Element Church --- Personal Story

Hey Element Church. We got this email today from a regular attender at Element Church. I asked for permission to blog it and received such. I've edited a few things out to protect the innocent. This is an AWESOME story!

Pastor Jeff,
Something exciting happened to me this morning and I just had to share it.
First off, my husband and I have decided that Element Church is where we belong. We have ALWAYS had a passion for teenagers, and have been very active in youth group leadership - well - since we were teenagers ourselves. Sunday you mentioned your passion for teaching today's youth and expressed it exactly the way we have for the last 25 years of our marriage, we decided THIS is our church.

The other thing I have to share is even more exciting! I have been looking for a nice, used, queen size bed for my guest room. I am really thrifty, but I like quality. The other day I found an ad on Craigslist for a mattress in Greeley Colorado, for twenty bucks. After talking to the gal about it, I decided it would be worth the twenty bucks in gas to buy it. On the way to Greeley this morning I thought, "this mattress is going to be crap, you get what you pay for, turn around and don't waste the gas". But I felt the urge to move forward. I got to Greeley and found the [clear throat] dumpy basement apartment to look at the mattress. I was greeted by a very sweet little two year old with a binky in her mouth, I LOVE kids, and she wanted to show me her movies, so her mama showed me to the collection of DVDs while this sweet little one showed me each and every one. The mother commented that normally her little one is shy and I told her I have a grand daughter that age and just love being at her level. We talked a bit more, I looked at the mattress, found it to be above and beyond my high standards, and we proceeded to load it into my truck. I felt an nudge from the Lord to give her forty dollars, not twenty. Upon handing her the money she began crying and told me her mother had just told her that morning that an angel would be coming to visit today. She told me I was that angel. After a brief conversation, she rededicated her life to Christ with her little girl sitting on her lap smiling up at me!

I don't tell you this story to boast or brag (quite the opposite, as I am really shy), but to show you that the "Element Church Gives Back" continues even after we have used the money we received. God is honoring your committment and decision to turn the offering back over to the people of the church. Please pray for that young single mom and her daughter. Their names are Lindsey and Cienna.

Now that is cool! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Satan's Sex Ed Update

Hey Element Church. I am here in my office working on my Sex Ed sermons and thought I'd blog about some thoughts. Wednesday is my study day. As stated in this post, I have to have a pretty strict routine or I just don't get things done. So Wednesday I dedicate entirely to getting sermons prepared and studying for them. I like to stay at least two weeks ahead on sermon preparation. I don't schedule any appointments or meetings on Wednesday and try not to take many phone calls (unless you're in my fav 5). lol Anyway, I'm working on these Sex Ed sermons and let me tell you, this is weighing heavy on me. I've battled more what to say and what NOT to say in these sermons than in most I do. I want to be TOTALLY honest and bold in the Truth on sex, yet we want to have tact and taste as well in how we present it. The conclusion is, this is possibly going to be the most uncomfortable I've been on the platform in a while. This series is definitely rated EC-17 (Element Church - parents STRONGLY cautioned). While I know that some people won't/don't like what we say or do in this series, I know this: Our third graders are most likely hearing and learning more explicit material than we will study over the next four weeks. Please pray for me/us as we attack these lies of the devil. For far too long we've been deceived when it comes to sex and we want to EXPOSE satan and storm the gates of hell with the Truth of God's Word. Many of you have already sent encouraging words and we thank you for that. Again, lets bathe this series in prayer that God would use His Word to set the captives free and to bring redemption to the lost. Thanks Element Church!

Following Christ,

Jeff

One Year Anniversary

Hey Element Church! This past Sunday was the one year anniversary of our move to Cheyenne. I CANNOT imagine not making that move. This coming Sunday is the one year anniversary of our first ever Element Church event. While we were still packing up our house and preparing to move, Keenan was working hard on planning a Super Bowl party hosted by Element Church. We arrived in town with the moving van on a Monday and by Sunday our house was completely ready to host this party. Several people who came to that party are now regular attenders and contributors to Element Church. It's amazing to see how far God has brought us. We were SO excited that anyone would come hang out with us. Grant and Ben drove down from Gillette for the night. It was great! Little did we know it was the beginning of what we have now one year later. Here are a few pics of the festivities. Congratulations Element Church on your one year anniversary (at least when it comes to events) lol.

First Friday

Hey Element Church! Once again, First Friday is upon us and we completely forgot to announce it. SO, this is your announcement. First Friday is this Friday at 7 PM at our office (1011 E. Lincolnway). It's a GREAT time of prayer and praise as we dedicate the next month of Element Church to the Lord. Childcare is available at the office for First Friday. Hope to see you there! Don't miss it.

Is Christ in your routine?

Adam was gone today to his cousins funeral in Wichita. Our weeks typically are INSANE as we try to get everything done. We have intentionally tried to act as a church bigger than what we are. Why? That's for another post, but simply put, we want to be organized as a church double the size we are, so if we do double in size, we are ready. We call it "Dressed for the wedding". Anyway, in order to accomplish what we need to each week, we rely on a pretty strict routine. Mondays are JAMMED full of planning meetings most of the day. Either we are debriefing the previous day, meeting to plan the next weeks stuff, with staff, or accomplishing tasks from those meetings. Today, with Adam gone I was COMPLETELY lost. It took me a while to get in the groove. A majority of our staff was tied up today too so we didn't have staff meeting. I felt like a child lost in a grocery store. (Terri had to tell me to quit crying a couple of times) All those feelings because a few people in my life weren't around FOR ONE STINKIN' DAY! The people who were a normal part of my routine weren't around. It made me think. Is Christ so much a part of our "routine" our life that when we leave Him out it throws off our whole day? How often in our lives have you missed a day, then two, then a week (maybe longer) of spending some personal time with Christ, and you barely noticed? I was like that. (In no way am I boasting in what's next) In my life today I am FINALLY to the point where spending good, effective, meaningful time with God is as habitual, natural and "routine" as Mondays in the office. It took work. It took some mornings when I didn't want to get up but I did. It took changing habits and making new ones. Just like Mondays full of meetings took a while to get used to, so did MAKING time for God each day BECAUSE IF I DIDN'T I couldn't get done in my life what I wanted to. Anyway, just some thoughts.

Element Gives Back

Some great new stories on Element Gives Back. www.elementgivesback.com

Sunday Rumination (1-27-08)

Hey Element Church. I think I had the most fun at church today than I have ever had! WOW! It was a BLAST to end our service the way we did doing the percussion deal on the trash cans (watch service online to see it). I closed my sermon by saying "As a church we are not called to remain silent, but to make some noise". When then did an entire percussion solo on trash and paint cans that Bryant (one of our drummers) wrote. It was off the HOOK! AND ADAM LET ME PLAY A TRASHCAN (still waiting for my keyboard solo). We played with the band on the closing song (This Is The Noise We Make). It seemed like people really liked it. The energy was very high in the room. Here are my thoughts and results from the day.

