Inside Element Church

New Blog Address

2009-06-09T15:25:00.001-06:00

OK Element Church, you can now find me at www.elementinsider.com Please make sure and change it in your favorites. This post will stay at the top here so you have the link. Thanks for following along.

New Blog Address

2008-06-02T15:25:00.003-06:00

Sermon Bumper

2008-06-02T14:27:00.002-06:00

Hey Element Church! Here is the sermon bumper we used this week for our sermon. Enjoy.

WE'RE MOVING!

2008-06-02T13:26:00.001-06:00

Not what you think though. TRICKED YA! We aren't REALLY moving to the new location YET. However, Adam and I did take the first load of Element stuff over there today. Here a couple of pics. The move has begun!

Building Prayer

2008-06-02T09:05:00.002-06:00

Hey Element Church! Our contractor is REALLY hoping/expecting a demo permit today. Also, he and one of the building owners are meeting with a city official about a site plan/building permit so PLEASE PRAY! If you are getting this later in the day then pray retro-actively, lol.

Praying,

Jeff

Sunday Rumination (6-01-08)

2008-06-01T16:37:00.002-06:00

Hey Element Church! WOW! June. Today was a great day. Had a few bumps in the road but all in all was another awesome day at church. Here is my ruminations from the day.

--- 498 this morning. 2nd service was PACKED. 10 people on the front row. I am STOKED we had so many but HATE it when people have to sit in the front. Both services are filling up. If we have any seats it's in first service. (I wish e:coustic would have worked. We need the "ability" to grow)

--- We took aim at abortion today. I was VERY excited about the message. Mostly because I really felt like God helped me learn some stuff that I got to share. People seemed to respond well. Abortion isn't an issue that hits a lot of families. We'll see how people respond to issues that hit a little closer. lol

--- I hadn't planned on this at all but I REALLY felt led at the end of first service to ask for any women who had been through an abortion and wanted prayer to raise their hands. 4 women in first service and 6 or 7 men and women did in 2nd service. We had a good moment of prayer for all of them.

--- "God loves the women who aborted her child just as much as he loved the child she aborted." I said that today. I REALLY feel like we need to say that more as Christians. People need to know that we don't just stand up for the unborn, we will stand WITH the women who aborted their babies with the love of Jesus. There IS healing. There IS forgiveness. There IS hope. There IS restoration. Do I believe it's wrong? YES! Do I believe Jesus can forgive? ABSOLUTELY!

--- The band stinkin' KILLED it today! (And by killed I mean good...REALLY GOOD)

--- We have unbelievable volunteers. CRAZY what gets done from 6 AM to 12:30 PM.

--- Continue to pray with us for God's timing in our building. Just waiting still!

--- Next week will be interesting. Alcohol. I heard one pastor preach a message last year and his title "Can a Christian drink a cold beer? (because we all know it's a sin to drink a warm one)" Thought that was funny. Not sure what my title will be. Here are some I'm working on...

- "How can it get better than this?"
- "WASSSSSUP and other silly things you might say when drinking!"
- "Tastes great...less thrilling"
- "The Kings name isn't Bud"
- "Pure Rocky Mountain stream water...Not sure Coors is what God had in mind."

LOL totally don't know where that came from. That's a random Sunday afternoon from Jeff for ya.

--- Getting ready to go hang out with friends tonight. I look forward to Sunday nights every week. That's about it.

--- Four blogs I am really looking forward to doing this week that I'll bust out starting tomorrow hopefully. Have an awesome week!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Untouchables

2008-05-30T17:11:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Don't forget that we start our new series this week. I am STOKED for these sermons. (SCARED OUT OF MY MIND TOO) But stoked!

Here is a post from a pastor that I feel VERY similar too when it comes to preaching.

I am JUST as nervous each week when I preach. Whether it's for 50 people or 500. I used to not be able to eat anything before I preached. Now I have ONE donut and that's about too much. But if I don't eat I get a horrible headache before church is over. Anyway, random glimpse into me right there. Pastor Furticks blog cracked me up cause it's exactly how I feel. If you see me on Sundays after set up, you see me wandering around aimlessly a lot, or sitting by myself. We are a weird bunch, us pastors!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Building Update

2008-05-30T16:51:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Well, to say I am frustrated would be the understatement of the year. To say I've been worried about the progress of the building would be just short of where my frustration is at. We signed the lease on May 1st and were given two months of free use to begin the remodel of the space. As of today, we still have no permit to demo or build. Things were going SO smooth and God was opening EVERY door and then BAM...we hit a snag. I've had some heart to hearts with God about this in my prayer life recently and then He did what He should have done and SLAPPED me upside the head with a reminder. I need to beware what I preach on cause then I'm held accountable to it. lol

Philippians 4:6 says "Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and THANK HIM for everything He has done." Don't we typically forget the thanking part? I know I do sometimes. The reason we worry is that we DON'T remember OR thank God like we should. When we thank Him we are forced to remember all the things He has done. Yesterday I was REALLY challenged with this. Here is what I wrote in my journal.

