Sunday Ruminations (5-6-12)

7 05 2012

I 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 2012

In 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

Enter Worship & Prayer Experience

1 05 2012

Hey Element Church!  I’m SUPER excited for tonight and what I believe God’s gonna do in our midst as we seek Him THROUGH worship and WITH our BOLD PRAYERS.  I want to invite you to join us, to what may be THE most important Community Event in our church. It’s called Enter!

If you’re looking for an easy way to connect through Community at Element Church, this may be it.  It is pretty unstructured and laid back, truly just focusing on seeking God through prayer and worship.  Childcare IS provided and it is a WONDERFUL opportunity for you to engage with your church and your God in prayer.  You aren’t forced into a group or forced to pray out loud.  Pastor Adam and the band will be leading us in worship, and I’ll be sharing some vision on what’s gonna happen here at Element in the coming month.  We’d LOVE to have you come and join us TONIGHT at 6:30 PM.

What: Enter Worship and Prayer Experience

When: Tuesday, May 1st @ 6:30 PM  (TONIGHT)

Where: The Worship Center in Element Church

Who: EVERYONE

Why: Without God, we are destined to fail!


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Categories : Element Church, Enter

This Sunday — IMPACT

27 04 2012

This Sunday, not only are we continuing our series called “This is how we change the world”, but we are going to be celebrating ALL that God provided for us through the Impact Initiative.  I can’t believe it’s been 18 months already since we set out to raise the funds necessary to purchase our property, and start the expansion remodel of this facility.  We aren’t taking a special offering or asking for additional funds this week, we’re just gonna celebrate what God has done and share what our next step is as a church.

In February, we called the church to fast with us as leaders, as we sought the Lord for wisdom and clarity on what to do next.  We were in a state of “pause” when it came to our expansion remodel and just didn’t know what our next step was.  Well, in that season of fasting, I truly believe God brought the clarity we were looking for in order to move ahead and that’s what I’m going to be sharing with you this week.

I hope you’ll make it a priority to be here this Sunday to hear our next steps.  For a bigger picture on Impact and how we got to where we are, check out the video below.  See ya Sunday.


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Categories : Element Church, Impact Initiative, Updates, Video

Perry Noble Leadership Intensive

26 04 2012

In the Fall of 2010, I was blessed to be a part of Perry Noble’s leadership coaching network for Senior Pastors.  It was a “leadership” changing time for me as a pastor/leader.  18 months later, I’m still going back to my notes and being challenged, refreshed and refined by what we learned those four months.  I’ve been able to pass on great leadership lessons to my team and church as well.

The coaching network I was in was four months long, and we met in Anderson, SC once a month for 1 day long coaching sessions.  Perry is getting ready to do a another coaching network, but this one is a three day intensive, AND it’s open to any leader in the church.  If you are a pastor/leader that is looking for a GREAT investment into your ministry and leadership I would highly encourage you to check this out.

You can find out all the information you need right HERE. Now, you might say “WHOA, that’s expensive.”

Proverbs 4:7 says Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

One of the ways we do that is by learning from those who are “going before”.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but it was worth every penny for me.  Check it out!


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Categories : Element Church, Leadership, Personal

I (Heart) Cheyenne

25 04 2012

Generosity isn’t about how much you GIVE, it’s about how much it COSTS you.  And when you give the BEST, it costs the MOST.  Coming up this August, we are going to make an INTENTIONAL effort as a church to lead the way in generosity and it’s going to require BIG sacrifice and RADICAL generosity.  It’s one of our core values we have as a church.  We serve a RADICALLY generous God, so we’re going to be RADICALLY generous people.  Check out this video.

Our outreach team has worked HARD on starting to plan out the month of August.  It is going to be HUGE in the life of our church and in IMPACT to our community.  1,000 backpacks and school supplies for students, 10,000 hours of service to our community, AND we are also doing the Element 5k run on August 25th where $15 of the $20 registration fee goes STRAIGHT to Comea Homeless Shelter and Life Choice Pregnancy Care Center.  You can register HERE for the 5k.  More detailed info and sign up opportunities will be coming as the month of August approaches.

