11/19/07 UPDATE

Same story, different week. Really busy. We'll see how it turns out.

Yesterday we had 24 (20 adults and 4 kids). We had a lot of regulars who were out. It was also the first Sunday that we haven't had a first time guest. We are entering a difficult time with the holidays and the cold, so pray that God will continue to develop the church, draw new people, and give me wisdom in involving everyone.

The big news of the week was regarding Jacqueline. She found out that she will need to have a hysterectomy (sp?) on 11/28. She had a procedure done earlier in the year that didn't work, so this is the next step. Please pray for her during the surgery and for her recovery afterwards. I think they are calling for 4-6 weeks recovery time. Also, pray that everything will work out so that they can do the surgery on the 28th and won't have to put it off.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

11/12/07 UPDATE

This week was insanely busy and really up and down. The good news is that it was more up than down.

One good note is that I had several very good and productive meetings. One was with a guy who is not part of the church, but showed real interest.

The biggest bummer of the week is that the prospective worship leader we were praying for decided that God was leading him to pursue another opportunity. It really sounds like a great opportunity for him, but it was a bummer for us. The "Who will lead worship" question has really been weighing on me. I'm trying to get a schedule put together for several months, but haven't been able to do it. As a result, I've been going week to week. I spent almost all week calling everyone I knew to lead worship and couldn't get anybody who was available. In case you don't know, that is extremely stressful. Finally, on Thursday night, I secured someone to lead for us. Again, God provided, but He and I definitely define "on time" differently.

Wednesday night we had our first Bible study. We had three other ladies, Jacqueline, and myself. I left a little down because it was one of those times that I didn't feel like my teaching was really connecting. Everyone said it was good and helpful, but I'm not so sure. Continue to pray for out meetings on Wednesday night.

Leighton turned 5 on Friday, so I took the day off to hang with him. We did the traditional Chuck. E. Cheese trip followed by McDonald's. it was a fun day for everyone.

Sunday was our lowest attendance so far. We had 29. There were a lot of "regulars" who weren't there. The good news is that there were two first timers and one family of "not in awhilers." Set up went really well, since J'line and I took time to organize the trailer and all our stuff on Saturday.

Two very cool outcomes: One, the speakers we have were buzzing really badly. It was very distracting and frustrating for me. Afterwards, a guy told me that one of the speakers was blown - not good. however, he said, "I was sitting there listening to it and it was starting to irritate me, but I felt like God wanted me to give you a set of speakers that I have to replace them." That was very good news.

Two, I got a call from a guy who has led worship for us a few times. He said to pray for him because they were strongly considering joining our congregation because they really believed in what we were doing and how we were going about it. He said that it wasn't contingent on leading the worship or anything, he just wanted to help. Please pray for them to know for sure what God is saying to them.

11/06/07 UPDATE

This has been a very busy but productive week. The greatest thing was that Leighton trusted Christ as His Savior this week. He has been asking about it for a while and seemed to be ready. It was an exciting event.

I committed to blogging entries for a 40 day journey through the Bible for church. It has been a great opportunity to get me journaling again, but has been a major time investment. God has been at work in me as I've done it. Please pray for those in the church who are on the journey with me.

We had 36 people at church today (28 adults, 8 kids). It was a great service. I think the coolest time came afterwards. We met them right after we moved to Omaha and bumped into them a month or so ago. He said that they might come but we hadn't heard anything. After church, J'line told me that she had specifically prayed that they would come this Sunday. That was a rather random idea since we had seen them several weeks before. I had completely forgotten about it. I responded by telling her that Saturday night I had been praying for a lady who had come once. I got through praying and checked my email. There was an email from her. I also told her that I had prayed that someone would come from the mailers we did back in September. We had a new guest today and I asked him how he heard about us. He said, I got your postcards several weeks ago and just hadn't come, but i decided to check it out. I relate all of this just to share that we had a really cool time discussing all of these events and realizing that God does hear us and answer our prayers.

Another answer to prayer is that I made several contacts with prospective worship leaders last week. They seemed to come from everywhere - a local college, personal references, and one guy was surfing the internet and sent me an email. Continue to pray for us in that area.

This week is going to be really busy and I could very much use your prayers. I have several meetings throughout the week for various reasons. One in particular is a meeting with the husband of a lady who attends the church. Please pray for God to guide our time together.

We are also having a Bible study on Wednesday night. I am very much not prepared for it. Pray that God will be present and guiding our time together.

10/29/07 UPDATE

Last week was the boy's fall break. I felt like i had been "shorting" them lately, so I took several afternoons for family excursions. We let each of them pick something to do, so we ended up going to Arbor Day Farms (a big tree farm with all kinds of educational, kid-friendly stuff), the movies (we saw Ratatouille - i don't have a clue how to spell it), and ate at Pizza Hut.

Friday night we had concert at Scooter's. A couple of my friends came and played and we invited the church out. I was pretty pleased with the turnout. It helped us get to know each other a little better.

Sunday was about the same numbers-wise. We had 3 first time guests, which was really good. i also announced an introductory Bible study and almost everyone wants to participate. I also passed out a 40 Day Bible reading plan that gives a good overview of the Bible. I'm going to be posting some thoughts about it on my other blog - http://leecordell.blogspot.com/

Another cool thing Sunday was that our church went international. One of the ladies has a sister from Scotland. She's attended the last two weeks and leaves this week to go back. She took a T-shirt and asked if she could put something in her church's newsletter about us. Now I can write about our ministry exploding around the globe!:)

I met with the guy we're praying will help us with worship twice last week. He has three opportunities and said he would be fine with either of them. He just wants God to show him which one He desires. Please pray that God will do just that (and selfishly I have to add that it would be us)!

Please pray for:

A worship leader.

Mission teams to assist us next summer.

God to continue drawing people to the church.

That we will have wisdom as we seek to connect people with the church.

10/22/07 UPDATE

Thanks for your prayers last week. It was a pretty good week.

On Tuesday, I attended the Kansas-Nebraska State Convention. I'm not a "convention" guy. I only went because they wanted me to introduce myself. It turned out pretty well though. Our convention is small enough that you can meet and get to know people. For example, I was walking down the hall and hear someone say, "Hey, Lee." I turned and it was our Executive Director. He took me and introduced me to several people and we talked for probably 30 minutes. That doesn't usually happen at conventions when you're a nobody.

On Wednesday, I got up at 4:00 am to board a plane for TN. Jack and Roberta, J'line's dad and step-mother, purchased a new van for us (in Destin, FL of all places). We wanted to buy one down south because it saved us several thousand dollars and it hasn't spent the last 5 winters in the salt. It turned out to be a great deal, but I had to fly out and drive it back. I arrived at 4:05 am on Thursday morning extremely tired. Again, it was a situation where God provided for us - between selling the Jeep and the generous gift of another couple, we were able to pay cash for it.

Sunday went well. We had 35 in attendance. Setup went more smoothly than it ever has - especially since we had a guy come early to help and bring tons of "gadgets" to help in the process. We saw some changes in the congregation too. Until now, people come in like they are going to a movie. They all select their seat and stare dutifully towards the front until we get started. This Sunday, I noticed people mingling and talking. It's starting to feel like a church. We've got a consistent group that shows up and God is really working among them. We've got to work to invite and bring in new people, but the progress so far has been really encouraging.

The best thing of the day was the worship leader. I haven't been in a service before where the worship leader created a buzz, but he did. The Spirit really moved as he led us to worship God. His name is Jason Hinze. You can hear him at http://www.myspace.com/jasonhinze (if you're interested). He and another friend of mine are doing a concert for us at Scooter's this Friday. We're hoping to use it as a time for everyone to hang out and get to know one another.

This week, please pray for:

Our gathering this Friday - that a lot of people will show up and that it will enable us to build relationships.

A worship leader. Pray that God will clearly call the person who is to help us.

God to continue drawing people to Himself.

That we will enjoy the boy's fall break from school.

10/15/07 UPDATE

Yesterday was our lowest Sunday in a while. We had 29 (24 adults and 5 children). It was a bad Sunday in Nebraska - the Huskers lost, REALLY BAD so everyone goes into this depressed funk. I write this with all seriousness, there is no joking at all involved in the previous sentence. On top of that, it was gloomy and raining. Nothing went like it was supposed to, everything was running late. We couldn't get the computer and projector to communicate, so we were about 10 minutes late getting started. It was just a wierd day.

