My family and I sang Happy Birthday to Awaken Church this morning as we gathered around the kitchen table for pancakes – it was a great way to start the day!

4 years ago today, after years of planning and preparing, Awaken Church opened its doors for its very first church service on a rainy Saturday night. I shared a message from Romans 13 called “Are You Awake?” and we got to see the first of hundreds of people surrender their life to Christ! What a moment!

Here are some milestones from the last 4 years:

– Sept 19, 2009: first church service

– April 4, 2010: Awaken’s first Easter – sunrise service on the Cumberland

– May 2, 2010: Cumberland Flood wiped out our church building

– July 11, 2010: Grand re-opening of Awaken, moved from Saturday nights to Sunday mornings

– September 18, 2010: 1 year birthday celebration with Jimmy Needham

– September 2010: outgrew church building, began renovation on current building

– Christmas Eve 2010: first service in new building (capacity crowd!)

– March 2011: first semester of Awaken Groups (3 groups on 2 nights of the week)

– July 2011: added second service (from 10am to 9 & 11am)

– January 2012: canceled Wednesday night services in favor of Awaken Groups

– February 2012: added third service (from 9 & 11am to 8:30am, 10:15am, and 12noon)

– April 8, 2012: Easter service with Rhett Walker Band and 38 baptisms!

– March 14, 2012: launched the first-ever Uprising: 40 decisions for Christ

– November 9, 2012: second Uprising: 19 decisions for Christ

– March 31, 2013: Easter service with Jimmy Needham at APSU – 570+ in attendance, 14 decisions for Christ!

– April 2013: added Saturday night service (6pm), for a total of 4 weekend services

– May 2013: began expansion of 1,200 sq ft for Awaken Kids & church offices

– September 7/8, 2013: highest attended weekend yet: 633!

– September 19, 2013:  signed a new lease (details this weekend at our 4th birthday celebration)

THE BEST IS STILL AHEAD!