--- 307 today in church. PTL! We had 147 in first service so thank you to all who came at 9 AM. It definitely helped open some seats for the 2nd service. We took the drape down in first service and opened the whole theater. We think we can get to 350 at the theater before we are absolutely maxed out! Pray that God opens up/reveals our next location.

--- I felt we ended the series on finances well. We REALLY hit hard today on vision, and where we are going as Element Church. We are going to continue to feed people who are hungry for Jesus. I felt like people were connecting with where we felt God wanted us to go. Vision is a hard thing. Typically people are either totally on board or against it. Not much in between. We are going to chase the vision and dream God set out before us without wavering, and that means sometimes that some wonderful people won't be along for the ride.

--- I know it was tough for Adam this weekend with the loss of his cousin, but he rocked again today leading worship (even when his guitar went completely out of tune). Should I even say it? The band again did an INCREDIBLE job leading us in worship. We are blessed at Element with great musicians and leaders.

--- Pray for Adam and Amber as they head out tomorrow to fly to Wichita for his cousins funeral. It's been VERY rough on their entire family. His cousin was only 23 years old. Tragic. We pray for God's rest and peace to cover them this week.

--- Set up was incredible today. We kind of changed our approach to set up, as far as the order in which things get put up. It got us done with set up in the best time ever. No problems with anything really led to what I think was our best set up day since launch.

--- Currently we have someone running sound and someone running lights. That is HUGE for us and they are both doing a GREAT job! It helps so much in transitions when you can focus on one thing.

--- WOW! This is totally off the subject but I can't wait for Lost to start this week! HA! I know, that's sad. Lost is possibly the best tv drama of all time.

--- Alright, that's it for now. Can't wait for Satan's Sex Ed. Excited to teach God's view on sex and expose some of satan's lies in regards to sex.

Thanks for following. I love all you Elementers.

Following Christ,

Jeff

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Element Church --- Excited for this Sunday!

I went to praise practice for a while yesterday night, I'm still not allowed to play the keyboard (Adam hasn't believed in my super ability yet) but I do get to have a part in an aspect of worship. We are ending the service HUGE on Sunday in a way that I've never done before in church. It's going to be fun. Don't miss it. I met with two other guys this morning who are also playing a role in this ending thing. Some people know what we're doing, but I don't want to blow the surprise of our ending. Again, it will be FUN! We're not giving anything away, just a BIG ending to our series.

Deal Or No Deal has been VERY exciting. People are being set free from financial bondage and set free to use their money for God's Kingdom. If you haven't signed up for the finance seminar and want to go, make sure you get on that. We got the information packet from the seminar speakers and the stuff they are going over is FANTASTIC!! VERY excited for the seminar. Tickets are FREE but you MUST have a ticket to attend. You can get them on Sunday morning at Element or through the web-site (www.elementweb.net)

If you can attend 9:00 AM service please do so. We packed out the 10:30 service last week and need to make more room there. Thanks! We want to keep as many empty seats available as we can for guests. Looking forward to worshiping with you this week!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Weekly Date Night #2

I'm sure you all could REALLY care less about my date night but this is my blog so I can share what I want. Sabrina and I had home date night #2 last night. This is going to seriously jeopardize my man card status, but we pick a recipe from one of the daily Rachel Ray shows from the week and make it together. This week was Texas Size Chili Cheese Fries. Last week we made homemade pizza that was off the hook. This weeks chili cheese fries were AMAZING. During our cooking it's great just to talk about the week, day, our lives and have it be normal adult conversation. We then sat down to eat our fries while watching some drivel in TV (Celebrity Apprentice). I know, we're sick. We also started something on Wednesday's that we are adopting from my childhood. Each Wednesday we are having restaurant night. Basically it's a fun way to get rid of leftovers with our kids. I am the waiter and Sabrina is the cook. The kids go out to the front door and come in like it's a restaurant. Then they order from the list of leftovers and we cook it and serve it to them. It was pretty fun. Anyway, a couple of new family things we are doing to "Keep it real".

Element Church --- Prayer Request

Hey everyone. I just talked with Adam about a loss in their family last night. They got a call about three oclock in the morning informing them that one of Adams cousins was hit head on by a semi truck on the interstate. Adam told me their family is VERY close and these cousins are like brothers to him. Adam's family is heading down to Wichita and Adam and Amber will head down after church on Sunday to be with the family and attend the funeral. Adam may post more on his blog but I wanted to inform anyone here to please pray for them and his family. Thank you.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Element Church --- Major Request

Calling all Elementers (well not all just about 40). If you attend Element Church we need some people to switch from the 10:30 AM service to the 9:00 AM service. We are VERY near capacity at 10:30 and that is the most common service for first time guests to attend. If you can, PLEASE come to the 9:00 AM service. We want to enable ourselves to stay in the theater as long as possible AND keep growing. Thanks GUYS! Can't wait for Sunday.

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Element Church --- Community Involvement

I have a great opportunity to join a community partnership that will give us GREAT connections into the needs of people in our community. I've been invited to begin attending the Laramie County Community Partnership meetings each month. "The mission of the Laramie County Community Partnership is to maximize resources and influence change to improve conditions of wellbeing for people in Laramie County." All sorts of different non-profit groups, need groups, community organizations come together to (as the mission statement says) maximize resources and influence change...They deal with family and social issues, homeless issues, alcohol and tobacco issues, etc. I am VERY excited to get my hand into something like this and begin to learn more about how we can "maximize resources to influence change". I am convinced that churches don't need new programs, we need to unite with those already going to help maximize their effectiveness. I need to be better at getting involved in stuff like this, so I couldn't say no when invited to attend.

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Element Church --- New Community Partnership

I announced (briefly) on Sunday a new partnership that we are thrilled to be a part of. Needs Inc. here in Cheyenne has asked us to be a part of a brand new program they are starting to try and keep the food pantry stocked. Needs Inc. is a non-profit organization that helps fill the needs of many low income families here in Cheyenne. It seems there are always certain items they can't keep stocked in their food pantry and they know the frustration of going to the grocery store and you may not even know what the food pantry needs. SO, they have developed "The Can Man Program" to try and help this problem. Element Church is proud to be the first church on board with this program and we have been asked to be the "spaghetti church". Instead of just asking the community to "bring food" to the pantry, they are going to ask specific organizations to bring specific foods to the pantry so as to make sure they have the right variety of food to give out to needy families. One of our goals as the Element team is NOT to create our own new programs, but to partner with those that are already going. Needs Inc. NEEDS our help, so we are going to give it. What we are asking of you Elementers, is that when you go grocery shopping, to pick up one can of spaghetti sauce and one bag of noodles. Needs has asked for 25 oz. jars of sauce and 1 lb. bags of noodles. This ensures consistency in what they are able to put in the distribution boxes to the families. You can pick up some general information about Needs Inc. at the e:connect table on Sunday mornings. In this very small way, we can begin to help feed the hungry in our community. If we need to, we will add more items to our list of what we will provide. Lets BLESS THE SOCKS OFF of Needs Inc. with what God can do through us!

