LifeKIDS with Lisa

We had an awesome Eve of Christmas Eve service Thursday! God brought in so many to join us in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, and I pray they were all blessed beyond measure! I was blessed to sit next to a whole row of kids worshiping our God! It was great to be up front and see the kids being able to move around and worship Him in their own way!

I pray you each had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We did not plan on a regular service December 26 and it was a good thing, because we had over eight inches of snow and probably would have had to cancel services.... Driving has been a bit tricky since then, the white Christmas was beautiful and we are all trying to keep warm:) Life Church office is back up and in full swing today! Planning for the new year and excited to see what God has in store for us next is so exciting! I know he will make it an incredible 2011!

So I am looking forward to getting back to LifeKIDS this Sunday, January 2nd!!! I have missed the kids and volunteers and the routine! I pray you all have a fun and safe New Year!

Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin
LifeKIDS Coordinator

FIRST - Message this Sunday

We are really excited about this message for the new year. It's all about "First".

Portable Church Giving

2 weeks ago I challenged Life Church Franklin to give over and above the tithe towards our new portable church setup. We need to change the setup at the theater because of some arrangements so we are purchasing $30,000 in new lights, sound and video that will be ours for Sunday mornings for the adult and kids experiences.

We believe this will allow us to keep impacting our community and leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. There is still lots of work to be done in our community and Life Church is a big part of that. Our prayer is that you will pray and seek what you can give over and above your tithe (10%) between now and the end of January to sacrificially give towards this effort. The latest collection total has us at $9,000 already! Amazing, but we have $21,000 left to go.

If you would like to give towards this effort you can give now online at our secure PayPal page.

Here is a short video too from LifeChurch.tv Lead Pastor Craig Groeschel addressing our Network Church about this effort.



Life Church Franklin is proud to be a part of the LifeChurch.tv Network.

LifeKIDS

LifeKIDS this past week was a true test of portable church!!! We were not able to use our normal facilities, however we made it work! Thanks to a wonderful team of volunteers to help set up, tear down, direct kids and work with the kids (all in a new and different way)!!!! Our four to ten year old kids were all together and started with adult worship and then were able to gather for the Christmas Story and then many crafts! A great time was had by all!

Looking forward to a new curriculum starting in January to help these kids gain a better understanding of what it means to worship! We worship Him when we pray, we worship Him when we sing, we worship Him when we obey, we worship Him when we serve others...

Robert Morris delivered another awesome message on giving and we are kicking off a challenge at Life Church Franklin to give over and above! We are committed to seeing people become fully devoted followers of Christ and love to see our church body come together to serve and support that vision with us each week! Thank you for hearing His voice Life Church... He has so much for each of us!!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Thursday, December 23 invite your family and friends to join us for a night to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We will begin at 7:00 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts! Hope to see a packed house!!!

Merry Christmas to you and yours,
Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin
LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

Some quit hits on whats going on at Life Church:

- The Eve of Christmas Eve worship experience is tomorrow night at 7pm at the Smoky Mountain Center for Performing Arts. This is sure to be Christmas like you've never seen before. We are so excited about this and hope to see you there.

- There will be no regular worship experience on Sunday, December 26th which is the day after Christmas. Enjoy the time with your family and out next Sunday worship will be Sunday, January 2nd.

- The giving challenge this past Sunday was amazing! We are still praying for the fund of $30,000 total to be collected through January 30th for out new portable church setup, but we are so thankful for all that many of you have given and will give in the coming weeks. I will share more about this next week on the blog.

See you tomorrow!
Patrick

LifeKIDS News

We had to cancel services last week due to the wintry weather, I thought about not having to do that from where we lived before...(Florida) However, we did have cancellations there for hurricanes... I think I prefer this!!! It is still very cold out there today and someone said it is even beginning to sleet a little out there. It is not the same to be at home Sunday mornings and not able to fellowship with our wonderful volunteers and children of LifeKIDS!!! I did watch Life Church TV and enjoyed it!

I was able to send out some beautiful cards, pictures and letters to our children we sponsor through Compassion International! It is such a blessing to have a hand in what God is doing in their lives so far away from us! LifeKIDS did a wonderful job of sharing!!
I wish we could be there to see their faces as they get their little pile of notes!

It is so hard to believe that we are planning for our last LifeKIDS this year! We will have LifeKIDS this Sunday the 19th and then our Eve of Christmas Eve service is a family service for all (I hope you have had a chance to invite someone!!!)

The Eve of Christmas Eve service will be a wonderful evening to invite your friends, family and neighbors to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!! Join us at the Performing Arts Hall on Thursday, December 23 at 7:00!!!
I hope to see you there!!!

As you prepare for Christmas, remember to keep Christ in the center of it all!!!
Have a great week,
Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin
LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

- We were not able to have our Sunday worship experience this past Sunday due to snow and unsafe winter conditions. It's one of the tougher parts of being portable, but it will make us more grateful when we have our own facility one day.

- Sunday we will be collecting hats and gloves for local children with our Tree of Warmth. We will have a big tree for you to hang gloves and hats that we will be distributing to local kids throughout our community who are in need. So, bring a bunch of gloves and hats this Sunday.

- I am super excited about the Eve of Christmas Eve worship experience taking place next week Thursday, December 23rd. We have a great line up or worship and more. Most importantly we will celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. His birth set in motion our salvation. We will be celebrating loudly that night!

Stay warm this week. It is really cold out there. I can't wait to worship with you this Sunday!

Patrick

Mid Week Look

The Christmas season is in full swing with LifeKIDS!! The kids are working on activities to help celebrate and learn more about the birth of Jesus! The rooms are decorated and our volunteers are doing an awesome job of pouring into the kids!

The message this week was a wonderful reminder to put God first in all that we do especially in our finances! I really want to read the book “The Blessed Life” by Robert Morris.

The best thing this past week was our volunteer appreciation dinner Sunday night called The Big Show! I pray that each person there and even those that weren’t able to attend knows how much our staff appreciates each and every one of them! Life Church doesn’t happen each week with out the hands and feet of the volunteers!! It is amazing to see them step up to the plate with love, joy, patience and giving of themselves to truly show the love of Christ to others! You are so loved!! If you aren’t a part of a team, you don’t know what you are missing!!!!

Please invite someone to our Eve of Christmas Eve service at the Performing Arts Hall on Thursday, December 23 at 7:00! It will be a night to worship and glorify our Lord and Savior!

Have a great week,
Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin
LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

- Yesterday was so busy for Life Church. We had our Sunday morning worship experience and then the Big Show on Sunday night for our volunteers.

- Sunday worship was interesting. We used a whole new video and sound setup. It was our first week so it will take some more time to dial it all in, but it worked. We are working very hard to make it better and we are grateful we can do so. Just like many things at LCF, it's a work in progress. :-)

- Our first ever Big Show volunteer appreciation event was held last night with great success. Our volunteers are at the core of what happens at Life Church. Without these amazing people serving every week we would not be able to share the Gospel of Jesus with as many people as get to. The volunteers were treated to dinner, games, worship and over course, prizes! I can't wait to do it again next year.

- The Eve of Christmas Eve worship experience is coming up on Thursday, December 23rd. We are really excited about celebrating Christmas with you and your family that night at the SMCPA.

Have a great week!
Patrick

LifeKIDS Christmas

It is now December and this Sunday we will begin our Christmas series in two of our LifeKIDS classrooms! I love Christmas and all that it means and it is so exciting to share that with children! Our All-Stars class will begin with a study on Mary and then Joseph and our Motion class will learn about sharing their things and that Jesus is the greatest gift. Both classes will end with a study on giving and the manger scene! Our two and three year olds painted and glittered a star for the star of Bethlehem this past week and they turned out so cute!

I can’t go a week without lifting up our awesome LifeKIDS Volunteers!!! They are so faithful and dedicated to developing fully devoted followers of Christ! A few of our volunteers have had other things come up and actually came in to fulfill their commitment to LifeKIDS first. A big HIGH FIVE to them!!!

