letter to a friend...

In March it will be Epic Church's one year anniversary from our public launch. I recently sent an e-mail to my friend Mike reflecting on where God has brought us in this last year. Mike Moran is the Pastor of Kettlebrook Church in West Bend, Wisconsin. I really respect him and Mike and his church was the first church to "buy in" and partner in the dream of Epic. As I reflect on God's faithfulness over this last year, I simply stand humbled at how He has built His church beyond our imagination. To Him truly be all the Glory! Below is a portion of the e-mail that I sent to my friend Mike.

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Hi Mike,

You and Kettlebrook were on my heart this morning and I felt impressed to give you an update in regards to Epic in order to encourage you all and to allow you to celebrate with what God is doing.

As you last heard, we had made our Epic challenge of $53,000 in October of 2010 which made it so we were no longer in need of outside financial assistance. Since that time, Epic agreed to help partner with a church plant in an urban area in Michigan in addition to the church planters that we are supporting in Asia.

In November Epic was told about an incredible facility that had come available in the heart of our community. It’s an 18,000 square foot building that has a gymnasium that was built on in 2007. Additionally, it came with 10 acres of land. It’s located right next to an elementary school in the heart of several new subdivisions. What’s more, Epic was offered the deal of a lifetime – simply take over the mortgage of the property (for about $1,000 more per month than what we were paying for the rent of the school for 4 hours a week). After much prayer our entire congregation unanimously agreed that this was God’s provision and next step for Epic but not without first considering how this building would allow us to better live out our Vision and Values.

Shortly after acquiring the building I had an individual come to me and ask me to go to lunch. We went to lunch and he shared that he and his wife are absolutely thrilled with the vision and values of Epic along with direction that the church was heading. He then proceeded to tell me that he and his wife would like to donate $100,000 towards this new building for whatever the leadership deemed necessary for start up. He also asked that it they be kept anonymous and that he and his wife do not want any type of “say” or influence on how the money should be spent...He went on to say that they are not the type that will leave a church if they don’t like how it was being spent... they just want to be blessing. So, Epic is in the midst of doing some renovating so that we can have our grand opening in our new building on April 17th...it feels like we’re doing a launch all over again and it’s pretty exciting!

Additionally, we’re excited to mention that the nearby public school to the new property has already contacted Epic and asked if they could begin holding some sports practices in our gymnasium. We’re so thrilled that before this building has the opportunity to serve us on Sundays for our worship gatherings, that it’s already serving our community...and we have so many more ideas and plans on how we can serve our community with this new tool that God has blessed us with.

Finally, and a piece that I’m most excited about. Epic is going to be planting another church in Goshen, Indiana (about 20 minutes away from Epic). Epic is going to be the mother church and will be planting this church without any other assistance. We are looking to introduce our planter to our congregation and bring him onto our staff in the next week. He has already gathered his team and it looks like we will be able to get them holding their own worship services within the next several months. Naturally we would love for your continued prayers for Epic and this exciting new church plant.

In March, Epic will officially be 1 year old (from our public launch to our community). There have been several who have been reconciled to God and many more who are living far from God but have begun attending Epic and are taking their next steps with God.

I share all of this with you, because I was reminded once again this morning about the step of Faith that you and the people of Kettlebrook took in partnering with Epic. As I recall, you all were the first church to “buy in” as partners and soon several others jumped in and followed the testimony of your lead and faith step. Thanks for being the first to believe in what God could do, we are so grateful for your belief and we trust that you are encouraged by the fruit that has sprung forth for the Kingdom of God! To Him be all the glory.

Anyway just want to say that I’m so grateful for you and our brothers and sisters at Kettlebrook!

-Jeremy

Molly...

Last Sunday, Molly, the school custodian sat in during the worship Gathering . Afterwards, I had a chance to talk with her for a significant amount of time as people were leaving. She really poured out her heart to me, and we had an incredible conversation about God and life. Our conversation eventually turned towards me having the opportunity to share the plan of salvation with her. Molly admitted that she had never gone to church prior to Epic coming to the school. She has been going through a tough time but felt that God was drawing her to himself. I then asked her if she was ready to make the choice to follow Jesus. She said that she was, so I led her over to the chairs in the lobby and prayed with her to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior. She said she had a real sense of peace after praying together. Yea God!!! Please pray for Molly and Epic as we help her take her next steps in her new relationship with God.

Open...

This last week, during my personal prayer time, I began praying, "God, would You move in our midst and pour yourself out in our Gatherings in such a way that we can't miss You?"

Last Sunday we showed up to the school an hour and a half before our Gathering started only to discover that we didn't have power. The storms that came through on Friday left many homes and buildings without power. The school had a generator back up but it was only enough power to flush a few toilets and turn on a couple lights. I was so proud of the resilient attitude of our church. We looked things over and quickly reassessed what our Gathering would entail for the day. Instead of focusing on what we didn't have we got pretty excited about what did have.

1. We had a beautiful day.

2. We had an overhang outdoors that would hold everyone and protect us from the direct sunlight.

3. We still had use of the restrooms.

4. We had a wonderful playground on the other side of the school for the kids to play on after their lesson.

5. We have portable chairs, and tables that we could just move outside.

6. We have an incredibly gifted and flexible worship team that was able to put together an acoustic set on the fly. They had to come up with songs that were a little more familiar from their original set list. Then Our drummer realized that he had some paint buckets in his car (which sounded really cool). The custodian allowed us to use an acoustic piano that was on rollers in the music room. We had an acoustic guitar and singers with great hearts and voices.

