The Last 48 Hours...an Overflow Update!
Monday, January 28, 2008
The last 48 Hours:
Due to the popularity of the last blog post I did, I thought I'd continue that format for another blog and give you a glimpse at the last 48 hours and the incredible way things are unfolding here with Overflow! God truly has his hand on Overflow and we really appreciate all of your prayers and support…the last 48 has really been challenging and encouraging that we are heading in the right direction under His direction!
Saturday, 1/26: I arrived at the mall around 10 am and spent a couple of hours running errands in the area and setting up things for the weekend and serving project scheduled from 3-7pm. At 3 pm, 7 people from Overflow and 7 youth and adult leaders from New Carlisle Wesleyan Church in Indiana join us to serve here at Overflow and The Orchards Mall. I gave the group a short tour and shared the vision for Overflow and then we set them "loose" on the mall serving our stores and shoppers. Randy Willis (our serving director) did a great job coordinating the event and communicated with the store managers who were very excited to have the help. The serving team washed windows, cleaned jewelry cases, swept floors, cleaned rooms, labeled 600 water bottles with our launch and Overflow information, and passed out free water bottles to shoppers in the mall! It was a great night and afterwards, Randy and I enjoyed Chan's Garden, a local Chinese restaurant, that is top notch! After returning home just after 8pm, I realized that we had our first "rehearsal" Worship Celebration at Celebration Cinema the next morning! In all honesty, no worries consumed me in that moment because of the incredible team God is assembling here! I then reviewed my message and slept well Saturday night.
Sunday, 1/27: I arrived at our Overflow Office at 7:30 am to spend some time in prayer and then met with some of our team at 8 am to discuss the morning and move all of our equipment from the mall to the cinema. At 8:56 am, we arrived at Celebration Cinema and it was a moment of pure joy as I pulled into the parking lot to see cars parked representing our Overflow team members already in the cinema setting up and getting ready for the morning. We currently have 9 directors for our serving teams and almost 40 adults that are on our launch team (God has truly gone ahead of us and prepared people in advance to jump on board for this—Eph 2:10)! We experienced an incredible amount of technology difficulties throughout the morning, but our amazing tech director, Don Martin, and his team were able to get us started by 10:41 am (we normally start at 10:31) and the worship was excellent! Mark Ficks, our Music Director, and the band did an awesome job of leading us into worship before teaching on the DNA of Overflow and what it means to be a "church for the thirsty". Because of filling up a smaller theater we started in, we will be moving to a larger one for our first preview service on 2/10/08. It was exciting (and emotional) for all of us to see everything come together and to know we can start inviting friends and family to our previews (see below) and our public launch on 3/16/08. After service, we moved everything from the cinema to the mall (everyone pitched in and we were done by 12:30 pm with the transitions). I grabbed lunch with Mark and we celebrated the morning and then went home for a bit with our families. Our launch team came back together at 4 pm (directors at 3:30 pm) and shared a meal, received some training, and then split into serving teams until 6 pm. I left the mall at 7 pm and was ready for some down time at home!
Monday, 1/28: This morning, I arrived in the mall office around 8 am and will continue to work on administrative tasks, sermon prep, etc. Looking forward to a night of pizza and a game of Settler's of Catan with my family and a couple from our Overflow team.
I hope this gives you an idea of how God is working here and thank you so much for your prayers...we are going to be sure to slip away this coming weekend as a family and get some much needed "down time".
In Pursuit, Brian
Celebration Cinema Worship Celebrations
• Sundays @ 10:31 am
• SPLASH Children's Ministry available & concessions will be open (with a discount for Overflow)
• Our Preview Dates: 2/10, 2/24, 3/9
• Our Every Sunday Launch Date: 3/16 (and every Sunday after that)
Saturday, 1/26: I arrived at the mall around 10 am and spent a couple of hours running errands in the area and setting up things for the weekend and serving project scheduled from 3-7pm. At 3 pm, 7 people from Overflow and 7 youth and adult leaders from New Carlisle Wesleyan Church in Indiana join us to serve here at Overflow and The Orchards Mall. I gave the group a short tour and shared the vision for Overflow and then we set them "loose" on the mall serving our stores and shoppers. Randy Willis (our serving director) did a great job coordinating the event and communicated with the store managers who were very excited to have the help. The serving team washed windows, cleaned jewelry cases, swept floors, cleaned rooms, labeled 600 water bottles with our launch and Overflow information, and passed out free water bottles to shoppers in the mall! It was a great night and afterwards, Randy and I enjoyed Chan's Garden, a local Chinese restaurant, that is top notch! After returning home just after 8pm, I realized that we had our first "rehearsal" Worship Celebration at Celebration Cinema the next morning! In all honesty, no worries consumed me in that moment because of the incredible team God is assembling here! I then reviewed my message and slept well Saturday night.
