- Had another great day!
- First it never hurts when you get an extra hour of sleep…although as I type this at 5pm it’s already pretty dark outside so I’d rather have stayed on daylight savings time.
- Is it spring yet?
- Actually the weather today wasn’t bad.
- We started a new series today called, Just Walk Across the Room”…which meant the morning started with getting a new stage set up and running.
- Bill did a tremendous job and put tons of time into creating the 2 huge signs you see in this post.
- It’s hard to tell from the pics but the letters light up and then of course we can light the boards any color we want.
- The letters are also raised so it creates a cool drop shadow effect.
- Again the pics don’t do this justice…really cool all the effects that can be created.
- Next week we’ll be using the boards for something special that will make them very personal to every single person in attendance.
- So it’s about to get a lot cooler.
- Despite figuring out how to set up the new set, set-up itself went smoothly…in fact the band had enough time after the warm-up and run through to work on some stuff for next week since they will be out performing this Thursday night and won’t be able to do their normal rehearsal.
- I always love getting to briefly talk with the entire serving team at 9:20 and then having everyone pray for each other and for the day.
- It was great to see another big crowd today.
- It’s been weird over this past year to have really wild swings in attendance from week to week.
- So a pretty steady day was a welcome sight…especially since both days were some of the highest ever.
- Today as the kick-off to the series, I shared the vision of ExponentialChurch.tv.
- IMPORTANT: If you’re a regular attender of Exponential and didn’t hear today’s message, it’s very important that you take the time to listen either online or download it for an MP3 player.
- In the message you’ll learn how to make sure you are “in the right business” and I give a very impactful iillustration to demonstrate how much work we have left to do to reach the 425000 people in the metro area that don’t yet know Jesus.
- God has allowed us to do some pretty awesome things this past year but much more is still expected…Jesus said that when much has been given, much will be required.
- Again it’s important that you listen so you know how together we can partner to make an eternal difference.
- One way as I mentioned is to “Automate the Important”.
- Vision doesn’t come cheap and to be honest the church is really struggling financially right now to survive.
- I don’t for one minute think that it’s God’s will for us to fail.
- So if you are a regular attender of Exponential then I encourage you to begin tithing online and set it up so that your tithe automatically gets debited either monthly, bi-monthly (that’s what I do) or weekly.
- If you’re someone from outside our church yet you believe in what we’re doing I encourage you to give as well whether it be a one-time gift or some sort of ongoing automated contribution.
- Again to be honest, I’m tired of talking about money but the mission and vision are too important.
- I honestly believe that the best is yet to come and as I prayed at the end…I’m not so sure God wasn’t laughing at me today because I dream too small.
- God is a great God, He has given us a great mission and with Him all things are possible…let’s keep thinking exponentially and trust Him to “do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine”.
- After the message and during the announcement time, I was surprised to see Larry Evans and Lorraine Weaver make their way down to the stage and interrupt.
- I normally hate any surprises like that but in this case I’ll forgive them since they wanted to honor myself and the rest of the staff with a gift in honor of Pastor Appreciation Month.
- Thanks to all for the cards and gifts.
- As I said…we’re all a team and while God has given me a unique role to play, I/we can’t do it without you…We are the church and again the best is yet to come!
Inside Today’s Experience
- Well we’ll call today unexpected.
- First was the unexpected snow storm this weekend.
- Man am I sore today…that was a heavy snow.
- This morning, even though I had cleaned my car off yesterday, it took me 10 minutes to “break” into my car because all the doors were frozen shut.
- Other than that the rest of the mornings set-up was about as normal.
- The last 2 weeks I’ve had my niece Taylor hang with me all morning as my “personal assistant”.
- It’s awesome being able to hang with her and have her pray for me right before the Experience starts.
- Today she told me she thinks people like me because I’m funny.
- Had someone else tell me today that I remind them of a cool Catholic priest they once knew.
- Hmmm…now I know my Halloween costume for tomorrow night…a Catholic priest that does stand-up comedy. 🙂
- Another unexpected thing was how good our attendance was today considering how yucky the weather was.
- Oh well we’ll take it.
- Great energy from the crowd today…perhaps it had to do with so many people sitting as close to possible to the stage…never seen the first few rows that full…it really helped.
- The band did a great job with “Secrets”…I hope when you hear it on the radio it reminds you of today’s message.
- Speaking of the band, huge thanks to Tim Arthun! Today was Tim’s last day as a part of the band (other than being a potential fill-in for the future). Tim has been with us from the beginning and has a bright future ahead of him. Thanks again Tim…couldn’t have done the first year without you!
- Wrapped-up the “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them” series.
