Easter is almost here!
Easter is just a two weeks away and since I pretty much love every week, you can imagine how excited I am for EASTER!
Here are a few things we will be doing at THRIVE…
* Filling 10,000 eggs with Candy and prizes for Thrive Kidz “the GREAT EGG CHASE” – it’s happening during their service times on Easter morning. We are making sure every kid is guaranteed to go home with a full bag of eggs!
* Adding extra lighting equipment as well as redesigning our stage…
* Having our first ever Saturday night “Time of prayer” specifically for Easter Sundays services. We will be praying for our guests – our volunteers and for people to come to Christ. It’s happening 5-6pm on April 3rd at the church
* Giving everyone a “LIVE INVITE BOX” filled with tools to help you leverage your EASTER IMPACT! .
* We are kicking off a new series called “The Office :Thank God for Work”
* Launching our Social Media Team (did you know we had one?) to make sure that every person on Facebook and Twitter within 10 miles of our building knows about our Easter Services. There will be an information meeting after both services in the library on March 28th.
So here’s the Big Question: “Who are you inviting to Easter?” Our family and friends are more open to attending on this holiday than any other time of the year! So take advantage of it…
tom
PS – The Sunday before Easter is our B-Day – we are going to be throwing a “FAMILY PARTY” and celebrating all the cool things God has done- Don’t miss it!
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Reflection from Sunday March 14th
Really enjoyed our church Sunday…here are the highlights…
*Our band was better than ever and our new guitar player seriously rocked…
*Child Dedication is one of my favorite parts of pastoring a church – seeing parents really get the concept of “helping their kid find and follow God” is just plain fun…
*Watching people STILL come to church on Daylight Savings Day and Spring Break week. I love how committed our church is…
*Finding myself still humming “Live Like you are Dying” by Kris Allen – sang it in church and can’t get it out of my head…
*Introducing people to the the best question ever -”What’s the wise thing to do?”
*Sharing from proverbs about “WISDOM” – when we live without it, we end up in one of three chairs – Naive, a Fool or a Mocker chair – challenged everyone to start trusting God and get up out of their chair…
*Discovering that 5 people gave their life to Christ!!! – one of the main reasons for starting THRIVE – it never gets old…
Looking back on it – I think the “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda ” series is the most practical and powerful series we’ve had yet. Wisdom is something we all need and yet we rarely pursue…well until NOW
See you Sunday
tom
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It’s almost our BIRTHDAY!!!
Every year my daughter begins her campaign to make sure that we DO NOT FORGET her birthday. It starts with questions – continues with elaborate ideas for complex and expensive party concepts that she would love to have. It often ends with a refined list of all the toys that makes a 7 year old girl smile…
I love her enthusiasm , passion, awe and wonder of this day. I get excited from HER EXCITEMENT. When you celebrate the right things, the right way – it’s contagious…
If you haven’t been keeping track THRIVE is about to have its’ first BIRTHDAY! March 28th we will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary!!!
I wanted to follow in my daughter’s shoes and “start the campaign” right NOW….
Let’s get ready to PARTY!!!
If you’re excited like me…..tell me why – shoot me an e-mail and we may read it in the service on March 28th.
We are Family….all my brothers sisters and me ( start singing out loud right now )…
tom
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Why THIS Sunday Counts!
Posted by tomelmore in Next Right Step, Series on March 12, 2010
Why am I excited about this Sunday?
I am looking forward to sharing a different type of message with you than the norm. I am also looking forward to one of our THRIVE couples sharing their story of overcoming addiction, financial crisis and overwhelming pain…. I am glad we are taking the time to discover what the Bible says about applying Wisdom to our lives. Here’s why I think this Sunday COUNTS!
* As it happens every week – many of you will bring your friends that are far from God! This could be the Sunday that they take a significant step toward Christ. That alone is enough to open our doors and do everything we can to clear the path. If you are wondering why we started Thrive – this is IT!!
* People will find connection! All over Thrive I see new friendships starting to form…when we are connected our faith naturally grows….that is an amazing thing…
* We are doing Child dedications during both services…why do we do this? We want to celebrate families that are committing to raise their son or daughter up in the truth from God’s word..
* People will have an opportunity to worship the God of the Universe….it’s easy to worship money, entertainment and stuff…but where does it lead?…worshiping GOD brings us closer to His heart and helps calibrate our hearts as we head into the week…
* It’s another day to discover that God is alive -and He wants us to enjoy life to the fullest! We can laugh – enjoy our families and grow closer to Him…and that is in spite of where we have been and all the things we have done….it’s called GRACE…
See you Sunday
tom
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What I am Learning as a Leader: Part 2
Posted by tomelmore in General, Leadership, Thrive on March 11, 2010
Here is part two of some of the principles I am learning/applying as a leader….hope this stuff inspires you as much as it has me….
