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Dreaming and scheming

Yesterday I mentioned how this summer I've been trying to be quiet and listen to what God has next for us at The Journey.  The summer time also allows us to do really do some dreaming and planning for the year ahead and our future as a church, in general.  Matt is more available with Stephani home, and my weekly load changes pace when I'm not speaking as much.  Yesterday, Matt and I spent about 3 hours together.  We spent time on some specific issues we're facing.  Then we spent some time looking back and looking forward.  I'm really excited about all that God has done and maybe even more excited about what is to come.

We both have a sense that we're on the verge of some big things.  But, it's going to take all of us!  So, if you're a part of The Journey, and you're on board with the vision that God has given our faith community, then we NEED YOU!!  There's lots to be a part of, and we've got (I believe - no, I know!) the most compelling mission on the planet to be a part of:  helping people connect in relationship with God and others in a way that shapes their eternity, heals their marriages, restores relationships, sets up generations of Jesus-followers, and so much more!

It's a Wrap

Wrapping up our weekend with Vince Antonucci, the author of the book to the left.  He spoke at The Journey Saturday night with a group of our leaders, then at church on Sunday, and then had a lunch with our staff.  If you want to find out more about the church he is starting on the vegas strip, or to be praying or financially supporting what they are doing there, you can simply click here! 

Today, Vince is saying some nice things about us on his blog.  You can check it out here The Answer is: YES!  Thanks Vince.  

We're looking to partnering with Vince and Verve now, and in the future as they reach the disconnected and broken along the Vegas Strip. 

Vince and the weekend

We had a great weekend with Vince Antonucci , who's starting a church on the Vegas Strip & wrote this great book.  We don't have many guest speakers in at The Journey, because to be honest, most speak in such a "churchy" way, where they assume that their listeners know most of the Bible stories, etc. that it just doesn't fit with The Journey.  And I think most, even believe that they aren't speaking with assumptions and in a "churchy" way, but they are.

So, what did you all think?  And, if we did a trip to Vegas sometime, would you be in?  And if you were in, would you place most of your life savings on the black #7?

5 years

This October we will celebrate our 5th anniversery as a church!  It's hard to believe.  We're going to be doing some special stuff this October as part of our 5 year anniversery.  Here's the question I have for you (okay 2 questions):  If you go to The Journey, what has been most meaningful to you about being a part of The Journey?, and (2) what has been the most meaningful/helpful message series we've done?  Come on, take a moment and make a comment - it's painless, I promise.

From my (Vantage) point of view

Yesterday, Matt did a great job with the message.  He did a great job with the series and hopefully it has caused you to look at your "Vantage Point" and begin living from an eternal perspective.  We had a lot of new people at The Journey yesterday, and over 370 people (in July!!). 

We had a Community Group gathering last night at the Smith's house.  We played yard games, had great food, and did a Baby Dedication!  Reese (Rich and Dana's daughter) had been sick the morning of our spring Baby Dedication, so we had it yesterday.  Read some verses, and then had the group gather around and put our hands on them and bless them as parents and Reese as she grows.  That's being "community"!

So proud of the way people at The Journey look for new people and show them around, talk with them, make their first experience a positive one.  You guys Rock!

It was my birthday on Saturday.  I turned . . . from my point of view, the years go quicker and quicker.  We had a great time though - we went for a bike ride all the way to the beach and back - it was perfect weather.  Oh, and Jen made my favorite . . . chocolate peanut butter pie!!

Old Days

Yesterday Matt and I spent about 4 1/2 hours together thinking, talking, strategizing about The Journey.  It was like the old days.  When we first started out it felt like we were in a perpetual staff meeting.  Each day, there was a phone call, a meeting - staff meeting went on all week.  Now, that The Journey is approaching 5 years old (can you believe that??!!), we're re-working a lot of what we've done - we're making some significant changes, we're looking at our staffing roles, the role of the lead team, and simplifying ministry and our wording, while building quality systems to handle our next levels of growth.  I love looking back at all that God has done, but I enjoy, even more, looking forward to the next hill to climb.  I'm excited about the next 5 years.  So, yesterday was going back to the old days, but it was looking forward to a new day.

