Easter Invitation

Watch this video on how not to invite someone to church this Easter. It's hilarious.

Easter Update

This Easter weekend was nothing short of amazing. Here are some of the highlights:

• The Friday Come and Go Communion was inspiring. Although we had 400+ people come to receive communion, it felt incredibly personal and intimate. Bekah and I really enjoyed connecting with singles, couples and entire families on a very personal level.
• PCC set another Easter weekend attendance record with 2998 in attendance. Although we missed our miracle goal by only 2 people we are all incredibly pumped.
• Saturday night service was crazy! We had almost 900 people showed up and over half the adults in the auditorium stood to receive Christ. Amazing!
• Between the 5 weekend services, over 400 people received Christ. Miraculous!
• I loved the Saturday night atmosphere. The crowd was early and full of energy. I think Saturday nights at PCC are going to be a huge success!
• PCC gave a record non-building fund offering! What a great testimony of this church's generosity. Off the hook generous.
• The creative worship arts team did an amazing job. The music, sounds lights and video was awe inspiring.
• The Spanish service had almost 300 in attendance. Pastor Emilio and his dedicate team of volunteers did a phenomenal job. Also, 56 people gave their heart to Christ in that service alone. Wow! Yeah God.
• A huge word of thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who served this Easter!!!
• Also, thanks to all of you selfless PCC regular attenders who came to Saturday night and the 8:30 Sunday service to free up seats for guests. You are my heroes.
• Please continue to invite your friends to come back this weekend to hear Daryl Strawberry's story of hope and healing. You don't want to miss it. Come early to get a good seat.
• This weekend we are giving away over 1,000 gifts this weekend worth $4000 dollars including Sony Playstations 3s and Flat Screen TVs.
• A huge thanks to all the volunteers that were in the office today doing follow up on hundreds of first time guests.
• Don't forget tomorrow night is our First Tuesday prayer meeting. Please come out and celebrate with us all that God has done!

PCC it is such an honor to lead you and be your pastor. I'm truly humbled to be part of this great move of God in the Poconos. And here's the coolest thing - this is only the beginning. The best is yet to come. God has been revealing more and more of his vision for our church and I'm so excited about what the future holds.

Easter 2010

Celebrate Easter with the people of Pocono Community Church this weekend. We are going to have a great time together. Each of the 5 services will have great music, singing, special media presentations, inspiring and practical preaching and much more! You don't want to miss it.

Also, as an act of incredible generosity and just because we love our community, PCC is giving away over 1,000 prizes this Easter at all of our services - including flat screen TVs and Sony Playstations. Don't miss out on all the excitement.

Service Time are Saturday, April 3rd at 6pm and Sunday, April 4 at 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am and 1pm (Spanish).

There is still time to invite your friends. This could be the weekend that their life could be changed by the power of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. See you there!

How To Get The Most Out Of Easter

Easter is right around the corner. Here are 6 ways to get the most out of Easter!

1. Remember Good Friday Communion – Let’s give thanks to God for the gift of Jesus this Easter Season at our Come-and-Go communion from 5 to 7pm on Friday, April 2^nd. Receive communion with your family.

2. Celebrate Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - The Resurrection is the central doctrine of our faith and reminds us that we serve a Risen Savior! Please consider attending Saturday night service in order to make room for the unchurched guest on Sunday.

3. Invite your friends – Bring your friends to PCC this Easter to one of our 5 weekend services: Saturday at 6pm, Sunday at 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am and 1pm (Spanish). Use the included card to invite your friends. Bring a friend to each of the services!

4. Serve – This Easter, please serve during one of the Easter services. We need extra volunteer help in our children’s ministry area and the parking lot. Discover the joy of serving God and his people this Easter.

5. Fast and Pray – A praying church is a powerful church. Please join me and the staff and leadership by continuing to fast and pray for God to do a miracle this Easter. We are believing in God for hundreds of people to come to Jesus this Easter.

6. Give a special Gift – Please give a special Easter offering this year. We are only $75,000 away from being able to pave our parking lot. What a great way to give back to God for giving us His Son – the ultimate gift of sacrifice and love. Thank you!

I look forward to seeing God do miracles this Easter at PCC. Join Rebekah and me as we reach out with the love of Jesus to our community!

Sunday Night Reflections

Today was yet another amazing and dare I say - an historic day at PCC. Here are some reflections and thoughts on Palm Sunday 2010.

