Daughtry and Dandelion Christianity

How in the world did Daughtry not win American Idol. Daughtry was AWESOME! I am already a HUGE Daughtry fan and going to his concert only furthered that. What a show. Very cool. My wife did an awesome job of surprising me with floor seats for my birthday. We left for Pueblo as soon as Jonah got home from school that day and came back this morning. Definitely want to go to another show when he comes back in our area.

A "Christian" band opened for Daughtry that night. Daughtry's music definitely has some spiritual overtones/undertones. His band before American Idol was a Christian alternative band. When they announced who was opening I was excited. Not only as a chance to hear this band but how cool it was that Daughtry would invite them to come along. No need to tell you who the band was. First of all, their sound was horrible. Very disappointed in their quality. EVEN MORE disappointing was their display of dandelion Christianity.

What is dandelion Christianity? Glad you asked. At a break in the music the lead singer after yelling "ARE YOU READY TO ROCK AND ROOOOLLLLLLL?" 20 times, went on a spiel about what could change the world. He said (as word for word as I can remember): "Machine guns can't change the world. Money can't change the world. Power can't change the world. We firmly believe that there is only ONE THING that can change the world. Put your arm around your neighbor and love them no matter what they believe." I about came out of my seat. That is dandelion Christianity. The "can't we all just get along" theology. What about Jesus? Maybe HE is the only thing that can change the world. I agree we need to love people who are not like us, BUT THAT WON'T CHANGE THE WORLD. Only Jesus can, and Jesus in THEIR lives. Anyway, I was very disappointed. I would have rather him said nothing, than say that.

Anyway, we had a GREAT time. My wife is awesome and thank you Terri for staying behind with the Maness mayhem.

Following Christ,

Jeff

First Day Of School

Today is Jonah's first day of school. It's weird that we now have kids in school. Crazy. Mariah starts pre-school next week. Walking through the halls of Dildine Elementary yesterday I told Sabrina "I fought like mad to get out of places like this, now I'm taking my boy to it." I hope Jonah enjoys school and applies himself better than I did. I didn't put much stock into education. Jonah is excited and I'm excited for him. I pray that God uses him to be a leader in his school. I pray every day that the lives of my kids would reflect that of God's Son, Jesus. That other students would follow Jonah, Mariah, Makalah and Jaydah as they follow Christ. Jonah has a leader personality that will attract people to him (plus he has his dad's devastating good looks). Seriously though, God can do GREAT things through children. I hope he does through mine. I hope I'm the kind of father they want to emulate and follow. I hope I can give sound advice and counsel as they begin to face the temptations of the day. Now I'm gonna get emotional. First day of school. I pray it is the beginning of many years where God can redeem people.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Go Big Or Go Home!

We are filming a video series, really a short film, for our preview services, leading up to and culminating on launch Sunday. When we air them we'll put them on the web for all to see. This is the most involved video I've ever been a part of, and if you know me, you know how much I LOVE doing videos. Keenan, Adam and I spent several creative sessions mapping it all out. Creating time lines, scripts, scenes, and writing the entire story. We were able to purchase from a missionary, a professional video camera. We are using three 500 watt lights to create lighting in each scene. Yesterday (Monday) we started our day at 8:30 finalizing film sets, we started filming at 10 AM and finished at midnight. Today began again at 8:3o am and finished at 11 PM. Like I said, the most involved film I've been a part of. I have such respect for what Hollywood is able to pull off. Keenan has done a FANTASTIC job acting and Adam is doing GREAT directing and filming. We are doing more than we should for the size we are but it's been fun. We have two more nights to film this week and then it will all be sent to the editing room. From using an actual professional voice over from California, a $400,000 home, a Cadillac DTS, a gun, a coffin, a cemetery, a local church, several businesses and Cheyenne and general, it will be bigger than anticipated. If it comes out how we saw it in our minds during creative sessions it will be good. Anyway, that's been my past two days. I have some BIG NEWS coming in my next blog about upcoming events and promotions. Feel REALLY good about some decisions we made today at staff meeting. Stay tuned for more.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Weekend Wrapup

Man, it doesn't seem possible. We held our last Unplugged service yesterday morning at the Holiday Inn. I can't believe we are two weeks out from meeting every week in the theater. Launch still is Oct. 7th but we are doing the month of previews in September. Here are some things from the weekend and the coming week.