"Lord, I don't know what's going on with the building but I trust You. If this is Your timing, we will wait patiently. If this is a hindrance, Lord I ask that you move it on our behalf. Your will be done. I'm frustrated but I don't want to worry. I need to follow Philippians 4:6."

So I did. I followed Philippians 4:6. Here is what I realized. At this point, I'm worrying and frustrated over ONE need. "Get the permit and start working on the building" So I wrote that need down: "Get in the building" Then I wrote down all the things God has done JUST with this building. 1. A GREAT Christian realtor who helped us through the process. 2. Our GREAT Christian contractor donating his time and doing ALL he can to get us in. 3. The book that God put on my desk that helped prepare me for the decisions that would have to be made concerning the building. 4. The support of the people of Element Church. AMAZING! 5. ONE CHECK for $20,000 6. Two free months of use. (They could have gave us NONE...HELLO!) 7. 450 people coming to church so we NEED a new facility. 8. Consistent giving that enables us to GET a building. 9. The timing of the owners calling me and OFFERING us the building. 10. A staff that didn't waiver to follow me in this decision. I stopped there but there is more. I realized, that God has ALREADY done so much WHY SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT ONE MORE THING? Anyway, God's been teaching me through this.

Element Church...the timing of things with this facility may not be ours, BUT I will trust God that it's His. He is not caught off guard. He is not waiting by the phone hoping the city calls. He is not wondering what will happen. HE KNOWS...HE CARES...and HE WILL GET US IN! Amen?

Learning,

Jeff

WiBo Speaker #3

2008-05-29T09:52:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Installment #3 of the Whiteboard sessions overview.

Tim Stevens: Tim is the executive pastor at Granger Community Church. He just recently released a book called Pop Goes the Church, that is receiving quite a bit of buzz around the church world from those who agree AND disagree. Here are some thoughts I took away from what Tim shared. (The non quotes are my spin)

"Most churches aren't impacting their communities."

"Many churches are getting in the way of the Gospel..." instead of advancing it. WOW!

"Spiritual interest is rapidly growing in our culture..." yet we are doing a great job of continuing to reach the "churched" and not the "un-churched" or "de-churched".

"As a church, we're answering questions no one is asking!" He talked greatly about how we do not allow a culture of questions in our churches AND how we are giving answers to questions no one is asking. People come questioning real life issues and many times we skirt them for our "greater" answers on theology.

He shared John 1:14 from The Message Bible. Cool way to word what Jesus did. It's what our churches should be doing. "14 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." Moving into the neighborhood. IMPACT!

"We need to be using culture to raise the questions and use the Bible to answer them." If we watch culture (what movies, music, media) is saying, we will find the questions people are asking. We can then address them through Scripture.

He talked A LOT about using media (movie clips, music, tv) etc. in our services to raise the questions. I appreciated his honesty on being careful to find the line of what is "just using a clip" and "what legitimately raises a question" that we can answer through Scripture. Using things that people are familiar with (ie. movies, tv, music). This is NOT a new idea by the way. What IS new I believe is the intentionality of using pop culture to help us find the questions that need to be answered. The cry of the culture. Thought it was good stuff.

Spoke on Acts 17 where Paul used popular lyrics from a poet and philosopher of his time, as well as the statue of "the unknown" god to answer his cultures questions. Leveraging culture, increasing impact.

"We need to leverage the culture (to our benefit) or risk losing your impact."

"What do people think about our churches. Can they ask questions or do they just get answers?"

This session REALLY challenged me to know more about what the culture is asking. What are the heartbeats of our culture. What are people struggling with? Wrestling with? How can we leverage our culture to maximize our impact? Are people allowed to question? Without questions there are no answers.

