Hey Element Church! Just wanted to let everyone know that we will NOT be having our regular Sunday evening service this Sunday night. We know that MANY people already have family plans for the Memorial Day weekend, so if you are going to be in town this weekend we encourage you to come worship with us at one of our three Sunday morning services: 8:30, 10:00 or 11:30 am. We will have all four worship opportunities starting again on Sunday, June 3rd. Thanks for calling Element Church “Home.” Hope to see you here Sunday.
Memorial Day Service Change
24 05 2012Comments : Leave a Comment »
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Categories : Element Church, Updates
Who Is Element Church Trying To Reach?
23 05 2012
We are NOT here to coddle the already convinced, or to cater to the consistently comfortable. We’re here to help convert those who are YET to believe, and challenge the STINKIN’ HECK out of those of us who already do! I’ve said that on many occasions here at Element, and mean every bit of it. If someone were to ask me “Who is Element Church trying to reach?” I could just read them the email I received Sunday night from an Elementer to answer their question. I have permission to share the email with you (some names/info changed for anonymity). THIS is why we do what we do. If only for the ONE!:
Hey Jeff:
After your sermon today I felt led to write this. God worked up some deep emotions in me – more of ultimate thankfulness for saving my life. This email could never do justice but I am going to try.
I am so glad God brought about the start of Element Church. If not for Element being here, I would surely be dead, along with so many others in my life. Dead both in this life and in the next. Because God brought Element Church to Cheyenne, He saved me, my wife and my children’s lives. Not to mention, all those yet to be discovered or who will be a part of my life.
There are so many life changing events, it would be impossible to list here. To name only a few: everything from quitting my 20+ year addiction to smoking, changing my selfishness and having a true hatred and anger toward the cross, to saving my wife from drug and alcohol abuse and helping her heal from her past physical abuse issues (rape by relative). Also, my wife’s previous husband hung himself, yet through Jesus she has been healed from that. We are both becoming more like Jesus everyday, and others are taking notice.
It’s the coolest thing to have my daughters talk about God in a way I never did at their age. I am taking my family in a bold direction that makes me so proud.
In the past, if you told me that I would be a Christian, and on top of that, volunteering and running a community group, I would have said you were the craziest person on the planet. I was so far the other direction. This is truly a miracle by God and my biggest calling is to be a larger impact to the world with you! I am 100 percent on board brother!!!
Because God called Element Church to Cheyenne, you guys have reached me. Because God reached me, He was able to reach my wife and our children, friends, and family. Like you said, this is how we change the world! One person at a time.
For someone who use to stick my middle finger up at the cross and at churches while shouting “F you”, to now being reformed into someone who LOVES Christ and even who is running a group and praying in public is surely a God thing. This would have never happened if not for Element Church.
I am so excited to be a part of the movement!! I want others to experience what I have. I am 10000000000000 times on board in anyway I can be!! My life is for Christ and my support will forever be with Element Church!
Love,
(Name)
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Categories : Element Church, Testimony, Vision
My Community Group
22 05 2012
Some people may not know this, but I lead a Community Group here at Element Church EVERY Tuesday. I believe THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I can do for our church, is lead the way in prayer. So my group is a prayer group. Every Tuesday from noon – 1 PM I am in the worship center for a time of prayer over our church. This group is open to ANYONE to attend. There isn’t really any structure to it. We play some worship music quietly in the background and pray. I’ve only had two people ever show up to pray with me but I’d LOVE to see more. It is an open time of individual prayer so if you can come for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or the full hour it’s all good. No one is forced to pray out loud, we’re just there corporately lifting up our individual prayers to God. Starting today, I’ll be providing some prayer points for those who show up. Some things that are on my heart that you could be praying for. Whether you plug into this prayer time or not, I’d challenge you to check out some Community opportunities here at Element. Jump on our Community page HERE or check it out at Guest Services on Sunday mornings. Hope to see you there!
