element worship

TIL THE END -- 2010

2010-09-07T11:35:00.004-06:00

I am so excited to announce the release of my newest worship record titled, Til The End. God has done some incredible things thru Element Church and several of those moments have been captured thru these songs. The CD will release on Itunes Tuesday, October 5th. We will be having a CD release party on Wednesday September 29th. This will be a night of worship and story telling with the songs birthed here at element. This is your chance to pick up the cd for a discounted price.

They Need Your Seat

2010-08-31T16:12:00.002-06:00

Must read from Pastor Jeff:

Yes, that’s right. It is time once again to ask people to SWITCH SERVICES! I don’t usually post on the blog our attendance #’s for our Sunday worship experiences, but in this case, if you are an Elementer you need to understand what we are facing. PLEASE Element Church, pass the word and do what you can to help us continue to reach more people for Jesus by considering coming to first service. Your seat, could literally be someone elses chance to have their life changed for ETERNITY. Check it out!

This past Sunday we had 913 people in church. First off, THAT IS STINKIN’ CRAZY and PRAISE GOD! Second, we are running out of room…EXCEPT in first service. In our worship center Sunday, we had 174 people first service, 256 second service and 249 third service. We have some more chairs we can put out but we are bumping the 80% full mark (the standard “too full” benchmark for churches) nearly every week. We will never fill every chair, human nature and comfort-ability factors limit that, and the front row just never fills up. Then when you throw in our kids space issue it gets even worse. We had 219 kids on Sunday. 53, 76 and 90 in our three worship experiences. The nursery area alone second service is starting to overflow. First of all, we are starting a short term, physical solution to our e:kidz space issues as we a staff as we speak, but second, it is going to be a comfort issue for a lot of new people coming to our church if we DON’T solve this problem short term, right now. (Part of our September 19th and 26th services here at Element will be unveiling the LONG TERM solution to our space issues. Don’t miss it!)

Bill Hybels says “Empty seats at optimal inviting hours = growth every time!” Our optimal inviting hour is 10 am. It is by far, and most regularly, the highest attended worship experience, AND I GET THAT! 10 AM would be the service I would want to attend if I weren’t the pastor. However, if you are a Christian and you call Element home I want to challenge you to view it a different way. If I told you today “This coming Sunday, there is a family who won’t hear about Jesus unless you come to first service.” You’d most likely come to first service without even batting an eye. But what if I said “There is POTENTIALLY a family, EVERY WEEK, who won’t hear about Jesus unless you come to first service.” What would your response be?

You might think I’m over dramatic or making too much of a big deal about it, but I take VERY seriously the ONE OPPORTUNITY we get each Sunday to potentially offer the Life of Christ to someone that can change their life for ETERNITY. This coming Sunday is our ONE chance to reach that family for Jesus that MIGHT never attend again if we don’t have room. For me, it’s not a big deal, it’s the ONLY deal!

I know not everyone CAN or will decide to move to first service, however, would you consider doing this VERY small thing in an effort to sacrifice your comfort for the sake of someone else’s eternity?

Looking for you in first service,

Jeff

VOTE FOR FAVORITE ALBUM COVER!

2010-08-14T14:20:00.015-06:00

On September 29th we will be releasing the brand new worship album with songs that I have written in response to the work God is doing here at Element Church. We are so excited to share these songs with the world. I believe in these songs heart and soul. I live them and breathe them. They are the heart beat of a movement here in Cheyenne, WY. My prayer is that these songs would penetrate the human heart and infuse you with a conviction to chase the dream God has placed inside of you, and to run this race as if everything is on the line, carrying our Cross, sharing the love of Jesus with a dying world, and when its all over we can say I made it til the end.

Here is where you come in. We would like to get your opinion on which design direction to go. Below you will find 3 options. Please fill out the form below with the option you like the best.

A - Black City

B - White City

C -Black Simple

D - White Simple

We are so pumped to put these songs into your hands. Thank you all elementer's who sing these songs with all your heart, and for letting me test songs on you guys.