--- We had 54 yesterday at Unplugged. God has RICHLY blessed us with an amazing core group of people. Folks who give, serve, worship, and are committed to what we are doing. It absolutely blows my mind that people want to be a part of something I'm leading. It really does.

--- Don't have the count on the offering yet. I'll update that when I can. (By the way, I share these numbers to keep people updated and to rejoice in what God is doing. I hope everyone understands that I am not trying to "keep track" "brag" or "complain" about what is going on. I will brag on God all the time and will do that unashamedly.)

--- I really felt yesterdays service was GREAT! We had 2 brand new people at Unplugged yesterday and it just really seemed that God's Spirit was evident. I challenged us to avoid the "we will when..." syndrome and used the Scripture in Luke 17 where Jesus says "...the kingdom of God can't be seen...can't point to it here or there...the Kingdom of God is within you." I think so many times we say "We will really make in impact when..." and you fill in the blank. When we have 500 people. When we have a building. When giving is "x" amount of dollars. When we have all of our full time staff in place. When...When...When... What about now? The Kingdom of God is within us and among us, that means at 50 we have the same Kingdom of God as we have at 500. That means at 50 WE CAN MAKE AN IMPACT. NOW! It challenged me anyway. I don't want to always be looking at "the church" who has it all figured out. Or be looking to a point ahead when "God really shows up". I want to share the Kingdom that is within us NOW!

--- Today we are filming a short film for our CSI series. Keenan is the lead actor, we have a professional camera, lighting, the whole works. This short film will be shown in 5 episodes leading up to launch and it has a direct connection to launch and our launch series. If we do it right and do it well it is going to be AWESOME! Keenan is a phenomenal actor, Adam has been doing his research about filming and I get to drive a Cadillac DTS today. lol We needed a SWEET car for the film and that is what we are using. We have a realtor getting us into a $400,000 home for the video as well.

--- These next 2 weeks are going to be long but go by superfast. We have a lot on our list to get done, especially Adam! That dude has got a lot on his plate. Keenan is taking off work today to act in the film and will probably put up some evenings for us as well doing some acting. Love the way that guy communicates through drama.

--- Please pray this week as we finalize some launch day things. Some BIG financial decisions to make and we covet your prayers. Thanks for those of you who follow along and are lifting us up in prayer. Would love to hear from you anytime through the comments or email.

--- Ok, that is the hook up and set up. I'll update more through the week. One month and then we're going to big church! Putting our big boy pants on.



Following Christ,

Jeff

"It doesn't get any better than this!"

NO I'm not drinking an Old Milwaukee! I'm sitting on my front porch...it's sunny and 79 degrees...I just got done with my quiet time...I'm watching my kids play across the street at the school park...and I'm getting ready for our live online fantasy football draft!

--- Having 4 kids is crazy and borderline suicidal at times, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. REALLY!

--- Church planting is the hardest most scary work I've ever done. But I can't imagine doing anything else.

--- Being married means that sometimes you have to MAKE it work. I can't imagine my life without my wife. She is absolutely unbelievable. I don't think I could be a pastor without her. (Please don't take the opening comment of this thought and blow it out of proportion)

--- Football is just around the corner. But it is FAR down on my list. I am a SOONER fanatic. I watch the countdown on the www.ouinsider.com website. I wear the gear. I Tivo the games. BUT without my God...without my wife...without my kids...without this church, I AM NOTHING!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Friday Freebies

--- We went out to the Extreme Makeover home being done here in Cheyenne today for the reveal. We got out there at 11 AM being told the reveal would be between noon and 1 PM. We had to leave at 4 PM and they (as far as I know) at 6 PM still hadn't revealed to the family. I'll never watch that show the same again. So much is "hollywood" staged stuff. You had to figure a lot would be but it was weird watching them do it. We had GREAT positions. Right in front of the bus. They filmed the bus leaving, the crowd chanting "move that bus", the crowd screaming, and the limo pulling up ALL before the family ever arrived.

--- Jonah starts Kindergarten next Wednesday. WOW they grow up fast. Our school is directly across the street so that is handy.

--- Mariah starts pre-school in 2 weeks. Two kids in school. Makalah starts next year in pre-school. In 2 years 3 of our 4 kids will be in elementary school.

--- DAUGHTRY on Wednesday as well. My wife, AWESOME wife bought me tickets to Daughtry next Wednesday. We're going to Pueblo, CO and staying the night down there. Can't wait. That will be fun.

--- We're still working on some cool video stuff for preview and launch, and we'll be launching our Element promotions in a little over a week.,

Are We That Dumb?

