Superday and Preview

Our next servant evangelism event is this Saturday at Cheyenne City's Superday. We are providing inflatable games for the families who attend. We are using this event to leverage toward our first "full" preview service in the theatre. Below are the connection cards we got made to give out. Adam did a great job of putting them together. We had a great team meeting tonight mapping out some preview stuff. Volunteer lists, set up, that kind of stuff. It's great to have the team to sit down and talk stuff through with. I don't know how guy's do this alone. We'll update more on Superday, Unplugged and Preview in the coming weeks.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Front:

Back:

Ministry

Adam did a great job on a blog about "ministry". Check it out here.

21% increase

When you're a smaller church increases and decreases seem much larger. We could say that we grew 21% in one week. Last week we had 28, this week we had 34. Two new families were at Unplugged today and the two new families from last week were there. It was great again to meet together. Adam did awesome leading us in worship. It was stinkin' HOT in our room. The heater was stuck on or something. We need to get that fixed next week. Talked about vision today. It was good. Took a few lessons out of Paul's first missionary journey and asked the questions "Why are we here?" "Why am I here?" and "What should I do?" As it relates to vision. Already looking forward to next week as we talk about essential ministries at Element. Our first Preview is 2 weeks away. This week and next will be jam packed getting ready for that. I love doing this.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Our church!

Couldn't go to sleep again last night. (same as last Saturday) The brain shut off button was malfunctioning. My mind races with the "what ifs" of Sunday. Not nervous what ifs but excited ones. Got up this morning to do my devotions and started 1 Corinthians. Read out of my Oswald Chambers devo and started praying. Something struck me as I was praying. Today at Unplugged we are talking about vision. What is God's vision for Element Church? So as I was praying I said something to the effect of "Lord, I pray I would communicate in such a way that people would catch the vision of OUR CHURCH." We have an "our" church now. That blew me away. For so long it's been "the church" but now we have an "our". People came last week. New people are coming this week. That blows me away! That God could stir the heart of people in Gillette and Sheridan in all stages and walks of life to start this thing called Element Church in a city 4 hours away and people in Cheyenne are looking for something to belong to and they become part of our church. Now before someone reminds me "It's not our church it's Gods". I hope you know what I mean. We are a group of people who are taking ownership of this "new thing" God wants to begin. WOW! Our church. It's not just me anymore, or 8 couples on a team, it's become "our" now. I'm excited. Can't wait to worship with everyone this morning and share what's on my heart.

Following Christ

Jeff

The importance of a strong team (and good leadership)

I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have the team around me that I do. Keenan and Katrina are invaluable to element church. They came in September and by living their lives for the Kingdom led us to MANY of the relationships we've made. Grand and Terri are invaluable. Grant is a walking billboard (not a joke about his height) and Terri has gone above and beyond her call of duty to get the office set up, AND keep it going. Adam and Amber have only been here two weeks and they are also invaluable. How refreshing it was for me to worship at Unplugged and know it would be done well, preparing the way for the Word. I don't have time and you wouldn't take the time for me to write about my teammates. NONE of them have a college degree in ministry. NONE. Yet all of them are and WILL be superstars in ministry! I'd take a heart on fire for God and HIS ministry any day over an educated person with no fire in their belly. Are their bumps in the road with a team? YES! Is their patience required in a team? YES. Keenan and Katrina have lots to learn. Grant and Terri have lots to learn. Adam and Amber have lots to learn. Know what? I have TONS to learn. One thing I've realized as now "the boss" of the team is I have sooooooo much to learn on leadership. For every challenge and correction I give to a teammate I need to be challenge and corrected. Strong team is important but a strong team needs a strong leader. I pray I can be that man. As I have patience with my team I hope they have patience with me. I know I'm not the greatest in leadership, but I know I serve the greatest God. And all of us TOGETHER will get this thing done. We'll look back and laugh at some of the stupid things we did. At some of of the things we learned that will seem so obvious, but as we look back I hope we'll see a trail of souls that were won into God's Kingdom because we were willing to be leaders REGARDLESS of how much we knew. Hope that made sense! I love my team. Today I wouldn't trade any of them for anyone else. I mean that.

Following Christ,

Jeff

5 thoughts about my wife

1. She is beautiful!
2. She started her own business (tastefully simple: gourmet food) when we moved her and last month she was #4 in sales out of a TON of people in the region. Not sure exactly how many but it was a lot. (Through her business we are seeing two families check out Element)
3. She is an amazing mother. I don't know how she does it everyday with 4 kids. She takes care of the kids, the house, AND volunteers at church and runs a business. Plus she puts up with me.
4. I couldn't do this thing called church planting without her.
5. We love watching tv and I love watching tv with her. When she gets home in 10 minutes we are going to watch Last Comic Standing together.

I don't give her enough credit and she deserves it.

Humbled,

Jeff

Can't Wait!

I can't wait until Sunday. We're going to be talking about vision. Why are we (element) here? Why am I here? What do I do? We are going to be taking a journey through Acts 13-15 looking at Paul's first missionary journey with Barnabas where they basically spent 1 1/2 years planting churches throughout the region. There are some great principles on vision in those 3 chapters. We've multiplied our Life Groups from one to three. That is very exciting. Last night a group of "younger" adults met. One of the new couples who came to Unplugged on Sunday came to Life Group last night. Tonight Grant and Terri are hosting their Life Group and another new couple is planning on being there. This Sunday night we are holding our Life Group at a new home. We're expecting some more new faces at Unplugged this weekend as we talk about vision.

