Taken from Adams blog.
Music set Oct. 21st:
What I've done - Lincoln Park (Prelude)
We Shine - Steve Fee
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
Mighty to Save - United (didnt get to do because of broken string)
From the Inside Out - United
Jesus paid it all - Chris Tomlin
The Reason - Hoobastank
Worship set this week:
LIVE TO WORSHIP - NEW LIFE WORSHIP
NOT TO US - CHRIS TOMLIN
O WORSHIP THE KING - DAVID CROWDER
FOR WHO YOU ARE - UNITED
HERE IN YOU PRESENCE - NEW LIFE WORSHIP
I STAND AMAZED - CHRIS TOMLIN
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Proud Dad
There is nothing like the pride of being a parent when you hear something your child did, said, accomplished or learned that just makes your heart swell.
Monday, Mariah was attending pre-school as usual. They were talking about the story of Balaam and the talking Donkey from the Old Testament. At school Mariah was the only one in the class who knew the story when the teacher asked who knew it. The teacher told Sabrina that the other kids had no clue what the story was and Mariah knew it. I was so proud of her.
Each night (barring extenuating circumstances) we have family devotions around the dinner table. It can be pretty funny. We read through the Bible, one story at a time, out of a childrens Bible story book. Then each of us pray for someone we know. It's been such a joy to see our children become "prayers". I keep telling Makalah she's going to be a prayer warrior. She loves to pray it seems like. Sometimes we have to keep ourselves from laughing it is so cute.
I remember family devos as a young kid. At times I HATED it. I wanted to go outside and play. Turn on the boob tube or do anything but pray and read the Bible. Know what? Because my parents made it a priority it made me into who I am today. Influenced the way I parent. Because it helped me so much, I now know the value of it for my kids, even when they may not feel like doing it at the time.
I am so proud of my kids. Can they be a handful? Well, is there sugar in syrup? THEN YES! But seeing God in the little child is a beautiful thing. Jonah, as wild as he can be, has a gentle spirit. He's always concerned about other kids. Other people. Wants them to be included. He loves serving at church already and at the soup kitchen (when we make it). Anyway, this is getting too long.
If my heart swells when my kids do godly things, how must our God feel when we do things in His name? When we live for Him? Chase holiness with reckless abandon? Defend the defenseless and fight for the oppressed? When we stand for truth and justice? When we share our faith, pray, seek, love, hope? I have a feeling His heart swells too.
Proud Dad,
Jeff
Monday, Mariah was attending pre-school as usual. They were talking about the story of Balaam and the talking Donkey from the Old Testament. At school Mariah was the only one in the class who knew the story when the teacher asked who knew it. The teacher told Sabrina that the other kids had no clue what the story was and Mariah knew it. I was so proud of her.
Each night (barring extenuating circumstances) we have family devotions around the dinner table. It can be pretty funny. We read through the Bible, one story at a time, out of a childrens Bible story book. Then each of us pray for someone we know. It's been such a joy to see our children become "prayers". I keep telling Makalah she's going to be a prayer warrior. She loves to pray it seems like. Sometimes we have to keep ourselves from laughing it is so cute.
I remember family devos as a young kid. At times I HATED it. I wanted to go outside and play. Turn on the boob tube or do anything but pray and read the Bible. Know what? Because my parents made it a priority it made me into who I am today. Influenced the way I parent. Because it helped me so much, I now know the value of it for my kids, even when they may not feel like doing it at the time.
I am so proud of my kids. Can they be a handful? Well, is there sugar in syrup? THEN YES! But seeing God in the little child is a beautiful thing. Jonah, as wild as he can be, has a gentle spirit. He's always concerned about other kids. Other people. Wants them to be included. He loves serving at church already and at the soup kitchen (when we make it). Anyway, this is getting too long.
If my heart swells when my kids do godly things, how must our God feel when we do things in His name? When we live for Him? Chase holiness with reckless abandon? Defend the defenseless and fight for the oppressed? When we stand for truth and justice? When we share our faith, pray, seek, love, hope? I have a feeling His heart swells too.
Proud Dad,
Jeff
Pictures
Here is a picture slide show from Church on Sunday. We taught on worship so thought we'd build a set design with some "traditional" flares to them. We borrowed some Hymnals from a local church in town to display with candles. We also built two giant stained glass window replicas. Funny thing is, at least 2 people thought they were surfboards, and one person thought they were idols. LOL We should have clarified. We'll reuse them again. I want to know what the thoughts in the peoples minds were as they were trying to figure out what surfboards had to do with worship. If we ever do a beach theme we can pull them back out.
You can also go here or click on the slide show to view in a larger format or check out other Element pictures.
You can also go here or click on the slide show to view in a larger format or check out other Element pictures.
Father to Son
Read some great words today in my devotions that David said to his son Solomon before anointing him as king. They kind of go along with our sermon on Sunday and with this whole task of "building a church". The really stood out to me.
1 Chronicles 28:9-10 "And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. So take this seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong, and do the work."
Wow. Did you know that God has chosen YOU as well. He has chosen you to DO His work. As David said "So take this seriously". Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God's masterpiece, created to do "good works" which He has prepared in advance for us to do. God has planned some "building the Temple" type things for YOU and for ME. And if we don't do them, they won't get done, for God prepared them for US to do. Those words from David are challenging and convicting words for us as we live our our lives and God sized purposes God lays out before us.
More to come on this on Sunday. I'M STOKED!!
Following Christ,
Jeff
1 Chronicles 28:9-10 "And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. So take this seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong, and do the work."
Wow. Did you know that God has chosen YOU as well. He has chosen you to DO His work. As David said "So take this seriously". Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God's masterpiece, created to do "good works" which He has prepared in advance for us to do. God has planned some "building the Temple" type things for YOU and for ME. And if we don't do them, they won't get done, for God prepared them for US to do. Those words from David are challenging and convicting words for us as we live our our lives and God sized purposes God lays out before us.
More to come on this on Sunday. I'M STOKED!!
Following Christ,
Jeff
Purpose of this blog
I've learned recently from some Elementers of some new readers to the blog. I'm glad people from our church and others are reading up. This is a great tool for Element Church folk, family, friends, and onlookers to be kept up to date with the happenings of Element Church, and some personal family moments as well. I am excited that people are following along and enjoying the blog. With that said, I wanted to share the purpose of my blog. I have open comments so people can make comments if they like. However, I typically don't respond to comments (good or bad). This blog will not be a forum to debate or discuss with anyone doctrines, beliefs, or strategies. It's a place to share from my heart. If anyone would like to discuss those issues, I'd be glad to take you to Starbucks, meet in my office or swing on the swingset at the park while we talk. Seriously though, if someone wants to talk about anything on this blog I'll be glad to in person. Anyway, with the increased blog readership I thought I should post that. I also added a disclaimer to the top right portion of my blog. Please feel free to comment, just understand I probably won't respond. I do enjoy reading comments. Ok, PEACE!
Following Christ,
Jeff
Following Christ,
Jeff
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Excited!
I'm working on my sermon right now and am totally pumped about the message this week. We're talking about our core value of Significance. I believe in this core value for God's people so much it hurts. I'm preaching on a passage I've never preached before and it is challenging me to the core. Adam and I met today to discuss the creative elements of the next couple of weeks and am excited about that as well.
If you're an Elementer, don't miss this Sunday. I truly believe that what we are going to talk about is something our enemy the devil does not want us to figure out cause it will destroy his cause. I believe so strongly that God through the local church and HIS people is the hope of the world. If we as God's people don't RISE UP. If we as the church don't CHANGE the way we do things, we may as well pack our bags and go home. MAN, I can't wait for Sunday. I need someone to preach to right now.
