Greg Surratt

Dad is ok, a guy with big hair and another campus

FAMILY NEWS: A big thanks to all of you who prayed for my dad. The surgeons did a double bypass on Sunday morning and Dad came through fine. Please continue to pray for his recovery. God is good!

BIG HAIR NEWS: Do you remember our curly-headed friend from American Idol? Well, Chris Sligh is releasing a brand-new CD and has chosen Seacoast Church to be his release party. One of the songs, "Empty Me," has already cracked the top 20 on the national charts. On May 4th in the Warehouse of our Long Point campus, and May 6th in the auditorium of our Greenville campus, Chris will be performing songs from his new CD. For more info or to get tickets, go here.

CAMPUS NEWS: Our Manning campus is opening on May 4th. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in Manning! Please pray for their grand opening, and maybe consider a road trip on May 4th to join in the fun!

A Note from Greg - April 17, 2008

As I write this email, I am in Birmingham, Alabama, for the ARC conference. I had the privilege of speaking to 1000 pastors, telling them your story and how we have experienced God's presence during our response times at the end of services. It was incredible to see and hear how God is using ARC to encourage pastors and plant churches across the nation. It was fun hanging out with our campus pastors and some of my buddies in ministry. I got to meet and hang with Brian Houston, pastor at Hillsongs Church in Australia. It was neat to hear their song "Shout to the Lord" on American Idol last week!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to speak live at the Summerville campus, and I had a blast! Their new building was totally packed out twice - there wasn't an empty seat in the place! Check out  my blog to see a couple of pictures. We are starting a third service in Summerville on May 18th. If you attend the Summerville campus, I want to ask you to consider attending the 5:30 p.m. Sunday night service. Can you help? If you can, click here and let me know. As I told the Summerville campus this weekend - 8% tithe at this service :)

That's a wrap for this week. Don't forget that God is able to do infinitely more than you can ask or imagine!

PS - We just found out that my father had a second heart attack and will have surgery this weekend. Would you mind remembering him in prayer?

Weekend at Summerville

What a great weekend!

First, we spent Friday morning taking pictures at the beach with my favorite grandson Miles...

...and that night with my favorite grand daughter Addison...

...then Sunday I spoke at the Summerville campus...

...there were no empty seats...

...and I got to hang with one of my favorite campus pastors...Phil Strange.

What a weekend!

A note from Greg - April 10, 2008

Here are a few things going on that I wanted you to be aware of...

Last week we began our Reflect series at Long Point and will start at the campuses this weekend, and we are already receiving feedback about the study journal and how it is helping many of you in your personal growth. Make sure and make this study a priority for the next few weeks with us.

Next Tuesday I will be speaking to approximately 1000 pastors and leaders at the annual ARC conference in Birmingham, Alabama.  We will be celebrating the planting of 60 churches and sharing plans to plant at least 20 more next year.  I will be sharing with them how God is using our response time in worship to bring us into a sense of God's presence and power on the weekends.  If you have a story of experiencing God during response time, why don't you leave a comment here. 

I also wanted to let you know some exciting news from my family.  We had a new addition to the Surratt family this weekend. Addison Grace was born to Jason and Jenna on Sunday night toward the end of the service (in the hospital!).  Debbie and I are ready to spoil another grandchild!  You can click here to see her.

I can not wait to worship with you this weekend!

Addison Grace

The Surratts welcome a brand new Cubs fan to the family!  Her name is Addison Grace and she was born on Sunday evening at 7:10 (just as her proud grandpa was wrapping up the 6:15 service).  She is 6 pounds 8 ounces of unlimited potential and may very well be the prettiest baby in the hospital!  If you would like to see for yourself...go here.

Congratulations Jason and Jenna...you did good!

A note from Greg - April 3rd, 2008

Here are a couple of things happening I wanted you to know about...

-  Taking steps to further your personal growth can always be challenging. To give you one more tool to help we are going to take 6 weeks to study Luke 6 in our Reflect series.

To take you beyond the weekend message, we have designed a study journal to provide you with the tools for personal reflection, action steps, and discussion questions for your small group as well as your family. My prayer is that through this study, you will discover intentional personal growth and experience a deeper level of sharing and reflection on your journey to becoming fully devoted followers of Christ.  This series will be starting soon at your campus!

-  Here was a fun number that came across my desk this week: On Easter weekend, there were over 130,000 people worshipping in ARC churches. Just think...what started out as a simple church planting conversation with Billy Hornsby on the 18th green at Dunes West in 1999 has grown to include churches in over 20 states! Very cool...

-  Also, look for information soon about our campus in Manning. This will be a whole new way of campus-planting, and we're really excited about it!  If you have friends or family in Manning, let them know Seacoast is coming and to look for more information soon at www.seacoast.org