Posts Tagged Christ
5 Reasons the Devil Hates Easter
Posted by tomelmore in General, Next Right Step, Thrive on April 3, 2010
1. People “Go To Church” that normally never do…..the result? People think about God’s love, the gift of forgiveness and rediscover how church can be relevant and helpful to their life.
2. It confuses small children that think Easter is all about colored eggs and a fluffy Bunny. Kids actually hear about Jesus….not as a cute story or fable – but as truth that can change their life!
3. Churches around the Country are Praying HARDER THAN EVER! Prayer moves the hands of the one that holds the world. God sees His church actually “GO FOR IT” and ask Him for BIG THINGS!
4. Families Spend Time Together! They spend time growing closer to God and eating together…..two things that actually HELP families get STRONGER.
5. People give their LIFE to Christ! People all across the country come face to face with the truth that GOD has something GREAT for their LIFE. They realize that it’s not about religion but about a RELATIONSHIP with the God of the Universe…and it’s more about LOVE than Judgment!
Remember – INVITE and PRAY…it’s going to be AWESOME
Tom
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WE ARE FAMILY!!
One of the Things we say around THRIVE is …the church is not “like a family” – it IS A FAMILY. One of the things I wholeheartedly believe is God never intended for us move toward him by ourself. We grow and discover God’s heart in direct connection to others. At Thrive I have seen it happen tons of different ways, in Growth Groups, couples having dinner together, signing up for thrive sports (Our Dodgeball tournament is on April 24th baby….mark your calendars and checkout THRIVE SPORTS) or doing life on one of our Dream Teams…… These are places that make our Family STRONGER!
Last Sunday was the One year mark or Thrive Church. I’m still amazed that how in just a few short months God has helped us look , act and even smell like a family (don’t ask what that means). One thing I have learned about GOOD FAMILIES is….when you see one, you want to be a part of it. That’s one of the reasons we have seen people being drawn to THRIVE. The result is jobs, families and neighborhoods are beginning to look different. When I meet with people and hear their stories, I get excited. Our family is growing closer to God and learning how to reflect Light in dark places.
Here is a video of our Kids on stage last Sunday at our One Year Birthday party……it was 100% us….
Praying for all the people you are inviting to church on EASTER Sunday
Tom
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The Office -Thank God it’s Monday
Thriver’s, take a second to read this…pray through it…and then take action.
April 4th at our Easter services here at Thrive Church…we are launching a brand new series entitled, “The Office -thank God it’s Monday” and I am praying for God to save over 125 people during this five week examination of how our work life and spiritual life are CONNECTED!
Read the above paragraph again…and if it doesn’t move you then read it again!!!
For some you may can read that and be indifferent…
But for others THIS could be…
* Your mom or dad
* Your child
* Your friend at work
* The person at the grocery store you always see
* Your spouse
I am SO PUMPED about what I believe the Lord wants to do in our church over this time period. AND…I am asking you to step up and BRING as many people to church with you as possible.
Eternity is real…heaven is real…hell is real…and people do spend an eternity without CHRIST!!!! THAT CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN!!
We promise that we are going to do all we can on Easter weekend (and the following weekends as well) to present the Gospel in the most clear and concise way possible…but this only works if you will partner with us like you have so many times before and BRING PEOPLE WITH YOU!
Let me say this…every time I have made this plea as the pastor of this church you guys have STEPPED UP BIG TIME…but I believe that THIS SERIES is going to be the most fruitful and impactful we’ve EVER experienced in our church.
Seriously, let’s do all we can to get people here. Use your “LIVE INVITE tool box” to help you overcome your fear and pump up your faith…and lets all PRAY like crazy that God will do something undeniable in our church that weekend! Every time we’ve gone all out on something like this God has honored it in an incredible way…
WOO HOO…can’t wait!
See you at Church tomorrow – it’s our ONE year Birthday!
tom
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5 REASONS WHY I AM EXCITED ABOUT OUR CHURCH’S 1st BIRTHDAY!
This Sunday will be the ONE YEAR mark for THRIVE. Here’s why I am so excited!
1. It shows what God can do with a LITTLE FAITH…
We started the church with just 35 brave people that said they would go “all in”. They served, gave and invited people to a church that was little more than a dream. One year later hundreds of people call Thrive “home”. The one thing that we had going for us was our faith. The Bible says that we can do nothing without it. I think God has shown us he can do EVERYTHING with it.
2. It reminds me of all the people that are CONNECTED TO GOD because we launched…
Tom and Stacie Langland, Mark and Deena Bridges, Rodrigo and Sara Vargas….the list could go on and on! God is in the process of changing lives and connecting people to Himself -and he’s using our church to do it. As Bill Hybels would say – the local church is the hope of the world. It’s also the vehicle that God uses to show himself to mankind. My prayer is that in 2010 we show hundreds (if not thousands) more.
3. We are going to TELL SOME STORIES again…
I love it when we tell “life change” stories. It reminds me how BIG God really is. Some of the 2009 favorites will be shown again. Bring the tissues – someone is going to cry.
4. IT’S going be STINKIN’ FUN!
One thing you can count on is that we are going to PARTY!!!!! I hope you leave with a big smile on your face and pumped up to see God change lives on EASTER SUNDAY!
5. The same things I get excited about EVERY WEEK!
Our band, our Kids Ministry, our ushers, Greeters, cafe team, production team and etc always knock it out of the park and it’s pretty inspiring to see it happen every Sunday. If you’re not a part of it – what are you waiting for?
The best is yet to come!
tom
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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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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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