Following Christ,

Jeff

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Element Church: Element Gives Back

More stories are coming up. I LOVE what our people are doing. You guys blow me away. Can't wait to do this again sometime. Remember, NO GIVING STORY IS TOO SMALL! Check the stories out at www.elementgivesback.com

I am SO PROUD to be called your pastor! Thank you for letting me serve you.

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Element Church --- Foundations Life Group

We launched Foundations tonight. I LOVED IT! I love teaching and preaching. If I can do this till the day I day I'll be a happy man. Some people struggle to know what they are made for, I AM MADE FOR THIS! I take no credit for it, just saying I feel most alive when I'm preaching or teaching.

We had 6 people (counting me) tonight. It's funny, I have the same jitters about "Hope someone comes" at Life Group as a do about church. I was pacing the house waiting for Life Group to start. If you ever notice me on Sunday, I'm a pacer. I can't sit down for 5 minutes on Sunday, I've GOT to be moving. Don't know why, just like that.

Had some AWESOME discussion tonight as we looked at "What is the Bible?". Rule #1 at Foundations "No question is stupid!" And Rule #2 "Any questions are allowed" Each of the people (I think) were recent Elementers (more recent than 3 months anyway). Each had a cool story about how they found Element. Each experiencing Life at Element. That's what we want. I am so excited about Foundations. Hopefully at the end of our 9 weeks they will have enjoyed Life Group so much that they will make sure and get plugged into another one. I feel this is going to be a great first step for people who are new to church, new believers or just want that "refresher" course in some foundational things.

Following Christ,

Jeff

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Element Church: Rumination Addtions (1-20-08)

It's so hard for me to take naps on Sunday. I am typically SO tired I can hardly keep my eyes open but then I lay down and either pick apart the Sunday finding any faults (I know, I shouldn't do that) or I'm celebrating the AMAZING things God is doing. So here are a few things I thought before I dozed off for a bit.

--- Two new tithe cards were turned in today. That makes a total of 42. I seriously think God is doing some amazing things financially through Elementers in this series. (And I'm not talking about giving them more money but setting them FREE FROM IT)

--- One more Element Gives Back story was turned in to the offering today. Visit www.elementgivesback.com to see all the updates.

--- Twelve first time guest cards were turned in today. Two return guests and a couple of regular attender cards wanting information.

--- My lips were SO CHAPPED by worship time during the second that I had to call General down to borrow his chapstick. (Yeah, we're that close!) Grant is a walking pharmacy. If you are at church and ever need medicine of any kind, chapstick, eyedrops, and possibly an IV DRIP, just go see him. He seriously has the mother load of that kind of stuff! He saved me today!

--- Gonna gather with some friends as usual tonight. Love Sunday night wind downs with them. It's almost like another Life Group.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Sunday Rumination (1-20-08)

I need to quit saying I'm blown away, but I'M BLOWN AWAY! I was afraid we were going to run out of seats today. I LOVE Element Church. It scares me to death, the thought of leading these people but I'm doing my best to hang on as Jesus leads the way. I couldn't believe how many people were coming in to the service.

--- Eight people responded to the altar call today. To receive Christ or re-establish that relationship with him. All responded in the first service. I then received this email when I got home. "Pastor Jeff well it has been a few weeks since I have been to the church and I have to say every time I go there are more convictions that are plummeted my way......your comment of seven people going forward to the altar and yet no one moved at the next service, ummmm I was in need to move forward. My body was so hot and jittery inside yet my feet were like cold concrete, something that I struggle with bad. A voice that is so tender saying go (name), be free, and on the other side a voice that says look at who you pretend to be you should be ashamed....The struggle within me of knowing what is the true meaning of living, and the other saying, but its fine as you are. I not only apologized to Jesus but to you for not making the move and also to me ...."

--- 302 in church today. Absolutely amazed! My dad asked me today "Did you ever imagine you'd have 300 people in church?" To be honest, I didn't see it happening so quickly, if ever. If someone were to ask how we did it, I'd first say "WE didn't do anything!" God is doing it, we are simply and literally just doing our best to listen to HIM and do what HE says. If I were doing this, not sure anyone would come. I am SO humbled to lead this church. I can't imagine why God chose me. I know I say that a lot but I mean it a lot. ABSOLUTELY HUMBLED!

--- Our preliminary offering #'s look like they are going to be amazing. It looks like people are taking the tithe challenge seriously. My prayer is that God would BLESS THE SOCKS OFF those of you who committed to start giving. We have the capacity of doing some MAJOR things in our city if we give! Can't wait to see what God is going to do.

--- The band, AGAIN, rocked! Nothing throwing in a little Collective Soul "Shine" to kick off the service, and then a GREAT worship set again. Band is killing it lately. I so appreciate YOUR worship leader, Adam. He came to me this week, knowing that God had thrown the curve ball into my message to offer an invitation to receive Christ. In order to leave enough time for the end of the service, Adam came to me and suggested we take a song out. I know Adam has a desired set he likes to get in so as to facilitate a good worship time so I really appreciated the change to accommodate the changes in the message.

--- I hope all you Elementers know how privileged you are to have Adam as your worship leader. I don't know many other people that have as much a passion for worship, OR put as much time and energy into creating a worship time that people can engage with. YOU DA MAN ADAM! (now give me the money you promised if I'd say that) JK bro!

--- Set up went a TON better today! Looks like we're going to have to buy a new soundboard. The one we have keeps cutting out on the right side. I think it's an internal issue. We've trying different cables and different connectors.

--- Someone gave us the name of a custodian today that is willing to work Sundays if we can get in the High School. I need to give them a call. Folks, I am urging you to PRAY LIKE CRAZY this week for the East High School authorities, the Laramie County School District authorities, and for this custodian that IF God wants us in the high school to meet that everything would fall into place. We were packed to the gills today! I LOVE IT! But I don't want it to stop. In order for us to keep growing we are going to need to #1 Come up with an INCREDIBLY creative way to make more space in the theater or #2 Get into another building. We LOVE East High Schools fine arts center. That is our preference. We will obey and follow God though.

--- 302! I really battled going to 2 services too. Guess God knew what He was doing.

--- 302! What is next? It's hard for me to fathom what could be next. The sky is the limit if we'll just follow God.

--- 302! Means NOTHING if we don't connect people with LIFE IN CHRIST!

--- Two things I am totally pumped about. #1 The close to our Deal or No Deal Series. We are closing the service next week in a way you won't want to miss! It's going to be fun! #2 Satan's Sex Ed series. I have been working in advance on some sermons. I am TOTALLY stoked for this series. I think it is TIMELY and will strike a chord with many people. Can't wait to expose some lies and tactics of our enemy.