Even with that said, God was at work. I asked people to stick around and help us tear everything down and load it up. We had several people who did, which showed that they are committed. I talked with several of the couples and got to know them a little better. One of them has a job where they do book fairs and have to load and unload tons of books. They were giving me some really helpful advice for getting our stuff together in a way that we can cut down on the time it takes to load/unload. That probably seems trivial to you, but its huge to us since i spend about 4 hours doing that on Sundays!

I had coffee with a prospective worship leader this week. Actually, i didn't know he was a prospective leader until he contacted me. We had a great conversation and i think there are many common areas of philosophy about ministry, etc. He has been offered a job by one of the mega churches in town, but seems to be genuinely seeking a place that will be a church family for he, his wife, and their soon to be born son. Please pray for us this week regarding this possibility. We both want to know clearly where God is leading, so ask Him to speak to us. Honestly, I know we have nothing to offer like the other churches who have offered him jobs. If he were to join us, it will be because God spoke to him and only due to that fact!

I will be travelling a lot this week. It is related to a praise that I'll let you in on next week. Please pray for my protection and that God will speak to me during all of the "alone time."

I'm also meeting with a family that has been visiting the church. Pray that God will guide our discussion, give me an opportunity to share the gospel, and that they will receive it.

10/08/07 UPDATE

Yesterday went really well, we had 36 (26 adults and 10 kids). That is the most kids we have had yet. Of the adults, 10 were first time guests.

I had a great conversation with one of them. At the welcome time, she told me, "This is the first time I have ever been in a Christian church, so it's all new to me. What's your role here?" Just to understand what she meant, the Catholics here refer to themselves as Catholics and Protestants as Christians. She was raised Catholic and it "just wasn't working." She got our card and came. We had a great conversation after the service about the gospel. I'm finding that we are encountering a lot of Catholics who are dissillusioned by their church experience and are really hungry for the gospel.

Another great trend is that we are giving away Bibles like hotcakes. Based on conversations with some of the people, they are reading them too! I ordered another case yesterday. Just a tip, I'm finding that people go crazy over free stuff. It doesn't matter what it is, if its free, people are interested. We have a free resource table with T-shirts (i've gotten reports of people seeing our shirts at the gym), "How Good is Good Enough" by Andy Stanley, and Bibles. We're also making sure that when we go out in the community, we give the people something. Sometimes small (a battery), sometimes big (block party).

My biggest request for prayer is regarding people to help. Basically, my family and another one are doing all of the set up/tear down work and it gets taxing. Juanita has yet to sit in on a service because she's working in the nursery. We could really use some help, so I'm going to be asking some of our regular attenders to get involved this week.

One side note, Josh and I were taking down the signs after the service and we probably didn't have the best attitude about it, since we were hot, tired, and hungry. As we were taking one down, a guy walked up and asked us what time the service was because he and his wife wanted to come. We had a good talk and as we drove off, Josh said, "I guess that's why we do this, huh?" The work sometimes seems menial, mundane, and taxing, but its all a part of introducing people to Jesus and you just can't beat that.

Pray for us this week as we try to follow up on all of the contacts we have made in the last few weeks. Also, pray for the seeds that have been sown to bear fruit.

In addition, I'm meeting with a prospective Worship Pastor on Tuesday. Pray for God to clearly guide our discussions and show both of us if we are to team up on this work.

10/01/07 UPDATE

Man, I'm beat. Last week was a great week, but an exhausting one too. We hosted a mission team from Mt Zion Association in Jonesboro, Arkansas for the third time. They came up last fall to prayerwalk and then this summer to help with block parties. This time they came up to share the gospel. They brought about 1,500 9 volt batteries with them. We gave them out with a booklet that said "Lifesaving Tips" and had several tips for maintaining your smoke detectors (one of which was to change the batteries, which is why we gave them out). On the inside, it gave tips for saving your soul and shared the gospel.

They visited over 2,000 homes and gave this gift and tried to share the gospel. There were tons of interested people and some great feedback. Two people prayed to receive Christ and a lot said that they wanted to check out the church.

Additionally, one of the guys on the team is a professional photographer. He shoots a lot of sporting events. He came out on Saturday and took "action shots" of Jackson and Andrew's soccer games. The whole point is that I'll give all of the parents a cd with pictures of their kids as a gift from the church. It will give us just another "in" with people.

While he was shooting Andrew's game, I walked over and he was talking with a father from the other team. He had asked Ric for some pictures of his daughter. We started talking and it became a God encounter. I shared the gospel with him and all I did was answer the questions he asked. I couldn't have written it up any better, with one exception. As I finished talking, the game ended and his kids started dragging him off. He told me he'd give me a call because he was very interested. Please pray for him and the many other people where the gospel is taking root. Pray that God will give a harvest from the sowing that took place this week.

Yesterday went pretty well. We had 43, but 12 were from the mission team, so we really had 25 adults and 6 children. We're having a lot of people return for a second visit or more, which is great. We also had 5 first time visitors. Of those, 2 also indicated that they prayed to receive Christ. I'll be following them up this week, so pray for them to grow in Christ.

09/24/07 UPDATE

Things have been rolling along here in O. Last week, we had my parents and a couple that are friends of theirs come up for the "Grand Opening." They also brought with them $2,605 that their Sunday School class had collected to buy a trailer for us. We purchased one for $2,550. Joe and Dad continued working on it throughout the week to install shelves at the front and additions to the ramp to make it easier to load. We had our first test run yesterday and it worked great. We have two carts and one shelving unit that store all of the stuff we need, so we can just roll it out on Sunday. Before, we had to store it all in our garage, pick up the trailer, load it on Saturday, unload and set it up Sunday morning, tear it down and load it in the trailer, unload it in our garage, and return the trailer. At this point, any step that you can eliminate is a huge relief for us, so this was a tremendous help.

Yesterday went well. We had 32 (26 adults and 6 children). Of those adults, 9 were first time guests. Every one of them came as the result of our mailings (last week 7 came as a result of the mailings), so they are working. We had a total of 12 new guests last week and all but four of them have come back or connected with the church. That means that we're doing a pretty good job of keeping those who come. If we can continue that formula, it will work out well - attract a lot of new people and retain most of them. We have to build a core large enough to provided infrastructure to handle new people and i think we're doing that.

One bummer from Sunday is that we did lose one couple for the rest of the year. Jeff has deployed for the remainder of the year and Kelly is going to join him. They'll be back in January, but they will be sorely missed until they return.

This week we will be continuing our outreach. We've used about any and all available means so far and most of them have worked pretty well. One big lesson I've learned - if churches would quit sitting around and debating what will work and what won't and start DOING something, they will find that God blesses just about all of it. There's no "golden bullet" that is the answer, but you will reach a few people with everything you do. Add a few people often enough and you've got a lot more than when you started! But i digress. . . we have a mission team from Arkansas coming up tonight through next Sunday. They are focusing on going door to door with the goal of sharing the gospel with people. Please back us up as we carry out this work. Pray for God to open the hearts and minds of the people we will visit. Pray that the people He is drawing will be home. Pray that we will be given an opportunity to share the gospel. Pray that it will bear fruit. IT'S ONE THING TO PLANT SEEDS, BUT PRAY FOR A HARVEST THIS WEEK! We are praying that people will make the decision to pray to receive Christ and get involved in the church. Pray also that we will be protected from Satan's attacks and that he will be bound from blinding people to the gospel.

9/16/07 UPDATE




Yesterday went great. We only missed our goal by 210, but that was ok. That was our "God created, virgin birth, resurrection of Jesus, and Oh, yeah, Redeemer had 250 on their launch Sunday" goal. We had 40 people (30 adults and 10 kids) and it was an exciting time. We had the most "newcomers" we've had yet and most of them had positive feedback, stayed to help tear down, and said they would probably be back. There was someone there who had heard of Redeemer in almost any way imaginable - personal invitation, block party, mailer, I even paid a couple of people to come:). We had people who took steps to get more involved and filled some huge gaps that were needed.

I included some pictures from the service yesterday so that you could get a feel for it. There is a second post below with more pictures. We are meeting in the cafeteria of a Middle School. One thing to notice is our children's ministry. My parents came up for this service and I have them both working in a children's class. In fact, Jackson is even helping with the toddlers. From what the teachers tell me, they really want him and Andrew to help, because they are a big assistance.

I also included a picture of our "fellowship" time. This has really gone well the past two weeks and you can start to feel things "coming together" among everyone. We're now meeting every week and you can feel momentum building. It is starting to actually "feel" more like a church. It's really exciting.

This week we have another mailer going out to 10,500 homes. Pray that it will be received well and that people will come as a result. The following week, we have a mission team of 13 people who will be going door to door. In addition, we have several people who are praying about committing to the work. They are genuinely seeking God's will about it, so pray that they will have clarity.

09/10/07 UPDATE

This week saw my last trip to NYC for the coaching network. The network has been of great benefit to me. It was great to meet in a group of guys who all understand what we are facing. I still remember our first meeting when one guy asked, "What do we do about being afraid?" There was nervous laughter all around the room, because we all understood. This time, a guy asked, "What do we do if this thing flops?" That's kind of like the elephant in the room for church planters - it's always a possibility that you don't want to think about.

The service yesterday went pretty well. The numbers were down a lot, but other than that, it was a great Sunday. We only had 21 this week, so it was a big drop. However, we had some really positive things happen. One couple asked how they could help and also brought a friend to the service. Another lady took steps towards being a part. Probably the most encouraging thing was that I asked them to welcome one another and it became a time of protracted conversation. That is good because we are in a setting where nobody really knows anyone else, so this was a positive. I also preached a challenging message on the fact that we are a church for the people who remain on the outside, not to meet the needs of those of us on the inside. It seemed to resonate with everyone.

Our biggest challenge is simply people. We need people to work and serve. Several of the ladies on the Launch Team have not even attended a service because they're watching the children.

We also need people to attend. We have two mailers that are going out (whenever the Post Office chooses to deliver them). We are hoping for these to draw several people. In addition, we'll be working to contact anyone that we know to invite them to come. Everyone present yesterday got 10 invite cards to pass out. Essentially, we are doing any and everything we can to invite people for next Sunday. Please pray that God will use these efforts to draw people to Himself.

Another big challenge remains finding a worship leader. Please pray that God will direct us to the right person.

09/03/07 UPDATE

Sorry we're late for both of you rabid readers:)

Last week was really fairly uneventful. We're focusing on our upcoming service Sunday which is our last "monthly" service. The 16th will be our "grand opening."

hopefully, we'll have a mailer going out to 10,400 homes this week and another next week to invite people to the services. about half of these people have already been contacted, and many recognize our card, etc. I'm really praying for people who have been "intending to come" and haven't to get a reminder and come in. I'm also praying for God to draw others who might be hearing of us for the first time. My prayers right now are focused on God drawing in those he wants in the church. We've done our best to prepare, pray, and be ready. Now it's up to Him to send the people.

Please pray for us as you think about us this week. Pray especially for God to send people.

08/27/07 UPDATE

It's hard to believe that we are less than 3 weeks from our public launch service! Last week, we asked everyone on our prayer team to commit to praying for us daily and sent them a guide to help in the process. On one day, we asked for God's provision of all that we will need for the launch of the church. On another, we asked for Him to draw lost people. We saw specific answers to both of those requests last week.

We've been asking for provision (specifically, for financial resources) for several weeks now - both for us personally and for the church. God has really been moving to provide those in the last week or two. A few weeks ago, I had a local church give us several pieces for a sound system. Then I found out that a Sunday School class in Alabama was working to give us a trailer. Last week, things really took off.

On Monday a pastor returned my call from the week before. He said, "You won't believe me, but God woke me up in the middle of the night to remind me to return your call." We talked and they committed to partner with us financially.

On Wednesday, I got a check in the mail from another local church. They had told me that they would be partnering with us from August through the end of the year, and possibly longer. When I opened the envelope, it was four time the amount I was expecting. When I called to thank the pastor, he said that we would be receiving that each month through the end of the year! At that point, we'll reevaluate and see where things stand.

Finally, I received word that one of our parnters will be re-commiting to provide us with health insurance and some personal support for six more months.

All of this is really exciting because we were really up against a wall. It would be nice to think that you can start a church with no money or resources, but it just isn't possible today. It is really encouraging to see God work through His people to bring things about. These gifts will allow us to purchase some desperately needed equipment, contact 10,000 homes twice about our launch, and relieve some stress around here!

My prayers are really focused on reaching people now. It's been great to see new faces each week. Now, I'm praying for a large turnout of people on September 16th. I've been praying for 60 families that we have contacted this summer and who have expressed an interest in the church. Last night we had one of them come to our cookout! I'm praying that we will see many more and that they will meet Jesus and become part of the church.

As you think of us this week, pray for God to open opportunities to meet people. Pray for Him to continue drawing those that we've already met. Finally, pray that all of our publicity that is going out in the next few weeks will also draw people.

08/20/07 UPDATE

Yesterday went really well. We were able to get everything set up in plenty of time and it worked pretty well. We had a meeting to discuss changes/improvements and the general consensus was that we could have easily handled a lot more people. Which brings us to the numbers - we had 31 total (19 adults, 2 youth, and 10 children). The good news is that all of those are locals who we may see again. We had some people who were at last month's service and some new ones. The good news is that the pool of "prospects" keeps growning. Hopefully, we'll be able to get more of them in attendance once things stabilize. I would really like to see more people attending, but I think we will see more once we begin meeting weekly.

One cool "its a small world" thing - there was a young couple that came Sunday. They are in school at Creighton. The way they found out about the church is that a young lady who was in our church in Florida (and has now moved on) was in Sunday School at a church in Mobile, AL. She found out they went to school in O and got their email. She sent it to me and I contacted them. They showed up Sunday and said they'd be back!

One concern is leadership. So far, things have gone really well, however, we have two very vital families that will be leaving after September 9th. One fulfilled their commitment to help us through the summer. The other (Jeff and Kelly) are deploying until January. Basically, everybody is doing something, so when anyone leaves, there is a hole. Pray for God to provide other leaders. He has added great people along the process and there are others who are potentials, but we need more.

The other big concern is continuing to meet new people. We no longer have mission teams to come and contact a large number of people at once. We are limited in the numbers of people we can contact ourselves. We are planning two direct mail campaigns to contact almost 12,000 homes each time, but I'm not sure if we will have the funds to do both of them. Pray for God to provide the money and for the contacts to be profitable. Also pray that He will continue drawing those that we have contacted.

Another big item last week was that the boys began school. They loved it. We haven't noticed a lot of problems with them being the "new kids" (Jackson was the only new student in his class). They've started to make friends and seem to be thriving.

08/13/07 UPDATE

We had a bit of a "bummer" moment last week. I had to give up one of my toys. Due to the fact that vehicles are dropping like flies in our driveway, I had to sell the Jeep. The praise is that it sold quickly and we got close to what we wanted for it. Please pray that we will be able to find the right van as a replacement. I hate buying cars because i always feel like i make a bad decision.

Two other notes of praise from last week regard other needed items. A local church moved from a movie theater into a storefront and upgraded their sound equipment in the process. They gave us several components that will really help for the next service. We are moving to a new, much larger space and need more sound. Please pray for the remainder of the components to be provided.

The other praise is that a group is planning to give us a trailer (or at least a large contribution towards one). I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. Currently, we borrow a trailer, which means I have to store all of the stuff for the service in our garage. On set up day, we have to load everything up, drive to the site, set it up, tear it down, load it back up, and unload it into our garage. This will allow us to store everything and only have to unload and load it once. That's a big deal, for which we are very thankful.

We had a launch team meeting last night to prepare for next Sunday. This will be a stressful Sunday, because it will be our first time meeting in this location. We will also have to set up on Sunday morning in about an hour and a half. Since we haven't done this before, it will be a little dicey.

Please pray for us this week:

For the service on the 19th. Pray that God will draw the people He wants there.

Direction as I prepare for two bulk mailings before the launch service on 9/16. Also pray for the funds needed.

Pray for leaders and servants to help in the work.

Pray for the Spirit to go before us, prepare the way, and give us His power.

I got a picture from our last service. I thought i would post it to let everyone see what the worship looked like.

08/06/07 UPDATE

I had three primary activities this week: a mission team doing a basketball camp, the coaching network, and a comeback event.

The mission team was great, once again. They worked hard, did anything that I asked them, and were of incredible value to us. They were from Oklahoma and conducted basketball camps for us in two neighborhoods. They went pretty well, although the turnout was low. We did both of them in neighborhoods where we had already done block parties. The cool thing was that I had people come up and ask "Is this being done by the church that did the party?" We did the party on June 10 and these people weren't able to come, but still remembered it. I thought that was really good.

Sunday night, we hosted "Ice Cream at the Park" for people who have come to the church or expressed an interest. We had 11 adults, which was pretty good. They were all people we know pretty well and who have helped us in different ways. It's good to see the relationships building and developing.

