Organizations and leaders are always looking for a great opportunity. As difficult as 2020 was, for many it offered a great opportunity. Southwest Airlines dramatically expanded into airports previously closed to them, Instacart and other food delivery services boomed, boat builders and real estate brokers saw sales skyrocket. So, what is the great opportunity God is creating for Seven Rivers Church and how will we take advantage of it?
Social unrest, political polarization, the family breakdown and the lack of confidence in once trusted sources of truth (media and academia) has our culture dangerously adrift. As so many are looking for truth, direction and stability, a great opportunity has been created for the church of Jesus to be a safe harbor in this cultural storm.
The Suncoast Parkway is coming and like it or not, it will lead to much greater investment in and significant transformation of our community. Nowhere will this change be more evident than in the center of the county. As houses, hotels, retail, restaurants, jobs and people come to our community, SRC is strategically located to influence the future flourishing of our county.
Covid has shuffled the deck in America. People are fleeing large cities due to crime, density and high taxation and are headed to smaller communities where they can afford a home, experience the outdoors and avoid burdensome traffic. Citrus County’s desirability has never been greater and new residents are pouring in. This great opportunity is in line with the very reason Seven Rivers Church was begun — to welcome the people whom God is sending and lead them into saving faith in Jesus!
The Great Opportunity is what we are calling our churchwide initiative to provide the resources needed to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime moment. The Covid pandemic has already led to the shuttering of many businesses and the closing of many churches. For SRC, this is the time to act—to give the self-obsessed Someone more beautiful than themselves to worship, to give the disconnected the welcome of a family, to give generous grace to the hopeless and to give the next generation hearts saturated with God’s truth and love.
Seven Rivers Church, this is our moment! God has raised up this unique church for such a time as this. I’m asking each of you to join me in fresh dedication to seizing the great opportunity that our Father has set before us.
Sincerely,
Ray Cortese
To seize the great opportunity by being a church not defined by what we are against, but what we are for. So, what are we for?
Seven Rivers Church is FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. Everyone desires a purpose greater than their own happiness.
Seven Rivers Church is FOR EACH OTHER. Everyone is desperate for a family to which to belong.
Seven Rivers Church is FOR OUR COMMUNITY. Everyone longs for all things ugly to be made beautiful.
Seven Rivers Church is FOR PURSUING AND WELCOMING those far from God. Everyone craves the kiss of a Father who welcomes his wandering children home.
Seven Rivers Church is FOR THE GOSPEL. Everyone is exhausted by their failure and shame and needs a Savior.
Seven Rivers Church is FOR THE NEXT GENERATION. Every child needs their heart and mind captured by the beauty of God.
Fund the work of Seven Rivers Church for the next two years.
Welcome new residents, preach the gospel, diligently disciple Christ followers, give families Jesus (through our Christian School, High School/Middle School Student Ministry, Preschool, SRC Kids and Summer Camp.)
Refresh our buildings and campus.
Be wildly generous with our money and love to the broken and hurting in our community.
Engage 100% of our members in the joy of financially supporting the mission!
The vision for Seven Rivers’ future has been steeped in prayer for God’s direction. God’s word and God’s spirit have led us to All Things New. Now we are asking God to make it all come to pass for His glory. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)
New Personnel/Positions: Stephen Speaks (Villages Church Plant), Austin Haggerty and Seth Carroll (Worship/Technology), Jessica
Fikkert (Women’s Ministry and local outreach). New hospitality initiatives. Mortgage: Reduced from $850,000.00 to $500,000.00.
Campus: Completed church administration office building, Replaced sanctuary sound system; New parking lot lighting; Remodeled
bathrooms in elementary and gym buildings; Updated flooring in school; New school gutters.
In the Bible, there are accounts of God visiting his people and bringing powerful corporate renewal. Very often, this involved people
turning from their idols and giving God first place in their life. Corporate renewal comes when North Americans are taken with the
beauty of Jesus and devote their resources to his work and his glory rather than their own comfort. Thus, our longing for The Great
Opportunity is nothing less than revival and renewal at SRC!