• The early morning prayer with all the staff and volunteers was awesome. It's so inspiring to do ministry with such committed and selfless people. We had over 170 volunteers in ministry today.
• Worship was crazy awesome and God-anointed. I am so grateful for our band and singers who bring it every week. You guys rock!
• Last week 67 people gave their lives to Jesus Christ. Many people responded in faith in Christ today as well. It never gets old watching people surrender to Christ!
• The video story of Michael and Diedre Castle was awesome. What a story of joy in the midst of a difficult circumstance (Michael is currently on dialysis after 2 failed kidney transplants that stemmed from organ damage following a stroke).
• I met two ladies after the third service that are also on dialysis and they were first time guests. They loved the service and were so inspired by the Castle's story.
• We wrapped up our series on the book of Philippians, "Fill it Up." Really enjoyed this series and learned so much about true joy.
• Today well over 1400 were in church! Go God! Thanks for inviting your friends PCC!
• We piloted the new 1pm Spanish speaking service. It was awesome. They had 174 poeople in attendance. Pastor Emilio did a fantastic job preaching the Word and the band and creative arts team were awesome, as well. I can't wait to see this ministry grow.
• Can't wait to launch the Saturday night service this Easter weekend and to attend the Spanish service as well. PCC will offer 5 services each weekend!
• Don't miss the Come-and-Go Good Friday Communion service this Friday. What a great way to kick off Easter weekend.
• I had 4 couples ask me to perform their weddings today. Spring is here and love is in the air. Unfortunately I'll probably only do one of the weddings myself because of scheduling but we'll get them all married one way or another. I'm thankful for a great staff where we share the ministry responsibilities.
• We need 200 people to commit to attending the Saturday at 6pm service! If you normally attend the 10 or 11:30 Sunday service, please switch to Saturdays and then come back and serve on Sunday.
• We handed out really cool water bottles today with our PCC logo on it and an invite card inside. We are going to fill them up with candy or gift cards or other kind sentiments and hand them out to our friends this week and invite them to Easter Sunday at PCC. I think that's so much cooler than giving out palms on Palm Sunday.
• Can't wait for Easter Sunday!

How To Get The Most Out Of Easter

Easter is right around the corner. Here are 6 ways to get the most out of Easter!

1. Remember Good Friday Communion – Let’s give thanks to God for the gift of Jesus this Easter Season at our Come-and-Go communion from 5 to 7pm on Friday, April 2^nd. Receive communion with your family.

2. Celebrate Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - The Resurrection is the central doctrine of our faith and reminds us that we serve a Risen Savior! Please consider attending Saturday night service in order to make room for the unchurched guest on Sunday.

3. Invite your friends – Bring your friends to PCC this Easter to one of our 5 weekend services: Saturday at 6pm, Sunday at 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am and 1pm (Spanish). Use the included card to invite your friends. Bring a friend to each of the services!

4. Serve – This Easter, please serve during one of the Easter services. We need extra volunteer help in our children’s ministry area and the parking lot. Discover the joy of serving God and his people this Easter.

5. Fast and Pray – A praying church is a powerful church. Please join me and the staff and leadership by continuing to fast and pray for God to do a miracle this Easter. We are believing in God for hundreds of people to come to Jesus this Easter.

6. Give a special Gift – Please give a special Easter offering this year. We are only $75,000 away from being able to pave our parking lot. What a great way to give back to God for giving us His Son – the ultimate gift of sacrifice and love. Thank you!

I look forward to seeing God do miracles this Easter at PCC. Join Rebekah and me as we reach out with the love of Jesus to our community!

Bet The Farm

Sometimes in life you have to bet the farm. You know, empty the bank account and invest in a God-inspired idea and pray, work like crazy and hope for the best.

That's what God did at Easter. He sent his Son to start an entirely new approach to how people would relate to Him. After Jesus raised himself from the grave and conquered sin and death, he commissioned his follower to go and make disciples. In essence, he bet the farm. What if they failed? What if they chickened out? There was no built-in contingency plan. No back up plan B, C or D if the original A plan fizzled out. God bet the farm on Easter.

That's what we are doing this Easter at PCC. Here's part of our go-for-broke-or-die-trying plan:

1) Fast and pray like crazy.

2) Invite as many people as possible through a radio ads, newspaper, billboards, 50,000 piece mailout, personal invite cards and more.

3) Providing 5 different worship experiences to choose from including starting a brand new Saturday evening service at 6pm and a new Spanish speaking venue at 1pm on Sundays.

4) Encouraging the people of PCC to personally invite as many of their friends as possible.