Questioning,

Jeff

Untouchables Sermons

2008-05-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! A couple things about Untouchables. First off, please pray. We are tackling 4 VERY tough subjects. I want the Bible to drive our discussion and not JUST opinion. The WORD is where we find our source of Truth. I have some strong opinions on each of these subjects, as I know all of you do as well. My goal for this series is that we could all walk away closer to Jesus and with a deeper understanding and conviction of what we believe and where we stand with these subjects.

Second, I wanted to share the order in which we are taking on these topics. I know some of you have specific subjects you want to invite people to hear. So here they are.

June 1st: Abortion
June 8th: Drinking
June 15th: Homosexuality
June 22nd: Divorce
June 29th: Q&A (we'll be setting up an email address for you to send in questions to) That will be a fun Sunday.

There ya go. Have an AWESOME day. Working on my messages right now. I'm getting pumped.

Jeff

WiBo Speaker #2

2008-05-27T09:17:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Again, Adam and I went to a pastors conference in Washington, D.C. called Whiteboard. It was the perfect format. One day, eight speakers with 30 minutes a piece. Each were asked to share one compelling thought, idea, philosophy to the pastors.

Vince Antonucci: Vince pastors Forefront Church in Virginia Beach, VA. He has an INCREDIBLE passion for reaching lost people. He has an evangelists heart and the majority of Forefront Church (around 70%) came from an un-churched and un-christian background. Here are some things I took from Vince's talk.

Vince received Christ as his Savior when he was 20 years old. He said that until he was 20 he had never heard about the Jesus of the Bible or the Gospel message about him. As far as he knew he had NEVER met a Christian, and if he had they never said they were or said anything about Jesus. He made this quote "How is it that in America for 20 years I had never heard about Jesus?"

"The total number of people going to church today is 8 million less than what it was 20 years ago." (Not per capita, TOTAL)

Speaking of church growth: "We're reaching people, we're just not reaching lost people."

"We get the honor of being the answer to Jesus' mission and prayer: 'To seek and to save that which was lost.'"

"The church is too content with seeking and saving those who are already saved." WOW!

"Reaching the lost made Jesus' heart beat fast. It made Paul's heart beat fast. Does it make yours? What makes your heart beat fast?"

"If you're not close to people who are far from God, you're not as close to God as you think you are." That my friends, is a POWERFUL statement.

Learning,

Jeff

The Untouchables promo

2008-05-26T15:28:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Here is the Untouchables promo video. It's not in full quality because of the upload to Google Video, but you get the idea. We're themeing the series around the gangsters of old who were "untouchable". Thought we pulled off the idea with this video. I think the production by Adam was GREAT! Here it is.

Missions Video

2008-05-26T12:36:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! This is the missions video from Aaron Brakefield that we couldn't show Sunday. If you want to see more from their mission field you can watch it.

Sunday Rumination (5-25-08)

2008-05-26T09:38:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! First off, let me say "THANK YOU!" to our veterans and those who are currently serving in the military. Also, a thank you to our fallen soldiers who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom. We were able to worship God yesterday because of the lives of soldiers who fought on our behalf. From the Revolutionary War to the current war in Iraq men and women have fought and died for us. Regardless of where you stand on war in general or the current war, you are able to have AND share your opinion because of the men and women who fought for you!! Their sacrifice and commitment blows me away!

--- I took the afternoon off yesterday and didn't blog. I actually played Xbox instead. lol

--- 463 in church yesterday. 2nd service was VERY full. I was pleasantly surprised with the Memorial weekend #'s.

--- We had several first time guests today. One thing we have asked for since we started Unplugged almost one year ago was that God would bring us someone new every week. We have yet to have ONE Sunday where we didn't have one at least one first time guest. PTL

--- We finished off our Little Rascals series yesterday. I can honestly say that this was one of the MOST challenging sermon series' I've ever done. It was so close to home and God challenged Sabrina and I GREATLY through this series. I want to be the BEST parent I possibly can.

--- We had Aaron Brakefield and his wife Christina with us yesterday. Aaron has a wonderful ministry to teenagers in Brazil. I HIGHLY believe in what they are doing on the mission field. I believe we had some new people step up to support them financially. Element is also going to support the Brakefields through our general fund.

--- Our missions philosophy is and always will be Cheyenne first and foreign second. The Brakefields and their youth center WILL be a foreign mission Element takes on. I'll get a video we didn't have time to show yesterday at church up later. Aaron put it together as a highlight of their youth center. Take some time to watch it if you'd like when it's up.