Well, now I probably over sold our service and you'll come and be dissapointed. Had to get that off my chest. I can't wait for Sunday.
Following Christ,
Jeff
If you're an Elementer, don't miss this Sunday. I truly believe that what we are going to talk about is something our enemy the devil does not want us to figure out cause it will destroy his cause. I believe so strongly that God through the local church and HIS people is the hope of the world. If we as God's people don't RISE UP. If we as the church don't CHANGE the way we do things, we may as well pack our bags and go home. MAN, I can't wait for Sunday. I need someone to preach to right now.
Well, now I probably over sold our service and you'll come and be dissapointed. Had to get that off my chest. I can't wait for Sunday.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday Night Rumination (on Monday morning)
ruminate |ˈroōməˌnāt| verb [ intrans. ] 1 think deeply about something : we sat ruminating on the nature of existence. 2 (of a ruminant) chew the cud.
Grant and Adam that phrase is now copyrighted "2007 Jeff Maness"
What a day. I forgot to blog last night so I'm doing this Monday morning right before staff meeting. Again, I am humbled and blown away to be a part of what God is doing. I still have so much to learn as a lead pastor and so much more room to grow. I feel like at any moment I could mess this whole thing up somehow. Several weeks ago in my devotions I read of Solomon when he asked God for wisdom. A phrase he used made me feel a lot like him in that moment. In 1 Kings 3:7 "Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn't know his way around." That's how I feel a lot of the time. God is running and I'm chasing after him like a little kid. I just want to make sure that God is the one running ahead and I'm following. That is the key.
--- 206 in church yesterday. Amazes me! 5 decisions for Christ. As of today 15 people have indicated that they have made first time decisions to follow the Lord.
--- $2144.30 in the offering. God continues to have his people give.
--- Yesterday we talked about our core value of worship. How worship is so much more than singing. Worship is ALL LIFE. Romans 12 "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices...this is your spiritual act of worship".
--- Adam and I tag teamed a message. It was hard, yet good to do. Since we were talking about worship I wanted the people to hear from Adam's heart about worship. Neither Adam or I "felt" good during the whole service. I think God was making us learn from our message cause we talked the whole time about how we cannot base whether worship was good by a feeling. HA, nothing like God preaching at the preachers.
--- We have received several comments on the service and message yesterday. Worship is hard to preach on because everyone has their own opinion on it. All in all it was a great day. People got saved and that's what it is all about.
--- Our volunteers are out of this world. They have been SO HUGE for us. I wish I could say it differently to them but all I can say from the bottom of my soul is "THANK YOU!" I've had at least 2 comments since Sunday on how great our greeters are.
--- Staff meeting needs to start. I love our God, our church and our team. PEACE
Following Christ,
Jeff
Grant and Adam that phrase is now copyrighted "2007 Jeff Maness"
What a day. I forgot to blog last night so I'm doing this Monday morning right before staff meeting. Again, I am humbled and blown away to be a part of what God is doing. I still have so much to learn as a lead pastor and so much more room to grow. I feel like at any moment I could mess this whole thing up somehow. Several weeks ago in my devotions I read of Solomon when he asked God for wisdom. A phrase he used made me feel a lot like him in that moment. In 1 Kings 3:7 "Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn't know his way around." That's how I feel a lot of the time. God is running and I'm chasing after him like a little kid. I just want to make sure that God is the one running ahead and I'm following. That is the key.
--- 206 in church yesterday. Amazes me! 5 decisions for Christ. As of today 15 people have indicated that they have made first time decisions to follow the Lord.
--- $2144.30 in the offering. God continues to have his people give.
--- Yesterday we talked about our core value of worship. How worship is so much more than singing. Worship is ALL LIFE. Romans 12 "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices...this is your spiritual act of worship".
--- Adam and I tag teamed a message. It was hard, yet good to do. Since we were talking about worship I wanted the people to hear from Adam's heart about worship. Neither Adam or I "felt" good during the whole service. I think God was making us learn from our message cause we talked the whole time about how we cannot base whether worship was good by a feeling. HA, nothing like God preaching at the preachers.
--- We have received several comments on the service and message yesterday. Worship is hard to preach on because everyone has their own opinion on it. All in all it was a great day. People got saved and that's what it is all about.
--- Our volunteers are out of this world. They have been SO HUGE for us. I wish I could say it differently to them but all I can say from the bottom of my soul is "THANK YOU!" I've had at least 2 comments since Sunday on how great our greeters are.
--- Staff meeting needs to start. I love our God, our church and our team. PEACE
Following Christ,
Jeff
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Devotional thoughts...
Oswald Chambers says: When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is not a bit of the old order left; the old solemnity goes, the old attitude to things goes, and "all things are of God". How are we going to get the life that has no lust, no self-interest, no sensitiveness to pokes, the love that is not provoked, that thinketh no evil, that is always kind? The only way is by allowing not a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple perfect trust in God, such trust that we no longer want God's blessings, but only want Himself. Have we come to the place where God can withdraw blessings and it does not affect our trust in Him?
Wow. A lot like what we talked about on Sunday. God wants to change me. He wants to change my appetites, my actions and my attitudes. Are we there? Where we no longer want God's blessings but JUST God Himself? What a wonderful place to be.
2 Kings 18:32 Sennacherib was threatening an attack on Jerusalem. His chief of staff informed the Israelites that they had no chance. No other god had ever stood up to this great king of Assyria. Then King Sennacherib offered the Israelites this. "Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one -- a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death." Sound familiar? Isn't that the same land that God was offering the Israelites of they would just obey?
The devil tries to offer us a counterfeit "Promise Land". Counterfeit "Life". BUT HE CAN'T. The land he offers might appear to have grain, new wine, bread, vineyards, olive groves and honey. But it's a desolate land that eventually is parched and barren.
Like the Israelites, we too have our own King Sennacherib who will try to offer us a counterfeit "Promise Land".
Following Christ
Jeff
Wow. A lot like what we talked about on Sunday. God wants to change me. He wants to change my appetites, my actions and my attitudes. Are we there? Where we no longer want God's blessings but JUST God Himself? What a wonderful place to be.
2 Kings 18:32 Sennacherib was threatening an attack on Jerusalem. His chief of staff informed the Israelites that they had no chance. No other god had ever stood up to this great king of Assyria. Then King Sennacherib offered the Israelites this. "Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one -- a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death." Sound familiar? Isn't that the same land that God was offering the Israelites of they would just obey?
The devil tries to offer us a counterfeit "Promise Land". Counterfeit "Life". BUT HE CAN'T. The land he offers might appear to have grain, new wine, bread, vineyards, olive groves and honey. But it's a desolate land that eventually is parched and barren.
Like the Israelites, we too have our own King Sennacherib who will try to offer us a counterfeit "Promise Land".
Following Christ
Jeff
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Good progress today
We were able to work through our sermon series all the way up until next Fall. It was great to get some stuff hashed out and start talking about coming sermon series. Some of the issues over the next year we'll be tackling are going to be VERY tough to tackle but we feel that they need to be addressed. It's nice to start talking about creative elements months in advance.
We love the theater and the feel and vibe we get in there. I love not having to worry about a building payment and upkeep. It is actually going to be hard for me to leave the theater when we have to. At the rate we are growing right now that "have to" moment may come too soon. We actually went and looked at a building today. We are always searching out options and seeing what is out there so we know what our possibilities are.
Looking forward to tomorrow and getting some stuff for this Sunday finalized.
Following Christ,
Jeff
We love the theater and the feel and vibe we get in there. I love not having to worry about a building payment and upkeep. It is actually going to be hard for me to leave the theater when we have to. At the rate we are growing right now that "have to" moment may come too soon. We actually went and looked at a building today. We are always searching out options and seeing what is out there so we know what our possibilities are.