Now those are high and lofty goals.  It WILL require sacrifice for us to meet them.  But I want to challenge us to do more.  I’d love to see us give 1,500 backpacks, serve 15,000 hours and be RADICALLY generous to our community.  As a church we are giving 15% of every offering in August towards outreach and generosity.  I’m giving you 4 months advance warning to start praying about and planning for how YOU can be involved.  The only way we’ll accomplish these goals is with EVERYONE participating.

Individually we can’t do EVERYTHING, but we can all do SOMETHING, and when we all do SOMETHING, we end up accomplishing EVERYTHING!

Ezekiel 16:49 says Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.

May that not be said about us.

I (Heart) Cheyenne,

Jeff


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Categories : Element Church, Element Gives Back, Outreach, Updates, Video

If Only For The One

24 04 2012

We shared this video 2 Sunday’s ago when we preached on the core value of “If only for the ONE!”.  But it also fits perfectly into what we talked about this past Sunday with “Leading the way in generosity”.  My wife served with this couple at the Gas Buydown a few weeks ago.  We captured their story and it truly shows how ONE act of generosity, might reach ONE family, who serves at ONE event that reaches ONE person.  The power of if only for the ONE!


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Categories : Element Church, Element Gives Back, Gas Buydown, Outreach, Video

Sunday Ruminations (4-22-12)

23 04 2012

Amazingly beautiful day here in Cheyenne.  Hard to believe it’s April.  Honest moment: Every pastors dream would be for it to RAIN every Sunday.  If it snows, people don’t come.  When’s it’s beautiful, people don’t come!  RAIN is our best friend.  LOL  Here are my ruminations on the day.

—  16 people acknowledged to us they accepted Christ as Savior today!  WOO HOO!

—  We preached on generosity and got to live out the core value of “If only for the ONE!”  LOVE it!

—  I joked about the weather affecting attendance, but we actually had an awesome attendance day today.  2nd service was SLAMMED.  Had to pull out extra chairs.

—  A full service was a GREAT reminder that it’s time to take some steps with our expansion & remodel.  This coming Sunday is the official close of IMPACT and I’ll be updating the church on where we are and what our next step is.  I believe God has given us the wisdom we need to move ahead, and while there is still a level of uncertainty on HOW it will all work out, we have the clarity we need to take our next steps.

—  We aren’t taking a special offering or asking for additional funds.  We will be celebrating all that God’s provided, what He’s been able to accomplish in 18 months, and talking about what’s next for us as a church.

—  Continued our series “This is how we change the world” today by talking about Core Value #3:  Leading the way in generosity.  Preached from John 2:1-11.  Here are some excerpts on the day:

  • Leading the way in generosity:  We serve a radically generous God so we will be a radically generous church.
  • (After sharing some startling perceptions about the church from a national poll)  It sure seems like when the world looks at the church they are able to see lot’s and lot’s of things, there’s just one problem…none of them seem to be seeing JESUS!
  • The way we live, both individually and as a church, should cause people to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
  • Ultimately, our goal is not for people to see our values or for people to see our church.  The goal is, whether they realize it’s happening or not, that by living out the values of Jesus they would catch a glimpse of who He is and He might possibly break through to their heart.
  • We don’t want to do crazy things FOR money, we want to do crazy things WITH money FOR other people BECAUSE we serve a generous God.
  • Generosity from the church should be commonplace, yet it’s become unconventional.  It should be expected as what we do, yet it’s elevated as something extraordinary.
  • We serve a radically generous God, so, not only do we want to be a radically generous church, why wouldn’t we be a radically generous church and why should the community expect anything different?
  • Undercover Boss and Extreme Home Makeover shouldn’t be leading the way in generosity, GOD’S CHURCH should be.
  • A need isn’t only nourishment, a need is sometimes just being known.
  • For us, doing outreach or being generous is not about getting something in return, it’s about doing what is RIGHT!  It is RIGHT to be generous.
  • If your giving something to someone in the hopes that you’ll get something in return that’s not generosity, it’s manipulation.
  • Generosity doesn’t stop at the bare minimum, it strives to achieve maximum impact.
  • We want to be a radically generous church because God has been radically generous TO our church!