Til The End,
Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts May 23rd

2010-05-17T15:32:00.010-06:00

If your afraid to take risks you just end up limiting yourself.

Yesterday we took a risk. I had this crazy idea to experiment with electronic music in worship. So we made our way down to The Bakery Studio in Colorado Springs, CO with my friend, producer/engineer, Brad Nyght who made it all magic. The entire worship set was built around a DJ running the tracks, Jeremiah adding tasteful additions with modulations on his guitar and me simply rocking the mic. This was my first time leading with out a guitar. Overall we felt really good about it. It was definently a stretch for us as a church. We have never really attempted anything like it before. Ill post 2 of the tracks here. I don't have copyright to post the other 2 but they were solid.

We also used an element of silence in our service. Completely awkward. Showing a video with text talking about hearing God in the silence. Sometimes we don't hear God because we make too much noise. Silence is a form of worship. Will you choose to be silent sometimes?

Pastor Jeff preached a very good and strong word on Expression in Worship. Click here for the rundown on his message.

Set List:
Breaking Free - Adam Cruz (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)
Glory To God - Steve Fee (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)
Til The End - Adam Cruz (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)
How He Loves - Kim Walker (arranged by Adam Cruz & Brad Nyght)

This Sunday

2010-05-12T14:46:00.003-06:00

We are super pumped about this Sunday at element church. I wanted to give you a little taste and see for this Sunday. Don't miss it. I hope you enjoy.

pumped about Sunday,
adam

Sunday Afterthoughts May 9th

2010-05-10T12:59:00.009-06:00

If you missed Element Church yesterday, I'm sorry.

God's presence was so strong and moving.

As you know we like to mix things up all the time around here. So we did just that. We stripped it down to a full acoustic worship set. It was beautiful. We rocked 4 acoustic guitars across the frontline with huge harmonies and moving creative elements. Added a new tag to the end of Nothing But The Blood which was a powerful moment. We opened and closed with the AWAKE MY SOUL tag from Mumford and Sons. Such a cool song.

The kicker of the day was having Jenna LaPierre paint throughout the entire worship service. The theme was Awakening. Check out Jenna's facebook for more information on purchasing the painting that came out of that time. They are auctioning it off for there missions trip.

There was such a specialness about meeting with Jesus yesterday.

But we won't stop there...this week we are busting out more Jesus Creativity. haha. This weeks worship set is brand new to Element. Never been done before. Don't miss it. Jesus is creative. Don't put Him in a box and say "there is only one way to worship". Great moves of God from all of history have happened with so many musical styles. So we want to still press the envelope on style. There is a huge culture out there that still have not heard of Jesus and His love for them. Don't ever settle. Be creative.

Pastor Jeff delivered a great word on Routine in worship.
Check it out here.

Set List:
Awake My Soul - Mumford and Sons
Your Grace is Enough - Chris Tomlin
Nothing But The Blood - Old Hymn
Hallelujah Our God Reigns - Hillsong
Awake My Soul (re-visited) - Mumford and Sons
Communion - Third Day

Til The End,
Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts May 2nd

2010-05-03T09:49:00.010-06:00

Yesterday we kicked off our new series called "OPEN" - Noisy Hymns, Ego-Music, and How God Sees Your Worship. I am pumped about the things God has laid on Pastor Jeff's heart for this topic. I think that it is timely especially in today's culture of "church shopping". We have made worship so much about ME and MY "preferences" as if THEY EVEN MATTER, that we have replaced TRUE "HANDS AND FEET" worship for a "time of singing", in-which afterwards has no affect on the way we live our lives in our work place, our schools, families and communities . I know that my heart is going to be stretched on this topic as your worship pastor and I am asking God to do a brand new work in me thru this series.

My creative team knocked it out of the park for our set design this month. We put in many more hours than normal but the end result was remarkable.

Leeland's new song "Follow You" is exactly what this sermon series is all about. It will be song several times this month for sure.