Looking forward to tomorrow and getting some stuff for this Sunday finalized.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Sunday Pictures
Here is a link to some pictures from our Sunday stage set up. You can see our giant Lite Brite we used for an illustration.
Pictures Link
Pictures Link
Monday, October 22, 2007
Weekend Wrapup (3 words)
wow 1 |wou| informal exclamation (also wowee |ˈwouē; ˈwouˈ(w)ē|) expressing astonishment or admiration : “Wow!” he cried enthusiastically.
crazy |ˈkrāzē| informal adjective ( -zier , -ziest ) 3 (of an angle) appearing absurdly out of place or in an unlikely position : the monument leaned at a crazy angle. • archaic (of a ship or building) full of cracks or flaws; unsound or shaky.
phenomenal |fəˈnämənəl| adjective 1 very remarkable; extraordinary : the town expanded at a phenomenal rate. 2 perceptible by the senses or through immediate experience : the phenomenal world.
Those are about the only 3 words I've used to describe what's going on at Element lately. Here are some of the highlights.
--- 167 in church yesterday. $1791.86 in the offering.
--- We built a giant lite brite for church this week and spelled the word "Change" in it with big Christmas lights. We also lined the stage with 6 small light brites spelling the word Change. We talked of our core value of change and how we are a lot like lite brites. It doesn't matter what design is put on it until light shines through it. God has created us each beautifully and uniquely to live for Him. When His light shines through us is when we really change and reflect how we are to live.
--- We gave away Krispy Kreme donuts to everyone yesterday. Each week through this core value series I've talked about cravings so we've let people experience some food cravings I have. We use it as an analogy of the cravings in our soul that only Christ can quench. Our core values rise from these soul cravings.
--- I am blown away at what God is doing and who he is bringing. I don't want to stand in his way at all. We had a great staff meeting today trying to figure out the best way to make sure we connect these people. At this point, EVERYONE is new.
--- We are receiving wow, crazy, phenomenal comments from people. One's like this:
"I've been a Christian for 17 years and your message today really made me think more about my "maturity." In so many ways I'm still a baby and it was God's plan for me to hear what you said today. My daughter, (name), attended with me and she is so excited about Element Church. It's exactly what she's been looking for. She too is a Christian and she's looking for other Christian kids to hang out with. We spoke with Curtis after the service and he invited (name) to attend next Saturday. When we got to the car, she was already texting a friend to see if she could go with her. I'm so glad to see she wants to get involved! May God bless your ministry and continue to guide you. I'm sure you can't wait to see what He has planned for Element!"
--- We have a local pastor in town who pastors a healthy, life giving, successful church who has been an incredible support for us. Because of him telling people about Element Church we've seen people attend. HOW COOL IS THAT? A pastor who will say "You should try Element Church." CRAZY, WOW, PHENOMENAL. I won't share his name cause I don't have permission to, but thanks to you pastor (you know who you are, lol).
--- Another local pastor is going to try and help make some space available for our use in his church in an emergency situation. That way if we were to suddenly lose our space in the theater we could meet there to buy us some time. Again, even if it doesn't happen, how cool is that that a pastor would try and let you use their church's extra space. Also, again, thank you pastor. (You also know who you are)
--- I am being stretched as a leader. I feel we're at another tipping point. We've had a great start and people are coming. Now we need to make that move into connection mode and team building mode. We have AMAZING volunteers. We need more. We're getting to the point now where our initial volunteers cannot handle the amount of people we are bringing in. Some of our e:kidz volunteers have yet to attend church. That needs to change. Some of our greeters have yet to come to church and just be greeted. MOST, if not all, of our set up/tear down crew and band have yet to been able to come and be served instead of serving. We need to build our teams now. It's that next level for us. We're always going to be looking at that next level, how do we break the barrier, how do we grow?
--- We've had several kids not wanting to leave the e:kidz area after church because they like it so much. That is what I like to hear. Keep up the good work Katrina and e:kidz staff.
That's about it. I know I'm forgetting something but that's alright.
WOW - CRAZY - PHENOMENAL
Following Christ,
Jeff
crazy |ˈkrāzē| informal adjective ( -zier , -ziest ) 3 (of an angle) appearing absurdly out of place or in an unlikely position : the monument leaned at a crazy angle. • archaic (of a ship or building) full of cracks or flaws; unsound or shaky.
phenomenal |fəˈnämənəl| adjective 1 very remarkable; extraordinary : the town expanded at a phenomenal rate. 2 perceptible by the senses or through immediate experience : the phenomenal world.
Those are about the only 3 words I've used to describe what's going on at Element lately. Here are some of the highlights.
--- 167 in church yesterday. $1791.86 in the offering.
--- We built a giant lite brite for church this week and spelled the word "Change" in it with big Christmas lights. We also lined the stage with 6 small light brites spelling the word Change. We talked of our core value of change and how we are a lot like lite brites. It doesn't matter what design is put on it until light shines through it. God has created us each beautifully and uniquely to live for Him. When His light shines through us is when we really change and reflect how we are to live.
--- We gave away Krispy Kreme donuts to everyone yesterday. Each week through this core value series I've talked about cravings so we've let people experience some food cravings I have. We use it as an analogy of the cravings in our soul that only Christ can quench. Our core values rise from these soul cravings.
--- I am blown away at what God is doing and who he is bringing. I don't want to stand in his way at all. We had a great staff meeting today trying to figure out the best way to make sure we connect these people. At this point, EVERYONE is new.
--- We are receiving wow, crazy, phenomenal comments from people. One's like this:
"I've been a Christian for 17 years and your message today really made me think more about my "maturity." In so many ways I'm still a baby and it was God's plan for me to hear what you said today. My daughter, (name), attended with me and she is so excited about Element Church. It's exactly what she's been looking for. She too is a Christian and she's looking for other Christian kids to hang out with. We spoke with Curtis after the service and he invited (name) to attend next Saturday. When we got to the car, she was already texting a friend to see if she could go with her. I'm so glad to see she wants to get involved! May God bless your ministry and continue to guide you. I'm sure you can't wait to see what He has planned for Element!"
--- We have a local pastor in town who pastors a healthy, life giving, successful church who has been an incredible support for us. Because of him telling people about Element Church we've seen people attend. HOW COOL IS THAT? A pastor who will say "You should try Element Church." CRAZY, WOW, PHENOMENAL. I won't share his name cause I don't have permission to, but thanks to you pastor (you know who you are, lol).
--- Another local pastor is going to try and help make some space available for our use in his church in an emergency situation. That way if we were to suddenly lose our space in the theater we could meet there to buy us some time. Again, even if it doesn't happen, how cool is that that a pastor would try and let you use their church's extra space. Also, again, thank you pastor. (You also know who you are)
--- I am being stretched as a leader. I feel we're at another tipping point. We've had a great start and people are coming. Now we need to make that move into connection mode and team building mode. We have AMAZING volunteers. We need more. We're getting to the point now where our initial volunteers cannot handle the amount of people we are bringing in. Some of our e:kidz volunteers have yet to attend church. That needs to change. Some of our greeters have yet to come to church and just be greeted. MOST, if not all, of our set up/tear down crew and band have yet to been able to come and be served instead of serving. We need to build our teams now. It's that next level for us. We're always going to be looking at that next level, how do we break the barrier, how do we grow?
--- We've had several kids not wanting to leave the e:kidz area after church because they like it so much. That is what I like to hear. Keep up the good work Katrina and e:kidz staff.
That's about it. I know I'm forgetting something but that's alright.
