Posts Tagged ‘ Eastern Guilford Middle School ’
We are starting a new series called “Phobos” this Sunday at Awestruck. A Phobia is an intense fear of something that often possesses no real threat of danger. We will be talking about the fear of Commitment, Death, Intimacy, and Being Alone and we plan to have fun doing it!
(Big thanks to Ben for the logo artwork and Big Bird for permission to use the song)
Do you have any strange phobias? Share them with us in the comments.
1. Last week was great because I could focus on my message and not running around to get all the stuff we needed to start Awestruck Church. Less trips to Lowes and Walmart equals more study time.
2. Nate Gray has the coolest Mohawk I have ever seen.
3. My family was gone to the beach all last week and I have to admit it was one of the best vacations I have ever had without leaving my house.
4. Yesterday’s service set a whole new standard for how we do church. It was the kind of service that I hoped to have by our second month. I never expected it to happen on our second week.
5. God’s timing and placement is a great thing to watch in action. It is beautiful when He uses our preparation and fits it together perfectly with His purpose for people’s lives.
6. We had about 15 new folks show up for church yesterday and way more return than I expected. I think the number of people will grow every week because people are excited about what God is up to at Awestruck!
7. Layden is still the greatest band on the planet and they get better each week. Evan produces better videos on free software than some do on expensive software. Our team Rocks!
8. 2 services and 8 days into this deal…I am loving being the pastor of Awestruck Church more each new day. I can’t believe I get to do this for a living.
9. If you live in Eastern Guilford County and have not experienced Awestruck Church live, what are you waiting for? Bring 20 friends and hang out with us next weekend!
10. My blog hits went through the roof…I had as many reads last week than I got in the last 3 weeks combined. Thanks for the love and welcome to my new readers.
We used this video in my message at Awestruck Church today. We couldn’t figure out how to get a wrecked car into the middle school, so we did the next best thing. Hope you enjoy it.
One more video of last Sunday’s message. The question is not if, but when God meets you head on at a major intersection of life how will you respond? If we respond correctly then He has the ability to spin us in whole new direction. God’s collision is always strategic and purposeful. What you gonna do?
BTW…I said Lugey way too many times, but I think I made my point. Amazing how God can use the common, uneducated to communicate His truth. Enjoy. 🙂
This coming Sunday might be the best service in the history of Awestruck Church! Ok, so it will only be our second week, but our goal is to get better each week. We have received some great feedback from people that showed up last Sunday, and we are taking it to heart. I am excited to meet with the team tonight and put all the suggestions into action. This has been a great week. Sunday is going to be incredible. This morning Evan and I risked our life, literally, to film a video for my message. Between the rain, demolished cars, and our very large (and slightly intimidating) new friend Tommy we were happy to make it out without a scratch. You will just have to show up Sunday to see it!
All the sleepless nights and stressful days were well worth the effort as we celebrated our first service today at Awestruck Church. I was thinking as we finished our set up how much of our stuff got done at the last minute, but you would have never known it this morning. Yesterday while setting up the bulb on the projector burnt out and we did not get the sound system to the school until late last night, so all that had to be set up today. Our location was not secured until about 9 days ago. We just chose to laugh and enjoy the adventure. Other than the fact that I emailed Evan the wrong scriptures for my message, the service went off without a hitch. It was almost scary how smooth everything went! I didn’t feel like I ever got into a good flow with my message, but that will come with time. It is more difficult than I imagined to switch from set up and maintenance mode into preaching mode. Layden flat brought the house down with our worship. It was a bit loud (even for me) but the music was incredible. A new sound system combined with a new setting will take some time to dial it in right. They played two of their original songs to open and close the service. The last song was “Hear me Loud” which was very fitting. 🙂 We had a great crowd this morning at Eastern Guilford Middle School. It was a very diverse group of people. It will take us time to sort through all the info cards to figure out how everyone found out about Awestruck, and next week will tell how many folks show up for a second time. The fact is that the real work has just begun. This is the part I have been waiting for. Loving people and connecting them to a genuine community so they can encounter Jesus. Here are some pics of Awestruck’s first service.
Perhaps I am delusional from a lack of sleep over the past few weeks, or maybe I am just optimistic? I honestly thought that our set up today would take 2 or 3 hours and we could rest all afternoon. Well, we met at 10 am to load all the stuff and head to the school and I got home at 8:30 pm! My two hours turned into 10 without me noticing. It was all worth it though. The team worked hard to transform Eastern Middle into Awestruck church and it looks phenomenal. I am so proud of my team and how well everything turned out. Here are a few pics of what you can expect to see when you get there. Note: this is not the final product. I will post some pics tomorrow night of our first service.
What a crazy week! I have not had time to do much blogging, twittering or any of our social media this week. To be accurate, I have never seen a chicken run around with their head cut off, but if it is anything like what I imagine it to be then that is what I have resembled all week. Tons of stuff has fallen in line for Awestruck over the past few days and I can’t wait until 9/7/08! Only 10 more days and we finally get to put into action all the prayers, tears, dreams, and plans we have been making over the last 331 days. I have been saying “Booyah” a bunch this week? I have been excited so I am allowed.
Our sound system is going to be incredible thanks to Don’s Music City and their desire to be part of what God is doing through Awestruck. Thank you Jim for believing in our vision. Our signs should be done very soon, like maybe today. We have found a great deal on a great projector…finally! Starbucks has donated the coffee for our first sevice and we have the equipment to serve it up right. The pipe and drape and backdrop for our stage will be finished by Sunday. (Could be a long workday for the Awestruck crew.) Our children’s area is 99.999% complete thanks to our friends at Pine Ridge Church, my wife and Aubrey working so hard. The videos for our service are going to be off the charts thanks to Evan. I think he even impressed himself with these. Layden is ready to flat bring it with our music! I will warn you that if you are expecting the typical “follow the bouncing ball” type worship, then you might want to visit another church. Those guys are going to rock out. Steggy (our pastor of guest experiences) has it going on with our welcoming and greeting stuff. I have been preparing my message for 10 months now, so it better be pretty good. Most importantly, by lunch time today Awestruck will officially be able to call Eastern Middle School home! It has been worth all the hassle and frustration to be able to meet in this incredible facility. Thank you Mr. Ferrell for all your hard work and accommodation. Like I said, this has been a busy week. I know that I have forgotten about some folks and stuff, but you get the idea. I am amazed and gazing in wild wonder at all God is doing behind the scenes for Awestruck. Get ready Eastern Guilford county, we are coming.
Amazing! Mind Blowing! Awestruck…that is what we are. I don’t know that we could have picked a better name for this adventure. We are still amazed that we have made it this far. I just got off the phone finalizing all the stuff that needs to faxed in for final confirmation of Eastern Middle. We are in there like swim wear. I never ceases to shock me that on the weeks I struggle with doubt the most, God comes through in the most powerful ways. You’d think I would have figured this deal out by now, but somehow I always get anxious and scared when it doesn’t seem like everything is lining up. God is so amazing.
Wednesday night we did our first service project at Eastern Middle. We planted 24 monkey grass and 12 nandina bushes around the flag pole up front. We have also ordered our sweet signage, and updated our myspace page this week. New Horizon church, that meets at Southeast High School, sent us a check this week. We love those guys! An individual has come through with the money to cover one our unexpected costs this week. This has been a great week, in spite of all my worry and unnecessary concern. With all that God has provided up to this point, I can’t wait to see the incredible things He has in store once we get started in 16 days!
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