- Sorry I haven’t gotten to these the last two weeks.
- Great day today as we started my final series as the pastor of the United Worship Experience.
- Had 7 more people make 1st time professions of faith…as I said at the end of the message…”Don’t ever let that get old”.
- We started the “What’s Hot Now” series by taking a look at what spiritual meaning can be taken out of One Republic’s hit song, All the Right Moves.
- As usual the band did and awesome job with not just the worship stuff but doing a cover of this as well.
- Brian was excited because in addition to the drums we also used a drum machine to get some other cool effects.
- Great energy in both crowds today…think the 2nd Experience crowed actually was a bit rowdier than the 1st Experience crowd which is unusual…great job everyone…love that excitement.
- I had fun preaching today’s message..already getting lots of positive feedback…or maybe it’s just that I told everyone to tell me it was a great message.
- If that doesn’t make sense, you’ll have to listen for the context.
- Funniest thing that many might not have been able to see was the band dancing off stage to Imma Be which is the song in the bumper video Aaron created.
- Fun that is until Thom knocked over a light getting his groove on during the 2nd Experience. :)
- Can’t wait until next week as we do some cool things as we look at Twitter.
- Don’t forget to sign-up this week.
- Remember as long as you have an account and can text from you phone you’ll be easily able to participate.
- Just go to the Twitter account settings page and add your cell to turn on this feature.
- Ok time for a nap…have a great week.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Just now getting home after a full day of church and family activities.
- Amazed by today’s Experiences…so awesome.
- Won’t have the final count until tomorrow but we know of at least 12 people who made decisions to follow Jesus today!
- Makes all the hard work and spiritual warfare I mentioned earlier this week worth it!
- Big props to the entire team for working nearly around the clock to make all the elements today so successful.
- Special thanks to Brian and Thom for the two huge 20 foot truss crosses.
- Leave it to United…if we’re going to have crosses they will be big and they will have all kinds of cool things they do.
- Basically loved everything about today…
- Brian had an idea to do a live countdown with video and light show and it definitely had the crowd pumped more so than the normal countdowns.
- Thought the roof was going to blow off the place during the first two songs at the 9:45 Experience. Man you guys were loud and rowdy…just the way we like it. :)
- Good laugh playing the Here Comes Peter Cottontail song during the fill out connection card time…hilarious.
- Loved the Desperate People song…it started the whole tear down the walls theme if you were listening to the lyrics carefully.
- The Slam Poet definitely kicked things into another gear. Jesse Fisher is the guy who did it and he is amazing. I included it on the beginning of the message recording if you’re interested in hearing him do his thing.
- About 6 weeks ago as the guys pitched me the idea of doing a series called Absolution, all I could think of was someone going into a confessional booth and the wall that separates them. This led to me having the idea to make Easter all about walls.
- A few weeks back as I was ready to write the message, the idea then came to put a wall on stage that I could put graffiti on represent my sin. Then last week I had the idea to tear down the wall and then Thursday night as we were practicing it, God spoke to me that we needed a cross to be the only thing left standing.
- Brian had the idea to do the song Tear Down the Walls a few weeks back and the rest as they say is history…from what I’ve heard it was one of the most memorable and touching moments we’ve ever created.
- I know it was for me. Seeing my sins written on that wall and then getting to tear it down was very emotional. At the first Experience I couldn’t help but break down and cry. At the 2nd Experience I got more physical with the wall and took out my frustration on the wall like it was Satan himself.
- Long story short…between both Experiences, kicking, punching and tearing down a wall, has left me hands and arms scraped and cut up.
- But I don’t regret a moment up it…in the moment I didn’t feel a thing.
- As I reflected on that this afternoon, it made me think of Jesus. It was because of His great love for us that He endured the pain of the cross.
- Certainly a few cuts on my arms pale in comparison to what He endured so I’m not going to complain.
- Ok funny story. Thursday night we did a full walk through of Sunday morning like we normally do. When it came time to tear down the wall, Andrea said, “This isn’t going to be dangerous is it”? I assured her no, but then as I began to destroy it, the prototype that had been built completely feel apart, framework and all. It went toppling towards Andrea…she dodged out of the way…and it barely missed crashing into the keyboard. The guys then set out to build the mother of all walls…which they did…that frame today wasn’t going anywhere!
