Sunday Rumination (12-30-07)

30 12 2007

First off, let me say, I’m really tired. This may not be very long. I’ll update more later. Just wanted to get this in before tonight!

— Attendance was 216 today. Both Adam and I thought we were below 200 by looking at it. Don’t know if it was how people were situated, but first serviced seemed WAY down to me. I was pleasantly surprised with attendance today. That puts us at 3 or 4 weeks in a row over 200. Very good.

— 10 first time guests filled out cards today. That was great!

— Offering today was $3275.50. Great offering for a fifth Sunday.

— I loved this series we did. I got the idea from Harvest Church in Billings who was doing a series called “Believe It Or Not” this past summer, based off the Ripley’s idea. It sparked my mind to do a Christmas series called “Believe” and look at the life of Christ rather than the birth. Adam did a great job with set design and worship through the whole series.

— I’m tired.

— I’m excited about our Deal or No Deal series coming up. I really feel this can benefit ALL of us at Element Church.

— I’m VERY excited about what God has in store for our church this next year. We’ll be doing something in January that is going to be VERY fun. Can’t wait to reveal it. It can be one of those things that can really impact everyone who attends Element Church that day.

— I spoke on the final idea of why Jesus came today. He came to take away all excuses. Jesus did enough in this life to take out any excuses we have to follow Him. It’s Him or NOTHING. I’ve enjoyed every message this series and felt like God was speaking as much TO me as much as He was THROUGH me in all the sermons. Usually the best sermons are ones that convict YOU first.

— I got a little worked up in second service today. Hope everyone comes back. lol There are some things I just get fired up about. The topics we talked about today did just that.

— I am SO excited. I can’t TELL you how excited I am for our connections pastor Grant Clark. Grant moved here in Feb/March and continued working for Frito Lay (as He had in Gillette). It was such a MAJOR risk for him to move the way he did for Element Church. He has worked just about EVERY Sunday since he moved here. He took a pretty major position cut by following God’s call to Cheyenne. In Gillette he had his own route, here he’s been what they call a “swing” guy where he covers the days off of other guys who have routes. (Hope I’m explaining this correctly) Anyway, today was Grants LAST Sunday to work because starting next week he has his own route. PRAISE THE LORD! I pray God rewards Grant for his sacrifice. This has been a major prayer request since we moved here. CONGRATS GRANT!

Ok, that’s it for now. I’m heading to take a nap!

Following Christ,

Jeff





Devotional thoughts…

28 12 2007

I finished Psalms am in Proverbs now in my devotions. Proverbs is a fantastic book. Every time I’m in it I love it. Such GREAT practical wisdom and knowledge. In fact the “purpose statement” that Solomon gives for the book is found in chapter 1 v. 3 when he says “Their purpose (of these proverbs) is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.” I am an underliner, marker, and writer when I read the Bible or really ANY book. I seem to retain things better if I mark them. Proverbs is one of those books where if I didn’t limit what mark, I’d underline nearly every verse and have notes all over my pages. Here are some insights from this wonderful book that I’ve noted this time through.

Lots of stuff on money in Proverbs. Fitting for the sermon series we are about to go through. The next two talk on that.

Proverbs 1:9 — “Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.” Funny how we think if we get money we get life.

Proverbs 3:9 — “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.”

Proverbs 4:23 — “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Proverbs 8:13 — “All who fear the Lord will hate evil.” WOW! Their are a lot of people that claim to fear the Lord then, that according to this, don’t.

Proverbs 10:16 — “The earnings of the godly enhance their lives.” Why? I think because they are willing to hold it with open hands.

Proverbs 11:4 — “Riches won’t help you on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death.” Which is better, money or righteousness?

This next one I love. It spawned a comment from Grant in a sermon during our Unplugged sessions where he said “Where there is people…there’s poop!”

Proverbs 14:4 — “Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.” Apply that to church life. Without people, the church stays clean, but you need strong people to reap a harvest of more people. The more a church grows the messier it gets, but isn’t that the point?

Proverbs 15:11 — “Even Death and Destruction hold not secrets from God, how much more does He know the human heart.”

Listen to this next one. Read it today.

Proverbs 19:17 — “If you help the poor you are lending to the Lord — and He will repay you!” WHAT? Then why don’t we help the poor more. Psalms says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And if we help the poor we’re actually lending to God and HE will repay us. That is an AWESOME verse! Goes right along with Matthew 25 when Jesus says “Whatever you have done for the least of these (poor, needy) you have done for me.” WOW!