Praying,
Jeff
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Categories : Community, Discipleship, Element Church, Prayer, Updates
Sunday Ruminations (5-20-12)
21 05 2012It was a ROUGH day for me today. A LOT of build up into today’s message and announcement and I just didn’t feel right today. It all culminated with nearly not making it out to the platform for 3rd service. (More on that in a bit) Here are my ruminations on the day.
— Today was the culmination of MONTHS of prayer, planning and preparation for what is next for Element Church. It was about a year ago that God began to stir my heart toward this next step we are taking as a church.
— Each sermon and sermon series since February has been building up to the end of this series today. In February we did a series called “Movement” and looked at “Church as it should be” from the book of Acts. In March we did a series through our discipleship process and strategy as a church, then this series was focused on all of our core values leading up to our vision today.
— Essentially, here is what it boils down to. Our vision has ALWAYS been the same. “To have such an impact on our city that if our church were gone the community would miss us.” About a year ago I was convicted by ONE number I came across. The number 8.
- Wyoming is the 8th largest unchurched state in America. So there are more lost people per capita in the state of Wyoming than in 48 other states in our country. That blew me away. So I started praying and seeking God’s guidance on what Element Church could do to change that number.
- As I was praying and seeking God’s guidance I couldn’t escape one word in Scripture. You don’t necessarily READ it, but you SEE it all throughout Scripture. “MOVEMENT”! Jesus started a movement that we are STILL a part of today. We are standing on the shoulders of men and women who over the last 2.000 years have taken the message, mission and movement of Jesus seriously so WE could do what we do today.
- Well, because we are launching our first campus in Wheatland, WY in January of 2013, not only did our vision “statement” need to change, but based off the stats I shared earlier and that word I couldn’t get off my heart, I felt God was EXPANDING our overall vision. So here is the new vision of Element Church. “That we’d be a MOVEMENT of churches having such an IMPACT that if we were gone our COMMUNITIES would miss us.”
- As I was praying through that number 8, and praying through that word “movement”, God began to lay another number on my heart. The number 23. We were ONE church starting TWO campuses in the EIGHTH largest unchurched state in America. That number 23? That’s the number of counties in the state of Wyoming.
- Now here is our LONG TERM VISION: We want to start a campus in EVERY county in the state of Wyoming. (Or as many as we can. Long story, there are 3 counties that we are not currently going to pursue a campus.) This won’t happen in 1 year, it won’t happen in 5 years, it may not happen in 10 or 20 years, but as long as I’m the pastor of Element Church, we are going to do our BEST to be a part of the movement of JESUS and change that number 8.
- We have the BEST MESSAGE on the planet…why WOULDN’T we do EVERYTHING we can to take that message to lost people? It would be irresponsible for us NOT to do WHATEVER we can to reach more people for Jesus OUTSIDE the city we live in.
— I’ve been waiting SIX MONTHS to give this message today. HA! Good to have it out. Now I’m ready to just MOVE AHEAD!
— In between 2nd and 3rd service I was just sitting in my office, getting prepared for 3rd service, when all of a sudden an overwhelming urge to throw up hit me. I had that sensation in my throat and mouth and thought I was about to blow. My body got the chills, and I became very weak. It was VERY weird. I was on the floor with a trash can just in case. Texted Pastor Kody and told him what was going on. I didn’t know if I was gonna make it out or not.
— The team had the video of the previous service ready to go if we needed to play it, but I felt good enough to give it a go. I felt LOST during that service. My legs were jelly, my mind couldn’t focus, body was weak. Thankfully the Lord saw it through. I don’t know if anyone but those who knew would have even noticed anything.
— As I said, we closed out our series “This is how we change the world” today. Today wasn’t really a sermon, I got to share the story of Element Church and talk about where we are headed. I did use these Scriptures to set up the story of Element Church today. Matthew 13:16-17 and 1 Peter 1:10-12. Here are some other excerpts on the day:
- (About Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego) We get so focused on them being from the fire, we miss the power of their response through faith.
