Tonight was the night that I had been warned about. When the start time for our gathering tonight came & went without anyone there to worship with us, I was a little worried about how the team would want to proceed. I felt we should move forward with the service as it is never about us, but it should always be about our worship and service whether anyone is there to see it or not. Just before I was about to ask them to stand with me and move forward with the service, cars came into the parking lot. We started late, but it was okay. Today was a memorable day and here are the reasons why:
- We were able to go through with our worship set even though it was our smallest gathering to date. This honored God and I know he was pleased! Not many people get a chance to face this situation. It was a blessing in disguise for our team.
- I had a chance to hear Annette throw down some rhymes today. I like the way she raps, “yo, yo, yo!” We need more Asian hip-hop artists in Sacramento! :)
- Being smaller today allowed us to be more-relaxed. It was fun time and we engaged in some good fellowship. I don’t want Revolution Church to be stodgy & traditional. Talking about running 10k’s, and about our studies, and joking around together…what a great way to prepare ourselves to worship our God together! I may put up some clips on our vimeo site :)
- As always, Steven Furtick brought it all today! I’m wondering if there is ever going to be a time when I watch Pastor Furtick preach a message and I don’t get emotional and get teary. I just get so jacked up hearing this man speak! His enthusiasm for the local church and his love of God is incomparable. God wrecks me every time. Steven Furtick and I may never meet in-person and he may not know me by name, but I guarantee you that people in Sacramento are going to know the saving grace of Christ Jesus because of how Pastor Furtick has influenced me and my ministry. I will never be the same!
- I’m so indebted to the kingdom-minded team of Craig Groeschel and staff at LifeChurch.tv. One Prayer this year has been crazy good and has been a great way for us to introduce Revolution Church to Sacramento during our public preview services this month. Much love always to Pastor Craig and the amazing team at LifeChurch.tv…we will be forever thankful that we could grow in our faith and grow closer together through your making resources such as One Prayer available to small churches such as us. For those of you that have my blog for any length of time know how grateful I am for Craig Groeschel’s kingdom heart and for all that he has spoken into my life and ministry. Someday I hope we as Revolution Church Sacramento have a chance to give to others as LifeChurch.tv has freely given to us.
- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We have an unbelievably gifted and big-hearted worship team for our public preview services and I am awed in their presence. I’ve been to several churches as part of my seminary studies and through my travels. I know some churches with thousands of people in attendance on a Sunday that don’t have the cohesiveness and spirit of worship that our team has. God so answered our prayers for this aspect of our ministry and I am completely humbled that of all the ministries in all the world that he would put together this outstanding team for our preview services. As Pastor Furtick shared tonight, God is GREAT!
- We finally got all of our sound system issues resolved today! It sounded really nice and we are ready for our guest worship team from Xaris Church next Sunday. Wow, how we got some low budget, used equipment from ebay to perform like this could only be the result of a GREAT God! Wow!
- As it was Father’s Day, I had to get together with my daughters after service so I missed hanging out with our church for dinner. It really felt strange to me. Seriously, I am wondering how I am going to respond when we stop meeting Sunday nights after next week and go to gathering for small group gatherings in homes for two months. I can honestly say that I am going to miss our church after our preview services. It’s making me feel a little sad at the moment.
- As we conclude week three with just one more week to go for One Prayer, I know that we could not have realized this time without the strong prayers of some great people that have partnered with us throughout the world in prayer. Combining the prayers of our partners along with those from over 1,800 churches participating in One Prayer makes for some abundant favor upon God’s house and his people. Prayer is being lifted up and God is responding in awesome ways. When we can recognize his hand in the little things we can come to expect his hand in the bigger things.
- Hearing Steven Furtick’s testimony again about how Elevation Church got its start always gets me excited. When people see him speak and learn that he is a senior pastor the first thing people comment about is how young he is. So beautiful to see God work in all sorts of people that will pursue him in faith. Young or old, loud or quiet, tall or short…God will use the least of his people at times to speak power into people’s lives. Praying that God will continually do that as he grows our ministry here in Sacramento. Can’t wait to see how things come together for us!
- The text I studied and prayed over last week in Philippians really spoke to me tonight. On the surface it may have seemed like tonight was kind of uneventful, but I feel that we had much to rejoice about and many to be thankful for. Tonight we stood in unity and it wasn’t about theology or mission or worship style--we were truly brothers and sisters i Christ and it was a wonderful time to be together.
- After having the video messages from some gifted preachers being received so well this month, I’m going to have to step-it-up for next Sunday. Hoping I don’t disappoint anyone…please pray for me.