The kingdom of God needs leaders that are Growing, Risking and are Inspired…..let’s bring it!!!
* Great Reminder – people do what they get rewarded for….who needs to be rewarded right now?
* The people that are serious about GROWING want good feedback…good husbands/wives ask for feedback from their spouse!
* Great Churches require GREAT MARRIAGES……time to get on it guys…
* You don’t know if your staff is loyal until you disappoint them….
* As a leader you don’t always need more $$$ – you need more focus ….how true it is…
* Uncommon Dreams require a clutter free mind – remove distractions from your life and schedule…
* Uncommon Dreams need to be fed – what are you listening to that is feeding your dreams?
“The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top and not at the bottom.” Deut. 23:18 NIV
tom
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What I am Learning as a Leader…
Posted by tomelmore in Leadership, Philosophy, Thrive on March 10, 2010
Yesterday I jumped on a plane and went to Corpus Christi. What did I do there? I met with 15 other pastors in a Pastors Coaching network (yes even pastors have to keep growing) We were “coached up” from Bill Cornelius -the Lead pastor of Bay Area fellowship. He leads a church of over 7,000 in Corpus.
The guy is a great leader and challenged me BIG time!!!
Here’s some of my “walk away” points…. enjoy
* The most important person that buys into the vision is your wife. They often determine the church’s growth potential…if the wife is not “all in” eventually no one else will be…
* Your staff can’t handle all the vision God has given you as the pastor right now..they are overwhelmed making it happen in the day to day – give it to them slowly…
* You can be taught to do something but still lack the CONFIDENCE to do it – Confidence in God and yourself is key to growing a church…
* Keep a time log for a week – you will be surprised how much time you waste on TV and things that steal your potential…
* You have to BELIEVE that GOD BELIEVES IN YOU….so true
* Often as a leader you have to encourage yourself to push through what people tell you and the negative stuff you tell yourself…
* Even if it’s negative – learn to preach it positive…
* Always advertise – be everywhere in your community – the worst reputation for a church is “no reputation”…
* Somebody with less skills and less ability is doing it better than you RIGHT NOW – it’s time to get on it!
* You need to put a DEMAND on your FAITH – if there’s no tension – there’s no vision!
Great trip…great principles…
Can’t wait for Sunday
tom
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Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda
One thing I have learned over the years is this….As we grow, so do the consequences of our decisions.
As adults what happens is we look back at seasons of our life and we have regrets. There is money we wish we never spent, relationships we wish we had never gotten into, marriages we wish we would never have started, deals you wish you had never done, partnerships you wish you had never formed, investments you wish you had never made, dates you wish you had never gone on, invitations you wished you had never received, opportunities you wish you never responded to…
All of us can look back and in some cases it was a night… in some cases it was a weekend or a month or several years. All of us have chapters in our lives that we wish we could go back and re-write. We ask ourselves how could I have been so dumb? How could I have been so blind? How could I have been so foolish?
That’s why this Sunday at Thrive Church we are launching a new series called “Shoulda, Woulda. Coulda”. We are 100% committed to discovering how God’s wisdom can help us reduce our regret and raise the quality of our decisions to another level…..It’s going be fun, eye-opening and extremely practical.
I want to encourage you to invite at least ONE PERSON to this series. Because the content is so practical – use this series to make a difference in a friend or co-worker’s life. When they come -commit to grabbing lunch with them and having a meaningful conversation about what they just experienced.
Let’s do this thing together
tom
Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Ephesians 5:16
The power of little cups of grape juice…
I get to hear amazing stories of how God has changed people’s lives through Thrive Church. I got this email from one of our partners after our Worship Night and had to share it with you guys. It’s so awesome as a pastor when people connect the dots and in doing so get so much closer to God…
“I want to share a story with you about the communion last night. Since Isaiah and I attended Thrive 101 in January and decided to become partners with the church, we have been debating about tithing. This has been a big issue with us. From the start, Isaiah has wanted to give 10 percent. I, on the other hand, have been very skeptical about giving 10 percent. I keep thinking, “we won’t be able to pay the bills…we can’t go to Starbucks anymore…I won’t be able to have shopping sprees at Target” and on and on. Isaiah and I have been praying about tithing both together as a couple and as individuals. Last night at worship night, Gunnar became a little fussy after communion and I walked him to the back of the room. While we were back there, God spoke to me. Tom, I’m telling you, God spoke to me through those little cups of grape juice. God brought my attention to those little cups of grape juice and said to me, “this is where your money is going.” It hit me like a ton of bricks. “This is where my money is going”, I thought, “to provide little cups of grape juice.” Once that thought really sunk in and hit home, God brought to my attention all of the little cups of grape juice that had NOT been drank. Tom, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. I finally understand tithing. Our tithes to God provide the niceties of churchgoing; the bagels, the coffee, the mints. Our tithes to God provide the necessities of churchgoing; the lights, the location, the pastor. But Tom, our tithes help others to know the church as well. Our tithes help bring people into the church so the rest of the little cups of grape juice can be drank. I hope that this doesn’t sound silly to you, but God truly spoke to me through those little cups of grape juice. Of all things. This is what made it hit home for me. I told Isaiah this story last night and we will begin contributing our 10 percent tithe within the next two weeks.
