Thursday, September 25, 2014

93 and Counting...

A happy little praise report from Herriman, Utah! Last Sunday there were 93 souls present at Lifestone's service! On October 12th, we hope to baptize 10 or even more new believers!  We know that all of this is an answer to YOUR prayer and thank each of you who agrees in prayer weekly-even daily that God will do a big work here. As we come up on our one year anniversary, we are just in awe of all that He has done in the past year. 

As God continues to grow Lifestone in number, PLEASE be in prayer that He guides Pastor Ben on his search for a new meeting facility for Sunday mornings. We have officially reached and exceeded full capacity (Sorry, Mr. Fire Code) at the Rec Center and are currently seeking what God has for us next. Pray that God provides a place where many more will come to know Him, where the masses of Herriman, Utah can be reached for Jesus Christ!

Next post, I promise you a full report of our October 12th Anniversary festivities including Baptism pics and the details on all God will do at Lifestone that day! We are expecting big things as we celebrate such an amazing year of harvest here in Herriman!


Friday, September 5, 2014

CAN'T WAIT TO CELEBRATE!

Welcome back to Texas Loves Utah! We are so grateful for each of you who reads along and prays along as we work to bring the love and grace of Jesus to the people of Utah. We trust that you will continue to pray for Lifestone Church and for the other churches in our part of the country who want to see Jesus' love change the lives of the people here!

On Sunday morning, October 12th, we will celebrate our year anniversary of being officially open to the public of Herriman, Utah! There is so much to celebrate! This past month our attendance has averaged 75 and this coming week 5 small groups will begin meeting to connect with each other and God's Word! We are still discussing the details of how we will celebrate. We plan to create a video in which individuals have the opportunity to share how God has used Lifestone in their lives. (I'll definitely be sharing this video with you as soon as it's ready!) We have also talked about doing a cookout or some type of luncheon following the service. 

What we are SUPER excited about, though, is that on October 12th we will celebrate our third Baptism Celebration! We can't think of a better way to celebrate a year of all God has done than to invite the newest believers in our congregation to participate in the first step of obedience: Believer's Baptism! Several individuals have come forth recently with questions regarding Baptism, what it means and why we do it. It is our prayer that many will choose to make their decisions public in this way, and that the 12th will be a day on which God's love is proclaimed in a big way! Praise Report! On Wednesday night at Youth Group, TWO students prayed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior! God is certainly doing a big work in the lives of our students here. We had 18 in attendance this week and the students were incredibly eager to join in on our discussion of the simplicity of the Gospel-how Jesus did it all for us! Pray for the courage of many who, like these two students, have put their trust in Jesus and are ready to take the next step of Baptism! Pray that these Baptisms serve as a powerful picture of what Christ has done for all of us and that those who witness will have a clear understanding of the Good News.

Also, please be in prayer for those families in our church, and other churches in the area, who have recently moved out of the local culture's religion and are navigating their way through a new life in Christ. So many of these new believers have such a hard time grasping the concepts of grace and freedom as they have lived their entire lives bound by hundreds of rules and unreachable standards. Pray that each morning the Holy Spirit gives them the assurance of their new-found salvation-despite their imperfection! Pray that God guides them out of a life ruled by religion and into a relationship with Jesus. The gift of amazing grace and its simplicity can be so hard to grasp, even to those who have not lived in such a rigorous religious system. 

Thank you for your prayers and encouraging words-each of you is such a treasure to us. I leave you with the Great Commission and pray that you might heed these famous words of Jesus in your own corner of the world! 


"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NLT