Woke up this morning to snow and FREEZIN cold. The wind wasn’t blowing though so that made it much better. Didn’t know what the turn out would be at church. It was snowing pretty heavy before first service. Here are my ruminations on the day.
— Took the family sledding today. We need new sleds. Ours stick more than slide.
— 624 in church today. We actually had more in first service than second today. Which was weird. It had stopped snowing hard by the time first service was over. Over 90 people in e:kidz 1st service alone.
— Speaking of kids. We made a tough announcement today. I LOVE the fact that we have a bunch of kids coming to Element. I LOVE hearing them play and laugh down there. It means something is happening. HOWEVER, we have a serious safety issue when it comes to #’s of teammates to serve in e:kidz. Two weeks ago we had 24 babies in the nursery. For safety reasons we are supposed to have 1 adult for every 4 babies. The ratio in the older kids rooms isn’t nearly as much. SO, starting this coming (or next) Sunday we will only be taking the amount of kids we can safely handle with # of teammates serving. We’ll have the # of kids we can take posted outside the corresponding doors. We just can’t take the risk of something happening and not having enough teammates in there. We need the most help in the Itty Bitty Nursery. (24 kids needs 6 adults) If you can help serve in our kids area PLEASE DO!
— God forbid a guest comes and we can’t take their kids. That is my biggest fear, but we’ve waited too long to make this decision. It HAS to be done!
— I was more nervous about todays topic than any in our series, or any in a long time for that matter. I knew it was something God wanted us to discuss but just couldn’t get ANY direction through the week. I actually felt like the enemy gave me several “outs” through the week. We almost changed the whole theme on Thursday. I’m glad we didn’t. We talked about self-discipline, but focused heavily on our physical health. How it affects our mental health which feeds our spiritual health.
— I can stand up and speak on sin, KNOWING people will be offended and I’m totally ok. I can speak on vision and the direction of our church KNOWING people won’t like it and may be upset but I’m totally ok. But God asks me to speak on our physical health and it freaks me out. Once I was on the platform I felt GREAT and really felt God helped me discuss the issues openly. Heard several comments like “It was just what I needed” so I’m glad God helped us.
— I think the church is GREAT at talking about disciplining our minds and spirits, but how many times do we talk about our health. I think we serve a holistic God. He wants us to be healthy physically, mental AND spiritually. And I’m not talking about the health, wealth and prosperity teaching that goes around. I do NOT believe it is God’s ultimate desire for us to be rich, happy and healthy. But I DO believe he wants us to take care of our bodies, JUST AS MUCH as He does our minds and spirits. How we treat our bodies is a spiritual issue. You’ll have to listen to the sermon to hear what I said.
— Anyway, turned out to be a message that I really liked and seemed to help people.
— MAN, it sure seems that the band is kickin’ up another notch. They absolutely KILLED it today. The worship set was so good.
— When I really connect in worship it sure helps me in my preaching. The tech team is doing so good too. The sound just gets better every week. Great job Adam and the band!
— Super excited for the financial seminar this Saturday and the close to 21. Call or email the office to get signed up for the financial seminar. This has been one of my favorite sermon series’ we’ve done. I REALLY feel like this series connected with people.
— Our next sermon series is going to be AWESOME! Can’t wait. Ask Adam about the promo video! HA
— Super Bowl Party at the church 4 PM this coming Sunday. We are providing soda and chips. Bring your own “main course”. It is open for anyone in JV Fusion through adults.
— Baptism on February 8th. 4 PM at Calvary Chapel here in town. If you are a new Christian we’d LOVE for you to make that public confession through baptsim. Email or call us to get signed up.
— That’s about it. Have an AWESOME week and enjoy the snow.
Following Christ,
Jeff
