Posts Tagged: revolution church sacramento

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21
Jun 09

Sunday Night Reflections: June 21, 2009

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.
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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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God / church / church planting / leadership / ministry / one prayer / people / prayer / vision / worship — 2 Comments
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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church / church planting / one prayer / vision — 2 Comments
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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23
Jun 08

Sunday night decompression

Well, as I am digesting all that happened today, I have some great things to reflect upon from today’s service:

  • One Prayer just keeps getting better and better! I can see more people connecting with the message of unity and receiving video teaching for the messages. It’s causing me to pray about exploring this medium for a second service at our church plant in a different part of town when we officially launch next Easter. Hmmm….
  • Xaris church’s worship band rose the roof off of God’s house today. The foundation was shaken with some serious praise time today. It wasn’t about the instruments or the musicians, but how amazingly well they worked together today as one. No complaints about sound or short set-up time or inadequacies in our house sound system (which is really small). They just came in and did their best and honored God with their hearts of service. Truly inspirational! Thanks to Danny, Tiffany, Tammy, Carter, Bryant, and Timothy!
  • Thanks to Julie from Xaris Church as this is the first Sunday in a long time that I didn’t have to handle the powerpoint presentation. Great job and what a huge blessing to get a time of rest!
  • People actually connected in fellowship today in ways I hadn’t seen before. Everyone was talking about Perry Noble’s message at lunch.
  • I definitely need to focus attention to our budget on upgrading our sound system with a focus to the future. If we’re gonna be inviting other worship bands we need a bigger sound system that requires less setup time every week.
  • I have a feeling I’m going to hear stories next week about people drinking their biscuits…if you missed the video sermon from Perry Noble today, go to the website and click the “One Prayer” link to view it online.
  • I don’t want to be in the frustration line ever again! Sometimes it is a comfortable place to be, but I have taken my place in the anticipation line and am excited to see how this journey continues to unfold for us at Revolution Church Sacramento.
  • It brings such joy to my heart to reflect upon the fact that we had 4 churches together as one during our service today: Living Stone Community Church (Our mother church) opened its doors to Revolution Church Sacramento with Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC speaking the message today while Xaris Church of Elk Grove led our worship time. Four churches under one roof. That’s putting into practice our core scripture in Ephesians 4! May opportunities like this continue to be available after the One Prayer project concludes next week.
  • I need to get back into practice of knowing what I am going to say before it comes time for me to say it. I’m getting into the bad habit of rambling a bit on announcements and it takes up too much time.
  • My Glorious was in the worship set and offered me another reminder that God is bigger than the air I breathe.
  • With a tough week ahead, today’s message and fellowship time was exactly what I needed to help stay encouraged.
  • I can’t wait to see what happens when we have a 30 member gospel choir bless us with some glorious praise next week as we conclude the One Prayer series. True to the message I’m preaching, I think it is gonna make some people uncomfortable, but hopefully in a good way :)
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