--- Nap time! If there is more to add I'll add it later! I love you guys and love serving Element Church!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Date Night

Something Sabrina and I haven't been good on lately is having a date night regularly. Lots of excuses we could use and all are legitimate. Finding and paying for a babysitter for four kids is a killer. I heard a pastor say one time about having lots of kids: "It's not that I really like kids, it's just I love my wife a lot". I like that! After paying for a babysitter for a couple hours that doesn't leave much money left, especially if you want to go to a nice dinner or a movie (which is a ripoff). So I heard of another pastor doing this and we started last night and had a blast. On Thursday nights we are going to wait to eat dinner until after the kids go to bed. (8 o'clock at the latest) Then we are going to cook our own dinner together, either a recipe I select earlier in the week or one Sab wants to do, and then sit down to watch a movie or something together. Last night we cooked homemade pizza and HOLY COW it was good. It had to be some of the best pizza I've had. While in the kitchen we actually had time to hold a normal adult, husband and wife conversation. We'll try out new stuff and just have fun hanging out together. Every once in a while we'll treat ourselves to a night out, but doing it this way we can schedule a regular date night, and not even have to leave the house. Sabrina said she likes it because she can boss me around the kitchen, AND SHE DID! Anyway, not that you wanted to know we had a date night, but thought I'd share. I love my wife and love spending time with her. Even if she is bossing me around!

More Element Gives Back

Couple new stories HERE. Keep em' coming! Love it. We're still trying to decide as a family what to do.

Element Gives Back

New story HERE.

Heart for a city

(The following is TRUE and in no way meant to be obscene)

I'm not sure my heart broke more for our city more than it did on Tuesday. I had met my wife and family at the mall for lunch at Sabarro's Pizza. While we were eating I noticed four teenagers who were just hanging out in the atrium in front of Dillards. I had a direct view of them. They looked to be typical teenagers. 3 girls, one boy. They were probably 15 - 16 years old. What happened next made me so angry I felt the boy needed to be punched, and at the same time my heart BROKE for them. The boy was trying to flick the teenage girl on her breasts. He then proceeded to try and fondle her on her rear end and breasts. The whole time THE GIRL WAS LAUGHING! I wanted SO BADLY to go tell her "Don't let him do this to you. Don't give your heart, your body to someone who will treat you like this." Maybe I should have, I don't know. This continued with excessive pda for a while. Then I noticed the two other girls. One put her hand on the others buttocks and they too were showing some pretty obvious pda. TWO GIRLS! I looked at my wife and said "THEY are the reason we are doing our Satan's Sex Ed series." My heart ached for those girls who thought they needed to be like that to be loved. "YOU ARE GODS PRECIOUS CREATION" I wanted to yell. My heart ached for that young man who felt he needed to get to her body in order to be satisfied, to "BE A MAN". I thought of my own kids and prayed over them silently while sitting there. I don't want my beautiful Mariah, Makalah or Jaydah to fall for Satans lies that they have to give their bodies to a man to experience love. I hope that I as a father can teach them what REAL beauty is. What REAL love is. How a man SHOULD treat a woman. I don't want my girls to SETTLE for ANYONE. I pray each day that God will bring them a REAL MAN to provide for them and support them. I don't want passionate Jonah to take his passion and use it toward women. Jonah's passion is a GOD GIVEN TOOL that if channeled with the Spirit can change the world. I don't want him to fall for Satans lies that in order to be a real man you need certain physical pleasures, whether self induced through fantasy, or by receiving it from someone else. I want Jonah to be a REAL MAN who will treat women with the respect they deserve and treat HIS body with the purity it needs. WOW, I am getting pumped for our next series. Our culture is literally DROWNING in it.

To close: My heart was reminded to what Jesus must have felt like. Reminded of His words when he came into Jerusalem and began to weep. "How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace." I wanted those kids to know that. And "“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me." Those CHILDREN need to be gathered. This next series is HUGE for where we are at as families today in America. My heart breaks for this city. For it's children, teens, single adults and married couples. God has HUGE things for us if we'll follow.

Following Christ,

Jeff

This Sunday, Series finale and Element Gives Back

If you have an unsaved friend that has been "thinking" about coming to church, get them here THIS WEEK! God threw a curve ball into my message and while we are talking about money (since that is the series) we will be presenting a clear opportunity to receive the "GENEROUS GRACE" that Jesus came to bring. God asked me to present the Gospel message of salvation this week, and I am going to obey Him.

Folks, once again, I hate to talk stuff up, but we are finalizing the plans of the ending to our last Deal or No Deal service. NO, we're not giving away more money (YET), but it is going to be the BIGGEST ending to a service we've ever done. If you are an Elementer and want to be challenged about what God has in store for us next, you need to be in church two Sundays from now. Actually, if you are an Elementer you should be there every week! :) We are VERY excited about the close of the series.

Several new stories on Element Gives Back. People, I'm telling you, when we begin to give God will open the floodgates! JUST LIKE HIS WORD PROMISES! Check it out HERE.

Element Gives Back

New post, check it out here. All Elementers don't forget to post your story. Remember, no story is too small!

Devotional Thoughts

Not everyday does God just drop a Scripture on you like a ton of bricks, but yesterday He did just that to me. I am in Isaiah in my Bible reading and worked my way into Isaiah chapter 30. It's a long chapter so I'm going to type out the verses on here.

These verses meant so much to me because of the rapid growth we've seen and the expectation of "What in the world do we do next?". I'm going to be a bit transparent here and tell you that I wrote in my journal yesterday before I started reading "I'm scared Lord". What happens if we become a church of 500 people? 1000? I don't feel capable of that. YES this is VERY exciting, but at the same time SO OVERWHELMING. "Where will we meet next?" "We've got to get into East High School!" "The Theater isn't big enough!" Then THIS!

vv. 1-2 "What sorrow awaits my rebellious children," says the Lord. "You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins. For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh's protection. You have tried to hide in his shade." v. 7 "Egypt's promises are worthless!" (I wrote in my margin while reading "so what do we do?")

vv.10-11 (speaking of Judah) They tell the seers "Stop seeing visions!" They tell the prophets, "Don't tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. Get off the narrow path. Stop telling us about your Holy One of Israel" (I then wrote in the margin "we keep preaching") We can't get off the narrow path.

v. 15 "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. You said 'No, we will get our help from Egypt'".

v. 17b (if we get our help from Egypt) "You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop" (I wrote "we want to be an army to storm the gates of hell")

v. 19b "He will be gracious if you ask for help."

v. 21 "Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, 'This is the way you should go,' whether to the right or to the left."

v. 23 "Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock."

v. 26b "So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them."

When will the Lord bless you? v. 23 says "Then..." After all of this...Keep from making plans with Egypt. Consult Him. Keep preaching the TRUTH! Be quiet and confident in HIM. Ask! Listen for His voice behind you. THEN...THEN he will bless you with rain. Plenty of pastureland (or sanctuary space). I felt as if God was speaking directly to ME through Isaiah. Just a reminder of who is in charge around here.

