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7
Jun 09

Sunday Night Reflections: June 7, 2009

I just walked through the door at 10:30pm and feel compelled to update all of our praying and supportive friends even before I get settled in. Without you there for us, none of this would be possible!

  • Our worship team is simply amazing! They spent time working on harmonies and structure through all of the technical issues I was having with the sound system. Immense thanks to Robert, Annette & Charlotte…today was wonderful!
  • As always, things got thrown in our way to distract us, but I think we made it through okay. Our venue changed the room on us at the last minute so instead of a multi-purpose room where we could make it feel more intimate we ended up in a big, traditional Episcopal Church sanctuary. No one seemed to mind, and even some liked the traditional aspect of the environment.
  • It was great to see how Jentezen Franklin, pastor of FreeChapel in Gainesville, GA connected with our group here in Sacramento, CA. I don’t think anyone aside from myself knew who he was before they came out tonight, but now they all want to know and hear more of his teaching. As someone whom I have try to emulate a bit and a person that has mentored me from a distance, it was great to be able to share the gift of Pastor Franklin’s ministry with the people of Sacramento.
  • For all the things I go through in setting up our entire service, sound system, powerpoint, media, etc. I am in absolute shame knowing that Pastor Jentezen Franklin preaches services in Gainesville, GA Sunday mornings and then catches a flight to Irvine, CA and preaches there Sunday night…every week! That along with the responsibilities of leading a megachurch just amazes me. Obviously God is strength to an infinite degree in Pastor Franklin. I’m praying for you!
  • Not only did we have some new faces join us for our gathering, but we moved over to a restaurant for dinner and continued getting to know each other and sharing in conversation. It was a great time and I am so thankful for those that God brought across our path today. It truly was a special day!
  • Starting at 12:30pm and running through to 10:30pm is a bit too much for me. I don’t see how I can sustain spreading myself over two church services/fellowship that span that much time. It was seriously non-stop for me today.
  • As excited as I am about being a part of One Prayer, it is interesting to see how people are comparing 2009 with what happened in 2008. Those in our gathering that came out and supported us during One Prayer last year seemed to relate better to “God make us _______.” rather than “God is _______.” Interested to see if any other churches have the same thoughts.
  • Today we were informed that our request to use our current gathering space  for our official August launch of weekly services was denied. So, we have to start searching for a new location and working on developing some financial support to allow us to pay rent somewhere. This was the original plan, so obviously God wants us to stay true to that. Praying about our next steps on this.
  • The coolest thing is re-connecting tonight with some of the group that were with us during One Prayer 2008 and hearing them recite things from the messages last year. It still is making an impact on them a year later. That’s pretty awesome!
  • My faith truly sucks sometimes! I created an offering box that is self-service rather than passing around a tray. I had it just in case someone felt like giving, but really didn’t expect anything. Of course, at the end of service there were offerings and I need to spend some time in prayer about how small I make God out to be at times
  • People throughout the world were praying for us and it was felt deeply. Many thanks for the faithfulness of our friends that prayed for us.
  • Looking forward to introducing Francis Chan to Revolution Church Sacramento next Sunday. Not many in our gathering know who he is or have heard his teaching before. People of the Revolution, prepare to hear God once again next Sunday :
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one prayer / revolution church sacramento — 1 Comment
3
Jun 09

One Prayer 2009 is here!

op-120x240I can’t begin to tell you how I excited I am about what is going to happen this month! This is our second year joining in with the One Prayer project from LifeChurch.tv and I feel as if I need to explain this a little bit.

Last year we at Revolution Church Sacramento got a lot of interest in our connection with One Prayer because we used that first campaign to start our (then) preview services in June 2008. However, those were preview services for our sending church as a way to let them know we were committed to seeing unity within the church and to have a chance to share our vision with the congregation. We invited other churches to help participate in our services and brought in worship teams from different local churches. We crossed cultural lines and stood together with the body of Christ. It was a great experience. As I blogged about One Prayer (you can see the archived posts here) I was blessed to have encouraging replies from pastors such as Craig Groeschel and Steven Furtick. Many doors were opened for us and coincidentally, we are now in a position to have our first public preview services connecting again with LifeChurch.tv and One Prayer beginning this Sunday, June 7th. We didn’t expect it would take a full year to get this point, but we appreciate the opportunity to be of service to God’s people and share the message of the gospel to our city in God’s timing, not ours.

