Thank You Jesus!

Good morning, real life, and happy 8th birthday.

Hey, we're so excited you are here with us today.

Whether you're watching online or you're right here with us in

person. Stand to your feet so we can

worship and celebrate together. I was very beneath my shame.

Who could carry that kind of a way?

It was bad till I've made come on, put those things together.

I was breathing but not a light on.

My fear is I've tried to hide. It was bad till I may You called

my day, and I ran out of that grave, out of the darkest tune

on the as day you called my day I.

The darkest to your glorious day that I know, Jesus, when I made

you. The target you Call My Name out

of the target to your Come on church.

Are you grateful for him today? Give him a shout of praise this

morning. Come on, let's sing this out.

I needed rescue. My sin was here.

The chains break out the way to you.

I needed shelter. I was ignored.

Now you called me the seers in again.

When I was broken, you were my Your love is here.

That I'm breathing. I have a future.

My eyes are closing. Because when you Call My Name.

Shut up. I ran out of that grave, out of

the darkness. Out of the

target to your Louise day. Let's go.

Amen, Amen. Praise this morning.

He was a good guy. Amen.

Awesome day we're going to have today.

I want to introduce a new song to you called Awake My Soul, and

it comes right out of Psalm 57. And it's an invitation for the

worshippers to arise, an invitation to rise up and say,

God, you are good and we praise your faithfulness.

So lean in, sing along. Let's lift him up.

There is a sound I love to hear. It's the sound of the Saviour's

robe as he walks into the room where people pray, where we hear

praises he hears. There is a sound I love to.

Hear you. It's the sound.

Of a savior's robe as he walks into the room where people pray,

where we hear worship. Wake my soul and sing.

Sing his praise out loud. Sing his praise out loud.

Oh, wake my soul and sing. Sing his praise out loud.

Sing his praise out loud. 'Cause there is a sound.

That changes things. The sound of those people love

their beats away. God gives longer rain.

It's time to worship him away the my soul, and sing, sing his

rain. And when we pray, Mr. The world

now stands away wherever we promises.

Amen. Then when he moves, you make no

mistake, move bounds of hell. He gets to shame.

I'll hail him alone. I'll hail him.

Hi. Hi.

And sing. Sing is praise loud.

Sing is praise loud. Can you believe it's eight

years? Come on, somebody get loud in

here. There's some awesome worship.

Eight years. It's unbelievable.

God's been faithful. Amen, Janet, where's Janet at?

Do shoes get into this morning? Amen.

That was amazing. But God is good and we can

celebrate today. And one of the most fitting ways

you possibly celebrate a birthday with baptism to

celebrate life change, transformation, what God's done.

Before we do that though, we guys give a big hand to

everybody's new day. Everybody came to support these

guys getting baptized. Let them know you love them.

Come on. Well, you guys can be seated and

share with you just a little bit what baptism is all about.

And it's really unique because it's really Jesus commands us to

get baptized, to go therefore make disciples baptized to them.

It's the first step of obedience and it's a picture of what Jesus

has done in our lives. Now you may think baptism was

just established by Jesus, but actually John the Baptist

baptized in the Old Testament. There was baptism with the

temple and it was a picture of purity when they got baptized.

And so it's pretty amazing to me when these people get baptized,

their baptism is representing their their permanent purity in

Christ. To get baptized.

Once we know Jesus is a picture of what Jesus did on the cross,

they dive across for our sins, paying the permanent, full,

perfect sacrifice of our sin. The Bible said that one man sins

in the world and death through sin, but by one man maybe became

righteous. His name is Jesus, Amen, Amen.

And so God gives his righteousness in this picture,

in this tub. There's no salvation in this

tub, but it's obedience and saying I love Jesus.

I'm going to shame what he's done in my life.

I want to live for him. I'm proud of relationship with

him. I want you to know that so many

of you today were coming and you may not even know Jesus.

You may think, man, this is just weird, but I'm here for my

family and I want to encourage you.

There's something way deeper than you can understand at this

moment. There's something spiritual

happening and maybe guys are going to call you today to step

out in faith. Maybe you realize from the

stories you're going to share that you need Jesus.

You may recognize that you need to get baptized.

And I'm just telling you, there's something so special,

significant. You hear their stories.

Each story is so special. It's going to be so encouraging.

So once you lean in and they're going to baptize, I want you

guys to do something incredible. I want you guys to shout like

all the angels of heaven just went erupted for these guys come

out and they came up, man, can you just give me a big real

life? We love you.

A big shout of praise. Amen.

All right, do right now. Let them know you love warm up.

Come on, we're get started. All right, well, I have the

honor to read stories and information that they have

shared with us prior to being baptized.

So each person getting baptized sends in information for us to

share in this moment. And so lean in.

It's going to be just a really special morning with these

stories. So first we have Melissa Colbert

and Aiden Nichols. Yeah, give them a round of

applause. So Melissa shared with us, I

have always believed in Jesus and this past year has been a

struggle for my family and for my country.

And by praying, I have seen my life been getting better.

My son has been my support system and guided me into

learning more about Bible verses and what they mean and I

couldn't be more proud of him. And so today I want everyone to

know that I believe Jesus is my Lord and Savior and that he

saved me and set me free. We ask, why do you want to get

baptized? She says I'm ready to show other

people that I let Jesus in my life and I'm ready to follow him

to learn more about the Bible and become a better Christ

follower. And who is someone who had a

special impact on your Christian walk you'd like to thank?

She said my son Aiden has been a very had a very big impact on me

and seeing him help other kids his age get through hard times

has been really an inspiration. Aiden shares.

I was struggling with my mental health and I started reading the

Bible more to better understand how to manage different

situations in my life that led me to help others in need to

going through the same struggles that I was.

And so through that, I came to know and believe that Jesus died

for me and that He's my Lord and Savior.

I want to get baptized today because I think it'll help my

relationship with Jesus, my beliefs, and help me to be more

committed and following Him. Aiden shared that he had a

friend from school who told him about the Bible and encouraged

him to have faith in Jesus. What a powerful story of the

power of a teenager sharing with Christ with another team.

To see a family, come to know Jesus and get baptized, it's

awesome. Let's give it up for.

Melissa and Aiden. Awesome.

Next we have Finley Odell and she is being joined in the

baptistery by her mom and dad, Lucas and Diana Odell.

Finley shared with us that the church helped me start my

relationship with Jesus and I am learning to get better at loving

him. She said When?

Why do you want to get baptized? Finley said.

I want to show everyone that I love Jesus and she said who is

someone who had a special impact on your Christian walk that

you'd like to thank? And Finley said Miss Christie

has had an impact on her knowing and following Jesus.

It was actually this time last year that Lucas was baptized and

he's also seen his older daughter Luciana, who goes to

real life youth, be baptized. So it's really special for them

to see their family following and loving Jesus together.

All right, next we have Hannah Blanton and she is being joined

by Tanya Taylor. Hannah shared.

I grew up in church, but I never felt like the perfect Christian.