- Also funny is that in the first Experience as I was tearing the wall apart, I wasn’t thinking about how forceful I throwing pieces of drywall. Imagine my surprise when I turn around and there are pieces lying at the feet of people in the front rows. Oops.
- So much to say about today and so many people to thank…what an incredible day.
- Overall we had 1211 people in attendance today at all services and Experiences…so awesome to see everyone invite like crazy to make sure as many people as possible could hear the good news about Jesus.
- Hopefully later this week I can post some other stuff about today, but for now I’m whupped and ready for some sleep. Thanks again for celebrating Easter with us…have a great week!
Did You Know?
On this St. Patrick’s Day I thought I’d throw out something perhaps you didn’t know. Patrick who was born in Ireland eventually found himself living in England. However, he felt a burden to return back to his native land and preach the good news of Christ. What he found though when he returned was shocking. The country was about as pagan as it could be.
Patrick decided that he was going to become a missionary his own country. Slowly but surely he made a difference. In fact, he founded more than 300 churches and baptized more than 120,000 people. His ministry made such an impact that he came to be known as the one who “found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.”
So what about you? What will you be known for when you die? Will you leave an eternal legacy like St. Patrick, or are you consumed with getting stuff in this world that will eventually, rust, rot or fade away?
People of United…there are still 70,000 people in Franklin County that don’t know Jesus. People of Exponential…there are over 425,000 people that don’t yet know Christ in Harrisburg. I’m sure when St. Patrick arrived in Ireland, the task at hand seemed large and overwhelming, but he started with one and grew from there. So who’s your one. Easter is only a few weeks away…who is the one person that you’re investing in to make an eternal difference?
Inside Today’s Experiences
- I’ve been dreading this day for about a month now, but looking back, it turned out great.
- The biggest reason it was great was that 2 people came into a relationship with Jesus at the 2nd Experience!
- All in all from the Experience standpoint it was a great day.
- Had some minor technical issues in the first Experience, but overall things went well in both.
- I really enjoyed this series on relationships.
- Glad I bought the props, I think they added a very visual and helpful component.
- I think my nerves for making the announcement, helped me have bigger than normal energy at the first Experience.
- The relief of having got the announcement done made the 2nd Experience not quite as lively….sorry guys.
- As for the announcement itself, a couple of thoughts:
- First for those that weren’t there, I announced that I will be leaving United in a few months to start a brand new church in Harrisburg, PA.
- You can listen to it here.
- I was nervous but things came out in much the way I had hoped.
- I was a blubbery mess on Thursday night when I told the worship team so I was concerned about holding it together today and for the most part I did…thank you Jesus for the strength.
- It was so cool to look out and not only see every chair full but also 4-5 rows deep of people standing all around.
- My prayer is that one day each Experience would look like that.
- Your words and support afterwards was greatly appreciated.
- I’ll be posting more thoughts about United’s future and my future in the coming days and weeks…please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Our prayer is that the transition from me to the next guy will be smooth and if I can do anything to help you in that please let me know.
- Again my love to you all…thanks for being so awesome!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Well that was interesting.
- Figures that on Christmas weekend we get a huge snow storm that kept all but the die-hards from coming out.
- 2 or 3 times per year the message is purely evangleistic in anticipation that many unsaved people will be in attendance.
- We you have 50 feet of snow (give or take a few feet) it means basically only Christians are going ot be there.
- Surprisingly though we still had 2 people commit to Jesus for the first time.
- That’s awesome!
- The team had fun with today’s Experience.
- Did you ever in your life think that you would go to church and get to hit beach balls around?
- The Party series has been both fun and impactful.
- 18 people have now become Christians during this series.
- I loved the music today…a great mix of hard and fun to soft and thought provoking.
- As Lisa said, “It was amazing to see the same people who were having fun with beach balls at the beginning, crying at the end as they reflected on the condition of their souls”.
- Cressa, Jenny, Andrea and Gayle did awesome on both O Holy Night and It Is Well.
- I laughed in both Experiences during the Awareness Test videos when people realized they had been tricked.. In case you weren’t with us, check them out. Awareness Test 1. Awareness Test 2.
- When I walked off stage during the 1st Experience I was carrying my chair off as well so I forgot to turn my mic pack off. Apparently you could hear me briefly talking backstage…oops.
- All in all not a bad considering all that was happening.
- I’m currently typing this and observing the team as they practice for Christmas Eve.
- Be sure to join us at 5:30 for what should be a memorable Experience.