Year TWO!

WELCOME BACK!

Two weeks ago, our Texas church planting team celebrated one full year of Utah residency! We had fun reminiscing about all our experiences as brand new "Utah-ans". Each of us has now passed the driving test to obtain our Utah state driver's liscence, and we all have cool Ski/Arches Utah plates adorning our vehicles. The men in our group have experienced the back-breaking work that is shoveling snow and now have a better understanding of why we see some men outside shoveling in nothing but shorts and boots! We have hiked through national parks and forests, we’ve seen both sunrises and sunsets over the mountains, and we have skied some of the best snow this country has to offer! 

Most importantly, we've gotten a real taste of the spiritual depravity that dwells right here in this beautiful landscape. Our hearts break as we watch our neighbors and friends work to earn grace. The reality of why we are here sets in daily as our co-workers joke that they’ll never go to Heaven because they’re not good enough. We understand now more than ever why God's heart is to reach these precious people with His love and the GRACE He offers through His Son! 

We enter this coming fall season with much anticipation of the work God will do through us. We would love to see God grow our Sunday attendance from our current average of 60 to around 100 by mid-October, when Lifestone Herriman will celebrate our one year anniversary of being open to the public! We also plan to have 4-5  separate small groups who will meet during the week to fellowship and study God's Word! Please pray that God continues to bring up new leadership within our church. As we grow, we are in constant need of disciples to step up and lead new believers as they, too, learn to walk in all God has for them.  Over the past year, we have seen many lives changed through Jesus' love, and we trust that God has great things in store for the year ahead as well!

Check out these pics from one of our small groups...our Youth Lifegroup!

Utah teens diving into God's word!

Prayer Huddle!

Students used marshmallows and spaghetti noodles to
 discover the importance of a strong foundation...

and dominoes to remind us the potential
 of the actions of one individual!

Thank you, TEXAS, and to each of you...for LOVING UTAH through your prayers, encouragement, and giving! Greater things are yet to come!  

ONE YEAR!

                                ONE YEAR ALREADY?!

Welcome back to Texas Loves Utah! This weekend marks one full year since our move from Weatherford, Texas here to Herriman, Utah!!! What a year it's been! God has certainly blessed each of us by making this new city feel like home with so many new friends and amazing stories of what God is doing! Thank you to each of you back in Texas and around the globe who have helped make this transition easier on us. Year one would have been a whole lot tougher without your prayers, your financial support, your encouraging letters and sweet Facebook messages! 

KID'S CLUB! 

Check out these pics from our Kid's Club a couple weeks back! This Bible school in the park was a HUGE success! We were able to share the Gospel with about 30 kids and we also had the opportunity to meet several new families at Party in the Park (pics also below!) 

Our favorite story from Kid's Club week: One family in particular, whose kiddos had attended Kid's Club all week, attended Party in the Park at the close of the week. After hanging out with Mom and Dad and listening to their story, we learned that just 6 months ago they made the decision to leave their old faith in order to seek the Jesus of the Bible!!! This family attended our Sunday morning service that weekend and has continued to attend Sunday mornings, our small group Bible study for adults, and their teenage son has been attending our Bible study for youth! GOD IS GOOD!!! Pray for this sweet family as they begin to learn more about GRACE, about God's SIMPLE plan for salvation. Pray for them as they struggle with stepping away from the teachings they've always known, as they step away from the faith of their families, as they seek out TRUTH despite all the obstacles. Pray that they quickly find that Jesus' yoke really is easy and that His burden is light! We could not be more excited about walking along-side our new friends as they discover what it means to be children of God!

Bible study in the shade:)

North American Mission Board missionaries agree to have their hair painted green-all for Jesus!

Cheetoh puff toss!
Target: head covered in shaving cream!

PARTY IN THE PARK!

We got to use NAMB's sweet party trailer-
complete with 3 bounce houses,
blow up slide, cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn!

Grill Masters!!!

Chillin'.

Busy, Blessed Summer!

Welcome back to Texas Loves Utah! Thank you to each of you who have followed and prayed along on this awesome journey! We count ourselves so blessed to be a part of God's work here in Herriman, Utah, bringing Jesus' love and grace and planting a new church to a community where there has never before been a Bible-teaching church!

Lifestone Church's youth group returned from camp at the beautiful Big Canyon Ranch (near Park City) last week! Our students had an AMAZING time and enjoyed a peak hike, a bungee swing, climbing and rappelling, paintball, and team adventure challenges. They also had the opportunity to study God's word and worship Him along-side about 70 peer believers! We are so thankful that God is working in each of their lives, and we are excited to see how He continues to grow each of them into disciples ready to reach the world with His Good News!

Praise songs after a long hike to this beautiful mountaintop!

Go girl!

Climb on!

Wheeeeeee!

This summer has been busy- Lifestone also had the opportunity to return to a local elementary school to love on teachers and thank them for a year of hard work. The faculty and staff of 60 enjoyed a lounge-turned-luau including a catered lunch and ice cream floats! We love showing love and encouragement to these teachers! We are so thankful for the privilege of letting these men and women know that we are here, that we love them, and that God loves them!

PLEASE BE PRAYING:

Next week, Tuesday through Friday, we will have our first annual "Kid's Club". We will meet at a local park and invite kids to enjoy an obstacle course, soccer, water games, and Bible stories. Camp will come to a close with bang- PARTY IN THE PARK Friday evening, where we'll invite all of the families of the kids we meet to join our church family for hot dogs, snow cones, a bounce house, and water games. Pray that each child and his/her family experiences the love of Jesus through our efforts. Pray that hearts are opened to Christ and that many even join us for worship Sunday morning! We are so excited about this super fun way for us to love on Herriman kids and their families and share Jesus' love with them! 