In my Bible journey right now I'm in Deuteronomy. Love the Old Testament. I need to know it better. I neglected the OT early in my walk with Christ and I'm suffering for it now. I hope my kids develop habits sooner than I did. Anyway, totally not where I'm going with this. Well...I guess it kind of is. In Deuteronomy Moses was recounting the story of the flight from Egypt through the wilderness to where they were...camped on the East side of the Jordan river waiting to cross in to the Promise Land. Check this out:

The Israelites (the first time they came to the Jordan on the East side of the Promise Land) had a decision to make. Moses restating what had happened said this. Deut. 1:21-22 "Look! He (God) has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don't be afraid! Don't be discouraged! But you all came to me and said, "First, let's send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter."

Know why so many Christians aren't experiencing ALL that God has intended for them? Know why so many Christians are still wandering in the wilderness? Know why so many Christians just DON'T GET IT...are satisfied living complacent lives...content in mediocrity...still not filled with the Spirit of the Almighty God? They are looking for the "best route" and wondering "which towns" they should enter. They are trying to find the promise land the way THEY WANT and God is saying "Just go. The land is in front of you. I'll lead you.!"

Are we that dumb? I'm afraid many times we are. We are just like the Israelites. And we wonder why we wander in the wilderness.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Decisions

MAN! Financial decisions are the toughest for me right now in this whole church plant thing. We have been SO blessed through our mother church and through our church conference financially. We received over $150,000 of seed money from those two groups to get started. The hardest part right now is budgeting that to fund the initial year. Obviously we want to plan ahead to ensure that year #2 happens, but part of making sure year #2 happens is spending some money in year 1 to attract and assimilate people to Element Church. We are facing, in the next week, some SERIOUS financial decisions at it pertains to launch. We want to launch HUGE so we want to be specific in our promotions and do the things that will yield us the most fruit. Anyway, my personality is "Let's do it all!" and that's not what we need right now. We are seeking God for some advice and wise counsel in these matters. We want absolute peace about the financial decisions that have to be made. Your prayers are MUCH appreciated.

Cravings Part 3 (Jesus Stalkers)

...Here is the problem. God says "You've got these cravings in your soul. They were given to you by Me, to drive you to Me, for only IN Me can they be fully met." So what do we do? We go everywhere else BUT God to have our cravings met. What does that create? Jesus Stalkers.

Our churches are full of people who are always around Jesus' house. They've read all His material. They can tell you all about Him and even tell others that they know Him but if Jesus were to be asked "Do you know this person?" His response would be "I've never seen them." They're Jesus stalkers.

Jesus stalkers are AROUND Jesus but they're not found IN Him. They like the benefits of being around Jesus but they're not willing to surrender to Him. They enjoy the pleasures of the world and in turn aren't producing any fruit.

Mark 4:18-19 in the parable of the sower describes the Jesus Stalker this way: "...all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced."

Notice this plant doesn't whither or die like the first two in the parable. It just ceases to produce fruit. They love being "associated" with Jesus but they don't produce a thing cause they don't really know Him. There is still a "form" of godliness but their hearts are far from Him, and the danger is it will produce a DEAD plant if not taken care of.

Anyway, cravings...We all have them and they can only be met IN Him. I don't know about you but I DON'T want to be a Jesus Stalker. I want to be found IN Him for then my soul is COMPLETELY satisfied.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Weekend Wrapup

Wow! I know I say that a lot. One more week of Unplugged. It just doesn't seem real. Here are a few thoughts about the weekend.

--- We had 36 today. That is the lowest since we started on June 15th. There were several families gone today that we knew were going to be gone. We still had a great group and once connection card was filled out. It was from a couple who were a return guest and filled out the card for the first time.
--- I don't know what the offering was, Terri will count that tomorrow.
--- MAN was it weird not having Grant and Terri there today. Grant has been 100% SOLD OUT to this since the moment I told him about it. I cannot imagine being here without him. We need more Christians like Grant in our churches. I mean that! Grants and absolute STUD for the faith!
--- God has given us an AWESOME core group. Again, Unplugged served it's purpose perfectly for us. It did what it was supposed to do. Next week we're going to talk about how we take it to the next level. We need to take it to the next level.
--- We are having our first "All church Potluck!" HA! We're going old school. We aren't having church on Labor Day weekend so a young couple opened up their home for us all to get together for a Labor Day BBQ/Potluck.
--- AWESOME to have Adam back today. I stood in back for the whole worship set just blown away at what God has done and who God has sent to us. Again, having a worship guy you love and trust makes all the difference in the world.
--- Keenan and Katrina get their weekend off this coming weekend. My how they have grown. I can't wait to see what God is going to do through them. We wouldn't have some key people were it not for them. I can't wait to hire Katrina and let her REALLY focus on e:kidz.
--- We'll be revealing some cool stuff on here in the next couple of weeks. Be watching for it.
--- OU football starts in 13 days. Can't wait.
--- Perry Noble had the entire Clemson football team in his church this Sunday, I wonder if I could get all of OU to ours? LOL

