Hey Launch Team!
THE BIG DAY IS ALMOST HERE! I can’t thank you enough for all of the prayer, effort, and time you have put into making the Pekin Campus of BridgeWay a reality. As we countdown to the big day, here are five keys to remember to making Sunday a day we’ll never forget.
1. Pray
This week (Tuesday – Friday) from 7-8 am the Ministry Center is open for prayer time. Along with this letter you’ll find a prayer guide of things to pray for in preparation for Sunday. If you can’t make it for open prayer time, you can pray wherever you are during that time. That’s what’s cool about prayer, you can do it anywhere and everywhere – so please do this week!
2. Invite
Use the invite cards we’ve been handing out to invite those you know to Grand Opening. Again, be in prayer about these folks. Email their names to Matt and he will be praying also.
3. Celebrate
This service is equivalent to how we celebrate for baptisms. We need YOU to be the cheerleaders! That means whenever it feels appropriate to cheer, make sure you do. Especially cheer at the end of a rockin’ song. We need you all to help set the tone that day, and the tone needs to be celebratory.
4. Watch
We’re expecting a big crowd that day. That’s something to be excited about. However, this means that there’s a chance we’ll run out of seats. We all know that room is huge, but it’s still a possibility. So, when you are sitting with your friends and those you’ve invited, be sure not to leave open seats, and try to sit towards the middle of the aisle. Also, if we are getting slam packed, consider moving to the front area of seating in the theater as to save the more prime seats for our guests.
5. Pray
Keep praying, but be in prayer about September 20th. We have been talking about September 13 for a long time, but it will come and go, and we’ll still be rolling along. So pray not only that people will come for the 13th, but that they will come back on the 20th. The 20th is every bit as important as the 13th.
Again, thanks for all of your time, prayers, and dedication to God’s work in Pekin. You will be blessed for it!
Today was our second of two preview services in preparation for the Grand Opening of the Pekin Campus of BridgeWay. Here are some reflections from the day:
- Meeting in the Pekin Theater is really nice. The staff is extremely friendly and accomodating and the venue is excellent. I think we'll pack it out for Grand Opening.
- This week we unveiled the new signage for the campus. It looks great! Lovin the new look.
- Set up went extremely smooth this week. We had a certain campus pastor (i.e. me) forget a couple things at the Ministry Center, but luckily I get the privilege of working with a very gracious group of folks. Thanks to Nate for bailing me out and picking up some much needed equipment!
- During our service runthrough today, I realized that the band was going to be out of this world today. And they certainly were!
- The band really took it to another level today. You can tell that they have started to gel and get a lot more comfortable together. If they do what they did today at Grand Opening, I'll be thrilled!
- Our service went really smoothly as well.
- We were able to iron out some of the issues with the video this week.
- Last week we had 4 little glitches to the video of Dale, but this week we had none. It was MUCH smoother (Praise the Lord)!
- We are still tweeking the audio on Dale's message, but I'm confident that we'll get that within a couple weeks no problem.
- I want to say thanks to our Launch Team for really bustin it out every week! More than that, we know that making a transition from a live speaker to a video can be difficult, but we really appreciate your willingness to hang in there while we get better at this whole deal.
- Thanks to Daylene Morgan and our children's department workers as well. They are making the biggest sacrifice in this whole deal because the weeks they work in the children's area they are unable to attend service. This is a HUGE sacrifice and God will bless you for it.
- Don't forget that next week we will NOT be meeting in either movie theater (Morton or Pekin) because we'll be at Idlewood Park in Morton for BBQ and Baptisms @ 11:00.
- If you're volunteering for that event, we are having a training/info meeting Saturday morning at 9:00 at the BridgeWay Ministry Center in the Field Shopping Center in Morton.
Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and support! Next Pekin Campus Service is September 13 a.k.a. GRAND OPENING! Invite everyone you know!
I heard a message the other day by Dr. J.K. Warrick that has been killing me ever since and I’m going to do my best to summarize it here.
In John 6, there is a story about Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. That is pretty amazing, but the path Jesus took to get there was even cooler. There are thousands of hungry people around and Jesus poses the question (paraphrase), “how are we to feed these people?” Philip speaks up and basically says, “Come on, Jesus! Be serious, there is no way we can feed these people!” Andrew at least makes an effort, coming back to Jesus with 5 loaves and two fish. Even then, he is still not sure saying, “How in the world is this going to do any good among so many people?” Andrew however, received the food from “a boy.” We don’t know his name, but he was the smartest one out there apparently since he was the only one to bring food in the first place.
