blog.arrowheadchurch.com

I only started blogging less than six months ago. Sometimes I wondered exactly why I started blogging but I do believe it’s a helpful way for us to communicate as a church and as friends all across the country. I’ve tried to share devotional thoughts, church updates, upcoming events, and a few other things. I do believe blogging (and Twitter, Facebook, etc.) is a way for us to stay connected, and that’s always a good thing.

So, if you’re reading, I’d love to hear from you. What/who else do you read? How can I be helpful to you with the content of this site? I know commenting is a little intimidating, but if you comment I have to approve it before it goes up on the site, so if you don’t want it to go up, just say so in the comment and I won’t put it up. If you just can’t bring yourself to potential web exposure, then just email me. I just don’t want to waste your time, and I’d love to know what you like or don’t like on the blog.

I hereby declare Galatians 5 as one of the best chapters in the Bible. Ha. God has had me here in my time with Him for several days. When I struggle with trying to earn God’s approval I love that I can go back to this chapter and just remind myself that there is absolutely nothing I can do to change how He sees me, whether in a positive or a negative sense. My salvation is finished.

Okay…making another push for some Arrowhead people to start Twittering! Here’s a video to explain how it works. Let me know if you take the plunge.

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

Posts may be a little sparse this week while we’re away at the churchplanters.com conference. This conference is one of the main things God used in taking Sara and I from dreaming about planting a church to learning how to plant a church. It’s such a great time of recharging for us. I went 2 years ago with a friend. Then Sara and I went last year as a couple. Going back this year with a team from the church is going to be almost surreal. We’d appreciate your prayers as we grow and learn!

Every week I’m more amazed at this whole process. Today absolutely shouldn’t have happened.

• East Tennesseeans don’t drive when there’s snow on the ground! But we had another record crowd.
• Celebrated the Lord’s Supper together today for the first time. It was really meaningful, at least from my perspective. John 3:30 is a great backdrop for Communion.
• That’s part of our vision for Arrowhead: to be a place where He becomes greater and we become less. Talked about what that looks like in the 3 areas we’re attempting right now - worship, small groups, and service.
• Jessica absolutely nailed Lead Me to the Cross! The acoustic vibe was fun today.
• 37 people in ArrowheadKids today. Hayden (5 years old) told her mom she sure was glad Arrowhead wasn’t cancelled for snow like they do for school. Love it!
• Newcomers Lunch was unbelievable. About 100-125 people stuck around. Lots of fun and chances to connect.
• 30-40 new volunteers to connect. Thanks to everybody who is stepping up!
• New series begins next week called Why Worry. I’m all studied up and ready to go. I think it’s going to be a great 4 weeks. Invite somebody you know with a lot to worry about! There are plenty of us these days!

Have a great week!

I believe God has given men the desire to work and accomplish a task. It’s part of the fallout from Adam and Eve. We like to look back at a day and realize something’s come from it. Pastors are no different. There’s nothing like looking back at a Sunday and realizing God used it to bring about worship and life change. I try not to take credit for it because only He can bring about real change. But, He uses all of us to make the world a better place.

So, if I’m not careful, I’m just off to the next task. All of us, myself included, can tend to think that we’re working for a day when we will have accomplished the major goal in front of us and then we’ll be done. That goal is hard to define but it is tied to the calling He has on your life. None of us want to just collect a paycheck.

The problem is that the goal is so elusive. One day it’s one thing and the next day it’s something else. There’s always another sale, another tax season, another house to build, another Sunday. It can seem neverending.

The Lord is reminding me these days to just enjoy life. Living life with Jesus, with my family, and with the people I get to live it with is His design. He’s called me to real life, and that doesn’t just start when I get to heaven. It had its beginning and it has no end.

Enjoy the rest of your week. Accomplish something! Then look back and realize God did it through you. Then enjoy Him. And enjoy the people you get to live life with.

While I’m inviting (see yesterday), let me invite you to our first Newcomers Lunch this Sunday. It’s a way for us to spend time getting to know each other around a meal and to get a glimpse behind the scenes of what Arrowhead is all about. There’s something unique that happens when we eat together and we’d love for you to join us this week at Arrowhead for lunch. It’s right after the service. Lunch is free but if you can bring 1 dessert per family, that would help a lot.

One of my favorite things to do in a worship service is celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It’s very clear that Jesus intended for His followers to regularly do it. The Bible teaches we do it to remember His death. The bread represents His broken body and the juice represents His blood. It’s not a magical experience and it’s not even always a spiritual mountaintop, but it is a discipline that causes us to just slow down and think about the cross. It also causes us to slow down and examine where we are in our relationship with Him. Personally, I can’t wait until Sunday. If you haven’t been personally invited to the church yet, consider this your invite! There’s no better week to visit for the first time than when we celebrate the cross through the Lord’s Supper.

Okay, it’s 2 days after Valentine’s Day. It’s a great chance for us to all get together and compile creative ideas for celebrating. Who had a great one this year? Drop us a comment and let us see it. 363 days from now all of our significant others will have forgotten you got the idea from the blog and you can take credit for it!

I’ll give you mine to start. Nothing crazy or original here, so I need your help. In year’s past, I’ve always given Sara white chocolate covered strawberries. They are a little pricey and now that we’re not in Knoxville I couldn’t just swing by The Chocolate Factory and pick them up, so we made our own. She loved it even more, I think. Or maybe she just loved that I did the dishes after we were done…told you it was nothing original.

Great day today at Arrowhead. So thankful for what God is doing.

• Great crowd but I think we had a few people sleep in after a long night out for Valentine’s last night. Long romantic nights planned by lots of romantic husbands, I’m sure! Lots of people really sick right now too - one of them was Eli and my dad had to stay home with him. Papaw the babysitter.
• A lot more energy in worship this week after last week. It feels like people are really starting to get comfortable enough to sing out.
• Message was on John 3:1-21. Wrapped up our Believe series today with a message on the fact that in order be born again we have to step into the light. We all love to hide who we really are, but we’ve got to step into the light.
• Thanks to everybody who continues to give. Your faithfulness to financing this mission through your faithfulness to worship Jesus through giving is laying the foundation for changing lives.
• Next week is going to be incredible. I already can’t wait! We’ll celebrate Communion together for the first time as a church and then all eat lunch together after church. Hope you can make it and bring somebody with you.

Have a great week!