Following Christ,

Jeff

Cravings Part 2

...So we developed our Core Values. Later that Fall I picked up a book by Erwin McManus called Soul Cravings. It only confirmed the values we had stated. Erwin widdled it down to three areas that all humans crave but in those three areas he talked about all of our values.

Through that book and through my quiet time with God over the past year and a half I've come to understand one VERY crucial part of these cravings. These cravings of the soul. They can ONLY be met IN God. "In" NOT by Him. Rain is sent BY God. Money can be given BY God. Health can be given BY God. The cravings of our soul are only met IN Him.

We don't like that. We want to have God but find our Life in worldly pleasures.
We want to have God but keep some of the "little" sins we enjoy so we don't REALLY change. (Which doesn't really make sense cause deep down we really long to be better. To not hold on to those things)
We want to have God but not commit to HIS family. We want to have God but worship other things in our lives. We want to have God and find our significance in our job, our title, our possessions, our accomplishments.

We want to have the "good" parts of God and hope he just GIVES what our souls craves. THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! We HAVE to give ourselves COMPLETELY to God. To find what our soul craves we MUST find ourselves IN Him. We use words like "SURRENDER" "DEDICATE" "DEVOTE" to describe this, but however you describe it it MUST be done to satisfy the soul.

The problem the church has is it's full of Jesus Stalkers. What's a Jesus stalker? Tune into Part 3 tomorrow.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Cravings Part 1

We are finishing up today our look at the Core Values of Element Church. Hard to believe we only have one more week of Unplugged after today. I still feel so TOTALLY unprepared for what is about to happen. Almost seems surreal.

In March (06) Grant, Terri, Sabrina and myself sat down and started talking about this church plant thing. We had just "accepted" the call of God to come to Cheyenne. We didn't know anything about church planting, didn't know anything about Cheyenne and didn't know anything about the people we would be reaching but we knew something. People CRAVE things.

Not like I crave White Castle hamburgers or how my wife craves Mexican food. Not how I CRAVE coffee in the mornings or how we crave our favorite of moms home cooked meals. Cravings of the soul. We knew that deep down within every one of us were things, the SAME things, that we all crave. Why not start there with core values. Why not make the cravings of our soul the core values of our church?

We didn't even have a name for the church at that point. I still have the notebook from that March night when we started brainstorming core values and church names. We've wrestled over these values. We've tweaked them, changed the "names" of them and studied them. We came to the point of six core values.

Life - We all long to be ALIVE. We want to live. Not just physically, but we want to have REAL life. A life that matters. An abundant life.

Family - We all long to belong. We want to be a part of something bigger than us. From the earliest of ages we want to fit in, to be a part, to be accepted. There is a reason for peer pressure. We long to belong. There is a reason that young men/women call gangs their "family". It's a craving.

Change - We all long to be better than what we are. We want to be "good" people. No matter how bad or good a person is, deep down we want to be better than what we are. We want to change.

Worship - We all long to know something is out there that is bigger than me. Something or someone has this all figured out. Someone cares for me and knows me. I believe we all LONG to give ourselves to something/someone else.

Significance - We all long to be worth something. We desperately want a life with meaning, purpose and a sense of destiny. We all want our lives to mean something beyond the moment, beyond the day, in light of eternity.

Allegiance - We all long to be devoted to something. When we find a healthy sense of life, family, change, worship and significance, we find a proper placement of our allegiance.

Part 2 later today...

Jeff

EXCITED!

The next few weeks are going to be fun. Adam and I sat down on Wednesday and made a comprehensive list of things that need to get done before launch. WOW! Lists are great but this one is HUGE. There is so much left to get done. We are in for some very cool stuff.

Keenan came and met with Adam and I on Thursday to brainstorm some video drama ideas for our CSI series. If we can pull it off it is going to be really cool. It will all tie into our launch day.

