This is the week that we officially begin. Our Launch Team has been at work for 9 months to be ready to go on October 5th. But a new church is much like a new child. The church is born not at its full potential or ready to do everything - the church is born to grow.

As we begin this new church we pray that we have laid the groundwork so that we can grow to be all that God desires. To help insure that we grow in the right way we have set 4 Values in place to keep us on the right path. These 4 values will be our filter to evaluate what we are doing and our plans so that the Church will grow up healthy and strong.

The first value is Loving God. It is where everything must start and build on. It is the core for each Christian and the Church as a whole. God does not want religion from us - He wants a relationship with us. It is an amazing opportunity God gives us to be in relationship with Him as we talk to Him in prayer, listen to Him through His Word and let His Spirit dwell within us each day. As we grow in our love for God - He is able to nurture and mature us in love.

The second value is Transforming Relationships. Just as no child can grow up by itself - no Christian is to try and grow by themselves. God designed us to be in relationship with others. To live is both to help others and to let others help us. That is why we ask everyone to be in a group we call Regenerate. The groups are made up of 3-4 Men or Women who help one another on the journey of growing as a Christian.

The third value is Joining God for His Kingdom Work. As Children grow they must take on responsibility. God also gives responsibility to every Christian, individually and together as the church. That responsibility is to use the talents and resources God has blessed us with to accomplish His will. We do not have to invent things to do - God tells us to live out loving others and being a part of His plans in the world. This is our spiritual exercise - as we join His work we grow strong.

The last value is sacrificial faith. It is simply the recognition and acceptance that to follow God takes us out of our comfort zone and forces us to trust God and depend upon Him. This is where we become mature. As we face the difficult challenges of life, and step out to do things that we never thought could happen - God grows us up. We become mature in our faith and unshakable in our resolve to follow God.

It is exciting to think how God will grow up this church. As we stay true to the direction and values that God has given us we will grow from a newborn to a strong, healthy and mature body. Thank you Lord for granting this birth and guide us as we grow in You.

Ephesians 4:13 "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

It is hard to believe that we are two weeks away from our Opening Service. This all began over 2 years ago when the Church at Canyon Creek Council committed to plant a church in 2008. We had no idea that night what the new church would be or where it would be planted, or who would be a part. It is amazing to think that God did know back then - that we would be here today.

Of course the Church has already begun - but in the eyes of the world we officially begin on October 5th. Lord we pray that the church You began years ago will be the church You want it to be today and in the years to come. Lord may we be obedient to Your leading and we pray that the biggest thing about this church will always be You! We pray that You will do a work that only can be from You.

The truth is we do not know what we are doing. None of us have ever started a church, our staff is hungry but inexperienced in many ways, we have many holes to fill. But the success of the church will never be about our skills and resources - it will always be about trusting God and following Him. May we be great at trusting You Lord!!

Whether we are just starting or 10 years down the road - may we continue to trust in the Extraordinary God and may He be glorified in this community.

This Sunday we will have a differnet kind of day. We have invited the whole neighborhood to come to the school and enjoy a fun time. We have 4 different inflatable games for the kids to jump and run and slide on. We have food provided by our friend Mike who loves to cook - can't wait to see what he cooks up. We have smoothies from Samurai Sams and other fun activities. It should be a fun day and we hope to meet many people from the community.

We hope that this will be the first of many events that allow us to serve the community. I hope you can come!

As we have seen in the last couple weeks - we are in the middle of hurricane season. Our prayers go out to the people in the Caribbean, Cuba, Florida and the Gulf Coast states who have already been hit by storms and are likely to be hit again.

I am sure it is hard for me to even imagine being on an island or on the coast in the direct path of a hurricane. It is a terrifying experience that would be even worse if it came as a surprise.

The difference today is that we have a very sophisticated warning system. As a rule people know that the storm is coming and can take steps to either flee the area or prepare for the destructive conditions. Most people take the warnings seriously and take precaution.