--- No e:coustic was...a relief. I actually got to greet people after the 9 AM service. There was one couple who had been coming for 2 months that I had never met. That's crazy!

--- If there is one phrase that can sum up our time recently at Element it is "Technical difficulties". I swear if we solve one problem 5 more are created. We FINALLY defeated the buzz demon in our sound system yesterday by using the projector we bought for e:coustic instead of the theater projector. It was AMAZING! BUT, we created several other sound problems in the process. Now we have a microphone demon. My wireless mic was wiggin' out BIG TIME!

--- Untouchables is next. This is going to be a challenging series too! Taking on some VERY difficult subjects. I'll get the video promo up later that Adam made. I think production wise it is his BEST! We're themeing the series around the old gangster stuff. Guys who were "untouchable". I think we captured that through the video.

Alright, got stuff to do. I need to do this on Sunday afternoon like I normally do. Much easier than when the fam is all awake.

Following Christ,

Jeff

Quick Saturday Reminders!

2008-05-24T18:41:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! If you can come early to help set up that would be AWESOME! The few new ones who helped last week ROCKED! Each volunteer adds so much to getting the morning done.

NO ECOUSTIC tomorrow! Don't forget that. Just back to 9 am and 10:30 am.

If you can come to 9 AM please do that. That is the area with the most available seats. That's it. I'm excited for tomorrow!

Following Christ,

Jeff

We should go to the Pentagon!

2008-05-23T18:49:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Those are famous last words. Almost DEADLY last words. I'll get to that in a second.

We spent the ENTIRE day in Washington D. C. today. I think Adam and I could start a Speed Tour business here and make a KILLING. We got into D.C. about 10:30 and went to the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Wall, lunch with one of Adam's friends, White House, National Air and Space Museum, Union Station, Ebeneezer's Coffee shop and the Pentagon. Below is a slide show of pics I took on my phone today. Here are a few thoughts on the day.

I am BLOWN AWAY at the sacrifice men and women have made to defend our country and provide us with what we know today as FREEDOM. It STINKIN' TICKS ME OFF (LOL) that some people today are trying to change what men and women died for to satisfy their lusts and desires. What our country was established to be is so far from what it is. In my LOUD yet humble opinion. The WWII Memorial and Vietnam Memorial was VERY cool.

It was weird being in D.C. To know that people who started our country were there. Amazing. Didn't seem real all day.

D.C. is the stupidest city I've ever walked or driven in. ABSOLUTELY and THOROUGHLY confusing! I can't tell you how many times we were lost. It is THE CRAZIEST place to get around in. Adam and I wasted at LEAST 1 - 2 hours trying to figure out where we were at and how we get to the next place.

We had visited everything we wanted to and Adam was like "We should go to the Pentagon!" We bought a one day pass on the Metro and it went right to the Pentagon so as our last site to see we headed there. We got off the Metro and went up the escalator. Little did we know that we actually came out of the ground and we were standing NEXT TO the Pentagon. Security everywhere. A guy about 10 feet away was a big ole' security guard standing with an AK47. We started walking to where we could take a picture. Adam pulled out the camera, we thought we could see where one of the jets hit the building. The following conversation happened:

Adam: I'm gonna get a picture of that right there. (pulls out camera)
Mr. AK47: (steps out from behind a bullet proof security thingy. Yes that's the official name 'security thingy'. With AK47 CLEARLY showing) HEY YOU CAN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES!
Jeff and Adam: (Now need a new pair of shorts)
Mr. AK47: DID YOU GET ANY PICTURES BACK THERE?
Adam: Umm, no.
Mr. AK47: PUT THE LENS CAP BACK ON THAT CAMERA NOW! YOU CAN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES.
Jeff: (What I wanted to say was "Yeah, we heard you the first time when I messed my shorts!") But what I really said was "We didn't know you couldn't take pictures."
Mr. AK47: (With gun still CLEARLY showing in front of him) "Yeah, that's why I warned you."

HOLY COW! That dude wasn't messing around. Needless to say, we did NOT get any pictures of the Pentagon. Overall it was a very fun day. Cool to see all the history and sites. The navigating was insane. Don't wish that on anyone. Adam should have some stuff up soon too. I think he's blogging in the other bed. LOL Can't wait for Sunday. I miss my family and I miss Cheyenne! Here are the pics. Click on the slideshow to view them from my online album.

