Easter Sunday Recap

We are grateful for God's grace that he continues to pour out on us week after week.  Very excited about what God's doing at Evident.  Here’s a quick recap of the weekend:

- Evident stepped up and really invited.  Very proud of them for that.  This is the most momentum and influence I’ve felt as a church since we launched.  Saw a ton of first-timers, had one guy come who hadn’t been in church for 38-yrs.

- Evident had it's biggest weekend ever since our grand opening!  We had 173 in attendance and 10 decisions for Christ!!!  I hesitate posting numbers because I know how sidetracked they can get me but at the same time I didn't want to miss this opportunity for my church and others to celebrate with us on this.  It was a great day and honestly what I'm most excited about is just what I see God doing in and thru Evident these days (10-decisions for Christ... awesome!!).

- Our staff, leaders, and volunteers are AMAZING.  They all showed up yesterday with amazing attitudes, ready to serve, do things well, and celebrate Jesus.  Kids, worship, guest services, portability... everyone knocked it out of the park.  Thank you for all you do!

- Felt compelled to preach a resurrection apologetic (you can hear it here, click media). God was faithful and really used it.

- Thanks for everyone who prayed, invited, and laid it out there for Easter!  Don’t get discouraged if your family or friends didn’t come or didn’t make a decision for Christ.  Keep working on them, we know God is.

- This Sunday we kick-off a really important new series this called “Love is the Movement” based primarily out of the book of Acts.  Really looking forward to going deeper in relationships and connections with each other through it.

Again, so grateful for God’s grace and a great weekend.  Keep inviting!  Can’t wait to see what he’s going to do this week!

Make the Most of Easter (part 2)

Easter is the biggest season of the year for Christians and the Gospel.  Easter Sunday is honestly like Super-Bowl Sunday for me, full of excitement and anticipation!  I've been gearing up for this for a long time! Here are a few suggestions for making the most of it this year:

1) INVITE - This is one of those times when people are most open to Christianity and church.  Why not make the most of the natural season of Easter to open up a conversation with someone and invite them to come with you to church!  We will do our best to present the Gospel in the most clear and concise way possible... but this only works if you bring people with you! (One Service Easter Sunday (April 4), 10am, Seneca Middle School, FREE Easter Egg Hunt for the Kids)

2) PRAY - It’s not enough just to have an Easter service, but we want the realities of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus impact people’s lives.  This is something only God can do.  Be praying for Evident’s Easter service.  Be praying for your family and friends who don’t know Christ.  Be praying for the community.  I'm praying that we see dozens people accept Christ this Easter season!

3) DON'T MISS IT! - This is two fold... The first is pretty simple, don’t miss this Easter service at Evident.  This is Evident’s second Easter service ever and it's going to be great!!  Second, I don’t want you personally to miss the meaning of this season. Slow down, set aside some time for you and your family to focus in on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus - take it all in.  Here are a few Scripture readings that might help: Isaiah 52:13-53: 12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 19:1-20:31.

Love you guys and I'm praying we have an amazing, God-honoring Easter - can't wait to celebrate it with you!

Josh

Make the Most of Easter (part 1)

We're less than a week away from Easter (April 4) and we're REALLY excited about it!!!  We've been spending a lot of time planning and praying for this weekend.  We don't know exactly what God wants to do but we believe it's going to be great!  Here are some ways you can participate in making the most of Easter this year:

1) Invite.  Invite.  Invite.  Our friends and family are extremely open to attending church on Easter Sunday, lets invite them to join us.  I've been doing this as much as I can!  One thing you can use to invite is that there will be a free Easter Egg hunt for the kids.  We also have more invite cards if you need any this week.

2) Utilize your Facebook status or Twitter updates to invite your friends to join you.   Let them know where you're going to church, what time, and where the service is (we are having one 10am Easter service at Seneca).  Don't be annoying about this but be genuinely excited about what God is doing in your life and in your church.

3) Begin praying now for our Easter service.  The most important factor in people opening their hearts to the grace of God is NOT the presentation.  It's the condition of their own heart.  Pray that our friends and family who attend on Easter Sunday would be open, ready and anxious to hear the message of God's grace and forgiveness.

4) Check out Evident's Easter themed website, and forward it to someone.  The site looks amazing!  Check it out and it's as simple as forwarding it on to a few friends and saying, "Hey, check this out!"  There are all kinds of resources on the website that will help them learn more about our church and possibly consider coming.  Do what you can and help spread the word, you never know how God is going to work in someone's life.

Can't wait to see what God does this weekend!!!