This past weekend will be treasured in my memory for years to come.
Our team gave life to Life Church Michigan!
The whole process has been an amazing act of God: one year ago, Amber and I had nothing. Seriously, we had nah-thing!
Slowly, bit by bit, moment by moment, we saw God bring visionary people and gospel-drenched plans to fruition, echoing the words of Jeremiah 15:19:
Therefore thus says the LORD:
"If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before Me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as My Mouth."
The end result of a year's worth of work and prayer and hope was holding our very first monthly preview worship service at The Dow Event Center this past Sunday morning!
The marathon weekend actually started early Friday morning when I was invited to do two live television interviews for Flint/Saginaw/Midland audiences at the NBC25 Today studios.
I have a whole new respect for anyone doing live tv.
Time constraints + high pressure + off-screen distractions = Not easy!
I really do appreciate Joel Feick and the Morning Show team at NBC25 - - great, great folks.
After spending all day Friday setting up at The Dow and Saturday running last minute errands while juggling our little man's 6th birthday party, Sunday morning arrived:
We had a BLAST. I was so proud of our volunteers with their infectious energy and whatever-it-takes attitude as we developed new systems on the fly. Jimmy and the Band brought a strong professional caliber to our worship interspersed with self-depricating humor. And the message was fun... my first time preaching in this region in over a year!
God exceeded our expectations as we saw nearly 150 people representing all ages and backgrounds coming from all over the region: Frankenmuth, Birch Run, Oscoda, Caro, Bay City, Saginaw, Midland, Akron... amazing. Best of all? We saw four people receive Christ into their lives - WOW!!
All in all, it was a great first service. To go from our living room to The Dow gave me goosebumps. And to think, it all started with a group of grace-addicts passionately following God's leading to start a church smack-dab in the heart of America's murder capital.
I love our new church! The best is yet to come!!
Coming up at Life Church:
- Our first-ever Life 101 Class will be one week from tonight at the Four Points Sheraton.
- Our next monthly worship service at The Dow will be Sunday, October 14th at 11am.
I'm pumped for what we have planned that day:
For those of you just joining the party, we'd love to stay connected with you throughout our church start-up adventures. Here's where we are on the interwebs:
Life Church main website | Free Life Church APP
@LifeMichigan on Twitter | Life Church Facebook Page