Big Faith, Jeff's Blog

Have you ever met one of those people who just had BIG FAITH! They are unshakeable, even when you try to give them information that you are sure will cause their faith to waiver. They trust and confidence in God is amazing and appealing. The good news is, God wants and is working in our lives to give us all BIG FAITH!
He is thrilled when we have faith in Him. It is one of the ways we honor Him in our lives. So what is it that causes our faith to grow? There are five things that we see in the Bible that we need to be Planted in for our faith to grow. As we plant ourselves in these five areas God will perpetually grow our faith and trust in Him. In Matt 8:10 Jesus was "amazed" at the faith of a Roman soldier. He is looking for and building that kind of faith in us all!

This Weekend at Alive:
We will be doing Baptisms during the weekend services this weekend!!! This is a time of  Celebration not only for those who are taking this Next Step in their journey with Jesus but for all of us in the Church family.  Baptisms will take place during the worship music toward the beginning of the service so be sure and get here early to join in the celebration! (All 3 Weekend Services)

We are going to be looking at the first of the five Catalyst that God uses in building our faith as we continue the weekend talk series Planted with Planted In Practical Teaching. If you missed the first week in the series you can catch up, Planted In Big Faith.

Ministry Team Summit is happening Sunday evening at 5pm for all of those who serve on the ministry team here at Alive Church. You guys are rock stars!!! We will be serving hot dogs and burgers, sharing some vision, strategy, it is going to be a great night. 

*New Work* Mount Hood by Moon - 24X30"

I recently gave several painting lessons to some dear friends who want to experience and enjoy some plein air painting while in France this summer. I helped them get all set up with the supplies they will need and then I asked them to bring in some photographs that they had taken for us to work from. One of the photos was of a stunning view of Mount Hood in Oregon, pink sky and moon. Kathy is from the Pacific Northwest and we have driven through Portland many times on our way to see family so I recognized it right off.  We all had a great time painting. I ended up with a wonderful 14X11", auctioned it on Ebay and it now belongs to a fantastic collector in Montana. I thought I would paint it again, this time in a large format, so this is what resulted and I will be launching it to eBay in my eBay Store on Saturday, May 5th. I updated my On-Line Gallery with a fresh look and an image of Mt Hood by Moon on my home page.  Thanks to Jean and Jane for the beautiful photo to work from, and I wish you both the best as you paint in France this summer.  -Jeff

Jeff's Blog: One Of God's Top 10

When you read God's top 10 list, Exodus 20, it may surprise you that Rest makes the list. Yet we all know it is so important for our lives, just go a few days or weeks without it. This past weekend we looked at The Rest App during the weekend talk, here is a short video of a piece of that talk. We called this illustration The Treadmill Of Life:

Thanks to staff member Mike Gray (Next Steps Pastor) A.K.A. Mike Simmons. The illustration is a picture of so many of our lives as we race at a neck break pace trying to do everything that comes our way. Let me give a few tips to help live out the talk from the weekend.
1. God has given each of us enough time to do everything He created us to do. If we find ourselves always short of time to get things done we need to look at time management, priorities or leadership issues.
2. A day of rest does not mean that you are simply laying around as a bum. Although some folks may find that as their way of resting - go for it. For others it may mean doing something different than their normal work week. Great rule of thumb: If you work with your mind, try doing something with your hands on your day of rest. If you work with your hands, try doing something with your mind on your day of rest.
For me, that's why I paint. I find it to be a very restful, refreshing, refueling thing on my day of rest away from the office.  Here's one of my latest from some reference photos I took on a trip last summer in Northwest Wyoming.

My mother always tells me: "Get your rest". Who would have thought that mom was telling me to do a spiritual activity, in fact God calls it "Holy".  My encouragement to you today is: "Be spiritual and get your rest!"

Jeff's Blog: My Challenges This Week And Church Online

I was so encouraged this week as I received an email from a lady who watched the weekend talk from our archives on Monday and made a decision to follow Jesus. Yeah God!!!  One of the things I love about Alive Church is your willingness to try new things and Church Online has been one of those risk that you all have invested in and we have continually seen our mission of leading people who are far from God to be followers of Jesus lived out. Personally, I see Church Online as an area that has more potential than we ever dreamed in our future.  I want to encourage all of you who are a part of Alive Church to take advantage of Church Online. There are a few things that are of great value to you:
  1. It's a great way to invite your friends to try church for the first time. Many people are willing to try Church Online when they are fearful of walking in the doors of the building. It gives them a chance to see what they will experience and pave the way for them to attend with you at a later date. I invite friends and family weekly by using the invite button. It's simple!
     2. It's heating up around Tucson (Can you believe we've already hit 100%?) and that means many of us will take time to escape the heat for vacation.  Church Online is a fantastic tool for staying in touch with your church while you are vacationing. Many people tell me they hate missing a weeks teaching from a series while they are away. The good news is you don't have to. You can join live at Church Online, where we always have a Campus Pastor who breaks away from the regular service to connect with the Online crowd before the service, during the announcements and for the close of the service. Or if you are traveling somewhere where the time change is extreme and you are on sleep time during our schedule live services, we always have the archive of the weekends talk posted by Monday.  Thanks to all our team that make Church Online happen.
    It's been a challenging week as I have worked on living out the Next Step from last weeks talk The Encouragement App. The principles that we have been looking at in this series called Life Apps add so much value toward us having healthy relationships. I have had so many folks respond with comments about how much this series is helping them in their daily life and how practical and applicable it has been. If you missed last weekend you can catch The Encouragement App on our web site.  This coming weekend will be equally as powerful as we look at The Rest App. This is one I personally have struggled with all my life, I will share a little of my story during the weekend talk. While this app is very personal, it has a tremendous affect on every area of our lives, especially our relationships.
I'm looking forward to being with you all this weekend and I'm praying that it will be a special time in your journey with Jesus.

Jeff's Blog: Back In Tucson And Thanks To The Team

This past weekend after our Saturday evening service Kathy and I drove through the night to Colorado Springs, Colorado to be with extended family after the sudden death of a very dear cousin. Sunday and Monday were spent with family and being at my cousin Barbs funeral. Her life story, though cut very short, touch many. There were about 1,000 people who attended the funeral with here husband receiving hundreds of letters from students she has taught over the years. One thread ran through everything everyone said about Bard, she passionately pursued Jesus. She will be dearly missed yet always remembered and her life celebrated. Please continue to pray for her family.
I want to thank everyone on the team at Alive that made it possible for Kathy and I to go and be with family. You guys rock, all the way from capturing a great recording on Saturday evening for the Sunday services to the staff who covered meetings I was scheduled to lead Monday and Tuesday.
So now we are back in Tucson and back in the saddle, as it were, getting ready for the weekend. I am very excited as I put the finishing touches on the notes for this weekends talk: The Encouragement App. Looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend!