It's happening

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Originally uploaded by amandavivan©.

When Josh and I were at Saddleback, we really felt like God was telling us that He wanted us to do something big for Him. (Easy to feel that way after you've spent a week at Saddleback) When we got back, we almost immediately went to our district conference, where the "theme" seemed to be re-focusing your church, or re-starting your church. A few couples went along with us, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that they were hungry for much, much more. We knew that we couldn't leave the church... we've only been here for 6 months! We really do like it here, and we've met some amazing people and made some very good friends. God seemed to be putting people in our path who are all desiring the same thing - change. Not just a change in church, not just the music style, but a completely different change in ministry. Josh and I started praying, as did some of the other couples. After praying and talking and brainstorming, we thought it would be a great idea to have an alternative venue service. We would be our own church within the church, meet off-site, and develop a whole new ministry to offer to people in our community. There is nothing relevant or un-churchy near us, and that is what we are hungry for. So far, we have 14 people that we want to gather together as a "launch" team. Josh and our part time youth pastor approached our senior pastor today about this idea. We were very worried that he wouldn't be on board with it, because he thinks our church is just fine the way it is. He said he didn't feel the urgency that we do, but that doesn't mean that we don't feel it, or that he should discourage us just because he doesn't feel that way. He gave us permission to start meeting together as a group to pray and seek God's direction for this - PRAISE GOD!!! We feel this stirring, we know that God wants to do something huge, and we are ready to be used. Our 14 people will begin meeting together to pray, and we're going to do 40 days of prayer, and if they want, fasting a little bit. Josh is ordering copies of "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" for everyone, as that book is very relevant to our situation. I just wanted to share this and ask you to pray with us, and be happy with us! I'll keep you updated!