Saddleback Irvine Launch! Leading up to launch, we had throngs (no not thongs) of people show up with palms up for Easter saying "How can I help?" - we weren't sure how many people would come so we were pumped when 4:30pm Saturday night, March 22nd, cars actually started to pull in... Saturday 6:30pm as well. And when Sunday morning hit, we were spilling people into the hallways, had parked cars on the grass off our back lot and fire codes were probably stretched a bit. It was awesome.
Pastor Rick preached a powerful message on how to have faith in Jesus (via video feed), our great band led us in worship and tons of our volunteers made sure people felt welcomed and encouraged.
Ephesians 3.20 came to mind as our staff collapsed from emotional, physical and spiritual exhaustion... "Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope."
Well He did. We had 1,830 people show up including kids, over 50 people made decisions to give their lives to following Jesus Christ and 50 others wanted to join or lead small groups. The timeless message of God's gift of grace never gets old. All I can say is WOW GOD.
After the services, Joy's extended family, who had come to the 11am service stuck around for Easter lunch. Even Momma and Poppa Kerr were representing the Norcal side of the family by being here over the weekend for the church launch, Easter, Mom's 60th birthday and 39th wedding anniversary. It was great to have all the support and community over the weekend from family but I was so tired afterwards... I ended up taking a nap after I ate:). What a weekend... now next week.
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3 comments:
"Kindly harassed"...I like that.
Oh- and your Easter experience sounded pretty cool, too.
:)Wendy
Did I read that right? You had 1830 people show up for the first day of your new church? That's astounding.
We just started attending a very similar new campus started by Menlo Pres in Mtn View, very near our house. They have the same format - a local pastor (who seems great) and band then Ortberg on the video screen. It's done very nicely and we really enjoy the feeling of a smaller church with the "benies" of a big church.
Anyway, congrats on a great opening day.
alex
Kerr,
Yay! I am so excited you updated the blog, the harrassing obviously worked. Now I will be looking forward to your BBQ blog...
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