In this video blog, I reflect on something I remembered while on the weight room floor.
Archives For Journey Christian Church
In this video blog, I’m discussing an upcoming message I’m delivering on divorce at Journey Christian Church (11/18/12). The message will be available here beginning 11/19/12.
In this video blog, I remind father’s of an important parenting point as I reflect on my wife being out of town and my daughter’s biggest concern about Rhonda’s trip.
I hope this will help you to enjoy the journey a little more this week.
Our first great work of the summer is finished.
We’ve set aside 52 days to accomplish a great work for the glory of God.
In 4 days, over 300 volunteers from Journey Christian Church, Mosaic Church, and Amanecer Cristiano joined together and painted the walls of John Evans IB Middle School. Several other large projects were also completed during this great work, but the major accomplishment was the painting of many, many walls.
As we wrapped up yesterday, I was asked, “What were the highlights to you?”
There were so many, but let me list a few.
- Being a part of a church where I could agree to take on this great work without having to go through a bureaucratic mess. I knew I could just respond to the moving of God and just say “yes.”
- Seeing the hand of God moving throughout this entire experience.
- Working with a leadership team who all have ginormous faith.
- The meeting with the Principal of John Evans IB Middle School and the representatives from the School District where the District officials approved this job in about 5 minutes.
- People of Journey applauding as this great work was shared with them last Sunday and they were told that we were beginning it the next day!
- Watching my team immediately join together to get this project organized.
- When Steve Dale came up after church and volunteered to take a week of vacation and paint the school for free.
- Steve Dale and Steve Horton working together to paint the halls in 1 day.
Steve Horton & Steve Dale: Lead Painters for this Great Work
- Seeing volunteers walk in the front door and hear them ask, “Where do you need me?”
- The conversation I had with Justin at the Sherwin Williams store that began when he asked me why we were painting a public school.
- Gary Hamilton cutting paper and handing it out and refusing to take a break.
- The moment when we announced the floor of the cafeteria needed to be cleaned and everyone in the room dropped to their knees and started scrubbing it.
- Families working together on this great work.
- Getting to know the Principal of John Evans and watching her work beside us every day.
- Seeing relationships begin between volunteers as they met for the 1st time and worked together.
- Watching the kids work so very hard on this project.
My sons, Levi and Sylas cleaning baseboards
- Painting Niki Quinby’s classroom.
- Working with the people of Mosaic Church and Amanecer Cristiano on Wednesday.
Me with Pastors David Flores of Amanecer Cristiano and Angel Flores of Mosaic Church
- Seeing Patrick Lightfoot lead us passionately and humbly.
- Tilling the garden and enjoying a long conversation with God about His work in Greeley.
- The volunteers who brought food to feed other volunteers each day.
- So many people praying in the halls and classrooms of the school.
- Hundreds of Scriptures being written on the walls of the school.
- Those Scriptures bleeding through the freshly painted walls.
- Knowing that those dear students and staff of John Evans will be surrounded and supported by God’s Word every day they are in that building.
- The opportunity I had to reply, when someone asked me to stop working and meet with them, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
- The many Journey folks who have asked me, “What’s our next great work?”
Our next great work…stay tuned. 
At Journey we’re doing a series entitled Story based on Donald Miller’s Bestselling book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.
Yesterday I spoke about living an epic life and used Esther as an example.
Here’s an important teaching from the message:
Esther’s story is epic because her story was written by God.
God wrote her story and then he put it in His book.
How can you make sure that your story is being written by God?
a) Set your life’s blank page before God. Give your life to God. Is Christ Jesus your Lord? Have you given your life to God?
b) Give God the pen. Seek His will for your life. If you are a Christian, are you completely submissive to God’s will for your life?
c) Let God turn the page. Be patient and let Him lead you to the next scene in your life.
You can listen to the entire message on iTunes here: Living an Epic Life
or on Journey’s webpage: Living an Epic Life
One of our members is in the middle of a 6-month job in Antarctica.
His wife told me that her husband has started a Sunday morning church service with a few of his co-workers. They listen to my sermons online (from the previous week) and then discuss what they heard.
This Sunday we finish a series called “The Party” which is the follow-up series to the Jesus Series (both are based on my book Eats With Sinners.)
(btw…In a few weeks this series and the previous series 18 sermons, PowerPoint, Big Ideas, etc)–all based on my book Eats With Sinners–will be available for download from my website http://www.EatsWithSinners.com.)
We’re ending the series with a huge tail-gate party (minus the beer ) in our parking lot after our third service.
My friend’s wife told me that her husband and his small “church” in Antarctica are planning to have their own tail-gate party after listening to the message this Sunday.
How cool is that? I praise God for my friend’s faithfulness in such a cold, barren, and distant land.
That’s definitely something worth celebrating.
It’s been a crazy week and I’m just now getting a chance to add a post to my blog.
Easter weekend at Journey was an amazing experience. We hosted a Community Easter Service at a local civic center and it was an incredible success. We had 1,057 people at our weekend services, we collected $1,000 for John Evans Middle School (so they could host an amazing end of the year party), we received a huge offering, and we are going to be baptizing a bunch of people this Sunday who made decisions for Christ last Sunday.
As I’ve reflected on why last weekend was such a great success, I’ve decided to detail the reasons on my blog because I think it may be helpful to other ministry leaders.