Sunday, 1/27: I arrived at our Overflow Office at 7:30 am to spend some time in prayer and then met with some of our team at 8 am to discuss the morning and move all of our equipment from the mall to the cinema. At 8:56 am, we arrived at Celebration Cinema and it was a moment of pure joy as I pulled into the parking lot to see cars parked representing our Overflow team members already in the cinema setting up and getting ready for the morning. We currently have 9 directors for our serving teams and almost 40 adults that are on our launch team (God has truly gone ahead of us and prepared people in advance to jump on board for this—Eph 2:10)! We experienced an incredible amount of technology difficulties throughout the morning, but our amazing tech director, Don Martin, and his team were able to get us started by 10:41 am (we normally start at 10:31) and the worship was excellent! Mark Ficks, our Music Director, and the band did an awesome job of leading us into worship before teaching on the DNA of Overflow and what it means to be a "church for the thirsty". Because of filling up a smaller theater we started in, we will be moving to a larger one for our first preview service on 2/10/08. It was exciting (and emotional) for all of us to see everything come together and to know we can start inviting friends and family to our previews (see below) and our public launch on 3/16/08. After service, we moved everything from the cinema to the mall (everyone pitched in and we were done by 12:30 pm with the transitions). I grabbed lunch with Mark and we celebrated the morning and then went home for a bit with our families. Our launch team came back together at 4 pm (directors at 3:30 pm) and shared a meal, received some training, and then split into serving teams until 6 pm. I left the mall at 7 pm and was ready for some down time at home!
Monday, 1/28: This morning, I arrived in the mall office around 8 am and will continue to work on administrative tasks, sermon prep, etc. Looking forward to a night of pizza and a game of Settler's of Catan with my family and a couple from our Overflow team.
I hope this gives you an idea of how God is working here and thank you so much for your prayers...we are going to be sure to slip away this coming weekend as a family and get some much needed "down time".
In Pursuit, Brian
Celebration Cinema Worship Celebrations
• Sundays @ 10:31 am
• SPLASH Children's Ministry available & concessions will be open (with a discount for Overflow)
• Our Preview Dates: 2/10, 2/24, 3/9
• Our Every Sunday Launch Date: 3/16 (and every Sunday after that)
posted by Brian @ 12:27 PM,
,
An incredible 72 hours…
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Friends,
Well, I am not sure where to begin with explaining all that has happened in the last 72 hours, but it has really felt like jumping on “Top Thrill Dragster” (my favorite 0 to 120mph roller coaster at Cedar Point) and strapping into all that comes with being a part of Overflow! Here is a snapshot of the last 3 days and all that has happened:
• Saturday, 1/12/08: 27 members of our launch team packed into our Overflow Office/Lounge and went through a 9am-4pm “Boot Camp” together. It was a great day of building community, learning more about Overflow and our core beliefs, and creating quite the “buzz” in the mall as people walked by and saw our group filling up the office/lounge area. Even the way in which we ended up in the office/lounge rather than in the community center had God’s hand and direction on it and really made for a great day. At the end of teaching all day I had a vicious migraine that only “El Rodeo” (a local authentic Mexican restaurant could handle) and a whole lot of playoff football could cure!
• Sunday, 1/13/08: We traveled to Muskegon to share a morning with one of our sister church plants, “The Deep”, and enjoyed their prayer for us, the worship, and the teaching with our friends Rob and Bethany Patterson. Afterwards we were able to grab lunch with them (thanks guys!) and head back to our Overflow Launch Team meeting at the mall at 4pm. Our launch team meeting was great and the best part was seeing our team move into our ministry teams for the first time. We had completed spiritual gifts testing and then moved into teams based on this and so watching all of these new teams in actions was awesome (and a bit overwhelming at the same time)! God has truly blessed us with over 35 leaders and 8 ministry teams that are working together to help us launch Overflow Worship Celebrations on 3/16/08. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: we also had someone tour our house in Battle Creek on Sunday and will let everyone know what happens when we hear…in the meantime, thank you for your prayers!
• Monday, 1/14/08: Today I had 3 big meetings by lunch and then was able to volunteer at the Opportunity Center (a local GED, job skills, and mentoring organization) for a short time and made a few great connections with some of their students and staff. Afterwards, myself and 7 Overflow team members ran a family and children’s program at Berrien Homes (see pictures below) and had a great time with the 30 children, 8 teens, and 4 mothers that attended and joined us for Sloppy Joes, games, and a God centered movie. The biggest hit of the night, though, had to have been the 13lbs of Sloppy Joes we went thru and the mini-dance party the kids had to our music!
So there you go…. every day is a new and exciting day with all that his happening right now with Overflow! Thank you so much for continuing to follow this journey and joining us in prayer and support! We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on 3/16/08 for the LAUNCH of our Worship Celebrations!
May your next 72 hours “Overflow” with God’s love and mercy, Brian
posted by Brian @ 9:50 AM,
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Overflow Photos
Friday, January 4, 2008
Overflow Photos are now viewable. Check 'em out here or use the navigation icons located above and on the side.
posted by Brian @ 11:38 AM,
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