—  Announced an AWESOME opportunity we have coming up in August.  We are taking the entire month to lead the way in generosity.  We’re doing a series called “I heart Cheyenne”.  We are challenging the church to give 1,000 backpacks and school supplies to kids in need, serve 10,000 hours in our community and MUCH more!

—  The outreach team is putting together some AMAZING opportunities for all ages of people to serve, and they’re doing a GREAT job putting “I heart Cheyenne” together.  But as the pastor, I challenged us today to up the ante.  In the month of August, Element will be giving 15% (instead of 12) of every offering to outreach and generosity in our community, I challenged us to give 1,500 backpacks and serve 15,000 hours in our community.

— On August 25th we are holding our first ever Element Church 5k as well.  You can register HERE.  The cost is $20 and 15 of those dollars will go straight to Comea Homeless Shelter or LifeChoice Pregnancy Care Center.

—  More details will be coming about “I heart Cheyenne”.  I am STOKED about this opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Start praying now about what YOU can be a part of in August, as well as God preparing divine appointments for us as we serve that month.

—  Had a 12 year old boy give us $1,000 for Impact today.  His dad said “He sold his four wheeler and motorcycle so he could give to Impact.”  I shook that young man’s hand, looked him in the eye and said “Not many adults in our church would do what you just did.  I’m proud of you.”  It was inspiring.  He was living out our core value of generosity and didn’t even know it.  HE was leading the way.

—  Don’t forget, Impact closing AND update this Sunday.  Excited about sharing with you where we are!

—  That’s gonna be it for today!  Element Church, you guys are awesome.  I love you!

Till the end,

Jeff


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Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination

Sunday Ruminations (4-15-12)

16 04 2012

Weird day for me today at church.  I just didn’t feel right.  I can’t explain it, but struggled all day long.  Praying and trust that God was glorified through it all.  We had great response in every service.

—  9 people acknowledged to us they accepted Jesus as Savior today.  WOO HOO!  If only for the ONE!

—  I tell you what, no matter how you feel about a sermon or about the day, seeing people respond to Jesus NEVER gets old.  EVER!

—  I spoke on our value of “If only for the ONE” today, and in first service, only ONE person responded.  It was pretty cool.  One young man, very clearly made sure I saw he was asking Jesus into his heart.  Love it!  Lived out our value right on the spot.

—  Don’t forget to mark your calendars to make sure and be at church on Sunday, April 29th and Sunday, May 20th.  The 29th will be the last Sunday of Impact.  We will be celebrating what God has accomplished and updating everyone on what is next for us in the facility remodel & expansion.  I truly believe God answered our bold prayer for wisdom, and I’ll be sharing what’s next.

—  May 20th is going to be the biggest message I’ve given to this young church.  I’ll be sharing with you some long term vision of where I believe God is taking us.  As I said today, I truly believe it is a “if God doesn’t come through, WE’RE through kind of vision”.  Which is the only kind of vision to have.