WOW - CRAZY - PHENOMENAL
Following Christ,
Jeff
Blog Link
Adam has a new post up. He thinks he's copyrighting phrases now. Maybe I won't post his blog link on here. Maybe I'll link you to somewhere else. Oh, OK. Adam and the band did awesome on Sunday. Here is a link to Adam's Sunday "Reflection". Check out our service video online later this week. They pulled off the most music we've ever done.
Adam's Blog
Adam's Blog
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday Night Reflection (God is up to something)
What is happening at Element is such a God thing. I almost feel embarrassed that I'm a part of it. All I can think of is Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" I am seriously BLOWN AWAY that I am somehow a part of this. That God would use me with this incredible team of people to connect people with the Life in Christ. If someone would ask me what we did to start out so well, you know what I'd say? "We listened to God." I don't know what we've done. God has just started bringing people to us who are hungry. I hope everyone who read this knows that I (we) truly want God to receive ALL the glory! Only God can make happen what's happened. I heard Perry Noble say at a leadership conference that "Good leadership is simply listening to God and doing what he says." I agree.
Today we had 167 people in church. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Our third week meeting and 167 people came out. Had many more respond today to need to have God change something in their life. I preached on our Core Value of Change today. That every human being longs to be better than what they are.
The worship band was off the charts today. Even with a few adjustments through the service that no one picked up on it was awesome! I'm so wired every Sunday now that I can't even lay down for a nap. I can't wait to see how God continues to bring people to us who need Life.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Today we had 167 people in church. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Our third week meeting and 167 people came out. Had many more respond today to need to have God change something in their life. I preached on our Core Value of Change today. That every human being longs to be better than what they are.
The worship band was off the charts today. Even with a few adjustments through the service that no one picked up on it was awesome! I'm so wired every Sunday now that I can't even lay down for a nap. I can't wait to see how God continues to bring people to us who need Life.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Keep getting these...
We keep getting emails and notes like this. Let me tell you, as a church planter, it's these comments that keep you going: (Names removed for privacy)
Thanks a lot, Jeff. (name) and I had a great time at church on Sunday and felt very at home there. We will definitely be coming back and both her and I are looking forward to getting involved. We moved here from (state) a few months ago and have been looking for a church centered around small groups and an active younger crowd and focused on servant evangelism. This church seems to be just that. It was such a blessing and answer to prayer to find Element and we are excited to watch it grow and interact with the community living the love of Jesus.
Thanks a lot, Jeff. (name) and I had a great time at church on Sunday and felt very at home there. We will definitely be coming back and both her and I are looking forward to getting involved. We moved here from (state) a few months ago and have been looking for a church centered around small groups and an active younger crowd and focused on servant evangelism. This church seems to be just that. It was such a blessing and answer to prayer to find Element and we are excited to watch it grow and interact with the community living the love of Jesus.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Great Start
This week has started off so much better than last week. The feeling for all of us in the office has been awesome. I feel further ahead. More prepared and just at ease. Last week I felt like nothing was right. I really feel as if we were under some opposition in the spiritual realm and I think we were dealing with coming off that high of launch week which we worked so hard for. Sunday morning as I woke up, I really felt freed. Anyway, this week is going great. I'm STOKED for Sunday. We're pulling out all the stops. A great set design. Adam and the band are pulling off our biggest worship and music set yet. And the word God has laid on my heart, I am more excited about than in a long time. The Scripture He is unfolding to me is amazing on our core value of change. We're seeing wonderful response from people and I hope that the newspaper article from yesterday brings some new people in.
We had a great creative planning session today. Looking ahead to the next several weeks. We're gonna try a new approach next week during the worship core value. I'm excited about what we are planning.
Tomorrow morning, Grant, Adam and I are driving to Denver in a down and back morning. Doing a surprise something for Sunday morning.
Thanks for following
Following Christ,
Jeff
We had a great creative planning session today. Looking ahead to the next several weeks. We're gonna try a new approach next week during the worship core value. I'm excited about what we are planning.
Tomorrow morning, Grant, Adam and I are driving to Denver in a down and back morning. Doing a surprise something for Sunday morning.
Thanks for following
Following Christ,
Jeff
Monday, October 15, 2007
Element Church: Top Story
Our church was the top story in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle today. Brandon (reporter) who has been following our beginnings wrote the article and did a fantastic job. Here is the link to the Wyoming News website and story. On the front of the paper is a full color picture of our worship service. Here ya go.
Some Popcorn With Those Hymnals?
Some Popcorn With Those Hymnals?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sunday Night Reflection
-- Had another great service today. I seriously, absolutely love what we do. I love the early Sunday mornings. I had a GREAT devotional time this morning and really felt God helped me in some areas.
-- I had struggled all week with my message. Not struggled to get it done but just struggled to "feel" it. I really felt last night as I was going through it in bed that God was telling me it was the right message. I really felt like maybe the enemy was trying to stand in the way of the message. I woke up at 3 AM this morning still just not feeling right about it. This morning when I sat down to study it, it just felt right. I really prayed for the Lord to remove any opposition to the message if there was any.
-- The Scripture I read this morning in my devotions that really helped me was in 2 Kings 6:16. Elisha said "Don't be afraid! For there are more on our side than on theirs!" It spoke right to my heart. I literally felt freed to preach the message after that verse. It's actually a REALLY cool Bible story too. Check it out here.
-- We had 127 this week. It was a great return week after 200 for launch and about 160 of those from Cheyenne. Our offering was $1349. We had five more individuals indicate today that they prayed to receive Christ into their heart. How cool is that? Please pray that we can connect with those people and that God would bring them to a church where they can be discipled.
-- Our volunteers again knocked it out of the park. I need to get some pictures of our whole set up. The band did incredible and we had some very cool creative elements on the platform. We built some giant Lego's this week to illustrate how we are made to connect. We missed a couple of our core families. It's neat to have people already that we "miss" when they are gone. They are a vital part of who we are.
-- We've utilized all five senses in worship the last 2 weeks. For our launch series we are talking about core values of Element Church. For us we feel our core values rise up out of the cravings of our soul. So, last week we had popcorn popping as people came in, and we gave out free popcorn in the service. So you get smell, taste, touch (of popcorn), sound and sight. This week we gave out candy bars since many of us crave chocolate. We actually had chocolate scented candles burning too. Then we gave out 2 connected Lego's to each person at the end of the service to illustrate our longing to belong. To connect. I love utilizing all the senses. Brings everything together. Got some other cool ideas to use through this series.
-- We are already discussing what to do WHEN we outgrow the theater. Actually had 2 people ask us today what we were going to do. We looked at a building on Thursday here in town. It's an empty store front. Too expensive at this time but a possibility down the road.
-- Tomorrow morning (Monday) Element Church is going to be the feature article on the front page of the newspaper. A great young man from the paper has been following all our previews through launch. He has written the feature article. He was in church today.
-- Can't wait to get started tomorrow. We have prayer and planning session first thing tomorrow morning. Staff meeting at 11:30 AM. (We are reading a GREAT book as a staff. It's a total business book but it is AWESOME on getting organized with systems and checkpoints) Tuesday we have our creative team meeting and then the rest of the week is accomplishing what those meetings produce.
Thanks for following. Keep praying for people to come who are hungry in their soul.
Following Christ,
Jeff
-- I had struggled all week with my message. Not struggled to get it done but just struggled to "feel" it. I really felt last night as I was going through it in bed that God was telling me it was the right message. I really felt like maybe the enemy was trying to stand in the way of the message. I woke up at 3 AM this morning still just not feeling right about it. This morning when I sat down to study it, it just felt right. I really prayed for the Lord to remove any opposition to the message if there was any.
-- The Scripture I read this morning in my devotions that really helped me was in 2 Kings 6:16. Elisha said "Don't be afraid! For there are more on our side than on theirs!" It spoke right to my heart. I literally felt freed to preach the message after that verse. It's actually a REALLY cool Bible story too. Check it out here.
