Sunday In Review- 4.21.09

We had another great Sunday Morning here at Meadowland Church last Sunday.  It is always good to be together!

Here are some Highlights:

- It was cold and rainy but that did not stop our set up team from doing an amazing job.  You guys and gals are troopers!!

- We met in the cafeteria, it felt good to be back in the cafeteria!  The auditorium is being set up for another play!

- Pastor Gary kicked off the new series: “Overcoming Your Fears”.  Great message – you can hear it HERE

- Had a great time after service connecting with good friends, and had an opportunity to make news ones.  I love meeting new people and hearing their story!

- I ran the worship slides on Sunday.  It was kind of fun to have a different role on Sunday Morning!

- Our Worship Team did an amazing job leading us into the presence of the Lord. We are running a new format where we do most of our worship after the sermon, I really liked it.  Personally, I felt like it gave me time to respond to the Lord.

Sunday In Review – 3.29.08 “Love Covers”

Sunday was an interesting day.  It was the end of  ”Spring Break” for our students, and we received something like 8 inches of snow!!  We still had a great day, and God move mightily here at Meadowland Church!!

Here are the Highlights:

- Getting the trailer to the High School was quite the task.  We needed someone with 4 wheel drive, and an electrical break system to pull the trailer.  Starting and Stopping are huge issues in 8 inches of wet snow.  Thankfully Mike and Theresa Clark helped us out and pulled the trialer for us!!

-Once we got to the school the set up team and worship team did a great job of transforming the High School into a Church Meeting Space.

- I was a little worried that no one was going to show up on Sunday, but we were ready for worship anyway. We had 83 people here on Sunday (including children).  Not bad for 8 inches of snow in the spring.   I told the 83 that were here that they are “True Midwesterners” who do not let a little snow get in the way.  We even had a new visitor on Sunday!!

- God worked mightily on Sunday, 4 people accepted Jesus as their Savior!  ….and I thought no one was going to be at church on Sunday…..

- I preached on “Love Protects” our of  1 Corinthians 13:7.  You can here the message here. My voice is still scratchy from this nasty cold I had weeks ago.  Mike Quick brought me some water about half way through my message which is why I say “You are awesome” out of the blue.

- Once again out worship team did an amazing job of leading us into the presence of the Lord this Sunday!

-Sunday Night we had “The Banquet” a monthly potluck and game night.  It was a great evening.  Had some great food, played some mean rounds of Pit and discover that if you ever play Pit with Meri, she almost always has the bear of the bull!!

Life is a Journey, Let’s walk together!!

Sunday in Review 3.22.08

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday was another great day here at Meadowland Church.  The weather was beautiful, the worship was amazing, and Pastor Gary “brought it” when he preached his message on “Love Forgives”.

Here are some Highlights:

- The setup up team once again did an amazing job of transforming the High School into a Church meeting space!!

- We had some weird sound problems going on during rehearsal and right before service started.  Unfortunately Gary had to speak with a handheld mic, but we got the other “phantom issues” worked out just in time for service.  Praise the Lord!!

- Pastor Gary’s message on “Love Forgives” was something we all needed to hear.  He gave us practical ways to deal with our emotions when we are hurt, and Biblical solutions for bringing about forgiveness and reconciliation.

- Our worship team did a phenomenal job leading us in worship and pointing us to Christ!  Our worship team is hands down my favorite band!

- I had the opportunity to connect with quite a few people after the service.  We got to make some new friends, and hope to seem them again soon.

- We asked for prayer for the leadership of Meadowland Church as we have been notified by the School District that we will need to move out of the High School for the Summer.  We see this as God-Given opportunity, and ask that you pray for us as we seek the direction of God as week look into our meeting space options!  God is Faithful, and I believe He has a plan for us – a plan to give us hope and a future.

Meadowland Church Highlighted on “Your Journey Blog”

Meadowland Church was just highlighted on Gary Rohrmayer’s Blog – Your Journey Blog.

Here is the article:

Some would say that the financial crisis we are experiencing is the worst our generation has ever been confronted with and that we have not seen the worst of it yet.

How do we as individuals deal with it?  How do we as spiritual leaders navigate it?  Adam Reardon and I preached a series of messages based out of the Book of Proverbs entitled, “Financial Wisdom” atMeadowland Church in Johnsburg, IL.

Each message dealt with one of the five practical ways we are to handle the resources God gives us, whether in times of economic strength or crisis.

1. We need to check our attitude towards money matters – Proverbs 24:4-5

2. We need to deal with the debt we have accumulated – Proverbs 6:1-11

3. We need to determine a standard of living and live within it – Proverbs 30:7-9

4. We need to put God first in our finances – Proverbs 3:9-10

5. We need to practice a spirit of generosity – Proverbs 11:24-26

The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom…most of it is a father speaking into his son’s life, calling him to live a skillful life, both morally and with discernment.  No other time in our life do we need fatherly wisdom in regard to our finances.

Warren Wiersbe offers a excellent intro to the book of Proverbs, “We’re living in the ‘information age,’ but we certainly aren’t living in the ‘age of wisdom.’ Many people who are wizards with their computers seem to be amateurs when it comes to making a success out of their lives. Computers can store data and obey signals, but they can’t give us the ability to use that knowledge wisely. What’s needed today is wisdom. The Book of Proverbs is about godly wisdom, how to get it and how to use it. It’s about priorities and principles, not get-rich-quick schemes or success formulas. It tells you, not how to make a living, but how to be skillful in the lost art of making a life.”

At the end of this series of messages we asked the church to make a 90 day commitment of putting God first in their finances through bringing the first 10% of their income to the church.  We asked them to live out the principle of “first-fruits” giving by bringing it to the primary place where they receive spiritual care.

In the first 30 days of this 90 day adventure the church’s average weekly offering has gone from $2485 a week to $5015 a week. We are anticipating many “God stories” to come out of those who are putting God first in their financial life.

God is doing great things at Meadowland!!

Sunday in Review 3.15.09 “Love Thinks of Others”

Last Sunday was another great day at Meadowland Church!

Here are some highlights:

- The weather was beautiful outside, which was a huge blessing for out set up team.

- The auditorium felt really full to me!

- The Worship Team did an amazing job leading us in worship!!

- We had the opportunity to make some new friends on Sunday Morning.

- Pastor Gary preached a great messaged on “Love Thinks of Others”. Listen to it HERE.

- We had a great time at the “Meet the Pastor’s Lunch” after church.  I love meeting new people and making new friends!!