Still Alive With Clean Shorts,

Jeff

WiBo Pics

2008-05-22T21:19:00.001-06:00

Here are some pics of the weekend from my Blackberry.

I knew it was going to be a good hotel when I saw next to the coffee pot that Starbucks was being served.

Here is Adam talking "tech" to one of the computer guys. Little did he know I can answer ALL of his questions. You notice there is NO ONE in the conference hall? Adam and I walked right past two security guards like we owned the place and got our seats. We kept saying "I can't believe no one is in here. What is everyone waiting for?" We were looking at the video cameras, sound stuff, computer stuff and stage set up. Then at about 10 till 9 the lead guy made an announcement "Hey guys we're going to open the doors in about 5 minutes so man your stations." We weren't supposed to even be in there. NO idea how we just walked in. I guess we just look official.

They had a guy there taking notes on a whiteboard for each speaker. Here are a couple of them. It was pretty cool.

That is a picture of my ticket to Indiana Jones. It cost 10 STINKIN' dollars. When the ticket lady said $10 I said "$10? What the world?" She said "The world cost $10 enjoy your show." And handed me this packet of chewy nerds. $10 and STINKIN' CHEWY NERDS? My ticket was about as big as the package. That is supposed to make me feel better about $10. Wasn't even that great of a theater. Not even stadium seating.

WiBo Speaker #1

2008-05-22T20:48:00.000-06:00

Right before the event started today, I wrote in my journal: "Lord, expand our vision!" MAN did he do that. None more than the first speaker.

Mark Batterson was first up this morning. Mark and National Community Church have a VERY cool story. If you get a chance to find out about their history please do. Mark also wrote the book "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" which our Lead Team is reading right now. That had to be intimidating setting the stage for the whole day with these phenomenal speakers. He did a great job! Here are some quotes I took from him.

"The longer I'm in ministry and the longer I lead, the more I covet the favor of God."

"Your best thought on your best day is about 13.2 billion light years short of God's" (Isa. 55:8-9) Comparing our thoughts to the expanse of the universe.

"The moment we think we have God all figured out is the moment we lose our spiritual curiosity." May we never be satisfied with just the knowledge we already have about God. NO ONE has Him all figured out. NO ONE!

"Your dreams are too small. We confess our sins to God but when was the last time you confessed your small dreams to Him?"

"At some point we stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing it out of memory" (When we do it out of memory we end up doing what we've always done. We lose creativity and risk)

"I'd rather have one God idea than 1,000 good ideas and you don't get that one God idea from a speaker."

"If there ever was a dreamer his name was Jesus." (The Great Commission was a dream) Then he said this (great line) "You have been grafted into THE dreamer!"

That's it from speaker #1. Blog more later. (This may be a week long thing)

Still Processing,

Jeff

WOW!

2008-05-22T20:39:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! To say my mind is about to explode would be an understatement. UNBELIEVABLE conference! Talk about expanding your vision. MAN. Both Adam and I are reeling tonight. We haven't even hardly talked about it cause we're still trying to process everything. The format was amazing. Ben Arment did a phenomenal job putting this thing together. It's amazing what the blogworld can do for things. What literally (as far as I understand) was an idea Ben blogged one day, turned into a conference with 800 pastors in attendance and 8 of today's greatest communicators sharing 30 minutes a piece. Each one shared their "one compelling idea". The format is perfect. I hope they do it again next year. I felt it was so beneficial to get 8 guys' 30 minutes of their best stuff in one day rather than a couple guys talking for an hour and a half and you attend 2-3 days. I took MASSIVE notes and will be blogging on what hit me from each speaker. We paid $99 to attend this bad boy. Worth every penny!

Adam and I went and saw Indiana Jones tonight. Definitely not the best of the series but it wasn't horrible. Typical Indiana Jones. I was hoping it would be a bit better but a good flick to go and just relax and not think about anything for a while.

Adam has some new pics up and some thoughts. Amazing day! Can't wait to get back to tornado infested Cheyenne. Looking forward to Sunday.

Processing,

Jeff

"I don't want to have a romantic dinner with you Jeff!"