I challenged our team yesterday to leave it all out on the stage. Give it everything you've got, and they definitely did. I love this worship team. Their passion to see God lifted high. I love watching each one of them worship their heart out and be moved by God during every service. Its contagious. But it doesn't stop there. When they worship God, they are moved beyond the song and they live it out. Love you guys!!!

Sunday Set List
Open Up The Gates - PlanetShakers
Glory To God - Fee
I Surrender - Kim Walker
Follow You - Leeland/Brandon Heath

til the end,
Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts 4-25

2010-04-25T19:12:00.003-06:00

///Today was a great day at element. Pastor Jeff was on a much needed/deserved vacation to cancun. So pastor Andy filled the pulpit. He did a fantastic job and spoke boldly on Loving God with all our Strength. A great challenge to step into action with our faith.

///There was a great authenticity about worship today. The "energy" of worship in 3rd service was electric. So huge. Each service was a great time of worship though.

///We are absolutely loving the newest song by Corey Asbury called So Good To Me.

///I can't express how excited I am about our upcoming series in MAY called "OPEN" (noisy hymns, ego music, and how God sees your worship). We have some creative elements planned for the month. Jeremiah and I spent the last week in the Bakery Studio nailing down creative elements for one of the weeks. Pastor Jeff will be bringing the word strong. I'm very excited about the direction we are taking on worship. Buckle up!

Set List:
Rise and Sing - Fee
So Good To Me - Cory Asbury
Stronger - Hillsong
The Same Power - Hillsong

Sunday Afterthoughts April 18th

2010-04-19T08:32:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since the last post. 5 months in fact. I am not promising that I am going to be more consistent, however due to the increasing interest in our elementer's wanting to know the names of the songs we sang for the last Sunday, I will be posting our set list here consistently each monday morning. And periodically some thoughts on worship, and my family. Amber and I are now only 14 weeks away from having a baby girl. So I am sure this will be used a lot more.

Set List:
The Time Has Come - Hillsong
So Good To Me - Cory Asbury
How He Loves - Kim Walker (version)
Yes You Have - Leeland

The Evaluation Room

2009-11-28T07:53:00.004-07:00

So this weekend I had the privilege of spending some time with some great friends at The Bakery Studio here in Colorado Springs. We are working on Chris Watt's new record and also doing some song writing for various things. I love the studio and I get to come down here quite often to be a part of several projects. Something hit me as we were leaving the studio yesterday though:

As we were leaving I was reflecting on how humbling the studio sessions are for me. I feel confident as a guitar player and I feel like I'm creative and talented. But when I put myself in a PERFECT situation, where every single note, strum, tuning, hook line, riff, picking, & timing has to be spot on, I realize how far I really am from where I need to be. So I asked Brad for some "next step" feedback. What should I challenge myself on so that each time I'm in the studio I am better. I felt humbled because I quickly realized all my "lazy" areas that I never work on. Or the things that I don't think matter until I put myself in the studio.

The danger I realized is how much I do this in my walk with God. Here's the catch. Some of us don't have a true understanding of where we REALLY are in our walks with God because we are not putting ourselves in "the studio". I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT RIGHTEOUS PERFECTION, or saying lets all be perfect. Here is what I am saying. Some of us are content where we are and become complacent, we never put ourselves in "the studio" where all is shaken & revealed. God is "the studio", and I when I get a around Him I get a real evaluation of where I am at. Its there that we are challenged in our comforts, our laziness, & our compromises. We get around the ONE who is Holy and Perfect and we realize where we are, and we should ask "Father, what's the next step for me, what needs to go, what needs to be challenged, what needs to be tweaked so that I can continually become more like you?"

For several, we struggle with our devotional life, going to church consistently, surrounding our self with the right influences, having a private prayer closet, etc. These are things that put us in the "evaluation room". If we never go there, then we are in danger of becoming Revelation 3 vomit.

I have learned to love my time in the studio, because I know when I leave I am becoming a better musician. So I am learning to love my "GOD STUDIO" where I ask him to search me, challenge me, and make me more like Him. Have you been to "the studio" lately?