As Warrick was speaking he asked the question, “What if the boy had said, ‘No.’ Or what if he had said to Jesus, ‘You can have 4 loaves and 1 fish, but I’m keeping the rest for myself.’” That line hit me hard. The reason Jesus is able to take this meager amount and make it grand is because it was fully surrendered to Him. Our lives are but meager offerings, meager amounts. Alone we cannot accomplish much. But just like Jesus took this boy’s meager offering and made it huge, he wants to take our meager lives and work through them in remarkable ways.
God seldom works by himself in this world; he typically works through people. If we want to be great leaders, it takes that full surrender to God. What’s holding you back from being used by God? Maybe you’re like Philip and Andrew and would rather make excuses than do what God asks you to do. What are you holding onto that you simply won’t let God have? Maybe you’re the four loaves and one fish kind of person. Don’t let a loaf and a fish keep you from the life God has for you.
A verse of scripture that continually challenges me is the call in Romans 12 to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” When I first encountered that verse, I thought it meant simply this: don’t sin. As it has implanted itself in my mind, I’ve come to realize that it’s much more than that. The call here is to transform our minds into the mind of Christ. That means we think like Jesus, we act like Jesus, we talk like Jesus, we respond as Jesus would, we see others as Jesus does, etc. The list is endless, the call is great.
One area where my mind has been transformed lately is this idea of suffering. In Philippians 3, Paul is getting in the face of the church at Philippi and ends this section in verse 10 with this statement: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead.”
This is an amazing concept. To be honest though, when I first read it, it went something like this: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection,” (Oh yeah! Sign me up for that! That’s me I want that power too!) “and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings” (Um, not so sure about this part, but that power of the resurrection thing is still pretty cool…) “becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Yeah that resurrection would be awesome!)
Suffering is not something I’m quick to sign up for. I would wager to say most people aren’t. However God has pointed out to me several stories recently about people who have gladly suffered for the message of Jesus. The most recent was a guy who lived in Africa who was martyred by a gruesome decapitation with dull knives. Not only is the story available to hear, but there is a video of this martyr that the killers took to use as a threat to the Christians in the area – “You keep talking about Jesus, we’ll keep doing this!”
If this martyr weren’t amazing enough, the story behind it certainly is. This guy woke up every morning and his prayer time was this: “What do you want me to do for you today Lord?” Every day he received his marching orders. The day he died, he reported to his friends minutes before his death that the Lord had told him that he needed to lay down his life so that the word of God may be spread. Minutes later without warning, Muslim radicals stormed his house, drug him onto the street and cut off his head. Even more amazing was this man didn’t resist a bit. He didn’t fight it or struggle or even make a sound. In those moments, he followed his orders perfectly.
God continually punches me in the gut with stories like this. Regularly God asks me to tell someone about Him or invite someone to church and I hesitate for some reason that I rationalize in my head. Meanwhile, God is asking other people to suffer greatly for the sake of the kingdom and they oblige without question, while I hem and haw around debating whether or not I really should go ring my neighbor’s doorbell.
Maybe that’s not you, but I’m guessing it’s more of us than it’s not. We have this opportunity before us to change our world for Jesus. Every day we have these moments where we get to make the name of Jesus famous without much consequence. Do
we? What’s God calling you to do that your waiting on? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it’s not to die so, DO IT NOW! Those words are as much for me as anyone, but let’s do something with this freedom we are afforded. Let’s change the world!
One area where my mind has been transformed lately is this idea of suffering. In Philippians 3, Paul is getting in the face of the church at Philippi and ends this section in verse 10 with this statement: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead.”
This is an amazing concept. To be honest though, when I first read it, it went something like this: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection,” (Oh yeah! Sign me up for that! That’s me I want that power too!) “and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings” (Um, not so sure about this part, but that power of the resurrection thing is still pretty cool…) “becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Yeah that resurrection would be awesome!)
Suffering is not something I’m quick to sign up for. I would wager to say most people aren’t. However God has pointed out to me several stories recently about people who have gladly suffered for the message of Jesus. The most recent was a guy who lived in Africa who was martyred by a gruesome decapitation with dull knives. Not only is the story available to hear, but there is a video of this martyr that the killers took to use as a threat to the Christians in the area – “You keep talking about Jesus, we’ll keep doing this!”
