easter at the erwin center...

so here is a little recap of all that god did yesterday. words can't really describe it. but you could feel that god was up to something. we wanted to hold a service in downtown austin that would be open to the entire city. we do not have enough room in our current worship venues to open up this invite. so god opened the door for us to worship him here.  this was probably one of the biggest single worship gatherings in austin. this is not said to brag on us, but rather to see how god is working among this city. things are changing. greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done.

we had a kidstuff program for the easter service. we setup shop in two places, the cooley pavilion (ut basketball's practice facility) and in a few rooms inside the frank erwin center. here are a few pictures that i took before of the setup in the practice gyms. i didn't get any pictures of our rooms in the erwin center, but let me tell you we got creative.

kinder - 2nd grade met in the women's UT practice gym.

2-5 year olds were in the men's practice gym. we had it divided into 3 sections. each section filled with stations.

our 3rd-5th graders met in here. the TJ ford room.

since i was going to be working during the service, i stayed saturday after setup to hear the soundcheck of the bands and the choirs.

this picture is from sunday morning. around 600 people gathered in one room to worship and have communion before we serve to make the actual service happen. most of the people in this picture did not actually get to go to service.  all of the gold shirts are kidstuff volunteers. it took about 350 gold shirts to make yesterday happen.

here is a clip from one of the local news stations here in austin about the service.

http://austin.ynn.com/content/top_stories/277971/erwin-center-hosts-arena-sized-easter-service?r=2070170166

and here are a few pictures that i snagged of the interweb from inside the service.

thanks for your prayers. we are still praying for god to do greater things in this city and that he would renew and restore it for his glory! that austin would not be known for being liberal, weird, or whatever comes to your mind, but that it would be known as a city of worshipers.

waiting here for you...

all is set. all is planned. all is loaded in.  now we just pray and wait.

our church is doing one easter service at the frank erwin center tomorrow. we have been laboring over this for many months and the time has come. and let me tell you, i could not be more excited. i was listening to this song off the latest passion album and i felt it was a wonderful expression of what i am feeling. while it is cool to think about the number of people (for me, the number of kids) that will be there, that is not what exciting to me. i really am waiting with eager anticipation to see what God is going to do in the heart of austin for his name. i cannot wait to see how he shows up, the lives he saves, the way he will show how he is greater than anything else. we are desparate for his presence, because bring people from death to life is impossible without him. i cannot wait to see who he draws. so i am waiting with eager anticipation to see what my god does for his glory tomorrow!

waiting here for you
If faith can move the mountains
Let the mountains move
We come with expectation
Waiting here for you, I’m waiting here for you

You’re the Lord of all creation
And still you know my heart
The Author of Salvation
You’ve loved us from the start

CHORUS
Waiting here for You
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
Singing Alleluia

You are everything You’ve promised
Your faithfulness is true
And we're desperate for Your presence
All we need is You

CHORUS

Singing Alleluia
Alleluia, singing alleluia, alleluia

CHORUS

Waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
We're singing Alleluia

I'm singing Alleluia
Waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
Singing Alleluia
Singing Alleluia

it's friday, but sunday is comin...

great video for today. powerful reminder.

holy week...

though i am in the swamps of preparing for easter (we are doing a easter service for the city at the frank erwin center this year which means we will have tons of kids!), i still have tried to set aside some time to prepare my heart to truly worship and celebrate even as i work so furiously. i found this post by john piper and have been reading through these scriptures this week. it is simple, but it is about all i have had time for and it is what my heart needs. check out the link below:

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/make-holy-week-holy-to-the-lord

month update...

my apologies for being absent for almost a month. my life has been a little busier than i anticipated. i have much i want to blog about. we will see what i end up writing about, but i can assure you it won't be in chronological order. until i am able to compose some posts, here is a glimpse of what has happened since my last post.

• i was given a car (i will blog more about this later for sure)
• i got ringworm some how and it is still plaguing me
• i was asked to give a deposition and was given a subpoena (and i kind of freaked out)
• i got the situation cleared up that i was not the rebecca harris they were looking for and the subpoena was a mistake - phew!
• i bought a lawnmower while in a dress
• i finally met some of my neighbors
• i make a vitamix smoothie at least once a day
• i got tested for TB, it came back negative
• i installed a washer and dryer (including changing out the 4 prong plug to a 3 prong - i was pretty proud of myself)
• i got lost in ikea and was forced to stop for a snack of swedish meatballs
• oh and i finished my homestudy paper work. no big deal.

all of this fun stuff in addition to still getting moved and settled in (i still have a ways to go) and planning the biggest, coolest kidstuff ever for easter at the frank erwin center. needless to say i have been a tad bit busy, so i hope to be back on the blog train soon. i mean i have loads to write about...