Small Steps - Monday Emotions

Very, very cool Sunday!

This Sunday was one of those days that marked the real power in taking small steps. Five months ago I decided to start training for a half marathon. The process was tough and there were many times when I didn't want to take the small steps of training and eating right. Yet, five months later I ran the race and even beat my goal time, pretty cool!

Two weeks ago we had a baptism Sunday. The night before, I was sure God was telling me to keep the baptism up one more week because there would be even more people needing to take this HUGE AMAZING STEP. I took the small step of saying yes to God and sure enough 20 more people took the small step of signing up to be baptized!

Bottom line this was a Sunday that reflected the real power of taking small steps. The truth is, if you keep taking small steps you will get to the place you need to be and God wants you to be. So... what say you? What are the small steps you need to take in your life? If you listen, God will speak!

Sunday reflections:

* Baptisms were amazing! Josh Carter did an amazing job – so proud of him!
* Shawn taught on heaven and did a GREAT job! We need to talk more about heaven!
* Loving this series! I can tell we are ALL learning so much. That's 100% our hope and prayer.
* I sat in the fifth row on Sunday with my wife – SO COOL!
* Band was great! I love that Dave Keen (bass player) worships God so expressively!
* Our church CAN'T clap and sing. :)
* We announced at second service that we are ordaining Josh Carter and Geoff Francian on Sunday. BE THERE TO SUPPORT THEM!
* We were PACKED yesterday! Keep being INCLUSIVE! Who's on your radar screen?
* Side note... I love my LIFE GROUP! We added three new guys and they're awesome! Are you in COMMUNITY?
* We're talking about HELL this week. Any questions? I bet!!! Come hear what the Bible REALLY says!
* May is almost here, what???

OK... Love you guys! Let’s keep advancing God’s kingdom, you matter in the process!

Josh

Monday Emotions

Sunday was what church is ALL about! We taught on baptism, baptized six people and at the end of the message made the challenge to people who had not been baptized to step up and take the plunge next week. To be honest, I was nervous. I knew God had put it on my heart to extend baptism for one more week, but I wondered if anyone would really step up. Well, they did! We had 20 people sign up to get baptized on Sunday!!! Food for thought – if God says it, do it!

Monday Emotions:

* Church was packed - both services!
* Met several new people, way to go on being INCLUSIVE! It matters!
* Worship was wonderful! Let’s keep making the worship of our God the highest priority!
* Geoff did a great job of rocking the mic during baptism – way to go Geoff!
* Kids Life is really kicking it into high gear! If you know families with kids, INCLUDE THEM!
* Saw a group going out to MISSIONALY serve our city – LOVE IT!
* The baptism videos were great! Thanks, Jason Leppert!!! Also thanks to all those who got baptized, your stories blessed us!
* It was so HOT yesterday! I was so pumped people made to church before the beach – that's COMMUNITY!
* Still can't believe we are baptizing 20 people Sunday!!!

Final thought: We have some really cool family news to share in two weeks. Make sure to be there!!! FYI - It's not Chapter 2 related.

Love you guys!

Monday Emotions from Easter!

* Amazing!!!
* I'm SO PROUD to be a part of Existence Church.
* Both of our services were slammed. I met so many of your neighbors, co-workers and family members - unreal!
* We had about a dozen or so people accept Christ, including some people I've been praying for for a long time! Praise God!
* The band was on FIRE! It's such a joy to be led into the presence of the Holy Spirit through worship.
* Katie Weber (our Children’s Director) was a STUD!!! Tons of new families and I know they all felt loved. We did miss out on putting more chairs in the Infant Room - sorry to the moms who had to sit on the floor, we were embarrassed by that one!
* We got about 500 more care packages - WAY TO GO! Because of your faithfulness, hundreds of displaced San Diegans will have all the basic supplies they need!
* My throat is killing me! I screamed for almost 3 hours yesterday... Ughhh!!!
* I would again like to publicly apologize for not wearing pastels on Easter, it will never happen again!
* Christ is risen!!! Come on, you can still celebrate!!!

Final thought! Just because "Easter" has passed does not mean our work is over! People need Jesus, and God will use each of us to deliver that hope to them. Keep fighting and keep praying! Remember that the hope of the world does not rest on your shoulders, but the hope of someone does!

P.S. We have a new series starting this week - Detour to Definitions. We will tackle a ton of big "church words" and find out what the bible really says about them. You will learn a ton from this series - Be there!

Great Stories!

Stories that will get you pumped and ready for Easter. Lets go get it Existence!

Story 1.

Yesterday I was handing out some invite cards for Easter sunday when I met a guy who asked me what it was all about. I told him it was just an invitation to join us this Sunday for Easter. We began to talk about his business, basketball, music, art and had a great conversation getting to know each other. About 15 minutes into the conversation, he made a comment about God and that opened the door for us to have an amazing discussion about creation and people and life which eventually led to Jesus. I got to share the gospel with him and we exchanged numbers and are going to get lunch sometime soon. It was such a confirmation from God that there are people out there who don't know that they are a product of God's perfect creation and there is a meaning to their life. It was awesome to get to watch his face change as I began to explain the desire God has for a personal relationship with Jesus and that his life actual does have meaning.

Story 2.

I want to share a pretty cool story about being intentional, and how God works in amazing ways.

Your message a few weeks ago really spoke to me about being intentional. I realized that I have never been intentional with my immediate family with the most important thing in my life, my faith in Jesus. Last week I decided that it was time for me to be intentional and invited my family to our Easter service. The answer was a very quick 'no' but I didn't give up. A few days later I shared with my family that my faith is the most important thing in my life, and that my church is a key component to my faith. I reminded my family that I always make it a point to support and celebrate the important things in their lives. After some reluctance, they all decided to come to church on Easter Sunday!

Thank you for raising the bar for all of us who call Existence home. Thank you for reminding us that the stakes are high, and for encouraging us to be intentional with our faith in Jesus. This Easter, my entire immediate family will be attending church with me and my wife for the first time. Praise God!

Monday Emotions

Kim and I got out of town for our anniversary, it was amazing! It was the second time I have been to Santa Barbara and the hotel we stayed in was right next to the one I stayed at five years ago. Why is that relevant?

Because five years ago, when I last there, it was two weeks before we launched Existence. It was so incredible to think of all the amazing things that have happened in my life and the life of the church over the past five years. I couldn't help but think of all the lives, all the stories, all the growth and all the ups and downs. Honestly, my heart was racing over all the things I know our faithful God will do in the future. There will be so many men, women and children’s lives that find the hope of Jesus because of YOU and YOUR ministry here at Existence. Can you imagine all the ways God WILL use you? I CAN, and so can GOD!

Anyway, keep praying and fighting for people – Easter is 6 days away!

Sunday reflections:

* I heard Shawn BROUGHT IT!
* 3 people made first-time decisions to follow Jesus, how amazing! That’s what it's ALL about!
* We rocked out to Lifehouse... Pretty cool!
* Kids’ Life launched their new program and entrance – so cool!!! We're growing up! :)
* Katie is AMAZING!
* I got a ton of calls from people telling me how awesome our staff is. They are! Somebody take them to lunch! :)
* I'm SO excited for Easter. I included one guy already, I'm really praying he comes! Who have you INCLUDED?
* We still need about 1,000 bags, how's it going? Are you living the MISSIONAL LIFE?

Final thoughts:

It was good to get away, it was good to miss you and it will be great to celebrate Jesus next Sunday. Don't come alone!

Love ya,
Josh

Steve

So, our church printer took a dive. The bad news is we have to buy a new one. The good news is I met Steve. Steve is a Universalist, which means he believes as long as you believe in a god – however you may define him/her/it – that you will "go to heaven." This line of thinking comes in handy when you are looking to not make waves and put everyone at ease. The problem comes when you have to figure out truth (in universalism truth is relative) and how in the world we reconcile our sin.

I asked Steve how he thought he was going to "get to heaven" and he said he was going to live just like Jesus. Wow! Just like Jesus. I asked him how he would do that. After all, Jesus was sinless and 100% man and 100% God. Those two biblical truths alone disqualify me, I told him.

He asked if he could sit down and ask me a few questions. I, of course, said sure! We talked for another 20 minutes or so about many theological questions. As we ended our time I asked Steve to do me one favor. Steve is bringing us a new printer in two days. I asked him to wrestle with one question: How in the world do we make "right" our "wrongs"? If we are sinful, surely we can't make it right, so how in the world do we do that?

I wonder if Steve will wrestle with that question. I wonder if you will. I wonder how many men and women you know need to be asked that question?

As Steve got up to leave he handed me the bill for our new printer. He said we was not going to charge me the set-up fee because the question I asked him to consider was more than enough payment for his time. You know what? Steve was right! That question is the most valuable question he will ever ask himself.

So... Who is your Steve? Are you Steve?

11 days til Easter, let’s all get our "Steves" to church!

Love ya!