Posts Tagged Christ
A letter to thrive church…
Posted by tomelmore in General, Leadership, Thrive on September 21, 2011
Hello TC
Here’s 4 things on my heart for YOU, US and our FUTURE
1. We had nearly 600 people show up last weekend and plus….people gave their life to Christ! I love what God is doing in families at TC. It’s mind-blowing – we still a new church and God is working through us!!!! I love it. We can’t forget that the church exists to help people FIND and FOLLOW Christ…and when it happens – it’s worth celebrating!
2. Last Weekend was one of the most FUN and EYEOPENING services yet! As we jumped into week two of our “Perfect Family” series we talked about the end game with our kids…..it’s not getting them to leave the house or go to college…it’s having a life-long FRIENDSHIP with them. In order to get one we have to engage in a healthy behaviors during the earlier 3 phases – NURSE, KING / QUEEN and COACH. You can’t jump phases and you have to ask God for help – especially if you came from rough home life yourself. God has great plans for your family – believe it.
3. This weekends message is titled…”Survival Guide to a Blended Home”. Coming from a blended home myself, I understand how over 50% of our population feels. Can God heal, change and help homes that are blended? Does God meet single parents with an additional grace for their situation…YES! Can’t wait to share what God has helped me live through and put in my heart for this huge topic!
4. People have coming up to me every week and introducing them self to me. One Question I have begun to ask every time is “have you signed up for a Growth Group”? Groups are more than a program or a calender filler – they are the life blood of what our church is about. Church doesn’t begin when you walk in the doors- rather when you walk out….that means we should be more about relationships than facilities and programs. That’s where Groups step in -they are the best place to grow your faith, make friendships and get encouraged and supported…all the things a church should do… I am beyond pumped for this seasons groups…..Zumba, study groups, basketball, cooking….I think we have it all….except you – click www.thrivechurch.cc for a group list / sign up. Groups start the week of Oct 3
That’s it – loving you, our church and our future….bring a friend to church this weekend….seriously!
Tom
Do you remember the 90′s?
Image via Wikipedia
I looked the up the 90′s on this new thing I’ve heard about called the “Internet” and was quickly reminded of my 90′s memories. Whether it was watching Pearl Jam on MTV (when they used to show videos) or sitting with my wife as we had our eyes glued to “friends”….If you have forgotten what the 90′s were really like…Here’s the reminder as we get ready for week 4 of “Old School”!
* The Simpson’s
* Boy Bands
* Nirvana
* Micheal Jordan / Chicago Bulls
* Hootie and the Blow Fish
* Grunge and Flannel shirts
* 90210
* NKTOB
This Sunday is 90′s week for our “OLD SCHOOL series. It’s been a lot of fun traveling back through different decades as we look rituals of Historic Christianity. This Sunday we talking about PRAYER. This is one of spiritual disciplines that I struggled with for a long time. Actually many people struggle trying to connect with God through prayer. We are going to find out how Prayer can be the missing link to a REAL, MEANINGFUL connection to Christ.
* Last night I watched the rehearsal for the closing of Sunday’s service. I died laughing…it’s crazy -in a good way, seriously don’t leave early – we are truly saving the best for last.
* Let me challenge you to bring a friend to church – don’t wait for Easter to invite someone. Grab lunch with them after and talk about what you experienced together…it could be the beginning of something Huge in their life…
* It’s official -Come dressed in your favorite 90′s outfit to church this Sunday and you might win a commemorative 90′s prize!
Have to go listen to “even-flow” to get ready for the weekend.
Tom
3 Things you should know….
Still reeling from our Our Christmas services. They “blew doors”. I am so proud of everyone on our teams that made it happen. If you haven’t heard… tons of people made commitments to Christ and our attendance from last year was up 125% – that’s crazy -I’m learning… that’s God.
Here are three things you need to know…
1. JAN 2 WE ARE BACK! That’s right our next service is a whole week away. We are launching into the new year with a series we are calling “irresistible”. It’s all about how my wife feels about me…OK that’s a joke. It’s really about how some places in life just “pull us toward them”. Starbucks – Target….you name it. There are things that just make sense to us and draws us back to those environments. We are going to talk about what an Irresistible church looks like! Going to be Fun!