I often didn't measure up and eventually church hurt pushed me

to turn away from religion altogether.

When I got married, my husband and I struggled with infertility

and it was the hardest season of our life.

I became angry with God for placing such a deep desire in my

heart to be a mother, yet not answering that each failed

attempt to make my heart heavier.

Until one day I broke. I found myself on the bathroom

floor on my hands and knees crying out to God.

In that moment I laid everything before him and I promised if He

fulfilled his promise and gave us a child, I would recommit my

life to him and raise that child in the church.

Not long after, God answered my prayer and He gave us Owen and

that was a turning point. And so as a family, we began

searching for a church home. We visited real life.

And before I went on Sunday, I prayed and asked God if this is

the church where we're meant to grow in our faith and raise our

family. Let one person introduce

themselves to us today. And that morning, not one, but

12 different people came up and introduced themselves to us.

And I knew God had answered me again, confirming that real life

was the place He was leading us. And since then, I've recommitted

my life. I've learned God isn't looking

for perfect Christians, which is hearts that are willing to meet

Him where they are. And I want to be baptized today

because it's a symbol of my new life in Christ, an act of

obedience, saying yes to Jesus and following him.

Hannah shared that her parents had a huge impact on her life

for raising her in church, giving her a solid foundation,

her husband so supportive and walking in faith, and her friend

Tanya for showing her that God can meet her there in the

valley. Hey, let's give it up for

everyone who has gotten baptized today and all the people who

have helped them walk towards that moment.

Give him a big, big shout. There we go.

There we go. Go ahead and stand to your feet.

We're going to continue to worship Him this morning.

We've seen His faithfulness, we've witnessed His goodness

this morning, and we're going to give Him all our praise

together. Is lost and all alone.

Your presence was where I found home.

You were there and you're here right now.

In every heart and every love. You never left me with our hope.

You were good and you're good right now.

Thank you that witness your faithfulness.

I've seen you real life with it. So poor my praise.

Your promises never fail. I've got stories I live to tell.

So poor all my crazy king, the world thee got truly up all over

thee, He of the throne, and chose the cross lay down our

light to rescue us. The Savior there and the Savior

now. But even this might be it.

You call the hell. So I could be resurrecting that

resurrecting now, resurrecting that, resurrecting now.

Not when it should Faithfulness see you breathe Lifeway bed.

So I pour out my praise and grace, Your lady, that you're

worthy of all the day. Your promises never fail.

I've got stories I live to tell. So I pour out my praise with and

your lady that you're worthy of all the day.

Yes, you're worthy. Yeah,

you're good. And I've witnessed.

You're strong enough. Witnessed.

You're constant. I've witnessed and I'm

comforted. I'll see it again and again.

You loving, I've witnessed it. You healing, I've witnessed it.

You saving, I've witnessed it and I'm comforted.

I'll see it again and again. You're good and I've witnessed

it. You're strong in our witness

day. You're constant.

I've witnessed you and I'm proper.

It is. I see it again and you know

that. I've witnessed day.

You heal it. I've witnessed day.

You save it. I've witnessed day and I'm

tumbled. I've seen it more.

I've seen you be like when they so I pour out my praise with me

because you're worthy that you're worthy of already, but

your promise is never fair. I've got stories I live to tell,

so I pour out my praise. You praise you be maturity of

all the to the broken I'd witness, to the hurting I'd

witnessed, To the lost I will witnessed.

And I'll tell them. I'll tell them what I'm willing

to my family of Wednesday, to my city of Wednesday, to the

nations of Wednesday, and I'll tell them that.

I'll tell them what I'm ready. Here's the turn, Roger.

Worthy. I've witnessed.

I've witnessed your faithfulness.

I've seen you breathe life with it.

So I pour out my praise again, 'cause you're worthy.

Got you worthy of all of it. And your promise is never fair.

I've got stories I live to tell. So I'll pour out my praise

again, 'cause you're worthy, God.

You're worthy of all of it. Man, what a way to kick off an

8th birthday, man. Give it up for God, man.

God makes a way, man, Can we take this opportunity?

Can we just give it up? For those that got baptized

again, Let's celebrate. Man.

Love watching people take that next step of faith.

Man, it is an honor and a privilege just to be in that

same tank with those guys and just really we're in concert in

worship and just honoring and just watching these people take

that next step. And we're supporting community.

That's who we are here in real life.

So man, we are so excited that you guys chose to worship with

us. I want you guys to know we have

some awesome people that are new with us that are in person and

online. Can we show those guys some love

as well? Give it up for him.

Yeah. There we go.

All right. Hey, take 30 seconds and just

greet somebody around you. All right, you guys can go ahead

and find a seat. I want you guys to know that you

have something awesome on your seat that you're getting ready

to sit on right now. And that's our connection card

here, real life and our connection card is this is for

everybody. If you call real life home, we

remind you guys week in and week out, we love it when you feel

these out. Let us know what's going on in

your life. Maybe man, God showed up and

you've just got a huge, huge, huge praise God.

You know, you've been praying something for forever and God

showed up and answer that prayer or maybe you have a prayer

request. And when you we write these

down, our team reads these week in and week out.

We want to stay connected to you know what's going on.

So if you go real life home, we love it when you fill these out.

If you are new or newer with us, I'm going to make you once easy

promise. We're not going to ask anything

from you today except for one small thing.

We would love for you just to introduce yourself to us.

We want to know who you are and the connection card's the best

way that you can do that. And so if you mark that you're

new or newer and you fill that out to the level that you're

comfortable with, nobody's going to show up your door.

Nothing crazy like that, but we just want to be able to send you

out some information this week about who we are at real life,

why we do what we do, and how maybe you can connect with what

God's got for you in your life. And really, that's why we exist.

And we like to say that we're a church on a mission.

And that mission is to see people far from God discover

their real life and purpose in Jesus.

And all that simply means is this is that we know that week

in and week out, people's lives get wrecked.

You know, their sickness, they lose a job, they lose a

relationship and when they when they walk out of the

circumstances, they don't know what to do because they don't

have that hope. They don't have that meaning.

But really God's the only one that gives that to us.

And the awesome privilege about being a real life week in and

week out is we get to see people commit their lives to Christ and

their lives are radically transformed and changed.

So we pray that you're on mission with us this week and

just come join us in that community.

So today again, we are celebrating big.

We are looking back to what God has done over the last eight

years and this is going to be awesome for you guys.

This is such an encouragement to seek God's faithfulness.

We're not a Church of the status quo.

We're a church that is living in faith.

And so we're going to lean into what Pastor Sean has as we look

forward to the next step of real life and just celebrate what

God's done. So can we give Pastor Sean some

love and a big Earth 8th birthday party?

Welcome to Pastor. It's been 8 years, I haven't

done it yet, but today's the day you stay after man.

Well, can you give it up for Jesus one more time?

Let us know we love him. Come on, 8 years.

Oh man, all of the memories today, we're going to just kind

of go in a memory lane for a little bit, share our story.