Our Vision: That God would so impact the Cheyenne area through Element Church that if it were gone the community would miss it.

I want to be a church, the vision I feel God has for our church, is that we'd love people so much; serve people so well; minister so creatively, relevantly, practically and effectively that if our church was gone the community would miss it. I don't ever want to stop serving. I don't ever want to stop stretching. I don't ever want to stop being a place where LIFE exists. Element Church will always be looking for the next thing to do for Cheyenne. ALWAYS! We will always be asking how our services can be better. ALWAYS! We will always serve whether anyone attends our church because of it. ALWAYS! AND we will always passionately pursue a God who has vision.

I truly believe that God has ordained the local church to be the hope of the world, so we will always ask how we are being that hope. ALWAYS!

Did I mention I can't wait until Sunday. And I hope I will ALWAYS feel that way!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Monday Morning Update

Yesterday was AWESOME! Wow. How exciting it was to "see the work begin" at Element Church. We held our first Unplugged service. The team felt like we needed a weekly gathering as a large group since we are multiplying our Life Groups from 1 to 3. We are keeping Unplugged as un-churchy as possible while still having church. We don't want people to think we've launched yet we want our team to be able to grow together and advance in this church planting process. I guess you can say that Unplugged are mini-previews. Adam led us in three worship songs and I gave a "sermon" on our mission. All summer long we'll be doing a series called "Why?" as we dissect the mission, vision, essential ministries, and values of element church. Each week we'll ask "Why are we here?" "Why am I here?" "What do I do?" We will use Unplugged as a time to cast vision, get to know each other, build teams and lay the ground work for launch in October. MAN it felt good to share from God's word again. It was so cool to worship together as a team and see people we've made relationships with worship with us. We had two brand new couples at Unplugged yesterday as well. There were at least 8 people not in town yesterday that we expect to be at Unplugged this week and a couple more we're working on that we hope to come. What an exciting time. I tried taking a nap yesterday and my brain wouldn't shut off. I couldn't stop thinking about Unplugged. God's presence was there, we met new people, we were challenged by God's Word, what more could you ask for? This has got to be the best job in the world!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Unplugged

I couldn't sleep get to sleep last night. I dreamed of element all night long. I woke up at 5:30 am this morning and...I can't wait to have the same feeling again next week. I'm a nervous dreamer. When there is an event or something in my life I dream about it A LOT! I don't think it's worry but a nervous anticipation. Today at 10 AM element unplugged takes place. A non-church, church service. Starting this week we are multiplying our Life Group into three groups which means we won't all be meeting together as a large group each week. So we started Unplugged. We are renting a room in the Holiday Inn Convention Center and we'll worship together, get to know one another and we will be going through a series called "Why?" Each Sunday this summer we'll be asking three questions: 1. Why are we (element) here? 2. Why am I here? 3. What do I do? We'll be applying these three questions to our mission, vision, essential ministries and core values. We could have 8 people today, or we could have 40 I don't know. I counted about 40 people who have been to our events and expressed interest in being a part of Element. God gave me a verse this week that I thought was great for us. I was finishing up the OT prophets for my devos and Zechariah 4:10 leaped off the page: "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabels hand." Today is a small beginning of something God wants to do. (I know it began before today but...) Today actually feels like church. It feels like home. It feels like "This is what we are here for!" To connect people with the Life in Christ and to help them follow Him completely. In my Oswald Chambers thoughts for today (I'll close with this) he made this incredible statement. "Experience is a gateway, not an end. Beware of building your faith on experience...You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have." LIFE

Following Christ,

Jeff

The Team Is Assembled

As of Saturday, June 2nd of 2007 the Element staff has been called, assembled and moved to Cheyenne. Adam and Amber Cruz made the trek from Sheridan, WY to Cheyenne to join the Element staff. Adam is our lead worshiper. Both him and Amber have already been contributing what they could from Sheridan, Adam especially with the purchasing of sound equipment. This really has been 15 months in the making. In March of last year, soon after God stirred my heart to begin this adventure He placed Adam on my heart. I told Sabrina, I feel like I need to ask Adam to be our worship leader. Through some prayer and some conversations with people I HIGHLY trust it just didn't seem like the right time to ask. So I filed that thought in a drawer in my brain (there are lots of empty drawers there so didn't think I'd have trouble finding it). Grant Clark had already committed, in fact (I've said this many times) I always told Sabrina "I'll never plant a church, but if I ever did Grant would be the first person I'd ask to come along". Keenan and Katrina Fitzgerald were searching for God's direction in their lives and God directed me to them to be a part of this team. Keenan was feeling God's call on his heart into youth ministry and God confirmed in all of us that this was the right direction. Keenan and Katrina have been HUGE for us in the meeting of people and establishing relationships. November of 2006 comes along and that drawer opened up. Remember the drawer that held the thought of Adam. I began feeling again I needed to contact Adam. I told Sabrina, "I think it's time I call Adam". So I did. Funny how God works things out huh? I told Adam what God was doing in our lives and asked him what he thought about coming to be the worship leader at Element. On the phone he started laughing and said that God had been birthing in his heart more of a passion to lead worship. I need to wrap this up, but they were very careful to pursue God's direction in all of this and in late January, early February made the commitment to come to Cheyenne. WOW! How amazing our God is. To orchestrate the lives of 4 families to come to a city none of us knew anything about, to share with people about a God we are desperate to know more. I LOVE IT! This week we get to do our first event together as we start Element Unplugged. Check it out at www.elementweb.net I love my team. I love Element Church. I love Cheyenne. And I LOVE serving our God.

Following Christ,

Jeff