What better gift could you give someone than to share Jesus with them? Bring someone to church on Sunday and/or our Eve of Christmas Eve service on Thursday, December 23rd! That goes for the kids too, bring a friend to church!!!

Have a great week,
Lisa Hanna
LifeKIDS Coordinator 
Life Church Franklin

Around Life

(Looks like we are finally back at it here on the blog. Sorry for the down time and it's great to be back!)

Here's whats happening around Life Church:

- This morning was an incredible time at Life Church. We saw 3 people make a commitment to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In talking about being good stewards of our finances, I talked about being good stewards of our lives. God wants us to live for something more than ourselves. We can only do that and be in His will if we are committed to Jesus Christ. Seeing these 3 lives changed today forever is one of the great joys of leading LCF.

- Thank you to everyone who gave food today for CareNet's food bank. Resources are shrinking and it's our responsibility as the Church to reach out and help organizations and people who need organizations like CareNet.

- Thursday, December 23rd is our Eve Of Christmas Eve worship experience. This will be a Christmas celebration filled with worship music, scripture, communion and more. There will be NO LifeKIDS that night, but we want you and your family to attend together. Bring your family, friends and anyone else to this amazing night. We will start at 7pm at the Smoky Mountain Center of the Performing Arts.

- As we are a few days away from Thanksgiving I think it's very appropriate to let you know that I am so thankful for all the people who make Life Church. I'm thankful for our awesome leadership team, staff, volunteers and congregation.

Thank you for joining us on this journey of Life Church and have a great week!

Patrick

So Much Happening

Wow, so much is happening around Life Church Franklin!
-New Offices
-New Volunteers
-Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes

We are in our new offices and I must say it is great! I can't believe how much space we now have. I have my own office (which I have never experienced). We have storage on sight and it is so nice to have supplies in one place! It all came together very nice with the new paint, carpet and furniture! Thanks to all who helped make it happen! I will miss Bonnie from the old office but I know I can go to visit her anytime! I will also miss the ease of conversation that we were able to have in the closeness of the other office!

God comes through each week to provide volunteers that make LifeKIDS a great place for our KIDS to grow closer to him each week! Honestly, my flesh worries weekly as we have a few volunteers that are not able to make it for some reason or another. I can worry, but until I truly trust Him to provide for all of our needs, then I can find the peace needed for all things to work out! We have incredible volunteers that will fill in for each other, others who just say we will be fine with the volunteers that we already have and those willing to substitute, it has worked out!! We also have lost a few volunteers lately to various circumstances in their lives, however, God has come through and is providing new volunteers to fill those spots!!! He is so good!!! I shouldn't be surprised but should know we are blessed to be provided for in many ways!

We had a great time last week at our “Shoe Box Night”! I love seeing all the KIDS and parents working together to put the boxes together! It was awesome to see the KIDS writing letters to share Jesus to a child they don't even know, filling boxes and helping to wrap them too! We were able to put together just over 200 boxes this year! That night there was also an opportunity to prepare Christmas cards for our troops. One of our six year old LifeKIDS wrote the most touching Christmas card it almost made me cry! If you weren't there, you missed out on a wonderful time!

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Warmly,
Lisa Hanna

New Office Space Makes For Blog Break

The whole Life Church staff has been crazy busy this week getting our new office ready to move into. This new space has more room for staff, volunteers and small groups.

SOOOOO....we are not blogging this week,. We will be back in action next week. See you Sunday!

Patrick

Around Life

After spending time last week with other LifeChurch.t Network churches I am once again reminded how special all that is happening here at Life Church Franklin really is. God is moving and changing so many lives, including mine. It's an amazing place to be and it is simply by his power and Spirit alive in us that this is happening. I encourage you to continue praying for our church and for the lives that will be changed during the remainder of 2010.

Here are some thoughts about Sunday and things at LCF:

- The start of our new series Masquerade was awesome. Craig very specifically encouraged us to take off the makes we hide behind and quite trying to hide from God. I could see in the eyes of many people yesterday that they were freed to quit hiding and live in His love and grace.

- The time of prayer after the service was amazing. I'm telling you, it's not an easier life when you decide to follow Christ whole-heartedly, but it's a life worth living. His love, grace and mercy are more than enough for us both in the good and bad. God is good!

- Life change is happening! 2 people committed their lives to Jesus Christ yesterday. That never gets old. Lets pray for them that God will surround them and they will feel his presence and grow in their faith in great ways.

- Collections for items for operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are this Sunday. Bring stuff. We want to fill at least 250 boxes this year. For a complete list of items to bring this Sunday click here.

- Thank you Life Church Franklin for being faithful to the work God is doing in our church. Things are just getting started and the best is yet to come!

LifeKIDS News

Two of our classes started a fun filled new series this past Sunday called Ten Hut! We had fun decorating and preparing to share Christ with the KIDS through a military theme! There was military camo everywhere!!!

The four and five year old Motion class started with the theme “God Knows Me and Made Me Special” through the story of David being chosen to be King in 1 Samuel 16. This week the theme is “I will do what I say I will do” from 1 Samuel 17:17-52.

Our six to ten year old All-Stars class also has the military theme and started with “God Gives Me Courage When I Am Afraid” from Joshua 1:9. This week their theme will be “God Helps Me Through Others and God Helps Others Through Me” with the Bible story of Rahab and the Spies from Joshua 2 and the Bible verse Ecclesiastes 4:9.

This curriculum has the children learning the Bible through song, hand motions, journaling, games and small groups! The KIDS are excited and so are the volunteers!

I pray as we share God’s word through fun curriculum we are imparting His wisdom in them to become Fully Devoted Followers of Christ!!!

“Whoever finds wisdom finds life and receives favor from the Lord. I find wisdom, and I find life and receive favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 8:35

Planted

This weeks message was great from Dino Rizzo; lead pastor of Healing Place Church! Are you “planted” in church? It is up to you to be connected into the church! Being a part of a church can be one of the best things in your life! Not just showing up on Sunday morning but really getting connected with others and having those relationships can benefit your spiritual growth! Whether you are connected in a Life Group, part of a team or just doing life with other Christians; make sure you are planted!
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

We’ve all heard the saying that giving is better than receiving, well that is true of your time as well! I think that most people who are planted/connected at Life Church would agree that serving Him through giving of their time on Sunday is a very rewarding experience! There is a sense of belonging and ownership when you are plugged in here at Life Church!
Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love.

I have heard many people say that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called! If you feel as if you are being called by Him, don’t wait until “you” feel like you need to change this or that, just make the step and get connected! God can use you right where you are! We have many opportunities at Life Church, either through an outreach project we are doing as a church or becoming part of a Life Group, or joining a team.... Check with Guest Services in the lobby if you have any questions about getting connected! Pray about where your life can be used and get Planted!!!!

I would love to hear back from a few that are planted and just tell a little about it!
Have a wonderful week!
Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin
LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

- The new series Planted was really powerful yesterday. Dino Rizzo from Healing Place Church challenged us to be planted in God's house. I have to say I am in total support of what he said. We need to be planted, or in community with other people to grow in our faith. (Watch the message here.)

- The worship team played an acoustic set during worship that was amazing. I thank God for gifted musicians who love to lead people into worshiping Jesus through music.

- Operation Christmas Child collection starts in just 2 weeks. Our goal is to do over 350 boxes to send to kids all over the world through OCC.

- Life Groups are really kicking it up this fall. If you are not in a group yet you are missing an opportunity to really just "do life" with others. We have lots of groups meeting. Check it out and give it a try. (Life Group info page.)

Have a great week!
Patrick

Operation Christmas Child

One of the great projects we do every year through Life Church is Operation Christmas Child. This is simply one of the best and simplest ways to tough a child's life with love and the Gospel during the Christmas season.



OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
LIST OF SUPPLIES FOR SHOEBOXES

PLEASE BRING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS AND
PLACE IN CONTAINERS AT GUEST SERVICES
ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31st
OR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th


ALL ITEMS MUST BE NEW
CLEAN EMPTY SHOEBOXES
SMALL STUFFED ANIMALS
OR DOLLS
SMALL CARS
SMALL BALLS
JUMPROPE
YO YO'S
SLINKY'S
PLAY DOUGH
PLAYING CARDS
COLORING BOOKS
CRAYONS
MARKERS
PENCILS AND SHARPENERS
NOTEBOOKS OR DRAWING PAPER
SCISSORS
NOTEBOOKS
SMALL FLASHLIGHTS WITH BATTERIES
SOCKS FOR GIRLS OR BOYS
TOOTHPASTE
TOOTHBRUSHES
COMB OR BRUSH
BANDAIDS

PLEASE COME TO GUEST SERVICES TO SIGN UP OR
EMAIL RENEE MCCALL
mccall@lifechurchfranklin.com
YOU MUST SIGN UP FOR A SPECIFIC TIME SLOT FOR
THE ASSEMBLING OF THE SHOEBOXES.
YOU ARE SIGNING UP FOR
1HR TIMESLOTS.

SHOEBOX PARTY ASSEMBLY IS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH 5PM TILL 9PM
AT THE MTN. VIEW INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

Not Much Writing

We have not had much time this week to post to the blog so I thought I would show you why.
The new Life Church office is being prepared as I write this. We have the painting almost complete. Here are some pictures:


The new office is located on main street in downtown Franklin on the second floor of the building that houses Wachovia Bank.
We can't wait to get it done and begin using it for some many things we have planned.
Thanks to all who have helped get it ready!

Patrick

LifeKIDS Serving

I am hearing from LifeKIDS teachers about the fun they are having working with the KIDS on Sunday mornings! “The kids are really getting into the lessons!”
One of the kids said last Sunday, “That was the most fun I have had in church in a long time!” LifeKIDS volunteers are doing a wonderful job with these kids!
It is so cool to see God’s light shine though the volunteers and children in LifeKIDS! As we overcome obstacles I know that God has great things planned for us! I am confident that what God has begun here in Franklin with the vision of Life Church will glorify him as we continue to follow our passion to serve Him in whatever he places on our hearts!

The Servolution meeting this past Sunday night was very exciting to be a part of! Let’s all pray for God to reveal to us the things He needs done in this city! We will be the hands and feet to show Franklin who He is through this great ministry!

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them” Hebrews 6:10

Have a great week!
Lisa Hanna
LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

What a day we had at Life Church yesterday. I am so overwhelmed by the stories I am hearing from the teaching of Chazown. What a privilege for us to hear and soak in Spirit filled teaching from Craig Groeschel. Here are a couple thoughts I had today:

- I am praying for you to find you Chazown. Finding the God given vision for your life is so important to making the most of time God has given you here on earth. I would encourage you to spend time reading and praying if you don't know your Chazown for your life.

- The whole worship experience was just amazing yesterday. I find a great thrill in seeing people worship unashamed through music to express there worship to God. Our worship team was awesome!

- I am more than ever excited about whats next for us at Life Church. I believe our greatest days are ahead in terms of what God is going to do. Be praying and thinking about who you can bring with you this week to Life Church so they can experience it too!

- We are looking for some more folks to assist in LifeKIDS. If you interested please email Lisa Hanna at hanna@lifechurchfranklin.com .

- Thank you for being a part of whats happening at Life Church. It's an honor to serve and lead. Thank you for also honoring me and my family yesterday through your notes of encouragement and donations towards our adoption of our little girl from Ethiopia.

Blessings!
Patrick

Fun With LifeKIDS

Let me tell you a little about LifeKIDS Ministry at Life Church Franklin!!

Lively bunch of KIDS and Volunteers that love Jesus!!
Inside and out, these KIDS are growing!!
Fully Devoted Followers of Christ!!!!
Everyone from one to twelve years of age are welcome to join us!!!
Kind and loving volunteers to pour into these KIDS!!!
Indescribable time of worship, small groups and fun!!!
Driven to serve Him through teaching, missions, and reaching others!!
So wonderful to watch and be a part of what God has in store for the next generation!!

It all happens each week because of an amazing group of devoted volunteers who see the need to be a part of bringing up the next generation to be Fully Devoted Followers of Christ! Our lead teachers (Coaches) do a wonderful job each week in carrying out the plans and they couldn’t do it with out the support of the Team players that come along side them to work with the KIDS!!

Matthew 7:8 says “For everyone who asks receives...” We did ask for new volunteers to join our team and did receive about 5 new people! Wow, God is so amazing! There is always room for others to join! We still need a couple of people who would be willing to “substitute” in the classrooms and a couple for our LifeKIDS Check In Team!

Blessed to serve Him!!!
Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

- Discover. Develop. Deploy. Dr. Sam Chand challenged us to do these three things in believing in other people to help their accomplish their God given purposes in life.

- I loved how Dr. Chand said "Hello World!". That was great and he was really talking to the world. The cool think about being a part of the LifeChurch.tv Network is that we are a part of a global network of churches across the world through LC.tv campus, Network church (like us) and Church Online.

- Thank you to the people who stepped up to volunteer in LifeKIDS. This area of our church continues to grow and we are needing more volunteers. It's so awesome the work God is doing in these children and the volunteers. We still need more volunteers to be extra "hands" around the classrooms. Please consider it and sign up online right here!

- We are super excited about the Servolution Team Meeting this Sunday night. This is for anyone interested in being a part of our core team of outreach. It's a big commitment and will time some time, but it will be tons of fun. We want to make a huge difference in our community through being the hands and feet of Christ. The meeting will take place this Sunday at the McCollum House (next to United Community Bank) at 5pm.

Have a great week. I believe in you and more importantly, God believes in you!

Patrick

Time With God

What does God want from you? To have relationship with you, to know you and for you to know HIM! How? Each day carve out that quiet time to spend with Him and get to know Him more intimately. Think about those you are the closest with... a spouse, your children, best friends, parents. The best way to get to know them is to spend time with them, the more time you spend with someone, the better you come to know them and hopefully love them! Intimate time is what it takes, like that really get to know you quality time with someone! God desires that with each and every one of us! Are you taking the time to get to know Him? Can you say you know Him like you do some of the others listed above?

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11 (NIV) This is one of the first scripture verses I memorized and wow, how powerful that is! Do you have scripture hidden in your heart?

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:22-25 (NIV) Receive all that He has for you!

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
Ephesians 1:17

He chose you, make time for Him today and everyday, you will be glad you did!
Have a great week!
Lisa Hanna
Life Church Franklin LifeKIDS Coordinator

Community

Its a word that we here and usually associate with our town or the area we live in but it means so much more. Wikipedias definition of community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment.
Now I am not going to get all scientific on you but lets just say that a community is a group of interacting people sharing an environment. Essentially any time we are together we could be called a community! But, there is so much more to that. We as a body need to be more of a community that shares LIFE together rather than just an environment. As we spend time with people and get to know them better, let our walls come down and let people see us( the real us) we become closer to them.
Brandi and I have some couples in our lives that know us for who we really are. People that we can talk to about what ever and not have any awkwardness. People that have made us better people. Some of these couples are also in our Life Group. When you spend time with people or even better share a meal with someone you are taking things to the next level. When you invite someone into your home you are allowing people to come into your environment. That's were people really see you, they see you in your element.
Are you allowing people to see you in your element? Are you seeing others in theirs? Are you even spending time with other families, couples or Life Groups etc..? What is it you are doing to create community? If we at Life Church are going to continue to have a strong foundation or core of people then we have to do that by spending time with each other. Invite some one out to eat or have them over to your house. Do whatever it is to take the first step towards being a community that shares LIFE together, not just an environment!!

