Easter Rumination (3-23-08)

Hey Element Church! Sabrina and I are on a little retreat this week. Our denomination has a pastors and wives retreat every year following Easter. This year our Conference was holding ours in Cody, WY. Adam and Amber as well as Sab and I were planning on attending. Last week we got the news that they were canceling the retreat due to the medical condition of our Conference Superintendents wife, Vonda. Vonda has been battling brain cancer for the past year. They said that she took a pretty bad turn for the worse and Dale (superintendent) needed to focus on her and memorial service plans and not the conference. The conference reimbursed each church their expenses that we already paid for the retreat at encouraged every church to still send their pastors on a retreat. SO, here we are. Enjoying a few days away with just Sabrina and myself. Our hotel just now got their Internet working. I tried blogging last night from my phone but it wouldn't publish. (Yeah, I'm sick, I know) My mom drove to Cheyenne from Wisconsin and is watching the kids. It's been a day now away from the kids and although it is a MUCH needed break for us, I think we would live VERY boring lives without our kids. it's 3 PM and we're like "We don't have anything to do". lol It's a very refreshing and energizing time for us so far to take a break from everything. It's hard for me to take a break, but I think it's good to do so. Thank you all SO much for being a part of Element Church. We did get word this morning that our Superintendents wife passed away. Please pray for the Erbele family as they go through this. The last I talked with Dale he said that he told Vonda "For years we have showed people how to live. Now we need to show them how to die." They have been a SHINING example of life through this.

Ok, here are my ruminations on Easter Sunday.

--- 27 people indicated that they received Christ yesterday. I was praying for 20. WOW! Pray that these people make the next step in their walk with Christ.
--- 528 attended one of our three worship experiences on Sunday. Dude, 528, are you kidding me? I'm am BLOWN AWAY! When we started this adventure I knew that with God ANYTHING is possible, but I didn't necessarily think it would happen. May God receive all credit and glory.
--- Third service was JAM PACKED. Didn't seem like a seat was left.
--- e:coustic was full too. We draped off the back two rows but it was filled up pretty well. That service is so chill. Very laid back. I actually preach sitting for most of the service. When I get worked up I gotta stand though.
--- We made the service one hour yesterday. We were expecting a bigger crowd so we wanted good traffic flow. Transitions went great yesterday.
--- We had to break into the theater to set up. We got to the theater around 6 AM and our theater worker was nowhere to be found. We broke in and worked in the dark till nearly 7 AM. Grant used a leatherman to get the lights on eventually. Our worker showed up about 7:30. Crazy.
--- I did a REALLY cool illustration to close my sermon. Illustrating how it's not the outside that matters but the heart. You'll have to watch it online to see it.
--- The praise team all wore sport coats and Grant, Curtis and myself were in suits. Good lookin' bunch of dudes.
--- I serve with the GREATEST team ever man! I am blown away by our staff and volunteers. It's amazing what we pull off on a Sunday and the volunteers that do it are unreal. For 5 months old to have the # and quality of volunteers blows my mind. I can't wait to see where God takes us.
--- I love preaching three times. Sounds weird, but I actually think it's easier than two. The 2nd service actually rests me up for third. Sitting to preach, chillin' with those great people just gets me ready for third service. By third service I nearly have my sermon memorized. There has been GREAT energy in that service so far too. Really cool!
--- LOVED the song we sang "At The Cross" Such great words to it. "You tore the veil. You made a way, when you said that it is done!" LOVE THAT LINE!
--- We put together a very moving movie piece with clips from The Passion put to music with the Foo Fighters "My Hero". It is waiting to be approved on Google video. I'll put it on here asap so you can see it or link it to anyone else.
--- Yesterday was a lot of fun. If you're an Elementer THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR CHURCH! Pray for many of our guests to return and for those who made decisions as well.

Following Christ,

Jeff