I’ve had one of those weeks where so much has happened, everything is starting to feel like a blur…. Ever been there? You probably have. So here are the highlights

Launching a Church:
* We opened our doors to the community and God did what He does best and blows away our small view of Him into the dust. We thought we would have 200+ people – God brought over 325 people.
* Since almost everyone in the room was new, you could tell there was a lot of nervous energy and people wondering, what is this new church all about?
* We had a good service (not perfect, but we probably won’t do “perfect” well anyway.) The energy was good and it seemed like everyone had fun and was glad to be there.
* At the end I had two families come by and tell me, “We are all in.” I think I teared up realizing that God is doing something bigger than even I realized.
* Watching hundreds of balloons float into the sky was cool – realizing it was a picture of the hope that God is going to give us at Thrive.
* Oh yeah – we had a few other honorable mention highlights: Larry’s famous brisket, Mooyah’s burgers, BerriBlends yogurt and a blow up game blowing through the parking lot because of some high winds. I also can’t forget, getting a ticket for signs up on the median in Cinco Ranch..yeah baby! (Anyone know a good lawyer? Seriously.)

Egging Houses:
* Ok, this was again one of those unexpected, cool things that God is doing. We announced last Sunday that we were looking for some people to egg houses. Before you get the wrong idea (which your probably already have.) We were leaving Thrive Easter eggs on doors all around the community with some candy and an invite to the number one most attended day on the calender, Easter.
* We had dozens of people join us for “Egging houses”! That’s amazing and most of the people did not know each other. That is some big time relational courage!
* In the end we laughed, had fun, told stories and handed out thousands of eggs and invited tons of people to Church this Sunday!
* All I can say is that it was a different style of egging houses than I knew as a kid. But I loved it. Come with us next year. (And leave your real eggs at home.)

Here comes Easter…..
* Like I eluded to, the biggest day of the year for a church is upon us.
* Why is it a big deal?

Here are the main reasons:
1. People who normally don’t come to church will come on Easter!
2. It is an opportunity to help people reconnect to God in a meaningful way!
3. The message of Easter is the very center of our faith.Jesus died, rose again, and offers forgiveness of our sin. For one reason – LOVE.

See you Sunday. We are starting our new series this week….

Tom

I love that word.

My favorite people on the planet are people that are REAL…..Why? They know who they are and they don’t feel like they have to “pretend” for others. We spend to much of our energy trying to impress and cover up our flaws. Looking back on my life -I’ve been one of the biggest culprits. That’s why I am 100% committed to making THRIVE a church that doesn’t pretend or wear masks. We want to create a place where everyone is welcome and no one feels shame when they walk through the doors.

THRIVE is going to be a church that is committed to just being REAL and letting God work in our lives…Here’s what that means to me….

1.   It’s SAFE to admit your mistakes and past

2.   It’s easy to CONNECT to God and others

3.   OTHERS discover how to take off their own masks

4.   We REALize no one is perfect and we are all “in process” with God

See you this Sunday! It’s going to be a good ride

Tom

My daughter learned to fly today….ok, let me explain.

Our family took part in one of Houston’s best traditions, the Rodeo. Imagine the largest Midway of rides you have ever seen, foods that have no business being fried-but are (Oreos and Twinkies baby!) and enough cowboy hats to start your own personal “wild wild west”.

It was amazing!

This was my daughters second Houston Rodeo and the first one she could remember.  At five years old I think this was as close to heaven as she could get. We walked around the petting zoo. (yes I stepped in some….that’s another blog) and ate free funnel cakes (thanks Ellen and Randy -cool THRIVE launch teamers). As we were headed to the exit my daughter asked if we could go on some rides. Even after looking at the ticket prices ….we agreed. After a sweet ride on a huge slide built for Godzilla – we finally headed for the door, tired but content. As we were walking out we realized we had enough tickets for one more ride! I let Molly pick it.

That’s when it happened, she pointed to the BIG SWINGS. These were not your nice and sweet 5 year old swings – these were swings clearly made for teenagers and up. I remembered these swings.  They rocked my world in Jr high but gave me nightmares when I was small. These were the swings that I used to envision myself “flying out of” as the chain broke . To be honest I was a bit taken back that she chose such a risky ride, but I knew this was the moment that all Dad’s cherish – watching your kid take on the BIG SWINGS. I had to let her do it.

I walked her up to the chair, looked around to verify that my daughter was the smallest person on the ride and then I strapped her in tight. I looked down and saw a TEXAS size smile on her face. It  convinced me that she knew what she was doing. Then it hit me, my 5 year old was about to go 35 feet up in the air and be spun around at 35 miles an hour and she was still smiling…..amazing.