If this martyr weren’t amazing enough, the story behind it certainly is. This guy woke up every morning and his prayer time was this: “What do you want me to do for you today Lord?” Every day he received his marching orders. The day he died, he reported to his friends minutes before his death that the Lord had told him that he needed to lay down his life so that the word of God may be spread. Minutes later without warning, Muslim radicals stormed his house, drug him onto the street and cut off his head. Even more amazing was this man didn’t resist a bit. He didn’t fight it or struggle or even make a sound. In those moments, he followed his orders perfectly.
God continually punches me in the gut with stories like this. Regularly God asks me to tell someone about Him or invite someone to church and I hesitate for some reason that I rationalize in my head. Meanwhile, God is asking other people to suffer greatly for the sake of the kingdom and they oblige without question, while I hem and haw around debating whether or not I really should go ring my neighbor’s doorbell.
Maybe that’s not you, but I’m guessing it’s more of us than it’s not. We have this opportunity before us to change our world for Jesus. Every day we have these moments where we get to make the name of Jesus famous without much consequence. Do
we? What’s God calling you to do that your waiting on? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it’s not to die so, DO IT NOW! Those words are as much for me as anyone, but let’s do something with this freedom we are afforded. Let’s change the world!
I came across this video today of a journalist named A.J. Jacobs who decided to spend a year following every single rule in the entire Bible. Jacobs considers himself to be a 'respectful agnostic'. It's a good picture of how the world sees the Bible and Jesus.
Today was the Pekin Campus Sneak Peak! That means we took the Pekin Campus of BridgeWay LIVE for a week for evaluation to see how 'ready' we were in preparation for our Launch Day on September 13. Here are some thoughts from a fantastic day:
- We met at the Pekin Kerasotes Showplace 14 Theater on Route 98 in Pekin. It's a great venue with lots of room to grow!
- Aside from location, another difference was that we only had one service instead of two. Our services in Morton are at 9:30 and 11:00. We had one service at 10:00.
- We arrived like we do every Sunday at 6:30 am. Even though we had an extra half hour, we kept it the same in case we needed it - which we did...
- We had a fantastic set up crew there (as always). They had all four children's areas set up in about half an hour! I'm pretty sure that's some sort of record. The bad news is that these guys have set the bar really high and now they'll have to live up to it every week. Of course, they'll be up to it :)
- The lobby also went together quickly, and we had some good feedback from our lobby people about possible improvements there as well.
- Theater 3 was our adult worship theater and all things considered, it went together really well and really quickly.
- The guys were setting up nearly all new equipment and really flew to get it done as quickly as they did.
- We did have some computer issues, but thanks to the sharp minds of our computer guys, the issues were quickly resolved and we were ready to, as my man Wayne would say, "Party on!"
- The run through of the service went as well as it does in Morton, as did the service.
- Our band was kickin and even though they hadn't played together much as a unit, did a really nice job. As good as those guys are, they'll gel quickly in no time.
- I really enjoyed the song at the end by Mark Schultz called "I am." It has very powerful lyrics and you could feel a strong sense of worship in the room as the song went on.
- That song was in response to the One Prayer message we heard from a guy named Tim Chambers from a church called Shore Fellowship out in Jersey.
- His message was entitled "God is...I AM."
- He talked about how we get to know people by their name, but a name isn't just a name, it's who a person is.
- A couple of cool lines I liked: In talking about the phrase from Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd," Tim said: "God is is, God was is, and God always will be is."
- Another one: "God wants to turn my Am I's? into his I AM's!" - that's good stuff!
- On top of all of that, our children's area functioned really well.
- Our greeters, BridgeCafe folks, and other First Impressions team members were exceptional as well.
- We had some minor bumps, but let me emphasize the word MINOR.
- All in all, it was probably about as good as we could have hoped for.
- We even had some new families in attendance that had never been here before!
- Along with all that from Pekin, our Morton campus was fab as well. It's awesome to see how God is faithful, especially when He calls you to do radical things for Him.
- God is good!
- I also wanted to give a shout out to my parents, Bruce and Liz, for being here today as well. I'm pretty sure they come to see my son, but I like to think otherwise. Love you guys!
- I also want to give a big shout out to all my family at BridgeWay. I received so many birthday wishes today it was ridiculous! The Sneak Peak was a gift that will be tough to top!
Thanks again to the incredible staff, volunteers, and family at BridgeWay. You guys are great and I can't wait til the "Sneak Peak" becomes a weekly expectation of God at work through BridgeWay in Pekin.
