Week 2 at our new location

We had over 300 people during week 2 at our new portable location for Life Church. It was an amazing day. I took a minute to recap the morning on video.
P

Elevation Worship - "Give Me Faith"

Many of you Lifers know about Elevation Church and Pastor Steven Furtick in Charlotte, North Carolina. Just over 3 years into planting this church they are reaching over 7,000 people every weekend and seeing thousands come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
In addition to having an amazing teaching pastor (Furtick), who we hear teaching from during One Prayer, but they also have some amazing worship leaders who are writing and recording amazing new worship songs. I found this video this morning and was overcome by the raw, simplicity of it. It is called "Give Me Faith". What a great cry for us all as we chase after God. I hope you enjoy it.

Give Me Faith [Acoustic] from Elevation Worship on Vimeo.

Weekly Update 8/27/09

Reflections on Sunday

This Sunday was our first at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts. The facility was just amazing. It is so perfectly suited for us to use on Sunday mornings. LifeKIDS went off really well next door at the Fun Factory. I saw a lot of smiling faces from all the kids as they exited the building. Overall, our first Sunday as these new locations was a great success.

It was exciting to see many new faces, but most of all, it was so awesome to see what God was doing. I believe God is positioning us for an opprotunity to see more people come to know Jesus than any time in recent memory here in Franklin. It’s time for us to shkae off the religious shackles that we carry around and just live, breath and speak Jesus into as many lives as possible. I am overwhlemed by the lives I see being changed by only the power of God. Frankly, I am overwhlemed by what he is doing in my life and my family. I acknowledge and give him all the credit and honor for everything good in my life and everything happening at LCF.

So what’s next….

We have got to stay passionate about our personal growth with God. We have to stay in his Word and beg for Him to move and do amazing things in and through us. My prayer is that we never become satisfied with where we are at. There is always more of him that we can chase after. So here are a few random things for you to consider and pray about this week and then put into action:

·        Don’t ever get tired of inviting someone to church…you just never know. We had people come this week that had been invted to LCF for months. Sunday was their first time and they loved it! It’s not up to you to make their mind up for them, but it is up to you to invite them.

·        If you are not signed up to volunteer and serve on Sundays, you are missing out. I want to give a huge shout out to all the LCF volunteers for their hard work this Sunday. It was awesome. YOU are the church. The only way to really BE the church is to serve others. So, stop by Guest Service this week and sign up for something. Serve in LifeKIDs or helping with clean-up. I promise it will be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do! Just think, you will be helping to lead and encourage an environment where others can learn to become fully devoted followers of Christ!

·        Come early on Sundays. We really need people to come by 9:30am to fellowship and get settled in. As we add more people on Sundays it gets harder to seat people right at 10am…and we will be staring at 10am each morning.

·        Start gearing up to join a Life Group. Groups meet at different places during the week and are the perfect place to grow more intimate with others and most importantly in your faith. If you don’t plug into one, you will be missing out.

 

Thanks for being a part of Life Church Franklin! If you are reading this and haven’t made it yet, well there’s a seat for you. Relevant teaching…Modern Worship…Casual Dress. www.lifechurchfranklin.com

 

In His Grip,

Patrick

 

P.S. – I will be posting pictures from Sunday later this week!

Almost time

I am about 8 and 1/2 hours from the re-launch of Life Church Franklin as we move to our new portable location in Franklin. No matter how many people show up and what happens here is what remains the same....God is God. God is going to move and change lives. He is changing mine every day. God is in control. He is all powerful and the only source of real freedom in life. God is and will set people free. God will save lives. God will speak to peoples hearts through His Word. Every good and perfect thing comes from God. He is worthy of all mine and yours praise.
So, no matter what happens tomorrow with LCF's big day at our new location, God is still holy, awesome, all-powerful, all-knowing, beautiful, perfect, worthy, amazing and great.
Amen!
P

See you in a couple hours. Hope I can sleep!

New Location This Sunday!

This Sunday Life Church Franklin will begin meeting at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts! This is the beginning for a new journey of ministry for LCF and we hope you will be there to celebrate with us!

Here's a few things to keep in mind for this Sunday:

• Come early! Worship and LifeKIDS starts at 10am sharp. We don't want you to miss a thing, so come early. We encourage everyone to be there by 9:30am to get seats
• LifeKIDS check-in....If you have children ages 2yr old to 5th grade please go the Fun Factory first to check in your child. You and your child will receive corresponding labels to wear all morning. This will allow us to match you up with your child and ensure the highest level of safety and security. You must have your label to pick up your child. No exceptions!
• Invite someone! We have plenty of space for guests. Take time to today to invite someone.

We hope you will be praying for everything happening at Life Church Franklin. Pray for God to begin and do amazing things in your heart and the hearts of the those who come to Life Church. We want to share His love and lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

See you Sunday!

 

 

Less Than One Week....

It's less than one week till Life Church Franklin begins meeting at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts and the Fun Factory for our adult and LifeKIDS worship experiences.
Find out more at the website and we hope to see you there!

Who do you know?

One of my biggest challenges in leading a growing church is get people connected. First and foremost, we want people connected with their Creator God and the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we want people to connect to other people.

The only way to grow in our faith and have an opportunity to build real, meaningful community is to interact and build relationships together. This is huge. All the programs and “stuff” in the world won’t replace these things. If there are not meaningful relationships being build with other families and new friends it will all fall apart and get stagnant.

So, I ask you, who do you know? I mean, who at Life Church Franklin do really know outside of you and your family? Have you taken time to meet and introduce yourself to others? Have you invited someone over for dinner? Meet someone for lunch? Taken other families to the park together?

At LCF we strive to create atmospheres (worship experiences and Life Groups) where people can worship, laugh, cry and learn together in corporate and small group settings, but this only goes so far. We all need intimate relationships with other believers. But for that to happen you have to do something about it. You have to introduce yourself to someone. Take time to meet for lunch or dinner. Make that phone call to set up a walk on the Greenway.

If your already do this, great! If you’re not, I encourage to start this week!

So, who do you know?

Church is not about a building

Yesterday I shared a little bit about the vision for Life Church Franklin’s move to our new portable location. On August 23^rd we will begin meeting at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts for our worship experiences. The kids experience will take place at the same time inside the Fun Factory right next door. While I have to admit that both of these buildings are flat out amazing, the buildings really aren’t the point.

Here’s the point…Since starting Life Church Franklin last year with 9 people we have see weekly attendance grow to over 150 or more. At our current location we have completely run out of room for our kids and adult worship experiences. We have seen almost 20 people give their lives to Christ and we have baptized many people too. Our community Life Groups continue to grow and discipleship groups are sprouting up or being planned as I write. All this is said because, well, it’s not about stuff. It’s not about me. It’s not about a building. It’s about the fact that God is doing His work through Life Church Franklin…and that’s you. You see, the church never was and never will be about a building. There are people in Africa having “church”, worshipping God around a tree. That’s where they have “church”. There are people in China having “church” anywhere safe they can find. THEY are the church. YOU are the church. I am the church. WE are the church. As followers of Jesus Christ WE all make up God’s church.

So, that’s why it’s not about a building.

This is what it’s all about:

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35

This is our message. Not that we have a great big, cool building (and it is big and very cool), but that the hope and salvation for the world is found in Jesus Christ. Let’s take that to the streets!

P