Letter of testimony

WHOA! I am absolutely blown away by what God is doing in peoples lives through this series and through what happened on Sunday. I think we need to start another web-site where people can post their testimonies of what God is doing for THEM in their financial journey. Today we received in the mail a letter from an Elementer with a beautiful testimony of what God is doing in their lives. They had been a slave to fear financially since their spouse passed away and have been SET FREE from the fear our enemy was holding them to. I talked to them on the phone today and they said what a peace it was to go to sleep at night without fear. GO GOD!! The letter brought our office to tears. With the letter was a very generous offering to the church. All totaled in the mail today, we received $1817 from Elementers who gave, and with one of those checks was a pledge card to start tithing. Click below to view the letter. I received permission to show it. I don't want this move of God to stop. Elementers pray for this Sunday. Invite for this Sunday! We are going to present a clear invitation for people to receive Christ!

Element Gives Back

Keep it going guys! Three more stories are up that are blowing me away. It's amazing what someone can do with $10. People are matching money, pooling money, figuring out how to make an impact. Check out the new stories here.

Video

Here is the video to promo our Element Gives Back idea. We showed this just before we revealed that last weeks entire offering was in the peoples envelopes.

Offering

Offering from yesterday was $4802.97. That is one of our largest offerings ever! Praise the Lord. We asked everyone NOT to put the money we gave back into the offering, so we're not sure if any of the cash was given back or not. I was told that it was more cash than usual, but there is no way of knowing. I'm sure some people put their money back in, and that is ok. I can't wait to hear more stories of what is happening with the money. If you're an Elementer, please make sure and tell us your story. No good deed with your money is too small or too large. Even you you left an extra large tip, we want to know! God uses our money as a tool in all sorts of different ways. Let's celebrate them all!

Element Gives Back

Got three stories already up on Element Gives Back. Inspiring stuff. Love the story of the three year old giving his money. AWESOME!

Check it out here.

Sunday Rumination (1-13-08)

WARNING: Due to the results of today, this is going to be REALLY long, you will see the words "amazing" and "wow" a lot, BUT, I encourage you to read about what God is doing anyway!

Folks, I don't even know where to begin. What an amazing day...ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I talked yesterday about anticipation, you can read it here. Little did I know I was anticipating this. I'm convinced we should begin to anticipate more what God is capable of doing. Come to church EXPECTING. What a God we serve. God is up to something at Element Church and He's up to something in Cheyenne. I'm not sure what's about to happen but I feel like we're hanging on for dear life. I'm trying to hang on but it's like being pulled behind a car on a skateboard. I'm going to try to put down some of the things that happened today, the following are some of my deep thoughts (rumination).

--- Sometimes we can be oversensitive to spiritual things like "It's the demon of the flu" or "the sound system demon" etc. Today however, I really felt as if we were under attack spiritually. NOTHING went right this morning. Even Adam said "I feel like the devil doesn't want this to happen." I typically lean more to the other side. "Coincidence" Today was different. The results of the day lead me to believe that maybe the devil didn't want what happened today to happen. In fact I KNOW he didn't for we literally stormed the gates of hell today. Some of the things that went wrong:
--- We showed up at our normal time (6:15 AM) and didn't get into the theater to almost 6:45. That set us WAY back in setup. We actually "broke" into the theater cause no one was there and started setting up in the dark. We got lights about 7 AM when the employee showed up.
--- The speakers (one side) lost power THREE times during first service. It's never done that before. I had to run down and re-set them each time.
--- Adams electric guitar amp went COMPLETELY out in first service. It totally changed the way they wanted to do the set.
--- Little thing after little thing kept happening and it just didn't feel right to me. THANKFULLY we serve a God BIGGER than the devil and HE won the day.

--- One person became a follower of Christ today. Found that out on their connection card. Above ANYTHING else you are about to read...THAT is most important!! Praise the Lord!

--- RECORD ATTENDANCE TODAY AT CHURCH! 282 in church today. When first service started I knew we'd break 250. First service was more full than ever today. AMAZING!

--- WE GAVE AWAY LAST WEEKS ENTIRE OFFERING BACK TO THE PEOPLE TODAY! Yep, you read that correctly. ALL OF IT! We are doing a series on finances and today's theme was "God is the owner, I am the manager" We talked a lot on tithing today (more on that later). We had this message planned a few weeks ago, and we as a staff wanted to model this idea to our congregation. We really felt that God wanted us to give back the previous weeks offering for this message. Everyone got a sealed envelope on the way into service today. We opened them at the end of service and explained what we were doing. We gave the money out ($3580) in varying increments. One person got $100 in each service. Three got $50 and the rest were $20's and $10's in each service. The only catch was they HAD to use the money to do something kind for someone else. People were BLOWN away. I am blown away. We put together a video we played at the end of the service to intro it, I'll post it later. We also created a web-site www.elementgivesback.com where we've asked people to go and log there stories about what they did with their money. None of the money our church has is ours and we wanted to show that in a tangible way. Even the kids got involved. Each kid got $5 to use for someone else. (We didn't explain that real well to the kids so lots of them were walking out thinking they were rich)

--- Tuesday when Adam and I were breaking down the increments of the $$, what we wanted to give came out above what the offering was on Sunday. We felt God wanted to do what we had divided up to do, so we just planned on taking the rest out of the general fund. THAT DAY a check came in from an outside person that COMPLETELY covered the extra money we needed AND more. WOW!

--- One teenage girl came today with her friend. Her family needs groceries so her friend and her are pooling money to buy her parents groceries today because they can't afford it. She came to me in tears and said "Thank you so much for doing this today!" Folks, WE CAN'T PLAN STUFF LIKE THAT!

--- We also offered a 90 Day Challenge to everyone in the service. We hit HARD on tithing today and we told everyone that if you will sign the challenge card and commit to tithe for 90 Days, and at the end of the 90 days you feel like it doesn't work, WE'LL GIVE YOU EVERY PENNY BACK NO QUESTIONS ASKED! Why would we do that? Because I'm convinced that when we tithe biblically, WE WON'T WANT TO STOP! God will so RICHLY bless us that we can't help but keep giving. 57 people signed the challenge card. Some of them marked "I will continue to tithe" but most were "I will begin to tithe" or "I will begin to give above my tithe". MAN, God is working on peoples hearts to set them free financially and I love it!

Comments like these came in on connection cards:

"I was very moved by todays message, even though I've heard it before. It meant something today and has changed my attitude about tithing."

"I have never been so moved by the giving message, the giving of the offering to others. I will be sure to use this money for someone to make their day."

