The CreativePastors office will be closed December 25-26. Please allow for additional shipping time for any orders placed on those days. Orders placed between Thursday, December 25 and Sunday, December 28 will be shipped on Monday, December 29. Thank you for your patience and Merry Christmas from all of us at CreativePastors.com.
CP Management
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, please plan for shipping delays for any orders placed this week. This includes Express Orders. Thank you for your patience. We wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!
CP Management
With Labor Day coming up this weekend, we wanted to extend a friendly reminder to allow for an extra shipping day for all orders. The CreativePastors' offices will also be closed for the Holiday, but, rest assured that we'll be returning our messages and emails when we return on Tuesday. Meanwhile, download a transcript or an MP3, grab a cup of coffee, kickback and take a little time for some much-deserved refueling.
We wanted to take a moment out of what always seems to be the most hectic time of the year to wish you a warm and Merry Christmas. We pray that God blesses you and opens the hearts of each person that walks through your doors.
We hope you have the opportunity to enjoy some well-earned rest over the holidays! Our staff will also be taking some time off to be with our families as well, and our offices will be closed December 24th - 25th and December 31st - January 1st. Be sure to allow for a couple of extra shipping days when you place your orders.
Know that you are in our prayers...that God will use you and your ministry to reach as many people as possible with the life-changing message of Christ this Christmas.
A quick note to you, our loyal customers! This week, our fulfillment team will be working overtime to tackle our annual inventory. What does this mean for you? Just a short delay in when you will receive your orders. If you place an order between Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening, it will be shipped first thing Thursday morning. Of course, any of our thousands of downloads are available just seconds after you complete your order. We apologize for the shipping delay and greatly appreciate your patience!
You may notice that there isn’t an Express Shipping option this week. This is just to make sure you don’t get charged for something we can’t deliver. Express shipping will return when all systems are go on Thursday.
As always, thank you for being part of the CP family! We’re available to answer any questions you have – just drop us a note.
The winter weather has blanketed our area with a mixture of snow and freezing rain. With ice-covered roads and temperatures below freezing, our offices will be closed today. Please allow an extra day for your shipping calculations. We hope to be thawed out and fully functional tomorrow!
The results are in for our second annual Show Us What You're Made Of! Contest. You continue to blow us away with your creativity! After reviewing the many entries we received, we have narrowed it down to a winner.
Congratulations to...
Mars Hill Worship Gathering - Jacksonville, Florida - Sr. Pastor Adam Flynt
Mars Hill is a brand new church plant that has hit the ground running! They just launched last fall with 200 people and have been going strong since. Their first year included a study of Psalm 139 called "Identity." During this 5-week series, they took a basic element, the worship guide, and gave it a dramatic twist by transforming it into a credit card. These custom-printed cards, complete with message series information and the church's web address, were enclosed in a handmade gift card-sized envelope to allow space for additional information. 
These cards served a bigger purpose, however. They were handed out each week in order for members to use them as conversation starters and invite tools. During each service, a few gift cards for the local coffee shop were hidden under random chairs in their worship center. Pastor Flynt found himself in line behind one such person taking advantage of the gift card, and it sparked a great conversation!
On the final day of the series, each person received two cards. At the conclusion of the message, each member was given the opportunity to sign their card and turn it in as a sign of their true identity in Christ. The second one could be kept to serve as a reminder to themselves. The staff then divided up the cards that were turned in to pray over them.
This was a great attention grabber that provoked thought as well as action by serving as an invite tool. Way to go, Mars Hill - we look forward to seeing you at C3!
Second Place goes to...
Door of Hope - Fairbanks, Alaska - Media Director, Tyler Williams
Some of you may remember Door of Hope as a finalist from last year. Well, Tyler Williams and Door of Hope brought their A-game yet again this year. They continue to use humor and creativity to keep their congregation up to date on everything happening at Door of Hope. These short clips have fun with the subject matter while communicating the necessary information. Here are a couple of examples:
OUT OF SEASON SNOWMAN: A church alternative for Halloween with a theme of "winter wonderland" (fall in Alaska!) and no snow in sight forced them to look outside the box. A foam carrot, a top hat, a scarf and two twigs birthed the snowman who doesn't go away when the snow melts. Here, the man under the snow is still around doing his job--just without the snow.
CAVEMAN CAMPING: This short clip demonstrates the very difficult and somewhat embarrassing issues prehistoric man faced when camping. Don't forget your teddy bear, a sharp stick, blow torch, and the oh-so-important toilet paper. The caveman in this video was careful to include these necessities! "Don't camp like the caveman! Camp like the 21st Century comfort-capable person you are at the Youth Summer Camp!"
And Runner Up is...
Church of the Suncoast - Land O' Lakes, Florida - Lead Pastor Brian Moon
Church of the Suncoast, a brand-new church on a tight budget, managed to pack a powerful punch with their video submission.
SAVE THEM: Short and to the point, this video wastes no time hitting you in the heart. It asks the poignant question "If you had a friend, and you found out they were dying...what would you do to Save Them?" In just over a minute it paints a powerful perspective on those around us that really are dying.
Excellent job, all! We want to say an enthusiastic thank you to everyone who participated. It really is a treat to see such outstanding creativity in each submission. Thank you again for sharing!
As you start to plan your Christmas services this year, you might want to check out Ed's Light Christmas sermon as an example of high-impact results from basic elements. Using very simple lighting effects (spotlight, match, etc.) to illustrate key message points, this sermon would be easy to execute in most settings. You can find the message DVD here, or see the whole Christmas service on this DVD. And don't forget to use your promo code for free standard shipping! Just enter shipgift at checkout.
If you haven't entered our Show Us What You're Made Of Contest yet, be sure to get your submissions in by November 17. Your creative idea could win you and a guest free admission to our Creative Church Conference next February at Fellowship Church!
So far we've heard from some great churches doing cool things:
How about you? Did your team produce a print piece that turned out particularly well? An event for students that seemed to make a big impact? A weekend series where everything really came together? There's no limit to the creative ideas at work in the local church. Let us know what you've been up to - we can't wait to see it!
We love it when we can streamline and simplify the work of church leaders, so we're especially excited about the new sermon search tool on CreativePastors.com! Now you can explore the complete text of more than 600 sermons that Ed has delivered during his sixteen years at Fellowship Church - and it's all available within our simple search bar.
It couldn’t be easier to use. Getting ready to preach a message on lust? Type lust into the search bar on the left hand side of the site. Within seconds you'll be taken to a search results page, where you’ll see the number of times that word is mentioned within the text of the transcripts on the site. Click the link and you’ll find every series and message where that word is mentioned, along with a short sample showing the reference in context.
Whether you’re looking for different perspectives on a book of the bible, a unique approach to a much-used topic or a specific cultural reference, you’ll find your results in the blink of an eye. And this month, every sermon transcript is available for 15% off. So go have fun with our new search tool and stock up on your favorite sermon transcripts!
CreativePastors is where you'll find Ed Young resources. Ed is the founding and senior pastor of Fellowship Church, with four locations in the Dallas area and one in Miami, Florida.
Doing church should be an adventure—tossing aside the tame and tired to pursue God-sized dreams with boldness and creativity. We want to supply you with the best of what we've learned and created in our 17 years of ministry. Think of us as part of your creative team.
