Christmas Serving

24 12 2008

Element Church, to say I am proud of you guys is a HUGE understatement.  Our family delivered some of the adopt a mom stuff today.  The faces on the kids in that family were priceless.   As near as I could tell, there were no presents there but the ones YOU purchased.  Amazing.  All total YOU gave over $5,000 to help families in need.  We were able to add two more families because of your generous gift, totaling 6 families we were able to help.  (One single mom, a young widowed mother with young chlidren, another mom and children who are going through a VERY difficult family time,  one single dad with young kids at home, and two other families)

Pastor Grants family delieverd gifts to another one of the adoptees.  They were blown away.  We actually were able, through Elementers and Element Church, to provide some meals for people who were in need as well.  I am BLOWN AWAY by your generosity and pray God will bless those of you who gave toward it sacrificially.  We’ve seen an increase in benevolence needs come through our doors as well, and Grant has done a VERY good and DIFFICULT job and taking care of those people when they come.  On VERY few occasions have we had to turn someone down who was in need.

I am SUPER stoked about tonight.  One of our volunteers (thanks Ryan) spearheaded our Christmas Eve donut delivery.  As of yesterday we had over 30 families and 100 dozen donuts ready to be delievered to businesses and service agencies that will be open and working on Christmas Eve.  Nursing homes, hospital, Police and Fire Departments, Ambulance Service, etc. etc. etc.  We are taking servant evangelism cards with each box that say “This is our simple way of saying God loves you” on them.  I hope people who have to work on Christmas Eve will be blessed by YOUR serving them tonight.  Our family is excited and ready to deliever our donuts.  (Our kids just want to eat them)

Thank you to all who give and serve as a part of Element Church.  You are helping to make a REAL impact in peoples lives.  God bless and have an AWESOME Christmas!

Serving with you,

Jeff


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Categories : Element Church, Serving, Updates

Christmas Eve EVE Ruminations

24 12 2008

I can’t believe we pulled it all off last night.  For our first EVER Christmas Eve service (on the 23rd) it stinkin’ ROCKED!  First off, over 500 people came out to celebrate Christmas and worship Jesus with us.  AWESOME!  We had a lot of tickets turned back in yesterday and I know some people didn’t get tickets in time.  We had some empty seats, but not a ton.  Here are some thoughts on the event.

—  GREAT GREAT job by the band.  HOLY COW!  I can’t say enough about Jen, Brian, Morgan, Jeremiah and Adam.  Those guys put in a TON of time learning the songs and putting it all together.  They absolutely knocked it out of the park last night.

—  The worship set was so good.  Adam’s version of Joy To The World is the best I’ve heard.  O Come Let Us Adore Him.  Silent Night and I Celebrate The Day.  GREAT way to end the music portion of the service.

—  This was not your grandmas Christmas Eve service, unless (like Curtis said at the welcome), your grandma attends Element Church.  The version of Jingle Bell Rock and 12 Days of Christmas was TIGHT!

—  Our creative team blew me away.  WE HAD SNOW!  YES, snow fell from the ceiling during Sleigh Ride, God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman and Silent Night.  Amazing job!  The reaction from the congregation when snow started to fall was great.

—  The lighted Christmas trees were a GREAT touch.  Snowflakes hanging from the ceiling.  All around AWESOME job!

—  Nick, Rita, Christina and Steve.  THANK YOU for all your hard work.

— The tech team made sure EVERYTHING was flawless.  The light scenes they created for each song were perfect.  Andy, Ben, Nate, Jason and Jerry, THANK YOU for all your hard work.

— I ended the night reading the Christmas story and sharing a few thoughts from it on how I think Christmas should affect us.  In the end I challenged all of us to live our lives LOUD for Christ.  We transitioned via video into our final song, Drummer Boy, in which we created a trash can band opening that was so fun.

— My son Jonah walked down the center aisle beating on a drum, in came Adam on a BIG OLE trashcan, me on a bucket, and Dan on bucket drums.  We played a little ditty that led into a great closing version of Drummer Boy.  Dan, thanks for all your help, GREAT JOB!

—  We had lots of new faces there.  Heard of a few non Elementers who will be coming back this Sunday.  LOVE hearing that.

— Had lots of great comments on the night.  Can’t wait to start planning next years.  We’re going to need a bigger place. I know ideas are already flowing through Adams mind.

— SO EXCITED to deliver donuts tonight.  Our fam is getting ready to head that way to pick up our donuts and locations.

— Thanks to all those who came out and participated in Rockin’ Around The Tree! Hopefully video and pictures will be up this week.

Following Christ,

Jeff


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Categories : Element Church, Updates


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