2. END OF YEAR GIVING – If you are wanting to give in time to receive 2010 credit from Uncle Sam….make sure you visit www.thrivechurch.cc and do it online. You can give your tithe or toward OUR GIFT in the same spot. Easy…
3. HOW CAN WE PRAY FOR YOU? Recently Jackie and I are hearing about some huge needs in people’s lives. I believe pray connects and empowers God to change our situation’s. If you have a something going on that you want us to pray with you about shoot us an e-mail at info@thrivechurch.cc
The best is yet to come
Tom
A message to thrive church….12.15.10
A message from Tom to THRIVE Church….
Hello Thrive! I wanted to share three things on this Tuesday night as we getting ready for Huge Christmas season!
# 1 THIS SUNDAY is our annual Christmas Party! We are excited…here is why you should be too…
* We are going to be rocking out some Christmas tunes. Our band has assured me that they will be bring in a whole new vibe to some of our seasonal fav’s!
* Believing the message will expand our Hearts toward the real reason for Christmas -JESUS!
* It’s our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Competition! Let me say it right now…bring your best but you don’t have a chance…I have a sweater that will make you cry.
* It’s POTLUCK SUNDAY. We are chowing down together as a Church! If you grew up in church you know exactly what I’m talking about. Here’s how it works…. everyone brings a big dish of food and after the 11am service we all stuff our faces…it’s that easy and it’s going to huge.
#2 We are Kicking off the “Our Gift” CHRISTMAS OFFERING. As a church we are are bringing our best gift to Christ to meet needs locally and around the world. Click on www.thrivechurch.cc to see the opportunities that we have this year. Together we are going to make a tangible difference in people’s lives through our generous giving……
#3 Christmas services this year are going to be AMAZING!!! I’ve seen reports over the past few years that indicate that people are more likely to visit a church at Christmas than any other time of the year. AND…knowing this here at Thrive Church we will always gone all out to do everything possible to use this time to present the Gospel in a way that is clear and understandable.
I honestly believe that this years presentation is going to be one of the clearest, most powerful presentations the Lord has ever led us to present. So…I’m asking all of you to…
Pray hard every single day from now until then…asking God to draw people to church and change lives!!
the best is yet to come…Tom
Seven things that made me smile (this week)
Posted by tomelmore in Everything Else, Family, Next Right Step, Philosophy, Thoughts from the Week, Thrive on October 16, 2010
I thought I would give you a recap of some of the beset moments of my week.
1. Last Sunday and our worship night at Thrive Church – Baptizing the 12 people that said “YES -I’m going public for Christ”….amazing stuff!
2. Slipping out mid day to see the movie ” Secretariat” with my wife…the movie was good – spending time with my wife was better!
3 Sitting in our Parenting 101 Growth group and learning that real parenting should happen between the conflicts – not during them.
4. Talking to my Mom on the phone about her coming down as soon as she gets her new “wheel chair friendly” van – so excited, love her so much.
5. Having the privilege of praying with Tina Martin as she continues to battle with cancer on the brain. You never know how much faith you have until you need it…she has TONS!
6. Seeing my in-laws arrive on Wednesday. It’s a gift to have family in our house (and help with the kids)
7. Thinking about our vacation that starts this Sunday after church, come this Sunday it could be the shortest message yet – Going to be on a boat in the ocean….ready to relax and refresh.
Smiling right now
Tom
Why Men Hate Going To Church
Posted by tomelmore in General, Thoughts from the Week, Thrive on October 15, 2010
We just had our first Tuesday night growth group a couple days ago. It is made up of a bunch of guys trying to figure out life and faith…and I loved every second of it.
I must say our group this week came out of the gate strong. As we sat around and smoked cigars and drank IBC cream sodas (the best soda ever made) we also shared our family background and talked about how we ended up at Thrive. We made a commitment to explore a book called “Why men hate going to church” by David Murrow. Growing up in too many churches the only man that actually practices his faith is the pastor. Lately this has really bothered me because the circle I sat in last week was filled with men ready to conquer something – ready to live out their purpose and asking God ”how can you use me”? It was stinking amazing!
