Is Miley Cyrus Really that Relevant?

Yes, today at our second preview service we played a little round of an orignal game called "Relevant/Irrelevant". I'm sorry to say that Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) is irrelevant along with guys in blue knit sweatervests.

God's presence was real today as our team set up in yet another facility (two for two, not bad) and did an awesome job. We no doubt have the best team on the planet and it is an honor to be starting a church with them.

A long time ago (in church planting years) God told me "Josh, preach the Gospel/Jesus, and I'll take care of the church." I'm going to hold God to his word (I'm pretty sure He's good for it.) and today as the Gospel was preached a room full of followers acknowledge their desire to go deeper with God and two people stepped across the line of faith for the first time!

We are so grateful to God for His overwhelming grace, amazing friendships, and bright future. God is good! We can't wait to do this again next month! (Next preview service is August 17!)

ps - I've noticed that a lot of my posts sound really upbeat and almost too good to be true. This really has been an amazing journey and it really has been this good. Well, and it doesn't hurt that I'm an eternal optimist!

2nd Preview!

Just a heads-up, our second preview service is this weekend! As of today (Friday), the school still has power and we're good to go (what a wild ride last month). We really believe that God wants to do significant things not only in general through this new church, but specifically this weekend.

Evident Church
July 20, 10am
Sequoyah Elementary School
18500 24-Mile Rd.
Macomb, MI 48042

A few things to pray for:
- protection for our team (health, sanity, circumcstances)
- the right people to be at our service
- soft and ready hearts to hear from God
- Jesus to be made evident
- people to take steps closer to God
- people to accept Christ

Things we're praising God for:
- an amazing team
- a great and clear vision
- blessings of resources
- life in Christ
- great school to meet in
- grace and favor in the community
- the Spirit of God at work in us and the world

Thanks for all your prayers and support! If you're anywhere in the area it would be awesome to see you Sunday. If you know anyone in the area, you could be their connection to Evident Church... and to Christ.

I'll post again after this weekend to let you know how things go and what God does!

ps - we added a few new things to the site

Church on the Beach

I think one of the best ways to be like Jesus and the early church is to have church on the beach! This is definitely one way to grow your launch team. We had a really good time this morning at Stoney Creek Metropark. We worshipped together and enjoy some good old-fashion fun-in-the-sun!

One of the things we looked at in Scripture was Acts 1:1-12 where Jesus gives some last instructions to his "launch team". Basically he said to wait for the Spirit, and when the Spirit is present there is power... power to do things you can't normally do. One of the key things the Spirit gives us power for is relationships - power to be one (united in purpose), power to be the body (different but working together), power to bear with one another. What better witness can we be than to show the world that Jesus is alive by how we relate to one another as his followers? Then we spent some time sharing what we appreciate about each other. It was good stuff, we have a great team!

Thanks Matt & Shannon for putting this together! Thanks Matt for not wearing your speedo.

I love my girls! (eating their icee-pops)