18 Thoughts On John Luke Robertson’s Visit To Perry Noble And NewSpring Church

This weekend the Dodd family visited Anderson, SC for our first college road trip.  On Saturday we spent time touring Anderson University and stayed an extra day to visit NewSpring Church who would have the newly-married John Luke and Mary Kate Robertson as part of their worship services.

I am a RAVING Duck Dynasty fan so this was going to be a memorable weekend for our family.  NewSpring was recently named the 2nd fastest growing church in America and we experienced first-hand the reasons why.

Standing Ovation For John Luke And Mary Kate Robertson

The following are 18 Thoughts On John Luke And Mary Kate Robertson’s Visit To Perry Noble And NewSpring Church:

1. NewSpring Has The Best Parking Team I Have Ever Seen – I had heard reports of how engaged and energetic the NewSpring parking team was so I wanted to experience it first-hand.  I turned on my flashers per the street sign instructions.  When the initial parking team member saw my flashers, he threw both fists in the air, starting applauding and gave me two HUGE thumbs up.  My daughter said joyously, “Did that just happen!!!”  Two others leading us to the visitor parking did similar things.  My daughter summed it up by saying, “This church is making me want to go to college here!”
2. Visitors Are The Most Important People On Sunday – NewSpring does not welcome guests.  They host them. They expect them.  We were met by a gentlemen in the parking area who introduced himself to us as our host.  He walked us in, listened to our story, showed us the restroom locations, pointed out the easily-accessible VIP lounge for visitors, and then walked us to our auditorium seats.  NewSpring even had preferred seating in the best locations waiting for us.
3. NewSpring Is Multi-Cultural And Multi-Generational – Even though it is located in a college town, the volunteers were incredibly diverse in race, gender and AGE.  Great moves of God reach all types of people.
4. People Are THRILLED To Be At NewSpring – The questions is often asked if people are happy to be at your church.  They are not just happy but actually thrilled to be at NewSpring.  Dozens of volunteers were wearing NewSpring t-shirts and had the biggest smiles on their face.  They have done a great job creating a culture and movement at the church.
5. Perry Noble Champions The Next Generation – NewSpring’s senior pastor Perry walked onto the platform wearing a Gauntlet t-shirt.  Gauntlet is NewSpring’s summer camp for students.  The senior pastor must set the example by being the students’ greatest champion and chief fundraiser.  Perry also acknowledged the adult volunteers who would be attending by saying, “Adult volunteers are the heroes.”
6. John Luke and Mary Kate Robertson Are The REAL Deal – Several things impressed me about this couple but the top thing was how they lived their entire high school and dating years reflecting Jesus Christ in all they did.
7. Godly People Do Godly Things When No One Is Watching – Even though he was a national celebrity, the Duck Dynasty star taught a weekly midweek Bible study for youth at Mary Kate’s church.  No fanfare.  Just solid Christian living.
8. Godly Men Are Men Of Prayer – When discussing marriage, Mary Kate told John Luke, “You’re a Godly man.  You’ll pray about it and make the right decision.”
9. Godly Girls Wait – John Luke was the first person Mary Kate ever dated.  She said, “My dad stressed to wait (to date) till you had a Godly man.  Our story is showing how God was faithful to me.”
10. Men Worth Having Are White Hot For God – John Luke’s father Willie told him, “Whether you follow God or not, go hot or cold.  The in-between people are miserable.  At 14, I was ready to go hot.”
11. The Power Of Healthy Community – John Luke recounted as a new Christian how he had to form his own community of like-minded friends for accountability.  Who are you surrounding yourself with?
12. Hard Work Destroys Entitlement – It is a Robertson tradition that when a boy turns 15 years old, he spends the summer with Grandfather Phil working the land.  They awake at 5:15 AM each day, leave at 6:00 AM and spend the day doing a variety of tasks including building duck blinds.
13. Perry Noble Uses Social Media To Connect With NewSpringers – On the day before the Sunday services, Perry tweeted out asking if anyone wanted to ask John Luke and Mary Kate questions.  He then used many of those questions during the service.
14. Godly Fathers To Leave A Godly Legacy – John Luke discussed the time when Phil gave his life to Christ.  He said, “My dad saw that and ran with it.”
15. Godly Fathers Go Home – John Luke said, “When he (Phil) came to Christ, he came back to his family.”  Someone reading this post needs to go home to your families today.
16. Found People Find People – Dozens and dozens of people gave their lives to Christ in the service I attended.
17. NewSpring Pays Attention To The Smallest Details – This is why they do things with such excellence.  In the VIP room, they had made cupcakes with camouflage icing celebrating the Robertsons visit.  Nice touch.
18. At NewSpring Church The Best Is Yet To Come – Nothing is sadder than hearing churches talk about what great things they did 10, 20 or 30 years ago.  The last thing you see as you leave the building is the number 100,000.  This is the number of South Carolinians the church wants to impact.  When you think of these 100,00 individuals remember every number has a name.  Every name has a story.  And every story matters to God.  As their information says, the best is yet to come.

If you are in church leadership, get your leadership team together and see which of these principles you can implement to better engage your visitors and grow your church.

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