Lets stop talking about it and Be the Church!
Jason

Baptism Bash Video

A couple weeks ago we held our second Baptism Bash of the year and baptized 7 more people. It was an incredible celebration. These are the moments that make Life Church so special to me. Seeing the lives that are being changed by the love of Jesus Christ is just so amazing. I pray these moments continue to happen over and over again at Life Church. Thank you for being a part of this move of God!
Check out this video.
Patrick

Around Life

- I issued a challenge to our church to join in a 3 day fast (starting today) to pray for our church, community and church leadership. The response was amazing and I pray that God is going to use these days to show, guide, teach and direct Life Church to the next level of ministry he has for our church.

- If you are joining the fast please pray specifically for these 3 areas:
1) Life Church Franklin - What is next for our church? Where is God leading us to reach out in our families, work places and community to really be the Church?
2) The Franklin Community - There are many people in Franklin who know of Jesus Christ but few who really know him. We are going to pray God gives us the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus with as many people right here in Franklin as he leads us to.
3) Church Leadership - Pray for me, our staff, our volunteers and elder team. All of us take our roles very seriously and we are begging God to continue to show us how to lead and serve our church and community even more.

- I Believe In You week 2 was an awesome message. If you are a parent you need to really soak this message up and use it. We will have it posted on the church site by lunch tomorrow (Tuesday).

- Our volunteers are awesome, but they can't do it alone. We are looking for more volunteers in our LifeKIDS ministry. I don't have a total final count yet, but we had 43 kids in just 1 of the 5 classes yesterday! You can sign up here.

- We work very hard to create a welcoming and real environment for anyone to come into and hear the Gospel and be encouraged and challenged. The following comments were left on our Facebook fan page from some first time guests. I think they speak for themsleves:

"My daughter, son-in-law, their 3 kids and I (tagged along as usual ;) also attended worship service this morning for the first time at your Life Church. What a spirit-filled church and it was wonderful seeing many of my neighbors and friends there! Thanks for making us feel so welcome! We'll see you next Sunday!"

"Today was my first visit to Life Church and I'm sure it won't be my last. I have NEVER felt so welcome anywhere before! The worship service was amazing and my 10 year old son loved children's church. I truly believe that I have found my home here!! Thank you all so much!"

Praying for you!
Patrick

A LifeKIDS Life

This Sunday it was so amazing to have several LifeKIDS children baptized! God is so good! Wow, what a wonderful message this week from Craig! Where are you in your walk with God right now? As Christians, we are all equipped to be the Paul and the Timothy he referred to. Step out of your comfort zone, make time and find that someone. It could be someone you already spend a lot of time with or someone God has placed on your heart lately. Mentoring will grow both persons! Spend some time in prayer over this and start today!

LifeKIDS Volunteers Rock!! Each week LifeKIDS happens because at least 22 people are serving HIM through the giving of their hearts and time to the children of Life Church! These wonderful volunteers are sowing into the next generation by connecting with these kids to grow into becoming fully devoted followers of Christ! If you are not already serving somewhere in the church, consider how God may be calling you to help sow, connect and grow these young hearts! Please talk to someone at guest services, or check out our web site at www.lifechurchfranklin.com Serving is a fun and rewarding experience!!!

Lisa Hanna
Life Church LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

- We had our second baptism bash this year and it was simply amazing. We baptized 7 people right on the front walk off the theater at the end of our worship experience. People we cheering and clapping and celebrating every life. It is one of my greatest honors to see someone express their faith in Christ through baptism. What an amazing celebration.

- We started week 1 of the new series I Believe In You. If you were a 30 and under person in the building I hope you were greatly encouraged. This was one of the best messages I have on a Sunday morning directly spoken to young adults and students.

- To piggy back on Craig's message from Sunday I want to say that young adults and student are NOT the future of the church, they ARE the church! I have and always believe that everyone in the Church is the Church and we need to quit pushing back the younger generation. I'm only 32, but I know their are younger adults and students that can and will do ministry so much better than I could or ever would. We want you to know Life Church is YOUR church. We are cheering you on and want to see you chase God passion and dream to the fullest.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Life Church and LifeKIDS partnering with Compassion

I am so excited that LifeKIDS classes will be partnering with Compassion International to sponsor ten children from South America! This past weekend the Loop, All-Stars and Motion classes were introduced to their children during class. This is an opportunity for the children of LifeKIDS to see their offering at work! Compassion International sent us a picture of each child for us to meet! LifeKIDS were given the birthdate, name, country and information about how these children live in the information packet! Each week LifeKIDS will pray over the children we are sponsoring and then have a chance to give an offering that will be sent monthly to help sponsor these children! A special offering can has been placed in each of the classrooms labeled Compassion International and an offering time is part of the curriculum each week! Ask your child about the children their class has adopted! Each class has three or four children assigned to them. They range in age from three to twelve years old and were assigned to the classrooms respectively. Parents, please help us to support this ministry! This Sunday a group picture will be taken in each classroom to send over to the adopted children to meet LifeKIDS! All-Stars will be locating them on a globe too!

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,

Have a wonderful week!
Lisa Hanna
LifeKIDS Coordinator

Around Life

- We had a few more sign up for our baptism bash this coming Sunday! I'm so excited about our 2nd baptism bash this year. We will hold the baptism at the end of worship. Come and celebrate and cheer these people on as they make this outward expression of their faith in Jesus Christ.

- The Tony Dungy interview was so encouraging. What a godly example of a men who really cares for others. His challenge to each of us to be a mentor and find a mentor is one that I totally second. I think we all need someone who is speaking into our lives to build us up and that we need to find someone to do the same to. I hope some of you are finding your mentors even this week.

- I have 3 mentors that speak life into me as a pastor, father and husband. It's been some of the most rewarding and life changing relationships I've ever had.

- Life Groups are in full swing. If you have not found a group yet or want to get involved take time now and check out the groups available. Here are all the current groups listed on the LCF website.

- We have a Life Group for youth (7th - 12th grade) that is blowing up! This group meets every Sunday night and is a fun, relevant, engaging time for any students in this age range. If you are a student or have one in this age group please come check it out. Email Barry and Deidre Breeden at: barry.breeden@yahoo.com or check out the facebook fan page here.

Have a great week!
Patrick

An Insider Look At LifeKIDS

Do you know what goes on in The Fun Factory each Sunday in LifeKIDS? We have a GREAT group of volunteers that give of themselves each week to pour into the lives of these precious KIDS!

- Our classrooms are a fun way for children to become Fully Devoted Followers of Christ!
- Our youngest group is the Safari class for one year olds!
- The Quest classroom is made up of two and three year olds and they are beginning a new set of Bible stories with a series called Play-N-Worship!
- Motion is made up of four and five year olds and they have just begun a fun filled series in the construction zone to learn about how God loves them and that He made them each so special!
- The All-Stars group is six to ten year old students. Each week they have a special time of worship to start their morning and then have games and small groups that focus on how God loves them!
- Our oldest group in LifeKIDS is the Loop made up of eleven and twelve year old students. They are finishing up a series called “The Pour” that has focused on how they can pour into the lives of others through serving!

LifeKIDS is a great place to serve if you are not already serving somewhere! There is nothing that can fill your heart like the smile on a child's face!
“Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

Hope to see you there this week!
Lisa Hanna
LifeKIDS Coordinator

What is portable church?

I get asked a lot how and what is a portable church? Since we have grown so fast over the last 2 years we have had to adapt and be creative in finding enough room for Sunday worship experiences for adults and kids.
Once God opened the door to use the Fun Factory and Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts for us to use on Sundays we had to figure out how to get all our "stuff" in and out of the buildings each Sunday. For about a year we have been graciously been given storage space at the Factory and theater for the managers. Now we have outgrown those storage rooms. In comes the Life Church trailer.
We now have an awesome huge trailer to safely store all our stuff for LifeKIDS and the adult worship experience in each week. It's some work to load in and load out each Sunday morning but it not that bad.
Our setup team is very faithful in getting there early enough to get the boxes and items out. It works very well.
I am extremely grateful for out volunteers that make it happen each week and that we are able to rent these facilities to have church each Sunday. It has allowed us to not be trapped in a building to small or have a building to big we can't maintain or afford.
Thank you Life Church for making this local church more than just about having a building and being flexible enough to make a portable church work and effective in sharing the Gospel in our community. That's portable church!