Through our unity and call to stand together as one church in the name of Christ, we are able to share video teachings from such gifted pastors as: Francis Chan (Cornerstone Community Church, Simi Valley, CA), Jentezen Franklin (FreeChapel, Gainesville, GA) and Steven Furtick (Elevation Church, Matthews, NC). This time we’re inviting everyone to join us for worshiping God through song with an amazing group of people God has brought to us (Thank you Robert, Annette, and Charlotte!), be engaged in the Word, pray together and share in communion. It’s an exciting time to be in ministry and I’m ecstatic and filled with joy knowing the Lord is going to move in amazing ways throughout the world as a result of One Prayer. As of today there are over 1,600 churches and almost 1,000,000 people united in faith to see God answer prayers for the church at large.

The theme this year is to complete this statement: God is ____. I submitted a video teaching with the title “God is Calling.” He is calling everyone, yet we often mistake the call or don’t interpret it correctly. I explain that once you know what to look for, it’s not as difficult as we make it out to be. My video teaching is available at the One Prayer website here: http://2009.oneprayer.com/the-messages or if you’re local to us here in Sacramento, won’t you come share in community with us as we hear the message together at Revolution Church Sacramento?

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30
Jun 08

Sunday night thoughts…One Prayer has ended, but…

…the spirit of unity within the body of Christ will continue on! This series has touched me in unintelligible ways because it has shown me that God can do anything and will use anybody all for His glory and purpose. So many things are underneath the surface, but I know that God will bring my experiences to the forefront of my thoughts at the right time as He continues to use One Prayer to help us be a catalyst for change in Sacramento and for drawing people closer together.

With the conclusion of the One Prayer series yesterday (wanted to write this earlier–hence the title–but now it’s actually Monday), here are some of my thoughts:

  • A ton of competition on the preaching this month with me concluding the One Prayer series after our church got to experience video teaching from Ed Young, Jr., Steven Furtick, and Perry Noble. Not to mention that I’ve got Gary Lamb of Revolution Church in Canton, GA on-deck for our mid-week core group gathering this week! I definitely wasn’t up to the task, but I believe God came alive in me and broke a spirit of intimidation today so I’m on my way Big Boys of Preaching! :)
  • God sent us a church today to lead our worship time and to join in fellowship and they thought they were a small church until they met us! No matter what you think, there is always someone with less.
  • Del Paso Union Baptist Church saved the day! Not only did they breathe life into our church like a holy tornado, but they were the most amazing, attentive, appreciative, joyful, and encouraging group of people I have ever had the honor and privilege of speaking to. They allowed me to get my “preaching shoes” on and let loose with a little heat in the name of love. I will never, ever forget your act of service for us as we were just starting out and God is gonna bless you to overflowing because your hearts (and actions) are in the right place!
  • I found out there is a little fire burning within me that needed to be unleashed through some uplifting preaching. Lord, reign in me, reign in your fire, reign in me again, and again, and again…I need you and can’t do it without you.
  • The revolution has begun, and some people are gonna wanna stop and get off. I’ll just have to trust the Lord and not be reactionary.
  • As crazy as it seems to me, it was pretty evident that some in our church took a bit of a competitive spirit for some reason. I’ll need to seek God to find away to get that spirit cast out and sent away permanently as there is no place for it in Christ’s church, ever!
  • I had no clue how much difference the house would feel when people received and responded to the preaching of the Word of the Lord. Wow, was I ever riding a wave of feeling fulfilled and with purpose today, even though the day started of less than desirable through my inability and ineffectual in the worship.
  • So many words to describe the events today, but the one that keeps popping into my head and making me feel giddy is: F-U-N. Today was unbelievably fun and there was true joy in my heart for my God and for His people. I don’t think I would have ever imagined using the word fun to describe a church service, but it isn’t it supposed to be a celebration experience? No question, when it’s working on all cylinders it is indescribable joy in the finest hour.
  • I love being around others that love God! I need to keep that kind of joy when I am around others that don’t love God. I love people that don’t love God and try to connect with many that do not share my faith, but I don’t always have the same joy when that love isn’t mutual to the Lord, and that must stop.
  • Israel Houghton songs really speak to me and minister to my spirit in ways that no other songs can do. Praise you Lord for Israel and New Breed and their music!
  • No matter what successes I witness, nor how affluent the community is that God puts me in, He always seems to be calling me back to my roots and never forgetting where I came from.   I feel like things will take me back full-circle and I will find myself right back where I started. If that’s the plan, I’m ready Lord! May your will be done regardless of where my human eyes want to take me.
  • Lord, please send us some worshipers that want to pour their hearts and souls into loving you through songs and leading others to share in the blessing that comes only from worshiping you in spirit and truth. We are thirsty for some authentic worship that can be led by the King of King and the Lord of Lords and not through human means. No matter what, I praise you for all who surround me and pray that You will continue to cause us to grow together and become all that You plan us to be.
  • If God is for us, who can be against us? Revolution Church Sacramento must be from God, by God, and for God…no if’s, and’s, or but’s. It’s GO time!
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29
Jun 08