I see a correlation to hurricanes and the state of our culture today. Sin is blowing through our culture and causing great destruction. People underestimate the powerful destructive forces and are caught off guard. Lives are destroyed, families are torn apart, and relationships are left in rubble.

In Luke Chapter 12 - Jesus gives us a very serious warning "When you see a cloud rising in the west immediately you say a shower is coming, and so it turns out...You hypocrites, you know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and sky, but why do you not analyze this present time"? Jesus is calling us to see the real storm of sin in our culture and to call it what it is.

I pray that The Church at Bee Cave will be used by God to help people from the destruction of sin, and to show the world that God's path is the one that gives true life. We need to be both a warning system and a relief system for those who are hurting. God help us to be that church.

This week has intensified all the discussion of this very charged politcal year. A year ago no one would have been able to predict the Obama, McCain and now throw in Palin election. It will no doubt be a highly charged next two months with way too many attack commercials, talking pundits and sound bites.

I would ask that all Christians - whatever party you may claim - would vote for Jesus in this election. I know that you can say I am crazy and wasting my vote - but when people ask me who I am voting for I am telling them Jesus.

The whole world needs to wake up and realize that no politician from any party can truly change the downward spiral we are all in. The only true agent of change and our only true hope is Jesus Christ. I am not going to waste the opportunity to discuss the merits of McCain or Obama or any other person - when we can discuss the one true hope for mankind- Jesus Christ.

If Christians will not speak up for Jesus who will. The Bible makes it clear that we are to speak up and proclaim Jesus Christ - and what better opportunity do we have when people all around us are talking about the needs of this country and who can best help. I guarantee that the only one who can truly deliver on His promises is Jesus.

Christians - break out of the world's muck and use this season to proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ is the answer. Vote for Jesus and campaign for Him as you never have before.

We had an amazing time Sunday night - it was a God honoring time and everyone was inspired as we were challenged and encouraged to go out and be Light in the world. Thank you Lord for a memorable time in the life of this new church.

Monday I realized that we are now out on the water in this new boat. It is unchartered water - but God is filling our sails and we are excited to be going with God. We will now be moving into a new office space, getting a trailer to store our equipment and preparing to occupy Lake Pointe elementary on Sundays beginning in September.

Much is happening in the logistics of the new church - but as our team discussed this past week - we know that the church is not an address or equipment. The church is each follower of Christ - joining together for the mission God has given us.

Ephesians 2:10 says "we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." It is amazing and humbling to think that God created us and has prepared for us the work He wants us to do in the Bee Cave/Lakeway community and around the World.

So as we go out into the world - even though it seems like a vast ocean, we know that it is a course that God has prepared. We humbly go in the name of Jesus and pray that God will keep us under His wings.

This Sunday night we will be having our Charter Service. This is a special time when our sponsor church - The Church at Canyon Creek- will be formally sending us out to follow the mission of Jesus Christ in the Bee Cave / Lakeway area.

We will hear the story of how the vision for the church started, the heart of Canyon Creek to start new churches, a charge to our team to follow Jesus and prayer for the new Church.

The group of people who are starting the new church are called the Launch Team. It is a fitting name because getting a new church started takes a tremendous amount of effort and commitment to be prepared for the first day. The Team has been praying, planning, serving in the community, makng new relationships, moving, developing new ministries, and seeking the heart of God. It has been a great effort and we believe God will bring a great launch.

We are thankful for the support of the Church at Canyon Creek- and as they send us out, we look forward to the day that we will be able to send people out from The Church at Bee Cave to go and start new churches for the mission of Jesus Christ.

On Sunday night we held our first worship service for the Church at Bee Cave. It was at Spanish Oaks Pavilion as the sun was going down. Thank you to all who came and spent the evening with our team. We pray that it was menaingful to you and that God was pleased with our hearts to worship Him. Thank you again for making it a memorable night.