Please feel free to share this story with others who have questions about tithing. Sometimes it’s the little things that really open our eyes to the bigger picture.
Rebecca”
So amazing.. Thanks for sharing Rebecca… We should all be reminded and challenged to be faithful with our money so that all of the little cups of grape juice are drank.
tom
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My Reflection on an Amazing Sunday Feb 28th
Some thoughts….
* Last Sunday was one the best days THRIVE has experienced yet!
* It’s true – 30 couples renewed their WEDDING VOWS during our “I Still DO” ceremony after the 11am service -people were bawling…ok, I was bawling too!
* I was reminded that for many of our couples “I Still Do” was the first time God was invited to their wedding ceremony- very cool (check out the photos from last Sunday – fun stuff)…
* Realizing that when couples “re-upped” even after all they know about each other and all they have said and done to each other -qualifies as a PURE REFLECTION OF GRACE…
* Seeing Our Team get the two service schedule down to an art – it was as smooth as butter…
* I told our lighting director that he can make $100 worth of lights look like $100,000 worth of lights – Jim Goble you’re amazing man!
* Worship night was our best yet! The band was spot on – people were engaging a living and holy God and I spilled my communion cup on stage….that about sums it up…
* We have so many cool guests showing up on Sundays – loved hearing their stories of how they found Thrive…
* Two highlights on Monday – my hour long talk with fellow pastor Mark Shook / Community of Faith and my Growth Group that meets at my house…both surprised me -both reminded me how sovereign God is…
* Aarron and Laura Silverstien are really connecting to Jesus in a sweet way – I am thankful they are in our GG..
* Praying hard today for my daughter – had a rough day at school on Monday – had to pull out the “naughty stick” when we got home- never fun..but I’m realizing it’s an essential part of the job if you really love your child…gotta go there…
* Starting to get excited about our new series “Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda – the art of living smart” – it’s kicking off this Sunday and I think it could be one of our best series yet…
* Thinking about visiting my Mom up in MO in a few weeks – if you didn’t know she is struggling in her health – please keep her in your prayers…we believe God is a healing God…
* I wanted to give a “shout out” to Scott Ayres for making this Blog look so good….you are the real deal – Go Viral Baby!
* Oh yeah – we just listed our house….Pray it sells..in this market it would be GOD!!!
tom
Final week of “I Want a New Marriage”
Posted by tomelmore in Next Right Step, Series on February 26, 2010
I am getting excited about this Sunday! It’s the final week of our “I want a new marriage” series and we decided to answer some of the FAQ’s that Thriver’s have.
As I have been thinking about the last 5 weeks ….a couple of things have really resonated with me about marriage…
1. Marriage is Tough and it takes a REAL COMMITTMENT to God and your spouse to make it…
2. God created marriage to help you grow beyond “selfishness” – nothing refines your life like consistently serving your spouse…
3. Sex is a beautiful and important part to a healthy marriage. It’s REAL and needs to be discussed, practiced and explored in a healthy way by both sides…
4. Great marriages don’t focus on changing our spouse – it starts when we focus on changing US first
5. The Bible is the most insightful and meaningful book on marriage that you will ever read – if we don’t read it -we are missing out big time…
6. God has a plan for your marriage that is better than yours’ – go with that plan – be willing to ditch yours’…
7. Laughter is the “oil” that keeps your marriage engine moving forward….find your laugh moments…
8. Our kids WANT to see Mom and Dad more committed to each other than them….REALLY!
9. There is no shame in counseling if communication is breaking down- men you are not a wuss if you do this – in fact – your more of a man if you initiate it…
10. Church should be a place that “Helps our marriages” get stronger! If you’re not in one that is helping you do that – find a church that will…
Tom