- They had an “even if” kind of faith. Whether God comes through for us or not we will NEVER be through serving and following Him.
- The BEST stories are yet to be written. Everybody loves a good story and we are a part of the GREATEST story of all. The story of Jesus and HE’S NOT DONE!
- Sometimes to get to where you’re going, you have to remember where you’ve BEEN. To become who you need to be, you have to remember who you WERE.
- Attendance at Element Church is up 27% from this time last year and our giving is up 61% from this time last year.
- We have two choices. We can stop now and not mess this thing up, or we can GO and not lose momentum.
- This is not about our state needing more churches, it’s about people needing JESUS, and as long as people need JESUS we will CONTINUE being a church that does BRAND NEW THINGS!
- I can’t look at that number 8 (8th largest unchurched state) and NOT do something to try and change it.
- How can we change the world? WE CAN’T but JESUS CAN, and He’s handed off His message, His mission, His MOVEMENT to us and says “What will you do with what I’ve given you?”
- Whether God comes through for us or not, we are NEVER through serving and following Him. We will have an EVEN IF kind of faith. “EVEN IF He doesn’t come through, I want you to know that we will NEVER STOP SERVING OUR GOD! His name is JESUS, and He is LORD of all!”
— Alright Element Church. I am SCARED and I am EXCITED! This vision is an “If God doesn’t come through WE’RE through kind of vision!” And it’s the ONLY kind of vision to have! If we are able to accomplish this dream, if we even accomplish HALF of it, the ONLY person that could receive credit for it is GOD!
— I love you guys! Couldn’t ask for a greater group of people to serve God with. You guys are AWESOME!
Till the end,
Jeff
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Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination
The Power of Community
15 05 2012Katarina graciously shared her testimony this past Sunday on the power of community. If you are not currently involved in Community here at Element Church, you can sign up HERE. Check out her story.
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Categories : Community, Discipleship, Element Church, Video
DAD, your words carry weight!
10 05 2012As dads, if we understood the WEIGHT of our words, we would worry a little bit more about WHAT we said!
I read something in Scripture a while back and made a note of it in my journal, then I saw something on Deadliest Catch the other night that brought it back to my mind. If you don’t know, Deadliest Catch is a show on Discovery that follows the crab fishing season of several boats in Alaska. I LOVE watching the show. It’s fascinating to me. But the other night, I saw something that broke my heart.
A captain of one of the boats employs one of his own sons as a crewman on the ship. This son is still learning the ropes on the boat and his dad wanted to give him a shot at a new role. “Throwing the hook”. This is the art of tossing a hook out into the sea to snag the rope that’s attached to the crab pot and the bottom of the ocean, which then brings the pot up to the surface to haul in the catch.
Well, this young man (20 something) tried it several times but to no avail. The dad, and captain of the ship came down to the deck and began to belittle his son in front of the crew. Literally beating him down word by word. The dad goes back up to his post and announces over the ships loudspeaker for everyone to hear “Your mom is going to be real proud when she sees this. She always wanted a girl.” The camera captured the look of the young man. It was like his dad just took some of the life right out of him. Who knows, he may never throw the hook the right way again, just based off what his dad said.
But this is something that jumped out at me in Scripture. God used it to challenge me on the words I use with my children. SPECIFICALLY my son!
In 1 Chronicles 28, David is handing off his throne to his son Solomon as well as the plans for building the Temple. And 1 Chronicles 28:20 says this Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly.
Essentially he’s telling Solomon “I believe in you and SO DOES GOD. HE will give you the power to do this.” David spoke SUCCESS into his son. He spoke LIFE into him. He spoke BELIEF into him.
Then when Solomon becomes King, 1 Chronicles 29:23 says this So Solomon took the throne of the Lord in place of his father, David, and he succeeded in everything, and all Israel obeyed him.
