Creative Scribble

• It was GREAT to be back at OneLife this week!
• God proved that church isn't about one person or who the "preacher" is. I was gone last week AND we had a video sermon. The result this week? Our highest attendance ever.
• Should I take that as a hint?!
• OneLifers continue inviting friends and family members. People keep asking me "how is OneLife growing so quickly?" That's the answer.
• This week we broke a rule that the so-called church growth experts say church plants shouldn't do: we talked about money!
• These experts forget a pretty big issue: there are 2,000 verses in the Bible about money or posessions and 16 of Jesus' 38 parables dealt with the topic.
• We also had to clear up what all the "crazy people" on TV say about money (and screw up a lot of people in the process).
• Here's where we landed: generosity is something God wants FOR you not FROM you.
• We have promises from Scripture that God will "throw open the floodgates of heaven" and that we will "store up treasure in heaven" when we follow His Word in this area of our lives.
• This sermon wrapped up my FAVORITE series we've done yet!
• This coming week brings another special little surprise for the sermon that I'm looking forward to. No, it's not a video this time!
• This Sunday will also be our first "Family Sunday" where our elementary kiddos will join us in the worship service.
• Speaking of kiddos, we had a TON of them this week! There were 36 kids checked into OneLife Kidz (birth-5th grade). Starting December 6 we'll be reorganizing our age groups a little bit and add another classroom. The volunteers in these areas are AWESOME!!!
• December is going to be an incredible month for us. Christmas parade, baptisms, Christmas Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, special Christmas offerings, and a Christmas Eve Service. Hold on to your socks, OneLifers!
• Oh yeah, and a new series starting December 6 called "Do You Hear." We'll be learning about hearing from God in the midst of all the noise and busyness of Christmas.
• This is only the beginning, OneLife! Thanks for all you do. Keep building relationships with people who need to discover God and they will quickly see through you that He loves them and wants their One Life to make a difference, too.

Sunday was the first time I hadn't been at OneLife since we launched. I HATED not being there! But the volunteer teams and staff guys didn't skip a beat.

• I was on my way back from the UT/Ole Miss football game.
• After the way that thing turned out, I would have been better off staying in Knoxville!
• PS...it was very important for me to go to this game. After four years of being in UT's band during college, Ole Miss was the ONLY SEC stadium I hadn't been to! So don't judge me
• We used this as an opportunity to try out video preaching.
• As part two of "Crazy People" the topic was baptism.
• The podcast is already posted if you would like to keep up with this series.
• We used a Craig Groeschel sermon that was GREAT! I recorded an intro and conclusion thanks to the great folks at Grace Baptist Church who are always very helpful by letting us use their green screen and equipment. Tyler did a great job putting it together. Watch it here.
• From what I heard, the video sermon worked great! People laughed at jokes, repeated words when asked, and read the scripture outloud. It's a new day in the church world thanks to technology.
• By the way, to critics of video teaching I want to pose this thought. Is it that much different than Paul using letters to teach his many different "campuses" when he couldn't be there in person?
• And oh yeah, it works. Three people expressed that they want to be baptized! Our first ever baptism will be December 6.
• Attendance was great on Sunday. We had our second highest attendance since launch but it was the most adults in the auditorium that we have ever had.
• From what I was told, there was a TON of energy and lots of relationships starting to happen. That's exciting!
• This week we wrap up the "Crazy People" series with the oh-so-fun topic of money! Why does it seem that crazy TV preachers and churches only want us for our money? Does the Bible have anything to say about this? Come find out!
• Had a great staff meeting yesterday. Setting some pretty big goals for 2010. Can't wait to share those starting January 3!
• The next few weeks are going to be awesome at OneLife as we wrap up 2009. Don't miss a single Sunday or you may miss a lot! And don't forget to bring someone with you!

God continues to blow my mind each and every Sunday. Here’s a quick rundown of another incredible day at OneLife.