I think it's important to hear where we came from and then some

stories of what God has done recently in our church and I'm

inviting some different people up from our team and just share

some stories. It's been a big day of

encouragement and cast a little bit of vision.

I probably won't have much time, so I'm just going to run through

some stuff at the end I'm sure, but it's going to be good.

Amen. So today just kind of like

memory lane a little bit. So I'm trying obviously we start

with Jesus, but for me personally, when did the church

birth in our hearts? And I'll tell you it's probably

2013 Columbia Bogota. We're on a missions trip and I

saw for the first time in my life a life giving church.

Now I had no idea what that meant.

There was just something special about this church that they

empower the next generation. They preached people's best.

They loved on people deeply. It wasn't this controlled thing.

I'm like, send this missionary. I'm like, hey, you need send a

mission team back to my church. Like literally send the team

back to my church and give us what you got here because it's

amazing. And I didn't know all the

details it looked like, but I knew I had to have it.

And I changed my philosophy ministry, changed how I LED a

change the rule of the mission of why we have church which

which is back to Jesus. Amen.

To reach people far from God and we begin to reach people.

Our youth ministry. It was amazing.

I mean, you saw thousands of first time, I guess hundreds of

people coming to Christ. It was awesome.

And I kept telling Diane it's like, man, we need something

like this for adults like being a life giving church for adults

and God through a lot of circumstances really opened the

door for us. We're in between ministry going

what should we do in 2015 and Diane's boss, she's at Children

Mercy Hospital. Her boss has God put this moment

together is a lady that is the pastor's wife at Crosspointe

Church in Lenexa, KS. And she said even her this group

called the Ark which is association related churches.

I have never heard of them and they had meet up that week,

which is a miracle because they meet every five years.

Amen. Just saying it was a miracle of

God. Jack stack freight house and

just met this group of life giving people.

And so I took Barry down to an ARC training at New Life Church

in Arkansas. And there's a picture and you

can tell there's two dudes that took this picture because we're

not in the picture. Come on, somebody.

This is the beginning, baby, The picture of a map.

That's what we need to start this thing out, you know, And

you know, we're not gonna be like selfie or can you take a

picture of us? That's kind of, you know, it's

just how it went. And we went down there.

And I'll tell you, if you want to see a grown man cry that's

buried by the way you see grandma cry, Take him out of an

unhealthy church and bring him into a healthy church.

It's healthy seed and healthy soil.

And I remember having a conversation with Bury just

sitting on that very first day. And it's like, I didn't know

church could be like this. I didn't know it could be on a

mission like this. We forgot that the father

standing, staring down the road for the prodigal to come home.

That wasn't the type of church that like I grew up in and came

out of. And so for us, it was just this

life giving culture. So we got connected to the ark

and it was just an amazing godsend.

And from that we started interest socials.

We started gathering just interest in our community,

telling people how we're going to launch it.

And this was going to be like, and we started in January 2017.

We started at the place called the Den inside Aaron's Family

Fun Center, right? And This Is Us.

We were so young. Come on, somebody, right?

We're in the bowling lanes. The best part of this story is

we had a lot of people show up. It was amazing.

But the bartender came. Come on somebody and we're like

what kind of church are we going to be?

It was like day one and we tipped her out like hey stay,

she helped us out. But looking back, I literally we

should like open that bar up because there's some people that

are going to leave anyway. So let it go.

Amen. Some of y'all like dude, I don't

know about this preacher. Just saying man, it would have

saved us some headaches. But anyway, it was amazing.

This is in January, very beginning.

This next picture, this is Memorial Park.

Been inflatable. This is behind Raymill

Elementary, just out in the middle.

A team is gathering. I don't think there's in a

chronological order, but yeah, we're sharing the vision of our

church. Next picture, you recognize

these guys On the left, that's Rob Hallford's house.

And on the far, you're far. That's Josh Covely.

They'll be laughing at Josh. All right?

He's not Asian at all. You got Tommy.

You got no amazing. Diane, Come on, somebody

spiritual fox. Holy hottie.

Come on. Looks the same fine wine.

You know what I'm saying? That belt high blue.

I believe that's Belt high blue. Next picture.

Dude, Scott and Dana Jermaine's house open their house up.

Is this the one you guys went to?

Is this the this the first one? And I don't know.

So. So Drew and Holly result.

And if you don't Holly, step here, sing a little bit, then

the result. And he drew on keys of one of

these intraducals. And I know Drew showed up and he

was wearing his must not be this one.

His Macho Man Randy Savage wrestling shirt.

Come on, somebody come on. Yeah, Step into a slim.

Jim Oh, yeah. And so I walked up to him.

It was that same comment. Maybe we're just kicking off.

He's like, dude, these are my people, man.

These are my people and Holly's embarrassed.

Like don't burn that out to this thing.

You know, He's like, if they respect this, they get this,

they get me, you know? So he's been here ever since.

Amen. Amazing to have that tattooed on

my chest right now. Anyway, so next slide.

This is perfect. All right, so then we went to

our launch phase. They were like, hey, we got to

get this thing off the ground. God open the door to meet here

at KT God has blessed this place, got his use this place.

I sat across from one of the vice superintendents of the

school district and old Barry walked in.

He said, that guy's with you, I'm all for you.

He used to the flower work for the city, for the for all the

parks and all these things. And he put a neighbor number

across the table and said, Hey, will this work for you?

And it has worked for us ever since.

It's been a God size number for us just to say yes.

And so we thanked the Belton School District for all the

effort and energy. I mean, they really, truly have

opened this place for us and been here.

We were the first church and only only church so far to ever

meet in the school district. And our goal is that when we

leave the next guy, they're like, Oh yeah, definitely come

in. Amen.

Like, we'll leave it better than we found it.

OK. So we travelled this, we drove

to Troy, MI Portable Church Industries.

They put our stuff together and we're like, now we're not going

to spend $4000 to ship that bad boy.

We're going to drive it up. So I took Barry up to Troy's

right north of Detroit. So I brought Barry up there.

I run my windows down. Went down Eight Mile blaring

M&M. Come on, somebody.

I did. It was for real, man.

Where's Eight Mile? I was like, this isn't that bad,

punk. What are you talking about?

Some harsher streets than Eight Mile, but it was a real deal.

So went up there. Barry lived, didn't get shot or

Shank. It was awesome.

So we came back here. So two weeks before we launched.

We do this setup Sunday. So next picture we unloaded.

I I had so much stuff shipped in from UPS that the UPS driver

came to church and we launched on that launched Sunday.

It was just truckload after truckload have the cases out.

And all these cases in our building were in my front yard.

OK, I had a piece of wood hold them because on the hill.

And dude, I've never sweated or worked so hard in my life just

putting stuff in cases and figuring things out.

It was just incredible. But anyway, team star unloading

Josh actually brought those from home from his twins.

I'm just kidding. He did have twins.

But all right, next picture. All right, So that we started

doing launch training right here in the hub.