You’ll never convince me that Solomon’s success didn’t have anything to do with his dads words. DAD, your words carry WEIGHT! Speak LIFE, speak SUCCESS, speak BELIEF into your children. IT MATTERS!
As dads, if we understood the WEIGHT of our words, we would worry a little bit more about WHAT we said!
Worrying,
Jeff
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Categories : Discipleship, Element Church, kids, Parenting, Personal
What EVERY husband needs!
9 05 2012And NO men…what you’re thinking of is NOT a need. You will not die if you go without IT. I’ve never read an obituary that cited THAT as a cause of death. Air? That’s a need! Water? Yep! Food? Pretty much! THAT? Sorry. (typing this with a grin)
I could have titled this “What EVERY husband needs and what every wife should know!”
In 2 Samuel chapter 6, King David was returning home from a hard days work. They had just completed the STRESSFUL task of moving the Ark of God into Jerusalem. It was something David had wanted to do to honor the Lord and bless the people. (The last time David tried this, someone died. So this was a BIG deal!)
2 Samuel 6:20 says When David returned home to BLESS HIS OWN FAMILY, (Men, your role is to BLESS your family not BELITTLE them. To BUILD them up not BEAT them down. To BE a servant, not to BE served. And you do this, REGARDLESS of what your wife or children do for you. Now back to the wives.) Michal, the daughter of Saul (and wife of David), came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!”
David’s intention when he came home was to BLESS his wife, but when he entered the door he was immediately met with a BITE! He had just completed something he had long wanted to do, and all his wife could do was tear him down. Point out his mistakes. Share her disgust. Do you think David fulfilled what he set out to do? To bless his family? Hard to bless when you’re beaten up.
Wives, you need to know this. There is ONE person outside of God and our own dads that we want approval from and it’s YOU! Even after 5 years of dating and 15 years of marriage, I’m STILL trying to impress my wife. It’s HER word of encouragement I need. It’s HER support I’m looking for. It’s HER respect that matters. And I PRAISE GOD EVERY DAY that God gave me a wife who GETS IT!
I understand there are husbands who aren’t earning respect. I know there are men who abuse the role of husband. But wives (as I heard another pastor say) inside of every man is a KING or a KID. The one who you speak to, is the one who will come alive! Speak to your man as a KING and he’ll be better able to live like it!
RESPECT him (we take pride in what we do). ENCOURAGE him (we often feel inadequate in what we do). SUPPORT him (we need you beside us in what we do). (All of that and I didn’t even use the dreaded “S” word…SUBMIT. I’ll leave that for another day)
There you have it. My ramblings on “What every husband needs and every wife needs to know.” Maybe it helped someone today!
Here’s to hoping,
Jeff
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Categories : Discipleship, Element Church, Family, Husbands, Personal, Wives
Sunday Ruminations (5-6-12)
7 05 2012I think I say this every month, so may as well keep it up…I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S MAY ALREADY! Crazy! Of course the weather has been nothing short of near summer like recently, so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Another great day at Element today, here are my ruminations.
— 15 people acknowledged to us they accepted Jesus as Savior and found new life in HIM! WOO HOO! If only for the ONE!
— Heard a cool story today of a guy that invited his EX wife to Element. She came and LOVED it! Said she had never experienced anything like it. LOVE THAT! So cool to hear of men inviting their EX’S to church.
— A brand new community season at Element is coming up in June. The whole month of May we are promoting community opportunities. For more info on community go HERE.
— Got a really cool serving opportunity for families coming up through e:kidz. It’s called “Plant a seed in the park”. You can check out the details and sign up HERE. If you have kids in e:kidz they should have brought home some information.
— Element 5k will be here before we know it. Sign up HERE to participate. Cost is $20, but 15 of those dollars will go straight to the Comea Homeless Shelter and Life Choice Pregnancy Care Center here in town.
— ALSO, coming up on Monday night, May 14th is our Volunteer Leadership Summit! If you are currently a volunteer or are interested in volunteering we’d LOVE to have you at this event. Pastor Adam and the band will lead us in worship, and I’ll be sharing with our volunteers some vision and message from God’s Word. It’s a great time of celebration as a team. Childcare is provided and it begins at 6:30 PM.
— We continued our series today called “This is how we change the world” and talked about Core Value #5: It Matters… Preached from Matthew 10:5-42. Here are some excerpts on the day:
- It Matters… = No matter what you do IN the church, it matters just the same FOR the church.
- Anytime you can mention Rob Base in a sermon it’s good! HA!
- “I’m just…” is a phrase that needs to be REMOVED from our churches language. “I’m JUST a greeter.” “I JUST serve in hospitality.” “I’m JUST on the parking team.” When people SAY it, most likely they BELIEVE it, and if you BELIEVE it you won’t thank that what you do MATTERS!
- You are just as important as ANYONE when you do ANYTHING in God’s Kingdom for Jesus.
- We have elevated the position of the pulpit at the expense of the places like the parking team.
- The moment I lose sight of who gave me this position, is the moment I miss the importance of it. And the same is true for EVERY place in the church.
- Serving in God’s Kingdom, serving in God’s church is NOT an obligation, it is an opportunity. An opportunity to be involved in something bigger than ourselves. Something that makes an IMPACT!
- Because we have placed a higher value on the platform than any other positions, we start to see certain gifts instead of seeking the GIVER who gives them. If we are seeking out GIFTS, we will end up missing the GIVER.
- So many people never get to do what God’s chosen them to do because they won’t trust God to do what only HE can do…PROVIDE!
- If you’re looking for anything more than Jesus you’re going to be disappointed. If you give SO you’ll receive you’ll eventually stop giving, but if you give BECAUSE you’ve received you can’t stop giving. If you serve SO you’ll be rewarded you’ll eventually stop serving, but if you serve because JESUS is your reward you can’t stop serving.
- We can get so busy doing things FOR Jesus that we fail to connect WITH Jesus.
- When we focus on what we DO we can lose sight of Who’s we ARE. When we focus on who’s we ARE we accomplish everything He’s asked us to DO.
- It’s not about WHAT we do, but WHO’S we are. It’s not about the GIFTS it’s about the GIVER. It’s not about REWARDS but about what we’ve already RECEIVED.
— I challenged anyone who is a Christian but is yet to get plugged into their church through volunteering to do that. You can sign up to serve God through Element Church HERE.
— Don’t forget that Sunday, May 20th, is a big VISION SUNDAY here at Element. I hope you’ll make it a priority to be there. I’m going to be unveiling some new directions God’s asking us to go INSIDE of the vision He’s given us. It’s an “If God doesn’t come through WE’RE through” kind of vision. I CAN’T wait to share it with you. I am SCARED TO GOD of what’s next for Element Church. “If God is for us…”
— Also, continue praying for FAVOR with financing when it comes to our remodel. I hope to have some sort of update for you on May 20th. Hoping for a POSITIVE one!
— That’s gonna be it. Thanks to all of you who call Element Church your HOME. I LOVE you guys! See ya Sunday.
Till the end,
Jeff
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Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination
Influence vs. Influential
3 05 2012In leadership you should IGNORE the criticism of those with INFLUENCE but INVITE the critique of the INFLUENTIAL.
EVERYONE has influence but NOT everyone is influential. There are times in leadership you have to ignore people of influence so you can invite the critique of the influential. A quick for instance, Starbucks shouldn’t listen to the voice of my wife. She HATES coffee. Hates! Hates the smell. Hates the taste. HATES! (not sure that word is strong enough for her feelings) Now, she has influence. She has friends. Family. Customers of her home based business. But she HATES coffee. No matter what Starbucks does, she will NEVER drink their coffee. Or ANY coffee. She has influence but she is NOT influential.