7. We had a children's ministry that was able to adapt and still make things run with excellence. I heard one of our kids say, this was the best Sunday ever, I wish we could do this every week.

8. We had a Gathering that was full of people that saw this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle and they were grateful for the opportunity to still gather for worship.

9. We had prayer. Prior to our Gathering many of us prayed and thanked God for this opportunity. We asked that He would be our focus and that He would still bring the people.

Afterwards I had so many people comment on what an incredible experience it was. Some even asked if we could do that more often! The presence of God was evident and it was so simple and different. I was reminded at how often I seem to put God in a box and expect Him to work according to MY plans, MY comfort zones and MY traditions. As if to say God can't work outside the lines that I've drawn in the sand. In reality God doesn't need for me to figure everything out for Him, all He needs from me is an open heart!

www.epicmishawaka.org

Journey's

Yesterday, I went to the graduation ceremony for Bethel College as several of our students from Epic were graduating. Yesterday reminded me of just how grateful I am for the college students that have journeyed with us at Epic. Several of them have stepped up in huge ways and are being used by God. This last Sunday was our last Sunday with some and several will be heading home or on various trips throughout the summer. We're going to miss them and were already looking forward to their return! One of our students, Casey Hasselkus recently blogged about her journey with Epic.

http://caseyhasselkus.blogspot.com/2010/04/epic-journey.html

Week 2

We had a great second week as well. During our first week we had a guy from Michigan that came and visited. He was so compelled with our heart for meeting needs and reaching out to our community that he wanted to help partner with us. As it turns out, he is a distributor for an organization that gives away large amounts of free food to other non-for-profit organizations. He ended up getting 1,000 lbs. of apples and 80 loaves of bread and asked us if we could use them to help touch some lives in our community. Our team rallied to the challenge and we distributed every last apple and loaf of bread to multiple families in need. As a result we were able to have so many incredible conversations with people as we started the conversation by simply letting people know that God loves them. So many were blessed and several asked what church we were with (we only told them if they asked as our heart is that people will know that God loves them and that they would get involved in any church that serious about being devoted followers of Jesus).

On Wednesday I received another phone call that challenged our team significantly. We learned that due to a mechanical issue we would no longer be able to use the stage in the gym where we were holding our worship gatherings. This posed several significant issues. First we didn't have any stage (and I'm really short). Secondly, Even if we get a stage we don't have a big enough trailer to haul it in.

As we prayed and talked with others, we ended up having a church allow us to use their portable stage that they were just storing and not using...and they told us we could use it long term. Then, one of our team members posted our need on his facebook status and a guy responded that his father had a 24 foot trailer that he wasn't using and he thought we could use it long term. On that Sunday, we ended up completely flipping the direction and using the new stage and most people said that they liked the feel even better.

We ended up having 105 people (which I found out is pretty decent for the second week) and most importantly, we had 12 first time visitors from the community that came (not very usual...but awesome)!

God continues to go before us and He continues to remind us that nothing catches Him by surprise...it's His church that He's building after all!

Public Launch Sunday...

We had an amazing first Sunday! We conservatively had 198 people in attendance (although we think there were more than that...and we’re double checking our figures). Our team did a really great job inviting and there were several faces that I didn’t know or recognize from within the community. We had two families that came as a result of our promotion (one of which was a single Father who hadn’t been to church in over 7 years).

On a personal note, Ann and I had 15 of our friends from the community and neighborhood show up (plus all of their kids)! Many of them said that they really enjoyed it and are planning to come back. At the end of my message as we went into our second worship set, there were several who were visibly moved by God! In fact one of my friends that was a prayerful and financial supporter came down from Wisconsin posted on our Epic Facebook wall, “One of the most powerful (services) I've ever attended...EPIC is amazing!!!! God is really at work here.”

Friends, it’s apparent that lives are being impacted and changed, and we’re asking God to continue to use us for so much more! Please keep praying for us!

This Sunday - The Big Day!

It's been a long time in waiting but this Sunday is the day! We will be having our first public worship gathering. The team has been working their tails off and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them. The last two weeks we held our preview services at the Meadows Edge Elementary School (where we will now meet) and they went incredibly well. Last week Jennie Kintner spoke and I heard nothing but positive feedback. Again the strength is the incredible team that God has brought to Epic. I'm really excited as I've had several of my friends and family members mention that they are coming this Sunday. We even have some of our supporters from Wisconsin and Colorado coming in to be a part of this momentous occasion. We're so grateful for all of you who have prayed and supported us in so many different ways!

As we go into this Sunday, please pray that God will:

• Bring the people in that need to be there.
• That God will move in hearts and lives would be changed.
• That Epic will have a significant ongoing impact in our community and around the world.
• That God will continue to give us a heart for people who are far from Him.
• That God’s provision and protection would be on us physically, spiritually and emotionally.

On a more personal note, I could use your prayers as Ann and I had a loss in our family this last Sunday night. One minute before we were supposed to start our service, Ann and I received a text that we needed to "get to the hospital now." We had to leave and the team went on without us. As it turns out, our nephew Joshua was born on Sunday night but was only with us for an hour after his birth. We were made aware of this diagnosis prior to his birth so it didn't come as a total shock. However our family is deeply saddened by this and would appreciate your prayers. Please especially remember my brother, Jonathan and his wife, Kristin as they mourn the loss of their first child. Ann and I are so grateful for all of your prayers and encouragement!