I usually get this up on Sunday afternoon but didn’t get to it yesterday. I am usually pretty exhausted after church on Sunday, but yesterday I was unusually wiped out. Took a great nap and didn’t open my computer the rest of the day. Had another great day at Element yesterday. The snow storm (if you want to call it that) kept many people at home yesterday. Those who came I trust were blessed with the presence of God and His Word. Here are my ruminations on the day.
— Had some GREAT conversations with people regarding the impact the message had on them. It’s always great to hear specific things that touched people, not just “Great job today!”.
— One young man, during worship, felt the Lord just prompting him to “Let go of your plan for your life.” My message then, was on “What needs let go of for Christ to advance in your life?” Love it when that happens. He shared with me the impact the service had on him. Thanks for sharing that with me.
— After first service I had a heartfelt conversation with on of our “seasoned saints” we’ll call them. lol They said, with tears in there eyes, “There are a lot of things in my past that I did wrong. Do you think God really will forgive me?” I looked them straight in the eye and said “I KNOW He has.” They were broken and repentant and God will not reject that. Loved seeing God speak specifically to peoples hearts.
— We were definitely affected by the weather in attendance, HOWEVER, I was VERY pleased to see that a number of Elementers took the challenge of moving from 2nd service, to 1st or 3rd. THANK YOU to those who have made the switch, and I encourage you to stay there. It opens up seats for us in our most attended service.
— We continued our series Vantage Point today, and looked at the Christmas story through the viewpoint of Joseph. Here are some excerpts.
— We take the power of God for granted. We believe God can make a virgin pregnant, but my sin? My finances? My problems? My mess? Well, that’s just impossible.
— Some of us will not release what God wants to do IN us or THROUGH us until we let go of what someone else has done TO us.
— Forgiveness is not the absolving of guilt, it is the letting go of our right to punish them. We need to let go of our retribution.
— If we aren’t careful we will let what someone else has done to us, trap us in the same place forever.
— “What will people think?” Is a question that keeps many of us ALWAYS living on the edge of what Christ wants do, where He wants us to go and WHO He wants us to be. I need to let go of my reputation.
— When I focus on my rights, it can easily keep me from doing what is right. When I am always looking for MY chance, most likely I’ll miss an opportunity where Christ wants to advance. I need to let go of my rights.
— Lots of people miss out on how God wants to use them, because they are too busy being guided by their reason. We are great at doing what MAKES sense, instead of doing WHAT we sense from the Holy Spirit. Following Christ, often won’t make sense, unless you put it in the light of eternity. We need to let go of our reason.
— The church does a great job at trying to talk sense into people who have been called by God to do something that doesn’t make sense.
— I enjoyed looking at the story through the lens of Joseph. He is not talked about much in the Scripture, but by the account in Matthew 1 & 2 which we looked at, I believe you could say he a righteous and devout follower of God.
— We changed the order of service EVERY service today. Just didn’t flow right today. So we mixed it up each service and got it right the 3rd time.
— Our Lead Team went on a staff advance this past weekend to Estes Park. We spent 3 days praying, planning and preparing for 2010. We’ll be unveiling some things over the next month or so, let me just say this…BUCKLE UP ELEMENT CHURCH! I cannot WAIT until January 30th. On that Sunday we will be talking about some AWESOME things God is calling our church to do. It scares me to God, but that’s a great place to be.
— Thanks Element for the pleasure of leading you. You guys ROCK.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Hey Element Church. For those of you who follow the blog, Facebook or Twitter, you are getting the “inside scoop” on the newest staff member @ Element Church. Over the past several weeks, the Element Church Lead Team has been searching for God’s man to fill the role of Community Pastor here at Element. Through much prayer, counsel and God’s timing, we are VERY pleased to announce that on January 1st, Pastor Jason Duda and his family will be joining us on staff here at Element . Jason is moving to Cheyenne from Oklahoma City, OK (And YES he is a Sooner fan). Jason graduated from Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Bachelors and Masters), and is currently serving at Mid-America Christian University. Pastor Jason will be overseeing and leading the Life Group ministry of Element Church, as well as volunteers and outreach. Jason’s wife’s name is Jamie and they have 4 children (Adrienne, Nathan, Sidney, Nicholas) If you are a Facebooker, you can connect with Jason via that social network HERE. Please pray for the Duda family as they make the transition to Cheyenne. They currently do not own a home in OKC, but will be seeking to purchase a home here in Cheyenne. They have some short-term housing made available to them to start off, although it will not be ideal long term. It has been cool to see God’s call upon their lives, and their willingness to uproot and move to our great city. We are confident that the Lord will continue to work at Element Church through Pastor Jason and his ministry. If you’d like to email Jason to welcome him to our church, you can do that via email (jason@elementweb.net). We will be making a formal public announcement from the platform on December 27th and introducing Pastor Jason to the congregation on January 3rd. Can’t wait to see what God does this next year at Element.