Proverbs 20:24 — “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” MAN, is that a church planting verse. We so often try to understand all God does (WHICH WE CAN’T, that’s why He’s God and we’re not) instead of just chasing after Him and following Him wherever He goes.

There are a few samples. TONS more I wrote in my journal or marked in my Bible. Good stuff.

Following Christ,

Jeff





2008 — What’s next?

27 12 2007

Wow is God stirring my heart. Had a GREAT planning session with Adam today and another good staff meeting. Some of the things we feel God calling us to do in 2008 are absolutely scary (financially, energy, volunteering). Although they are scary we feel like we MUST do them. Two things are coming in January that one is a MAJOR risk for a new church. Can’t wait to unveil it. (Staff keep your mouths shut) :) We’ve got some service projects in the works and have even begun planning for NEXT Christmas when we do our first Christmas Eve service.

I am VERY excited for 2008. We’re at that point where it could be easy for us to exhale and say “We made it”. We could easily level out, relax, get comfortable and call it good for a while. BUT WHY? Has God moved on our behalf? YES! Has He enabled us to grow and reach people for Christ? YES! But He still has more. Where will He take us? I don’t know, but I want to keep following so I can see. I’ll be sharing some stuff this Sunday about what God has been talking to me about personally and as the leader of Element Church.

I’m very excited about our next two sermon series. We’ve already received one phone call from someone who didn’t like the content of the mailer we sent out. One thing we will always do at Element Church is talk about the tough subjects. We’ll be doing that in January and February. Two of the most difficult subjects to tackle in church we’re taking on in two consecutive months. Money and sex. Below is the graphic for the mailer we sent out. We did the split graphic and saved some money by doing to series on one mailer. We’re not holding anything back in our sex series. There is a reason the church is silent many times on sex. THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT US TALKING ABOUT IT. If we don’t, he gets all the airtime. Since it seems our country gets all their education about sex from satan, we’re going to expose what he’s been teaching through our series satan’s sex ed series.


We have our sermon calendar prepared through next Fall and I am really looking forward to some of the things we are going to do. The budget got completed yesterday and I feel really good about it. There seriously hasn’t been much more difficult, than preparing a budget for a full year, for a church that has existed for three months. We’re stepping out in faith on some of the budget items and we understand that there are some things that are unseen for us now that will come up. We’re really careful about tracking our spending right now so as to better budget as we grow.

2008 — what’s next? I know this. If we follow Jesus, we can’t go wrong. God is a big God, and I think he has BIG things in store for Element Church this coming year. This turned out way longer than I had planned. Sorry. Can’t wait for Sunday.





2008 — What’s next?

27 12 2007

Wow is God stirring my heart. Had a GREAT planning session with Adam today and another good staff meeting. Some of the things we feel God calling us to do in 2008 are absolutely scary (financially, energy, volunteering). Although they are scary we feel like we MUST do them. Two things are coming in January that one is a MAJOR risk for a new church. Can’t wait to unveil it. (Staff keep your mouths shut) :) We’ve got some service projects in the works and have even begun planning for NEXT Christmas when we do our first Christmas Eve service.

I am VERY excited for 2008. We’re at that point where it could be easy for us to exhale and say “We made it”. We could easily level out, relax, get comfortable and call it good for a while. BUT WHY? Has God moved on our behalf? YES! Has He enabled us to grow and reach people for Christ? YES! But He still has more. Where will He take us? I don’t know, but I want to keep following so I can see. I’ll be sharing some stuff this Sunday about what God has been talking to me about personally and as the leader of Element Church.

I’m very excited about our next two sermon series. We’ve already received one phone call from someone who didn’t like the content of the mailer we sent out. One thing we will always do at Element Church is talk about the tough subjects. We’ll be doing that in January and February. Two of the most difficult subjects to tackle in church we’re taking on in two consecutive months. Money and sex. Below is the graphic for the mailer we sent out. We did the split graphic and saved some money by doing to series on one mailer. We’re not holding anything back in our sex series. There is a reason the church is silent many times on sex. THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT US TALKING ABOUT IT. If we don’t, he gets all the airtime. Since it seems our country gets all their education about sex from satan, we’re going to expose what he’s been teaching through our series satan’s sex ed series.