Headed to the Studio,
Adam

The Weight of the Race

2009-10-26T13:55:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I was spending some time in my devotions and praying about life and ministry and such. I felt God speak this to me:

Ministry is like a relay race. The kind with a baton. The way we get started determines the way we end. Everyone hands off the baton to the other racer. Its of most importance that the guy in front does the best he can so that the next guy doesn't have to make up the slack of the other guy, which eventually leads to a bad finish for the final guy.

This is why the greeters in the parking lot, the ones folding bulletins, those leading worship, those bringing the word, those dealing with kids, student ministries, and everything else carries huge weight.

I think sometimes we separate ministries. Saying "well, that's the student department and that's the children's, etc". Not realizing that if I drop the baton as a first impressions guy or a youth worker, I potentially damage what God wants to do from the pulpit in someones heart.

As a worship leader, I must make sure I do everything I can to the best of my ability to help people receive what God has for them thru the word God has given pastor Jeff.

I think sometimes we get lazy and don't carry the "weight of the race" and that's when we start dropping batons in ministry. That goes for all areas. People begin to leave and you become a bad steward of the talents and gifts God has given you.

The flip side of that is, the beauty of working hard and to the best of our abilities. When we train hard, the end result is worth it.

We are all in this for one purpose. Many roles, one goal.

Learning,
Adam

Be The Church Day video!

2009-09-23T17:43:00.002-06:00

Here is a link to the video for Be The Church day, where we canceled church to go out and BE the church. 6 projects and peoples lives were changed. God did a miracle. It was a very powerful thing to be apart of. This entire series has been incredible and we are seeing God change our minds and hearts towards what the church is supposed to REALLY BE! Enjoy...

http://vimeo.com/6727011

Sunday Set List

2009-09-14T09:43:00.003-06:00

Solution - Hillsong United
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
Light up the World - Desperation Band
Give me your eyes - Brandon Heath
Go Tell It - Lee Mcderment

Is Jesus recognized in your life and church?

2009-09-09T09:24:00.003-06:00

I was reading in my morning devotions today in Mark chapter 6. Jesus has been healing people, feeding people, teaching people, and wanted to get away and rest cause so many people were coming and going. Then the disciples jump on a boat and head over to Bethsaida, Jesus walks on water, calms every thing. And when they got to Gennesaret it says:
"The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was. Wherever he went-in villages, cities, or the countryside(WYOMING)-they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed."

I was moved by the fact that the people RECOGNIZED him, and responded. They brought everyone the knew that needed him, it sounded chaotic.

It made me think, do our cities recognize Jesus in our churches and our lives. Are the "SICK" coming to find life in Jesus. Is there a sense of chaos to get close to Jesus and possibly be healed.

Jesus may your name be so famous in our city, that the hurting, broken, lost, rich, poor, healthy and unhealthy, men, women, and children will flood your churches to "touch the fringe our your robe" and be healed and given life to its fullest. Let us get out of the way and simply provide the place for YOU and them to meet.

Adam

Sunday Set List

2009-09-09T09:05:00.003-06:00

Bare Bones Sunday is what we called this past Sunday. We literally used ZERO volunteers. NONE. NO ONE. It was the WORST Sunday ever in the history of Element Church as far as presentation goes. No one greeted, no donuts, coffee, no ushers, no worship guides, no lyrcs on the screen, no screen at all, no theatrical lighting, no sound (I PLUGGED MY MIC AND GUITAR INTO MY AMP) and led worship, no First Impression people in the lobby, no door openers, no one in the parking lot. IT WAS HORRIBLE. FOR THIS REASON, we can't do anything without our volunteers. Our volunteers are priceless and they do a phenomenal job. It takes over 100 volunteers to pull off 1 Sunday morning. We didn't want to TALK about it anymore we wanted to SHOW it. The point was made.

-- We received over 90 interest cards for people to step up and volunteer.

