Ok, I’ve done it, I have to admit it, there’s no denying it, I’m not sure how it happened I swore I would never do it, but the peer pressure was just to great. It seemed like everywhere I turned I was reminded of how bad I thought I needed it, but the underlying question was always is it really a need and is it as good as everyone said it is? 

After doing I have to tell you it is every bit as good as everyone said, and I am proud to say I have converted to  a Mac! I have the new mac book and I absolutely love it. Although there is some adjusting at first I must tell you it blows the PC away, and I know what some of you are thinking because I thought the same thoughts, but I can now say I love my mac! My first experience with apple was the IPhone after I dropped my MotoQ in the water, and I have genuinely grown to love that Phone, so I decided I would try the Mac book as well and I don’t regret it one bit. I guess the old saying is true “Once you go mac, you’ll never go back.”

Wow it’s hard to believe that we are into our third consecutive week and the final wrap up to the Stressed Series. What an awesome three weeks, God is so faithful! Here’s a recap of the service today.

>Another successful day 1 more commitment to Christ!!!! That’s a total of 19 since we started!

>We had a good crowd despite people being at work and out.

>Worship went great and there was an awesome presence of God there!

>Set up and tear down went great, it’s nice to finally feel like we are getting into a groove.

>Had a glitch with the Children’s sound/video but the team did great getting it fixed before service started.

>We are seeing families return and experience Christ and become committed to Him.

>It was good to see the families that were out last week back. 

>Told a funny story on Pastor Lanny at the beginning of the message, you’ll have to go to the podcast and check out in the next day or so!

>Love all the people that are helping volunteer and make this thing happen.

>Can’t wait for the “Power of One” coming up next week, it’s going to be awesome!!!! 

>Love how people who have been coming are now starting to invite friends and family members!

God has got big things in store for this church and this city and I’m glad He has allowed me to be a part!!!

Ok so over the past year we have prepared in every aspect for the beginning of this launch. However, we learned quickly that it doesn’t matter what plans you have, because when God is in control and His timing is all that matters. We had every intention of launching come September, with preview services preceding it beginning three months prior to launch, but God had other plans. As many of you know we had a number of setbacks with the location in which God worked out in His TIMING. Due to this situation we found ourselves launching in a period of time that is not necessarily know for planting a church; considering it is the end of the year and not typically the time people are looking to start or change something in their life. 

There are a number of different ways to launch a church as a matter of fact the books on this issue are growing in number on a daily basis and if you talk to any church planter they all seem to point you in the direction they went. We followed the model of having previews and launching as large as you possibly can, and this is a great model that has been used effectively by a number of different churches. Yet in the process of following this model we found a few flaws that we were unsure of so we still continued the path we were on, while the whole time in the back of my mind searching about the way it should be done. 

During this process one of the flaws I had noticed as well as others on the team was brought out to us when we were challenged at Elevation Church in Charlotte. While I am in no way bashing this model of church planting the question that kept looming and that was asked is this: What happens when all the “well wishers” are gone and the real numbers show the next week? Which in my opinion is a good question. In other words, what if you have 250 at launch day if only 70 return the next week? Will it hurt you or help you?  Which the goal of this model is not only to launch large but in the process of previews and the large launch you add people that buy into the vision and help you further. I understood the principle, I was just unsure if people could get over such a big difference of numbers. When you launch large it includes a number of friends and family and people from other churches that come and help inflate you numbers to make it full as possibly can be, thus showing people that are visiting that something good is going on. 

Originally we had every intention of making a big push for all of our family and friends to show up but God in is His infinite timing helped us out, because by pushing our dates further and further back it virtually eliminated those that had planned to make the trip, not that we didn’t want everyone to celebrate with us, but we were unsure of what it would look like the next week. After the trip to Charlotte we didn’t make a big push and as a result just a few close family members showed up, and the cool thing is it didn’t over inflate our number thus we have maintained an average of just over 75 people on a weekly basis, but as I stated in previous posts it also caused us to focus on the fact that 18 people have made a commitment to Christ during that time, and that is the sole reason we are here as our vision is “To help people become fully committed to Christ”. God is so awesome, and I look forward to the many more life changes to come as we continue to grow in Him and through Him. Thanks to all who have made this possibly through prayer, finances, and love shown during this time, you have a part in what God is doing right here in Little Elm, Texas. Look out devil God is just getting started here with The Crossing and we can’t wait to see what all He has in store. Matthew 16:18 … upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

It’s been really busy over the past couple of weeks and I am now starting to get into somewhat of a routine now that things are on a weekly basis. So, with that being said here is a review over the past couple of weeks!

>Over the past two Sunday’s 12 people have made a commitment to Christ!

>Super excited that we have finally launched and are already seeing life change!

>Worship team has done awesome the past two weeks I’m really proud of them.

>Set up keeps getting better and better. It is absolutely amazing that you can set up an entire church in an hour and a half with only a handful of people. 

>More people have been added to set up team each week.

>Already hearing awesome stories of people who have been out of church, coming back and loving the service.

>I work with the best staff in the world!!!!

>Showed up last Sunday and the parking lot was packed on the back end with two fire trucks and an ambulance next to the building, while guys were running toward the building with a hose and I thought dear God we have caught the place on fire!! Turns out the were just using it for a practice, but there were a lot of people that saw there was a church meeting there if they didn’t already know it.

>Since we started 4 services ago we have had 18 commitments to Christ!

>It was good to have some of the families back who were out last week for a number of different reasons.

>I am amazed how every person gone makes a huge difference at this stage.

>Newly committed Christ followers are excited about serving in any capacity needed, they understand that it’s the purpose that matters, not a position.

>We had a soft launch, which I believe will be a good thing for us. I will write more about this later.

>No matter how you slice it God is in control and He knows exactly what you need and when you need it.

>I love the new series on Stress and applying how we can deal with it according to the word of God.

>I can’t wait for the next series “The Power of One” you don’t want to miss this!

>Every week is getting easier as we get a handle on what we are doing.