An influential person is invested. They too have family, friends, co-workers, etc. The difference is, they are bought in. They purchase the product. They support the cause. They volunteer in the event. They encourage, support, invest, love, care, and the list goes on. And this even bleeds into the church.
I have seen TOO MANY CHURCHES crippled by people of influence. People who LOVE to offer their criticism without investing into the cause. They don’t give. They don’t serve. They don’t encourage, invest, support or care. They just criticize. As one person put it, “The loudest critics usually come from the cheapest seats.” Leader…IGNORE THEM!
Seth Godin put it this way: If we’re going to do great work, it means that some people aren’t going to like it. And if the people who don’t like it don’t have an impact on what happens to the work after it’s complete, the only recourse of someone doing GREAT work is to IGNORE their opinion.
Dave Ramsey said this in his book EntreLeadershp: “You can count on criticism if you do anything of scale that matters. You can’t be afraid of criticism. It comes with the territory.” “Instead you should just count on someone not liking the call you make.” “…fear of gripes from do-nothing people or the opposition isn’t going to keep the EntreLeader from making the call.” “The more you do, the more someone will have something negative to say.”
And if you think this isn’t Biblical, here is what Nehemiah said, when people of influence were opposing him. Nehemiah 6:2b-3 But I realized they were plotting to harm me, 3 so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”
If they are influential? If they’ve shown that they care? That they’re invested? That they’re bought in? That they have the best interest of the CAUSE in mind and not just their CRITICISM? If they’ve been an encouragement? Then talk. Invite their critique. By all means allow the influential their input. But if all they’re going to do is criticize? IGNORE THEM!
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Categories : Element Church, Leadership
I’m Pregnant Again
2 05 2012NO Sabrina and I are NOT expecting (knock on wood). I love my kids but I think that would drive me into depression and despair. HOWEVER, I am preaching again this Sunday and that is likened to being pregnant. Let me explain…
I don’t remember where I read this or who said it, but it is so true. They talked about how preaching is like delivering a baby then waking up the next day only to find out your pregnant again. (Please moms, understand I am in NO WAY saying I understand the physical pain and intensity that you have faced. I’ve watched my wife carry FOUR children, been in the delivery room FOUR times and I do NOT wish that upon ANYONE!)
When a preacher has delivered a sermon, at least this is the way it happens for me, it didn’t just pop into their mind that morning or even on Saturday night. Many times the sermon that is given on Sunday has been growing for weeks, if not months at a time. Maybe it was “conceived” in a moment of inspiration as God revealed something to them in Scripture and AT the time it seemed insignificant, but OVER time it begins to grow and develop and mature into a burden on the heart of the preacher SO INTENSE they HAVE to get it out.
Preaching is a laborious process. It is spiritually, mentally, emotionally and even physically taxing. By the time Sunday morning rolls around a preacher has (or should have) prayed hard, studied hard, practiced hard and fallen in love with what they are about to deliver. They anticipate the response of the people. “Will they listen?” “Will they understand?” They seek the counsel of God. “Is this YOUR word for THESE people?” Then Sunday morning rolls around. It’s the day they’ve been waiting for. DELIVERY.
One, two, three, sometimes four or more times in a weekend the pastor pours his heart out to the people he leads and loves. The words coming out of his mouth have been pent up in his heart, growing, maturing, developing into a full on 35 – 40 minute message (give or take). Hours, days, weeks, months of anticipation building up to this ONE moment. Then BAM. It’s all over. The people leave and the pastor again pleads for the Holy Spirit to do what we CANNOT do…connect those words to their hearts. They go home, they crash in exhaustion, they wake up Monday morning…and they are PREGNANT.
As pastors we LIVE Jeremiah 20:9 But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!
And we wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m pregnant again, and I CAN’T WAIT TILL SUNDAY!
BRING IT,
Jeff
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Categories : Element Church, Leadership, Personal, Sermon Series