This week, we continue the process of trying to connect with new people, follow up with people we've already met, and plan our service for August 19th. We don't have any more mission teams coming up before the launch on September 16th, so we have to do the hard work of continuing to make contact with new people (primarily by passing out an invitation card door to door). We also have to find ways to "remind" people we've already met that we are meeting (it's easy to slip out of someone's mind, even if they are interested).

I'm also a bit stressed as we plan our service for August 19th. We have to figure out how to set up the new location, how to get it done in a very short time, and who will cover all the necessary jobs. We'll be meeting Sunday night to try and figure a lot of those details out.

07/30/07 UPDATE

I received some feedback from our service on the 22nd last week. I'll let it speak for itself. It's why we do what we do!

"Yes, my son and I were both there on Sunday. It was very nice. You do a great job. We enjoyed the music too. My son and I just wanted to visit, as I am Catholic and baptized my son Catholic as well. I just didn't feel very comfortable attending Catholic Church anymore, so I just stopped going. That was about 5 years ago! Now that my son is almost 4, I want us both to get back into the religious community, and eventually get my 1 year old daughter involved. (My husband will be difficult to convince.) I started researching different Christian denominations and was just getting confused, didn't know where to even start and was getting discouraged. About a week later, a lady from Redeemer [Jacqueline] came to my door with a flier for the neighborhood picnic. I took it as a sign. :) Anyway, that's how we found you and we will visit again in August and see if Redeemer is right for us. Thank you for checking in with us! Have a great day!"

"I never really liked going to church because I always felt pressure from everyone to believe or act a certain way. I liked redeemer because I did not feel the pressure I used to feel going to the different churches I have been to throughout my days. You read from the bible and explain what the meaning of what you are reading is in a way we can all understand and that is something I like. No, pressure, just straight up reading from the bible. You can't go wrong with that."

Please pray for the countless people like this that we have met this summer. They are both unchurched and God is working in both of their lives. Pray that God will keep drawing them to Himself, open their eyes to the truth of the gospel, and give them faith to respond. This is God's work!

07/23/07 UPDATE

The past week was ridiculously busy once again. We had two mission teams who hosted three block parties and passed out around 2,000 fliers. We also had our second service.

The block parties went really well. We had between 80 and 100 at each.

The service was also great. We had 49. For those keeping score (I am), we had 29 last month. Several of them were talking about coming back next month as well. In addition to these, we have added a ton of prospects who are very interested in the service and just couldn't be there yesterday. Hopefully, we'll see a lot more of those attend in the next couple of months, or at least when we reach weekly service Sept. 16th. It was all very encouraging as we discussed it.

Keep up the praying! God is hearing and answering.

7/16/07 UPDATE

Last week took "service" to a new level for a mission team visiting us. They were doing a Backyard Bible Club in one of the neighborhoods where we had done a block party. We were getting ready to leave and I saw a lady walking up who had been at the block party. She said, "I know this isn't what you guys came up here to do, but the recycling truck's back gate just fell open and it dumped the whole load in the street in front of my house. My sister and I are trying to help them clean it up and we would really appreciate your help." We all loaded up (probably 11 youth, 4 adults, and myself) and went around the corner. In my mind, I was thinking there was a little pile of stuff because they hadn't picked everything up yet. WRONG!!! We came around the corner and there was this gargantuan mound of garbage in the street. The wind was blowing and papers, cans, bottles, and other junk was going everywhere. The worst part was that the garbage truck pulled back around to help, so we had to smell it the whole time. Anyway, we got it all picked up and sent them on their way.

I flew to NYC for my coaching meeting and it went great. For one thing, they moved offices and are now about 4 blocks off Time's Square, so we actually got to see NYC. While I was there, it was my turn to present what we are doing as a church. One section requires us to present a budget and plan to raise finances. I said, "Well, this plan is basically garbage, because we haven't been able to raise any serious amounts of money (like I had articulated a need for in the plan - I had hoped to raise $20,000 to lead us up to launch on Sept. 16). However, God has been faithful to provide. So far, there hasn't been one thing that we needed to do that we were unable to do. He's always been right on time . . . and He has yet to be early."
That really has been the testimony so far.

God always seems to answer a big prayer request of mine during our coaching meetings and after this one, I got an email from a pastor who wants us to participate in their missions conference, which might open some partnership opportunities. I also heard from another church that I haven't even directly contacted that is going to help support us monthly. While a lot of people have received large amounts of support from churches, we have been primarily funded by individuals and smaller donations.

Another area of praise is that I received a call from one of the people I met at an earlier block party and we'll be going to lunch on Friday. Also, several of the "prospects" for the church seem to be moving steadily in the direction of joining up.

We have another big week this week, with 3 block parties and our second service. The mission team that is coming up will be smaller than expected, which will strain our plan, so pray that we'll be able to get everything done that is necessary. Also, pray for God to draw people to the service on Sunday. I've gotten a lot of positive leads from people, so pray that they will follow through and come.

PRAISES:
Another trip to NYC went well.
I had several productive contacts with people last week.
New opportunities for partnership are developing.

PRAYER:
3 block parties (and the publicity regarding them).
Our second service on July 22.
That the people we have contacted will remember the service and attend.
New propects to develop through the events this week.

07/09/07 UPDATE

Yet another cultural difference - people in Omaha go berserk over the 4th of July. Fireworks are outlawed within the city limits, which doesn't really stop anybody. They go out and buy the really big stuff - like the professional type stuff and do their own shows from their yards. I heard stories of people spending several thousand on their shows! Judging by the skyline, it's another case of one-upmanship. We have a neighbor who went out and bought a ton of them. Everybody on our street gathered around the circle and watched. We're on a hill and as you look down the street, you can see a long way. As far as we could see, there were these huge displays going on. It blew us away. I wish i had a video camera to capture it and post it because words don't do it justice.

Other than that, the big news of the week was our block parties on Saturday and Sunday nights. We knocked on roughly 1200 doors to advertise. The Saturday night crowd was kind of disappointing. There were not as many people and they were all Christians committed to their churches. The Sunday night party was awesome, however. We had 47 adults and 50 kids. Many of them were not churched and we had very productive conversations with several of them. We had nine request more information on the church and several more who were not registered. It was really encouraging and we were excited about the results.

One interesting note was that we met two church planters through our work.

Prayer requests:

We have a team hosting backyard Bible clubs in two neighborhoods Monday through Thursday.
I will be traveling to NYC for coaching.
We have several couples who are considering helping us out. Pray that God will clarify that call for us and them.
Luis Palau is doing a big evangelistic crusade in O this weekend.

07/02/07 UPDATE

Honestly, this last week was a little slow and boring. It's the calm before the storm, because July is going to be crazy. I used the slower week to get ahead for some of the things in July - trying to get my reading done for the coaching meeting, planning the year ahead, etc. I won't try to make the details sound more glorious than they were.

Please pray for us this week as we get prepared for the arrival of another mission team. Technically, it's two teams, but they will be working in tandem. The first one is hosting two neighborhood parties on July 7 and 8. These will be used to promote the work of the second team, which will be hosting Backyard Bible Clubs on the 9-12. Pray for God to prepare the hearts of the people in these neighborhoods.

06/25/07 UPDATE

This week's update is all over the place, so I'll try to keep it brief.

I'm an addict. I admit it. We were given tickets to two games of the College World Series. Awesome! I'm hooked.

Our trusty van gave up the ghost this week. The engine is shot, so I have a really big paperweight in the front driveway. Please pray for us as we consider the next steps in that area.

Our basement apartment it coming along really well. It should be finished on Saturday, except for floor coverings.

Last night we had a cookout to hang out with some of the people who are helping with/interested in the church (see picture). We had 12 adults (2 more had to cancel at the last minute). It was a great time. It seems like people are beginning to "gel" with one another and become more interested in the church. I think any and all of them would be a big help, so we're praying for God's leadership. This week, we're also arranging several "get togethers" with others who couldn't make the cookout. In addition, I meet someone nearly every day who's interested in the church. A lot of them are tickling in from contacts the mission team did a week or so ago. In short, everything seems to be going really well.

Thanks for your prayers, I really feel there impact. When we're hit with what would ordinarily be a very discouraging situation, I've been able to just shrug it off and trust God to handle it. That's totally a grace-of-God thing, so I'm appreciative. Keep it up . . . please!

06/18/07 UPDATE

I had my third church planter coaching meeting last week. I'm really thankful that we got involved there - I think things would have turned out far different if we hadn't. It's probably been the best thing I've been involved with as far as training and leadership.