• We started the new series "Crazy People" today.
• Going to look at three topics and how crazy church people and crazy Christians have messed us up!
• Today was the issue of church and being a Christian. It should be about MUCH more than just an hour on Sundays.
• I kept losing my place during the sermon. Don't know why?!
• This was the most fun I've had preaching a sermon. I guess because it was something I'm so passionate about.

• The podcast is already posted if you would like to keep up with this new series.

• We saw another person indicate that they prayed to receive Christ today!
• The band unveiled a couple of new songs.
• Thanks to the band, we are apparently developing quite a repuation. A first time guest today said his middle school and high school sons had come before with friends. They told their dad all about it and he said "So we had to come check out the 'rock and roll church.'" Awesome!
• Reaching unchurched people is what it's all about. Even if it's with a reputation like that!
• Speaking of reaching people, today was our largest attendance yet - even larger than launch day!
• 163 people on week 9. Wow. God really does want to rock this community to its core! I can't believe how amazing he is at doing that!
• A lot of this number were first time guests because of current OneLifers inviting their friends and family who are unchurched. 90% of todays 1st timers were because of a personal invitation. Way to go OneLifers!
• Next week's title is my favorite yet - "The Preacher Tried to Drown Me."
• We're talking about Baptism and what exactly it's all about.
• It'll be another great day. Invite someone and be there!

How We Met: I met Dillan when I got to a point of desperation. A worship leader that I thought was going to be the OneLife worship leader had just told me it wouldn’t work out. We were just a few short weeks away from our first preview service and I didn’t have a clue what we would do. I literally thought I would be doing both – preaching and leading worship – on Sundays. But one day I literally got in the floor of my living room and asked God to PLEASE lead me to the person he wanted to be our worship leader. Less than two hours later, Dillan responded to an email I sent and the rest is history.

What He Does: Dillan cracks me up, that’s what he does! But what he does for OneLife is anything related to worship. He is responsible for leading worship, scheduling and rehearsing the band and vocals, and working with Tyler to program our worship services. On top of that, Dillan is part of a local band called Hello Forever that travels around the country leading worship at all kinds of different events. One of the things that led to me to keeping Dillan around is his heart for the local church. No matter where Hello Forever is playing, be it Seattle, Florida, or Tennessee, as a rule they always return to their home churches on Sundays to lead worship.

Sunday Responsibilities: It’s pretty obvious, but Dillan is responsible for leading worship on Sundays! He also helps to set up and tear down equipment and help to make last second changes and tweaks to the worship service.

OneLife today was an awesome day - not just a great service. At one point, I had to kind of pinch myself that God is doing so much in such little time.

• We wrapped up the Break Out series today.
• I broke out my Speedos from high school swim team as an illustration. No, I didn't wear them but would be happy to send you a picture
• To live freely, we must let go of control - the control of sin.
• We are like one of two prisoners. The first one is tired of being controlled by prison and ready to get out. The other continually sabotages his parole because the freedom scares him.
• Do you really want to be free?
• It is impossible to be controlled by sin AND be a Christian. If you are controlled by anything but Christ, you are not his follower!
• Knowing ABOUT Jesus isn't enough. You need to KNOW Jesus!
• The band was all back together this week and sounded tight. Great songs about freedom, tearing down walls, and focussing on the cross.
• We had TWELVE new volunteers today helping setup and greet. Incredible.
• We had our "Get to Know OneLife Lunch" right after the service. I expected about 50 people to sign up. We ended up with around 100 signed up last week and 120+ there today!
• Thankfully Buddy's Barbeque sends PLENTY of food when they cater. Either that or it was like the fishes and loaves
• I got to meet lots of new OneLifers including several first time guests who stayed.
• Next week we start a new series that is going to be a lot of fun. "Crazy People" will deal with church-issues that make a lot of outsiders think Christians are just a bunch of crazy people.
• The trailer video that Tyler did for this series cracks me up. People don't know if it's ok to laugh at first! It's a bunch of TV clips of "crazy Christians."
• Can't wait for the new series to start. I wish it was tomorrow! See ya Sunday and BRING A FRIEND!!!