Of course! All of us are making the best commitment decision we can make based on what we know. Unforeseen circumstances may
cause you to want to increase or decrease your giving commitment in the future. At any time during the 24 months, you can review
or change your The Great Opportunity commitment online, or you can ask for another commitment card and turn it in as your revised
commitment!
Even in times of scarcity, God wants our hearts. It is easier to give when there is abundance, but lean times prompt us to trust God at a greater level. The widow who gave her last mite did not make a very big financial contribution, but Jesus said she gave the largest gift of all. The Great Opportunity is about all of us coming together, giving generously, and trusting God to do the rest. It may mean that God is asking you to trust him by making a faith commitment that you do not know how to fulfill right now. God has supplied our every need in Christ, and we trust that he will honor a heart that wants to give generously in response to the gospel. The Great Opportunity means all of us, together — for God’s glory, for our neighbors, and for our world.
There may also be ways to be sacrificial with your lifestyle to create margin for generosity in your life. Some will cancel cable, and
some will ditch the smartphone plan and return to a basic flip phone. Others will play a little less golf and still others will forego a few
expensive coffee drinks every week. Some families will buy a smaller home or rent a smaller apartment to be able to give generously for the progress of the gospel. Find ways to involve the entire family in the process of giving generously. Use this as an opportunity to teach children and grandchildren to obey the Lord with a generous heart and to trust him. This is a great opportunity to take a look at
our overall stewardship of all that God has entrusted to us.
We must always remember there is much more to generosity than just a financial transaction.
In God’s eyes our growth in generosity is less about a financial transaction and more about a transformation. It is truly a matter of the heart!
The Generosity Journey can help us think about this transformation. Make no mistake; to move along this path requires a heart change. Moving along the path does not make us super Christians; it brings us to a greater understanding of God, not a greater view of ourselves. As you look and think about this journey, ask yourself, “What drives you to be generous?”
You can take your first step and emerge into giving.
You can take the next step to give intentionally and proportionally.
You can step up to honor God with your first 10%.
You can go the next step and give extravagantly for the Kingdom.
You can ask God to guide you into a new place of joyous generosity.
We had a really tough time in our previous town trying to connect with a local church who not only preached the Gospel but had an intentional care for the young professional age range.
We moved here to Citrus County a year and a half ago because Wade’s physician assistant graduate school placed him here to do his training. When googling the demographics of Citrus County, we at first had our doubts that there would be any young professionals in the area, let alone Christians. Just as God always does, He provided for us through the community we found at Seven Rivers. The first Sunday possible, we visited for a service and were greeted at the door by Ms. Kathy (a real life angel) and felt instantly loved and cared for. She then connected us with the Pucketts and we have since been able to meet an awesome group of young professionals. These friends not only point us daily to grow in our relationship with God, but they also care about our grad school lives and even accepted our school friends that we have brought from our program. Since graduating, we have decided to take a job here in this county and a big reason is because of Seven Rivers Church. We are so thankful for the role of Seven Rivers in our life, marriage and spiritual walk. The community, mixed with the Bible-based teaching, beautiful liturgical practices and the deep care the church has for their people, makes us confident to call Seven Rivers home. We are so excited and are looking forward to continually pour into this group of young professionals in Citrus County and we pray that we will be a light for our generation!
One of the first things that drew me to our church was the reading of God’s word.
Every time the pastor read the passage that they planned to speak on that weekend they said ‘This is God’s word. Every bit of it is true and he’s given it to you because he loves you.’ How powerful is that? It makes me stand a little straighter and brings a smile to my face every time they say it. It never gets old. The staff at Seven Rivers represent some of the best people I know. I’ve yet to meet one of them that I didn’t like. A great staff makes for a strong church community. Here’s the thing though, as terrific as all these people are they readily admit that they too are broken and need the grace and mercy of God. I know I mess up on a regular basis, but we all wrongly believe that somehow our church leaders live perfect lives and look down on their great unwashed parishioners. I’ve never experienced that at Seven Rivers. Actually, it’s quite the opposite.