Just sharing the vision of our church.

Had amazing launch team. Next picture had 55 people on

launch team. Amen.

Yeah, you give it up. I just gotta know.

How many of you? Were there one who was there at

the at the bowling alley? Show of hands dude.

OG is right there. Come on man.

You guys signed them blood. You know, for those guys man,

that's amazing. How many guys were at launch

training? We launched at that point as

well. OK, so all y'all result of a lot

of these guys effort and energy. Amen.

I mean it's amazing and you guys will play the part.

Fast forward eight years, I'll be like 8 years.

Who was there at the 8th birthday right?

But anyway, it's amazing. Next picture we have Moses.

That's Jared. OK, he does her her video and

everything films everything and Rose amazing team.

Next picture Scott was locked in the trailer all week to be a

little short trailer. I don't know what you're doing

Scott, but thank you for that whatever you're doing let's see

next picture this is this is the this is our screen eight years

ago it's amazing it still exists you can actually see the tape on

the top edge sticking down today from the pole that we had to

taped to it so thank you Jesus reportable right and I've never

seen so many men on these praying took 12 men to put

together the screen that's why it's still standing that's for

babe all right next I'm how long I'm taking too long on these

pictures so all right so launch day so this is September 17th

2017 launch day right here this is ad memory.

This boy showed up a week early. Actually, we had a, we had a,

what do you call it a preview Sunday or a, it was something

like that. And we're just going to run it

all at once, you know, like just just one time through, like

let's see if everything works. You know, we set up once.

So we set up and the mailers went out and some of the guys

show up early, one of which was Adam the week before and he was

sitting out here and he showed up early And as they came in,

Barry's in the hub, right? There's it's just like for our

team, we're just running through it and Barry seems Adam walk in.

I think the, the, the foresters, the came in and so fosters

foresters because there's two families there.

And Barry sees him coming to the sidewalk and literally he starts

yelling. There's real people here.

There's real people here. Oh, man.

And I was going to preach like just a little piece of the

message, like, Oh yeah, we got it going, you know, and they

came in. I'm like, I guess I'm preaching

the full message today, right? Oh, man.

So God's good. So launch Sunday, September 17th

next picture three and 4-5 people, man 10:00 only packed

out this space and I was in the front.

We sang some of the song. I don't know if we sang that

song. We sang glorious day on launch

day. Shout out to that tip the hat.

That was really good putting that together.

And I remember like just waiting and I got up on stage.

I was just floored because I was like, I'm not going to look

around like, you know what I mean?

Like, did this folder flopper did God do something amazing?

And God showed up? Amen.

And so here's launch day. Here's here's me looking young.

You guys may be old, but it's all right.

So all right, so this is just some stats overall.

So today we with after the second we were baptized 177

people in our church since launch day.

Amen 177. That's amazing.

That's amazing. I mean that number this what to

me is like the most important stat like not just come to

Christ, but like, are you following Jesus?

And that number is so significant for a church and

just there's so much I can say about that.

We've had 457 people commit their life to Jesus that told us

about it. So 4 and 57, Amen.

As eternity changed, that's amazing.

And that's just, it's amazing. So it's been a move of God.

We moved from just a group of people that just kind of showed

up to a real community and it's been amazing.

There's a verse that we've talked about in launch season.

It's Isaiah 4319. And it says this, it says, see,

I'm doing a new thing now it springs up.

Do not, do not perceive it. I'm making a way in the

wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

This verse is about the captivity of, of the tribes of

the, of the, of the southern tribes.

And they're in Babylon. And it's like there's a way

home. Like you're gonna be set for

your captives. You're gonna be free again.

And we launched this church like we're gonna see people come to

Christ. We're gonna see freedom.

We're gonna be a pave a road and God's doing something new.

And we said, thank you for those that pave the way for Jesus to

move people's lives. Amen And those stories are no

different today. You actually heard the story.

I think it was Hannah. And she said, if God, if you

just send me a sign, if one person says hi and welcomes me

or greets me and then 12 people. Amen.

Amen. That should be every person that

walks this best welcoming place in the world.

So thank you guys. Thank you guys for playing a

part of the story. You paved the way in her life.

It's amazing to think that people who are visiting our

church have actually prayed about visiting our church.

If you think about that, we've been praying for people to come

home. They're praying to be home and

we can play part of that story. It's absolutely amazing.

First Thessalonians 28 says this.

It says, so we cared for you because we want to say we we

loved you. We loved you so much.

We were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God,

but our lives as well. There's something special about

planting a church and putting roots down the community.

Like, if you're not going to put your glave pot here, then don't

go here. Like, like we're committed not

just to see the gospel, but we're committed to each other as

well. I mean, how many people have

been connected through life groups and relationships?

And my home has always been open.

My phone number is still on the website.

One day it won't be, it's just going to be able to do it.

But my number is on the website. Like we, we just want to welcome

people, not just give you the gospel, but give you all of

ourselves. And it's been kind of a picture

of our church being a community. We've seen families added,

plates added, we've seen plates taken away.

We've walked to the story of COVID.

We've done so much to go to the church, Amen.

And God's been faithful or a family.

And so all we do is just have some stories of how community,

how the gospel through church has changed lives.

And so I'm going to divide up just different people from our

team and they're going to share different stories these days

would be super encouraging. So I'm about up Holly.

Holly, come on up. Give it up for Holly.

Well, I get just the honor and joy and privilege of leading a

few things on our staff team and one of those is helping with

first time guests and people that are new to our church help

them get connected to feel welcome here.

And so I get to share a story about a family that started

coming to our church. It's probably been about 3 or 4

weeks. Her name is Carrie Hieronymus.

Shout out to that last name is so cool.

But this is them here in 543. We threw up their picture.

That's Carrie Ironimus and her family.

So they've been coming for about 3 to 4 weeks, just Carrie and

her daughter's summer, her oldest daughter, their summer.

She actually started coming to our youth group this past

summer, went to youth camp, had a blast.

And Carrie had shared with me last week as she was leaving,

she shared this story that they live in Pleasant Hill.

And she had just been feeling a little disconnected, walked

through some crazy things in her life and just feeling like now's

the time to to come back to God to find a church where she can

get connected and recommit her life.

And so she tried a few churches in Pleasant Hill and just said,

you know, I just never really felt welcome or like those are

my people or where I wanted to get plugged in.

So she decided to come to real life church because she saw the

impact that had made in summer's life.

Summer's loving youth group and getting connected and making

friends and feeling at home here, and she wanted that too.

So she made the drive out from Pleasant Hill about 3 weeks ago

to come to church. And that Sunday she recommitted

her life to Jesus, which is so awesome.

She shared with me last week that that was the first time she

had felt welcome like that in her whole life.

So people are welcomed here no matter what she'd walk through.

She said, you know, I've, I've walked through things in my past

I don't want to talk about, but I nobody judged me when I walked

through those doors. I felt welcome.

I felt loved. Yeah.

