Parade!

As promised, here are pics from this year's Herriman Days Parade Outreach Event...

The theme for our float was WE "MUSTACHE" YOU TO VISIT LIFESTONE!

Pastor Ben Helton rocking the biggest of mustaches...

but not the cutest!

We had 56 Lifestoners come out to represent! 

We handed out 1,500 pinwheels adorned 

with mustaches and Lifestone invite cards!

We also had tons of really cute kids on our float-

we figured that couldn't hurt!

We had such a blast hanging out with our church family and connecting with our community! Please pray that the outreach that took place, coupled with personal invites, will result in many visiting Lifestone to hear the Good News about Jesus!

Can't Wait for Saturday!

Welcome back to Texas Loves Utah! If you are new here, we are a group of Texans who moved to Herriman, Utah in Summer 2013 with the purpose of planting a Bible based church in a city where that has never happened before! Lifestone Church exists to "connect REAL people to REAL life-found only in Christ" -and because of YOUR faithful support, this mission is being fulfilled!

This past Sunday, we had the privilege of baptizing 2 new believers..a mother-daughter duo! The woman you see below has participated in our Journey of Grace ministry (see previous post) and has been super enthusiastic about beginning her new life in Christ and sharing that with her daughter as well! Check out these pics from our Baptism Celebration!

This coming weekend will be a big one for Lifestone Church! On Saturday morning, our church will be featured in the annual Herriman Days Parade! We have invited everyone to come out with their families, wear green Lifestone t-shirts, and hand out 1,500 pinwheels to kiddos! This is a HUGE opportunity to represent Lifestone Church to Herriman! 

After the parade, we'll continue our celebration of Herriman Days at one of Herriman's parks where there will be carnival rides, vendor booths, concessions...and.....Lifestone Church's Worship Team playing a 1 hour set! We are PUMPED about yet another opportunity to show Herriman some Lifestone Love as we give them a little taste of how Sunday morning sounds at Lifestone!

Please join us in praying that barriers will be broken this weekend as we go out into our community and show them that we are people just like them except for that we have a love like no other and a "peace that passes understanding"!

As always, thank you for praying and following along here at Texas Loves Utah. Because of your support, many are coming to know the Truth of the Bible and the Grace of Jesus for the first time in their lives. We'll be back soon with pics from Herriman Days! We look forward to partnering with you in the years to come as we share Jesus' Love where it is so very needed! Hugs from Utah!

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

Today we'd like to share with you about a new ministry here at Lifestone Church in Herriman, Utah. Our hope is that as you read,  your heart will break with ours for this specific group of people and that, above all else, you will pray.

Opportunity for Ministry

As we have mentioned here before, God has given us the opportunity to minister to a very unique people group. The North American Mission Board has deemed the state of Utah to be 2% "reached" for Jesus. But the friends we have made here are not strangers to church or even to the name of Jesus.  In the city where we live, about 80% claim the LDS faith. Most of our friends have spent the majority of their lives in church, many in church leadership,  and some have even served on missions. We live among an extremely "churched" demographic. However, more than ever before, one by one, these individuals are realizing a disconnect between the perfection their religion requires and the reality of even the best of their human efforts. At last, the need for a Savior and all-sufficient grace is piercing the hearts of the tired and heavy-laden. And so the journey begins.

The more we learn from our new friends, the more we realize that we are using the same vocabulary and at the same time speaking entirely different languages. Concepts like "grace", "atonement", "salvation", and even "Jesus" hold significantly different meanings to a Mormon and to a Bible-believing Christian. All this to say, as church planters in Herriman, Utah, we are not working with clean slates here. People who are leaving the LDS church and visiting Biblical churches like Lifestone are re-learning truths they have trusted their entire lives. They are re-learning who Jesus is and God's plan for salvation through Jesus. They are re-learning who they are in Christ, His purpose for their lives, and God's promise for their eternities! 

As if all this re-learning isn't difficult enough, our friends are also facing some additional challenges. Most are experiencing alienation from family and social circles because of their decision to walk away from the LDS church and are left feeling hopelessly betrayed. We also witness many who struggle with lost identity after leaving a religion that has been their everything. Mormonism isn't simply a faith practiced for a couple hours on Sunday mornings-LDS to so many is a way of life. It is family, heritage, marriage, neighborhoods, friends, standards and morals! LDS is their world. Worse yet, with a new distrust in religion, some have lost their ability to trust God or scripture of any form.

With this degree of faith and identity crisis, you can understand why so many here feel as if their foundations- on which they have built their marriages, families and lives- have crumbled completely. One day at a time, they are re-consructing every aspect of who they are. Like immigrants entering a new land, these Mormons have left what is comfortable and are charting new territory. Biblical Christianity is a complete mystery to them, a foreign place with its own language and customs.

What we do at Lifestone on Sunday mornings alone is not enough to minister to these needs. Outside of one-on-one conversations, the deep and healing ministry that it will take to mend these broken hearts simply cannot happen in a large group setting. These types of conversations are delicate. This kind of healing takes time. 

Journey of Grace

Shane and Dixie Wise, a couple at Lifestone who has recently stepped out of the LDS church and into Jesus' perfect grace, have played a crucial role in educating our team about the very specific challenges that accompany the transition out of LDS faith into Biblical Christianity. Together with Pastor Ben and his wife, Kristen, Shane and Dixie are a developing a ministry we are calling Journey of Grace. In this ministry, group members gather weekly for about 6 weeks to share common hurts, questions...and a glimmer of hope that God is in fact real and that He loves them in a way they never knew was possible.

Last week was Journey of Grace's first meeting. All adults with LDS backgrounds as well as their supporting spouses were invited to attend. One by one, 12 individuals shared their stories of heartache, confusion, and isolation. Although the details of these stories are confidential in that they are nameless, we can tell you that the group ranges from some who now know Jesus as their Savior to others who now wonder if there is a God at all. 