Herriman Days!

Welcome back to Texas Loves Utah! We are having such a blast loving God and loving people this summer in Herriman, Utah! This past Saturday was the annual Fort Herriman Days celebration, which included concerts, a carnival, bike and running races, a car show, and local vendor booths, and we were so happy to take part in the festivities! The Lifestone Church booth offered free hand puppet painting for the kiddos and passed out 1,000 pairs of sunglasses (with our church web address printed on the side) as well as 1,000 invite cards to our Sunday morning worship services! This event was such a cool opportunity to tell Herriman that we are here and that we love them! Check out these pics from our day o' fun!

Lookin' good!

One happy family sportin' our sweet shades!

North American Mission Board missionaries donned Lifestone gear and served at our booth!

Check out that view!

Herriman Royalty!

Also, please be in prayer for our upcoming youth camp! This Sunday, we leave to take a group of students to Big Canyon Ranch in the beautiful mountains near Park City. This camp, put on by some of our fellow Bible-teaching churches here in the valley, will give our students the opportunity to hear the Good News- like they've never heard it before- and spend 4 days with other believers their age! Pray that these students will experience who God is and get a glimpse of all the amazing things He has in store for their lives! 

Much to Celebrate!

We were happy to learn this week that the latest issue of On Mission, a magazine sent to all Send North America associates, mentioned our church plant! 

"Until October 2013, Herriman, Utah was the largest city in the United States without an evangelical church. Send North America: Salt Lake City coordinator Travis Kerns reported the history-making change with the launch of Lifestone Church in Herriman, population 24, 433. 'In October Lifestone started with church planter Ben Helton,' said Kerns. 'In March Lifestone celebrated its first baptism!'"

Sidenote: The aforementioned Travis Kerns and his family joined our congregation this Spring, and we could not be more thrilled to have them as part of our church family! Both Travis and his wife Staci serve faithfully alongside us in various volunteer roles as we work to bring the Good News of Jesus to the lost here!

That's right! You're not seeing things! We were blessed with the opportunity to hold our second baptism celebration here in Herriman this past Sunday! Two believers were immersed in celebration of their decisions to surrender their lives to Christ! Praise God that He is using our church to change lives for eternity!

Please continue to pray for Lifestone Herriman and also for the other plants here in the valley. The longer we are here, the more we see the truth of how challenging this mission field really is. Pray that we are persistent, yet gentle, as we come face to face daily with the realities of a culture in desperate need of grace.

"Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth."

2 Timothy 2:25 (NLT)

Jesus Loves Utah Teens!

Wednesday Night Youth Group Bible Study 

Hey y'all...

I'd like to share with you a little about our student ministry here at Lifestone, Utah so that you can pray for these kiddos in very specific ways. We've been meeting with the student group for 3 weeks now, and we have grown in number so quickly! We met with only 2 girls on our first evening, and last night there were 11 in attendance! 

We meet with them at a local cafe and it has been a ton of fun. We hang out, usually play a little game, then dig in for a brief Bible study. We also plan a couple of fun activities each month that kids can feel very comfortable inviting their friends to. Tomorrow night, we're going to meet them at a nearby park for a game of Ultimate Frisbee! Our prayer is that we not only have a good turnout but that we meet other kids while we're there as well. 

Late June, we're partnering with 5 other Bible-teaching churches for a Youth Camp up in the mountains near Park City! Be jealous-we'll need jeans and jackets up there! Pray that students continue to sign up to come with us and that God changes their lives while they're there!

Right away, it was extremely evident to us that these kids are super Bible-illiterate. They are truly a product of the culture here where families either consider themselves non-religious or they prioritize other "scriptural" books above the Holy Bible. Pray for patience for us as we teach the Bible beginning with the most basic concepts. What a difference this is from teaching in Texas, where even kids who don't attend church at all know the story of Jesus and what He did for us.

Already, in our small group, we have students from families of no faith, FLDS (Polygamy) and Buddhism. As we work to instill them with the Truth of the Bible, we are also having to work to un-do a lot of false teaching that they have come to believe. 

We think about how cool it might be to have these students grow into mature, servant-hearted followers of Jesus. They will certainly be the minority here, but, wow, the impact they will have!

Please, please, please be in prayer for our youth leaders, the students and also their families. Pray that they learn to love Jesus with all their hearts and with all their lives. Thank you for your continued prayer for Lifestone Church and the work God is doing here. Together with your prayers, we really can make an eternal difference!

NAMB Video!

Hello Texas! 

  Check out this video the North American Mission Board created for their "Send North America" campaign. The video specifically promotes the support of church plants here in Utah. Lifestone Church is highlighted quite a bit including clips of our pastor, Ben Helton, our praise team in action, and also our recent baptism ceremony! Please pass this video along to any church group or individual who you think might support us or pray for us!

God is doing amazing things here in Utah, and we know that YOUR prayers have so much to do with that! He continues to send people to Lifestone Church who are questioning who Jesus really is and we have had the amazing privilege of leading many to Christ! We ask that you continue to pray for Lifestone Utah, that the impact we have on His Kingdom is beyond any of our imaginations! (Ephesians 3:20)


Lots of Love from Utah!
Keely Williams and the Lifestone Team