-- We had 127 this week. It was a great return week after 200 for launch and about 160 of those from Cheyenne. Our offering was $1349. We had five more individuals indicate today that they prayed to receive Christ into their heart. How cool is that? Please pray that we can connect with those people and that God would bring them to a church where they can be discipled.
-- Our volunteers again knocked it out of the park. I need to get some pictures of our whole set up. The band did incredible and we had some very cool creative elements on the platform. We built some giant Lego's this week to illustrate how we are made to connect. We missed a couple of our core families. It's neat to have people already that we "miss" when they are gone. They are a vital part of who we are.
-- We've utilized all five senses in worship the last 2 weeks. For our launch series we are talking about core values of Element Church. For us we feel our core values rise up out of the cravings of our soul. So, last week we had popcorn popping as people came in, and we gave out free popcorn in the service. So you get smell, taste, touch (of popcorn), sound and sight. This week we gave out candy bars since many of us crave chocolate. We actually had chocolate scented candles burning too. Then we gave out 2 connected Lego's to each person at the end of the service to illustrate our longing to belong. To connect. I love utilizing all the senses. Brings everything together. Got some other cool ideas to use through this series.
-- We are already discussing what to do WHEN we outgrow the theater. Actually had 2 people ask us today what we were going to do. We looked at a building on Thursday here in town. It's an empty store front. Too expensive at this time but a possibility down the road.
-- Tomorrow morning (Monday) Element Church is going to be the feature article on the front page of the newspaper. A great young man from the paper has been following all our previews through launch. He has written the feature article. He was in church today.
-- Can't wait to get started tomorrow. We have prayer and planning session first thing tomorrow morning. Staff meeting at 11:30 AM. (We are reading a GREAT book as a staff. It's a total business book but it is AWESOME on getting organized with systems and checkpoints) Tuesday we have our creative team meeting and then the rest of the week is accomplishing what those meetings produce.
Thanks for following. Keep praying for people to come who are hungry in their soul.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Launch Letdown
Man, I have felt behind the entire week. Can I be honest here? Ever have one of those weeks where you just felt you couldn't get the ball rolling? It's not that you weren't working hard but it just doesn't seem like your work was producing anything. I take pride in the fact that we work HARD at our office. I've had times in ministry where I just wanted to get by. That is not the case here. We want to do things with excellence and pour all of our energy in the Sunday morning worship experience. We try to take Fridays off and work Sunday - Thursday. This week just seemed like we'd come off the mountain top experience. We were prepared and excited for Sunday and God did not disappoint. By Wednesday of this week I felt like we had accomplished nothing. We were working, and tasks were being accomplished but it felt weird. Anyway, it's days like this we need to remember that God doesn't want us to stay on the mountain top, but to use the mountain top experience to get through the valley. Another Sunday is coming and I trust it will be a mountain top as well. We poured ALL our energy and then some for months into last Sundays launch service. It's only natural to "feel" the letdown. Much of Monday and Tuesday I was still trying to wrap my brain around what happened Sunday. When Jesus took his inner circle (Peter, James and John) up the mountain where the transfiguration took place (Matthew 17:1-13) he was changed/morphed before them. Peter blurted out "THIS IS AWESOME! Let's build shelters and stay here" (my words). But Jesus said "Get up. Lets go back down the mountain". Then when Jesus ascended (Acts 1) into Heaven after his resurrection it says the disciples where standing there staring to Heaven. Two white-robed men suddenly appeared and said "Why are you staring into heaven?" In other words "Get down the mountain and start working". It may not feel the same, or be the same but it's just as important. May God help us to come down the mountain and work toward that next mountain top experience. Because we've been on the mountain with God, we can work through the valley.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Launch Upates
We continue to receive emails similar to this one: (names omitted)
Thank you and everyone connected for a very exciting service. A prayer was
answered as I attended your service with 2 of my 4 daughters. As a father I
have always placed at the top of my list wanting to do what I could do to
help my children in their walk of faith, joining with them hand in hand as
I feel a parent should. I am so happy to let you know that (child) and
(child) were as exited as I was to attend. One of my 5 grandsons (grandson)
age almost 8 and my only granddaughter (granddaughter) 8 were also very happy about
attending. We look forward to attending future services and finally calling
it our home church. I myself accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior 26 years
ago July 3rd, isn't it amazing how you never forget the time and place of
the most important event in your life.
And this one:
We thoroughly enjoyed this morning's worship service. Thank you for being
obedient and following God's call to Cheyenne. We are blessed to have you and
your team here. We are anxious to meet you and others from Element Church.
Please share more information about Monday night's Life group....We look forward to hearing from you.
This family attended our Life Group tonight in our home. I talked with them in the lobby following church and they wanted to come check it out. That was very cool.
--- Official offering count came to $1742.40. That is up from what I originally reported.
--- We had an awesome staff meeting today debriefing the launch service.
--- This deserves its own post but our volunteers our out of this world. The core group of people who have stepped up is AMAZING. Because of what they do 5 people found the Lord. No job is small in the connecting of people to Life.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Thank you and everyone connected for a very exciting service. A prayer was
answered as I attended your service with 2 of my 4 daughters. As a father I
have always placed at the top of my list wanting to do what I could do to
help my children in their walk of faith, joining with them hand in hand as
I feel a parent should. I am so happy to let you know that (child) and
(child) were as exited as I was to attend. One of my 5 grandsons (grandson)
age almost 8 and my only granddaughter (granddaughter) 8 were also very happy about
attending. We look forward to attending future services and finally calling
it our home church. I myself accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior 26 years
ago July 3rd, isn't it amazing how you never forget the time and place of
the most important event in your life.
And this one:
We thoroughly enjoyed this morning's worship service. Thank you for being
obedient and following God's call to Cheyenne. We are blessed to have you and
your team here. We are anxious to meet you and others from Element Church.
Please share more information about Monday night's Life group....We look forward to hearing from you.
This family attended our Life Group tonight in our home. I talked with them in the lobby following church and they wanted to come check it out. That was very cool.
--- Official offering count came to $1742.40. That is up from what I originally reported.
--- We had an awesome staff meeting today debriefing the launch service.
--- This deserves its own post but our volunteers our out of this world. The core group of people who have stepped up is AMAZING. Because of what they do 5 people found the Lord. No job is small in the connecting of people to Life.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Weekend Wrapup (Holy Hangover)
Man, today has been a holy hangover. My brain is still trying to wrap around all that happened yesterday. The whole weekend was just incredible. It just blows my mind. We are getting pictures online that you will be able to see. That theater was PACKED with people. Here are some highlights from the weekend.
Friday night: What a POWERFUL night. 24 of us gathered at the office for a time of focused praise and prayer for launch Sunday. What an absolutely powerful time. The presence and direction of God was thick, as we prayed for our city, for each other and specifically for launch Sunday. We took communion together for the first time as a team. It was so cool to see these people that God has brought us on their knees weeping over the city and people they know. Prayers were confident, focused and intentional. We were specifically praying for 150 people and 5 salvations.
Saturday: OU beat Texas. Nuff said!
Sunday: I think I was more confident in praying this week than I may have ever been. Toward the end of the week there was just a confidence in God that was unexplainable. And boy howdy did God show up. We had 200 people in church on Sunday. 153 in the e:worship auditorium and 47 in e:kidz or roaming volunteers. 31 first time guest connection cards were filled out and 5 people indicated that they crossed the line of faith and became followers of Jesus yesterday. THAT is what it's all about.
Here is a link to pictures of Sunday.
