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Baby Shower (x3)

October 13, 2008 in Friends, Pregnancy with 0 Comments

Yesterday, Faye Whitacre & Janice Clemson threw me and two other girls from church (Mandy & Kristine) a baby shower. All of us are due November/December and so the bumped us all together and celebrated our babies in one party.

Mandy is having her first and Kristine is having her third.

I have never seen so many baby gifts all in one place as I did yesterday. Seriously… there were about 20 women at the party. Each one brought 3 gifts each, plus the three of us who brought gifts for each other. It was crazy.

The gifts we received were mostly handmade/homemade – from quilts to scrapbooks to soft baby blocks. Most of my good friends know I’m quite crafty myself… but I was BLOWN AWAY by the amazing talent and skill around the room. I’m looking forward to learning some of these skills for myself.

Though I still truly miss my family at Sunset (my best friends are still there), in all honesty, my heart is starting to be filled with love for my new church family. It’s extremely easy to love them.

Faye and Janice threw an AMAZING shower. Great job, ladies!!!

I’ll have to post pictures later since I just emailed Faye to send them to me

I came home with a LOT of great gifts for Paxton. It took me multiple trips back and forth from the car to get them all in the house. Of course, I went right to organizing everything. I even reorganized all the reusable gift bags and tissue paper. I still have barely used bags and paper from Chance’s baby shower. So what did I do??? I organized them by size and color.

I know… it’s a disease.

Would you expect anything less from me???

Worship Confessional – 10.05.08

October 5, 2008 in Worship, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

It’s definitely getting more and more difficult to sing and lead. 33 days left till Paxton enters the world. Though it’s harder to sing now, it’s still worth every breath when you’re singing for/to something/Someone who matters. I can’t believe how much I still love it!

Today was a tough day though. We started out minus some key people for set-up, which just ended up taking us a little bit longer to be ready. Actually… it set me back enough to be ready RIGHT on time which for all those who run events, programs or services, is LATE. I was totally sweating!

I should have expected it. It was the start of our new series “WITH” and after all our postcards went out inviting the unchurched to join us, I shouldn’t have been surprised that maybe Satan would want the core team to be a bit more flustered than normal. If we’re flustered, maybe we won’t be as effective, right?

Anyway… here was our set:

All We Need – Charlie Hall
Not To Us – Chris Tomlin
Together You & I – Tommy Bowman
God of This City – Chris Tomlin
Devotion – Marty Sampson

Though the start was a bit rocky, I think the whole service still went really well. Matt talked about the hole in our heart that only God and community with people can fill. God created us to be in community with others… to love them because God loves us. That’s a great thing to be a part of… to be called to.

We had some newcomers and the new people that had come the weeks before had returned. That’s exciting for us!

Please keep praying for us… for the church… to reach those in Portland who don’t yet know Him.

Worship Confessional – 09.21.08

September 21, 2008 in Worship, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

Today’s service was pretty awesome.

I was fortunate enough to have Rebecca Strott play and sing with me. It’s so nice to have someone else up there that knows what they’re doing. Harmonies were tight and though the atmosphere was pretty relaxed, the Spirit was obviously there.

The set:

All We Need – Charlie Hall
Beautiful One – Tim Hughes
From The Inside Out – Joel Houston
You Alone – David Crowder
Hosanna – Brooke Fraser
Indescribable – Laura Story/Chris Tomlin

I totally forgot to print up a cue sheet for today, but fortunately the team was on their toes and rocked it anyway.

Matt talked about “The Struggle of a Leader” today. The struggles being: (1) Fear, (2) Foes and (3) Fatigue. But he also gave us biblical ways to overcome these struggles: (1) Regroup (spending more time with people God put in your lives) with a peer, a mentor and/or family/close friend (2) Remembering God is with us and (3) Resist (fight for the things that matter).

It was good to be encouraged to fight for the things that mattered. Enduring “the struggle” when you’re in the midst of it seems close to impossible, but when you’ve done that and look back – it’s SO worth it.

After having lunch with some church friends, we came home and painted our home office. Now, I can FINALLY set up the printer and have everything RIGHT where I want it. Hopefully, I’ll get the cue sheets printed from now on

Worship Confessional 09.07.08 – First Day at my New CHURCH!

September 8, 2008 in Ministry, Worship, Worship Confessional with 1 Comment

Yesterday morning was my first day leading worship as the “Worship Pastor” at Church! at Bethany. It was exciting and strange all at the same time.

It was very obvious to me that I was NOT getting ready to go lead at Sunset. That was really weird and a bit bittersweet. I mean, I’m growing up, so really, it was only so long till I was no longer relevant to students though I’ll always have a heart and passion for them. I was also heading out the door to work with a different team.

I think one of the toughest things is preparing how to interact with people you don’t really know. My old team just KNEW me. That was nice.

However, I have always believed that CHANGE is good. Brian and I absolutely LOVE our new pastor, Matt. He’s authentic and just says it like it is. There’s no guess work with Matt. What you see is what you get. I don’t ever go home thinking, “Hmmm… when he said this, did he mean…” and I never feel like I’m imposing. If I have a question, I text him or email him and he gets back to me almost immediately.

What’s great about a church plant/small church is the COMMUNITY is a bit more obvious and easier to find. Because we don’t have a building and are currently using Stoller Middle School on Sunday mornings, we are a 100% portable church. It’s like setting up for camp every Sunday. We HAVE to be organized (if you know me… you’ll know I love love LOVE organizing and BEING organized).

Tiring, but definitely team building.

Everyone pulls together to work together. You see everyone’s love for each other and how much they are absolutely SOLD OUT to God.

Yesterday’s set was:

Meet With Me – Ten Shekel Shirt
Not To Us – Chris Tomlin
Devotion – Hillsong
Hosanna – Hillsong
Heart of Worship – Matt Redman
Grace Like Rain – Todd Agnew

Matt started his series on The Leader Within from Nehemiah. Nehemiah started his leadership ON HIS KNEES. Something, I can’t say I do enough of. Matt challenged us to seek out God’s heart – to ask God to break our hearts with the things that break his. That’s a scary thing to ask… because if you really mean it, your heart not going to hurt, but you’re going to grieve deeply.

However, I’m taking on the challenge.

Overall… Though I miss my old church of 8 years and some of my best friends over at Sunset, I feel overly humbled and privileged to be a part of Church! at Bethany. I know God is moving and doing some incredible things here in Portland, Oregon. We need all hands on deck here in P-town, and I know Sunset is more than capable of doing it without me.

Church! at Bethany is where I’m supposed to be right now – I love adventures!

What is God calling for YOUR heart to break over right now?

Church Postcards

August 26, 2008 in Ministry with 0 Comments

Portland, Oregon is one of the least churched cities in the United States. The purpose of the church is to win, build and send people for the glory of God. It starts with introducing the unchurched to Christ.

Matt has been hard at work figuring out some great and inexpensive ways to advertise so we can not only get people through the doors of our church, but to KEEP them. We are using postcards to invite people to our October series – “WITH”.