Element Church Insider

Umm, where did Fall go and if you took it can you bring it back?  GORGEOUS Spring like day today in Cheyenne.  Sunny and like 85 degrees.  Unreal.  It was also a GREAT day inside Element Church.  Here are my ruminations on the day.

—  Not sure on the full count so I’m gonna play it safe.  I know for sure one person acknowledged receiving Jesus as Savior today.  LOVE it.  If only for the ONE!

—  We are in this for HIM alone and we do it to connect THEM alone! (NEVER forget that)

—  Thanks to those of you lifting up prayers for me today.  I asked for prayer via Facebook cause I just felt a spirit of uneasiness and heaviness today. Didn’t feel right at all.  The prayers were greatly appreciated.

—  I’m gonna blog on this later this week, but I knelt to pray in my office before heading in for worship and just said “Lord, I don’t feel right but I’m going to go in there and CHOOSE to worship You.”  I went in, started to worship and the song we were singing was PERFECT.  It said: “I will bring praise, I will bring praise. No weapon formed against me shall remain.  I will rejoice, I will declare.  God is my victory and He is here.”  It was almost as if the Lord was re-assuring me “I’m here and I am your victory”.

—  LOVED worship today.  The energy was electric.

—  230 kids today in our kids ministry.  ARE YOU SERIOUS?  That is crazy!  CRAZY!

—  Thanks to everyone who came to first service.  It was our highest attendance in that service in a LONG time and REALLY helped create open seats in 2nd service.  Keep it up!  We need the most seats in 10 AM service.

—  Continued the series Impact today.  Asked the question “How do we get this done?”.  With all that is laid before us as a church and the enormity of the task presented to us, that seems like the right question to ask.  Preached from Acts 13:4-52.  Here are some excerpts from the sermon:

• As scary and uncertain as it may be, I’d rather be a church that’s willing to risk it all and see the vision of God fulfilled, even if it means a constant level of uncertainty, than to be a church that saves it all and never sees the vision of God fulfilled, even if it means a constant level of comfort ability.
• Safety is sometimes the enemy of success.  Safety was never promised by our Savior yet safety seems to be what we easily pursue as God’s church and His people.
• How do we get this done?  WE DON’T!  Paul and Barnabas were SENT OUT by the Holy Spirit.  If what we do is not inspired by God we are destined to fail.  We are inspired in our pursuit.
• MMMM, steak!  (Had to be there)  At Element Church we are not an all you can eat buffet, we are a great steakhouse.  We choose to do a few things as best we can, instead of trying to do everything for everyone and end up doing nothing really well.
• We are intentional in our purpose.  Paul and Barnabas KNEW who they were trying to reach, WHERE those people were going to be and they did EVERYTHING they could to reach them for Jesus.  (They came to each town, went to the synagogue and PREACHED JESUS)
• We are relevant in our practice.  Paul and Barnabas taught Jesus in a language their AUDIENCE could understand and in a WAY they could apply it.  We are trying to proclaim the promise of Jesus with the BEST possible presentation to reach as many potential people who don’t yet have Life in Christ.  The promise of Jesus deserves the BEST POSSIBLE presentation.
• We are practical in our programs.  Paul and Barnabas said “We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness of sins”.  EVERY place they went, their “program” was PREACH JESUS.  That’s it!
• We aren’t going to spend a whole lot of time or money on huddles at Element Church.  The game is WAY to big.  We must be careful as a church because you can end up spending so much time and money on huddles that you don’t have anything left to make an impact in the game.  And we WILL make an impact in the game.
• We will be effective in our product.  The people BEGGED Paul and Barnabas to come back and speak again, and the following week almost the ENTIRE town came out to hear them.  If they were gone, the community would miss them.
• If we are going to offend anyone I’d rather offend the overly religious and keep reaching those who don’t yet know Jesus!  ANYTIME the church is “successful” there will be jealousy, dissension and opposition…mostly from INSIDE God’s church.

—  Sermon should be up online Tuesday.  I shared a TON of stuff on our vision here at Element.  This is WHAT we do, WHY we do it and HOW we’re going to get it done.

—  Had two church planting teams in church today.  One from Elevation Church in Aurora, CO led by Scott Bloyer.  Had a GREAT time talking with their team following 3rd service today.  They launch on 10-10-10.  If you would, lift up a prayer for them.  We are celebrating three years of God’s greatness and they are just getting to begin.  SO COOL!  They are going to do a GREAT job.

—  The other team was from Inside Out Church in Fort Collins led by Nate Templin who is a high school classmate of mine.  They have a real heart and passion for reaching the college students at CSU.  Didn’t get a chance to hang with him today but LOVE his heart for the FoCo area.

—  HUGE week at Element Church this week.  This Wednesday at 7 PM we are having a CD release party for Pastor Adam’s new worship album called Till The End.  We want to PACK THE PLACE OUT in support of Adam and his music.  His songs have been such a HUGE inspiration and part of the Element Church story.  Come out and worship with us.