5) Giving away thousands of dollars worth of prizes the weekend after Easter to provide our Easter guests an incentive to come back and worship with us again.

6) Kicking off a brand new series on Easter called "Healer" that will address how Jesus heals all our hurts in life.

7) Going on prayer drives and prayer walks in our communities.

8) Putting door hanger invites on our neighbors houses to invite them to church.

9) Giving away a special gift on Palm Sunday to all our attenders that they in turn can give to their friends and invited them to Easter.

10) Did I mention tons of prayer and fasting?!?!!

What are you doing this Easter to make the central teaching of our faith - the resurrection of Jesus from the dead - undeniable in your community?

Amazing Easter!

This year Easter @ PCC was simply amazing. We had 2536 people show up and tons of them made decisions for Christ. In fact, I don't have the final number yet, but I believe it was over 200! That's crazy awesome! Go God!

We kicked off the series, No Fear. If you missed it, you can go here to listen to it. Next week I'll be sharing a message on how we can overcome discouragement in life.

I want to thank the staff and hundreds of volunteers for praying, fasting and working so hard to make this Easter the best-ever so far at PCC. Thanks for inviting your friends and partnering with PCC to reach this Mountain with the Gospel!

Also, I want to thank all those that attended the third service. We had almost 700 in that service alone. Thanks for freeing up seats for the second service. Unfortunately, we still had to turn people away. Looks like its time to start another service! Let's do it!

Good Friday Communion

Tonight from 5 - 7 PM, PCC will be offering a family come and go communion. Whether you come alone, with friends or family, everyone will be served during this wonderful time of contemplation and thanksgiving for all that Christ has done for us.

The Pastoral Staff and Church Elders will be serving the communion. As you enter the auditorium, you may wish to find a place to sit, pray and quietly give thanks for Christ's sacrifice. When you are ready, make your way to one of the six communion stations where you will be served.

Easter is coming!

Easter is just a few days away. We have an awesome weekend planned to celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive!

You still have time to invite your friends to one of our three weekend services on Sunday at either 9am, 10:45am or 12:30pm. Bring a friend to each of our three services!

This year we have special musical guest, Vickie Yohe. You and your friends will enjoy her upbeat music and inspirational spirit.

Also, I'm putting the final touches on my Easter message. This year I'll be sharing a message called, "No Fear" from John 20:19-24. I pray that God will use it to bring hope and encouragement to all who hear it.

Again, one special request ... if you normally attend the 10:45am service, please come to the 12:30pm service instead. There has been so much buzz about PCC that we may end up having to turn people away from our second service. Last week it was completely packed and first service was jammed too.

Getting Ready For Easter - Pt. 5

Good Friday Communion
This Easter PCC will celebrate our first-ever Good Friday "come and go" communion. The communion will be held at the church auditorium from 5 to 7pm. Whether you come alone, come with friends or with your family - you will have the opportunity to remember the greatest sacrifice of all - the death of our Savior Jesus Christ for our sins.

Here a few tips on how to make the most out of this communion service:

1. Come at a convenient time for you and your family. We will have 6 communion tables at the front of the auditorium where you and your friends or family will be personally served by our pastors, elders and staff. It's going to be a unique and special time of worship.

2. Upon entering the auditorium, take a few moments to reflect on your relationship with Christ, what He's done for you, and to simply inspect your soul. You can spend some time listening to the spiritual music that will be playing, enjoy the candlelight atmosphere and prayerfully contemplate.

3. The Apostle Paul refers to the communion cup as a cup of blessing. Spend some time giving thanks to God on Good Friday through Easter for the many blessings in your life. Try to list 100 blessings in 3 days. Think of everything - nothing is too small to give God thanks.

4. Go out to dinner with friends and family before/after communion and talk about what you are thankful for this Easter season.

5. Make a commitment to pray for and invite your friends to Easter Services at PCC. If you sense the need God's help and grace in their lives - be the one to make a bold move and invite them. If you are worried they might say no, that's okay. Never say someone's "no" for them.

Getting Ready For Easter - Pt. 4

Reading Through The Bible
Beginning Palm Sunday, April 5th, at 9pm, the PCC church family is going to read through the entire Bible, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book until we are done. That's right - we are going to read 24/7 until we have read through the entire Bible.


Here's why:

#1 - Because Together Is Better: This will give the entire church family an opportunity to participate in the dedication of our new church facility. We had an amazing grand opening, but this is the real dedication - the reading of God's Word.

