I haven’t been this excited about a New Year ever in my life! Momentum is at an all-time high at OneLife, so I can’t wait to see what the new year has in store. Here’s a few bits of news you need to know about.

One Combined Service this Sunday, January 1, 11 a.m.
We will ring in the new year with one combined service this Sunday at Jubilee Center. This will also be a “family service” where our elementary students will join us for worship. OneLife Kidz will still be available for birth through pre-school.

Year End Giving Opportunities
According to IRS guidelines, you can still make donations and receive credit for that gift toward your 2011 tax deductions. All checks mailed must be postmarked December 31 or earlier. The same is true for online gifts that must be made before the end of the day on Saturday. Mail donations to PO Box 1763, Powell, TN 37849 or give online at onelifeknox.com/give.

New Series Starts Sunday
Ready to be challenged in 2012? Want to commit to some big changes that you can actually keep for the entire year? Then it’s time for you – and us – to take some chances! Get uncomfortable and commit to being bold in 2012 as we spend the month of January in the series “Chance Takers: It’s Time to Go All In.”

It’s the week after Christmas, which means the OneLife office is closed, and our staff and volunteers are getting some much needed rest. As I lay here and think about the last month, I can’t help but get fired up for the new year! Here’s a quick recap of Christmas at OneLife.

- The month opened with two parades: the Knoxville City Parade and the Powell Parade. Hundreds of volunteer hours went into designing and building our float. It was by far one of the best in each parade (if I do say so myself!) and the band sounded incredible playing “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.” Already dozens of first time guests have come to OneLife because of seeing us in the parades!

- Our annual Volunteer Christmas Banquet was the best yet. Seeing a banquet hall packed with 140 people who are sold out to the vision of reaching people far from God – so much so that they give hours of their time each week – was the highlight of the month for me. The food was pretty awesome, too!

- The Big Regift Christmas Offering blew my mind in just the first week. The generosity that OneLifers showed, many of them giving their biggest gift to Jesus, added up to a huge amount. There are still four days to give, and I can’t wait to announce on Sunday how much it ends up being! (Give online here before Saturday if you haven’t a chance to give yet.)

- Christmas Eve wrapped up the month…and it couldn’t have been better. Close to 600 people attended one of the services, more than 30 raised hands to say they wanted a relationship with Jesus, and our talented tech and band teams blew it out of the water! The video of “Little Drummer Boy” opening the service is about to go viral with 500 views in just 24 hours! But more impressive than that were the 70+ volunteers who sacrificed time on Christmas Eve to make it all happen.

As you can see, it was an incredible month. But the best is yet to come! Don’t miss our one, combined service this Sunday at 11 a.m. back at Jubilee to ring in the new year. We’re going to kick off the most challenging series we’ve ever done at OneLife called “Chance Takers: Time To Go All In”. See you there!

One of the things I love most about OneLife Church is when we host events for the community, our church truly embraces it as an opportunity to serve – not be served.

The Powell Community Christmas Eve Service is another opportunity for us to do that. Already more than 650 tickets have been reserved, and we still have all week to max out both services! But to make that happen, we need volunteers to step up and help us host our community.

Whether you are currently a volunteer or not, get involved! Do your part to help us serve our community rather than just attending and being served. We have opportunities to help in the parking lot, greeting, ushers, and childcare for 3 years old and younger (ladies only please!), and for most of those you won’t even miss the service yourself. To see available spots and to sign up, simply go to this link and follow the instructions.

Thank you for being a church that wants to truly make a difference!

I never understood the quote “The proof is in the pudding.” Or as we say back home, “…the puddin’.” But the stories we are hearing this week in response to the Unwrapped sermon series and the Big Regift Christmas Offering have been unbelievable, and are definitely putting proof in lots of people’s pudding! I heard another one of those awesome stories this morning. It went something like this…

My husband and I decided last week that we had exactly $48 left to our name to buy each other Christmas gifts this year. During the service on Sunday, we felt like we should not spend that on each other and instead give it to the Big Regift. So when it came time for the offering at the end of the service, I got my checkbook out and wrote a check for $48. To be honest, I didn’t know if the check would even clear the bank but I did it anyway.

Then the craziest thing happened. We had been trying for a long time to sell a truck that we own. If we could just sell that stupid truck, we’d be in a much better place financially – definitely with more than $48 to our name! Yesterday afternoon kind of out of the blue we got a call. Someone wanted to buy our truck and pay us that day with cash! Suddenly we went from having literally nothing left to having $4600. My husband got online afterwards and looked up what trucks like ours were selling for, only to find that nicer and newer ones were selling for less. We were absolutely blown away!

As I heard that story, I was reminded of what we learned together as a church this past week in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8. When we obey God and give, not only does it demonstrate that we have the heart of God as the heart of a giver, but He takes care of us! This passage gives us the promise that God will “generously provide all that we need” so that we can have even more left over – not to hoard to ourselves – but to then have even MORE to give back!

Stories like this remind me that the Bible is legit. It’s promises WILL come true. All we have to do is trust and obey!

——–

If you would like to give to the Big Regift, you can do so at the services this Sunday or on Christmas Eve, or anytime online by going to onelifeknox.com/give.

As a pastor, sometimes the best way to make a point is to let someone else do it for you! I heard a powerful story today that does just that.

This coming Sunday is The Big Regift – our annual Christmas offering. It is a chance for all of us to give back to God a portion of what he has already given to us, above and beyond our normal tithes. A story I heard today from a fellow OneLifer illustrates exactly what God wants us to learn from him about generosity during this season and through this offering.

A single mom stopped by the office today, totally moved by the sermon on Sunday about having the heart of God by having the heart of a giver. As she began to tell me her story, I could sense that she truly wanted to do what would please God. But there was a problem. Three weeks ago she lost her job which has left her with literally nothing to give.

As she told me that story, it reached a point in the conversation that she could have taken it one of several different directions. First, she could have made excuses about why she can’t give anything. Second, she could have not only said she has nothing to give but asked for us to give her money instead. Or third, she could have said what she did and displayed the heart of God, the heart of a giver.

“So I’ve really been praying since Sunday and it has totally moved me ever since your sermon,” she told me as she began to cry. “I’ve decided that all I have to give is a coin jar that I’ve been collecting and saving up. So I’m going to take it to the bank and whatever is in there, that’s going to be my Big Regift. I’m sorry it’s not much, but I…”

And then I stopped her.

Are you kidding me?! Not much?! She’s giving literally the last thing she has to give! That is the absolute definition of generosity on a God-sized level! And I have no doubt that she is going to experience a joy and freedom in that generosity like she’s never known before.

It reminded me of a story about Jesus noticing people’s offerings in Luke 21. The rich people were giving large sums of money, but then came a poor widow who only gave two cents. Who was Jesus more impressed by? The widow. Because she gave until it hurt, not only what was convenient to give, but literally her last two cents that she had to her name.

That is why we challenge OneLifers to give their biggest gift to Jesus this year in a way that is sacrificial and maybe even a little uncomfortable. It is why my wife and I are sacrificing giving gifts to each other and giving an extra month’s tithe to the Big Regift instead. It is why this single mom today is giving her coin collection back to God rather than using it to do something for herself. It’s why many of you will give in a way that doesn’t make sense to outsiders. Because the amount doesn’t matter. Whether you can give a little or give a lot, just give Jesus your biggest gift this year! And watch him use us as a church to make a HUGE difference in the process.

—

You may also give online for the Big Regift Christmas Offering at www.onelifeknox.com/give.