  

This Sunday we'll have our first Upward Awards Celebration.  The Upward Awards Celebration is not only a time to reward players and cheerleaders for their effort and participation, but also represents another opportunity to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to the children and their families.  

So make plans to come celebrate what God has done in our church and community this Sunday.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for Upward Soccer in the spring!  

Operation Generosity

Wow...Wow...Wow!!!  That is all I can say.  I was blown away by the generosity of the great COC family as we had well over 300 pairs of flip flops and right at about 30 blankets donated for the relief effort in the Philippines.  I emailed our missionary friend, Lance Gotcher, there in Manilla, on Monday telling him what we had already accomplished in just one week and he was blown away.  He shared with me that the shoes are really going to be a blessing as many of those who they are housing and feeding have no shoes.  We will collect flip flops (kids sizes - adult 11) and blankets one more Sunday and then ship the items to the Gotchers next week.  Please take the opportunity to use the resources the Lord has blessed you with to help those in such extreme need.  Remember, generosity is at the very heart of our being.  We serve a generous God who created us in His image.  I look forward to seeing what the stage looks like this Sunday!!!

U2 360 Tour

 

On my calendar, Oct. 12th, was a date that was scheduled with a lot of anticipation.  Me and my great buddy, Dane Blankenship, had tickets to go see our favorite band U2 at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  This was a two fold experience.  Not only were we going to get to see the new Stadium but get to see U2.  Well, being good stewards of our money we bought the cheapest tickets in the place which put us on the top row in top section of this massive structure.  This stadium holds 100,000 so as you can imagine Bono looked like an ant on the stage from our seats.  Not being able to see him very well didn't bother me because we went to here the music not look at them.  However, they didn't have enough sound to fill that enormous room and from where we were sitting we couldn't understand a word Bono was saying and there was a delay on all the sound.  We would see Larry Mullen hit the drums on the big screens but then hear the drum beat a second later.  All in all in made for a mess of noise that we were obviously too far from the action to hear it clearly.

Think for a minute about your life and your walk with the Lord.  Are there times where you cannot seem to hear Him clearly and it seems that it is all just a mess of noise?  Quick question, "Are you too far from the action?"  God wants you to draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.  My challenge for you, do whatever it takes to and go to whatever extreme you must to get closer to the action so that you can hear Him clearly.  

Yes, it was disappointing to anticipate this event for over 6 months and then not be able to hear it clearly.  What would be worse, would be to live your life, get to the end and realize that you could have done and experienced so much more with God but you were hanging out too far from the action.