Element Church Insider

Seriously?  August is over?  Unbelievable.  It’s been a GREAT month and a GREAT sermon series which we closed out today.  Here ar emy ruminations.

— Had a GREAT visit with my parents in Gillette over the weekend.  They are now the worship pastors at the church I came from (High Plains Community Church)  It is nice to have them close enough to go up for a weekend overnight visit.

— Sabrina and the kids stayed for the whole weekend and are attending their groundbreaking ceremony on their new building as we speak.

—  We REALLY need people to move from 2nd service to 1st or 3rd.  We have the most room in our 1st service to grow.  If you’re an Elementer attending 2nd service PLEASE consider moving to first or third.  PLEASE?

—  We were maxed out in 2nd service again today.  There were a few seats but not many.

— Gotta give props to Adam today.  We sang his new original song “Till The end” today with the full band.  WOW it was amazing.  LOVED it!  The band NAILED that song.

— We sang it last week acoustic style.  This week the full band came in, and that song has IT!

—  I hope to hear that song a an album someday!

— We blew the roof off at the end of 3rd service.  We closed out our series with the song “I Am Free”. I think it speaks to the heart of what we’ve shared this whole month.  The 3rd service crazies were in FULL effect.  That final song was ROCKIN’

— I had a 3 person panel answer questions today about sex.  We had several questions come in through the last few weeks then we took some questions live.

— Pastor Dan Judge (local Biblical Counselor) and Kathy Cordell (Freedom Steps Life Coaching) sat on the panel with me.

— They each gave such GREAT insight that I otherwise wouldn’t have had into our sexuality and specifically sexual sin.

— Coming from a counseling and coaching perspective helped see things from a different angle than just from me.

—  Thanks Dan and Kathy for your EXCELLENT help.

—  Taking live questions is ALWAYS un-nerving, but I LOVE providing that opportunity through spontaneity.  Each service had some awesome and very open questions.  It was VERY nice to have my panel partners to help take those questions.

—  I don’t know what the final spiritual results are going to be from this series, but it sure seemed like God has been REALLY connecting with people through these topics.  Our prayer from the beginning has been for freedom, victory, healing and restoration.

—  Several people left today thanking us for doing this series.  One woman in particular left with tears rolling down her face, thankful for the series.  LOVE seeing people connect with what is being done.

— Love even MORE seeing the Holy Spirit take what we’ve done and connecting to the hearts of the people.

—  I’m STOKED about our new series starting next week called BE.  We’re talking about what it means to BE the church.

—  I’m tellin’ ya, you WON”T want to miss what we are doing this Sunday.  You’ll NEVER forget it.

—  Be The Church Day is coming up on Sept. 20th.  We had a TON of response at the volunteer table today.  Nearly EVERY wish list item was taken.  Almost ALL volunteer spots are filled up.

— We REALLY need help in childcare for that day.  One of the BEST ways you can serve during that day is helping in our kids care.  Pastor Derek is heading it up and will be doing a GREAT job with a service project all their own.  Stop by the Be The Church table on Sunday to see how you can be a part.

—  Hopefully we’ll be doing something special EACH Sunday of the whole September series.  Excited about what is coming up.

—  That’s it.  Gonna try and catch a late afternoon snooze.

— Element Church, I LOVE being a part of God’s Kingdom with you.

Till The End,

Jeff

I LOVE when you read Scripture and something BRAND NEW pops out to you.  I was so challenged this morning as I was spending time with God and His Word with this:  “Whose reputation are you more concerned about?”

In Numbers chapter 14 the 12 spies had just scouted out the Promise Land.  They were on the CUSP of experiencing all that God had promised them.  The spies came back however, and 10 of them stirred up fear and dissension among ALL the Israelites.  They DID speak of the greatness of the Promise Land, but they also added “We will be DESTROYED by the giants who live there if we go in”.  ONLY Caleb and Joshua said “Let’s take the land for God is with us.”  The entire community of Israel turned on Moses AND God while demanding they go back to Egypt.  God responds to Moses with this statement out of his disgust and displeasure with the rebellion of His people. 

“I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make YOU into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

God basically tells Moses, my new people will be from YOUR line.  I will make YOUR name great as I promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  MOSES will be the new name on everyone’s lips.  This Bible says “But Moses objected”.  When I read on and saw WHY Moses objected I was thouroughly convicted.

“Now if you slaughter all these people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them, so he killed them in the wilderness.’”

Moses was not necessarily concerened for the people.  He wasn’t concerned about his position or leadership.  Moses was MORE concerned witih GOD’S reputation than his own.  Whose reputation matters more to me? When it comes to leadership.  Life.  Parenting. Friendship.  Career.  WHATEVER!  Am I willing to object to MY name being great, if it means GOD”S name will not?  My desire as a husband, father, pastor, and leader is that GOD’S reputation will ALWAYS trump mine.  

Trumped,

Jeff

The most awkward but fun sermon for me in a LONG time!  Here are my ruminations on the day.

—  2nd service was SLAMMED today.  Holy cow.  Had about every available chair in there today.

— 247 kids in all three services today.  It was nuts.

— If you are an Element regular attender and attend 2nd service…PLEASE consider moving to 1st or 3rd.  Most guests will attend 2nd service so we need to open up seats in that service.  It will help a TON if you would switch services.

— I think people are starting to come back from summer.  Hope so.

— Announced our new sermon series for September today.  BE:  Uncapping the potential of the local church  I promise, you DON”T want to miss the kickoff Sunday of this series.  We are doing something at Element that we have NEVER done before.   You won’t forget it.

— The whole series is gonna be filled with some memorable moments.  Including Be The Church Day on Sept. 20th. It starts on Sept. 6th

—  Spoke about what God says about sex in marriage today.  I think it may very well be the most awkward YET most needed sermon on the whole sex topic.

— You can watch all the services online at www.elementweb.net then clicking on “media”

—  Proverbs 5:15-23 was the text for today also referenced Song of Solomon 4

—  I challenged the couples at the end to pray together for God’s strength to make it “Till The End”! Every service there were couples at the altar praying and huddled together all over the worship center praying.

—  I would love to see God REVOLUTIONIZE our marriages to be ALL that He called them to be.  That husbands would love their wives as Christ loved the Church, and that women would submit to their husbands and to Christ.

— Adam wrote a song called Till The End.  It was birthed out of this series.  MAN is it good!  He and Amber sang it to close out the service.

— He played it for us in the office earlier this week and I said “We HAVE to end service with that song”  So good.

—  247 kids.  Seriously?  That is NUTS!

—  Don’t forget next Sunday we are taking questions for our panel discussion on sex.  questions@elementweb.net or look on your worship guide for other contact info.

— That’s about it.  Gonna try and get a power nap in.

Following Christ,

Jeff