We have our sermon calendar prepared through next Fall and I am really looking forward to some of the things we are going to do. The budget got completed yesterday and I feel really good about it. There seriously hasn’t been much more difficult, than preparing a budget for a full year, for a church that has existed for three months. We’re stepping out in faith on some of the budget items and we understand that there are some things that are unseen for us now that will come up. We’re really careful about tracking our spending right now so as to better budget as we grow.

2008 — what’s next? I know this. If we follow Jesus, we can’t go wrong. God is a big God, and I think he has BIG things in store for Element Church this coming year. This turned out way longer than I had planned. Sorry. Can’t wait for Sunday.





2008 — What’s next?

27 12 2007

Wow is God stirring my heart. Had a GREAT planning session with Adam today and another good staff meeting. Some of the things we feel God calling us to do in 2008 are absolutely scary (financially, energy, volunteering). Although they are scary we feel like we MUST do them. Two things are coming in January that one is a MAJOR risk for a new church. Can’t wait to unveil it. (Staff keep your mouths shut) :) We’ve got some service projects in the works and have even begun planning for NEXT Christmas when we do our first Christmas Eve service.

I am VERY excited for 2008. We’re at that point where it could be easy for us to exhale and say “We made it”. We could easily level out, relax, get comfortable and call it good for a while. BUT WHY? Has God moved on our behalf? YES! Has He enabled us to grow and reach people for Christ? YES! But He still has more. Where will He take us? I don’t know, but I want to keep following so I can see. I’ll be sharing some stuff this Sunday about what God has been talking to me about personally and as the leader of Element Church.

I’m very excited about our next two sermon series. We’ve already received one phone call from someone who didn’t like the content of the mailer we sent out. One thing we will always do at Element Church is talk about the tough subjects. We’ll be doing that in January and February. Two of the most difficult subjects to tackle in church we’re taking on in two consecutive months. Money and sex. Below is the graphic for the mailer we sent out. We did the split graphic and saved some money by doing to series on one mailer. We’re not holding anything back in our sex series. There is a reason the church is silent many times on sex. THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT US TALKING ABOUT IT. If we don’t, he gets all the airtime. Since it seems our country gets all their education about sex from satan, we’re going to expose what he’s been teaching through our series satan’s sex ed series.


We have our sermon calendar prepared through next Fall and I am really looking forward to some of the things we are going to do. The budget got completed yesterday and I feel really good about it. There seriously hasn’t been much more difficult, than preparing a budget for a full year, for a church that has existed for three months. We’re stepping out in faith on some of the budget items and we understand that there are some things that are unseen for us now that will come up. We’re really careful about tracking our spending right now so as to better budget as we grow.

2008 — what’s next? I know this. If we follow Jesus, we can’t go wrong. God is a big God, and I think he has BIG things in store for Element Church this coming year. This turned out way longer than I had planned. Sorry. Can’t wait for Sunday.





Blog Link

26 12 2007

Grant has a great new blog HERE. Go check it out. Good stuff as always Grant!





Offering Update

26 12 2007

Offering for Sunday was $3855.50. Just wanted to update that. Thanks Elementers for your consistent giving!





Ski Trip

25 12 2007

I took Jonah skiing yesterday up at Snowy Range Ski Area. We had a blast! Jonah did so well. I put a little video together of him skiing. He was cruising down the intermediate blue runs by the end of the day and begging to go down a black. Next time I think he’ll be ready to tackle a black diamond run. Enjoy the video.





Merry Christmas

24 12 2007

Merry Christmas to all…and to all…EAT TONS OF FOOD! Seriously though, have a GREAT Christmas.





Rumination Additions for 12-23

23 12 2007

— A total of 7 people indicated today that the gave their heart to Jesus; became a follower of Christ; crossed the line of faith or as Romans says, got “saved”. Whatever you call it, it’s a great thing! Our prayer is the Holy Spirit would work on their hearts to bring them into a greater knowledge and understanding of who God is and the decision they made.

— Kids are in bed, the crowd is gone, and my wife and I are going to watch Amazing Race.

— I may or may not blog over Christmas. Please have a WONDERFUL holiday and remember the reason….Ok I won’t say that cliche. Have an AWESOME CHRISTMAS.

Following Christ,

Jeff








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