2008-05-21T19:13:00.001-06:00

LOL That is one quote already from the weekend. Adam said that to me as we were restaurant shopping. We were in Reston Town Center looking for a place to eat and EVERY place looked like it would be a place you'd take your girlfriend to ask you to marry you. Candlelight. Quiet. Intimate. Three words we DID NOT want to define our dinner together. Thankfully we found a Chicago style restaurant called Uno Chicago Grill. It was phenomenal. Right in the heart of Reston Town Center. Nachos were amazing. And no romance at ALL! LOL

"I wish our eyes had zoom!" Another quote from Adam as we were driving to the airport from Denver. He wanted to see a hot air balloon off in the distance.

"That's 'so and so'(fill in the blank)" We are seriously too starstruck. It's sad! We've learned over the past year SO MUCH from some of the guys we're seeing here.

"This is CRAZY!" That's been my continuing line. So weird to me that we are on the East Coast of the USA. I'm sheltered. HA!

Ok, more quotes to come I'm sure.

Quoting,

Jeff

You're not from here are ya?

2008-05-21T18:55:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! We've arrived in Washington D.C. I REALLY wish I could share this with my wife. We love coming to places like this. Went to Pennsylvania together 2 years ago and had had a BLAST! Both Adam and I did much better and enjoyed much better the flight today, compared to our last flight. Although I do miss having Permagrin with us. Adam and I have got to stick out like a sore thumb here. We're walking around with our eyes as big as big as baseballs. The difference in culture from Wyoming to DC amazes me. We're in the same country, yet it's SO different here. Beautiful! (that's not what's different, cause Wyoming is definitely beautiful) To say I am excited for Whiteboard Sessions is an understatement. I am SO pumped to be challenged tomorrow. We are staying in an AWESOME hotel. Terri did a FANTASTIC job setting up all the details for us on this trip. Adam and I drove into Reston Town Center, where the conference is tomorrow, and had dinner. We then went to where the conference was held. I felt like a fish out of water. Saw some of the guys who I follow on a regular basis in the blog world. Some GREAT church leaders. Made me feel pretty small. lol Like a fish out of water. We're chillin' now watching the American Idol finale. Gonna head to the conference early. I think Adam got some pictures up already. Here is a link to his blog. We'll both be blogging our thoughts on the conference tomorrow. There are 8 pastors sharing in this one day conference. Each get 30 minutes a piece. It is going to be info overload and I AM PUMPED! I love learning. Love being challenged. Love being stretched. Alright, be watching for more from D.C.

Prayer

2008-05-19T21:38:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! God really helped me with a verse I read in Philippians a few days ago and I thought I'd share it with you today.

Philippians 4:6-7 says this "6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

A couple things from these two verses that I felt God really helped me in.

#1 Don't worry about anything. Why? Because you can pray! I don't know why that jumped out at me so much. I think so often we forget who we are praying to. The reason Paul says not to worry is because we can talk to God about our worries. You have a need? Pray. You have a fear? Pray. Have a concern? Pray. A wayward child? Pray. I wonder if we don't stop worrying because we don't trust who we are praying to. I want my trust level to be SO HIGH with God that if a worry creeps in, I can pray and TRUST God has it under control! REGARDLESS of the outcome.

#2 Tell God what you need... We're good at that. We're GREAT at it actually. Most of our prayers revolve around us asking God for something. Asking God to make everything right in our lives. Asking him to weight everything in our advantage. What I think we struggle with sometimes is giving ample time to thank God for what he's done. That in itself can help take worry away. When we thank God for what He's done it helps us get through those worrisome moments because we KNOW what He is capable of. We need to be habitual about asking AND thanking in our prayers.

#3 THEN... Then is a keyword in many verses. THEN you will experience peace. When? When we don't worry but pray, and in our prayers tell God what we need AND thank Him for what He's done. THEN we'll have peace. Why? BECAUSE IT'S NOT UP TO ME TO GET IT DONE! My hope is in the LORD the maker of Heaven and earth. Now that can bring peace. And what will that peace do?

#4 HIS peace will guard your hearts and minds... from what? This is good. WORRY! It's a cyclical. Worry should lead us to prayer which leads us to peace which keeps us from worry!

There you go. Don't know if that helps anyone but wanted to share it!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Monday Musings

2008-05-19T21:29:00.000-06:00

I know, I need to quit naming things. Still waiting on the word for the permit. We're trusting we'll get the demo permit this week. With that, we are going ahead and planning on demo Saturday at 9 AM. Terri will be contacting everyone who signed up if we do have it. Adam and I are flying back Saturday and arriving in Denver around 9 AM. So we'll get here ASAP to join the fun! Framers and sheet rockers will soon follow that! Pray that we get that permit!

