What to DO with Perfect Grace?

Greetings from Lifestone Church, Herriman Utah! As always, a special thanks to all of you who follow this blog and pray for our church plant!

Check out these pics from our November Baptism Celebration when we baptized 4 new believers!

We are so thankful that God is using us to reach the masses here. We are blown away at how He continues to bring more and more to know Him! Four more individuals have asked to be baptized this Sunday, February 1st! Pray that God gives them courage, as Believer's Baptism is an incredibly bold move in our corner of the world!

We also ask that you be in prayer for our LifeGroups. We currently have 6 groups (just over 60 individuals cumulatively) meeting in homes to study God's Word through What on Earth Am I Here For? These LifeGroup members have committed to a 40 day reading plan which outlines God's 5 purposes for living: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Evangelism. 

Already, we are finding that this study is particularly relevant to the new believers who have a background in the culture here. So often we hear new believers ask: "Now what? What do I do next? What, if any, rules should I follow? What about good deeds-how do they fit into my new life?" Our new friends have trusted in the fullness of God's grace and the salvation they find there, but are not sure what to DO with that grace this side of Heaven. These questions are already beginning to be answered through the reading challenge and the discussion happening in our LifeGroups!

Pray that all of us at Lifestone, no matter whether we are seeking Christ skeptically, trusting in Christ timidly, or following Christ whole-heartedly, are transformed through the understanding of life's purposes. Pray that ultimately the people of Lifestone Church are united under these purposes as God grows a church who will continue to reach more and more with His love! 

Ephesians 1:11-12(MSG)

"It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone!"

Living With Purpose

Welcome back and Happy 2015! We are super excited about all God has in store for us in the new year, but before we get ahead of ourselves, we'd like to catch you up on what was a very exciting close to 2014!

In late November, we baptized 3 new believers and have enjoyed walking alongside them as they learn to live in His abundant grace! Since that time, 2 more individuals have asked to take part in Believer's Baptism! We will have pictures posted here for you soon of both baptism ceremonies. 

In December, we took a step toward providing space for more people in our Sunday morning service. We now set up for worship in a room that fits about 30 more chairs than the room we were in before-and it's just down the hall! As we continue to pray that God leads us to a more permanent solution to our space "problem", we are thankful that we've bought a little time with this room at the Rec Center as it provides space to welcome more from our community to hear about the Good News of Jesus' love!

Christmas celebration at Lifestone included a Community Candlelight Christmas Eve service as well as several Christmas parties within our small groups. What a special time it was to reflect on all that God has done for us and through us-and to look forward to what He will do in 2015!

In 2 weeks we will begin what Ben is calling "the most exciting time in the life of our church to date!" We will begin a series outlining the purposes for which we exist. During the 6 weeks of this sermon series, our small groups will study Rick Warren's book What on Earth Am I Here For? It is our prayer that all who attend Lifestone Church in the coming weeks, life-long believers as well as those who are "seeking", will have a deeper understanding of why we were created and begin to live our lives with clear purpose and intention!

Pray for Lifestone Church Herriman, that God will continue the good work He has started here. Stay tuned for more details on how you can pray specifically as God reveals all He would have us to accomplish in the coming year. Pray that even as this place begins to feel more like home, and the people here like family, that we do not lose sight of why we came-to live our lives with the purpose of sharing the news of Jesus' love, mercy, and grace with those who are without it. 

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21, NLT

The Newest Addition

Hello, Texas and each of you who follows along and prays along with us here at Texas Loves Utah! Just a quick message to thank you for your patience as I (Keely) take some time at home with my brand new baby girl! Thank you for continuing to pray for our church plant here in Herriman! Pray that many hear the Good News of Jesus' Grace for the first time this Christmas season! We promise to fill you in on all God is doing here very soon!

Baby Girl Jayden Mae born to Cody & Keely Williams
November 11, 2014

Next Steps

As promised, here is the video showing our October 12th One Year Anniversary and Baptism Celebration! Thank you for continuing to pray for each of these new believers as they learn to walk in a daily relationship with Jesus. Our next Baptism Celebration is scheduled for Sunday, November 23rd! We are so grateful to watch as new friends take their first step of obedience after trusting in Jesus!

We also ask that you continue to pray as we outgrow the meeting room where we hold our Sunday service. We are currently looking into several options including meeting at a school, renting commercial space, or providing 2 Sunday services at the Rec Center where we meet now. We trust that God will guide us in this exciting next step, and we appreciate your prayers as He closes and opens doors for us!

One Year Anniversary Celebration

Welcome back, y'all! On Sunday morning, October 12th, we celebrated one full year of being open to the public in Herriman, Utah. We opened the celebration in the Rec Center's natatorium with the baptism of 13 new believers!!! We are so thankful for each individual life that has been changed and made new through the amazing grace of Jesus Christ! 

I've included a few preview pics for you here. We are also currently working on a video that captured the entire morning, and I will post that video as soon as it's ready!

 After the Baptism ceremony, we returned to our worship room where we enjoyed birthday cake and balloons, worship through music, and a One Year Celebration video in which the people of Lifestone had the opportunity to share what they love most about our church! 

Check out that video here.


We'd also like to share with you this congratulatory email to our pastor from North American Mission Board's Send City Coordinator:

Ben,

I'm writing to say congratulations to you and Lifestone Church for seeing the highest number of conversions among all the Send Salt Lake plants over the last 12 months.  From Oct, 2013 to Sept, 2014, you reported 22 professions of faith/ baptisms, nearly triple the average number of conversions among all of the plants.  

Keep up the great work.  We're praying for you daily.

Travis S. Kerns, Ph.D.

North American Mission Board, SBC

Send>>North America City Coordinator

Send Salt Lake City

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to each of you who have supported Lifestone Utah through prayer, encouragement, and finances. We are witnessing quite a harvest here in Herriman. Thank you for allowing God to use you as such a vital part of what He is doing!

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!

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