—  We continued our sermon series called “This is how we change the world” today and talked about our value of “If only for the ONE”.  I preached from Mark 4:35-5:20.  Here are some excerpts on the day:

  • We can’t change THE world, but we can change OUR world, and when OUR world changes, so does THE world. (Our series summed up in one statement)
  • I’m gonna end up getting myself in trouble making fun of the Broncos…but I did it again anyway!
  • If only for the ONE = We do what we do for the glory of HIM alone and to reach out to THEM alone.
  • We’re trying to please ONE person, His name is Jesus, so we can reach ONE more person WITH the name of Jesus.
  • The enemy is going to be in the VERY place God wants to go.  If we think we can accomplish all that God wants us to accomplish without having to confront the enemy we’re fooling ourselves.
  • If the gates of hell won’t stand up against the church, it means the church is advancing against IT and not the other way around.
  • These four walls can either be a safe haven for the comfortable or a sending station for the called out ones.
  • If we want to reach people that no one else is reaching, we have to GO where no one else is going and DO what no one else is doing.
  • Sometimes it’s very hard in Christianity to distinguish between the established and the enemy. The established and the enemy often want to keep the church from doing the same thing just with different motives.  The motive of the enemy is to stop the charge, the motive of the established is to stay comfortable.
  • Jesus doesn’t need anyone to look out for Him, He needs people who will go ALL out for Him.
  • Jesus might come to confront evil, but He also comes to connect with those who are bound up BY evil.
  • The devil will argue with “Is there really a God?”.  He’ll argue with “Is Jesus the only way to Heaven?”.  He’s got an argument for everything.  What he DOESN’T have an argument for is “I once was blind but now I SEE because of Jesus!”.

—  We showed a testimony video at the end of the message from a couple who got connected to Element through a gas buy down three years ago.  They got to serve at this last gas buy down.  Because of the event, a man in his 40′s came to church for the FIRST TIME in his life and accepted Christ as His Savior.  It truly was an if only for the ONE story.  Very cool!

—  That’s gonna be all for today!  So happy to see people say “YES” to Jesus.  Element Church, let’s keep living if only for the ONE!

Till the end,

Jeff


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Categories : Element Church, Sunday Rumination

Thank You!

11 04 2012

I’m still trying to take in all that happened this past weekend, and while I’m doing that, I need to say “Thank you!”  Usually each week I write a handwritten note to a volunteer from Element Church, and I did that again this week, but I also need to thank EVERYONE who made this past weekend possible and that would be a LOT of stinkin’ thank you notes. So here goes!

This past weekend, through our FIVE services, we saw FIFTY NINE PEOPLE acknowledge to us they accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and found new LIFE in Him.  IF ONLY FOR THE ONE!  We shattered any previous high attendance, holiday or non-holiday, than we’ve ever seen.

THANK YOU to the BEST volunteer leaders any church could ever ask for.  From the parking lot crew, to first impressions, guest services, ushers, tech team, hospitality, band, volunteer central, e:kidz, safety team and MORE you guys are the heart and soul of Element Church.  If you serve at Element Church, IT MATTERS what you do.  59 people found life in Christ, in part, to your serving them this past weekend.

THANK YOU to the BEST staff team on the planet.  From singing an original song to getting the Living Room and lobby all done/re-done for our guests, to pulling off an illustration using live fish in a fish tank, to loving on and caring for people.  You guys are the BEST!

THANK YOU to each person who chooses to call Element Church home!  Maybe you weren’t on the schedule this past Sunday to serve, maybe you weren’t even able to make it to church because you were out of town.  It doesn’t matter.  If you call Element Church HOME you’re a part of my family and you MATTER to do what we do!

THANK YOU to our God!  WOW!  Just in preparation for this last Sunday I was moved by the sheer ABSURDITY of what Christ did for us!  God became flesh and dwelt AMONG them.  Not only that He DIED for them…and then He rose from the dead!  I’m not sure words or illustrations with fish even come CLOSE to describing what we have in Christ and what He did for us!

Element Church, this last weekend was GREAT.  Right now, it goes down as the BIGGEST weekend in our church’s history.  BUT IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING!  I believe the BEST is yet to come!  I believe there are MORE people to reach and BIGGER things to be done!  Let’s do this!

Till the end,

Jeff


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Categories : Element Church, Personal, Updates

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