Making the Connection

This week is TAKS time, those standardized tests that kids take in school. We thought it was an excellent chance to give some love to the teachers and students at Tobias where we meet each week for services.

I contacted the principal, Mrs. Davis, to find out how TCC could serve them this week and she let me know they didn’t have money this year to buy drinks for the kids. So we made a quick trip to Sam’s for 500 waters, 500 100% juice boxes (the kind approved by whoever regulates school food), and 500 #2 pencils. That covers all the kids taking tests this week.

Best of all, we didn’t hand out anything with the church logo or name attached to it. It was simply an under the radar way to show God’s love. And even though we didn’t ask them to, they said they’d pass the word along to the teacher’s about who was responsible for the gift.

Our relationship with the school is very important and we want them to know we’re here to serve them in practical ways. Connection Church, once again, you are an example of how little things done with great love can change the world!

Here’s the highlights:

• This morning, I got up at 5:45. Rather than the usual "hit the snooze button a couple of times," I hit the ground running. I was thinking, "this is the day I’ve been waiting for." I knew God was up to something good today and I wanted to be a part of it.
• We had a ton of new people. We must have gotten 15 guest cards, many of them represented entire families. A lot of people are coming to check out what’s happening. One family, from out of town, ran into LaSandra Watson at Wal-Mart wearing a TCC t-shirt and actually showed up this morning. It’s crazy what a personal invitation will do!
• The band covered Crowded House/Sixpence "Don’t Dream It’s Over."
• Find a need, fill a need: We had 3 or 4 people step up to serve on the Video/Tech Team.
• We almost lost the trailer today. Someone pulled out right in front of Bryan Geiger and he had to swerve onto the shoulder to miss her.
• Richard Ojeda is this week’s "Freak of the Week." He brought his weight bench & weights at around 7:15, did set-up, spotted me in the services (thanks for not letting me crush myself with those weights), stayed for tear-down and left at around 1:45.

Now it’s after 11:30, must… go… to… sleep…

We got the word yesterday that the Alex Rodriguez crew will be gone to Houston this weekend because Alex’s uncle passed away. Please be praying for the family about this. He was a believer, so we know where he is now.

So, that left us with a drummer dilemma. How do we find someone to fill in for the awesome Rene?

Here’s the way God brought something good out of this: Cody Baird, former Soundwave drummer, is pinch-hitting for us. He played our first preview services and he can flat out tear it up! Needless to say, I can’t wait for tomorrow morning. Be there!

Are you a techie? (Hint: if you’re reading this blog, I might be talking about you.) We have the sweetest ministry position available. All of the projection for our Celebration Services comes from one laptop (this one) and is controlled through a program called EasyWorship. It’s called that for a reason: it’s very easy! Not to say it’s not important. It’s a vital piece of our services. And we need more people to know how to run it. You can learn it in a few minutes and then it’s just a matter of paying attention to what’s going on and clicking a mouse. Are you interested? Let me know and we’ll get you started.

We get together on Wednesday mornings at 11 at the office to pray over the many prayer requests we receive through the Connection Cards. This is always a very meaningful time with God as we intercede for the needs of our church family and their friends. Still. only a few people get to read these requests. We’ve been trying to find the appropriate way to get the word out about these prayer needs. So, we’ve started a new prayer blog with the prayer needs we receive. Maggie Walker, our resident prayer warrior is entering these in each week. We want to be discrete with the specifics and so we’re not using full names on the list. As always people can mark "confidential" and the request will not be made public. This is also a forum to post praise reports for answered prayer. If you have a request during the week, email it to prayer@theconnectionchurch.org. Visit www.connectionprayers.blogspot.com to join with us in prayer.