We gave out free bags of theater popcorn in the middle of my message yesterday. We had the popcorn popping as people were walking so the smell filled the lobby. Then we gave it out during the message as we were talking about cravings. It was a cool little illustration.
We added a couple of new elements to the stage set up. Used some tension fabric to highlight the platform. It REALLY made the stage pop. Added a couple of flat screen TVs just intended to be creative elements but they became a Godsend when we had to use the front row for seating and people used the TVs to read lyrics off of. Cool how God works even those little details out.
Out of the 200 people only 34 were out of town family and friends. That means that 166 people were from the Cheyenne area. I sent an email follow up to everyone who wrote down their email and already received 3 emails back saying they will be back in church this week.
Our offering was right at $1600. Don't have the final count on that.
What's next? What is that next step. We have definitely NOT arrived. This is only the beginning. We will be faithful to work, risk, love, and serve and I know God will be faithful to bring the harvest. What an amazing weekend. Pray for great follow up and for people to return. Looking forward already to Sunday.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Friday night: What a POWERFUL night. 24 of us gathered at the office for a time of focused praise and prayer for launch Sunday. What an absolutely powerful time. The presence and direction of God was thick, as we prayed for our city, for each other and specifically for launch Sunday. We took communion together for the first time as a team. It was so cool to see these people that God has brought us on their knees weeping over the city and people they know. Prayers were confident, focused and intentional. We were specifically praying for 150 people and 5 salvations.
Saturday: OU beat Texas. Nuff said!
Sunday: I think I was more confident in praying this week than I may have ever been. Toward the end of the week there was just a confidence in God that was unexplainable. And boy howdy did God show up. We had 200 people in church on Sunday. 153 in the e:worship auditorium and 47 in e:kidz or roaming volunteers. 31 first time guest connection cards were filled out and 5 people indicated that they crossed the line of faith and became followers of Jesus yesterday. THAT is what it's all about.
Here is a link to pictures of Sunday.
We gave out free bags of theater popcorn in the middle of my message yesterday. We had the popcorn popping as people were walking so the smell filled the lobby. Then we gave it out during the message as we were talking about cravings. It was a cool little illustration.
We added a couple of new elements to the stage set up. Used some tension fabric to highlight the platform. It REALLY made the stage pop. Added a couple of flat screen TVs just intended to be creative elements but they became a Godsend when we had to use the front row for seating and people used the TVs to read lyrics off of. Cool how God works even those little details out.
Out of the 200 people only 34 were out of town family and friends. That means that 166 people were from the Cheyenne area. I sent an email follow up to everyone who wrote down their email and already received 3 emails back saying they will be back in church this week.
Our offering was right at $1600. Don't have the final count on that.
What's next? What is that next step. We have definitely NOT arrived. This is only the beginning. We will be faithful to work, risk, love, and serve and I know God will be faithful to bring the harvest. What an amazing weekend. Pray for great follow up and for people to return. Looking forward already to Sunday.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Sunday, October 7, 2007
?
I don't know what to title this post. I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY. As I stood outside next to our trailer with a tear running down my face, I was amazed at how a dream that was born in my heart by God was now a reality. Today, seriously, could not have gone ANY better. I am truly amazed. Check this out.
- Total attendance 200. That's right. 200 people came to our opening service. We haven't done a final count but we are guessing 35-40 were out of town friends and family.
- We had 153 people in the adult e:worship theater. With our set up eliminating some seats we figured we could PACK 160 in there. We couldn't have accommodated 10 more people. We had some of our team standing up the entire service. It was awesome to see.
- I just responded by email to 31 first time guest connection cards. 31? Are you kidding me. The marketing we did and the free pub we got seriously paid off. We had several people come because of the postcards in the mail. Another family from the magazine article. Two from the gas buydown. One guy came due to our flag football team (that's cool). A couple more through the newspaper. Several friends invited people. And we had one from the billboards. AWESOME.
- Five souls crossed the line of faith today and became followers of Christ. THAT is worth it all. I counted around 9 who raised their hands today and said they received Christ. Five of them marked that on their connection card so we'll be able to follow up with them.
- The Spirit was very heavy today. The band was absolutely SMOKIN' and totally led us into the presence of God today. The energy in the room was amazing. To see the place full was AWESOME!
- The lobby was packed with people before and after the service talking and hanging out. Our new set up with banners and set design in e:worship was off the hook. MAN, it looked good in there today.
- Our volunteers were out of this world today. They adapted to the business of what was going on and totally stepped up their game.
I am absolutely wiped out. I got a power nap in today but my mind was racing so much it was hard to even eat after service. I am exhausted. Can't wait for staff meeting tomorrow. We are debriefing today and seeing what's next. This is weird (and will be a post later this week) but I am totally not satisfied. I don't ever want to be. Don't get me wrong. I'm pleased. Incredibly blown away. But not satisfied. I've already been thinking today. How do we take this to the next level. Be praying for people to come back. We want this to continue, not just end today.
Following Christ,
Jeff
- Total attendance 200. That's right. 200 people came to our opening service. We haven't done a final count but we are guessing 35-40 were out of town friends and family.
- We had 153 people in the adult e:worship theater. With our set up eliminating some seats we figured we could PACK 160 in there. We couldn't have accommodated 10 more people. We had some of our team standing up the entire service. It was awesome to see.
- I just responded by email to 31 first time guest connection cards. 31? Are you kidding me. The marketing we did and the free pub we got seriously paid off. We had several people come because of the postcards in the mail. Another family from the magazine article. Two from the gas buydown. One guy came due to our flag football team (that's cool). A couple more through the newspaper. Several friends invited people. And we had one from the billboards. AWESOME.
- Five souls crossed the line of faith today and became followers of Christ. THAT is worth it all. I counted around 9 who raised their hands today and said they received Christ. Five of them marked that on their connection card so we'll be able to follow up with them.
- The Spirit was very heavy today. The band was absolutely SMOKIN' and totally led us into the presence of God today. The energy in the room was amazing. To see the place full was AWESOME!
- The lobby was packed with people before and after the service talking and hanging out. Our new set up with banners and set design in e:worship was off the hook. MAN, it looked good in there today.
- Our volunteers were out of this world today. They adapted to the business of what was going on and totally stepped up their game.
I am absolutely wiped out. I got a power nap in today but my mind was racing so much it was hard to even eat after service. I am exhausted. Can't wait for staff meeting tomorrow. We are debriefing today and seeing what's next. This is weird (and will be a post later this week) but I am totally not satisfied. I don't ever want to be. Don't get me wrong. I'm pleased. Incredibly blown away. But not satisfied. I've already been thinking today. How do we take this to the next level. Be praying for people to come back. We want this to continue, not just end today.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Friday, October 5, 2007
19 Months: 7 Days Ago
Right about 19 months and 7 days ago this adventure started. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that we are actually starting this church, THIS SUNDAY! It seriously seems like it was just 7 months ago that this started, but it's been 19. The excitement in the office yesterday was electric. For the first time in this whole process I got butterflies in my stomach yesterday. It was the same feeling I would get when playing sports in school, just that nervous anticipation. Here are some memories and thoughts of the last 19 months and 7 days.
--- I'll talk of this over and over till the day I die. February 28th, 2006 God confirmed to me through Scripture that we were to go and start a new church in Cheyenne. I asked Grant that day "Do you ever think about church planting?" His response "I think about it every day bro!" That 1 minute conversation started a course of adventure for us that will/has forever changed our lives.
--- The Sunday I told Dan of this calling in my heart is a day in the process I'll never forget. I went over to his house on a Sunday afternoon. He had to know something was up. I was scared to death, don't know why. Felt the same way when I told my dad I was called to the ministry. Both Dan and my Dad are two the of the godliest men I know so being afraid doesn't make sense. God had already been speaking to Dan's heart about me leaving. That was amazing. He wasn't surprised! The Lord had already prepared his heart for what I was going to tell him. Dan has been nothing but 100% supportive since then.