Patrick

Around Life

Our Sunday worship experience was absolutely amazing yesterday. Tackling Toxic Religion, Craig did an great job talking about the dangers of what the church and Christians can get sucked into.

Here's some thoughts from yesterday and other things at Life Church:

- This message of toxic religion was so personal for me. When we started Life Church I was committed to getting past all the dumb walls and things we put in place at church. The way you dress, the money you have, where you come from, how good you are...all that is such a pile of junk to God and it doesn't have any place in our churches either. This verse is a great warning to us if we start focus on the external:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."
Matthew 23:25

- I am so humbled and grateful at the heart of Life Church. Seeing the acceptance of anyone who walks through the doors with the hope and prayer that those people will experience the heart change through a relationship with Jesus Christ is just awesome! Thank you Lifers for praying for, including everyone and welcoming all that enter the doors.

- Life Groups are blowing up again! We are adding 3 more life groups in the coming weeks. We have a new family group and then a men's and woman's group. Check out all the info on joining a life group right here.

- We have the best volunteers. I am so proud of all the people serving each other and our community. It's just so cool to watch.

- We dedicated 3 Lifer babies yesterday. These families are committing to raise their children in a God loving and filled home. Our job as the church is to love and encourage them and their children. Please pray for these families this week.

- The Tony Dungy interview is this Sunday! Invite all your sports friends who love football, the NFL, the colts, Coach Dungy and anything sports related. This will be very powerful.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Attention Football Fans

If you are any kind of sports or football fan you don't want to miss Labor Day weekend at Life Church. Craig Groeschel will be sharing an exclusive teaching/interview with Super Bowl Football coach Tony Dungy. Dungy was a hall fame NFL coach and more importantly a true man of God. His story and encouragement of being a godly leader and mentor will be inspiring and challenging to any and everyone.
This is also a great opportunity to invite someone to church. If they are a sports nut than they won't want to miss this.
This video is clip of Dungy sharing about the great mentor the workd has ever known.

LifeKIDS Worship

Hey Life Church!
Man, how about those LifeKIDS!! They rocked it Sunday. The past couple of weeks after worship I have been going over to LifeKIDS and worshiping with them and it is a blast.I hope that you all can see how much these kids love to worship and that YOU are their example. Encourage them to sing and dance and have fun.

For so long we have viewed worship as a very reserved time and there are times for that but worshiping our King and Savior is something to get excited about. In 2 Samuel 6 it says that King David becomes undignified! I love how the message puts it. "Oh yes, I'll dance to God's glory-more recklessly even than this. And as far as I'm concerned... I'll gladly look like a fool.." (21-22) WOW! Are we willing to let it all out in reckless abandonment in worship? Are we willing for people to know how much we are in love with our creator? Go for it Life Church. Let it all out. Give it all you've got. BE THE CHURCH!! Lets not talk about it, lets put actions behind our words.

I am proud of this church and proud to be apart of it. I am truly, and I mean truly blessed to be apart of the leadership team and serve with you! Lets keep it going! Lets be the change this world needs.
Jason

LifeKIDS Great Campout

LifeKIDS volunteers are the best, God is moving through them as they pour into the lives of LifeKIDS! We had a great group of both students and volunteers this weekend at the two Back to School Bash Events on Friday night! Our 4-10 year olds enjoyed The Great Camp Out! Volunteers served the kids whole heartedly and the kids enjoyed crafts, a photo op in a canoe, face painting, making trail mix and to top it all off, they watched a movie outside with popcorn and candy! What more could a kid ask for:) The 10-12 year old students enjoyed a Tailgate Party with games, a taco bar, ice cream sundaes in a gutter and then an outdoor movie with popcorn and candy too! Check out the video here to see The Great Camp Out!

Thank you to all who donated items to fill the back packs for the outreach to our local schools! The backpacks were distributed to every school in Macon County and the they were very grateful to receive them!
Life Church worship this past week was full of energy as LifeKIDS lead the adults through three songs they have been working on!
I am blessed to be a part of Life Church as the LifeKIDS Coordinator!
Warmly, Lisa Hanna

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God “ Colossians 3:16

Around Life

In the spirit of being willing to try new things and change it up as we do at Life Church, we had quite a different day yesterday.

- Our LifeKIDS 4-10 year olds helped lead our adult worship experience. It was so cool. The kids did one of their own songs and then led two others with the worship team. We also prayed over them for the new school and for all the teachers in attendance. It was a special moment for me. To see how big LifeKIDs has grown and the joy of the kids was just amazing. We had over 80 kids in LifeKIDS yesterday! God is good.



- After the message from week 4 of Toxic I had the ushers hand out some post it notes. As Craig shared about speaking encouraging and loving words instead of toxic words, I wanted everyone to get a stack of post it note. The challenge was to take the post it notes and write encouraging notes to people all week. When you think of something encouraging, write it down and stick it somewhere for that person. I've already seen post it notes around town!

- Our next baptism bash is September 12th. I would love to see more people get signed up. If you've never been baptized this is your chance. It's one of the things Christ asks us to do after we give our lives to him. It's an awesome outward celebration of the life change inwardly in your life. Email the church office contact@lifechurchfranklin.com if you want more info or to sign up.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Around Life

Week 3 of Toxic is in the books and it was awesome. We will have the message posted to the church website tomorrow evening, so if you missed it please watch it this week.

Here are some things happening this at Life Church:

- The LifeKIDS Great Campout is this Friday night at the Jaycee Franklin Memorial Park at 7pm. This is for 4-10 year olds. (We are not sleeping over night.) It will be a night of fun and activities for our awesome LifeKIDS as they get ready to go back to school. Hope to see you and your kids there.

- The Loop (11-12 year olds) will have a Tailgate Party this Friday night too! It will be at the McCollum House starting at 7pm. Our student ministry Life Group for Youth will be bowling and eating pizza at The Factory too.

- I am really loving our PR (Prayer Room) for people to have prayer after the worship experience on Sundays. It's a more intimate place for anyone to come to and get prayer for anything going on in their life. It's been great to see some of our mature believers in the PR praying for others.

- We are working on a community outreach team that I super excited about. This team will help dream up ideas for us to do even more outreach in Franklin and this region. I look forward to sharing more about it soon.

- More than ever I am so thankful for what God is doing at Life Church. I believe the greatest days are still ahead and that if we stay in His will and seek him in all we do he will do things we could've never even imagined. Hang on Life Church, God is definitely on the move. Lets be ready.

Patrick

You Are A Leader

I been thinking a lot lately about what it is to be a leader. Jesus was such an amazing leader as he showed the ultimate leadership is about serving those around you. I heard a line in a song the other day that said Jesus came to serve and NOT to be served. Serving is not a weakness, it's actually the purist form of leadership.

I twittered the other day that Serving=Leading. So, if you are serving wherever you're at you are a leader! Think about that. God has called you to serve. He has called you to lead.

He wants you to serve/lead your family, your friends, your co-workers, your business, your Life Group, your wife, etc...

My prayer for you and for Life Church is that we are raising up and making aware that everyone is a leader wherever God has put them and I pray they lead strong as they serve.

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Mark 10:45

Patrick

Around Life

Week 2 of Toxic is in the books. What an awesome message as Craig explored Toxic Influences. I have to say that I was really overwhelmed by the verse he shared towards the end of the message:

Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22

I've read that verse many times, but it just seemed like ti really "clicked" yesterday in a way I've never experienced. I am praying for you this week as you "test everything" to find the good around you and stray from the evil so that you might not be influenced away from what God has for you today.

Here are somethings going on around Life Church:

- We will have Baby Dedications on Sunday, August 29th. If you have a child you would like to dedicate before the church and have the church leaders pray over you and your family please email contact@lifechurchfranklin.com .