— THIS COMING SUNDAY IS OUR 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!!  We are pulling out the stops to celebrate what God has done on our behalf over the past 3 years.  ONE service in ONE location with ALL ages together.  11 AM at the Civic Center.  DON’T MISS IT!  Adam and his team has put in a TON of time, energy and creativity into making this an amazing event.  I can’t wait!

—  Make sure you get there and invite someone to come with you.  We are praying for GOD to fill up the place with His Spirit AND fill it up with His people.

—  That’s about it!  I’m WIPED!  Woke up at 3:45 AM this morning and have been going ever since.

—  Element Church I LOVE leading you.  You guys are amazing.  Can’t wait to see where God takes us next.  Greater things are yet to come.  May we never settle for reasonable when God has called us to irrational.

Till the end,

Jeff

AWESOME day today at Element Church.  Shared some HUGE news and kicked off our IMPACT INITIATIVE!  I won’t be able to share all the details here on the blog of what’s going to happen.  The message will be online by Tuesday.  I encourage you to listen to it and hear in completion what was presented to the church today.  With that said, here are my ruminations on the day.

—  To say I am excited about the future of Element Church would be an EXTREME understatement.  To say I’m scared to death about the process it will take to get there would be an even bigger one.  Right now I am scared to God…but that’s exactly where I want to be.  Element Church, may we never settle for reasonable when God has called us to irrational.

— The BIG announcement(s) was unveiled today that we’ve been promoting for several weeks now.  Outside of starting Element Church, it is BY FAR the biggest decision(s) we’ve ever had to make.

—  First off and simply put, we are out of space to continue reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are ESPECIALLY limited in our kids area.  Three weeks ago we had 217 kids in e:kidz.  We are currently leasing the property we are in and our lease expires in December of 2011.  That meant that we had some decisions to make.  Pursue purchasing, leave, or expand within our lease.  We chose the purchase direction.

—  Three weeks ago we made an offer to the owners of the building we are in to purchase the property outright.  The building was not officially for sale or listed with any real estate company.  However, we felt like God wanted us to move forward and make an offer for purchase.

—  On Thursday we received a letter back from the owners with their counter proposal.  The GREAT news is, we are currently moving forward with final negotiations to purchase the property we are in, and LORD willing, we will work out all the details for final purchase in the next 2 months.  This means, for the first time as a church, we will own a piece of property where we will worship, offer LIFE and IMPACT our community for Jesus. WOOOO HOOOO!

—  Also, in order to continue reaching more people we have to address our current space issue.  Even IF we purchased the property, expansion is not an immediate possibility.  SO, on Sunday, January 9th of 2011 Element Church is launching a FOURTH service at 10 AM on the OTHER SIDE OF TOWN.  That’s right.  Element Church is going multi-site.  We are essentially planting another church within a church.  Another Element in our own community.

—  We are currently in discussion with the Laramie County School District to rent out Triumph High School for our weekly worship experiences.

—  How will it work?  It will STILL be Element Church and I’ll STILL be the pastor.  Every Sunday I will preach live at 8:30 AM in our current location.  It will be recorded on DVD and will be driven to Element Church on the south side of town and played in their experience.  OR I will drive to the south side of town to preach live there and a high def DVD will be played at Element North.  Pastor Adam will also be leading worship at both locations on different weeks.  We are currently seeking and interviewing people for a second worship leader role.

—  The video playback will be in a giant center screen in high resolution format.  Our experience WILL NOT change.  We will make it the BEST we possibly know how.  If you WANT the preacher live, come to 8:30 service.  I’ll ALWAYS be live.  It don’t matter if the preacher is on a screen or in the pulpit, If JESUS ain’t there at NOTHING happening anyway.

—  Again, PLEASE watch the video from the service or set an appointment with Pastor Kody to talk about ANY questions you may have.

—  To top it all off, we have about 4 to 5 families who drive from Wheatland to Cheyenne EVERY Sunday to attend Element.  A few months back, they approached us about the potential of starting an Element Church there.  A few weeks ago Pastor Kody and I met with the interested group of people (25 showed up).  Coming up on October 5th we are meeting with them again and will begin pursuing a possible 2011 launch of Element Church in Wheatland.  It too will be a multi-site church with a campus pastor, worship leader and youth leader as well.  It will be a full church with the teaching done via video on (most) Sundays.

—  To accomplish all this, we kicked of the Impact Initiative today.  We have set a dollar goal to raise in the next 18 months so we can pursue these options aggressively.  On Sunday, Nov. 7th we will be taking our pledge card offering along with First Fruits/Year End offering.  Take the next month to pray “Lord, what would you have me give above and beyond what I’m already doing toward this initiative.”  We will then collect all the pledges on the 7th, along with our FIRST offering toward this initiative.  (Again, watch the sermon for the deets)

—  The initiative will go from November 7th, 2010 through April of 2012.  We presented this vision to a group of leaders from Element Church a few weeks ago and asked them to turn in a pledge before t0day.  Among those who attended 29 leaders have pre-pledged, giving us GREAT head start toward our goal.  We are WELL on our way of reaching our goal and doing our BEST to offer the LIFE of Christ to people and IMPACTING our community for Jesus.