- To be honest all week long I was ok with the message but not extremely excited.
- Last night though something clicked…and I couldn’t wait.
- You can listen to it here.
- I talked about the need for getting real with others.
- Seriously take a listen.
- Best of all…6 more people came into a relationship with Jesus today!
- That never gets old!
- Excited that 30+ more people have decided to get involved in a Life Group as a result of this series.
- That’s in addition to the 40-50 that were already involved…great to see so many becoming a part of the “Be With” plan.
- I love meeting in a movie theater but one disadvantage is having to clean-up so quickly which means not a lot of time to hang-out afterward getting to know people.
- So today we invited anyone who wanted to out to Infinito’s.
- The third unexpected thing of the day was how many showed up.
- We had reserved their backroom and not only filled it up but also another whole section towards the back.
- We had 60+, which not only is good for their business but also good for us as I heard many say they got to meet some people that they normally don’t get to talk with.
- This Saturday at 9am at the “Pot of Love” restaurant we’ll be doing it again for anyone that’s interested.
- Got a couple of nice cards and gifts today as a part of Pastor Appreciation Month…certainly appreciate the encouragement!
- Also one final reminder that anyone interested in the FREE Church Planting Dinner here in Harrisburg on November 10th needs to RSVP immediately.
- Next week we begin a new series called, “Just Walk Across the Room”. What if you impacting someone’s eternity was only 20 feet away…come next week to find out what that means and what you can do!
Inside Today’s Experience (1 Year Birthday Edition)
- Hard to believe but today is our 1 year birthday as a church.
- What a year it’s been…to see for yourself here’s a recap music video we put together.
- The morning seemed earlier than normal since Chad and I spent the beginning of the week at a church conference out in Vegas and my body hasn’t adjusted back to Eastern Time…so 6:20am felt more like 3:20am…ughhh.
- The adrenaline though of a big day helped to make it better.
- Set-up went well but we had a few things happen that made for a longer than normal pre-Experience time.
- First the band had to practice an additional 4 songs that they were doing for their mini-concert and I had to create 30+ slides quickly for the comedy bit Bill was doing during the welcome time.
- We had tried it during the warm-up without slides but it fell a bit flat…but during the Experience it went well with the addition of the slides…and oh yeah the noise makers certainly helped!
- Today we had balloons and a huge birthday cake (pictured in this post) in the lobby in addition to party music.
- It was really a great atmosphere and something we’ll need to replicate in some way each week.
- One problem we’ve had is getting people from the lobby/cafe area into the Experience on time. This week at the conference I heard an idea and came home and made it happen.
- Essentially I wrote a song that encourages people to get out of the lobby and into the Experience.
- Big thanks to Matt Cassidy for helping me put the music to it and for recording it.
- Best thing is I’m told it actually worked.
- Lisa said at first people were laughing but then realized, “Oh I actually need to get moving” and they did!
- While the lobby was buzzing with energy the band was doing their mini-concert which was really cool.
- We then launched into the Experience with a cover of “Lies of the Beautiful People”.
- It was perhaps the best cover they’ve done…not an easy song yet they killed it!
- Bill followed with his 1 Year Birthday Quiz which went over well…again especially with people blowing noisemakers.
- The band then did a few of their and the crowds favorite worship songs from our first year.
- As always they did a great job…special shout-out to Gayle for coming in and playing/singing despite the fact she’s been really ill all week long.
- As I got up to speak it was great to look out to a big crowd…in fact we had our largest crowd ever!
- I knew I was in trouble though because we were already 10 minutes behind by the time I started speaking…but it all worked out.
- Today we started a new series called, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them”. Today’s first message was about how all of us should come with an “As Is” tag. You can listen to it here.
- The balloons from the lobby were brought in and placed on either side of the stage…113 in all…1 for every person that made a decision to become a follower of Jesus in our first year.
- One of them though got loose and went all the way to the ceiling of the theater…so when I referred to it during the Experience I said about the 112 here and the 1 up there.
- I didn’t think about it in the moment but afterwards the step-mom of JT Fox said it made perfect sense to her. Why? Because shortly after becoming a follower of Jesus at Exponential, JT passed away. Wow…only God!
- After the Experience everyone enjoyed the cupcakes provided by Cindy’s Sweets and Treats. Thanks Cindy…awesome as always!
- Afterwards it as great to talk with everyone…especially those who came in from out-of-town (some hours away) just to be with us on this special day.
- Thanks to all our leaders and apprentice leaders who serve so hard and well each week…it’s been a pleasure serving with you this past year…the best is yet to come!
- Next week we’ll continue the series by looking at Jesus plan for people to escape loneliness.