Kudos to you guys for being such a welcoming church, a place

where people, no matter what they've walked through, what

they've been through, can come here and find Jesus and

ultimately find freedom and change their eternity.

And the coolest part about this is she's getting baptized in the

next gathering, which is so awesome.

Yeah, That's right. Yep.

Oh, God. She came out actually to our

dream team bonfire this last week.

She said, can I come? I'm not even on the dream team.

I said, heck yeah, come on out. We would love to have you.

She shared with me on Sunday as well that her son and her

husband, she'd been praying that they would come to church too.

And she said, I don't know that it's going to happen, but I

would love for them to come. Well, they came out to the

bonfire. They got connected.

People were talking to them left to right, had such a good time.

And they're coming today to church to watch her get baptized

in the second, which is, I know, an answer to her prayer as well.

Yeah, it's so cool just to walk with people through that.

And that's we hear those stories all the time of how welcome they

feel, which really helps to just take down layer by layer

sometimes in people's hearts for them to be able to let Jesus in

and to meet him and to know him. And so just shout out to you

guys for being such a welcoming and awesome church.

You guys are amazing. And there's, once again, there's

so many stories just like that. But kudos to you all.

You guys are awesome. All right, we got Logan come up

here. Logan Hari.

Logan leads our youth group. Come on.

He's excited. Perfect.

Yeah. So I I lead our front of house

team and I also lead our youth group.

And whenever they asked me to talk about a story that I've

seen take place in the church there, there's obviously a ton

because I've seen a lot of stuff, awesome stuff happened

here. But there was one from a young

man or a youth group that really stood out that kind of

exemplifies walking with God and honing his relationship and just

becoming more and more serious in his faith.

So if you could throw up that picture, and also if Julian

Torres can go ahead and take a stand for me, Everybody give it

up for Julian. Let me tell you.

Let me tell you about my friend Julian.

And Julian is one of the bright spots that I have the

opportunity to speak to and to preach over at our youth group

and to see how he's been growing in Christ.

And he started off, he was one of the, he was one of the first

people that really caught my eye when I first had the opportunity

to start preaching and start leading the group.

He he led the way in worship every single Wednesday.

He had his hands up in the air. He was singing a lot better than

I could at full volume every single week, just leading the

way, getting other kids involved into the worship and excited

about the worship. And he has a very palpable and

it's a very easy to see sense of just genuine worship on his

heart every time he lifts his hands up and he lifts his voice

up. And that caught my eye

immediately and it's only snowballed from there.

You guys know those little difference cards that you use to

invite people out every single week?

We have the little givitations or whatever you call them, bring

invitations, whatever Julian is known at his school for the guy

that hands those out. And he has gone through stacks

upon stacks over the last few years of just inviting people

out of school out to this church.

So we see reckless worship, we see youth, we see giving

evangelistic heart at school. And that culminated into him

actually paying his own way into a mission trip on in Bogota with

us. And so he joined us.

That's what this picture is of, is actually Julian paying his

way and joining us in Bogota on mission, leaving out his calling

for Christ in another country. Yeah, that's big.

That's big, man. Anybody in here that knows

Julian can attest to the kind of character that he has.

If you guys know Scott or Jenny COO, Yeah, Go find them.

Ask them what they think about Julian.

Ask anybody in the youth group what they think about Julian.

And Julian's been taking even bigger steps recently.

He's joined me in a disciple making process.

We've been meeting weekly. We've been going through a book

that is kind of like the seven hallmarks of a genuine faith.

And he's chasing after God. He's doing it in a genuine way,

and he's leading the way four others his age.

So just give it one more time for Julian.

Let him know you love him. It's fantastic.

So Diane, come on up here. She'll share a little bit.

Come on, get up for Diane. All right, I'm Diane and I am

going to get to share about so I'm going to and I'm going to

get to. I'm not good at talking the

about nine months ago, we have launched our first iteration of

our disciple making process at real life called the way.

And it was actually a year ago at our birthday celebration that

we kind of launched this idea and birth this.

How do we make disciples not only who can follow Jesus, but

how do we make disciples who can make other disciples?

Because that's really the call of Jesus, right?

We can't. It's impossible for a small

group of church leadership or whoever to make disciples of all

the nation, and so each believer can be inspired, encouraged, and

equipped to be able to do that on their own.

And so this January, a group of men and a group of women started

meeting every week. They had committed to a year

together that we would meet weekly to go through different

daily habits that we would do together to keep ourselves

accountable to each other, like Bible reading, prayer,

scripture, seeing how God is moving in our lives and shaping

in that. And we also added in every month

we kind of dive deeper into a spiritual habit.

So a month on scripture, a month on prayer, a month on solitude,

a month on fasting. And it's been really cool to get

to walk side by side with people in this process.

And some of my favorite takeaways from this, it's just

been kind of like getting information and feedback from

the people going through the process.

What is this like, what did you think it was going to be like?

What have you experienced? What has God shown you?

And so two stories came to mind. And this actually, it was, it

was actually a few weeks ago after our Saturday morning

meeting, this just kind of organically came up in a

conversation that we were having about what has this been like,

what's been different? And so the first story that I

want to share is Jenny Cuyat. So you saw her up there a little

bit. She went on our missions trip

last summer as well, but she jumped into this disciple making

ministry with us. And Jenny had shared, she's

like, I grew up in church. I have been to a ton of disciple

making classes. I've done a ton of Bible

studies. What I love that she shared

about this process is like, this is the first time in my life

that I've been challenged so intentionally to put practices

of God into my life. Not just to go to a meeting and

to learn things, but then to go home and say, how do I put this

in my heart? How do I express this to others?

How do I share this with other people or see God really make a

move in my life? And I thought it was so cool to

see how we're working to move beyond just information, but

transformation from the word of God.

And so I love her perspective because she's been to so many of

these different things over the year, different iterations, but

the constant challenge to say, man, what is going to be our

next practice? And how is that going to be

flipped on its head from what I think maybe that practice of

Jesus could be? And so it's just really been

cool to see how God has moved in that to take, you know,

sometimes that, oh, I'm going to the disciple making class has

kind of a weird connotation if you've grown up in church or had

different experiences. But it's really been cool to see

how relational it can be. And it's not just like the

teacher teaching, but it's a group of us together, growing

together as we dive through this.

And so the second story, that was another person in this

conversation with Jenny, Anna afterwards is Kristen Baker.

And Kristen Baker is, yeah, she'll love this picture.

She's gonna be so excited that I put this on the screen.

But Kristen's been really fun because she kind of had the

opposite experience where she had some growing up in church,

but like, me and the challenge to jump in and dive in to doing

something deeper. And I remember as I was

launching this and talking about it, I don't even know how.

And maybe she heard about it on stage.

And she's like, I'm doing that. And I'm like, OK, we'll talk.

She's like, no, I'm doing it. I'm like, OK, Kristen, calm

down. We can find a way.

