Congratulations, Kasey Black! I hope that you and your family will enjoy these scripture cards! Please email Leigh Ann Loeblein (lloeblein@elevationchurch.org) your address and she will get the cards in the mail to you asap!
And if you did not win, you can order a pack of scripture cards for yourself here. Consider it an investment in your spiritual health!
My friend, Lysa TerKeurst recently gave away a set of these scripture cards on her blog. When I saw them I knew I needed those in my kitchen. My children have minds like little sponges and they can memorize scripture like nothing I have ever seen. I have been wanting to do more scripture memory at breakfast and when I saw Lysa's blog, I knew these were it.
Well I received my order a few days ago and my boys have already memorized A- A friend loves at all times, Prov 17:17.
And I bought an extra box to give away! Just leave a comment here in the next 24 hours or so and I will pick a winner. Good luck!
My friend Angie recently gave me this book, she told me this was my kind of book. And boy was she right. I read it in record time.
Kisses from Katie is the story of a young girl who simply said yes to God one day and then kept saying yes to Him each step of the way. Katie moved to Uganda for one year when she was 18 years old. Today she is around age 22, still living in Uganda, mother to 13 adopted African girls, and director of Amazima, a ministry that sponsors children, feeds the hungry, provides vocational training and disciples new believers.
Katie's story is a living example of audacious faith. I loved it so much, I want to give a copy away. Leave a comment with your name below. I will close the comments on Thursday and select a winner. (And if you don't win, you can purchase a copy for yourself at here.). You can also read more from Katie on her blog.
Abbey would like to announce the winners of Kerri Weems' book, CLUELESS...
1. Kim Jackson
2. Paula Sellek
3. Eva Scott
4. Sara Johnson
5. Ruth
Send Christy an email at ccollins@elevationchurch.org. She will gift you your copy of the book this week. And for all of you who did not win, the book is cheap. You should get it and read it!
HAve a happy Monday. Thank you Columbus!
When I think back over my childhood, all I ever wanted to grow up to be was a mother. When I was pregnant our first child, I thought all my dreams were coming true. And then I had Elijah.
I did not suffer post-partum depression. I did not have the baby blues. But I was devastated because raising Elijah was NOTHING like what I thought it would be like.
Six years and 3 kids later, I am no longer devastated. I have experienced many of the things I dreamed about. I love singing to my kids and reading them books and tucking them in at night. But I will admit, the day to day, ins and outs of motherhood are nothing like I'd imagined. And I often wonder how my kids are going to turn out.
One of my goals as a mom is to learn from others' mistakes as much as possible. I love to get around friends who's kids are 5-10 years older than mine and ask them questions. Especially other pastors' wives. I want to know what they did right and what they would differently.
One of the moms in ministry that I most admire is my friend Kerri Weems. Kerri has systems for her systems. She is a chart guru. I am sure she is not perfect, but when it comes to managing her household (while being the pastor's wife of one of the largest churches in America) Kerri is on top of it. She has helped me understand that providing an easy, stress free meal of crock pot beef stew is more important than me spending half my afternoon preparing a gourmet meal of filet mignon and twice baked potatoes if I am going to yelling at my kids to leave me alone and I am flustered when my husband gets home.
In her book, CLUELESS: 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Motherhood... Before I Became a Mom, she shares 10 myths about motherhood. The first chapter opens with a hilarious personal story. This book will really encourage you in your adventures in motherhood.
The book is only available in electronically through kindle, nook and ebooks. I love having her book on my iPhone (just download the kindle app). I can read it in the car line, the doctor's office and in bed at night.
So today I am going to give away 5 kindle copies of the book. Just leave a comment before tomorrow evening and I will randomly select 5 winners. And the good news is we are all winners because the book only costs a little more than a Starbucks drink.
Congratulations Jessi Whitt! You have randomly been selected as the winner of our book giveaway. You should be set with reading material from now until next summer!
Thanks to all of you who entered! We will do another giveaway soon.
We had another amazing weekend at Elevation. During the past 2 weeks, we have seen over 2000 people get baptized. Wow.
The worship experience was packed full of videos, pictures and testimonies of people whose lives have been changed. There is also a great clip of my husband speaking at Willow Creek's Global Leadership Summit. You can watch it at the Elevation Experience.
Also, a big congratulations to Ashley Vogel for winning a copy of This is How We Change The World! Ashley's husband is a youth pastor and future church planter and the documentary has made a huge impact on him and his team. Ashley, I am praying with you that God would use you & your husband to change the world!
We will be contacting you shortly!
Have a great Monday!
In order to celebrate our 5th anniversary, this year, our amazing video team created a documentary on the life of our church. You may have read when I talked about it here.
Back before we even moved to Charlotte but were meeting with our core team about planting Elevation, there was a short baptism clip from Willow Creek Church, in the Chicago area, that really inspired our team. I remember crying watching the video hoping and praying God would reach people through our church like He was doing through Willow Creek.
This past Sunday, we baptized over 1400 people at our church. It was an amazing weekend for our entire church but is was especially powerful for me because it was the fulfillment of a dream that we had before our church was even born. And at the risk of sounding pretentious, I hope and pray that our documentary has been an inspiration to church planters all over the nation. Not because of anything we have done, but because of the testimony of the power of God at work through a group of people willing to take a risk in order to reach people far from God in our city.
I would love to give away a copy of our documentary today. If you are a part of a church plant, and think our documentary may be an inspiration to your team, leave a comment today. We will close comments tomorrow evening and announce the winner some time on Friday. (And if you don’t win, you can purchase a copy on our church site). We have also made it available to watch online for here for free, this week only!
Congratulations...
Jessica Salas
Crystal Smoak
Email lkingdon@elevationchurch.org to claim your prize!
If you didn't win, you can still purchase a handmade bangle direct from Caroline's site, Hems and Hers.
Last week in my fashion file I talked about how a bright colored bangle is a great way to add color to any outfit (especially if you like to wear a lot of black like I do). The next day, one of our staff members, Caroline Black, gave me these beautiful bracelets.
Caroline makes them and sells them on her website, Hems and Hers. Aren't they beautiful? I wore one of them when I preached this past weekend and loved the touch of color it added.
I am so excited that Caroline was kind enough to give me a few more to give away to you! To enter, just leave a comment, I'll choose two winners later this week.
