You're My Best Friend

It’s been a while since my last post, sorry. We have been busy getting our house ready to sell. Last night I had a sobering thought come to my mind. We did a huge youth event at our church. Many of our friends were involved in either the planning or the worship band that played. As I prayed with the band before we got underway the reality that this would be some of my last days with these guys began to set in. These guys have become like a band of brothers to me. The two Justins, Jon and Melissa, Will, and others will no longer be people I see week to week.

We are so pumped about starting this new church in Wisconsin and all that God has in store for us. But starting in the next couple of months my longstanding support network of passionate Christ followers is going to go from a mass of guys we have gotten close to over the years to a handful of guys I’m just now getting to know. And the cool new friends we’ve made already in Wisconsin all live in other cities. Our first year could be tough on our encouragement level. I don’t usually ask you guys to do STUFF for me but this is some STUFF I really, really need from you.

What I really need you guys to do for us is shoot me emails or call me up. When God says something to you about us in prayer or a scripture comes to mind, PLEASE send it along to us. We will need the encouragement, I’m sure. I’m really going to miss all of our friends here. But God has great things in store. For those of you who don’t have it our email address that will remain the same is danellandjim@yahoo.com. My cell is (870) 718-5314. Text me, Call me, or email me a word from God any time you feel He is leading you to do so. I’m sure we will need it just when you send it. Thanks for such great friendships guys. We really love you all.

Is this thing on?

Hey church planting partners. I'm checking to make sure you receive an email every time I update the blog. I thought this would be yet another way to keep you informed of what is going on with the church plant we will be doing in Port Washington, Wisconsin. So if you received an email notifying you of this post would you click the "comments" link below and let me know you were invited to the blog via-email. Thank you guys for your continuing prayer and support. We will keep you posted as things progress.

Movin on Up

I thought I would let you guys know where we are in the process of "moving on up" to Port Washington. We are attacking the finishing touches on getting our house ready to go on the market. We have been laying carpet, painting, cleaning, and boxing up all of our junk to store in my parents shop. In the midst of all this we are going to go to Centi-Kid for a week as chaperons. So we realistically hope to have our house on the market no later than the 1st of August. This is where you come in. Please pray for God's timing and blessing in the sell of our home. Thank you guys for all your prayers and encouragement. If people were energy drinks our friends would all be..."Rock Stars." I know thats lame, but seriously, you guys rock!

Building Materials

I haven’t posted in a while. We have been working on our house with every available moment. The push is on to try and get it ready to go on the market. The sooner we sell the sooner we will be able to make the move to Port Washington. We have spent the last week painting over all the brightly colored rooms that we have enjoyed for the last few years. Our old floors are now covered with either laminate wood flooring or carpet. Pretty much every room in the house is now a somewhat neutral color. The thing the “experts” say when trying to sell a home is that you want people to be able to picture themselves living there. For that to happen you have to strip out all the clutter and put up only the basics. Your home needs to be a neutral shell, housing only what you need to function day to day.

All this home un-improvement has caused me to think back over the basics in my own life. We all have what many call core values. Core values are more than just things you believe in or claim to believe in. Core values are those principles that guide your life. You are so passionate about them that you are willing to live and die by them. They are who you really are. We have been putting some of our core values on paper over the past year as we are forging a mold of what our new church needs to look like. I thought I might share a few with you and would love to hear some of yours if you care to comment.

The church we are starting will have etched in its D.N.A. certain values of key importance.

We believe in creating an environment where people are genuinely loved and accepted no matter where they are currently on their spiritual journey.

Church should be a safe place to connect with God and make new friends without being judged or manipulated.

God has created us to do things that are beyond the scope of our wildest dreams. We only need to plug into a relationship with Him to begin to see those dreams take shape.

Authenticity is central to a church. We believe in being real, being ourselves. No pretending to be more religious than we really are.

Relevance is a relative term (ha.ha.) We will always adapt to remain relevant to our culture and the people in our community.

The fun factor is huge here. Church should be fun. It should be encouraging, inspiring, challenging, and a myriad of other things but if it isn’t fun we’ve missed something.

Dream big or go home. We will dare to do things that seem impossible. God constantly challenges us to do things big enough that we can’t possibly do them without Him.

Well, there are a few of our core values, let me hear a few of yours.