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Sunday Night Reflections: June 28, 2009

// June 29th, 2009 // Comments Off // sunday night reflections

Well, it’s actually 1:15am Monday morning, June 29th. Our dinner fellowship overflowed into the next day! It was a lot of fun and some of us seemed as if we didn’t want to conclude it. Here are my thoughts:

There is something intrinsic to small churches that I am really enjoying. Having a chance to be more-relaxed and knowing everyone by name makes it feel more like what I feel church should be like. As you all know, I don’t believe church should be a destination. Revolution Church Sacramento does not feel like a destination, but more like a starting point.
I was blessed to know that I look like one of the Muppets (watch my facebook page for pictures). Can you guess which one?
I realized that when people gather together in the right spirit, that even being subjected to a room that is literally 90 degrees it doesn’t have to affect one’s mood. Some of us had been in the building for 3 hours before our service started and the worship team was under hot spot lights and everyone really seemed to enjoy being there together. It was one of those experience I will always remember and reflect upon.
Our friends from Xaris Church led worship tonight and it was really amazing. Enjoyed the change of pace with the fuller, edgier sound. These guys helped me out for the last youth ministry praise & worship night I led on Friday, led worship at Xaris Church Sunday morning and then came out to help us Sunday night. The Xaris team is always ready to help us out and I am forever indebted to them. We closed things out with some loud, worshipful singing! Thanks to Danny Lo, Carter Hom, Bryant Hom, Galen and Brad for their service tonight. You are permanently etched into the history of Revolution Church and we honored to have you be a part of preview services!
When someone’s mind is somewhere else it really can be obvious.
Wasn’t sure how well a last minute revision to the message in order to look at the life and death of Michael Jackson from the perspective of salvation rather than idolizing & memorializing him would be received. Got some great, positive feedback so I’m encouraged that it was the leading of the Lord and that he was pleased.
I didn’t find out until 11:30pm that I read a Scripture verse in my message while another Scripture verse was displayed on the screen.
Numbers of people in attendance do not indicate the health of a church. I’m not just saying that because we have intentionally started small. This month has been a valuable time of learning, observing and discernment.
I must do my best to not use Christian language as I continue to reach out to our city.
When living life as the church, it’s not about hierarchy or orderly service…it transcends all of that when people care about each other and truly enjoy being in their presence.
There is no one like our God! For greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still be done in this city.
As introverted as I am, I have learned to really appreciate and enjoy opportunities to meet new people and value the stories each of us have.
I don’t know if I am ever going to not cringe watching myself speak on video.
Had the subject of coordinating an arts program to give back to the community through the gifted worship musicians we have been blessed with at Revolution Church so far. Need to give that some more thought!
Thankful for all of the prayers of all of my friends that have stood with us all month to see the start of Revolution Church become a reality. Together we are strong and without our friends and prayer partners none of this would have been possible God does call his people to pray so that he may respond. God really did respond in some amazing ways. It may take some time for it to be realized by some of those that connected with us, but some powerful and wonderful things happened this June and I will never be the same as a result.
Relived some memories of my junior year of high school doing the moonwalk with my classmates. It was Michael Jackson that first introduced it in 1983 and it will forever be a part of pop culture.
Everyone in the world, regardless of age or ethnicity seems to know of Michael Jackson. Imagine the day when everyone in the world, regardless of age or ethnicity comes to know Christ as Lord!
Annette & Gary may quit their day jobs to become comedians…they were that hilarious tonight.
Grateful for LifeChurch.tv and all that has happened as a result of One Prayer 2009! To have the blessing to listen to Jentezen Franklin, Francis Chan and Steven Furtick with less than 20 people attendance just couldn’t happen any other way. We were tremendously blessed and one day I hope to see us at Revolution Church be able to give back in some way as well.
Lots left to think about, but going to wait until our team gets together and sorts through our public preview service experience and how we’ll look as we move forward in the coming month.

Sunday Night Reflections: June 21, 2009

// June 21st, 2009 // Comments Off // revolution church sacramento, sunday night reflections

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.

Sunday Night Reflections: June 7, 2009

// June 7th, 2009 // 11 Comments » // church, church planting, one prayer, revolution church sacramento, sunday night reflections

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 :