That kept me out of the loop most of the week. One real encouragement was that I talked to 6 people on Monday who all volunteered that they really wanted to make the service and just couldn't. They are planning to make the July service. I've also secured the worship leader for that service.

The two biggest notes of praise are that it appears we have a location to meet for the coming year. A middle school in the area has approved our application and are sending it to the district. That is great news - I've really been sweating it.

The other thing was a family issue - I've asked you to pray about our schooling options. Homeschooling just wasn't working out and we can't afford Christian schools here. J'line had some concerns about public schooling, but did find one public school program that we all really liked (they have a different educational format). She applied, but the boys were way down on the waiting list and they didn't see any real chance that they would get in. However, we got the call on Monday and they made it. They went and saw it and are pretty excited. We've talked with a lot of people here that say it is basically an underground Christian school.

Anyway, things here are really good. Please pray this week for:

Our "comeback event" Sunday night. We are inviting people who have expressed an interest in the church to a cookout here. It is meant to be a relationship-building time. Pray for the right people to turn out.

Two, continue to pray for our planning and preparations for the mission teams next month and our second monthly service.

06/11/07 UPDATE



Well, I guess the question on everyone's mind is "How did Sunday go?" We had 29 people, kids and all. There were 7 from a mission team, so there were 22 "official prospects." There were several people that I was fairly confident would be there who weren't. We also were so busy that we didn't get to invite all the people that we wanted to. Basically, that is encouraging because there are a ton of prospects to continue developing throughout the summer. This was step #1 in the process, not really the "start." That will come September 16.

I was asked how I felt about the process and I told them "really good." We put that together with basically one week of publicity. Before the next service, we will host 4 more block parties and have time to cultivate many of the contacts we've already made. There's also August to continue that and then an intense time of publicity (including 2 mass mailers) before the public launch on September 16. I think things are going well.

Also, everything seemed to go without any problems, so I think we are prepared for a lot more people. Since there was a small turnout, I have the opportunity to prepare for our follow up, etc. for the next meeting.

To finalize the updates from last week, we had a block party on Friday and had a great turnout. There were 80 people registered and probably more present. We had several really good contacts. The mission team was a tremendous help. They contacted about 1700 homes over the week, did three block parties, and worked without complaint. They were awesome!

I left yesterday and unloaded all of our supplies in the garage. I had a ton left to do, but i turned off the cell phone, unplugged the phone, and took a nap! We have had an exhausting couple of weeks and more on the horizon.

The picture above is of our meeting space. For clarification, the bottles on the lower right are flavored syrups for coffee:)

Thursday update

We re-distributed fliers in the neighborhood announcing the rescheduled neighborhood party. We got a great reception and had the party last night. There were more people, although not a ton more. We gave away a kid's bicycle and they were all really excited about that.

We do have several really solid prospects - as in, I expect them to be there on Sunday. There are also several others that are a real possibility for attending.

we're really excited about it. Please pray for Friday night's party.

06/06/07 UPDATE

Just got home from the block party. The wind was gusting over 50 miles an hour. We pulled up and a small tree (6 or 7 feet) was blown over. We set up the bounce house and started filling it up until the "D ring" we used to tie it down with straightened out in the wind. We used my gas grill to cook and had to put it inside the trailer so it would stay lit. We decided it was ridiculous and unsafe to continue, so we cancelled the games and served the food. We told everyone to help themselves to the food and we'd try again tomorrow night.

In spite of the awful weather, we had 50-75 people show up. Of those, we had several good contacts. At least two of them plan to attend Sunday. They actually sought me out to meet me, so i feel like they will actually come. We also made several other good contacts that are a step towards developing a relationship.

Overall, it turned out to be a success. We plan to let everyone know that we're trying again tomorrow night.

UPDATE

I figured I would update more often this week since things are going pretty quickly.

The team from Arkansas is here. We spent yesterday touring the area, doing orientation - boring stuff. Today, they passed out fliers for the block parties and invite cards for the church. We had a pretty good response for the parties. In fact, it was funny to see kids riding around on their bikes with the announcements to tell their friends. At one area, the teams had kids on bikes coming up and asking for a flier.

We had three prospects surface through the contacts. Pray for me as we follow up with them. Pray for others to respond to the invitations. They contacted just under 1200 homes today. Most of the people were gone, but a few were at home.

Jackson went out with the teams today. He said he wanted "to help." He's also volunteered to help Jacqueline teach the "children's class" on Sunday. It's cool to see them pitching in and helping.

We were supposed to have severe weather tomorrow night, please pray that it will be clear.

Thanks for praying.

06/04/07 UPDATE

We are at a critical time for the work. A mission team is arriving Sunday night to canvas neighborhoods with our fliers and host two block parties. Then, Sunday is our first monthly service. This is really nerve-wracking because we may have nobody show up or we may have too many. I've been praying for 75 and asking you to pray for 75, so we're planning that way.

Last week was a whirlwind of trying to get all the details finalized. We got a lot done, but there's still a lot left. The biggest thing is all the uncertainty. We're trying to get prepared, but there is so much that is unknown. It's pretty exiciting, but also scary at the same time.

I cannot overstate how crucial this time is, so I'd like to ask you to step up your prayers. Please try to do something that will remind you to pray for us each day.

When you do, pray that God will:
1. Create opportunities for us to connect with those He is drawing to Himself.
2. Save those who don't know Him.
3. Draw believers who are not a part of a church.
4. Allow the block parties to come together.
5. Help us prepare for the service on Sunday.
Pray for all the details to be covered.
Pray for the worship to glorify Him.
Pray for me as I preach.
PRAY FOR PEOPLE TO SHOW UP!!!:)

Thanks for all that you are doing for us. You are truly a part of all that is taking place as you pray.

05/28/07 UPDATE

As you can tell by the mid-week post last week, the order of the week was to find a place to meet. I was planning on a high school in the area that would have been a great setup, but they aren't interested in renting to a church. That was fine, so i went with my back-up - a middle school in the area who have been really receptive about us meeting there. However, the district set a policy that no groups can come in during the summer due to construction. SOOOOO . . . we were left with no place to meet through the summer. I spent all week searching the area for some temporary digs. I've found several possibilities and hope to nail something down by Wednesday. Also, we're still trying to find someone who can fill in for us to lead worship on June 10th. Oh yeah, and we're still trying to scrape together the money to buy the equipment we need by the 10th. Oh, and I'm trying to nail down the specifics for the mission team that will be here next week conducting block parties.

Get a picture of what life is like around here? Fun stuff. Actually, it is fun in a wierd sort of way. Despite having nothing pinned down, we have a strong sense that God is in control. I know He is at work in areas that we aren't even aware of. For example, I got a call about a church that is considering helping us out of the blue. I finally contacted a guy about leading the worship (or others who could) and he seemed really interested. God keeps showing up - i read someone describe it as God leaving sticky notes everywhere to remind us that He's working. We're working hard to do all that we can as He leads and trusting Him to come through.

Things have really picked up - we are moving into the "make or break" time for the plant. Next week, a mission team shows up to lead 2 block parties and canvas a couple of neighborhoods with fliers about the church. Then on the 10th, we have our first service. I don't generally get nervous, but I have to admit, I get a knot in my stomach every time I think about that.

Please pray for:
1. A meeting place for the 10th.
2. A worship leader for the 10th.
3. Partners to provide funding for startup costs.
4. Preparations for the mission teams who are coming.

MIDWEEK REQUEST

I have a big request. We've been counting on using one of the schools in the area for a meeting space. I was informed today that the district policy is that none of their properties will be available through the summer due to construction. I realize that God has the correct place out there, but I need to find it - yesterday. Please pray in that regard.

05/21/07 UPDATE

I watched the movie Facing the Giants last week. It was a very predictable story line (you know how everything is going to turn out) and the acting was pretty weak. Normally, I would never admit to having seen a movie like it, BUT it hit me right where I'm living. I really resonated with it and God encouraged me through it, mainly because I totally related with the character and his story.

Anyway, one scene in particular stood out to me. A Christian guy is telling the football coach that God isn't through with him yet. When the coach asks if he really thought God wanted that message communicated to him, the man replied by telling a story. He said, "There were two farmers in an area that was facing severe drought. One of the farmers saw the other returning from working his field and asked what he was doing. The farmer replied, 'I'm preparing for rain.'"

That's how I feel right now. As we've started planning for our first services, all the details seem to be falling into place, except one - We still don't have any people. Things are going according to plans, because we're planning to get people through the mission team that is here on June 3-9 and our first service on June 10. I was just hoping to start gathering some people before then. Mainly, it would relieve my anxiety to see people signing up beforehand. I want to see it, not have to wait for it. I told Jeff and Kelly that I feel like we're preparing for rain and trusting God to bring the rain.

That is my main focus of prayer right now - God send the rain (people). My aim is to do everything I can to prepare for it and trust God to send it at the right time. I know He won't send it if we're not ready and prepared.

That being said, I am seeing His hand all around us as we prepare. All the details seem to be falling into place - they aren't all filled, but they are steadily progressing.

Of particular concern this week, pray for:
1. God to draw people to Himself through our work.
2. Finalizing the details needed for our first service - there's too many to list in detail.
3. A worship leader.
4. Clarity about what to preach for these first services - I'm having an incredibly hard time settling on something.
5. Wisdom as I plan for our mission teams to arrive. I have to reserve places for block parties and other things, so pray for God to give us favor with the right people.

05/14/07 UPDATE

Last week continued to be one of rapid-fire events. On a personal note, two things were really cool. One, Jacqueline and I went to Kansas to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two, Jackson scored a goal in his soccer game!

As far as Redeemer goes, there were also several significant events there. I'm continuing to pursue a meeting location. I looked at the middle school on Tuesday. They have a gym and cafeteria available. On Friday I looked at the high school. It's huge (2,100 students) and has an amazing auditorium that is set up like a theatre. I almost didn't look at it because it's so big (it seats 614). At our coaching meeting, they encouraged me to check it out and gave some ideas to "shrink" it. I think it will set up really well. they have a lower level of 200+ seats and an upper level with 400 or so. I think I can put up curtains to seperate the upper half and make it manageable. It also has a really nice sound and lighting system (if they'll let us use them) and chairs. I'm in the process of getting forms turned in, insurance policies, etc. Please pray that this will go smoothly and that God will give us favor with those who are in charge - the principal, vice-principals, and custodians.

The only difficulty is that the auditorium is not available in the summer, so we'll have to meet in the "commons" - a multi-purpose cafeteria, etc. I will have to find a sound system, etc. to meet in there.

I also talked with a potential worship leader this week. He sounds very talented and we have a lot in common. He and his wife are moving to Omaha the end of August. i think he wants a full-time position (understandably) but we talked and he's considering it. Please pray for God's guidance. We need Him to call the right person, whoever that may be.

On Tuesday night I met with the Missions Pastor at Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They are sending a team up to help us this summer and are going to adopt Nebraska as a missions partner. He is a really sharp guy who used to be a missionary and now coordinates their church in missions - both internationally and in the US. He said that they are a little imbalanced right now, with a large emphasis on international missions, but not as much in the states. He said his vision is to eventually build to the point that he would say, for example, "We want 10 or 15 of you to find jobs and go to Omaha to help start a church. We're sending you and $200,000 to buy land for a building to get a church started." Wow! Now that's a vision for church planting!

I also traveled to NYC for my second church planter coaching meeting. It went really well. In fact, it is going better than I would have thought. it is providing much needed traction, guidance, and encouragement for me.

The biggest concern right now is stress. i keep having these "AHHHHHHHHH!" moments. For example, on Monday, J'line mentioned mother's day. I freaked out. I think she thought it was because I had forgotten Mother's Day. Actually it was because I realized that our first service is the week BEFORE Father's Day - meaning that I had about a month to get it together. Another example was as we were winding up the coaching meeting. They asked, "So who's having a service before our next meeting?" i was like "AHHHHHHHHHH, I am." Everybody laughed because they are there too.

Please pray for:
1. God to give us wisdom in planning and favor with people.
2. Meeting space - pray that God will give us favor with the people in charge.
3. Worship leader - pray that God will lead us to the right person and that he will confirm it to both of us.
4. God to draw people through our ministry projects, servant evangelism projects, and monthly services.
5. PRAY FOR EVERYTHING TO COME TOGETHER FOR OUR FIRST MONTHLY SERVICE ON JUNE 10. We're praying for 75 people.

05/07/07 UPDATE (PART 2)

I forgot one other praise. I've been trying to get a website up and going with no luck. I called and asked Rick Lamberson for an assist last week and he agreed, so we should have something coming together soon!

05/06/07 UPDATE

Last week was largely one of praises. Since we have adapted our "model" for starting the church, there has been a big change in my focus and clarity. Before, I went from week to week hoping to meet some people who would gather around us and once that took place, we'd start "doing something." Now, we're focused on preparing to do what we believe God has called us to do, when he has called us to do it. In our case, that means launching a church publicly beginning September 16, 2007. Now the question has become, "What has to be done for that to take place?" I'm focused on getting the necessary plans made and securing what is needed. Having said all of that, it seemed that God was busy putting those pieces into place.

This was seen clearly after I emailed our monthly newsletter. One request I had was for partners. I had one prospective partner contact me that afternoon. Another was that I asked that we would find the right person to finish our basement. That afternoon, a guy came and gave us a bid that was about half of the others.

Another praise was on the equipment front. I was given a projector and wireless mic - that was about $1,300. I also spoke with a lady who had some top notch sound equipment that she wants to sell us at a cut rate. Now I just need $3,000! I had spoken with her before - she and her husband had helped start a church in Massachusetts before moving here. In addition to the equipment, she was going to give our information to a few other people.

Our most critical needs remain two things. Both are people related and outside of my control. Both are also a dire need - please make them a special priority. Write yourself a note to remember to pray for them daily, please. One, we need a worship leader. Two, we are going to do the work of connecting with people and inviting them, but God has to draw them to Himself and call him to this work. Please make these a continual request.

This week will also be busy for me. I hope to secure the Middle school as a meeting place and i need to connect with the person in charge (and have little time to do it). I'll also be meeting with a mission pastor to from Arkansas to plan his church's summer trip. I'll also be travelling to New York for my coaching meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. This is going to be an extremely busy week. We have something going every day fo the week.

By the way, if anybody was concerned, we got a lot of rain and wind. There's a lot of flooding in the area. However, we have not had any severe weather or tornadoes.

04/30/07 UPDATE

Whew! Our travels went well, but it sure is nice to sleep in my own bed. We arrived back in Omaha around Saturday at noon to conclude a trip that saw us fly to TN, drive to FL, then back to TN via a stop in GA and finally back to NE. It was a long, tiring, but very rewarding trip. The main purpose was to pick up my mother-in-law, Juanita, and move her out to NE with us. As of 4:50 this afternoon, her stuff is all here and in storage. Now we have to get the basement finished. We extended the trip to see old friends and family, as well as visit with some prospective partners for the ministry.

In terms of benefit to our work, we secured one partner, met with another potential one, and had several other strong inquiries. This is very important, because as we prepare to launch, there are several obstacles that must be overcome and it will take help to get over them. There are several one-time, large expenses that need to be met, primarily for equipment and projects (such as a sound system, chairs, trailer, mailers, etc.). I'll be posting an itemized list seperately to keep everyone informed. Please pray for partners to come alongside us or this will be dead in the water!

Upon our arrival in NE, we hit the ground running (actually it felt like the ground hit us, but nevertheless . . . ). We got here at noon and Jackson had a soccer game at 4:30. On Sunday, we got to attend our church for the first time in several weeks. Man, it was good to be back. I can't understand how people operate without a church home for very long.

After church, we met with Jeff and Kelly to develop our launch strategy. We spent three hours laying out our plans to work towards starting the church on September 16th with 250 in attendance. This is exciting work, but there are several "giants" that God has to slay. This may get repetitive, but these are our biggest needs right now. I'll try to keep you posted on the progress of each one.

1. Worship Leader - pray that God will connect us with the right person.
2. Meeting site - I'll be checking with the local schools. Pray that God will show us another site if this is not the right situation.
3. Partners - We need people to partner with us by providing startup finances and equipment.
4. People - God is in charge of drawing people to Himself. We are going to do our best to make a big deal out of Jesus and connect with people, but he has to be the one to draw them.

04/22/07 UPDATE

Sorry for the delay. We have been travelling and I have had limited access to the computer.

We're in the middle of a swing from TN to FL, then GA, back to TN, and then on to NE! We're currently in Cleveland, TN preparing to load a UHaul tomorrow with my mother-in-law's stuff and head to Omaha.

This has been a great trip. I've made several beneficial contacts and seen tons of friends and family. I'll post a more detailed explanation next week.

In the meantime, remember the BIG TWO:

1. A worship leader.

2. God to draw people to be part of the launch team through our summer activities.

04/16/07 UPDATE

Man, what a week! I had several firsts, or some firsts in a long time:

I took my first trip to New York City. If you haven't done that before, it's an experience unlike anything you've been through before. My meeting was in Manhattan. When you are in Manhattan, you see nothing but delivery vehicles, taxis, and limo's and hear nothing but car horns. I also had authentic New York pizza!

Another first was that I had serious travel difficulties. I sat on the tarmac (in the plane) for over an hour and a half before leaving for Chicago. My plane there was canceled, so I had to fly to Manchester, NH and then NY. On the way back, high winds kept planes from leaving La Guardia so I missed my connecting flight from Chicago to Omaha and had to spend the night in Chicago. Definitely not fun. One cool part of that was that I flew over our old house and ministry field leaving Manchester. i could see all the familiar sights and prayed for God to work there.

A first in a long time was that I preached in a tie on Sunday!:( It was a traditional SBC church and we had some really funny stories of things that happened because we have adapted to non-traditional church and forgotten how things work in traditional circles:)

The reason I went to NY was for a church planter's coaching meeting. I met with 11 other church planters around the country at The Journey Church (www.nyjourney.com). They (Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas) planted Jouney in NY in 2001 with a situation similar to ours. They felt called to NY and went with no help, people, etc. Rather than gathering a core group of believers, slowly cultivating them and then reaching out to the unchurched with them, they started going directly for the unchurched and didn't waste time trying to gather, motivate, and argue with :) Christians. Starting with a core usually leads to a smaller, longer start, which increases the chances of failure. Their goal is to launch with a "large" crowd, which increases your chances of success. This takes place by conducting monthly services for 3-6 months which are used to gather interested people. Along with these services, you use servant evangelism projects, mission teams, and advertising to gather people. Then you have a big launch service which begins your weekly services.

For us, it looks like this: we will have a monthly service on June 10, July 22, and August 19. In addition, we have 3 mission teams coming up during June and July to help us. Our Launch will be on September 16. There is a terrifying element to this approach - what if we do all the stuff and nobody shows up? In that case, September is going to be a very depressing time. Please pray for God to use these events to gather the people He has chosen to put in Redeemer Church. We walk by faith, not by sight, right?

Also, pray for several other things:
1. I am overwhelmed with the amount of things that have to be done . . . yesterday.
2. We have a ton of decisions to make - i need wisdom as I make them.
3. We need someone to lead worship.
4. We need locations to have block parties and other servant evangelism opportunities.
5. We need a location for our monthly services.
6. We need money to provide for advertising, materials for the servant evangelism projects, and equipment.

04/09/07 UPDATE




Well, the big news around here is that our family expanded on Monday. We've been promising the boys that we'd get another dog once we got settled down. Long story, but we eventually were connected with a lady who was trying to place one or her whippets, Mystic. We got her last Monday and the boys are ecstatic. You hear a constant chorus of "Mystic, Mystic, Mystic" everywhere you go. She's a great dog - really calm and great with kids. The funniest part of it all is that when we asked where she was, the lady said, "A town called Crestview, FL." That's very close to where we just moved from.

Aside from that, we froze all week. We've been setting record lows all week and watching as our beautiful plants shrivel up and die.

I had several very good meetings this week. The first was on Monday. Our pastor at Heartland and I started meeting to pray for God to move in Omaha. This was the first of what we hope will be a weekly event. Please pray for us to hear from God during this time. We also had a pastor's meeting where we showed a dvd of what we're doing and had several pastors talk to us about helping. One in particular was encouraging. They meet on the same street that we are targeting, but about 7 miles to the east. He said that all of the pastors in that area were praying for the "area out west" for several years and trying to figure out what they could do there. It was good to hear about God going before us. We also had a great time celebrating Easter yesterday with friends. I hope you did too.

This week we have a couple of key things taking place. One, I'll be flying to NYC for my first coaching meeting. Please pray for God to be at work there, showing me His plans for Omaha. Also pray for safety as I travel.

Second, I'll be preaching next Sunday (and the Sunday after that). Pray that I will hear the exact message God wants to bring and that he will speak through me to bring it.

Pray for strength for us as we enter what is going to be a very hectic period of our lives. Things are picking up this weekend and I'm not sure when they will slow down again. The summer is a key time for us and there is much to plan and coordinate as we move towards it.

Also, pray for our schooling choices for the kids. Although they are doing great academically in homeschooling, I think it would be a lot less stressful if they were in school. They are on a waiting list for a public school which has a special academic curriculum that we like. We are also applying for a scholarship that might help us put them into Christian school. Please pray for the right doors to open at the right time.

Finally, here are some recurring requests:
A worship leader.
A place to meet.
Partners in funding many of the upcoming projects and needs.
God to draw people to be part of the plant.
Our first monthly service - June 10. I'm praying for 75 people.
Our public launch - September 9. I'm praying for 250 people.

04/02/07 UPDATE

Last week consisted of a great deal of planning and preparation for upcoming stuff. I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to set up meetings with interested people during an upcoming "Southern tour." We are coming down to move my mother-in-law to O and are trying to make the most of our time. There is also a lot of upcoming planning to prepare for three mission groups that will be coming up to help over the summer, our three once-a-month services during the summer, and our public launch of weekly services in September. Specifically, i'm trying to track down a worship leader, meeting location, equipment, incorporate the church, design a website, design brochures to give out during our block parties, raise funds to provide all of this stuff, set up meetings with prospects, prepare to preach on the 15th and 22nd, and I'm sure there's other things I'm forgetting to mention:)

Another benefit from our time in Seattle was that J and I spent a great deal of time walking back through our calling to plant a church. God strengthened that calling as we reviewed it. We are trying to consciously focus on the fact that this is God's plan and therefore He is the one responsible to carry it out. We are simply called to remain sensitive to Him and obey as He leads. This week, I've been focusing on that and during my study, God gave me a new verse, Isaiah 41:9b-10:
'You are my servant';
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strenghten you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Last week was a very encouraging time for me. Friday night, I got to talk with several people who are interested in the church. It is extrememly encouraging to meet new prospects. Also, I met with a pastor who is planting a Methodist church in the area. I wasn't aware of their existence, but I got a card in the mail and contacted him. He told me that the ground here is very fertile and that they are reaching a lot of new people. They are very similar to us in philosophy and style and those methods are working. That is really good news! He is also very cooperative and has the mindset that "there's plenty for all of us to do." Also, we had our record Gathering last night. We had 7 adults! Of course, the three new ones won't be back, but that's ok. They were a couple who's very interested in church planting and are doing all the paperwork for incorporating the church, setting up the bank accounts, etc. The other was our Director of Missions, who stopped by because his wife was out of town and he was hungry, i mean, he wanted to come by and encourage us:)

Here are some specific prayer requests for us this week:
A worship leader.
A place to meet.
Partners in funding many of the upcoming projects and needs.
God to draw people to be part of the plant.
Our first monthly service - June 10. I'm praying for 75 people.
Our public launch - September 9. I'm praying for 250 people.

03/27/2007 UPDATE

We arrived back in Omaha last night at midnight or so. We had a good time in Seattle. There were some rather difficult, trying, challenging, etc. moments, but overall it was good. J and I spent a few days there after the conference was over to see the city and have some time on our own. L was sick the first three days we were gone, but eventually mom and dad had two days without a sick child. They survived and had fun (i think) despite having to carry a plastic garbage can with them everywhere:)

I'll try and post some thoughts from the conference on my other blog and reserve comment here for things pertinent for prayer regarding our situation in Omaha.

First, I was confronted with the utter impossibility of what we're trying to do. I really don't have what it takes and sometimes get deluded into thinking I do. For me, this is actually good because it means that God must come through. If God has called me to do it, then it depends on Him. This lead J and I to spend a long time discussing our call and the many ways God has called and confirmed what we are doing. It became a very productive time as we thought through the numerous ways God called us and confirmed it. We left realizing several things that need to change in us and our approach. I was led to repent of several things like personal pride and focus on God's restoration and the Holy Spirit.

Second, J and I saw some drastic adjustments that we need to make in the work here. Again, most are related to the need to reach unchurched people and forget about actively pursuing churched people. We both feel very strongly that family is our first priority, so we have to make time for one another (and really engage each other in that time). However, we also have to carve out time to build relationships with people and practice hospitality (one Biblical means of evangelism). These adjustments will be very challenging and involve making some big decisions.

Third, I came away with a deeper understanding of the Gospel. This is something God has been working into me for the past couple of years. The Gospel is more than our ticket to heaven. It's more than, "Ok, God wiped the slate clean, now you take it from here and do the right things that will make him proud." The Gospel is that God crushed His Son as payment for our sin. He is proud of us due to the gift of Jesus and nothing else. We are utterly incapable of pleasing apart from faith in Jesus. We are still as desperate for God's grace today as the day before we were saved.

We tend to try and "lower the bar" to something we can meet. The opposite approach is needed - lift the bar to where God places it - perfection. When we do, our first observation will be, I can't do it. This drives us back to God in desperation for His help - which is where He wants us. He doesn't miserly meet out that help, he wants to lavish it on us. In short, its a proclamation that God is for us and wants us to turn to Him in utter dependence - in everything. I don't know, it's one of those things that I can't express clearly but that I know in my soul is a HUGE shift. Check the other blog later, I'll try to work this out some more.

PLEASE PRAY FOR:
God to move here - it's all up to Him.
Wisdom as we plan, schedule, etc.
My first coaching session in NYC on April 12.
God to continue the work He is doing in me. Pray for humility on my part to accept what He shows me, the grace to repent, and the power to persevere.
A worship leader and band.
A meeting location.
Resources for the necessary activities to reach the community.
Connection with the right people as we reach out around us.

EMERGENCY REQUEST

We leave for Seattle first thing in the morning and we have a full-fledged puke-o-rama going on at the house. J'line has been sick for several days and is coming out of it. A. was sick at the first of the week and J. and L. are throwing up as we speak. Mom and dad are obviously excited:)

We're going through an assessment time in Seattle where they determine if we are "fit" to church plant. It will be a stressful time and this will only add to it. Please pray for everyone to get better or stay healthy.

J and I were talking about how this happened the last time we had an assessment too. I don't think it's a coincidence.

03/19/97 UPDATE

Belated greetings! Sorry for the delay, but it is a great day in American history and we've been busy celebrating. 35 years ago, God chose the exact place I would be born and live and it was Opelika, AL. I'm starting to feel a tad old.

This week has been a mixed bag. I've had several times that I got discouraged this week. Mainly, it has come about from talking to Christians too much. Some of you might be offended by that, but it can really get depressing to see how people are so focused on their deal. I expect it from lost people, but as Christ followers, we're called to lay aside our interests for the good of others, so you think some might follow through on that. Sadly, they don't. I realize that even my focusing on that is because I'm upset that I can't get people to focus on my deal! Like I said, it can get depressing.

However, things took a real upturn through all of this. I've been reading and thinking through how to get a church going with so little help. I began to realize that I've been placing too much emphasis on gathering a group of Christians together and then reaching out to others. That has been the primary point of exasperation because few people are interested in giving up the stuff they've got to help others. I've been reading a book (Launch, by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas). They are leading the church planter coaching group that I'll be participating in. They started a church in Manhattan with nobody but themselves. While I realize that every situation is different, the story gave me a new perspective. Throughout the frustration of the week, I decided that we will focus on following God's plan for this church and trust Him to provide where things are needed. Up to this point, I've really been trusting in my ingenuity and other people. Now, we'll seek to do what He desires and trust Him to fill in the gaps. Are people necessary? Absolutely, but now if someone joins in, I'll view it as icing on the cake, not an essential. It won't be the result of me pouting time and effort into it, but because God has gathered them in. This may not seem to be a drastic departure to you, but for me it is HUGE.

It really got exciting on Sunday night at small group. I was sharing these insights with Jeff and Kelly and they started smiling. Jeff said that they had just said that afternoon that they didn't see why we needed someone else to get rolling, we'd just start with the four of us. He was telling me that they were thinking Paul only had one or two others, so why couldn't we do that too! That was really encouraging because I took it as confirmation that we were on the right track. This marks about 3 or 4 weeks that they've been discussing exactly what I was planning to talk to them about. Those are just weird God moments when that happens.

So, with all of that being said, here's our most urgent requests:

1. We need a worship leader and band. This will become my primary focus for the next several weeks. We can't go public until we have someone who can play and sing. I sho' can't.

2. Financial supporters. We will be needing support for several of the events that will be taking place in the fall, as well as other immediate needs, such as a website, brochures, etc. This is not a plea for personal funding!

3. God to prepare the hearts of the people here. I know that God is already at work. Without that, all of our work is hopeless, so pray that He will continue to prepare the hearts of people for the Gospel. Pray that their hearts will be good soil and bring a great harvest.

4. Pray for our family this coming week. We fly to Seattle for assessment and training on Wednesday and mom and dad are keeping the boys. Pray for safe travel for us and sanity for mom and dad.

Thanks for praying!

03/12/07 UPDATE

Last week was another good one. Praise God on two items in particular. One, I had a phone interview that completed all the necessary items for my church planting assessment with Acts 29. I had someone inquire about their organization last week. If you're interested, here's the website http://www.acts29network.org/. Also, I got word that I've been accepted for church planter coaching. That will begin in April. I'm excited about both opportunities.

We also had Jimmy and Carol Ann Draper visiting our association last week. if you don't know who they are, Jimmy was president of LifeWay (the SBC publishing agency) until retiring last year. They had a pastor's wives meeting Tuesday night which Jacqueline enjoyed. Then on Wednesday, Jimmy spoke to the pastors about things he's learned in 58 years of preaching.

Lastly, mom and dad arrived safely on Saturday night. We didn't tell the boys they were coming so that they would be surprised. I think they almost wet their pants when mimi and poppie showed up.

This week is pretty eventful as well. I would like for you to pray for three meetings in particular. Today I'm meeting with a guy who used to lead worship in a church locally. I heard he was no longer doing that and wanted to get to know him. We'll see where it leads (if anywhere).

Second, I'm meeting with a pastor of the largest SBC church in Omaha. We are discussing how they can help (and if they will).

Third, we are having our small group meeting Sunday night. It looks like several of the other couples we've been working with are going to be able to attend. Pray that it will work out and that God will use it as a time to provide clarity.

Thanks for praying!

03/05/07 UPDATE

I thought i would introduce you to the Cunningham's. If you've been reading this, you probably remember me mentioning them to you. Jeff is a meteorologist for the Air Force. Kelly stays busy keeping Jeff and Jocelyn in line. They have signed on to help us as we start Redeemer Church. They've already been a great source of encouragement to J'line and I and they are excited about all the stuff to come. Please remember to pray for them as you remember our work.

The big news from last week was The Blizzard of 2007. Thursday morning around 5 it started snowing and the wind was whipping. It snowed all morning and we ended up with about a foot of snow. Pretty much everyone was stuck inside.

I'm learning that snow is a big opportunity for me. I wait inside, sipping coffee and staying warm until I hear a snow blower fire up. Then, I put on all my stuff and go outside to shovel snow. There's an interesting phenomenon - everyone on the entire street comes out about the same time and it provides a great opportunity to get to know your neighbors. I've now made the acquaintance of everyone on the circle and found out a lot more about the rest of the street.

We all pitched in to help one guy get his two cars unstuck out of the street so the plows could theoretically clear our street. After that, we all went to clear our drives. I cleared two stips and was about to have a heart attack. Then one of the guys walked his snow blower over and finished it up for me. I then spent the next couple of hours talking to people on the street.

Apparently, we live in an atypical neighborhood. Most people who live in the 'burbs say that they have lived there 5, 6, 10 years, whatever, and barely know the names of their neighbors. We must have moved to party central, because I've met everyone and they are very friendly. We were welcomed warmly and that seems to just be part of the deal. Throughout the summer, they just pull a grill out in the street and everyone brings their own meat for a big cookout. On the fourth of July, one guy makes a run for fireworks and puts on a big display (which forces the ATF agent to leave for the evening so he doesn't have to arrest anyone:)) Anyway, it seems like a pretty cool spot. Pray for opportunities to continue to develop among the people in our community.

This week will be very busy for us. We have something going on almost every night. We're hoping to be able to meet with Kyle and Kim Moeller this weekend. They are very interested in helping us but still have several questions. We've been hoping to meet with them to hopefully make some progress. I'm really beginning to obsess about our need for people to be involved. As I was stressing about it yesterday I read Mt. 9:37-38 where Jesus tells us to pray for God to send workers into the harvest. Please make this your primary prayer focus for us.

Also, my parents are coming this weekend to spend a couple of weeks with us. Pray for them as they travel.

Thanks for the prayers!