- We are still collecting school supplies this Sunday for kids in Franklin. Please bring the following items to Life Church this Sunday:
Pencils, Glue sticks, Crayons, Markers, Scissors, Loose leaf paper, Pencil boxes, Spiral notebooks.
You can also drop them off at the Life Church office at 37 Phillips Street, Franklin, NC. (We are across from DNET Internet and upstairs above Goshen Timber Frames in downtown Franklin. You can also leave the items at Goshen Timber Frames.)

- We are holding the LifeKIDS Great Campout Back To School event Friday, August 20th at the Jaycee Park in downtown Franklin. This is for LifeKIDS ages 4-10 years old. Check out this flyer for more info.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Replacing The Toxic Thoughts

We are in the middle of our Toxic series at Life Church and week one was about toxic thoughts. Boy, did this message speak to so many people.

My prayer this week for you and myself is this scripture:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is ― his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2

So, take your toxic thoughts about life, money, relationships, God and renew your mind to remember and believe the truths of God word:

Luke 18:27....... "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Josh 1:9............ "Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Rom 8:28............ "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Around Life

Here's a few things going on around Life Church:

- We are collecting school supply items for kids here in Franklin. We will collect the following items on Sunday mornings for the next 2 weeks:
Pencils, Glue sticks, Crayons, Markers, Scissors, Loose leaf paper, Pencil boxes, Spiral notebooks.
You can also drop them off at the Life Church office at 37 Phillips Street, Franklin, NC. (We are across from DNET Internet and upstairs above Goshen Timber Frames in downtown Franklin. You can also leave the items at Goshen Timber Frames.)

- Yesterday's worship experience was amazing. What a powerful word of overcoming toxic thoughts from Craig Groeschel. Watch the message here.

- I had a great conversation with several new guests yesterday, but one stood out. A man and wife said he had been to church before, but he had never been to church like this. I wondered if that was a good or bad thing in his mind. So I asked. He said it was a great thing and that he was coming back next week for sure. That was awesome.

- As we keep growing as a church we have one huge need in our volunteers. We need more help Sunday mornings with setup. As a portable church we need help setting up every week. We are growing and thing are getting bigger. We need 6 more setup volunteers ASAP to help us get things setup properly and quickly. We begin at 8:30am Sundays. Please consider helping us out. Sign up online here!

- Keep praying and inviting people to Life Church. God is doing some amazing things and we are in the mist of it all!

Patrick

Why Numbers Matter

I've been thinking a lot lately about numbers and church church growth and I came to a reaffirming idea that numbers do matter. Numbers or people at Life Church matter because each number represents a person, a soul. We want to lead that person to become a fully devoted follower of Christ.

The other reason numbers matter is because I think it shows the heart beat of the church for those far from God. I'm not saying bigger numbers are better or the other way around, but I think a church of any size that is not growing in numbers has lost focus of what the Church really is. The Church exists for the world. It exists to preach the Gospel and be the hands and feet of Jesus. If we do that with great passion and vision then over time (whether its 1,000 or just 1 by 1) we will see our local church numbers grow because people will be finding new life in Jesus Christ.

It pains me that myself and other Christians have been okay with not seeing the numbers increase, because as I said, those numbers represent lives. It's not numbers for the sake of numbers. It numbers for the sake of the Gospel to see lives changed by the power of Jesus Christ love, grace, mercy and forgiveness.

My prayer is that the local churches of western North Carolina and Franklin, NC become fed up with not seeing people come to their church to hear the Gospel and know Christ's perfect love. They will come and the "numbers" will increase as we act like the church God wants us to be by serving, caring for and loving our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family.

Will you help me help increase the numbers (lives changed by Jesus love and the power of the Gospel we have to show and preach)?

Toxic: Coming Soon

Here is the new series starting this Sunday!

Around Life

Here's a few thoughts from yesterday's worship experience and other happenings at Life Church:

- The worship team was amazing yesterday. The sound and skill of our team never ceases to amaze me, but more importantly, they love to lead people in to a Spirit filled time of worshiping God. If you're not reading our Worship Pastor Jason Nicholas' blog, you need to.

- We wrapped up our last week of At The Movies. It was another powerful day. Even through our trials and sufferings we have to chase after the God given dreams He has given us. Don't know what your God given dream is? Starting praying for it today!

- I love meeting new people. It is so cool to see and meet 20 or 30 new people almost every week! Keep inviting your friends, co-workers and anyone else you meet to Life Church.

- We are excited to announce the addition of Lisa Hanna to our staff! Lisa will be starting full time with us in August as our LifeKIDS Coordinator. I will be adding a short video interview on this blog with Lisa later this week so you can get to know her.

Have a great week!

Patrick

Oh How Things Change Around Here

One thing I've never been shy about sharing with people who plug into Life Church is that we are always open to change when God clearly gives us an opportunity. We know that ministry creativity, planning, execution and layout can and will change. We have to change to stay in the flow of what God is showing, giving and directing us towards.
Obviously, the Gospel and it's message never changes, but they way we minister to people does.
This morning I was looking back at how things have changed at LCF. Last year on the same Sunday as this past weekend we had 185 people in attendance. This past Sunday we had 335! That's a huge increase. Our giving is more than double what it was last year this time. Our LifeKIDS ministry continues to blow up and we now have 3 times the amount of Life Groups as we did last year this time. Oh, how things change!
I believe God is priming us for even greater things than we have seen yet and with that (you guessed it!), brings change. So, this weekend I have a really exciting announcement about our LifeKIDS ministry that will bring an amazing amount of positive change and continue to allow us to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Around Life

Here's a few things going on at Life Church right now:

- We are in the middle of a great series called At The Movies. We hope you are enjoying it and are inviting lots of people. This is a one run only series, so you can not go back and watch these messages on our site.

- Life Groups are continuing to grow. It looks as though we are going to be starting 4 more LG in August and September as well. We have over 100 Lifers plugged into these groups right now and we are making more space for more people. As the groups continue to work through Francis Chan's Crazy Love book I am hearing some great feedback. Groups are having some very really and challenging discussions.

- It's hard to believe but school is right around the corner. Be on the lookout for some special plans we have for our LifeKIDS.

- There are a bunch of you continuing to read through the New Testament in 30 days with the New Thru 30 Reading Plan. It's so great to see this happening. If you are behind or want to start just jump right in and join us. Don't worry of you are behind, just go with it.

Church In The Park Highlights

Here is a look at our first ever Church In The Park from Sunday, July 4th.

Church in the Park July 4th from Life Church on Vimeo.

Sunday Reflections

I love Johnny Cash! Wow, today was an amazing experience at Life Church as we dove into week one of At The Movies. We looked at the movie Walk The Line that describes the ups and downs of musician Johnny Cash.
I was reminded of how so many of us live in the hurt of our past just as Cash did, when Christ died so that we might be set free and made righteous in the sight of out Father. I believe many people decided to let God set them free of their hurts and move forward in the strength and power found in Christ alone.
I made the comment at the end of the experience today and I do mean it, but I love each and every person at Life Church. We all have different stories but I love to hear and see all God is doing in so many of you.
Its and honor to lead and serve the people of LCF.
What and amazing Sunday and way to start our week. God is good.

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Church In The Park

Church In The Park in the books and it's one we won't soon forget. Over 300 people showed up Sunday as we met outside in the Macon County Rec Park in Franklin. It was a great celebration of our country's birthday on July 4th but more importantly we celebrated our freedom in Christ.
The worship experience was great fun and the music was good and loud. I was able to share for a few minutes about Unstoppable Vision as we wrapped up week 5 of the One Prayer series. It was so much fun to share our heart and vision for Life Church that God has given us for this community. Over the coming days and weeks I am going to share more about these core values and how they work in alignment with the vision God has given us for Life Church.
I have to thank the volunteers for all their work and support. It was a lot of work and time, but it was worth it and just plain awesomeness.
Thanks for being a part of Life Church and all God is doing here.
Check out some of the pictures myself and Worship Pastor Jason Nicholas took with our phones. We will have more pictures to share very soon on our Facebook page.
Patrick

4th of July

Looks like we are all set for Church In The Park this Sunday, July 4th. We spent more time this week preparing all the sound equipment and prepping for the food. It's going to be an awesome day as we worship outside the awesome God who created it all. I love that at Life Church Franklin we can try and do things that others might not be willing or able to do. That's what is so much fun about serving and leading at LCF.
I look forward to seeing you there. Be sure to bring your blankets and chairs and dress for the warm weather.

