well it's been a while. Taylor keeps telling me to update about wedding stuff...well really to update about anything. So I thought my update would be centered around my wonderful church.
Experience Life (E-life) is only a little over 2 years old. Teddy and I started attending the church November 2008 when it had just hit its 1 year mark. When we first started we both knew this church was different....God was moving...moving BIG.
www.experiencelifenow.com ---check out anything. His sermons are online...pretty sweet series throughout the years!
Here are the highlights from 2009:
-2500+ in weekend attendance (btwn 5 services)
-550+ people made first time commitments to Christ (WOW!!!)
-230+ people were baptized (I AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE!)
-40 Lifehouse small groups currently meeting
-150 people regularly attend our Prayer gathering
-Thousands of dollars have been given to our community
-sponsored many missionaries and missions organizations where hundreds of churhes have been started and thousands of people have come to know Christ.
-countless number of lives were changed.
Have I mentioned that we meet in a skating rink? We have to put up & tear down EVERY weekend. But we are now in the process of building a building for the church.
Here is what we are praying for as a church for 2010:
-That God does infinitely more then we could ever have imagined
-Provide a facility that can accommodate 6,000 people in multiple services over the weekend (a couple paid for 10 acres of land for the church...HUGE answer prayer)
-That would allow us to see 1,000 people commit their lives to Christ
-600 people will be baptized
-God doubles the number of Lifehouses
-Attendance at our Prayer gatherings would triple
-That we can continue to be a blessing to people of Lubbock and others across the world by being a church that models generous giving.
Teddy and I have made a commitment to give at least 10% of our income to ministry when we are married. I feel like this church plays a huge part in our lives & I hope that we will be able to give to them for a long time.
A cool thing that has already happened with Teddy being generous: He gave 10% of his paycheck last wkend at church. Today his mom called and said money is on the way for Christmas ($150) & on top of that she said you don't have to pay your car insurance this month ($115)...wow!! God is already blessing us. I have been stressing about our financial situation as we move into marriage. This is God gently saying, CHILL KELLI...I HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL. Everything. Everything. Everything. I pray that we will always be extravagant givers of God's money.
Something you can be praying for: I am still looking for a girl to take over my room in my apartment. There has been things surface & fall through in the past 2 months. Pray that I can trust in the Lord to provide either a person to fill the room or the money to pay for 2 rents. I read some scripture recently that basically said back off as God works & takes care of things. I am doing what I can, I need to let him do the rest. His plan is best.
Praise God for what He is doing in your life.
Praise God for how He has provided for you & will continue.
Praise God for rescuing us & giving us hope for tomorrow.
-Kells