Set List:
O Praise Him: David Crowder
Reign In Us: Starfield
Funny How: Adam Cruz
For Who You Are: Hillsong United

sunday set list 8-30-09

2009-08-31T21:15:00.003-06:00

Salvation is Here - Hillsong United
You Never Let Go - Matt Redman
Till The End - Adam Cruz
I Am Free - Desperation Band

I introduced my new song "Till the End" to the band and they knocked it out of the park. Phenomenal job. Everyone added a creative flare to it and I think it connected well with everyone.

Sunday Afterthoughts 8-23

2009-08-23T21:34:00.005-06:00

This week I wrote a new song based on the series we are in, called "Till the End". It was literally a download straight from heaven. I wrote it late one night and felt like it was my heart for this series. Jeff has coined the phrase "Till the End" throughout this series. So today Jeff talked about making it to the end in our Marriages. I had Amber sing the song with me at the end of service for a time for Couples to pray thru this idea. It was beautiful having her up there with me. I love my wife very much and I am committed "till the end" with her. I love being able to do what we love, together. (who knows maybe with enough prodding from you she will consider singing more on sunday's, hint hint). Regardless it was a really cool moment today to participate in that with her!

I love being a part of a church that is helping people experience life. I love that when I come in, I leave different. I love having a pastor that isn't afraid of man, but fears God and preaches what God says to preach. I love serving with a team that is WILDLY CRAZY ABOUT JESUS. It's contagious.

We had some 247 kids in our E:Kids ministry today. Absolutely in sane.
Had a packed house all 3 services

I love walking out into the lobby and feeling an intense BUZZ in the air of anticipation and passion for Jesus and what He is doing here at Element Church.

To say that I am incredibly STOKED for our next series "BE", would be an understatement. We have things planned at Element that have never been done before. EVER! YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS SEPTEMBER 6th! AT ALL! Make sure you do everything you can to be here at Element, and don't think you'll just listen to the podcast or check it out online. The rest of the weeks are going to be incredible as well as we take a look into what the church should really "BE"!

Jesus was worshiped today, the Word was preached and lives were changed. LOVE IT!

Had a GREAT night of Settlers of Catan at the Andrews house. I won!!! Cannot EVER get enough of that game. lol

Off to bed. Excited about Lead Team meeting with the guys tomorrow morning. Finishing up the book "IT" by Craig Groshel. Really good book.

Set List:
Today is the Day - Lincoln Brewster
Sweetly Broken - Brandon Heath
Came to my Rescue - Hillsong United
How He Loves - Kim Walker
Till the End - Adam Cruz

Till The End,
Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts and updates

2009-07-12T15:05:00.005-06:00

Man I have entered this summer at full speed. I feel like I have been out of Cheyenne more than in Cheyenne. I always have thoughts that I want to blog to help keep everyone in the loop with what is happening with Amber and I and here at Element but I am not doing a very good job so far.

-- I am tired from today & I have no voice left. Someone told me to go drink a few shots because it helps. Hmmmm. I think ill pass, any other thoughts?

-- God was worshiped today! God's presence was thick today. We as believers bring the presence of God with us when we gather. I love gathering in a corporate setting to lift high the name of Christ. On the contrary its of vital importance that we worship (in song and word) privately.

-- We began our new series called "UNTOUCHABLES" today. Thru the month we will be taking straight aim AT THE CHURCH. Jeff talked about the issue of Character today. Very challenging. I am truly stretched like I have never been thru the words God gives Jeff.

-- Getting pumped about next week for our Tailgate baptism party. I think we are baptizing some 28 people. Going to be sweet. Remember next Sunday following 3rd service.

-- I have already designed the graphic for our next series and will start work on the new promo video which will show next Sunday. Untouchables and this next series are going to be intense here at Element. I am excited for the freedom God is bringing to all of us thru this next 7 weeks.

Alright I am headed to partnership class. And then sleeping lol.