Launch Day --- We are also planning some great stuff leading up to and for launch. It is going to be a blast. We're working on first time guest stuff, promotions, worship, videos, etc. There is even discussion of another gas buy down. WHAT? Discussion still at this point.

We're going to be launching a new website along with our launch day promotions. As the release of our promotion happens I'll post some very cool graphics on here.

Two more Sundays at Unplugged, we'll take labor day off and then IT begins. We'll be in the theater full time starting September 9th. I'm loving it.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Partners

No, not like the cowboy lingo "Hey Pardner!". Partners, for us, are going to be what most churches call members. Why? We wanted a term that was more active than "member". A member belongs to something, a partner DOES something. A member GETS something, a partner GIVES something. We want people to become partners WITH us in ministry not members OF a ministry we perform. Now, I know there are PLENTY of churches with members who do a TON of ministry (HPCC), however, we felt for us and what we would be doing that the word "partner" meant so much more. Check out the definitions of the words:

member – a person, animal, plant group, etc., that is part of a society, party, community, taxon, or other body.

partner – a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; associate.

Associated in some action or endeavor with another. That's what we want. We sat down at staff meeting and developed steps to get people into partnership. Clear, simple, meaningful steps. To be a partner at Element Church it is going to be WAY more than "What you know about the Evangelical Church" (although we will teach it clearly). More than "What you know about our doctrine" (although we will teach it clearly) It will ALSO be what you do WITH us. A partner in Element Church will commit to 3 G's: Groups (involved in a Life Group); Giving (financially to Element Church); and Gifts (Serving as a volunteer according to their gifts).

Partners! A person who shares with another in some action or endeavor; associate.

Following Christ,

Jeff

What keeps us going!

Church planting is hard! Getting people to come to a church that doesn't really exist yet, as you can imagine, can be VERY difficult. Here is an email we received last week from an individual. I did not ask for permission to use it so I won't include names or even genders but wanted to share this.

Hi my name is --- and I have visited your church twice now and I really like it. The vision of your church falls in to an area that I am very passionate about. There are few churches today willing to step up and break out of the traditional noose, country club, everyone has a membership association. Sure inside the church walls are pretty and decorated so finely but, if you really want to draw people in you have to go out. Scripture says take up your cross and follow me everyday. I want to do that. I want to be a slave for Christ. I hope that I can visit with your ministry team in the near future. Until then I hope your day is blessed!

We received another email from someone that was cool...

I wanted to touch base with you on getting involved. I've been sort of stepping back and praying, but feel the "green light" from the Lord at this point.

This person has a couple of "passions" in ministry that they would like to get plugged in to at Element. God is good. He continues to bring us people hungry to serve and to connect and help connect people with life.


Following Christ


Jeff

Systems

MAN! I've been thinking a lot about systems today. Doing A LOT of reading on systems. Researching systems. First of all, before anyone says, "The Holy Spirit grows a church!", let me say that I believe the Holy Spirit grows a church. BUT, show me a church without systems and I'll show you a church that probably isn't growing. What we are doing that got us to 60 people will not take us to 120. What gets us to 120 won't get us to 240. You get the picture. So tomorrow at staff meeting we're talking systems.

--- What is the next step for FTG's (First Time Guests)?
--- When someone begins serving what's the next step?
--- How do we keep multiplying Life Groups?
--- How do we get people plugged into volunteering?
--- How do we begin to multiply leaders?
--- How do we do follow up and when do we need volunteers to do it for/with us?
--- How do we train Life Group leaders?

Moses had to deal with it. (read this) He had to eventually bring alongside some men to listen to the people. Deal with issues. Judge what was going on.

The early church dealt with it. (read this) The apostles could only do so much. They had to decide that their most important task was to preach, teach and direct. They needed others to do the tasks of ministry.

Moses needed systems or he would wear himself and the people out. He was capped on what he could do. The apostles needed systems, the result? The word of God CONTINUED to be spread and the number of believers greatly increased. What if they wouldn't have developed systems? Would the word of God NOT have spread rapidly. Would the believers not have GREATLY increased.

Element Church needs systems. Everything needs to have a process to get us to the next step. To get us to the next level. I've REALLY been feeling that lately.

