DECEMBER 2008
Mission: Serve our community with the authentic love of Christ one person at a time
STORY OF THE MONTH
The Well Preview #1
December 14 was truly a road marker in the endeavor of The Well. This has been nothing short of a journey of faith, hope, trust, and complete surrender and desperation to a God that has orchestrated our steps. We are climbing a mountain and have never known what is on the other side. It has been a journey of doubt at times and at times frustration. I’d rather have it no other way. I don’t want to know what the other side holds. If I did where would trust in Christ be needed? I love living this adventure called being a follower of Christ!
Several weeks ago I truly didn’t think we would be ready for our first preview. We sent out a few emails, facebook messages, and texted some friends and family. I was expecting 15 people to show up – God boggled our minds as we had that many kids! I’m humbled and God is stirring a passion in the hearts of real women and real men who are longing and hungry to live this thing out the right way. We just want Jesus and we’ll do anything but sin, give up our families and marriages, or give up our own salvation to have the passion and love that God has placed in each and everyone of us.
I had unchurched people handing me cash as there offering not knowing otherwise. The theater manager said, “I’ve never been church ever and don’t believe much in God. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…. if I were to ever go to church I think I would go to The Well!”. We had six new people join Team Well. One good friend’s eyes swelled up as he said, “I’ve been waiting all my life to hear a Pastor say the things you did this morning about church”. I’m not sure what I said but it’s God all him and I’m just going to do my best to simply be a mouthpiece.
WELL UPDATED – SERVING
A Well Christmas
On December 7th over 25 close friends came together for the first ever Well Christmas Party. We ate a lot of pizza, played “Dirty Santa”, had more dessert than we should have, and played a hilarious game called, “What is Yours Like?”. The highlight of the night was giving away gifts to our adopted family. Lindsey and Tuda have become good friends to us as they live right next store. Our boys have played together, Tuda and I have helped each other with tree limbs, and we’ve shared meals. She is about to have a little girl and without anyone electing to throw her a baby shower – The Well jumped at the opportunity to express an authentic love to her. Our girls layed hands on her and we lifted this little girl up to God.
A Well Deserved Offering
On the 21st Jonna shared a story about a girl that cut her hair. Her husband recently lost his job and they had to take back all of their Christmas gifts for their kids. Our team decided to pass around the water bottle (which we normally take offering for our start up budget) and came up with $225 to give this family we don’t even know a Merry Christmas. She was able to go in the following day and overwhelmed the girl with love as she shed tears at the thought of a group of people doing this that didn’t even know her. This continues to be the closest thing I’ve ever felt to being apart of an Acts 2 community.
PNO (Parent Night Out)
Several weeks ago several couples got a chance to sneak away for a night, along with a single father as our team offered a PNO (Parent Night Out). As I drove in my truck this morning I could only shed tears at our team’s pure generosity and pursuing love as we serve one person at a time the authentic love of Jesus.
A Christmas Carol
On December 13th a handful of our team showed up at Wood Manor Assisted Living and showered them with love through Christmas caroling. We’ve already decided to do this again next year and continue to show up several times a month to let these elderly people know they are not forgotten. Will they ever come to the theater? Probably not. Is that why we do it? Nope. Why? God’s love with no strings attached.
WELL UPDATED – RELATIONSHIPS
I’m thankful that we have developed relationships with close to 400 people in our community. Originally our goal was to get over 1000 to 1500 names on the wall. I think it became clear to us early on that there’s no way we could truly develop authentic relationships with that many people. We’ve chose to invest in the ones that we have and invite them to The Well on Feb 22.
Christmas Parties
Some of our team is involved in different organizations in the community. We were represented for the Big Brothers Big Sister’s Christmas Party, as well as Rogers County Young Professionals.
WELL UPDATED – FINANCES
- We’ve also set up online giving on our website for anyone wanting to give toward our start up costs.
- We’ve currently raised over $67,000. We still lack $3,000 that we need to raise over the next two months. Anyone wanting to help can give online or send a check to: The Well / P.O. Box 266 / Claremore, OK 74018
- Thank you to all of you that have given to make this endeavor possible.
WELL UPDATED – TEAM WELL
This past semester some of our team has consistently week in and week out supported the Campus Crusade for Christ group at RSU. Our goal was to do nothing but love, serve, and encourage these college students. I’m thrilled to say in return they will be partnering with us to get The Well off the ground. We have nearly 10 students that have showed up at some point and have expressed their interest to serve with us. I can’t stand statistics but we can’t ignore reality. Most churches that don’t have 40 or more on a team to launch a church have a hard time making it. Stats also say that 2-3 churches don’t make it past their first year. I know God orchestrates all of our steps and I’m pumped to say we have over 25 people that are committed to be apart of The Well. We still have a couple of months to go and I’m expecting that number to inch closer to 40.
WELL UPDATED – BUZZ
Although we are more about word of mouth to create a buzz, a very cool opportunity presented itself at the Rec Center. They allowed us to put up a billboard for a very low cost over the next 3 months. We have already received emails asking about The Well and when our launch date is. Many college students work out there and it is the largest social hub in Claremore.
Well Signage
I’m quite excited about our signage coming in and will arrive before our next preview. It looks incredible and I’ve got to give a shout out to Drew Witt, a friend from Texas that has worked hard to make it happen for us! Follow this link to see the rest of our banners. One of our core values is excellence and we believe everything we do represents Christ.
WELL UPDATED – PRAYER REQUESTS
- Please pray against all attacks from the enemy of discouragement and fear for the unknown
- Pray that our team would continue to grow spiritually and numerically
- Pray for our Preview #2 that our vision would continue to move forward and others would be apart.
- Pray for our band. We are still needing musicians that will become apart.
- Pray for continued favor for our finances, wisdom in every decision, and passion for the name of Christ and for the names on “The Wall”
UPCOMING EVENTS
January 4 Recon to Owasso / Team Gathering “Serving Strategy”
January 11 Preview Gathering #2 / Creative Team Mtg
January 15 Sponsored Dinner for RCYPO
January 18 Team Gathering “Groups Strategy”
February 1 Preview Gathering #3
We have moved from Iowa and love the Lord and believe in your mission statement. We are excited to find a home church and look forward to visiting you. We are already praying for you and believing for God to move in a super mighty way through The Well. We look forward to meeting you. Thank You!!
Mary Elizabeth aka M.E.