You can do it. But what's been really awesome

and what she shared is that she's like, I went into this

thing and I was like, man, I am going to have like the perfect

Instagrammable quiet time every morning and I am going to nail

this disciple making and I'm going to do it in a few weeks

ago. She's like, I totally did not.

She's like, I have not met the mark of this in any way.

That was my own expectation of what I thought it was going to

be. She's like, I missed days.

I didn't respond on the group text.

I missed, you know, group meetings.

I didn't do the practices perfectly, but what it pointed

out and what I think is so beautiful in the transformation

of that is that we like to think that spiritual growth is this

like linear path. Like I started down here and

then I just went and I grew, but spiritual growth is squiggly.

It's like a this kind of thing. And it's really cool to see the

transformation in her to say that I don't have to look like

the perfect follower of Jesus to still look back and say, but

look at where I am from nine months ago.

I didn't hit every daily Bible reading in these things, but God

has moved in my life and it is a beautiful way to see

transformation happen over the course of time.

And she said if I would not have committed to this longer

commitment of time. She's like a life group wasn't

long enough for me to see God move in that way, but she's like

me and this year commitment and just to be able to get to the

end of it and say I committed a year of my life to following

Jesus has been really cool. So both of of those stories we

are actually reading in John 14 this week reflecting on and then

Thomas I wrote it down because I wouldn't remember said in John

14-5 and six. He said, Lord, how will we know

the way and Jesus said I'm the way.

And so the whole of this disciple making process and we

are launching this out in January and several iterations

that are still being formed for more people to get involved

because we have a heart for people of all walks to say I've

known Jesus a long time. I just committed my life to

Jesus today, or I'm somewhere in between that to have a place

where you can go and have spiritual growth and connection

because that happens in relationships, it happens with

people, but it's really the call of God to go and make disciples.

And so we want to be faithful to that.

So I'm really excited about how this is going to continue to

grow and just seeing how God has moved through both of our groups

that are going through this. How many guys would say, man, I

could walk a little closer to Jesus, I could put some

spiritual habits in my life, some some disciplines, some

practices. All of us are real honest.

Like man, we could really grow and dine.

Say it's not up and to the right.

That'd be amazing, right? It's always up and to the right.

But like long obedience, obedience over a long time, it's

amazing how it changes. So we're really excited about

that. So thanks for taking extra time

and sharing. Really passionate our church to

create disciples that make disciples.

So we're going to see more in the future.

Christy Hardy, come on up. You've got I love yous out

there. You're like the most popular

person in the world. Hey, real quick, how many guys

were invited to church by Christy Hardy?

Show of hands. Seriously, how many guys are

invited by church? Christy?

I feel like half the visitors come to church because of

Christy. So give her Christy one more

time. Come on, you're amazing.

So I'm already emotional, so this is going to be even harder.

I am very blessed to be able to coordinate real life kids and to

be back in the kids. Kids are important.

Who would agree? And then God gave us kids as a

gift. And God specifically said in the

Bible to let the children come to me.

And, and kids can be loud and messy and obnoxious and all

those things, right? And God said, I want those kids.

God has placed such a love in my heart for kids to see Finley get

baptized today. And Finley came, and Finley

came, and Finley's been a part of a family that gave their life

to God and they gave their life to God as a family, which has

been the coolest thing ever. And when Finley said that, she

was thanking me for being a part of that.

And it's just been such an amazing privilege that God has

given me to have a heart for kids and to love kids.

And it's not just we don't just babysit and we don't just chase

kids. We do a lot of that.

But we share the love of Christ with your kids every week.

And we want that continue through the week.

So I'm so thankful for those of you that have your children back

in the children's ministry. And we truly love your kids and

we want them to know Jesus as their Savior.

There were two other baptisms today that were because of kids.

So Melissa and Hannah both came and were baptized because of

their children. Tanya and I have a very unique

and special job in our job world and we have an amazing privilege

to be able to go into homes and to help people with their

children. And God has turned that into a

ministry. And that is why Hannah was here

today is because Tanya didn't just take information on growth

into a home, she took the love of God into a home with her.

It's amazing. So there are two other kids in

our kids ministry that there's many of our kids who were here

since the very beginning, some of them in their mama's tummies

since the like that since the beginning.

So Jack and Kyler have both been so here's Jack up on the left.

So Jack is obviously Shawn and Diane's oldest son.

He is 8 years old. The church is 8 years old.

So Jack's been here since the beginning.

And Kyler, there's a picture of him up there as well.

There we go. He's over until revival moves

our city. Today is Kyler's birthday and he

is 9. So they also have been with us

since the very beginning. These two young men, the coolest

thing about them at church camp, I saw both of them helping other

kids find verses in their Bibles and back in the kids ministry.

They will be the ones getting up and go into tables and helping

kids find verses in the Bible. They didn't learn that just from

coming to church for an hour. Church like Jesus happens Monday

through Sunday. Jesus doesn't just happen on

Sunday. So we are a life giving church

that believes that we train our children, but we do it as a

family and it doesn't just happen at church.

So it's super exciting to see these kids come with a passion

to love and to know Jesus. And then throughout the week,

their parents are fostering that love and talking and reading the

Bible together. And I think that's why our

church is growing because we truly love Jesus seven days a

week. So thank you for the blessing of

your children. Who knows?

Our children need Jesus. Amen I mean it's amazing it's

you watch the young kids that like are are in the back of the

real life kids area look sometimes come from youth group

just because families are hanging during things worship

practice happening and then there were the verses are at

they're shown adults with the verses are at my my son Jackie

drop the graph like a home during camp this year started

playing he's 8 years old. I put it away.

He goes, oh, I can play and like, oh, OK.

And he jumped in. It's just amazing to watch how

got used our next generation. And we love him.

So I want to invite up one last person I'll know.

It's probably how you hear. Where's Barry at?

There he is. He's in the back.

Come on. Give it up for Barry Hardy.

Come on. I noticed he changed out the

swim trunks. There's a great story there.

You talk to him. Later you guys don't need to

know about that story you about found out.

Use your imagination. So I got it before I show the

two people that I want to talk about, I got to tell you guys

and some of you guys know my story, but a little bit about

how I grew up. And so I grew up in a world

where I grew up in church and it was a great church.

It was Blue Ridge Baptist simple back in the day at 470 Blue

Ridge, one of the biggest churches in the city.

And I, I had the, I had the joy and the privilege of growing up

a church that just would bring people together at some level,

at a big level and look for Jesus.

But they did it in a way sometimes where people never

felt comfortable if, if they didn't measure up right off the

bat. Because, you know, Diane said it

perfectly. A lot of times we think that

once we, when we find Jesus, everything should be fixed,

right. And Sean gave us a great a

phrase and an idea when we launched, we're gonna give here

in real life, we're gonna give, we're gonna give God as much

time to fix a life as Satan took to destroy it.

That makes sense. So when we have somebody come in

and they've had a life, you know, that's been wrecked for

twenty, 30-40 years. That, that we expect them to be

perfect, you know, day 2. It's just not realistic.