I think many churches lack systems. SO, they get to the level their system can handle and they stop growing, they are capped. We must do our part to enable the ability to grow and the Holy Spirit will send the growth. I'm still learning this but I HAVE to learn it because I want the Gospel to spread and believers to increase RAPIDLY.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Weekend Wrapup

45 today at Unplugged. We had a great service. Adam and Amber were gone so I led the singing while Katie (young lady in the church) played keyboard and Curtis (Air Force chopper pilot) played djembe. Katie and Curtis did great! I won't say anything about the third member of the group.

--- Like I said, we had 45. We had one new face at Unplugged today. A young lady who came to our preview service. No one was "brand new" today. We are developing a GREAT core group of people. Givers, servants, followers of Jesus. Great age range too. We have a plethora of kids and yet we have some in their 50's and I won't guess the ages of a couple of our older ones. HA!

--- Next level! I started thinking today of the next level. I need to work on that this week. I feel like we've capped right now for what we are doing. Unplugged has DEFINITELY served it's purpose. We've developed teams. Established relationships and cast vision for Element Church. But it's time. It's time for the next step and that step happens in one month when we "go live"! We'll have 4 preview services through September and then launch day on Oct. 7th.

--- Every church has it's barriers. I truly believe we're bumping ours. So, how do we go beyond the barrier. How do we break 100, 200, 500, 1000. I believe that is on the horizon. I don't want to limit God and yet at the same time I don't want to be cavalier in my assessment of where we will go.

--- I love our people. Just had some GREAT conversations with amazing followers of Christ who God has sent our way. I told them today at Unplugged how honored we are that they choose to come to church with us. We seriously could not have got this far without the many people that have connected to Element Church to give and serve.

--- Dude, my mind is filling with things I want to write out. I'll have to let my brain ooze on here this week. Some cool things are bubbling up that we need to leverage for the Kingdom and for our church.

--- Where will God take us. What can we accomplish. I often wonder if I get in the way of what God could do? He doesn't NEED me yet he CHOOSES me to accomplish HIS task. That blows my mind. I don't want to be a limiter. That challenges me. Convicts me. I hope I'm up to the task.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Sunday Morning Expectation

I'm excited about today! I love Sundays. Today was a little weird cause it felt like we should be going back to the theater. I had dreams all night about setting up at Carmike so when we awoke to my alarm at 6 am I felt like I was running late. Last week was a 4:30 am rise and we met at the office at 6:30 am to get our stage pieces loaded up. Anyway, I'm excited about this morning.

Adam is gone (which I am NOT excited about) so I am helping to lead worship this morning with another gal (Katie) who is playing keyboard and our djembe player (Curtis). It's been MONTHS since I've needed to lead worship and let me tell you...The difference a dependable, passionate, real, talented worship leader gives is HUGE! Quality worship makes ALL the difference, at least for me. It just sets the stage for everything in the service.

We are talking about the core value of Significance today. We all long to be worth something. To live lives that have meaning, destiny, and purpose. To accomplish God sized things. The problem is if we open the doors of churches across our country we would find countless "Christians" who are settling to survive when we are made to THRIVE.

I truly believe that as we were being formed in the womb God was also forming for us, in advance, things that ONLY we could accomplished. GOOD WORKS for us to do. (See Ephesians 2:10) The amazing part is that God DOES NOT need to use us, BUT, I believe He chooses to use us because it enables us to become people of significance IN HIM. He knows we CRAVE it so He let's us live it. Significance is NOT something God gives me, it is something that He has ENABLED me to be IF I'll follow Him completely.

Anyway, we see significance often as the world does. The world gives meaning, typically, only to the large monumental achievements. The cool thing about REAL significance is that we have it if we just live out what God intended for me, REGARDLESS of what it is!

I think this can REVOLUTIONIZE peoples lives if we can grasp it!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Timing

God's timing in things sometimes (even though it shouldn't) blows me away. There is a magazine here in Cheyenne called "Around Cheyenne" that is published monthly and gets sent out to all Cheyenne residents. In each magazine is an article "Where to Worship". We've been getting this magazine since we moved here and I always thought how cool it was going to be when the chose us. I had thought in my head "Man, what if they would do ours right before we launched?". I never thought they would. I never contacted the mag or told them anything about us. 2 weeks ago I got a call from the writer of the "Where to Worship" section. She wanted to know if I could be interviewed for that section about Element Church to be released in the September issue, the month before we launch! She heard about our church from one of the ladies who is attending Element and talked about us. She checked out our web-site and the rest is history. So we will be featured in the September issue and will hopefully help us out in launch. God's timing, never early, never late.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Blog Link

Grant NAILED it today on his blog! Good job bro!

