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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