The Hand.

It's been a couple of days now, but I am still pumped about this past Sunday! This past Sunday morning, Element Church held our second monthly service at Mr. Small's Theater in Millvale. We started out early on Sunday morning with the band loading in at 7:30 AM, while the rest of the team came to set-up at 8:30 AM. We started out with a team prayer, and then everyone was off to work!

I think that's one of the greatest things I enjoy seeing: the team that God has brought together for this adventure. When we finished praying, and committing the day to the Lord, people just jumped into action! It's so cool to see so many people wanting to do all they can to see souls come to Christ! Even the way they go about their tasks...smiling, and having fun along the way...I LOVE IT!!! God has brought us a "dream-team" of people who love God and love people. I am humbled to serve alongside them all.

As far as our attendance for the day, we were down a little in numbers from the previous service, but we were way up in the number of people attending from our community! I even had a call on my phone on Sunday Morning from a guy who was responding to the fliers that were distributed in the community earlier that week (thanks, APC Interns!).

At 10:30 AM, the music dropped, and monthly service # 2 was on it's way! Again, the Element band was tight, and did an incredible job of leading us all into worship. They worked incredibly hard in rehearsal, and it showed. Their energy and passion for leading our church in worshiping our God is incredible!

After the band finished, and the announcement time was complete, we released our children to the KidzRock Children's Ministry program. Sarah Calcara and her team have done a GREAT JOB in creating a fun learning environment for our kids! I asked my daughter, Jacki, what she thought about KidzRock, and she said, "...Same as last month." I said, "You learned the same lesson?" She replied, "No...it was GREAT, just like last time!" I am really excited for our KidzRock program next month, because we get to move the program over to the Millvale Community Center. It's right next door to Mr. Small's, and it's a much bigger environment for KidzRock to really grow! Look out, Millvale...KidzRock is going to take you by storm in June!!!

As far as the message, we've been working through a series called, "The Elements of Life." Last month we stated that God's given us several "elements" or rules for living in order to have that "life to the full" Jesus promised us in John 10:10. In our first monthly service, we talked about being forgiven, and living a life of forgiveness. This month, we explored acceptance...how we need to accept others who are different than us, because that's exactly what Jesus did in accepting us. We concluded by asking Element Church to be "that church"...where people are accepted, regardless of their differences, their strangeness, and even their sin. When we accept others, and preach Jesus, I believe we will see incredible change in others, and in ourselves! I WANT TO BE THAT CHURCH!

The end of the service featured the highlight of what we have been working toward over the last year, ever since the beginning of Millvale Matters, and the genesis of Element Church. At the conclusion of the service, I extended an invitation to know this God who loves and accepts us, just the way we are.

That's when I saw one hand go up.

That's what it's all been about. All of the planning, all of the crazy outreaches, the organizational meetings, the setting up, and the tearing down, and the long rehearsals have been about that hand. The hand that reached out to acknowledge that they needed God's acceptance in their life...to begin a journey with Him. When it all comes down to it, every man-hour invested by this amazing team in preparing, every prayer whispered by so many of you for the people of Milvale, and every dollar invested to see Element Church birthed was for that hand.

Thank you for your prayers, for your support, and for believing in the mission of Element Church.

Thank you for all you did to reach "the one" this past Sunday.

I know that it wil be the first of many more to come.