--- Church planters boot camp. We attended boot camp in June of 06' in Pennsylvania. I remember going through three emotions when we were there. "What in the world have we got ourselves into?" "Man, I think we can do this." "When can we start, we can definitely do this!"
This is a church planter MUST. I don't know where we would be were it not for boot camp.
--- Result from boot camp. They had challenged everyone to be in your mission field for a year before launch. We were planning on coming here in June of 07' and launching in September. Because of their advice, and the divine working of God in the hearts of HPCC and provision of a youth pastor for them, we were able to move here in February of 07' which gave us a 4 month head start. We wouldn't be ready to launch this week if we would have arrived in June.
--- September of 06 Keenan and Katrina moved to Cheyenne. Again, one of those things that got us to where we are at today. They paved the way and made some key relationships for us in the community. HUGE step of faith for them to do that. They were here all lone for 5 months.
--- October of 2006. Our first team meeting with Adam and Amber. Adam and Amber didn't commit at that time but the Lord spoke to Grants heart and said "This is the first meeting of your team." I didn't look for anyone else. Adam was the first person that God laid on my heart to be our worship leader. I talked to him from October 06 to February of 07 before that punk agreed to come down here. LOL It was a huge step for them as well to leave Adams home church and the only place he had done ministry. God clearly paved the way for them as well with confirmations through friends, family and Scripture that this was God's move for them.
--- Adam joining the team just completed it all. I don't know of anyone else on this entire team I would do things differently with. God brought us together for this calling. That amazes me.
--- March 2007: 6 of us meet in a basement to start Element Church.
May 2007: Gas buydown serving over 200 vehicles
June 2007: Life Groups multiply from 1 - 3
June 2007: Unplugged worship service begins with 34 people
June 23, 2007: We serve thousands of people at Superday with inflatable games
July 1, 2007: First Preview 75 people
August 5: Second Preview
Sept. 29th: Gas Buydown, over 5,000 gallons and 480 people served.
Sept. 30th: Final Preview 78 people in attendance
Oct. 7th, 2007: ????? What will happen. This is not the end. This is not the day I see in my heart. In fact. I don't see an end. The opportunities for God to work in Cheyenne are LIMITLESS. What will we do? Where will we go? Who will we reach? WOW! It is here. I can't believe it.
Following Christ,
Jeff
--- I'll talk of this over and over till the day I die. February 28th, 2006 God confirmed to me through Scripture that we were to go and start a new church in Cheyenne. I asked Grant that day "Do you ever think about church planting?" His response "I think about it every day bro!" That 1 minute conversation started a course of adventure for us that will/has forever changed our lives.
--- The Sunday I told Dan of this calling in my heart is a day in the process I'll never forget. I went over to his house on a Sunday afternoon. He had to know something was up. I was scared to death, don't know why. Felt the same way when I told my dad I was called to the ministry. Both Dan and my Dad are two the of the godliest men I know so being afraid doesn't make sense. God had already been speaking to Dan's heart about me leaving. That was amazing. He wasn't surprised! The Lord had already prepared his heart for what I was going to tell him. Dan has been nothing but 100% supportive since then.
--- Church planters boot camp. We attended boot camp in June of 06' in Pennsylvania. I remember going through three emotions when we were there. "What in the world have we got ourselves into?" "Man, I think we can do this." "When can we start, we can definitely do this!"
This is a church planter MUST. I don't know where we would be were it not for boot camp.
--- Result from boot camp. They had challenged everyone to be in your mission field for a year before launch. We were planning on coming here in June of 07' and launching in September. Because of their advice, and the divine working of God in the hearts of HPCC and provision of a youth pastor for them, we were able to move here in February of 07' which gave us a 4 month head start. We wouldn't be ready to launch this week if we would have arrived in June.
--- September of 06 Keenan and Katrina moved to Cheyenne. Again, one of those things that got us to where we are at today. They paved the way and made some key relationships for us in the community. HUGE step of faith for them to do that. They were here all lone for 5 months.
--- October of 2006. Our first team meeting with Adam and Amber. Adam and Amber didn't commit at that time but the Lord spoke to Grants heart and said "This is the first meeting of your team." I didn't look for anyone else. Adam was the first person that God laid on my heart to be our worship leader. I talked to him from October 06 to February of 07 before that punk agreed to come down here. LOL It was a huge step for them as well to leave Adams home church and the only place he had done ministry. God clearly paved the way for them as well with confirmations through friends, family and Scripture that this was God's move for them.
--- Adam joining the team just completed it all. I don't know of anyone else on this entire team I would do things differently with. God brought us together for this calling. That amazes me.
--- March 2007: 6 of us meet in a basement to start Element Church.
May 2007: Gas buydown serving over 200 vehicles
June 2007: Life Groups multiply from 1 - 3
June 2007: Unplugged worship service begins with 34 people
June 23, 2007: We serve thousands of people at Superday with inflatable games
July 1, 2007: First Preview 75 people
August 5: Second Preview
Sept. 29th: Gas Buydown, over 5,000 gallons and 480 people served.
Sept. 30th: Final Preview 78 people in attendance
Oct. 7th, 2007: ????? What will happen. This is not the end. This is not the day I see in my heart. In fact. I don't see an end. The opportunities for God to work in Cheyenne are LIMITLESS. What will we do? Where will we go? Who will we reach? WOW! It is here. I can't believe it.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Thursday, October 4, 2007
New Mover Cards
Each month, outreach.com will be sending out invites to Element Church to all the new movers into Cheyenne. The over sized postcard is VERY well done with our info on it. It's also personalized to the actual person being mailed to. On ours, the persons name is on the coffee cup. I posted pictures below of our cards. This month we sent out 200 cards costing a total of $178. We don't do a thing. Outreach does it all. I don't know why more churches aren't doing this. You can cut it off at any number you want. So if you can afford 50 cards to go out, they will only send 50. You can do it by zip code, radius around church, etc. Very cool deal. Anyway, every month those will go out for us.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Launch Week Updates
This week is really FLYING by. I cannot believe we are 4 days from launch. We are going to be doing some cool stage/set stuff this week. We're trying to finalize that. Here are some stuff that has been going on this week.
--- Our direct mail piece hit mailboxes today. Our family received one. Every home of 18-45 year olds in Cheyenne received an invite to Element Church this week. 8,049 to be exact. Thank you to Terri for finding Kinkos to get this done for us. It cost us more money but i think it's worth it to get it out.
--- Our "new mover" cards went out this past week. Through outreach.com we have purchased a new mover program. Each month Outreach sends out oversized postcard invites to all new movers in Cheyenne. It is VERY affordable and we are the only church in town doing it. IF another church decides to do it they cannot use the same design of card. I'll post a picture of the card on here tomorrow. Outreach sent out over 100 cards this month to new movers into Cheyenne.
--- We pumped 5,500 gallons of gas in four hours. 480 vehicles were filled up with gas. Got that report today. Kathy, from Big D Gas Stations, said they are receiving lots of comments and "thank yous" from people who attended. I'm convinced one of the families from this past Sunday was from the buydown. I STILL need to get the news highlights online for that. We have video footage too.
--- Sermon is complete. Worship is finalized. Tweaks are made. Purchases are purchased. I feel good about this Sunday. We have a large contingent from HPCC coming down sounds like. The Search video and finale is going to be awesome.