I just got this email response from a first time guest:

"Dear Jeff and element staff,
I appreciate your email in response to our visit today. I want to take a
minute to tell you about why we came this morning. My husband is a good man.
He works 6-7 days a week to support his family. He has a good job (praise
God). But, because of his work schedule, we have not had a church family in
Cheyenne. Recently, his co-worker told him about your church. My husband
told me that he wanted me to take our daughter, (name), and try it out. I
will be honest, I didn't expect much. We have not had much success meeting
and really connecting with families since our move here 3.5 years ago. We
moved here from (city) and have been returning there periodically to
keep our friendships going. Anyway, I was so touched by your teaching. I
have never been to a church that would take such a bold action- returning the
offering- just to give God the opportunity to follow through on His Promise to
"open up the floodgates". My husband is wanting to take the money and find a
prisoner to send it to. I am going to let him decide where to send the money,
as he is usually right about these kinds of things! You probably will not get
to meet him anytime soon, but my children and I hope to call your church our
"family". We will pray for you all. Please pray for us, too. By the way, my
daughter really felt the Lord speak to her through your message. Not so
much about the money, but more about letting the Lord be the Master of
EVERYTHING!!!
Thank you, thank you!"

--- MAN that gets me going. Another guy handed me a rubber banded wad of cash today shared a short story about what God had been speaking to his heart and said "Here is my tithe and beyond. I'm starting today!" WOW!

--- The band absolutely blew me away today. UNBELIEVABLE! Every week those guys blow me away. Lee led one song today and so did Katie and they did GREAT! We did an in house original song today and it blew my mind. It's a song Adam wrote years ago and just this last week "rewrote". MAN, I can't tell you how good it was. What a blessing to be able to sing original music in our church. I hope you all realize how blessed you are to have a guy like Adam lead you in worship. Such passion, conviction and genuineness to him. GREAT JOB ADAM! Even with the sound and guitar problems in first service, God's name was lifted up and it paved the way for the message.

--- Grant did a great job pushing Life Groups today. What more can I say about him? He has challenged me more than he'll ever know. I'm Grants boss yet I look up to him. (And not just cause he is ginormous) Pretty cool! God is preparing that dude for something HUGE! Can't wait to bring him on staff.

--- I have LOVED this series. The worship, messages, illustrations have ALL come together to make this thing work.

--- Man, I know there has got to be more but I literally cannot wrap my brain about what happened today.

--- Oh! We had The Tour today. About 50 people had to be there. We didn't have enough chairs to hold everyone. That is a GREAT sign, that people want to know more information. Again, blown away.

--- Both Adam and I were talking this week about why God chose us. I am blown away that I get to do this. It is ABSOLUTELY humbling to me. There seem to be so many other people that could do it better (at least in my mind). I am often moved to tears that God chose me to do this. It amazes me. After all I did in my life to Him, that HE, the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, the LORD OF HEAVENS ARMIES, would allow me the chance to offer life to people.

--- I've got to close it down. With The Tour it makes Sundays even longer. My body hurts again this week. This series is taking it's toll on me physically. Jaydah is crying so need to get her up. Heading over to some friends tonight. I love unwinding with friends on Sunday nights.

I love all you Elementers! You amaze me! Go to www.elementgivesback.com and log your story. Can't wait to hear what you do.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Sunday Anticipation

Just got back from the office where Adam and I hooked up the trailer for tomorrow. I love having anticipation for church. Hooking up the trailer is like the beginning of church for me. lol I start thinking about each person who will be there, the worship, message, etc. I think too often, we as church goers just kind of go and do our thing and we don't anticipate anything happening. We're going to meet with the Almighty God, WHY WOULDN'T SOMETHING HAPPEN? We go to movies, parties, sporting events, EVEN RESTAURANTS with more anticipation than we do church sometimes. I'm as guilty as anyone else. It just becomes what we do. Do we make those things more special than church? Do we expect more from them than we do God? I don't know. I know it's a struggle for all of us. For this week we have intentionally created some anticipation about the service and that is ok. We're TOTALLY excited about what is going to happen tomorrow. But would I anticipate tomorrow as much if we took out what we are planning on doing? I hope so! Would I be as excited to show up at 6:15 tomorrow if these plans had not taken place? I LOVE our church. If I didn't lead it I think I'd attend it. I LOVE our people. God has brought us just absolutely AMAZING people to Element. I'm excited about tomorrow. Hope I haven't talked it up so much you'll be disappointed. Ok, tomorrow is going to be TOTALLY boring. Nothing special is going to happen, so don't expect much. THERE, now all is well.

CAN'T WAIT TILL TOMORROW!

Jeff

Rock Your Face Off

This Sunday is going to stinkin' ROCK! I got to attend my first praise practice tonight. Adam leads the band in practice very Thursday. Tonight I attended because I couldn't wait until Sunday to hear one of the songs. We're doing an Adam Cruz original on Sunday that he wrote years ago. He put added a new bridge to it and it sounds amazing.

Adam does an awesome job working with each band members skills and utilizing them to the best of their ability. I love the fact that he rarely takes a song and just copies the original sound. He puts effort and time into each song to make it fit Element and become part of the Element band sound. AWESOME JOB!

We put the final touches on this Sundays details. Again, if you're an Elementer you don't want to miss this.

Kudos to the praise band. Not only do they show up every Sunday morning at 6:30 to set up, but they come from 7 - 9 PM each Thursday night to practice, not to mention any other personal time they take to practice through the week. They are an awesome group of people.

The Tour this Sunday. A can't miss moment in church. An AWESOME original song. And we GET to do this for Jesus. WHAT? How much cooler can it get?

Following Christ,

Jeff

"I asked Jesus into my heart today!"

No, not me! I did that a long time ago. Those are the words I've been praying to hear from my kids since before they were born. My prayer for my children has been "Lord, I pray you would prepare the time and place for my children to come to know You." I also pray, "Lord may my children not just make it to Heaven, but may they live life to its fullest while on earth."

Well, last night at the dinner table Sabrina said "Mariah has something to tell you that happened today." She was shy at first but then her face glowed as she said "I asked Jesus into my heart today!" WOW! My heart melted. Sabrina was reading a book to her (Jonah and the whale) and Mariah was asking some spiritual questions. The conversation led to Mariah demonstrating her knowledge of why we need Jesus in our hearts and asking Him to do just that. There is nothing greater as a parent to lead your children to the Lord.

I'll never forget the night I helped Jonah ask Jesus into his heart while we were laying on his bed. Now Sabrina has the chance to help Mariah. Amazing. Jonah has been so spiritually interested lately. He REALLY struggles with the fact that some people actually go to hell. When he first learned that a few weeks ago it brought him to utter silence (amazing if you know him) and you could see his brain wheels a rollin'. I hope that when he is 15, 30, 45, or 60, that the thought of people going to hell STILL moves him like that. For many of us, it's easy to forget that people, EVERY DAY, die and miss out on eternity with our Lord.

Two more children yet to win to the Lord. Our children are THE BIGGEST DISCIPLESHIP OPPORTUNITY OF OUR LIVES!! I pray I can model life to its fullest to ALL of them!

Following Christ,

Jeff

The Tour

We're hosting our second "Tour" this Sunday for newcomers to Element Church. We have 40 registered so far. (Not all are newcomers) The Tour is a great way for us to share the history, mission, vision and strategy of Element Church on a more intimate level. We are introducing table hosts to The Tour this month. We have some core Elementers who will be table hosts for the newcomers at the dinner.

