Jan

I hope you have had a great week and are looking forward to Sunday as much as I am.  Thanks so much to each of you for the cards and letters that were assembled for the “40 days of affirmation” that y’all put together for Keli and I.  It means a lot to know that you are praying for us and thinking about us.  We have been reading one card a night, right before we crash for the evening, to end our day on a positive note.

 

 

God has been messing me up during this first week of “More Than Me.”  So, in no particular order, here are some things that have come to mind…

 

 

Beginning this Sunday, at 9:30 a.m., we will gather together for a time of PEP (Prayer, Encouragement, Preparation) for the service.   I will speak briefly to those gathered about updates, new info for the week, celebrate stories from last week, etc.  We will pray together and then worship together as the band does their warm up / run through of a couple songs.  I promise this will not take more than 10 or 15 minutes.

 

 

Sunday, March 8, we will not be “having” church, we will  “BE” the church and have a “SERVE” Sunday.  This will be an opportunity to support our partners at USCA and the Convocation Center by helping them with a basketball event and other opportunities for HOME groups and families to serve on the west side of Aiken.

 

 

Last week, 12 new families with children came to CC West and a number of new singles and couples were there as well.  We had 455 total people in the building!  Two people began a relationship with Jesus and a bunch of folks connected in HOME group!  Praise God for that!  That is why we are doing what we are doing.

 

 

This week is the Souper Bowl of Caring.  Our students will be in the lobby after the service to take a special offering of money to give to ACTS and Christ Central.  This is an annual event that we join with hundreds of churches in America to help assist local community food pantries.

 

 

We will have the Convocation Center set up guys for another few weeks to assist us as we build A / B Team structures for our Load In / Load Out teams.  We need for you to begin thinking about whether you want to continue helping with set up and tear down and what team you would like to be on…A team is 1st and 3rd Sundays and B team is 2nd and 4th.  In the next few weeks, we still need any and all who can be there to help.  There will be a weekly opportunity to connect new people after the service by asking them to stay and help tear down if they so choose.  We will also be building a “youth” team for those who enjoy coming early to help set up.  They have been an integral part of our set up and seem to enjoy what they are doing for Jesus and His people.

 

 

Also, I realized this week that many of the things we say and do are completely foreign to unchurched people.  New people, either seeking the truth or just finding their way back to God, do not understand some of things we say and do.  We tend to speak a language and use words that are unfamiliar to people with little or no experience within “the church.”  I have had to think through much of what I say on Sundays so that it communicates across those lines.  Just like last week when I said, “I’ve been asking you all to get connected in a HOME group and I realized that some of you are probably saying, ‘What’s a HOME group.’ “  I then went on to explain what a HOME group is and does.

 

 

We need to think about what we say, how we say it and what we do.  Many things may be very familiar to us but new to others.  Kristi Hunter will be putting together a “help guide” for us in the near future to specifically speak to some of these issues.  We will get them to HOME group leaders to share with your peeps.

 

 

Last, but not least, God has reminded me once again that we are seeking the UNCHURCHED on the west side of Aiken.  What that means is people who do not go to church, have not been in church for a while and have no connection to a home church.  We continue to see people from other churches coming (to include Cedar Creek Banks Mill folks), either by invitation from friends or on their own, and they are taking up seats that are there for UNCHURCHED people.  We got the greatest response this week from a nice woman who is a member and regular attendee of another local church in Aiken.  She attends their 9 am service so she can come to our 11 am service.  NO KIDDING!  That is not our target.  We cannot fill our church with people who go to other churches and who happen to “like the music” or “have always wanted to do the PDL study.”

 

 

Our vision is clear and it is non-negotiable.  We exist for the next UNCHURCHED person who walks through our doors and the West Campus has been planted for them, not for us or our convenience.

 

 

I love each of you.  I thank God for the opportunity to serve WITH you, and I look forward to what God is going to do through Cedar Creek West.

Jan

Today was our first “public” worship service at Cedar Creek West. We saw God bring 441 people to our new campus, 289 adults and 152 kids age birth through 12th grade.

 

Great message from Phillip today on “Getting Ready” for God to do something huge in our lives and the life of our church and community.

 

Video teaching is definitely a God thing.  Folks interacted and seemed to enjoy the recorded message.  Some even thought it was live-streamed from Banks Mill.

 

The TEAM…man, I’m just blown away.  Set up was accomplished in just under 2 ½ hours today.  If you haven’t seen the amount of stuff they set up, that number doesn’t mean much to you.  When we have to go to two services, that quick set up will definitely be key.

 

Meeting this week (hopefully) on getting the fiber issues nailed down to move forward with live streaming the message.

 

Alan Jones, our media pastor, knew exactly what he was doing when he ordered all the stuff that makes the west campus experience POP!   You are the man brother.

 

GRACE Kidz saw a new family today, brought by a family who came last week to our “soft launch” invitation only service on the 11th.  God is Reaching All Children Everywhere…and it’s so cool to see.