So I grew up in a church that had a lot of people that were on

fire for God and living for God. And on the other side, my

parents had another group of people that, that, that

surrounded me. They were called construction

workers, specifically concrete guys, right?

I don't know if you know anything about concrete guys or,

or construction guys in in general, you can have a really

good time with them, but man, they live a hard life, right.

And so on one side I would, I would, I would go to church on

Sundays and, and, and Sunday night and Wednesday with people

that were, you know, preaching Jesus and living for Jesus.

And then the rest of the week I'm, I'm surrounded by guys that

are dealing with drug addiction, alcohol addiction, broken homes

heading. There was one guy, he got in a

fight with six of the Cass County deputies and beat them

all up over here by Ranger right here as a kid is what I saw.

Those worlds really never collided because sometimes my

dad would get those guys to come to church and they were so out

of place. They never fit in.

They would walk away and their life were never changed.

And so I always thought it was kind of a tragedy that that our

church had a hard time assimilating those people.

And you read the gospels and you see the disciples and I'm like,

man, those people were screwed up to Peter, John, James, all

those guys, they screwed up. They had mountaintop experiences

and then they went to the valley.

What I'd loved about real life is these two guys that I'm gonna

throw up and they're probably gonna kill me.

I've got to watch their lives where at a lot of churches and a

lot of communities. People probably would have given

up on them. But what's been cool is, is that

real life hasn't given up on them and they haven't given up

on Jesus. And So what I love about him is

there's some of the the two of the most honest men that I ever

know. And you guys go ahead and throw

their pictures up back there, Tim Phelps and Tony Marrone.

I won't make you stand up, Tim, because you're still taller than

everybody else sitting down. What I love about these two is

this is that go talk to them and they'll tell you that where they

screw up day in and day out. But I tell you what, you talk to

them a little longer, then you find out how God is moving in

their lives, how they're reaching forward to find the

next step. Take some ground for Jesus.

Had a great conversation with Tim on Tuesday night at the Hog

Roast Man. God is moving in their lives,

and as a church, as a community, as a gathering of believers

here, we have a space for people to come in no matter what they

look like, no matter what they've been through, and they

can meet Jesus. It's a good word, man.

Yeah, I came up with this phrase.

A scene. We can trust God for salvation,

but all the time don't trust God for sanctification.

It's a process. Amen.

And nobody's perfect. I'm not perfect.

There's nobody that doesn't mess up, but it's amazing how our

church has loved on people that sometimes look hard to love on.

But that's what church is here for, Amen.

You know, oftentimes you look at people, it's like it should not

be harder to go to heaven than it is to go to church.

And I came from a church with a lot of separation.

And you had to be a certain way. And real life is real life on

purpose, Amen. And so we talk about the future

like this is the first eight years, like what's, what's it

look like in the future for our church?

And I can just tell you it's going to sound cliche and

familiar, but our church is not moving off our mission to see

people far from God, discover real life and purpose in Jesus,

Amen. Like that's why we're here.

That's that's the evangelism, that's to stop making all

together. It's to send out a mission, help

people find their purpose in Christ.

That's where we're standing on. We're staying on Scripture,

Amen. In a world that's absolutely

just seems to go crazy all the time.

I'm so glad we have the rock of the word of God.

I'm so glad it's written down so AI can't change it, Amen.

Like I'm glad as we can build our life on Christ.

And so we're excited to guys you the next really, it's next year.

There's a few things going on this next season.

I'll let you guys know about one.

We're starting a thing called a welcome party.

It'll actually cook off next month.

It's why we actually changed our gathering times.

It knows from 9:15 to 9:00. So it's 9/10/45 to create some

space in between. We connect with so many new

people are coming to our church. If you just hang around and

watch and say, hey, do I know a person, there's so many people

coming every week and to get them connected to what it looks

like to belong to community to to know what we're here for,

what's our church about, But to help them find those

relationships, how to find the right people, help to find the

right truth and where to grow, where to belong.

And so we're really passionate about this.

So next month, like each month moving forward, we're doing a

welcome party. And so they come out one Sunday

month between the gatherings and a chance to really just pour

into them. It helped them find their place

that belong here and we care for them.

Amen. So you're going to see that it's

going to be rolling out and that's on our heart.

We've been working out on quite a bit last few months.

We've changed up our growth track crash course with a lot of

different ways. And we believe this can be what

God's calls to do right now in this season.

Same thing is this. We're jumping into our disasple

making pathway. Me and I spent a year between

January to December this year with with the I with these guys

5:30 in the morning Thursday's come on somebody riding early

last Thursday I was up at 3:45. Man, I could not believe I grew

up at 3:45 and just prepping out praying and just believe in

Gaza, do big things. We have a great group of men and

dines leading these women on Saturday.

But the idea behind this is that we released them in January to

make disciples of our whole church and beyond our church to

reach into neighborhoods. It's it's decentralized disciple

making, which means that it can happen anytime, any place, any

space, and it can help people find and walk with Jesus.

And so you're going to see in the way of prayer, the way of

solitude, the way of Scripture, like just simple things to help

you grow. And you may see this, I'm not

sure how we're going to lay it on maybe with life groups, but

you're going to have an opportunity to have a spiritual

coach, a spiritual mentor doing life together with you and just

showing you what it is to live like Jesus, Not just know the

Bible because we have enough information in the United

States, that's for sure. But to actually live it out is

what we're called practices. And so the way is what they

called early church is called the way.

They're so different than the culture.

There's like that's that's the way.

It wasn't called real life or something.

It was just the way. And so we want to be counter

cultural, just live in the way of Jesus.

Amen. So if you need to grow, just

look for that in January, like you're going to see this just

move through our church very organically and very, very

powerfully and very excited about that.

Last thing is this, we're leading to this season.

We're starting a series on October 12th called Difference

Maker, and we've been talking about this, We talked about this

last birthday and in December about jumping in what it looked

like to have our first permanent home.

And this series is going to be the number one series, the most

important series that would ever preach so far in a life of our

church. So six weeks long.

I'm going to invite you guys to come be a part of this every

single week and learn what is to be a difference maker and what

it look like for us to step out of the face together so we can

get the opportunity to be in our first permanent space.

Amen. That's a big deal.

That's a big deal. And I believe God can do just a

miracle through US. I believe you can open doors

through US. I'll encourage you to be a part

of this. Help write the story in the next

generation. You know, eight years, it's been

great. We had just under 500 people

come to Christ and almost 200 baptisms.

I'm thinking the next eight years, I'm thinking 10s of

thousands of people come to Christ.

I'm, I'm thinking thousands of people being baptized.

Like I don't, this is not plain as safe like stepping out on a

limb, like actually put your money in your mouth.

This like, like serving hard, believing hard, praying hard,

walking with Jesus and see what God can do.

Amen. And so this is what God's asked

us in this season. I love being a part of a church

that has a big vision, that's bold, that's not going to just

be status quo because we, we can stay in the portable space,

maybe stay there for those 10 years.

But God, I don't believe he's called us the status quo, Amen.