Sunday night reflections

Today was a great day at Life Church. We had a powerful word from Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. Steven spoke about the Unstoppable Power that we all should be walking in as followers of Christ. Wow, was a great message!

The part that really hit me was the thought that we need more of something to really be an impact for God and his causes. That thought that we need to wait to have more money, abilities, talents, etc... is a just a lie. God has given us each a measure of each thing and it's our responsibility to use them to bring him glory and fame to his name.

So, this week I want to encourage you walk in that unstoppable power inside of you that lives in the power of your savior Jesus Christ. Use what he has given you and be his light in this world.

You are unstoppable!

You Are Unstoppable

Over the past 3 weeks we have been exploring the One Prayer series with the theme of "Unstoppable". Each week the guest teaching pastor has chosen a specific topic along with Unstoppable....Unstoppable Hope, Unstoppable Courage, etc...
This has been such an amazing powerful series. Today I've thinking specifically about Life Church Franklin and wondering, are we unstoppable? Do we believe that we are unstoppable?
Today I want to encourage you that is you have received and believe that Christ is in you and your savior, than you are unstoppable. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is alive in you as a follower of Christ. Death couldn't stop Jesus and death can't stop you either. We are alive in Christ. By your faith in Christ you are unstoppable! As we live by God's spirit we are unstoppable!
Live in your unstoppable life today and all that God is wanting and able to do in, through and around you!

Why Do We Volunteer?

Every Sunday at Life Church well over 40 volunteers help setup, play music, run lights, teach kids, direct traffic, greet people, etc... It's because of these dedicated volunteers that Life Church is able to happen week in and week out. Myself, the staff and volunteer staff definitely can't do it all by ourselves. I am so incredibly thankful for these volunteers. They are a part of all that God is doing at LCF. They are a direct part of the life change happening week in and week out.

So why is it that we volunteer or ask people just like you to serve? There are lots of good reason. Obviously being a portable church we need help getting things setup and torn down, but there is a bigger reason. Life Church is a part of God's Church. The Capital "C" church. That is you! You are the Church. The Church is not a building. It's God's people living, breathing and serving each other and the world. So, we want you to be a part of what God is doing. You are needed and you can be a piece in the process of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Whether it's parking cars, cleaning up or leading in LifeKIDS you are important and needed.

That's why we volunteer! Not volunteering yet? Find out how right here.

To God be the glory,
Patrick

Follow LCF on Twitter

If you are on Twitter you can follow LCF staff and the church online with our daily Twitter.com feeds.

Use the following links to follow as you's like:

Lead Pastor Patrick Moore

Worship/Life Groups Pastor Jason Nicholas

Life Church Franklin

Are You Crazy?

I just had to post this picture of Life Church volunteer Dusty Dills. Dusty took a dive, literally, this past Sunday afternoon from a plane as he went sky diving. The best part? He wore his Life Church tshirt that said "Doing nothing is not an option". He took it pretty literal. Great job Dusty. BTW...you are crazy!

Church In The Park

On Sunday, July 4th we will hold our regular worship experience at the Macon County Rec Park in Franklin. We are calling this CHURCH IN THE PARK.
Here's how its going to work...

Saturday July, 3rd is the annual Franklin area fireworks display, so we will have the rec park to ourselves Sunday morning for a great worship experience on the 4th.

We will hold an amazing worship experience at 10am. Immediately afterward we will begin a lunch BBQ with food, drinks, music and games for adults and kids. Dress will be causal and you will want to bring chairs and blankets to sit on.

Take this opportunity to invite friends and family to this Sunday morning event. It's going to be an amazing time of worship and fun!

Pre Sunday Thoughts

I had a few minutes before heading off to bed tonight so I thought I'd share some thoughts form the end of the week and whats to come.

Tomorrow we start a new series call One Prayer. This is an amazing series that united over 1,000 churches across the world to stand together as we work hard to see God's Kingdom built and supported. We will hear from some amazing pastors and one Aussie from a little church called Hillsong (You might have heard of it.).

This is going to be an amazing series leading up to July 4th weekend where we have some great things planned. You do not want to miss Life Church Franklin on Sunday, July 4th!

See you tomorrow morning.

Patrick

What I'm excited about today...

What a great weekend. I hope you took some time to reflect on Memorial Day and the sacrifices many men and women made for our freedom in the United States. It's humbling to think that people died so I could even site here and write this post today.

So today here is what I am excited about:

- God spoke very clearly to a heart on Sunday. We had 1 decision to commit their life to Christ and others who expressed their heartfelt gratitude and trust in Christ again as well.

- The worship was really strong Sunday. The team did a great job, but the presence of God's Spirit in LCF this Sunday and the actual worship rising from the hearts and mouths of those there was so good. What an awesome time of calling out to God and expressing all our gratitude and thankfulness for all he has done for each of us.

- LCF volunteers are just amazing. How they come together and make Sundays happen is just a pleasure to watch and be a part of.

- Greater things are still to come. God is still moving and stirring here in Franklin is ways I haven't ever seen. Lets stand for his Church and all that he is doing in the Church to build his kingdom.

- We will join over 1,000 other churches across the world this Sunday in our new series One Prayer. One Prayer is a gathering of churches to see the church unite and grow and build God's Church. It's gonna be awesome!

One Prayer 2010

This will be our third year taking part in the One Prayer movement. Headed by our partner, LifeChurch.tv, One Prayer united 1,000's of churches all across the world through teaching, prayer, fasting and giving. This year's theme is Unstoppable. Here's a quick preview of what's to come:

What I'm excited about today...

Yesterday was just plain awesome at Life Church. The message Craig brought was one of the most straight forward, life changing messages from God's word we've ever had. The virtue of integrity really hit home. I think many of us are on a course to living a more godly life of integrity that will bring God even more glory.

Here's a just a few random thoughts from yesterday:

-I am honored and humbled at the people that keep stepping up to serve at Life Church. We can always use more help. but to those of you giving your time and energy to help make Sundays happen at Life Church, I say THANK YOU! (If your not volunteering, please consider it. Get more info online).

-To see what is happening every week in LifeKIDS is almost to much to explain. The teachers in LifeKIDS are giving it their all and the kids are getting feed so much of God's word while having fun. I want us to have an incredible LifeKIDS experience for these children every week. Our volunteers make that happen and it's a pleasure to watch it and see these kids grow. Thank you LifeKIDS volunteers!

-Life Groups continue to blow up. We have over 100 people plugged into Life Groups right now. Whoever says small groups don't or won't work, needs to check ours out. You are all creating godly community. You're learning to "do life together". It's awesome to see. YOU ARE THE CHURCH...NOT A BUILDING!

-Let's let our Yes be Yes and our No be No. Let's all live with integrity and all the while point people to Jesus Christ.

I love our church and all God is doing. I'm praying for each of you daily. Let's keep being his Church!

Patrick

What I'm excited about today...

Here re some random things I am excited about going on at Life Church:

- We had 1 person commit their life to Christ last week! That never gets old. Please pray this new follower of Christ is encouraged and walking in all the power of living for Jesus.

- We have had several people in the last 2 weeks recommitting their lives to Jesus. I think we are finding that their are lots of people who choose to follow Christ a time ago, but have never really put their faith into action. Are prayer at Life Church is to see these individuals walk in the grace, mercy and love of God everyday and let their light shine before men.

Life Groups are continuing to grow. The capital "C" church is not a building. It is the people that make up the Church. For us to grow in our faith and relationships with others and Jesus Christ we need to do life with each other. That is happening in profound ways. We had 13, 12 and 13 at 3 of the new groups that started this week! Awesome.