Praise God & thank you Craig Groeschel!

Wow…wow…wow! I am speechless. What a humbling experience One Prayer has been. What a life-changing event One Prayer has been. To have a vision given to Craig Groeschel that required few words to convey, yet resonated so loudly and clearly to all those that became connected was definitely God showing His face for the world to see. I can’t to write out my reflections on our final One Prayer service today. Oh man, what a day it has been!

When we connected at www.oneprayer.com about 1 1/2 months ago, we were part of 50 churches and 35,000 individuals. In about 6 weeks this has grown to over 1,600 churches and almost 1 million people and there are many churches just starting and continuing this through the month of July. I am in awe of God’s providence and the way He works. I am amazed at how quickly and smoothly this was orchestrated and coordinated with little advance notice. Unbelievable, yet so believable because God is even bigger than One Prayer.

What a blessing and honor to have been a part of this. Dialog has been started, partnerships have developed and relationships are continuing grow all because we felt God calling us to start our tiny little church plant a couple of months early to be a part of this global project.

Praise God & thank you Craig Groeschel! This has touched many lives and was (and will continue to be) a vehicle to share God’s love and His salvation unto some who may not have ever been touched had Pastor Craig not followed through with this. Wow…wow…wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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25
Jun 08

Disapointment, frustration, and the anticipation line

I had so many things planned for this coming Sunday. It’s our final service for the One Prayer project and our small church will triple in size this week because we have an awesome gospel choir of 30 singers coming to lead our worship time and bless us and the Lord with some amazing praise. However, it seems that other irons in the fire are causing me to stray away from some of the things I had wanted to initiate.

It is times like this that cause me to feel disappointed:

    I’m disappointed in myself for not being able to do everything I had wanted to do. I’m disappointed in others around me that would rather live their lives for themselves rather than help serve others. I am disappointed that God has not brought the people to our ministry that I have been praying for.

Of course, these are all thoughts in my natural mind and I do my best to keep them repressed and to make them go away. Disappointment leads to frustration, and I’m still reeling over the illustrations and the powerful message from Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church that was delivered in service last week. If you haven’t witnessed it, go to revsacramento.com and click on the One Prayer link to see it. Speaking from Luke 7, Pastor Noble explained that there were two lines of people at the time Jesus was about to raise someone from the dead. One was in mourning and rooted in frustration, the other excited in anticipation for what Jesus was about to do. I can’t be in the frustration line mourning what happened or why and need to move over to the anticipation line and just praise God for all He has done and all He will continue to do.

Church planting can be a lonely place at times. It’s easy to be disappointed and frustrated. It’s not always easy to be in anticipation as we always want to see things happen now! However, I am just going to do my best to keep waiting in anticipation of what is to come. If Jesus can raise a mother’s son from the dead during his burial procession, I can’t wait to see what He is going to do here in Sacramento so that His creation will come to know His love and grace in their lives and become transformed through the Holy Spirit to love God and love others above even themselves.

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