Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of God.

Dayspring has just rented additional office space next to the space we currently have. We have been in our office for 8 months and have not paid a penny. The owner has been very gracious to us. The renters in the space next to ours left and we were finally able to rent the space and our current space at a very reasonable price. The owner has been so good to us! Now we have an entire building to ourselves. It needs a little work – paint and flooring but has the room we need. The additional space will allow us to have ministry opportunities at our office throughout the week – small groups, youth, meetings, childcare, and regular ol’ office space. I’ll take a couple pictures when the space is finished. If you’re a Dayspringer (or not) come by the office and check out the new digs.

Last night my daughter beat me in cards. Tonight I promised my son (WHO IS FOUR – NOT THREE) we would play some games before bed. We played tic-tac-toe with his “Thomas The Train” set of Cards. I have to say that I play a pretty mean game of tic-tac-toe with a four year old…

My 6 year old, Avery, and I were playing cards before bed tonight. We played “Go-fish” and “Battle.” She was really trash talking before the game so I decided that I would whip up on her a little to stop the trash talk. Unfortunately, she won all the games. This is not looking good for my future in Vegas after my preaching career is finished.

I was blessed by overhearing a conversation today. First of all, my wife, my son and I were going to lunch. When I pulled up to the place we were going to eat a man was trying to get his car started. It wouldn’t start. I ended up offering him a ride home and he took me up on it. So, I loaded the family back up and off we went. When we got to his house he offered us money and we refused. He ended up handing our son a 10 dollar bill, which I could not take away from him – good move stranger.

Anyway, Instead of going back to our original restaurant we ended up at Whataburger. We were eating in a booth that had a wall between us and the next booth. To my surprise, the guys in the next booth over were talking about Dayspring. One said, “I want to try Dayspring UMC.” His friend replied that he thought it would a lively service. The other said he thought it would be fun to go to church in a movie theater. They went back and forth and my wife and I tried to catch as much of it as we could. At one point I started to peek my head around the corner to see if it were a joke, but my wife pulled me back. On the way out I saw that they were just two guys having lunch and talking. I almost stopped and invited them, but I thought that might freak them out too much.

It was such a blessing to hear two perfect strangers talk about our church today. We have tried to get the word out about what we are doing and it seems to be working. And to think that I would have missed it if I had not given that stranger a ride home today.

I filmed my part of a video for our Annual Conference today. I am fine standing in front of people and talking. I have no problem with it being filmed either. But you stick a camera in my face and ask me questions and I turn into Robo-Jeff. No matter how hard I try, I sound like, “Hi…My …name…is ….J..E..FF” “I””’m f..r…o..m the pl…a…n..e..t R..o..b.o.t..r..o..n.”

I feel like such a dorky 13 year old kid. And I’m not by God. I am a dorky 33 year old kid.

Dayspring’s small groups are called – Grace Groups. I really like the group my wife and I are hosting. We have 13 people in our group and it is just a really dynamic group. We have people who are coming from all different perspectives. It is great to get to know some Dayspringers on a deeper level. Last night we finished our third meeting and each time the group is opening up more and more. I see these groups as one of the greatest way to help people grow in Christ and connect with one another in a portable church.

The music was really great today! There was a lot of energy in the place and we had a good turnout (163) considering many of our regulars weren’t there. We had a film crew there from our Annual Conference and that was a little distracting during the music but otherwise we had a very focused service.

It was awfully quiet during my sermon which means people were either really listening or totally making lunch plans. It felt good to preach after having been off a couple weeks. Preaching is one of those ministry tasks that I have a love/hate relationship with. I am not sure I could be in ministry without preaching, but at the same time it is very exhausting (physically, spiritually, emotionally) for me.

I would say we had about 20 people at our membership class after service. If we get half of them to join next week, I will be excited. I am planting this church with an external focus, so I think a lot about the people who are not there and inviting people. I love seeing new faces each week, but was also convicted by the Holy Spirit this week to make sure I was taking care of those who have already committed to the church. It’s a hard balance!

My wife has been out of town for several days attending a children’s conference with our Children’s Director. I am looking forward to her return this evening. A couple things I have learned:

1. fixing my daughter’s hair is harder than brushing my own. Today is picture day at school, so my wife will forever get to see the fruits of my labor.
2. My children apparently can smell weakness and have been taking advantage of mommy being gone. Coco puffs for breakfast, ice cream, etc…

Finally, I would just like to say that I have a tremendous respect for single parents. I have had help the last couple of days and still I was stretched to the max. Seriously, today I am praying for all the single parents who work so hard at making a living and raising a family alone! May God’s grace shine down on you all.

On Monday Dayspring’s worship leader, Aaron, and I hung a couple of 4×8 banners advertising our Easter service at Bergfeld Park. Below is a picture of one of the banners that I took this morning while driving. We are having service outdoors and hosting a community Easter egg hunt. Our goal is to have 1,000 people attend. We are going to start handing out eggs for people to fill this Sunday. We have 5,000 eggs sitting in our office and need about 3,000 of them filled within the next couple of weeks. If you live in Tyler, start telling your friends about the service!

Below is a horrific picture, not for the faint of heart. I would suggest the ladies avert their eyes. This, my friends, is a blister from driving t-posts into the ground to hang the banners. As you can obviously tell, I am very manly and will do anything for Dayspring – even if it means getting a blister. By the way, it is the small red mark at the top of my palm.