#2 - Because The Word of God is Powerful: We are going to set up a desk on the stage in the auditorium and place on it a Bible and a microphone. One by one we will sit at the desk and read the Word for one hour increments. The only thing that can change a human heart is the Word of God which is alive and active and never returns void. So we are going to saturate every square foot of that building with God's truth. From that moment forward, including our Easter Celebration, the building will be covered in God's presence and His Word.

SO, here are a few tips to get involved:

Call the church office to sign up for your one hour time slot. 570-839-3459

There will be security at the church 24/7 so you will not be alone.

Come 15 minutes prior to your session so you can sit in the auditorium and listen to the other reader and pray for the church and our upcoming outreaches.

Getting Ready For Easter - Pt. 3

Adding an Additional 3rd Sunday
Service at 12:30PM
To accommodate our growing church family, we will add a third service on Sunday morning. Our new service schedule will begin on Palm Sunday, April 5th with services at 9am, 10:45am and 12:30pm.

Here's the deal: the majority of people who don't regularly attend church will most likely come to the 10:45am service, which is already our largest service. We need 300 regular attenders at PCC that currently attend the 10:45am service to commit to attending either the 9am or 12:30pm service for the next 6 months in order to free up seats for people who don't know Jesus.

I know this might seem like a lot to ask, but it's really nothing compared to the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross. Or, think of those believers living in countries where it is illegal to even convene a church service in public. They are actually thrown in jail for their faith and consider it an honor to serve Christ.

So, now that I've officially removed any excuses and made you feel thoroughly guilty (a lesson I learned from my mother / sorry mom) please help us reach more people for Jesus by making the service switch. God will reward you for it!

BTW - we will have special musical guests "Urbane Gospel Choir" with us on Palm Sunday in each of the three services - you don't want to miss it.

Getting Ready For Easter - Pt. 2

Invest and Invite
At PCC we go to great lengths to reach those who are far from God with the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ. For many of us, that means purposefully building relationships with people who don't know God and inviting them to church so they can experience the life God really intended them to live.

We simply are willing to become a trusted friend for the sake of eternity.

Because of the power of the resurrection, people are more likely to be open to your invitation at Easter than at any other time of the year. Who of your relatives, neighbors, and co-workers do you want to see come to Christ this Easter?

For those PCC blog readers, let me encourage you to ask God to show you who to invite? Respond with boldness and hand out the invest/invite cards available at the kiosk in the lobby or in your program. Bring a friend to one of our three weekened services - 9am, 10:45am, and 12:30pm. Better yet, bring a different friend to each of our three services. And let's pray that hundres will commit their lives to Christ this Easter!

Getting Ready For Easter

This Easter promises to be one the greatest ever at PCC. As we prepare to reach more people for Jesus than ever before, I thought I would share with you some of the things we have planned to get ready for this incredible opportunity.

1. Fasting and Prayer Emphasis

Today we kicked off a corporate call to fast and pray for Easter. Next to prayer, fasting is perhaps one of the most powerful, yet most neglected spiritual disciplines in the Church today. 

Fasting is simply abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. 

Yesterday hundreds of those at PCC committed to spend time fasting and praying for spiritual breakthrough this Easter. Springtime usually involves spring cleaning at the Crosby house - a time where we get rid of unwanted junk and freshen up our living space. Fasting is a great opportunity to do a little spiritual spring cleaning too. 

Here are some things we are fasting and praying for here at PCC:

1. For those who are far from God in our community to open their lives to Jesus this Easter.

2. For God to heal hurting marriages, physical and emotional illness, and restore joy to the brokenhearted.

3. To see God do something great at all of our Easter services.

4. For the pastoral staff, administration staff, Elders and volunteers at PCC.

5. For the Holy Spirit to keep us in unity as we serve this Mountain.

6. For a financial miracle for PCC to help pay for the new building and pave the new parking lot. 

7. For employment opportunity and promotion and increase for those working.

8. For deliverance and freedom for those struggling with addictions and life controlling habits.

9. For our special musical guest this Easter, Vicki Yohe. That God would anoint her as she ministers in all three of our services. 

10. For 300 people to commit to attending the 9am or 12:30 services at PCC for the next 6 months so we can free up seats in the 10:45 service. 

PS - For more information on Fasting, read Jantzen Franklin's Fasting or John Piper's Hunger For God. Both are available at PCC's bookstore, The Source. 

PSS - If you would like to join PCCs corporate fast, email me at pastordave@poconocc.com and I'll email you some information on fasting and prayer and include you on our fasting and prayer online community.