--- On Sunday we had the church write down names of people they want to see cross the line of faith. We then asked them to place the names in a bucket, sitting in a wheelchair, representing those who are spiritually paralyzed and need help getting to Jesus. One of the names that was put in the bucket on Sunday, told the person who wrote the name, that she got in her car on Sunday and just felt that she "needed to talk to God". How cool is that? It was HUGE confirmation for this person who wrote their name, that God answers prayer and is in the business of moving people toward Him.
--- We have 2 children dedications lining up and 2 folks who want to get baptized already. I'm excited about experiencing that for the first time.
That's about it for now. I got a few things I really want to post on and am finding myself a little busy this week. Try to get them down.
Following Christ,
Jeff
--- Our direct mail piece hit mailboxes today. Our family received one. Every home of 18-45 year olds in Cheyenne received an invite to Element Church this week. 8,049 to be exact. Thank you to Terri for finding Kinkos to get this done for us. It cost us more money but i think it's worth it to get it out.
--- Our "new mover" cards went out this past week. Through outreach.com we have purchased a new mover program. Each month Outreach sends out oversized postcard invites to all new movers in Cheyenne. It is VERY affordable and we are the only church in town doing it. IF another church decides to do it they cannot use the same design of card. I'll post a picture of the card on here tomorrow. Outreach sent out over 100 cards this month to new movers into Cheyenne.
--- We pumped 5,500 gallons of gas in four hours. 480 vehicles were filled up with gas. Got that report today. Kathy, from Big D Gas Stations, said they are receiving lots of comments and "thank yous" from people who attended. I'm convinced one of the families from this past Sunday was from the buydown. I STILL need to get the news highlights online for that. We have video footage too.
--- Sermon is complete. Worship is finalized. Tweaks are made. Purchases are purchased. I feel good about this Sunday. We have a large contingent from HPCC coming down sounds like. The Search video and finale is going to be awesome.
--- On Sunday we had the church write down names of people they want to see cross the line of faith. We then asked them to place the names in a bucket, sitting in a wheelchair, representing those who are spiritually paralyzed and need help getting to Jesus. One of the names that was put in the bucket on Sunday, told the person who wrote the name, that she got in her car on Sunday and just felt that she "needed to talk to God". How cool is that? It was HUGE confirmation for this person who wrote their name, that God answers prayer and is in the business of moving people toward Him.
--- We have 2 children dedications lining up and 2 folks who want to get baptized already. I'm excited about experiencing that for the first time.
That's about it for now. I got a few things I really want to post on and am finding myself a little busy this week. Try to get them down.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Monday, October 1, 2007
Weekend Wrapup
I've already shared some of this on the Sunday Reflection post. Here are some thoughts on the weekend.
--- Gas Buydown was phenomenal (I know, I like that word). Can't wait to be able to do it again. People are amazed at us doing it. We typically have two types of people come out. Those who are totally out to get everything they can from you. One guy brought at least 3 vehicles through. And others who are absolutely grateful and appreciative. It blows me away that someone would come through the line and cop an attitude or be impatient. Some folks were asking when we were doing it again. Thought that was cool. I hope we develop a reputation of regularly doing things for the community.
--- We're currently working on something to give the kids that attend the Cheyenne City Goblin Walk. GASP! Goblin walk? All I can say is, every kid who attends the Goblin Walk needs Jesus and so do their siblings, friends and parents.
--- Back to Gas Buydown. I'll try and get footage on the blog soon. Things are a tad busy with launch week.
--- Launch week. (How's that for a segway) I felt great today about where we were at. Got a few bugs figured out from yesterday. Still a few things we're trying to make smoother, but overall our service, I feel, is great! Love the way it flows and feels. Nothing spectacular about what we do, just like the way it flows.
--- I can't believe we are launching this Sunday. That blows my mind. So many thoughts about that. I was moved to tears Sunday when the Elementers came forward to write down on index cards, names of people they would pray for and do their best to help cross the line of faith. We placed those cards in a wheelchair representing the spiritually paralyzed people in our lives who cannot come to Christ on their own. Like the four men who lowered their friend before Jesus on a mat (Sunday's sermon) to what lengths will we go to get people to Jesus? You SERIOUSLY need to watch how we ended our service. I think it was the most creative sermon illustration/ending I've ever done. We wanted to actually lower someone onto the platform, we settled for what you'll see. Go to www.elementweb.net and click "watch and listen" to find the sermon video.
--- We had 78 in church on Sunday. For not launching yet, I'd say that is pretty good. That is a new high at Element Church. I just called Terri to get the offering total and in typical Jeff fashion totally forgot what the number was. I know it was $1800 something. I think $1813.
--- We are SO excited for launch. We have a couple of cool creative elements for Sunday that will add to the worship experience. We have some family and friends who will be coming in to celebrate with us. Pastor Dan and Liz will be coming from HPCC. A couple other families as well are coming down to support us.
--- Man, I have so much more on my mind and heart right now but I know this has gotten too long. I'll try and blog more about it later this week. If you're an Elementer, I love you guys. If you're a prayerful supporter, THANK YOU! If you're a curious onlooker, stay curious. I don't have any detractors yet, but if you're out there, just stay silent. If you're Bob Stoops, WHAT THE WORLD? GET THEM SOONERS IN GEAR!
Following Christ,
Jeff
--- Gas Buydown was phenomenal (I know, I like that word). Can't wait to be able to do it again. People are amazed at us doing it. We typically have two types of people come out. Those who are totally out to get everything they can from you. One guy brought at least 3 vehicles through. And others who are absolutely grateful and appreciative. It blows me away that someone would come through the line and cop an attitude or be impatient. Some folks were asking when we were doing it again. Thought that was cool. I hope we develop a reputation of regularly doing things for the community.
--- We're currently working on something to give the kids that attend the Cheyenne City Goblin Walk. GASP! Goblin walk? All I can say is, every kid who attends the Goblin Walk needs Jesus and so do their siblings, friends and parents.
--- Back to Gas Buydown. I'll try and get footage on the blog soon. Things are a tad busy with launch week.
--- Launch week. (How's that for a segway) I felt great today about where we were at. Got a few bugs figured out from yesterday. Still a few things we're trying to make smoother, but overall our service, I feel, is great! Love the way it flows and feels. Nothing spectacular about what we do, just like the way it flows.
--- I can't believe we are launching this Sunday. That blows my mind. So many thoughts about that. I was moved to tears Sunday when the Elementers came forward to write down on index cards, names of people they would pray for and do their best to help cross the line of faith. We placed those cards in a wheelchair representing the spiritually paralyzed people in our lives who cannot come to Christ on their own. Like the four men who lowered their friend before Jesus on a mat (Sunday's sermon) to what lengths will we go to get people to Jesus? You SERIOUSLY need to watch how we ended our service. I think it was the most creative sermon illustration/ending I've ever done. We wanted to actually lower someone onto the platform, we settled for what you'll see. Go to www.elementweb.net and click "watch and listen" to find the sermon video.
--- We had 78 in church on Sunday. For not launching yet, I'd say that is pretty good. That is a new high at Element Church. I just called Terri to get the offering total and in typical Jeff fashion totally forgot what the number was. I know it was $1800 something. I think $1813.
--- We are SO excited for launch. We have a couple of cool creative elements for Sunday that will add to the worship experience. We have some family and friends who will be coming in to celebrate with us. Pastor Dan and Liz will be coming from HPCC. A couple other families as well are coming down to support us.
--- Man, I have so much more on my mind and heart right now but I know this has gotten too long. I'll try and blog more about it later this week. If you're an Elementer, I love you guys. If you're a prayerful supporter, THANK YOU! If you're a curious onlooker, stay curious. I don't have any detractors yet, but if you're out there, just stay silent. If you're Bob Stoops, WHAT THE WORLD? GET THEM SOONERS IN GEAR!
Following Christ,
Jeff
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