—  I’m sure there is more I should say but I am FRIED.  Didn’t sleep much last night and I presented this with passion this morning then had 50 people at The Tour this afternoon.  I am completely worn out.

—  Element Church, I am SO honored and COMPLETELY humbled to be a part of your lives.  I CAN’T WAIT to see what happens next.  I truly believe our BEST days are ahead of us.  I know this one blog does NO justice to the details that need to be shared and the INCREDIBLE excitement that this creates in me.  Once again let me say this:  Element Church, may we NEVER settle for reasonable when God has called us to irrational.  We are in this if only for the ONE!

Till the end,

Jeff

—  We are 3 Sundays away from our THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!  Save the date and invite a friend.  Sunday morning, October 3rd at 11 AM in the Cheyenne Civic Center.  It will be a worship experience like nothing we’ve ever had.  You DON’T want to miss it.  Can’t wait.  We’ve been in planning mode for this for weeks now and it is gonna be SICK!

—  Also, don’t forget the CD release party for Adam’s new worship album called Till The End.  Wednesday, September 29th at 7 PM ALL AGES welcome.  Everyone who attends will get a discount on the album as well.  I already have it…and it is GOOD!  Check out the info HERE.

—  And finally, next Sunday (Sept. 19th) if you call Element Church home PLEASE don’t miss this Sunday.  We’ll be unveiling some HUGE next steps for Element Church.  What we’ll be talking about will literally be GAME CHANGERS for Element Church, changing the way we do ministry forever (and will take an entire message to unpack.  Yep, it’s that big).  We’d LOVE for you to be a part of this next step for Element and invite you to be there for this crucial time in our ministry.

—  Two people publicly acknowledged their acceptance of Jesus as  Savior today.  LOVE IT!  If only for the ONE!

—  Had one of our Elementers share after service that one of the ladies who got saved is the wife of one of his co-workers.  He was really excited!  So cool.

—  The band took on a tough song today to supplement my message called Frontline by Pillar.  They NAILED it and it was stinkin’ ROCKIN’ in there.  Great job Adam and band.  That was a TOUGH song to pull off.

—  We continued our sermon series called IMPACT today.  Asked the question “How do we know we have what it takes?”  Continued the story of Gideon from Judges 6:33 – 7:25.  Really felt that this message sets us up perfectly for what I’ll be sharing the remainder of this series.  I believe we are headed into a season of unparalleled risk, uncertainty and sacrifice.  But I’m confident in the God who’s calling us to move forward to bring unparalleled impact, life change and transformation.  Here are some excerpts:

• God’s church is a formidable army not a fun activity.  It is a rescue mission for the mortally wounded, not a safe haven for the mostly healthy.  We’ve been called to a battle.  It’s a battle for lost souls, wounded hearts and battered minds.
• Hell is not advancing against the church, the church is advancing against hell…or at least that’s how it should be.  But I wonder if it seems sometimes like hell’s advancing against us because too many of us are timid or afraid to “go with the strength we already have?”
• God does not need us but He invites us to go with Him.  God does not rely on us but He asks us to fight for Him.  God does not require our assistance yet He allows us to assist Him anyway.  God’s gonna do what He wants to do WITH or WITHOUT us, it’s up to us whether we get to be a part of it or not.
• God’s presence and power DOES NOT depend on how much we have or don’t have.
• We will not live in the “we will when” zone, when we are fully capable of living in the “we will NOW zone”!
• God doesn’t care what we DON’T have, He wants to change our community with what we already DO have.  God could care less what we’d LIKE to have, He’s asking the question “What are you doing with what I’ve already given you?”
• Our church depends on ONE person.  That person is not you, it’s definitely not me, it is JESUS CHRIST!  Without Him we are finished.  His presence doesn’t change…His presence is what we need…It’s His presence that we will pursue.
• (speaking of the way we do church) When we lift up our method above the Master we become idolaters instead of initiators, we simply need to be willing to engage the fight WHENEVER and HOWEVER we can.  When we think that OUR way has anything to do with THE way we become founders instead of followers, establishing our religion in place of the ONLY way to rescue people.
• When people get saved, more people come to church.  When more people come to church…more people get saved.  And when more people get saved…more people come to church.  God’s victory ALWAYS attracts.
• A church who’s not willing to reach more people for Jesus is essentially telling their community “You can go to hell”!  — Rick Warren (DOUBLE WOW!  It was quiet when I read that)
• How do we know we have what it takes?  God does not need us;  His presence doesn’t change;  He blesses all kinds of plans; His victory ALWAYS attracts.  (Notice, the way we know we have what it takes has NOTHING to do with us and EVERYTHING to do with HIM)

—  Again had some GREAT conversations with new people after service.  Love meeting newcomers to our church.  LOVE hearing how God is working in their life.

—  That’s about it.  Had Leadership Council today so got home late.  Time to shut er down and spend time with the fam.

—  Don’t forget HUGE announcement next Sunday (And it takes an entire message to explain…Again, YES it’s that big).  CD release party on Wednesday the 29th AND 3 year anniversary on October 3rd.  HUGE stuff coming our way.  CAN’T WAIT!!

Till the end,

Jeff