This week, the group met again and the topic was "Why can I trust the Bible?" In the coming weeks, the group will dialogue on the history of Mormonism and Joseph Smith and, finally, what the Bible has to say about sufficient grace, salvation, and believer's baptism.  

Please Pray

Pray that God will use Lifestone Church and Journey of Grace to give these 12 individuals and the countless many we will serve in the years to come reason to trust again. Pray that they continue to open up to one another in this safe place and that they find some solace in the common ground they share with their fellow group members. Pray that they can trust their new church leaders as we teach them Truth in love. Most of all, pray that God will show them that they can trust the Bible and that eventually relationships with the Healer Himself, Jesus Christ, begin. 

Before you bow your head in prayer, we ask that you listen and allow the powerful lyrics of Tenth Avenue North's "Healing Begins" remind you of the shame and hurt that living a life of religion brings-and the perfect healing and freedom that our Savior Jesus Christ offers! 

Click HERE to listen!

Easter 2015

Hello, Texas, and to our supporters around the globe! As you know, this past Sunday was Easter Sunday and, as you've read here before, the best opportunity we have all year to welcome non-believers into our midst! We are happy to report that 165 souls were present Sunday morning-many of whom have most likely never heard the message that Jesus loves them!

In anticipation of high attendance, we moved the service from our Worship Center across the hall to the gym!

Children in both the Preschool and Elementary rooms participated in fun activities that reinforced this encouraging message:  "God loves me, so He sent Jesus to rescue me!"

Kid's Life Volunteer David Ashford (of Aledo, TX)
led a "small" group of 17 Kindergarten & 1st Graders!

After the service, everyone headed outside where over 1,500 eggs were waiting to be found and the Easter Bunny was all set up for family photos!

Ashley Smith led the youngsters in stretches to 
         prepare for the big dash toward the eggs!

Pastor Ben Helton & his family with the Easter Bunny!

We are especially excited to share with you this special clip from Sunday morning's service. We believe that churches grow when they make it known that "life change happens here"! Click HERE to watch a video in which the people of Lifestone close Sunday's service by sharing how Jesus has changed their lives forever!

Still, our work here is not finished! We are confident "that He who began a good work...will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!" (Philippians 1:6) With this in mind, we ask that you pray in these specific ways...

...AS WE WELCOME.
Please continue to pray that God will guide us as we work to create room on Sunday mornings for all who come to hear about God's love! The gymnasium was available for our use this past Sunday only because the Rec Center was officially closed to the public in observance of the holiday. The gym will not work as a long-term solution to our space "problem", but we trust that God's got something great in mind!

...AS WE MAKE DISCIPLES.
Please pray that God will help us to connect each visitor to our church family. Our goal is to point as many of them as possible to our weekly small groups and to give them opportunities to serve in a ministry where they are passionate. We currently have 5 groups meeting in homes. Pray that God helps us train up new small group leaders as our church grows and our groups multiply! 

...AS WE BAPTIZE.
Be in prayer for our Baptism Celebration this Sunday, the 12th. Pray that these new believers are encouraged and discipled by our church family and that their Baptisms are a testimony to all in attendance of what Christ has already done in their lives!

...AS WE TEACH.
Pray for our new teaching series, "Once Upon a Marriage: Valuable Lessons from Biblical Couples". Pray that God will use these messages to restore marriages as well as other relationships in our lives. Pray that all who attend will have a renewed understanding of who God is, His love for us, and His beautiful design for our lives!

Thank you for following and praying along! 

Utah loves YOU, Texas!

Be Sent: Life-Changing Truth!

Welcome back! Ok, so we realize our last several posts look similar, but that's only because over the past several months, we have continued to have the privilege of baptizing more and more new believers! So, check out MORE baptism pics below!

In the News!

This past month, Lifestone Church was spotlighted in a Southern Baptist Texan article, "Utah-Idaho Partnership Bears Fruit Along Wasatch Front":

"The fastest growing church plant in the history of the UISBC [Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention] is Lifestone in Herriman, Utah, sponsored by Granbury’s StoneWater... Lifestone, founded in 2013, has quickly grown to nearly 100 members... Prior to the launch of Lifestone Church in 2013, Herriman, Utah, was the largest U.S. city without an evangelical church. Since that time, Lifestone has baptized 24 people, worships together in the local rec center and hosts seven Bible study home groups!"

Back in Session!

This past weekend, "Lifestone University" recommenced! LU is a "class" led by Dr. Travis Kerns. Travis and Staci open their home each Sunday night so that people can learn about the Bible! Sounds simple enough, right? You wouldn't believe the response we get! People here are so incredible hungry for God's Word, they take advantage of every opportunity to hear the Truth that so many elsewhere take for granted! 

We love this pic of the shoes of Sunday's 32 Lifestone University
 attendees piled up in the entry way at the Kerns' house! :)

Easter's On Its Way!

Sunday, April 5th will mark the second annual Lifestone Church Community Easter Service and Egg Hunt! Please pray as we iron out all the details for what is sure to be a life-changing celebration! As many of you know, Easter Sunday is the best chance we have to get a "yes" when we invite our friends and neighbors to come to church with us! With this in mind, over the next few weeks, Pastor Ben will teach a series he's titled "Opportunity Knocks", equipping the people of Lifestone with practical ways to build relationships and invite non-believers to join them for church services, and, more specifically, Easter Sunday. As we close our 40-day study of What On Earth Am I Here For with the fifth of life's purposes, BE SENT, we look forward to diving deeper into learning to BE SENT right here in Herriman to share the Good News of Jesus' Amazing Grace!

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