- Also as I mentioned, the greatest struggle we have right now is financially.
- If you believe in the vision of what we’re doing then please support us.
- If you attend Exponential that means a tithe…for others whatever you can give is certainly appreciated.
- In year 2 we want to live up to the Exponential name and see God do exponentially more than what we saw in year 1…thanks in advance for supporting us in that.
Inside Today’s Experience (Monday edition)
- Doing this a day later than normal.
- Not a whole lot to report from yesterday.
- Nothing too good or too bad happened.
- Which to me is a negative thing because I never want to get comfortable with a Sunday just being “average” and “we did our thing”.
- That’s where the negative side of religion can begin to creep in…doing the same things over and over without thought as to why.
- Now don’t get me wrong…we had some incredible things happen yesterday…3 more people prayed and asked for Jesus for His forgiveness and leadership in their lives!
- That alone makes for a great day!
- The only thing out of the ordinary was I did some filming in preparation for our 1 year birthday party coming up during the October 16th Experience.
- Don’t forget to mark your calendars for that. It’s going to be an incredible morning looking back at our 1st year and kicking off the “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them” series.
- Oh wait there was one other out of the ordinary thing yesterday…the Cafe was serving soft pretzels…they looked really good.
- Had a decent sized crowd but nothing like the previous weekend…energy levels were way down as well…going to blame the weather…ughhh I hate cold weather.
- For those that might have missed it, I continued the Unveil series by sharing how we shouldn’t read God’s Word looking just for promises but rather for principles.
- You can listen to it here…many shared with me afterward that they enjoyed my opening story that further illustrates how much of an idiot I can sometimes be.
- Oh yeah…one last thing that happened…my best friends Andy and Gayle bought me a gift and gave it to me yesterday that I absolutely HATE.
- Yep you read that right…and they knew I’d hate it before they even gave it to me.
- They could have given me a satanic cat, wearing a Steelers jersey that sings country music and I’d have liked it better.
- And you know what…
- …I still love them both anyway.
- It’s great having friends that can joke with one another, know how to push each others buttons in a loving way and most of all will follow you to Harrisburg, PA to plant a church if you ask them.
- Thanks Krull family for your sacrifice…happy 1 year anniversary in Harrisburg….now I must go plot my revenge. 🙂
Inside Today’s Experience
- The ups and downs of being a church planter continued today…
- Unlike last week, today was an up.
- We had our 3rd highest attended day ever!
- More importantly yet another person came into a relationship with Jesus!
- The day started out not so good though when I realized I had left my bible at home.
- Luckily Lisa had not yet left the house so she was able to bring it.
- Although we only live 3 minutes away so it really wasn’t that big of a deal.
- It was foggy and chilly this morning as Mike and I put signs out. I told him it reminds me of last year the first couple of times we did it.
- Hard to believe we’re coming up on our 1 year anniversary.
- Speaking of…we’ll be celebrating it on October 16th and we’re asking everyone who has ever come (even if it was just once) to be with us that day.
- Also for those of you who have been meaning to come this would be a great day to come as well.
- We have some special things planned and expect it will be a great day.
- Ok back to today…set-up went extremely smooth although it was really warm because the theater wasn’t sure whether or not to turn on the AC.
- Glad they did because I was drenched by the time set-up and practice was done.
- I think because of the big crowd, the band had their best day yet.
- The energy was incredible and the band and the crowd seemed to feed off of each other.
- It was great seeing so many people engaged in worship and hearing them singing loud during some songs that have “crowd” parts.
- I continued with the Unveil series by talking about what you need to do when you need to know God’s will quickly or when your facing a deadline.
- You can listen to it here.
- I didn’t feel like it was one of my better messages, yet many have already told me they really liked it so I guess that’s a good thing.
- Loved meeting so many new people today out in the lobby.
- Especially great to see a number of people that we’ve helped through www.HarrisburgFloodRelief.com.
- So today was a good day…from the bad end however…
- I shared briefly that one of the greatest challenges for a church plant is financially.
- To be honest we’re not doing well right now.
- So two things…
- First please pray.
- Second, if you’re feeling lead, please continue or perhaps for the first time consider supporting us financially.
- In 11 1/2 months we’ve had 108 people come into a relationship with Jesus and we’ve been able to help so many people in all kinds of ways in the community both from a practical and spiritual level.
- What I’m saying is your financial support WILL make an eternal difference…but we can’t do it without you.
- Thanks in advance…and thanks for your continued prayers through both the ups and downs of getting a new church off the ground.
- Next week we’ll continue the Unveil series by looking at how to discover principles in God’s Word that will help us determine what God’s will is for us…hoping we can keep the momentum going!