My Awesome Wife!

Sabrina is amazing. AMAZING! Again, I don't tell her that enough. What she is able to accomplish in 24 hours is remarkable. My hat goes off to all moms. A few things she's done lately and I'm proud of.

--- Once again Sabrina was #2 in sales on her team for tastefully simple (her small business). She is trying to win a cruise for us! How cool would that be. If any of you know my wife, you know how WAAAAY out of her comfort zone this is. Check out her web-site. You can order food from there. If you need any incredible recipes she'll hook you up.

--- We have at least 2 families who are coming to Element as a direct result of Sabrina doing Tastefully Simple.

--- Sabrina and 3 of her friends were able to go to Elitch Gardens (amusement park) in Denver last week. It was Christian music day so they got to see 4 - 5 GREAT bands. Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, Falling Up, etc. (Of course this meant I had the circus to run for a day. See comment at the top)

--- Sabrina led our Elevate program on Sunday. This is our 1st - 5th grade program. However, she has really felt like the Lord has been leading her to be "the pastors wife" and not really be in charge of anything. She battled where her role was and really feels like she should be in our worship service, meeting people, mingling, and of course supporting her UNBELIEVABLE husband.

--- She bought me tickets to Daughtry LIVE in concert for my birthday. Surprised me yesterday with them. She made me a PHENOMENAL coconut cake, and each of the kids picked out something for me to eat for supper. We had enchiladas, macaroni and cheese and hamburgers. It was the best birthday meal I ever had. And MAN can she make a cake.

Happy to have my wife,

Jeff

Blog Links

These guys are doing an awesome job and I want you to hear from their hearts as well. Check out Adams and Grants latest blogs.

Building altars!

We have to be careful! I say it again WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL! There is a danger out there in the church world and I think it can become an altar. Something comes along and BOOM "We should do that. Look how everyone loves it." People get excited over something done in church and we think "That's it, that's the ticket." And we sometimes don't ask if it should be in the church. I'm not pointing to anything specific or some "technique" in church but in this whole chase to be relevant and reach the culture there is SUCH a danger. I'm all for being relevant and reaching the culture. I'm all for pushing the envelope and CRUSHING the box. HOWEVER, where do I draw the line. I read this in my devotions this morning, check it out.

Exodus 32:3-5 "All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!" Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”

Aaron saw how excited the people were so he offered them what they wanted. BUT IT WASN'T RIGHT. NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY LIKED IT! Anyway, I just think we need to be creative, relevant and reach the culture without JUST offering what makes the people excited. There needs to be a filter in which we run everything through. "If we do this, can and will it bring glory to God and draw people into HIS presence." It's such a fine line. I want to be careful as I try to be relevant. I have one person to please and that's it.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Weekend Wrapup Additions

WOW! A couple of additions to the weekend wrapup. The office staff met today to evaluate our preview service. That's always fun yet challenging. Asking the questions "What can we do better?" "What needs to be fixed?" "What did we do well?" Hard questions to ask sometimes but I think when we are offering the GREATEST news imaginable we want to package it in the BEST package possible. Anyway, couple things totally not about what we did wrong or right that I wanted to add.

--- Our offering was $2118.61. Again, GO GOD! That is awesome! Several first time givers which we celebrate! Thanks God!

--- We had 24 volunteers. Yeah TWENTY FOUR. And they aren't just warm bodies to plug in, they are qualified, love the Lord, serve people, volunteers. We didn't beg, plead, or have 47 sign up sheets. We said "You have an OPPORTUNITY to serve your church and to serve your God." They took the opportunity. I hope we teach that well. Serving is NOT an obligation. It is NOT a duty. It is ABSOLUTELY one of the GREATEST opportunities we have as followers of Christ. To serve our God and serve other people.

Anyway, couple of extras for ya. CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Weekend Wrapup

Had another GREAT Sunday at Element Church. Didn't see the increase in attendance as I would have liked but we had a BUNCH of first time guests. Here are some thoughts and results from preview.

--- We had 63 in attendance yesterday. At our last preview we had 75, that was with 18 out of town guests. I didn't know what to expect.

--- Our offering was over $1500. Largest yet. Go God!

--- We had 4 families/individuals fill out connection cards as FTG's (first time guests). At least two others were FTG but didn't fill out a card.

--- We had a HORRIBLE time setting up and specifically in the technical audio/visual area. It REALLY set us back time wise for the morning. It all came together and the service went great but MAN it was a frustrating morning.