I look forward to every opportunity to come to our church. It can be something as simple as greeting people at the Best (west) entrance or participating in a special event. I appreciate and value Seven Rivers and can’t imagine not being a part of our church.
When we came to Seven Rivers in 2018 our son, Avery had been very sick and hospitalized, and our faith was shaken, nearly crumbling.
SRC came alongside us through our journey of illness, took us under their wing and fiercely loved us. We were wholly and completely cared for during that time and we believe God used the people of Seven Rivers to carry us through the darkest hours of our lives, and to bring us back to Jesus and to a church community to call home. We became immersed in God’s love, mercy and truth and our faith was renewed.
Since we’ve been attending, we have adopted new intentional practices and routines within our home that help bring the word of God to our family throughout the week. It has reminded us of Gods truth that we are broken and in need of him and only him.
The Lowes have four sons—Aubrey, Wiley, Avery and Grady ranging in age from 6 months to 7 years old and say they look forward to spending many nights in the stands at Warrior Park, our athletic complex.
The Gospel is for Christians.
2018 was our 2020. At the start of 2019, our family of six was desperate for change. A failing business, a failing marriage, and a range of mental health issues left our family in shambles. We felt disconnected from God, even after years of ministry. We were tired, discouraged, and disillusioned by the Church. After visiting several local churches, we decided to drive 40-minutes from our home in Brooksville to visit Seven Rivers. Prior to joining the church, I spent six-straight weeks crying like a baby at the hearing of the good news. God wasn’t mad at me. He wasn’t disappointed. Slowly but surely, we began to hope again in the gospel of God’s radical grace.
The messages I heard at Seven Rivers reminded me that God was making all things new. He lifted us out of the darkest season of our lives and he used Seven Rivers to do it. We fell in love with the people, the preaching, and the mission of the church. Later that year, we decided to go all-in! We sold our house in Brooksville and relocated to Citrus County so our kids could get the message of God’s grace every day in the Christian school. The school and church community has helped our family heal and thrive in ways I could never imagine.
Since moving here in 2019, we’ve experienced Covid, health scares, and trials of faith, but our church family has been with us. Through it all, we rediscovered a passion for the church, developed strong relationships with like-minded believers, and experienced worship that has led us into a deeper and more secure relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. The Johnson family is grateful to call Seven Rivers home.
From the first time we came to SRPC we knew we had found our church.
The teachings of all the pastors has been eye- and heart- opening for me. I was raised in a fundamentalist church (my father was a pastor), so I grew up thinking I, the pastor’s kid could never be good enough. It is wonderful to know that I can’t be good enough and that is okay, God provided for me just the way I am through his AMAZING GRACE. I leave church now wanting to be the best I can be, to draw nearer to our Savior and hoping my life portrays his love to those who don’t know him.
We are members of Jim & Sandi Selwood’s Life Group, finding support both for our spiritual and physical needs. We have connected with other couples and formed lasting friendships. The people we see every week at church have also become dear to us, I miss seeing a lot of them that Covid has kept home.
February 21, 2021 | Luke 12:13-21, 32-34
February 28, 2021 | Mark 5:16, Matthew 22:38
March 7, 2021 | 1 Peter 2:9-10; Romans 15:1, 5-7
March 14, 2021 | Selected Scripture
March 21, 2021 | 2 Corinthians 8:1-7; 9:6-8
4221 W. Gulf to Lake Hwy
Lecanto, FL 34461
Phone: (352) 746-6200
Fax: (352) 746-6299
Email: info@sevenrivers.org
Office Hours:
M-F: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM