Easter Reflections

Thinking about many things this evening...

EASTER- awesome services Sunday. I loved the music... the energy... Brittany Bolt and Tim singing "He is risen, He is risen, Alleluia!" That gave me chills! The Easter Choir, Praise Team, Orchestra and tech teams were incredible. The attendance of 2237 was a all time record for our church. AWESOME! We blew away records all over the place... including in EC and Children's. It took well over 200 volunteers to put all of it together...many of whom were at the church from 6:15 to 12:30... 3 services is a challenge...but it is worth it. God gets the praise and glory for this great day. After it all, it was his idea ( the ressurection).

THOSE SERVING IN ARMED FORCES. I was thinking about some of our guys who were not here Sunday. Roger Martinez, Matt Sewell, Eric Snider and some others... They didn't miss Easter, because the Ressurection of Jesus is for the whole world...but they were far from their families. How humbling it is to serve God in this country in freedom, all because of the many who have served our country by protecting us wherever they are called upon to do so! Pray for those guys.... they are in tough spots serving the USA...

I APPRECIATE OUR VOLUNTEERS. Our Parking guys were incredible. I got alot of comments about how friendly and helpful they were. We had enough help in Early Childhood, even though it was a record breaking day. Our Cafe team fed a bunch of people! They were so good to team. David and Kristi and the rest of the gang...you are incredible. It seemed like everything worked well all over the building.

I AMAZED AT THE GENEROSITY OF OUR PEOPLE. After a record breaking year in 2009, we stretched big time with our budget needs each week. After 14 weeks, we are right at budget! Sunday's offering of over $60,000 was HUGE... You are getting it....

IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS. "A living hope can only be brought by a living Savior." Enough said!

WE ARE NOT DONE... Easter is a catalyst for movement... a call to action.... an "ON YOUR MARK" moment... Easter can change a life, a community, and the world. We are not done with our mission ... we are not done reaching people.... we are not done caring for others... we are not done with providing ministry all across the world. We are part of a great kingdom making a dramatic move across the world.

Loved Easter... and really look forward to the coming weeks as we continue to work through "the church unleashed" in Acts 4-7.

See you there.