I was excited to see our team in action. It was a great demonstration of our team as each family helped with set up, parts of the service, welcoming guests, bringing refreshments, and cleaning up. You are a joy to serve with.

Kids!! There must have been a dozen little ones there. From what I could tell they had a good time except when one was attacked by a grasshopper. I know they had a good time at the cookie table as well. The good part is that there were so many good cookies even the kids could not eat them all.

I look forward to our next time together - worshipping God as the sun drops behind the trees.

This week is a great milestone for our church as we start meeting in groups. After much prayer and discussion we have named our group process REGENERATE. This name is important because it speaks to the heart of what we are trying to do. Each person has areas of their life that God is working to make new.

The Bible tells us that God makes us a new creation in Christ. He is like a Potter with a lump of clay. Regenerate means that we are being shaped and molded by God to become more like He wants us to be. Our groups are formed by gender and kept small so that no one is lost in the crowd. You can meet at 6:00 AM for coffee if you are a morning person or 10:00 at night - whatever works for you. The critical part is that you are partnering with a couple other men or women for the purpose of God changing your life and remaking you step by step to be the person God wants you to be.

Having partners to help and support you in this process is huge! Its like having a spotter when lifting weights, or having someone examine your golf swing - then working with you to make adjustments. It is just more effective to have partners to help us when we need to take steps of change in our life. God promises He will transform us - if we will submit to Him and put ourself in a position God can work.

Don't settle for where you are - find out who you can be when the creator of the whole universe touches your life. Join with a couple other men or women and regenerate.

The smoke is just about gone from the fireworks of July 4th. As we moved in to our new house our new neighbors let us know that the street is famous for fireworks. There was actually a small warm up on July 1 as we went out into the street to watch left over fireworks from last year blow up for much of the evening. Good clean loud and smoky fun.

We actually missed the neighborhood show as we went to spend the holiday weekend with my family. We had a grea time being together and eating too much good food. The one downer was my foot getting smashed when the 4 wheeler I was riding in tipped over. Always keep your body in the vehicle when it tips over - I was reminded. Thank God no broked bones, but it is an ugly shade of purple. It was a quick trip - and we are now back to our house of boxes. We should have paid someone to come and unpack everything while we were gone :).

The next couple weeks will be exciting for the Team. This weekend we serve again at Movies in the Park. Next week we launch out our Men's and Women's groups. The groups will be made up of 3 or 4 people and they will be studying the Bible, praying for people and supporting one anohter in there walk with the Lord. We are still processing the name of the groups - keep watching as we unveil the new name and come get involved in a life changing group.

Finally - I did not get to announce yet that Michael McKinley has joined our team as Worship Pastor! We are very excited to have Michael and Lindsay on our team and know that you will be blessed by their leadership.

Sunday night was a great time as we gathered at the pool at Alta Vista. The view from the deck of the clubhouse is incredible - you could see all of Lakeway, the Mansfield Dam and the the horizon must be Marble Falls. It was amazing to see all the building projects happening in the community. What a great place to visit with friends old and new.

The kids finally got me in the pool after hounding me for an hour. Unfortunately, it was right after going through the line for BBQ and potato salad. I think we had as much brownies, home made cookies and rice krispy treats as we did entrees - that was a great spread! Of course the danger in leaving an event like that last means you take more home than you came with. We have been sharing BBQ and potato salad with our friends this week. :) Thank you to all who were able to come and add to a great time!!

This week the Peacock family is packing and getting ready to move on Saturday. We have been praying for this day for almost a year - so it is exciting even when we are packing boxes. It will be great to finally get moved into the Cardinal Hills neighborhood and join the community. Moving is just work - there is no way around it. We are blessed to have so many who have been helping us in this journey!

I pray that as we reach people in this community they will experience potato salad (having great times with friends and meeting new people), and boxes (people helping them through the challenges of life). That is a key part of what it means to be in a church and serving with others. Thank you church for showing that to us!