Holy Cow!  What an awesome experience we had today!  You guys were rockin it out!

Let’s take a moment and recap why it was so cool;

We had 8-10 people showing up at 5 am ready to set up stage and all the sound equipment.

Lenny and Girard got the trucks there right at 5:30 when everyone else was showing up.  And they did it without getting bit by one of Kevin’s Guard Rattlers.

Stage was set up by 5:30 which it only took about 25 minutes to do. We’re going to improve on this time by ten minutes next week.

Ryan Hipp was loving lugging around that stage again.  He really appreciates when we give him a good workout.  As a part of his two year anniversary with us we gave     him new work gloves.

Wade and Sean were huge helps with the stage, loading Uhauls, and then dropping off a trailer at Kevin’s again braving the Rattler’s den.

Ralph was there early and was a huge help directing our folks even when he was taking his mandatory union breaks.  Love you Ralph!

Everything was done and put away by 7:35 am WOW!

We had all our stuff outside the theater by 1.  That’s incredible in itself but then we reloaded the trucks differently so as to downsize our set up minus 1 trailer.  Next     week I have a feeling we will be packed up by 1.

We saw a ton of new faces there this week.  We need to see you again so this is your cordial invitation to come back next week!

We got Justin to start drinking coffee today.  He experienced some heart palpations but I think it will help him in the long run for our early mornings.

When we stopped at 7:40 to grab a bite to eat and to talk a minute I looked up into the seats and there were well over thirty people sitting there.  I was literally choked up!

I could go on and on but just know that I am very proud of our ‘Mighty Men & Women’ of Oakleaf!  Remember that God is waiting to use us all to do great things for him which is  just starting here in Cartersville.  (Remember to check out 2 Sam. 23 if you want to read more of that story)

Let’s do it again next week!

As we have already seen there are some big prayers being prayed for right now in our church.  We want to be the church that has a great Sunday experience for adults and children.  We want to see numerous people come to Christ of all ages.  And lastly, we want to be a real church for real people, especially those who do not have a relationship with God…’yet.’

The way I see it Journey Groups will be leading the way in our efforts in, “Leading people from where they are to where God wants them to be.” They will be the backbone of our church by Reaching out to our community, Connecting with one another for strength and guidance, and Growing in their relationships with God.

Here is the prayer for our Journey Groups this year;

1.  That we would have 25 groups in the fall.  This is a huge step for us and would be an increase of 40%!  This would be a representation of 60-65% of our adult attenders.  What does this mean?  It means more and more people will be in a place that is conducive to their spiritual health and to the health of the church.

2.  That our Journey Groups will lead the way in reaching out to our community.  That they will be all about inviting friends, neighbors, relatives, anyone to their groups, always striving to include.  That they will invite these same people to church whenever they get a chance.  And most importantly, that they would be the hands and feet of Christ in their community.  That they would complete some type of outreach event once a quarter.

3.  Lastly, that our people our so on fire for others, that every group has to multiply in February in order to handle the amount of people living life in a Journey Group.

I know that God is going to be doing some incredible things here!  Please be in prayer with us as God takes this ministry to the next level.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20

Here is our blog post from our Family pastor Jonathan;

Reaching kids and families is not a secondary thing at Oak Leaf. It’s not an afterthought. And KidVenture (preschool & elementary) is not a low priority. In fact, it’s a top priority! God has called us to impact kids and parents in Bartow County and beyond. We are on a mission to see thousands of lives changed!

Today, please pray these three specific prayers for KidVenture:

1. Let Oak Leaf Church become the first place hurting families turn to in a time of crisis. Our prayer is that we become known in the community as the healing place for families. Through counseling, providing basic needs, or whatever the situation calls for, we want to reach families at the point of their need.

2. That our church would reach thousands of children through the public school system. We believe thousands of kids will come to faith in Christ over the next several years. And we believe this will be a direct result of Oak Leaf’s involvement in the public school system. Inviting kids to KidVenture on Sunday morning is great…but we must do more. We must go to where they are. Pray for the right strategic partnerships with our local schools. Pray that the right doors will open so we can take the Gospel in to the schools.

3. That God would raise up crazy, energetic, passionate volunteers on Sunday morning that would make KidVenture contagious. It’s no secret: Oak Leaf has the best volunteers on the planet! We are VERY APPRECIATIVE for all the sacrifice that each individual makes throughout the week and on the weekends. Our prayer is that as we go to three services at the theater, God would raise up even more terrific volunteers. We want to make that one hour on Sunday morning THE BEST hour of that child’s week! Pray that parents, teenagers, moms, dads…anyone and everyone would step up and volunteer for that one hour each Sunday. Let’s unite and make KidVenture so contagious that kids in Cartersville are dragging their parents to church each week!