Element Church Insider

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

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

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.

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