He's called us to move and be a permanent fixture in our

community, to let the world know that we're here and here to stay

in a place to preach the gospel, a place where young people come

to Christ. We don't walk into a scuba wall.

Come on, somebody that's a pipe and trape, right?

A place where everything points to Jesus.

And we're very, very excited about it.

So just look forward to the next three months.

You're going to see a lot of amazing new things happening in

our church, Amen. Because God is not done with us.

So give it up for Jesus one last time.

For eight years. God, you're always faithful.

That we've learned in these eight years, your promise has

always come true. God, we are not.

We are the limiting factor, not you.

Lord, you are willing, You provide for us.

And so God, thank you for your Holy Spirit.

God, I pray you would fill this place once again.

You'd fill us with your spirit, God, to do your work, to do

extraordinary things for your name.

God the gospel would go out as a light as we hold on to truth

like salt and that we would put seasoning on our community.

We shine a light into the place that we live, work, play and

study. God the gospel move way outside

the four walls of this church and go into our community, our

city and beyond and across the world.

So God, I pray you call men, call women, children, young

people into the mission to remind us there were ambassadors

for you. God that the mission is outside

this place that people like Tim and Tony and they even brought a

friend today that's curious about Jesus.

Then he's got life walking with Christ.

God that this would be our testimony.

God, you would write the story. God, we have a blank page.

We ask for you, God, to write our story in these years to

come. God, thank you for the vision

that you're not just giving me, but our team and our church.

God, thank you for the faithless of our people to welcome people

like you're the only person to care for people, like the only

person to shepherd people. And God, thank you for giving us

a church that's so countercultural, God, that's

full of love and grace and mercy and your truth and the power of

the gospel goes off through this place, God, not just from a

stage on Sunday, but through us throughout the week with our

family and friends and our community.

God, thank you for us being a light to lost people that are

far from you. God, let's continue.

God, to use us in a big way, God, for your Kingdom.

God we humbly ask you God as your servant, God as your

disciples God to lift this place up as we step out of faith

together in the season got these next eight years will be a

hallmark eight years that the community would know that we

weren't here because of the change that would happen.

And so God, we're so blessed to be part of this community and

the school system. All of her things.

Thank you for those relationships got things for the

faithfulness of the men and women who came to the stage of

leader teams got things that are stepped up as elders got that

lead the way as a board that put in tireless hours by the scenes

to build this house. And so God we trust you continue

to that in the future. God we give you all the glory,

the praise, the honor, we praise in Jesus name and the church

said Amen. Give it for Jesus one more time

on our 8th birthday. Man 8 years what a day I just to

celebrate and. Reflect in here just the

goodness of God through all of those stories and through all

that he's doing here. And maybe today you met Jesus.

Maybe you accepted him. Today you recognize you need him

in your life. If that's you, we are so excited

for you that you're taking this next step in your journey with

him. You can grab that connection

card that's on your seat there. You can fill that out there, but

check the box that says I committed my life to Jesus and

you can drop that in the giving buckets here in just a few

minutes. But just by doing that allows us

to walk alongside you to answer any questions to resource you.

We'd love to get you a free book in the mail this week.

It's called begin. It's a short read, but it really

truly is a powerful read and will help you on your first

steps with Jesus and if you commit your life to Jesus here

in Kentucky Trail today as you exit the worship center, there

is a table with some red bags on it.

Please grab one of those as well.

And there's a free Bible in there.

There's a few other resources that we would love to get to you

this week. Hey, if you are newer with us,

if this is your first time here with us, thank you so much for

coming. We're so glad that you chose to

spend your morning right here with us and we truly don't want

anything from you except for this.

And that's just to introduce yourself to us.

We'd love to know you if you can fill out that same connection

card, fill out your information on the top there, but check that

box that says first time here. If you would hold on to that and

just take it out to the new here booth when you leave, it's

outside those doors just to the right.

If you give that to the ladies behind the booth there, we would

love to get you a free gift. Just our way of saying thank you

so much for being here. But we would love to see you

back here next week. We'd love to see you and just

thank you so much for being here with us this morning.

I want to pause as we celebrate our 8th birthday and just say a

heartfelt thank you. Thank you to each and everyone

of you who has faithfully given to Real Life Church over the

last eight years everything that you've given.

It's allowed us to fuel ministry, to change lives, made

to advance the Gospel in more ways than we may ever know.

And so thank you so much. And today we get to celebrate

some of that. We at the end of today, we will

have baptized 177 people, 177 stories of life change and of

people who have made the decision to go public with their

faith. We've seen about a four, 460

people in the last eight years commit their lives to Jesus, 460

lives who are changed for eternity because of your

faithfulness to give here. We invest 20% of all that's

given here right back to our kids and our youth ministry.

Our youth ministry is thriving. It's growing.

We see about 25 teens on average every week get to hear about

Jesus and get connected each and every Wednesday night.

Our kids ministry is just so awesome.

I've got 4 kids that go back there and I can attest to that

too. But they're little world

changers, and they're not just being babysat back there, but

they know that Jesus loves them. It's not just information and

learning the stories, but it truly is transformation in their

little hearts. And so thank you for that.

We've seen the gospel go out across the world through

missions. We've seen people disciples

being made. You heard about that this

morning through the way and going out and doing that.

So thank you so much to each and everyone of you who give here

all glory to God for all of that, not through real life

church, but just for him, all to his name.

And so here's the invitation. If you never give in or maybe if

you're giving has been inconsistent, man, what better

day then today on our 8th birthday to start that we truly

do invite you to write the next chapter with us because we

really believe that the best is yet to come here at real life

church. So if you call real life church

home, there are so many ways you can take part in that.

You can check out the screen there, you can scan the QR you

can text to give. You can head on over to our

website. There's also a giving box in the

back that you can drop a cash or check in.

The buckets are going to pass here in just a few minutes as

well. Also, if you or your family find

yourself in any kind of immediate need this week, would

you please reach into the buckets as they pass here in

just a few minutes? Please grab out any loose cash

that's in there. We truly do want to bless you

and your family this week. Hey man, who enjoyed?

Today, man, can we give it up for God one more time?

What He's? Doing man Amen Amen.

Because these buckets, are you guys going past the buckets?

Hey, I want to leave you guys with one last thing before I get

you guys out of here and maybe for some of these awesome

stories today. And you're like, that sounds

good, but what's next for me? What's my next step?

You know, I'm struggling to get connected.

Come check us out. And we meet throughout the week

in our life groups. Come find us on a board.

Find a group that meets at a time that's convenient for you,

works for you, and we would love to have you.

We're in our third week. It is not too late.

There's room for you. So man, that is the best way to

get connected and take that next step to see what God's got for

you. Find a life group that fits for

you. So hey, if you need prayer for

any reason, we would love to pray with you up here, whether

it's as individuals or as a family.

Can't wait to see you guys again next week, either 9:00 or 10:45.

And as always, remember, whoever finds Jesus discovers real life

and purpose.