I'm SUPER excited about my message this week. I usually don't finalize it until Wednesday but with leaving Wednesday for D.C. I tried to get as much of it finalized today. I'll be sharing the top things I want my kids to leave home with. We'll be dissecting a Scripture I feel God gave me in my morning devotions last week. As I began writing down the things I want my kids to have when they leave home, it reminded me of what I had read. I know it's Memorial Day weekend, but if you are going to be in town I encourage you to be there!

Getting everything done for the week in two days is tough! Pray that we get everything ready and have a safe trip!

Following Christ,

Jeff

Building Update

2008-05-19T07:27:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Just talked to our contractor and he is hoping to give me a call today to meet him down at the city to pay for our building permit and HOPEFULLY get the demo permit today!! PRAY PRAY PRAY! If we get the demo permit, we will most likely get in there this weekend to start working. Just wanted to put that out there in the blogosphere so you Elementers and others alike can join us in prayer today. The contractor said the electrician told him his drawings would be done today. Let's approach the throne of grace with confidence together!!! Amen? (And you thought I only said that from the pulpit)

Praying,

Jeff

Sunday Rumination (5-18-08)

2008-05-18T14:05:00.000-06:00

Hey Element Church! Got a birthday party to get to with our kids and need to leave at 2:30. Currently 2:06 so this may be a shortened Rumination.

--- I felt GREAT this morning! Got a very good nights rest and woke up ready to rumble. Compared to last week I felt 1000 times better.

--- 452 in church today! We are consistently hitting that mark. I know everyone says when summer hits that church attendance goes down. Why don't we break that norm! I am believing for growth through summer. Who's joining me?

--- We made the announcement today that it was the FINAL service for e:coustic. We've said from day one that if a ministry wasn't bearing fruit we'd prune it (that's politically correct for CUT IT OFF!) LOL We made the decision Monday at our Lead Team meeting. The fruit didn't justify the energy, time and commitment of having it. That's the reason why. We had 23 last week in there, I think 19 this week!?? Adam said he started the service today with the band, sound team and light guy. That's not good! I don't feel like we missed the voice of God. The whole lead team felt God was asking us to do it, and maybe that's all God wanted. To see if we'd obey. I was hoping for a better response but it just didn't happen. I'm not sure anyone new connected through that service, it was all just transfer from e:worship. Anyway, we made the decision and it's done!

--- If you're an Elementer I again encourage you to come to the 9 AM service. It, by far, has the most room to grow. Also, if we start filling up again I encourage Elementers to sit down after worship starts. Leave seats for newcomers before we sit!!

--- I have some MAJOR suggestions for church planters who are considering a staggered service. So many things we learned from doing this. Most of them are things NOT to do! lol

--- ALL HYMNS THIS WEEK! I thought Adam led the band to an absolute home run today. The Elemented up 5 hymns and rocked it out. I had such an awesome time of worship before I preached in the 9 am service. We sang All Hail the Power; Holy, Holy, Holy; Come Thou Fount; Fairest Lord Jesus; and Amazing Grace! There is such GREAT theology and teaching in the old hymns. I think we miss that in the newer songs. I love singing those songs with a new modern feel to them!

--- It was funny cause at least one of our band members didn't know many (if any) of those songs. We get so worked up about "traditional" vs. "modern" and they wouldn't have known which category they were in. If we'd just shut up and worship (I know oxymoron) we'd enjoy church a lot more.

--- I really felt like today's message was very good for ME! It was right where Sabrina and I are at in parenting. Very challenging for us.

--- I haven't felt like I connected like I could yet in this series. Don't know what it is, just haven't felt great about it. I think pastors go through that in spurts. You "feel" on and then you don't. What's great is typically whether I think it was good or not, God still uses it and people tell me they got something out of it. We can't always trust our feelings.

--- We launched the "Untouchables" promo today. It was one of Adam's BEST video productions since we started I thought. I'm PUMPED for that series. Make sure and begin inviting people to it!

--- Took up our Climb pledges today. We'll update you on that later this week! We're trying to raise $100,000. We encourage you to partner with us.

--- Adam and I are going to a Conference in Washington D.C. this Wednesday. We're going to hear from some GREAT pastors and communicators. Check it out here. Can't wait to be stretched!

Alright, that's about it. Gotta wake everyone up from their nap and get ready for the party! Thanks Element Church for letting me lead you! You are a blessing.

Following Christ,

Jeff