--- We have, already, an AMAZING group of volunteers. People helping at 6:30 AM loading up a stage. 7 AM had 8 people setting up (we need more). We had 6 or 7 volunteers on our first impressions team. We had several in the e:kidz department. We are off to a great start with volunteers.

--- We added two stage pieces which were priceless. It enabled us to set up one whole corner for a drama that Keenan did. Keenan did a great job on a little monologue to set up my message.

--- The theme for the day was "What will your story be?" Showed the video "The Martyrs Prayer" as part of my message. Adam and the band closed the service with an AWESOME version of Blessed Assurance. It wasn't your mom and dads hymn that's for sure.

--- The band sounded great. WE HAVE A DRUMMER! One of the guy's new to our church is playing drums for us. We added a drum shield which helped us control sound TREMENDOUSLY.

--- Got a list of new things to work on. I'm glad we're doing previews. Helps us tweak things that need to be tweaked. Learn from our mistakes. Get ready for our public launch.

--- Can't wait for Unplugged on Sunday. Hoping to see some of these new faces back. We have not had ONE week yet without a new face. That's all we're praying for. "Lord, bring us new faces." At this point we just want to see and connect new people.

--- Sept. 9th marks our next preview service. Starting that Sunday we will be in the theater every week. Please join us in praying that we outgrow the theater quickly. I WANT a space problem.

--- On a side note...Can't share a whole lot of detail but please also pray for the theater situation. Slight possibility that we won't be able to stay there. Long story and lots of details but the future at this time is uncertain. Please pray!

That's it. Thanks for following along. I probably forgot stuff that I'll have to add later.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Preview Premonition

HA! Couldn't think of a different title.

--- We felt ready for preview this week. It felt weird. Last month the week before preview was frantic so this week it was like "Are we ready? Shouldn't this be a crazy week?" It was a very busy week but felt controlled.

--- Projector at the theater looks fantastic. Got that figured out. Got the correct cable, the presentation software is working, etc.

--- We are organizing the trailer today and getting it ready to go.

--- Praise practice at 10 AM this morning. One of the new guy's in the church is playing drums so that's cool.

--- Doing our first drama this week. Keenan has something good worked up that will compliment and set up my message well.

--- We have a GREAT group of volunteers this week. Katrina held her e:kidz meeting Tuesday while Grant and I held our First Impressions meeting Thursday. Beginning to see those spots fill up well.

--- We are getting to the theater at 7:00 AM tomorrow to set up. The first movie doesn't play until 12:30 so we have extra time this Sunday to tear down.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Through The Wilderness

MAN, the wilderness was a horrible place to take the Israelites when they left Egypt wasn't it? I mean, there had to be a better way, shorter way, easier path than that? What was God thinking? Actually, God WAS thinking. (He's smart that way) He took the Israelites through the wilderness for a reason. BEYOND "So they would learn a lesson...". Exodus 13:17 "God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promise Land." Why? They weren't ready for the battle with those GIANTS yet. God said "They might turn around and go back to Egypt." The wilderness wasn't the fastest, easiest, shortest, or most convenient way, but it was THE WAY. It was the best way God could have taken them. They didn't see that. We don't sometimes either do we? We're just like the Israelites. "Why did you bring me into this wilderness to die of thirst?" Maybe, JUST MAYBE the other way(s) weren't the best BUT this one is! Another place the Israelites came to some water at Marah but it was bitter, so they complained against God. "Why bring us here to die. We were better off in Egypt." A few verses later, you know what they found? "After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water." God ALWAYS takes us the best way. If we'll wait, and walk with Him we'll eventually find the oasis. I am still learning this!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Website Growth

Cool to see our website grow in usage. It's turned out to be a great tool for us. We've had MANY connections to our church through visits to our web. In July we went over 1000 hits to our web-site. I have no idea what normal usage is for a church but that is the most we've had. We hope to really utilize our web as a tool to reach more people. We're planning on offering video of our entire service each week through the web-site. That totally changes our connecting points with people. When inviting someone to church you can actually direct them to SEE what church is like. So many churches (even here in Cheyenne) that seem to have the finances and people to do it have VERY ineffective web-sites. Not everyone, but LOTS of peoples first impression of your church is your web page. It needs to represent who you are, the feel, and personality of your church. Anyway, I put a picture below of our web statistics since we started. Very cool to see the growth. (Of course I go to our web page 50 times a day. HA just kidding)

Following Christ,

Jeff