 

The BAND…rocked!

 

Still have some sound issues with overlap from KidzWorship but that seems to be something that we will just have to deal withfor the duration.  Timing of both experiences may help but won’t be possible every week due to worship programming and flow.

 

We only broke one piece of plastic molding which seems to be something that has happened before.  I’m sure we’ll hear about it and we’ll gladly fix it or pay for it.  We’re going to have to slow down a bit in bringing racks and stuff into the gyms.  We’re moving fast to get set up done but can’t jack up the place every Sunday.  We’ll work out the bugs, I’m sure.

 

Had four new families sign up to CONNECT in a HOME group.  That is what we are all about.  We are a church OF groups, not a church WITH groups…and there is a difference.  Life change happens in the context of community and doing life together.

 

That being said, I’m totally pumped for “More Than Me,” Phillip’s message series that starts next week.  We will read through the Purpose Driven Life over 40 days while hearing a message each of the next six Sundays and having HOME group studies that correspond.

 

The campus pastor (me) forgot to mention that we had PDL books for sale, $8 for folks, free for HOME group leaders. Guess there will be a run on the connection kiosk next Sunday.

Jan

 

The second part of this morning’s reading in 2 Timothy 1 went like this … In verse 6 Paul goes on to say … For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God…

 

That imagery of “fanning the flame” screams at me when I think of this obvious move of God that is multi-site church.  Fires that once burned big and bright, if left unfanned (if that’s a word), will DIE and go out.  Not quickly, not immediately, but over time…smoldering, occasionally flaming up, but ultimately going out.  Many, if not most, churches are that way.  They allow the fire to slowly die, stuck in ruts of routine and ritual.  Doing what they do because they’ve always done it that way.  Then, one day, the fire is gone because no one fanned the flame.  No one put any effort into seeing that the fire continued to burn.

 

Lord, I pray, that Cedar Creek West fans the flame that is the gift of God, that our passion and fire as a church will never die.  I pray that you constantly remind us that you are at work in us and through us, with us or without us.  May the fire that you’ve started at Cedar Creek Church continue to burn brightly in this community and throughout the world for your Glory.  Whether we are one campus or one hundred campuses.

Jan

 

 

One of the recurring themes that God has brought to my mind in recent weeks is that of the generational impact that “Going West” will have on my life and the lives of those who journey with me.  As we look to the “official” launch of Cedar Creek West this coming Sunday, I am again reminded today that God has been at work for a very long time in our lives and the lives of the unchurched folks we are going to reach.  He has known, from the beginning, what He will do inside the walls (and outside the walls) of the USCA Convocation Center.  What we do today and in the days to come will have impact for the Kingdom of God for generations to come.

 

This morning I was reading 2Timothy 1 when I came upon this … verse 5 I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

 

How many of us have come to faith in Christ after years (and sometimes decades) of faithful prayer by our grandmothers and mothers?  Like Timothy, we have directly benefited from the faithfulness of others and, if we let Him, God will use us, as He did them, to bring more people back to himself.

 

Our kids, who are giving up some of the “coolness” and familiar comfort of their worship experience at Banks Mill, will have the opportunity to worship in a completely different and unusual space.  To learn that God is everywhere.  That they can worship Him and experience Jesus on a loading dock, in a basketball gym, in their classroom at school, on the football field…wherever.

 

Being a portable church is just like, well… being a Christ follower.  WE are portable.  We are constantly on the go and, where we go, we take the Holy Spirit of our Lord that lives within us.  Jesus commanded his followers to “go” and make disciples.

 

That is exactly what we are doing in becoming “one church, in many locations.”  We are going … and, we pray, making disciples of our community and the world.  All nations.

Jan

 

 

Greetings everybody!

 

Let me start by saying I’m sorry it has taken me this long to send out this e-mail and thank you for all that you have done, are doing and will continue to do as we launch the West Campus!  Last Sunday’s open house / drop-in was amazing and all those who came were blown away by the atmosphere we’ve created to make a place where people are comfortable to come meet Jesus.

 

I can’t say “thank you ” enough to those of you who have committed to go west and I am grateful for the sacrifices that you are making in doing so.  As Keli and I talked the other night about what we’re all doing, we realized that the bottom line is this …. because of what we’re doing, everything from parking cars to leading worship, people are going to meet Jesus and not spend eternity in hell.  There is nothing more important than that!

 

God has been preparing hearts and minds on the west side for weeks, months and years.  People will come and meet the God that made them and loves them and has a purpose for their lives.  They will worship Him and connect with others who will grow together in their walk and give their lives away to reach others for Jesus.

 

Changed lives.  Lives radically changed by Jesus.  That’s why I’m here.

 

Thanks for your friendship, your faithfulness and your love of Jesus and His people.  Get ready.  Sunday’s comin’.