The Tour meets at LCCC (Laramie County Community College) at 12:15 the second Sunday of every month. We provide the food, childcare and "entertainment".

The last one was a blast. It was so fun to re-share the history of where God brought us. The Tour is going to be just as beneficial for us as a staff as it is for the newcomers. It is SO GOOD to recount the vision, mission and strategy we believe God has given us. It keeps US reminded of why we do what we do.

In the life of the church there will ALWAYS be people who will question the vision God gave you. They will question your strategy that GOD gave you. They will question your mission and values that, who? GOD gave you. For a church to thrive and be successful over the long haul, the leadership must be loyal to the vision, mission and values FIRST. Why, because GOD gave it to you. If it's not of God guess what? It won't work!

Ok, from a Tour update to talking about vision. I do thought often.

Following Christ,

Jeff

I'll give you 10 bucks if...

Random family moment:

If I remember correctly, when I was around 3rd grade, living in Watertown, SD, my dad offered me money (I remember $100) if I could recite all 12 of the disciples. I thought that would be easy. I'm sure I probably told him all four of the Gospel writers and possibly Hebrews. I didn't even get close. Well, last night I was reading some books with Jonah and he pulled out an "old school" book from when he was 2 or 3. It was a counting book that only went to 10. He kept going past 10 trying to be a goof like his dad would. I piped up, thinking I'd get him to quit going past ten and said "I'll give you ten bucks if you can count to 100 without messing up." 1,2,3,4....When he got to 89...90 I knew I was duped. It was like he set me up. He finished to 100 and said "Where's my 10 bucks". Ooops. I didn't know my 6 year old could count that high. It was a lesson learned for the ole dad.

Blog Link

Adam FINALLY posted his Sunday Afterthoughts. He has a brief but VERY cool story of a divine appointment today. Amazing how God lines us up with people. Puts two people at the same point in time who NEED to connect. Anyway, check it out HERE.

Tuesday Tidbits

I got clever names for every day don't I? Here are a few thoughts running through my head this morning. Couple updates from yesterday.

--- We are launching 6 new Life Groups next week. I got the heads up from another Elementer last night of a small group they lead that we can adopt into our Life Group cluster. Haven't even told Grant that yet. Grant has done a GREAT job getting these groups ready to launch. I can't wait until we can bring the General on full time at Element.

--- As of yesterday we have about 70 people registered for the Dave Ramsay Financial Seminar on February 2nd. Our limit is 150 so if you have not registered yet you need to do that. Tickets ARE REQUIRED to attend but tickets ARE FREE! Element is providing the whole day, lunch, seminar for FREE as a service to our people and the community. We feel this is a VITAL need among people today. To receive financial freedom. You can register online here.

--- We had a GREAT staff meeting yesterday. It turned into a lengthy dream session for Adam, Grant and I that continued as we ran errands around town. We did some prospective looking at the facility we are planning on using for next years Christmas service. It's a "GO BIG OR GO HOME" type of dream for that service. Some of the dreams and visions God is giving us we'll be sharing at the end of this financial series.

--- One of the things on our plate right now is our next meeting location. We LOVE the theater but understand that it's growth potential is limited. Also, if what we are told is true, in the Spring/Summer many movies begin playing as early as 10 AM. Now, the current manager has been WONDERFUL to work with and already is moving movie times to accommodate us. The place we'd like to be is the East High School fine arts auditorium. Adam and I went and checked it out yesterday. WOW, the possibilities of ministry in that place are HUGE! According to the country school district facilities director, all we need to seriously look at using East is a custodian who is willing to work every Sunday. ONE CUSTODIAN away from our possible next venue and growth opportunity. The custodian that let us in to the auditorium I just flat out asked "Hey, would you be willing to work every Sunday if we used this place to meet in?" He said he would but has a 2nd job that keeps him from that. He then took us to the custodian break room where we basically met all the custodians who were there and the two head custodians. They echoed the same words "If we have someone willing to work every Sunday then it's a possibility." MAN! Both Adam and I left feeling "We don't even know how to pray for this." SO, PLEASE pray for God to move on our behalf for our next location.

The stage size, room size, lobby size, EVERYTHING seems to us to be the perfect place. We want God to approve. Even as I pray for my own life "Lord, put us where we can do YOU the most good." God might have something better than East High School up his sleeve and we don't even know about it yet.

That's some updates on the week. If you know of a school district custodian who would be willing to make some extra money each Sunday by opening up some doors, PLEASE let us know.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Rumination Additions for 1-7-08

--- Grant had his first Sunday off from Frito Lay since moving here to Cheyenne. I can't tell you how awesome it was for Grant to begin the morning WITH us at church. I posted earlier that Grant has been given his OWN ROUTE in Frito. Something he gave up in Gillette to move here. If you're a shopper at the Yellowstone Albertsons or King Soopers on Dell Range and you're in the chip aisle, you may just run into your Connections Pastor. Way to go General! I call Grant General (Ulysses S. Grant)

--- Jonah asked me yesterday who made up words. He wanted to know if God made all the words. That dude asks the toughest questions. He probably thinks Sabrina and I don't know anything cause our answers are often "I don't know, good question".

--- Got a BIG day today with staff meeting, Adam and I pretty much meet and plan most of the day. Mondays are HUGE for is to get the week started in the right direction, getting all our ducks in a row after we toss them all around on Sunday. We usually have a few things personally we want to work on or issues (not bad issues) in the volunteer team, staff team, etc. to work out. ie. Doing certain things differently, placing people different areas, what worked and what didn't work.

--- Hopefully we'll have pics up today of our set design. I thought it looked really cool!

Can't wait to get the week started.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Sunday Rumination (1-6-08)

I'm not just tired today but my body hurts. My body really feels the toll of preaching. I'm not sure people realize how hard it is on the body to preach. It's literally physically, emotionally and spiritually draining.

We started Deal or No Deal today. It seemed to start REALLY well. People seemed to be engaging with what was being said, even though it was VERY difficult to hear. It was difficult for me to heart and I was preaching it! Was VERY transparent, open and honest today about some of the major financial mistakes we have made and are still paying for. I am SO excited for this series AND the next one. We actually had a guest family from another church today that are just coming to these two series because it struck such a cord with them. Pretty cool. Here are some of the stats and thoughts on today.

--- 227 in attendance today. We had 12 connection cards filled out and 5 of them were first time guests.

--- Offering to be counted tomorrow but a preliminary quick look was around $3000.

--- We showed this video below to start our look at finances. Thought we needed something funny to break the ice before we began since it was such a hard topic to look at.



--- LOTS of people raised their hand at the end of the service to admit they are lost financially, or headed that way, and want to get out. I'm convinced that many people want to be free they just don't know how. I said today in my message that we typically view financial freedom as having more money. We think if we just had more we'd be ok. Typically though, we get more and then spend up to that level. Being financially free, BIBLICALLY, means that no matter HOW MUCH money we have we are free from the control of it. Someone can be UTTERLY lost financially and be a billionaire. How much we have OR owe has nothing to do with whether we are in bondage or not.

