Easter Update!!

I wanted to finally take the time to update you on what happened over the Easter holiday. Flood has always put a significant amount of time into planning for Easter each year, knowing that it may be the one of only a few times a person steps foot in a church all year. We try to figure out ways to allow people to truly encounter God and hear a clear presentation of the love and grace that God offers. This year, the staff member in charge of Sunday production, along with the help of a few others, built two huge Lite-Brite boards. We gave each person a peg when they arrived and created a tangible way for people to respond to the message. We started with giving people a chance, who have never put their trust in Christ, to come forward and place their peg into the huge board. Then, we opened it up to the rest of the church in order to see what kind of force our light could be to the world around us. My job was to be up front and be available to pray for people. It was an amazing viewpoint as I watched around 20 people put their trust in Christ in each of the two morning services. Two women who had just finished up our most recent New to Faith group made the commitment. I also saw another woman, who went through the class about 6 months ago, place her peg into the Lite-Brite along with her brother and sister-in-law. Also, I witnessed a woman, who only came to one New to Faith class, make the commitment as her mother, who is involved in our church and has been praying for her for years, was crying as she stood walked to the front with her. The day reminded me of how everybody is on a process, and what a thrill it is to be just a small part of their journey. It makes every difficult conversation and moment of prayer worth it when you see people make such a huge commitment. I sincerely thank each one of you who support me and allow me to have such an amazing viewpoint on what God is doing.

As if that is not enough, we had the Strategic Fatherhood event the following night. We had never done a fatherhood event before, but we realized with the way our church is growing through procreation right now, we should look into it! We were hoping 40 or so guys would show up, so we were thrilled that 75 guys came and most of them attempted to take part in our potluck. Its always a little risky when you ask men to bring food, especially when the first 10 claim soda, but it turned out to be a great meal. Pastor Matt and his growth group shared their journey of trying to become more strategic fathers, and then we had a big brainstorming session to share everybody’s wisdom. We were definitely encourage to see so many fathers, and many men who will one day be fathers, interacting and encouraging each other. I am excited to see what God has in store for the men of Flood!

Finally, I wanted to share with you the next step in our extremely transitional period of our lives. After 2-1/2 years in a one-bedroom apartment, we are making the jump to a 3-bedroom house! Through some friends of ours, we were offered an amazing deal to rent this house. The family needed some people they trust to take care of the house and we needed an affordable rent. It ended up being a great fit and we are moving in two weeks. We are really excited to have more space, which includes a backyard. I am finally going to be able to buy the army-sized pack of toilet paper from Costco and have a place to store it!! We view this as an incredible gift from God as we pray through what God has in store for us in the future. So please pray for us as we try to move in the midst of an intense time at school, and especially for Tatum as she will have to live in clutter for a bit until we get settled (if you know her, you know why this is a prayer request). But now we will have room for any out-of-town visitors!! If we are not a good enough reason to visit, you will want to see the one wall that has tree wall paper on it, as if you are standing at the edge of a forest!! We will see you soon!

I am finishing up another New to Faith group this week, and Tatum just finished her Core group. I will give you an update on both of those in the next blog entry. But for now, if you could pray for our situation at Kearny High, that would be great. We are out of a home for the next two weekends because of a reported case of swine flue in the school. We will be scrambling a bit, but are confident that God is still going to do great things in the next two weeks.

You stay classy, friends and family. Thank you so much for what you mean to Tatum and I.

Not Going Anywhere....

I thought I would post a quick note to say “Happy Easter!!” to everyone. Many of you will celebrate this momentous holiday with family and friends, which hopefully is a refreshing and fun experience for you. Now that I work at a church, my new tradition is to celebrate Christ’s resurrection by helping others celebrate with me (which includes helping them find a place to park…). As with most churches, Easter is a big Sunday at Flood. We have had the theme of Risk this year, with a focus on sharing Christ’s love with others. There are many within our church who have taken the risk of inviting friends, family, and coworkers to attend church with them on Easter. Since most people are more open to it on such a significant holiday, we are praying that many who do not know Christ will hear and experience His love for them. So we would love for you to pray with us that God would show up in a powerful way on Sunday and change lives.

Also, we are having our first Fatherhood event on Monday night, right after Easter. We have been blown away by the response and have 60 rsvp’s already. This is obviously a need within our church, so pray that God would use the time of sharing and discussion to push the fathers of Flood to be more than just present in the lives of their kids, but to also be strategic.

I also have a few updates of praise. We just finished a New to Faith class, where I had 7 people going through the seeker section. We are following up with them over the next week or so, but we already have one woman commit to follow Christ! It has been amazing to be a part of what God is doing in transforming people’s lives. If you think of it, pray that she would find the community that she needs to really grow in her trust of God and that the rest in the group would continue seeking God.

Finally, in some bigger news, I have been officially hired by Flood!! My internship ends when I graduate, so I was waiting to find out what the next step would be. In the midst of some tough economic times, God has blessed our church with enough finances that they were able to hire me full-time starting in July! I will share more about my job description when it is fleshed out, but my main focus will by on the same areas of ministry. So thank you so much for everyone who has supported me financially and prayerfully over the past two years. For those who have been supporting me on a monthly basis, your commitment ends after June!! Its my own version of an economic stimulus package. Overall, Tatum and I are thrilled to be here longer. We have been blessed through our church and are excited to see how God can use us in this community over the next couple years. So if you go to Flood, sorry, but you are stuck with me!

I’ll post another update soon to tell you about Easter, the Fatherhood event, and Tatum’s core group. It is a blessing to serve alongside of each one of you.

Eric