The Journey Outdoors

We had a great time yesterday at Rycenga Park.  We got to church at 9 am, loaded up and brought everything over.  We set up, and were ready to go.  After everything was all done, we got everything b back to church and were back home about 2:30 pm.  After we got set up and were waiting to see if anyone would show up, it reminded me of the early days with all of our set up, and not knowing if there would be enough people there to actually be a church.  It was a shorter than normal service today followed by lots of side dishes, dogs, and pies.  The sun was beating down - it felt good but another 20 minutes or so, and it would have been a bit much.  Here's just a couple of pics from our weekend service.

Our semi-unplugged band.

These are the brave ones who chose to sit in the sun.

We had more than just one jar of mustard, in case you were wondering.

Awesome Day!

We had week #2 of our series "One Prayer" with a special guest speaker, Vince Antonucci, all the way from Virginia Beach (although he was on video).  He did a great job and people seemed engaged with the message even though it was on video.

The big news of the day was that we announced the total money in for our Doors Project.  You can find out more about the project here!  We set it up, then had flashing lights, a video kick in, and then Mark came crashing through the door with the commitment amount on his t-shirt and the number flashing on the screen - all while "Boom" by P.O.D. blasted over the speakers.  Pretty cool (although it worked much better in the first service, than in the second).  So, if you weren't there and were wondering . . . we met our matching challenge of $50,000 in cash and checks last week (we had over $54,000).  And our total commitments for the two years was $311,920.00 with some more commitments to come in yet.  Our goal was $296,000 and our dream was $350,000!  Thank you to all the Journeyers who sacrificially are giving.  We're unlocking doors to a new day.

By the way, we had over 80% participation in the project!!  That's awesome.  I've heard that the average is more like 50-60% participation.  You guys ROCK!!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

The title was supposed to be like those Monster Truck show commercials . . . Sunday!  Sunday!  Sunday!  We had a great time on Sunday as we kicked off our One Prayer Series, celebrated Father's Day and had our Commitment Sunday for the Doors Project (our expansion as we "unlock the door to a new day").  Here's a couple of things we did to make it special:

*Matt and Tim sang John Mayer's song "Daughters" to open the service.  We also had a cool Father's Day clip that had people saying "fatherly" sayings - you know, like "I'll give you something to cry about!".

*We began our One Prayer series with my one prayer for The Journey - Lord, Make us courageous.  We talked about Joshua about peeing his . . . robe.  We said that courage was the willingness to do what God tells us to do, no matter what.

*We had a Dad's only zone on Sunday.  We had 3 pinball machines set up, plus we had a fish casting contest (congrats Jeff H. on winning), and we had IBC root beer, beef jerky, pretzel rods, etc.

*For our Commitment time, we had 2 doors at the back with mail slots in them, where people dropped in their commitments and we also had next to the doors, large sheets of paper that said "My prayer is to use me and this gift to open the door for . . . "  It was cool to see all the names on the wall - hopefully that will help us keep our focus on who we are called to reach.

*We had 465 people in church on Sunday.  I thought it would be much lower.  There weren't tons of family around, so just lots of journeyers and friends and first-timers.

*This week Sunday we will announce our total-to-date for the Doors Project and let you know if we met the $50,000 matching challenge for actual dollars given on Sunday.

Great day at The Journey - oh, and the band did an awesome job.  They rocked and did an awesome job of leading.  Way to go!

Builders

I meant to bring my camera and get a picture of us meeting with the builders for our new space, but I forgot - so this will just have to do.  Today was a big day as the builders went over the plans for our new space and we made some final changes.  If all goes as planned, they could begin work as early as July 7.  That way, by the time the rest of our space opens up, we would have our auditorium completely done.  We'll see how things go.  We also started talking about and will do some site visits this week as to where we will meet while we need to be out of the building.  On July 6, we will be at Rycinga park in Fruitport/Spring Lake for one gathering at 11 am and then a picnic and party!  Should be fun.

This Sunday is our Commitment Sunday.  I'm praying that God would do more than we could imagine in the midst of our tight economy, rising gas prices, beginning of summer - if God doesn't do something big . . . Please pray with us that God would move in remarkable ways this next week!