--- The band lit it up today. Adam is working on some great worship sets. This weeks was off the chain. (Really good for you older folks) Doing two services is weird cause you always compare the two. Worship in the first service was incredible. Just the energy and Spirit in the room was very heavy. It's funny how one service can feel differently from another, when they are identical services.

--- We added some MAJOR set up to e:kidz today and it looked great. We are beginning to take that to the next level. I'll post some pics later this week. The e:kidz folks are knockin' it out of the park over there.

--- We did a new set design this week and it looked really good. Nothing major just all done in tension fabric. I really like changing things up each series so the stage looks different. It just keeps things fresh.

--- We're doing two things this Sunday you won't want to miss. If you are an Elementer, invite someone new to come with you and don't miss out yourself. It's going to be fun! Can't wait!

--- That's it for now, I may add a few things later. Have a GREAT week!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Saturday Sidenotes

I don't typically blog on Saturday but thought I would while I got a few thoughts running through my mind. Sitting here watching the NFL playoffs.

--- I'm STOKED about our new series coming up. After my devos this morning I went over my sermon and was REALLY excited about preaching tomorrow. I am SO excited about what God is going to teach us the next four weeks.

--- This verse that I read this morning in devos is what the next four weeks are going to be like. I literally laughed out loud when I read this today. Ecclesiastes 12:11 "The words of the wise are like cattle prods - painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep." HA Hope we're ready. I think that's hilarious. You'd think it say "The words of the wise are like a soothing massage." Something good ya know? But nope! A CATTLE PROD, or nail studded stick. Sometimes what God has to say to us is VERY uncomfortable, but like a sheep and shepherd, it will keep us safe.

--- Be praying for us! Anytime we take on idols that the devil uses, he will not like it. For the next 8 weeks we are talking about money and sex. I have a feeling some people won't like it and I KNOW the devil won't. Pray for barriers to be torn down, for protection of Element Church and it's people, and for people to be SET FREE!

--- If you're an Elementer you won't want to miss church next Sunday. You shouldn't want to miss anyway (lol), but we're doing something next week that is going to be REALLY fun and memorable.

--- Adam is working on some GREAT worship sets for this month. Not sure I have permission to share this, but I'm the boss so I can do whatever I want...Adam is going to be doing some original stuff this month for worship. I love the fact that we can add our (Adams) original music to our worship service. Can't wait for the day that we can do our own worship album. How cool would that be? One of the songs we are doing is one of my favorites right now. really a GREAT song! I play keys on it! (lol just kidding, I play flute)

--- We're already doing some planning on next years Christmas Eve Eve service. Yes, Eve Eve. We're going to do a SWEET Christmas service on the 23rd and then we're going to do a SWEET service project on Christmas Eve. More about that to come!

Okay. Saturday sidenotes are done! Can't wait for tomorrow. PEACE

Following Christ,

Jeff

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And thoughts on the old year.

It is officially 2008. Has been for about 23 hours and 27 minutes now. We had a great holiday with friends on Monday and Tuesday. Monday night we played Nintendo Wii at our New Years party so much that I could barely lift my arm on Tuesday morning. And it's still sore today. Keenan and I won about 30 consecutive dodge ball games. Guys like Adam, Ben, Grant, Nate and Jeremiah COULDN'T TOUCH US! There is nothing like hanging out with friends (that are like family) and just having a blast. We had a great time. Below are some thoughts and reflections on 2007.

--- In the final days of 2007 during the New York New Year countdown on ABC they showed a preview of Lost that was AMAZING! I can't wait for that show to start again on January 31st.

--- The last week of last January we moved to Cheyenne from Gillette. Our initial plan was to move to Cheyenne in June of this year. WOW, I'm glad that didn't happen. Through going to the Church Planters Boot Camp, conversations with my coach and other church planters we soon realized we needed to come here sooner. We moved up from June to March. THEN, High Plains found their new youth pastor could (needed to) move to Gillette in January. All the sudden we could move even sooner. God knew all the details that needed to take place and HPCC was very willing to work with us. It's amazing to see the timing of everything that happened. If we had not moved here in January I don't think we would have been ready to launch in October. SO MUCH ground work had to be done.

--- March of 2007 we held our first life group in the basement of our house. Grant and Terri, Keenan and Katrina and my wife and I were there. Our first ever person to attend an Element event besides us came on Sunday, March 25th when another gal came to Life Group. WE GREW FROM 6 to 7 IN ONE WEEK! WOHOOO! We were so thrilled for that one person. And our prayer each week is the same that it was then "Lord, bring us new faces this week!" Our prayer hasn't changed, and God has answered continually.

--- Ran into a lot of this in March and April.

--- We planned to partner with the city Easter Egg Hunt in April as our first big splash of service into the community. Here is a link to our ad we did. Here and here are links to some things I blogged about during the Easter week.

--- We did a LOT of praying and searching for the right meeting location. Here is a blog about our first walk through at the theater. By the way, Shawn (GM of theater at the time) did everything he could to get us into the theater. I believe God placed him there for us.

--- Found our office in April. Here is a link to that.

--- Through April and May we started seeing more and more new faces coming to our Life Group. The final weekend in May we did something that a church that hasn't started "shouldn't" be able to do, but we did. We bought down the price of gas by .50 cents per gallon for 2 hours. God again was on the move for us with some free exposure. Here is a link to the May blogs. The top 4 or 5 on the page are all about the gas buydown, with some videos of the NewsChannel 5 coverage. GREAT memories.

--- By June 10th we had grown to the point where we could not hold Element Church in our basement. We made the tough decision of renting out a room at the Holiday Inn to start a thing called "Element Unplugged". We REALLY struggled doing this because we did NOT want to appear as if we'd launched. We just wanted to have a place where more people could come here about the mission, vision and values of Element Church. We knew Unplugged was NOT ANYTHING close to what we wanted church to look like. We intentionally made it less structured and informal. Here is a link about our first Unplugged. I think we had 34 people there.

--- Here is a link to our second major servant evangelism project when we provided inflatable games for the City SuperDay.

--- June 28th we had a practice set up for our first preview. Here is a link to that. Funny to see how our set up has changed.

--- Here and Here are links to our first preview recaps. My oh my have we come a long way since July. Love looking back at this stuff.

--- Here and Here are links to our second preview recaps.

--- Here and Here are some thoughts on our launch service.

Folks there are TONS more things I'd like to share about this past year but don't have time and you probably don't want to read them. Just thought I'd link some highlights. God has been SO faithful to us and He will continue to do so in 2008. What will be said of Element Church next new year, and the next, and the next? If we follow Christ unashamedly, whatever is said will have eternal significance, and will be GOOD!

Following Christ,

Jeff