1). Prayer–We began praying for our Easter services on the first Sunday in January. We prayed about the service at all of our leadership meetings and all of our staff meetings. About a month ago we hosted a special prayer service on Saturday night to pray for our Easter weekend services. We specifically prayed that God would reveal his plan for the weekend and we promised to follow his plan.
2) Planning–We began working on this service in January. Our spent countless hours discussing every detail, every scenario, every possible thing that could go wrong, and every thing we wanted to go right. Our leadership team met regularly, our Family Ministry team met regularly, our greeting/ushers team met…every one of our teams met as many times as they needed to to make sure that they were ready.
3) Teamwork–Over a hundred volunteers, led by my fantastic leadership team, pulled together as one to make this event happen. Every member of our staff worked diligently, enthusiastically, and professionally to make sure that the service would be everything God wanted it to be. Teamwork made the dream work.
4) Marketing–Early in February we strategized a marketing plan that included original artwork, posters, fliers, postcards, radio spots, ads in the newspaper, internet marketing, and regular promotion from the “pulpit” at church. This plan was not thrown together, but was diligently planned to make sure that every part of the plan was initiated at just the right time and in just the right way.
5) High Expectations–From Day One the leadership team enthusiastically communicated that we expected everyone to invite their friends to come to this exciting service…and the people responded in a huge way. We averaged about 550 people at our services last month, so we had almost twice as many people at our services last week as we had the week before. Why? Because the people of Journey rose to the occasion and invited people to this service. I’m so proud to be associated with the people of Journey! Their faith, vision, and enthusiasm for reaching people for Jesus is amazing.
6) Preacher Support–I was pumped about this service from the moment we signed the contract at the Civic Center. At the end of every service since mid-January I pushed our Easter service and shared my expectation that people would come and bring their friends. I mentioned it in my sermons, I talked about it during the week, I wrote about it in our newsletter. I knew that I had to lead the parade (so to say) and do everything I could to promote the service and our vision for how we believed God wanted to use that service to introduce people to Jesus.
7) Elder Support–The elders at Journey are an amazing group of men! I love serving with these guys and I love their love for God and their heart for the people of Greeley, Colorado. The elders were immediately supportive of this service and were fully engaged in doing what they could to help make the service a success…including walking around the lobby of the civic center before the service greeting people. Without their complete support, I’m confident that this service would have not been as successful as it was.
8) Congregational Support–Last week would have been a joke if the members of Journey hadn’t bought into the vision for this service. I’m so grateful for the way the people of Journey supported this service. Think about it…we deserted our almost new building on–arguably–the most important Sunday of the year for churches serious about evangelism. It was a risky thing to do, but I didn’t hear one comment complaining about leaving our building on Easter Sunday…not one. I love these people so much.
8 Breakfast burritos–I can’t prove it, but I’m positive that the breakfast burritos we ordered from The Fort we an essential part of the success of the entire day.
Let me close with a prayer of thanks.
“Lord, thank you for allowing us to share the love of Jesus with the people of Greeley. Thank you for allowing us to use the Union Colony Civic Center to glorify your name and your saving power–displayed through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thank you for bringing a great team of leaders and volunteers to Journey. I’m so grateful for each person who worked so hard to make sure that Jesus was exalted last Sunday. Thank you for going before us, moving among us, and blessing us with your good favor. Lord, help us to be faithful as we work to bring in the harvest and plant more seeds in this community. I praise you for what you did last week and I thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your plan. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
The Greeley Tribune ran a nice story on Journey Christian Church and our efforts to collect clothes for children in Afghanistan..
I love being a part of this church!
Here’s an excerpt:
Three beautiful, brown-eyed girls are walking through the city in a bad part of Afghanistan. Their clothing is minimal and the sight breaks the heart of a U.S. soldier who pulls out the only dollar he has and gives it to the girls. An American dollar to them is like gold.
Hearing numerous stories like this one prompted Josh Eldridge to reach out to the Journey Christian Church in Greeley. On Dec. 2, Eldridge, a Greeley resident now serving in Afghanistan, contacted Lead Minister Arron Chambers, voicing concern about the well-being of children where he’s stationed and asking for help. Chambers was inspired and on Dec. 6 asked the members of the church to donate clothes for the cause.
On Jan. 11, 70 boxes containing $7,000 worth of new and used winter clothing were shipped from Greeley to Afghanistan.
The rest of the story is here: Greeley Soldier and Church Team Up to Show Christ’s Love
I love serving with Journey Christian Church.
I also love living in Greeley. God has set my heart firmly in this community. I believe that God wants to do great things in this city and I want Journey to join Him in what He’s going to do here.
This video (filmed in Greeley by a local Wesleyan Church) reflects what I believe to be true.
My prayer is that every person who is a part of Journey will commit themselves to doing greater things for God in this city.
This link will take you to the video:
Our tech guy, Cale, put together a great video to promote Care Groups (our Small Group Ministry) at Journey Christian Church (Enjoy the Journey). I’m so proud of the work he did. Check it out:
Let me give you a simple definition of a Christian small group:
Definition: A Christian small group is an intentional, voluntary, face-to-face gathering of 3-12 people on a regular time schedule with the purpose of knowing God better and growing in the likeness of Jesus.
Care Groups are an amazing blessing to churches and individual Christians. Let me share some of the blessings that come from Care Groups (I picked this up along the way–i.e. not original with me):
· Sense of belonging and purpose
· Place to build strong relationships
· Avenue for learning biblical truths and applying them to life
· Specific service opportunities and leadership development
· Knowing God better and growing in the likeness of Jesus.
· Methods of caring for one another