- God just continues to blow me away with His faithfulness to his people and his church. He is providing in so many ways I can't even begin to list them all. I just want to say "Thank you Jesus!"

- Lastly, I am excited about all our Lifer. You all are serving and giving like crazy. I love it! Please pray for Life Church as we are preparing for a summer full of serving and giving in the Franklin community like no one has ever seen before. It's all to bring glory and fame to the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Have an amazing week!
Patrick

National Day of Prayer in Franklin

The Life Church staff went to the local National Day of Prayer event here in Franklin today. It was held at lunch in the center of downtown at the town gazebo. It was perfect weather and a good turnout, but most important God's people were unified in prayer for our country, the world and all the people in it.
Here's a picture I took of the event:



If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14

All Our Days

Yesterday seemed to be a very powerful day of musically worship for many at Life Church. The presence of the Holy Spirit was very real and powerful. You could hear it in the voices of many at LC that they were truly worshiping God through song.

As we worshiped I was struck by Psalm 113 that talks about praising God. Verse 3 says to praise him from sunrise to sunset. Basically, all our days we are to praise the amazing Creator of this universe. I was encouraged but also reminded that as a follower of Christ I should praise at every moment his faithfulness, goodness, kindness, compassion and love. I hope this passage encourages you to do the same.

Psalm 113

1 Praise the Lord.

Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.

2 Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.

4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

Sunday Reflections - Video Update

Life Church Facebook Page

Location Change For This Sunday!

This Sunday (April 25th) we will hold the adult worship experience at the Franklin High School Fine Arts Building. LifeKIDS will be held as usual inside The Factory.

Please make sure to checkin and drop off your LifeKIDS (2yr-12yr) at the Factory and then make the 4 minute drive to the FHS Fine Arts Building for our adult worship experience.

Everything will begin at 10am. See you there!

Tough Quetions

The last 2 weeks we have tackled some tough questions. This current series, Frequently Asked Questions, has taken some of the most common issues and questions and answered them according to what God's word says. To say it's been uncomfortable is probably an understatement. We have talked about suicide, homosexuality, cohabitation, tatoos, gambling and more. I say it's uncomfortable because we usually find that some of our beliefs about certain topics are off when we really look at what scripture says about it.

It's easy to allow our own opinions and what the world around us says is right and wrong shape us. In reality, God's word is perfect and we must spend time searching his heart and word about our questions.

Don't forget we have one more week of FAQ coming this Sunday! I hope this series is stretching, encouraging and equipping you to understand better some of the more important topics and questions we all have.

Patrick

Sunday Reflections

- Yesterday was a different presentation of the Gospel as we covered a lot of ground, but it was very powerful and relevant. It was a great start to our new series FAQ.


- LifeKIDS volunteers are amazing! Thank you to each of you who are serving and giving your time and energy to these children.

- The worship team did a great job as always. Check out this new song the band is working on. Go ahead and learn it so you are ready to belt it out in a few weeks when we sing it.

- In 2 weeks, Sunday April 25th, we will hold the adult worship experience at the Franklin High School Fine Arts Building. LifeKIDS will still meet at The Factory and then adults can make the 5 minutes ride to the FHS's Fine Arts Building.

Sunday Reflections - Easter

Yesterday was an amazing day of celebration. Celebration of the life we find in Christ Jesus. A celebration of those that have committed their lives to Christ and displayed it through baptism. Yesterday was a huge celebration...a party.

Here's a few thoughts from yesterday:

- Hearing the stories of life change through Jesus never gets old. We baptized 9 people yesterday. It was awesome!

- The worship team did an amazing job leading us into a time of worshiping our risen Savior.

- Yesterday was our largest attendance to date with 600 in attendance. This has and will continue to be our heart at Life Church. We want to reach as many people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as possible. We have 1,500 seats available at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts...yesterday we were half way there!

- Our volunteer team did an amazing job yesterday. So many people serving and giving. it was awesome!

Who are you going to invite?

I saw a statistic that people are 85% likely to say yes when invited to an Easter Sunday church service. So, I think you know where I am going...who are you going to invite? We are just days away from the foundational celebration of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Our Savior and the Savior of the world is alive and death has been defeated!

This Sunday could be the changing point for someone you know if you invite them to church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will be preached and God will move through His Spirit this Sunday. Get your friends and family to LCF this Sunday. Let them and the world know Jesus is alive and the enemy has been defeated!

See you Sunday!

Patrick

Easter

Sunday we will specifically celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is going to be an amazing time of celebrating the life change that Christ has brought to those that have chosen to follow him and to celebrate the change that will occur in others as they place their faith in Jesus. So, let's all come ready to celebrate!

At the end of the worship experience we will have some followers of Jesus that will be getting baptized. I hope you come ready to celebrate with these followers of Christ and cheer them on.

We are going to celebrate. See you at Life Church this Sunday.

LifeKIDS is blowing up

I received an attendance report this morning from our LifeKIDS team that showed we had 66 kids at LK this past Sunday! That is amazing. I think just validates the vision for LifeKIDS that there is a huge opportunity to reach so many kids with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through this ministry. To be able to partner with parents in their leading of their children in becoming fully devoted followers of Christ is so humbling and honoring to our teams.

I have to give a huge shout out to our LK teams and leaders who are making Quest, Motion, All Stars and The Loop happen every Sunday at Life Church. If your child is 12 and under and your not taking advantage of LifeKIDS you really are missing out. We now even have a class for 1 year olds in Quest!

All I can say is God is good!

Patrick

Middle Of The Road

Francis Chan is an amazing communicator of the Gospel and I appreciate his honesty about the current state of the American church and the people in it. This short video is an honest reminder that the road we are to travel on as followers of Jesus Christ is a narrow road. There is no middle road. Watch this...

Challenges of being a portable church

Having a portable setup at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts and The Factory has many benefits. It has been a great move for us since we moved back in August of last year, but there is definitely some challenges that come with renting the venues.

Obviously, the biggest challenge of being portable is the weekly setup and tear down. That's just part of it. It's something we knew and are prepared for each week. That's why our setup/clean up teams are so important to us. They literally make Life Church happen every week. If they don't show, we don't have any LifeKIDS rooms, Guest Services, worship team equipment and more. Thank you setup/clean up teams!

There are other challenges that come with the setup, but it's nothing we can't overcome and work through. It's just part of being portable. People ask me weekly, "What about building a church?". That'd be great, but right now it's not on our radar. We feel God has provided the amazing venues at the Factory and Theater so we can realistically attempt to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With the theater and The Factory we really have no limitations in terms of growth. The theater holds 1,500 and the Factory can accommodate a huge amount of LifeKIDS classes. Also, financially it is more effective for us to rent the amazing facilities and not dump those funds into a building or piece of property.

Does this mean Life Church will never have a permanent facility? Honestly, I don't know. That's up to God. Many of the largest growing churches in the country are portable. I'm talking thousands and thousands of people meeting in these churches in portable facilities...schools, movie theaters, cafeterias and auditoriums.

The thing for all of us at Life Church to remember is that WE ARE THE CHURCH. The CHURCH is NOT a building. We are the living breathing people of God. We are His chosen and our responsibility is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many as possible. Thank you for being a part of Life Church and supporting and praying for the work God is doing in and through you, your family, and our church body. Greater things have yet to come!

Patrick

Free online resources

There are tons of awesome free resources on the internet today that its hard to keep up with them all, but I thought I'd share a few that really help me in different ways.

You Version Bible - This is FREE! It's an online Bible that you can access on your desltop, laptop and smart phone (blackberry, iphone, android). Best part is it's FREE! It was developed by none other than LifeChurch.tv.

Church Online - Again from LifeChurch.tv is church online with interactive prayer, chat and notes for worship and sermons for LC.tv. This is awesome when you just need some church during the week or miss a Sunday service.

Life Church Franklin on Facebook - Enough said. If you're not already, become a fan of LCF on Facebook and keep up with news, photos and videos from LCF.

Enjoy!

Patrick