Posts Tagged Christianity
HIGHLIGHTS FROM A GAME CHANGER WEEKEND…
Wow – what a powerful weekend for our church! We experienced some amazing things, I thought I would take a minute and share with you some of the wins and challenges we are facing…Before I jump into it, I have to say “hats off” to our amazing volunteer teams. I had the chance to walk around since I was not preaching and I have to say they are creating some irresistible environments for people connect with Christ. Really proud to be serving God with such an amazing force.
* Our guest speaker Cal Rychener /Lead Pastor of Northwoods Community Church in Peoria IL, NAILED it as we talked about GAME CHANGER : Forgiveness – powerful illustration of how our refusal to forgive keeps us tied up, I saw hundreds of cards being dropped on a bench with peoples names that that they were going to forgive. LOVE IT
* Our band sounded better than ever – when they kicked off Black Eyed Peas “Let’s get it started” – I knew we were in for a great day and our closing song “Healing has begun” by Matthew West – off the chain…
* Standing in the middle of dozens and dozens of 3-5 year olds singing in worship to God, our kids team is one of the best in Houston!
* Walking through our parking lot during the 11:26 service and realizing “we have to make more space for guests”. We were again over 80% full in our main parking lot! It’s a challenge – but we are going to solve it!
* Watching the FAMILY BINGO Night happen after our Sat. night service– it was amazing to see Bingo rocking in our church
* Hearing from our card counters that people gave their LIFE to CHRIST in the services this weekend – that’s what matters most! Go GOD!
* Meeting first and second time guests and seeing their faces after the service, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that God is moving in people’s hearts through our church.
It’s getting fun! more soon….
Tom
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
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
Sunday Recap
Posted by tomelmore in Everything Else, General, Thrive, Wrapup on November 3, 2010
WOW – what a day at Thrive Church….So in awe about what God is doing! Here are a couple thoughts….
* Sunday we kicked off our new series “Faith, Hope and Luck”….I feel like we are headed into a “right now” series for our church. I am pumped for this Sunday.
* Just became Jesus can or we think he should does not mean that he will – not our job to put our expectations on God but to learn how to follow Him fully.
* We learned together that circumstantial faith is fragile and can be easily derailed by life’s pressures and pleasures.
* Jez Barbacy, Jessica Caldwell our band did a great job leading everyone into worship – Let me say it – our band ROCKS!
* Brought the winner of the Kidz costume contest on stage for the closing of the 11 am service. She was Dorthy from the Wizard of OZ..love it!
* Our Road Crew Team reported that they set up our entire facility in 53 minutes flat!
* Had dozens of people ask me “what happened to my head” – all I can say is that I am learning the price tag of laying on the beach without sunscreen – lesson learned (hopefully)
* Our ONE youth team had it’s first annual “Pumpkin Smash” night. Imagine….100′s of Pumpkins – baseball bats , food and teenagers – It was a Big messy WIN for everyone.
Three more things… Read the rest of this entry »
7 reasons your church plant won’t make it
Posted by tomelmore in Everything Else, Family, General, Leadership, Philosophy, Thoughts from the Week, Thrive, Wrapup on October 27, 2010
Just came across this blog and thought you would enjoy it. By the way – all the reasons are 100% true….
Tom
Here are seven reasons your church plant won’t make it.
1. You imported your vision, mission and strategy from another church because you really don’t have a vision, mission or strategy.
2. You’re drunk with vision but haven’t developed healthy systems.
3. You sacrifice your family in the name of ministry.
4. You don’t talk about money.
5. You’re a cheap church planter who won’t spend money on leadership development for you or your staff.
6. You download all your sermons from the Internet because you don’t study, pray or read your Bible.
7. You started a church because, deep down, you have a problem with authority and don’t want a boss.
Michael Lukaszewski is the lead planter of Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Georgia.
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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What I’m Learning as a Parent!
During our current series at Thrive Church called “Help I’m a Parent” I asked God to show me where I’m “hitting and missing” as a parent. All I can say is be careful what you pray for…
In reading and studying for Sundays, God has spoken to me on more than one occasion about my parenting habits. I’ve come back to center that the greatest gifts I have in my life are God’s love, my wife and kids…
Here are some of the things I’m learning during this series….
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Still Growing…
Posted by tomelmore in Leadership, Thrive on October 8, 2010
Last Sunday at Thrive Church was one of our what I would call “GROWTH” Sundays. Looking back on it – It wasn’t perfect from beginning to end but it was a great opportunity-to get better and grow. The result of last Sunday is I have had no less than 4 conversations this week with leaders in our church about building people and systems. What kind of systems are we talking about…
* Celebrating our teams – volunteers are the people that are invested and are committed to moving our church forward, I believe that they deserve the “red carpet” treatment from time to time – we have some exciting plans in store -looking forward to blowing the minds of our Dream Team this fall.
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Values Need Heat
Posted by tomelmore in Leadership, Next Right Step, Philosophy, Thrive on October 6, 2010
Values Need Heat. It’s true…and it’s also a phrase that I learned from a pastor in Chicago named Bill Hybels. The things that we value need someone to excentuate, highlight or magnify them in order for them to be truly felt.
How many times have you heard a pastor say “we value this…” only to look around the church and not find a trace of it anywhere in the culture? The truth is we are better at talking about values than living them out. Here are some of ways that we are putting our values into practice at THRIVE.
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Answering a Skeptic
I received the email below from someone via my blog regarding the Ultimate Giveaway series at Thrive Church and wanted to share it with you and my response.
“I received your flyer in the mail recently about “the ultimate giveaway.” Sorry, but this is all a bit weird. Are these really the best things? Is this really the ultimate giveaway? It’s my understanding that the ultimate giveaway happened more than two-thousand years ago when Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins. It’s sad that you have to get people to come to church by using superficial material things. I recently interned for a church in the missions ministry and i saw people coming in EVERY DAY who need financial assistance with electricity, rent, groceries and gas.