The ride took off.  The swings started going faster and faster. Then in one sudden move it elevated another 15 feet into the air. This was when the smile left her face and I saw her start holding on for dear life. When the ride ended I ran up to her – ready to console her scared little heart and tell her it would be ok.  What did I find?  A big smile and a request to “ride it again”.  That’s my girl!

I’m going home trying to figure out what God might be trying to teach me from my five year old learning to fly….here it goes.

1. Never be afraid to FLY.  Leaving the ground allows us to experience life from a new level -one that fear often tries to hide from us.

2. Trust your FATHER.  I would never have let my daughter be put in harms way. When God gives us the green light to soar -know that he has checked the “safety belt” and let it rip.

3. You still might be a little SCARED.  As in any adventure when you are elevated, doubt and fear try to set in. The key is to keep holding on to what is secure. Molly was holding on to the safety harness for dear life.  Faith does not mean an absence of fear – simply having all you need to get through it.

4.  Enjoy the RIDE.  One of the greatest gifts that God gives us in life is the ride, not the destination. So, fear or faith – enjoy it.  I was a proud Dad when Molly told me that she “loved it and wanted to go again”…The thrill was bigger than the fear.

I am thankful that God is using THRIVE Church to teach me to fly.

What about you?

-I’ve spent a bulk of my time this week (so far) reading up on marketing and advertising.  I want to understand how to effectively let people know that Thrive Church.

For years I thought that advertising a church was super nonspiritual.  It just made sense to me that if we love Jesus and talk about Jesus… people will show up.  Its not that simple.

Over the past few years, I’ve learned that un-churched and irreligious people don’t just happen to show up at a church on accident.  There are many factors involved (ie – personal invite, advertisements, etc).  To make a long story… short – I want to be very intentional about making sure that people who are in a season of life where they start thinking about God or want their kids to get religion (their words, not mine) can know about us and not find us on accident (ie – driving by on a Sunday morning).

So the big question: How do you advertise a church?  All the marketing books I’ve been reading talk about separating yourself from the competition.  This is a problem, because other churches aren’t the competition at all.  Also, I don’t want to see culture as a competition.  So what do I do?

1) We’re going to make sure that we don’t target religious people!

THRIVE Church is for the 70% of people in our area who don’t attend church.

Some of the reasons they don’t attend include:

-They have not enjoyed the experiences they’ve had at church
-They don’t “fit” regular church
-They feel too guilty to attend
-They’ve simply got out of the habit of attending
-They don’t believe in God

2) We’re going to make sure that we advertise things that everybody cares about (including unchurched people)… and then back up those promises!

All of our advertising will address things un-churched people care about like: short services, no weird stuff, safe kids programs, fun atmosphere, friendliness, casual environment, etc.

Also, we’ll take on topics that people who don’t even believe in God care about like: sex, why bad things happen to good people, sex, hope, stress, homosexuality, sex, finances, how to forgive people who hurt you, etc.

3) We’re not going to act superior to other churches… ’cause we’re not!

As I first started drafting some of our advertising pieces, I started writing out things like, “Do you find church irrelevant?”  or “When was the last time you had fun in church?”  The only problem w/ this phraseology is that it belittles other churches (without meaning too).  It sounds like… THRIVE Church is a blast and other churches are boring.  I don’t believe this for a second.

The truth is that when you are cynical toward other styles of churches, even un-churched people are turned off.  I want to be the biggest fan of every other church in town.  Therefore, we will make sure that it is clear what we are for and not what we are against.

4) We will keep our advertising simple!

We’re not a simple church and so we won’t advertise the 101 different opportunities (many that do not exist).  Truth be known, we will only focus on the few things we do well (ie – kids, great music, meaningful talks, and friendly environment).

If you’re wondering how you can pray for us,during the month of February, please pray that God will give us the creativity to communicate in such a way that people who don’t believe in God or haven’t been to church in years… would be open to giving God a try at THRIVE Church.

Tom

I prayed for 75 people to attend our first preview last weekend, but over 100 came instead!

I don’t know what to say other than it was great Sunday and  with God’s help we came out of the gate strong! Here’s some highlights.

*Kids programs were fully staffed and FUN!

*Volunteers were friendly.

* Our Guest, the NY MET’S Marlon Anderson kept it real and shared his story about overcoming one of the lowest moments in his life.

*Coffee was hot.

*people laughed at our signage in the halls!

* My new neighbors came to church (this was unsolicited… ok I invited them).

*Music was loud and passionate.

* Our  lobby and meeting room environment felt “really good” (that’s the term one of our volunteers said)

*I had one person ask if we we’re going to preach the “gospel”.  I was tempted to say “no”, but God helped me behave myself and I said, “yes”.

*I heard people saying that they were coming back on March 1st

Thanks for your prayers and for partnering with us! We are going to make it easy for people to find and follow God.

Tom