As I dig through our book and reflect on last Tuesday night …Here are a few thoughts
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Recap from Sunday 10/3/10
Last Sunday at Thrive was a lot of fun. It was week one of our new series “Help I’m a Parent”….so glad we are taking time and talking about this topic. Being a parent myself, I often feel ill equippedi and behind the 8-ball when it comes to leading my kids. The truth is I think a lot of us feel that way….luckily God is in parenting business and wants to help. That gives me some hope -excited about sharing it with ya.
Recap from Sunday
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The Ultimate Giveaway
Friends,
The last few weeks I have taken a break from blogging but I’m back in the saddle now.
I’m planning on blogging every day that leads up to our new series “the Ultimate Giveaway“. We’re kicking it off this Sunday. It’s going to be a “can’t miss” series. I’m praying tons
of people connect with Ch
rist and join us for the journey. Oh yeah – We have over $ 250,000 in prizes that we are going to be giving away. (check back tomorrow -I’ll give ya the behind the scenes on it.)
Here’s our Labor Day highlights…
What happens in the Margins!
Posted by tomelmore in Next Right Step, Series, Thrive on May 6, 2010
It’s been a busy two weeks! Last week I went to the All Access conference in Baton Rouge at Healing Place Church, attended a service at Jimmy Swaggert’s Church (seriously -no kidding-look for a blog soon on it) , preached 2x at Thrive then got on a plane and went to Kenosha, WI to sit with some of the nation’s best church planters in a coaching network…
The ironic part is the message I gave last Sunday. It was on Margin….the place between what you HAVE and what you NEED.
The last two weeks have reminded me that I need to exist with more margin – when I have a schedule or lifestyle that is literally to busy to stop, reflect or love my kids….I need to throw on the brakes. I am already blocking off time this summer to take a vacation and make sure my internal batteries are FULL so we can continue to make it easy for people to follow and find God through our church. I have also realized that when my batteries are full I am the best dad, husband, leader and pastor.
How do you discover TRUE MARGIN?
- REALIZE THIS REALITY: If Satan, our spiritual enemy, cannot make us really, really bad he will try to make us really, really busy. Some of us become so busy at doing lesser things, that we miss out on the most important things, we are distracted from the very best.
- Put space in YOUR schedule.
- PRUNE YOUR ACTIVITIES PERIODICALLY. 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul says, “Everything is permissible for me but not everything is beneficial.” What’s he saying? God’s given you a free will. You’re permitted to do anything. You can go out and overload your schedule ten times and God’s not going to stop you. You are permitted to totally make stupid decisions. But it doesn’t mean that it’s the beneficial thing to pack your life full of. Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.”
- DO LESS AND TRUST GOD MORE
Remember – the best things in LIFE HAPPEN IN THE MARGIN – go get it…
Tom
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What I loved about last Sunday!
Every so often in ministry you have Sundays that stops you in your tracks and confirms you are going in the right direction.
I call these “God Sightings”…last Sunday was one for me…here’s why:
* God’s spirit drew people to HIM – 10 people committed their lives to Christ, LOVE IT!!!
* I saw people laughing and enjoying church as our guest -Real life Strong Man -Dennis Rogers broke, bent and mangled things that no regular human should be able to do. If you haven’t heard of him, check him out at Dennis Rogers.net. He’s the real deal – he loves Christ and he’s really freakishly strong. It was a joy to have him at THRIVE.
* Our band dialed up the energy and threw in into high gear for two services – love our musicians and worship leader Jimmy Savage…we are going places!
* Putting every chair we had in our building for our second service…we were standing room only…I guess it’s time to buy more chairs..People keep inviting friends, that’s a good thing; no it’s a GOD thing.
*Looking at the sign up sheets and seeing all the people that are signing up for Dodgeball: The tournament on April 24th -playing together is where we find community – I have my team…beware!
* My friend Anacarren Molina came out and took some pictures of our service, she is simply gifted.
* Talking with some of the new couples at Thrive 101 and realizing that God is sovereign and he can bring people to church in ways you can’t even fathom.
* Jackie and I leaving the kids at the sitter and going to the movies with Mike Nooney and Crystal Campise on Sunday night – so fun just hearing what God is doing in their lives.
Can’t wait for this Sunday as we continue in our series: THE OFFICE: thank God for work….it’s going to be good!
Go to our Flickr photostream to see some pics from Sunday!
Invite a friend to church – Be the difference
Tom
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