- Had a good day today!
- Ok any day where 6 people come into a relationship with Christ qualifies as not just a good day, but a great day!
- What a fun series as we look back at the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
- Again the band did a fantastic job of putting a medley together.
- That I got to help by rapping, Parent’s Just Don’t Understand was not only fun, but nerve-wracking.
- I didn’t have in-ear monitors, so I had to go off the sound from the house,
but you guys were cheering so loud that I couldn’t hear the beat…got off a
few times, but all in all it was fun to participate. - I’m thinking Andrea was born to do covers of other bands…she again
killed her parts! - Had two new people on the team today and for the first time out, we
threw a lot of stuff at them and they came through…thanks Dan and
Cressa! - I again think that the medley wound people up and by the worship set
you guys were raring to go. - I loved that during the 9:45, there was one point where all our vocalists
dropped out and for about 1 minute it was nothing but the sound of your
voices…and LOUD! - I thought Brian did an awesome job with the song, Everybody Hurts. What a great intro into the message.
- I know today’s message wasn’t all touchy-feely, but it was something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
- If Jesus brand was “love” and “compassion”, what makes us think ours should be anything different?
- I’m really excited about the new You Matter ministry.
- If you want to practically apply today’s message by getting involved helping the hurting in our community, You Matter is definitely the ministry for you to get involved with.
- Big props to Scott McCurley for dressing in his best 1980’s costume…wow that was impressive. Don’t forget you can dress the part each week as well.
- Next week we’ll again look at the 80’s, this time with the song, Don’t Stop Believing.
- Almost hard to believe, but today marks the 1-year anniversary since we expanded to 2 Experiences.
- What’s amazing is that one year ago we were blown away by the attendance. In fact we set a record that day.
- Today even though we had higher attendance than 1 year ago, it felt like a let down because people are still in full vacation mode.
- I’m excited about this series, but can’t wait for the next one when everyone is back and in inviting mode and we see dozens come to Christ each week, not just 1/2 dozen.
- You say. “Gilbert can’t you just be content with what we’ve got”?
- And the answer is a big fat NO. As long as there are people in our community that don’t yet know Jesus, our mission is not complete.
- Join me in making a difference…you won’t regret it!
- Invite someone to church with you next week.
- Help “You Matter” to feed children in the Boys and Girls Club this week.
- Wear your “You Matter” wristband all week and use it to share the good news with others.
- YOU MATTER and you can make a difference!
Here’s My Chance…
In this past week’s message, Imagine, I encouraged everyone to all week long remind yourselves when confronted with a tough situation or a person that you didn’t want to deal with or who had angered you in some way, to just simply say, “Here’s My Chance”. My chance to love the way God would want me to. To forgive in the same way Jesus has forgiven me. To prove to Jesus that I care more for others than I do for myself.
Monday I had my first opportunity to remind myself…”Here’s my chance”…and wow am I glad I followed through by “inconvenicing” myself to help someone else. Through e-mails, this blog and Facebook others have also shared some of their “Here’s My Chance” moments.
So how about you? Are you reminding yourself of this? If so, please share with everyone what happened so we can all be encouraged that it can be done.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- What a great day!
- I promised an unforgettable opener to the Experience and I don’t think the team disappointed.
- The 9:45 crowd was about to explode our of their seats…the energy was incredible.
- If you missed it, you definitely missed something special.
- One of our core values is that…”Excellence honors God and inspires people”.
- Even the midst of the band covering 70’s music, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up as I saw the team giving their all to God in the hopes that something like that would prepare hearts for what was yet to come.
- The band worked incredibly hard and the video plus medley was the perfect start to the series.
- Great job by Brian in coming up with the arrangement and I thought Andrea knocked her parts out of the park.
- Brian and the stage team did an awesome job creating a new set…definitely one of my favorites.
- I think the new times periods worked out great.
- I felt so goofy in my 70’s garb and wig, but I was pleased that the fu-manchu grew in.
- Gayle as well did a great job in covering “Imagine”…such a beautiful song, too bad as we saw in the message that the lyrics are so unrealistic.
- Thankfully though Jesus has a better way…”Love your enemies and pray for those the persecute you”.
- I’m also still amazed at how seriously Jesus takes the whole forgiveness thing…in essence…if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.
- The energy at 11:15 was completely different…however still a good day!
- Right before the first Experience I was in my office and the phone rang. I answered and it was a man (not from the church) asking if he could meet with me ASAP.
- I told him I could meet at 12:30 and he said that was fine.
- When I met with him you could tell he was broken and struggling.
- To make a long story short, after a few hours and many tears, he prayed to ask Jesus for His forgiveness and to be the leader of his life.
- I’m not going to mention the man’s name or his struggles, but if you could generically pray for him and his family this week, God knows who it is you’re praying for.
- I told you this story because again there is nothing else in life like helping people discover Jesus.
- Yes we had 2 great Experiences and yes I got to be up front doing my thing…but sitting with someone in my office and leading them into a relationship with Christ was by far the highlight of my day!
- So who are you inviting next week…again we’ll be doing something special as we look at the 1980’s and I’ll be preaching a message based off the song, “Everybody Hurts”.