Element Church Insider

Wow!  Today was a whilrlind.  I LOVE IT!  It is nuts every week so I don’t know why it ever surprises me.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

— OU DISMANTLED Texas Tech last night!  Had to start with that, now on to the important stuff.  (And I didn’t say one word at church today)

— I took our team to the Toby Mac concert in Denver on Friday.  We had a BLAST (at least I did).  Holy cow that dude puts on a show.  Relient K and Family Force 5 were there as well.  It was great to get away from the normal routine of working at the building and just have some fun.  Haven’t done that in a while.

— 559 today at Element.

— First service we had plenty of room.  Second service just blew up.  We had over 50 in the video venue.

— Guess we’re never getting rid of noon movies till we move.  Had 3 noon movies in theaters we use today.  The previews started in the video venue before we were done.  Lovely!

— Had a special guest in church today.  Dr. Dale Erbele was in town.  Pastor Dale is the Superintendent of our Conference (Western) in our denomination.  Dr. Dale holds a VERY special place in Grant and my life.  It was during a sermon he was giving at our church in Gillette when Grant was called into church planting.  It was through his leadership and vision that God directed and called me into church planting.  Without Dr. Dale I’m not sure Element is happening with Grant and I on the team.

— I LOVE seeing men like Dr. Dale who are later in life, could be scaling back or dialing it in but he is just FULL of vision!  He isn’t stuck in the past but is taking out blockades for guys like me to forge ahead.  He is ALL for new ideas, new paradigms and methods of ministry.  He is CONSUMED with doing whatever it takes, whenever it takes and however it takes to tell people about Jesus.  LOVE It!  Thanks Dale.

—  Ended our “Heart” series today talking on our core value of Allegiance.

— Before service I felt very disconnected with the message.  Not sure why.  I knew it was what God laid on my heart but just didn’t connect.  The word I used with Grant and Curtis was I didn’t feel familiar with it.  Not sure how it came across today but that’s how I felt going in.

— I woke up yesterday morning with a super sore throat and a voice that was starting to fade.  This morning was the same way and I was downing cough drops like candy all morning.  I had Grant and Curtis pray over me before first service started and then Terri ran and got me some hot tea before I hit the stage 2nd service.  I made it all the way through both services but not sure my voice will last through the day.

— There have been a few times over the year that I just felt an extra need for prayer and EVERY time I’ve grabbed Curtis or Grant or Adam they have dropped whatever they are doing to come pray with me.  LOVE the team God has assembled.  There is nothin’ more comforting than having men you absolutely trust to lay hands on you and pray for God’s annointing.

— I must have looked nervous today cause someone told me “There is no reason to be nervous Jeff.”  Actually, I don’t know of a Sunday I haven’t been nervous, EVER!  I take very seriously the fact that I am proclaiming the Word of God on Sunday, and that scares me EVERY time!  That fact God entrusts me with preaching is VERY humbling.  The day I’m not nervous there is something wrong.

— We had our pre-final inspections Friday morning.  Everything is looking good.  We will NOT be moving this week.  It’s down to getting the doors delivered and installed.  Crazy.  Literally right around the corner.

— Got pictures coming.  ALL the carpet is installed.  Took us all day Saturday.

— Wow, this got long.  I’ll quit.  Pictures up in a bit!

Following Christ,

Jeff

One more week of “Heart” and then hopefully we’ll be in the new location.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

— 3 people in first service and 4 people in 2nd service acknowledged that they had asked Jesus to come into their heart.  One of them was one of our JV youth students.

— 3 kids accepted Jesus today as well in e:kidz.  That ROCKS!  People need to Jesus, not as a buddy but as their Savior.  NOTHING tops seeing people come to know Christ.

— We have received some GREAT comments and emails of people sharing about how Jesus transforming their lives.  LOVE it!

— 544 today.  Both services full again!

— Due to a scheduling conflict last week (we had to play in the championship game of the city flag football tournament.  WE WON!), we rescheduled The Tour for today.  We also have Partnership class at 4 today.  I love seeing people connect in a deeper level to Element.

— Long day when you throw those two things in.

— Adam stinkin’ rocked out a new version of Amazing Love today.  Holy Cow it was awesome!

— Spoke on our core value of significance.  As stated through this series, I don’t want these values just to be on paper or viewed on the web-site, but what we actually live!  Our values need to guide, direct and navigate our mission and vision.  I hope people actually see our values IN us.

— Made the announcement that we will not be moving into the new location this week.  We do have our final inspection scheduled for Friday.  We need three things done and need your prayers on them.  #1 Electric needs to be done.  #2  HVAC needs to be done  #3 Our doors are NOT in yet and we can’t pass inspections without doors.  Please pray on our behalf.

— We’re not naming a date again, so we don’t have to retract again.  HOWEVER, it is SOON!  We are so close we can taste it.  I’ll have some new pictures up tonight.  Carpet should be done this week.  Bathrooms are floored (one small area in womens to be done).  Toilets going in.  It’s super close.

— I’m actually gonna miss the theater.  It’s become home!  Sure it will be great to not be portable but the theater holds some awesome memories.  It will be one of my “memorials” for the rest of my life.  I think we need memorials like God used to have the Israelites put up.  It helps you remember what God has done!

— Alright!  I know there is probably more but I need to head to partnership class!  I LOVE Element Church!

— I’ll try to get pictures up tonight.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Hey Element Church!  Pastor Grant, Pastor Adam, Pastor Andy and I all drove to Billings late last night for our denominational Annual Conference.  We rolled into Billings about 12:30 AM and have meetings starting today after lunch through Wednesday noon.  We’re actually going to head out after all the business on Tuesday night so we can get back to keep working on the new location on Wednesday.  Please pray for our safety as we travel back late Tuesday.  We had another awesome day yesterday.  Here are my ruminations.

— 557 total attendance yesterday.  Once again we had people in the video venue both services.

— Thank you to those who are choosing to sit in the video venue.  It’s a huge help to have some open seats in our live theater.

—  All the pastors wore suits yesterday.  People thought something was up.  We also borrowed a very large wooden pulpit from another church in town.

— Adam led worship with an acoustic set.  Much more mellow feel than Element usually does.  We didn’t use our stage lighting like we usually do either.

— The reason being, I spoke on our core value of worship.  In the Bible we don’t see suits, choir robes, pulpits, steeples, stained glass, hymn books, video projectors, electric guitars, drums, lights or sound systems, yet we limit worship to all those things.

— I spoke from Amos 5.  God says about worship in verse 24 “Instead, I want to see a might flood of justice and an endless river of righteous living”.  I think the worship that God wants is found in the Great Commandment.  To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And to love your neighbor as yourself.

— We announced our move into the new location.  If you are an Elementer plan on attending church at the new location, 600 E. Carlson, on Nov. 23rd.  If anything changes we’ll announce it at church this Sunday and on the blogs and web site.

— There is a LOT of work to be done in order to get in on time.  LOTS of cleaning to be done.  Touch up painting.  We’ll have to move all of our supplies from the theater over to the new location.

— We’re planning on working Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nighs 6 – 9 PM.  Saturday 9 AM to 4 PM.  We need Shopvacs galore.  Brooms.  Mops eventually.  Anyone with carpet laying expertise.  Willing bodies.  If you have questions, please call the office.

— Gotta run!  probably some slow blogging this week with everything going on.  I’ll do my best to keep you updtated.

— I love pastoring Element Church.

Following Christ,

Jeff