Set List for Sunday July 12th:
Today is the day - Lincoln Brewster
Spring of Life - Kristian Stanfill
Mighty to Save - United
From the Inside Out - United

Adam

Light Tech

2009-06-30T14:29:00.003-06:00

Currently Element Church is looking for a Light Tech.
Being a Light Tech means programming and running our motion and par can light systems for our Sunday morning worship experience. We will provide all training necessary to do a great job on Sunday mornings. This is a very fun opportunity / working environment to be creative here at element church!

Email me at adam@elementweb.net if you are interested. I have an application for you to fill out and we will get you plugged in right away.

searching,
Adam

afterthoughts, a confernce, and a blog long due

2009-06-23T07:27:00.003-06:00

Sunday was one of those times you'll never MAKE happen and you'll remember and hold to for a long time. The presence of God was so thick in that room and you Elementers just pressed in for it. Man I was moved and loved meeting with Jesus. I hope all your hearts were moved and brought closer to Jesus.

My band knocked it out Sunday. Take me aside. They worked hard and helped be the conduit for worship to flow thru. Great job Bryant, Jeremiah, Jeremy, Mark, Amanda, Jason, Todd, Ben, Katie. Everyone needs to know how much each of these people mean to me. They are a direct influence on people experiencing life. Thank you for all the time you guys put in.

I brought the team down for the Enter Worship Conference this week. We are starting day two. Last night was a very powerful time of worship and a challenging message. A great start to the week. We are very excited about what God is going to teach us.

Here are a couple team shots:
(We let the ASCENT guys hang in our presence, we all know they wish they were ENTER peeps, LOVE YOU!!)

New Yard

2009-05-29T21:40:00.007-06:00

Over the last couple of weeks Amber and I did a major overhaul on our yard. Here are the before and afters.

BolderBoulder Pics

2009-05-25T17:30:00.005-06:00

Wow, I am tired from the eventful day. Amber and I went to Bolder, CO. with some friends for our first "official" run. It was a 10k - 6.2 miles.
Amber's Time: 51:31
My Time: 53:44

Here are some pics:

Sunday Afterthoughts 5-24-09

2009-05-24T15:27:00.002-06:00

Here are my thoughts from the day.

-- I'm tired. Its been awhile since I have felt exhausted on sunday, not sure if its cause I've been sick all week. But man I'm tired today.

-- Worship was powerful. God's name was declared! My team was ON today. Element you guys have a great worship team, PUT ME ASIDE, this team passionately loves Jesus, loves worship and loves to see His church worship. I am so blessed with great musicians that love Jesus so much.

-- Jeff tackled the topic of prayer today! Something we all struggle with. Not "HOW TO PRAY" but "DOES GOD HEAR ME WHEN I PRAY?" We reminisced over lunch about the sermon and what was big for us. It was cool to hear everyone. Great job Jeff.

-- Amber and I are headed out of town to run the boulderbolder 10k. Should be a good time. Our first competitive run.

Set List-
Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin
Let Your Kingdom Come - Adam Cruz
Your Name - New Life Worship
I've Had Questions - Tim Hughes

Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2009-05-10T16:33:00.004-06:00

Today we started testimonies in our worship team small group time. I asked each person to share their story of coming to know Jesus. I shared mine and Amanda shared her's. Thanks for being brave Amanda. I am looking forward to hearing everyone's story. There is so much power in our story's. I love the POWER OF GOD in both sides, the one who experienced the party rebel life, and the one who stayed strong. There isn't a boring story when you are talking about Jesus rescuing us from hell. I love you guys. Thanks for your sacrifice in developing a healthy worship team.

It has been a worship filled weekend. Friday morning, I took a few team members with me to Sheridan, WY to lead worship for a big 30 HR Famine city wide worship night. It was a really powerful time. We did an hour and a half worship set and God's name was praised in that WYO theater. We were all beet afterwards. Got home yesturday and got up this morning to continue.

I have been looking forward to today for a while. We schedule out our set lists 6 weeks in advance. I knew that song wise this was going to be a powerful sunday. Partnered with Jeff's message on God's love, it was an intense day. The altar response 3rd service was just awesome. Each service was great but 3rd, there was a presence that took us to a whole new level. Jeff told me of several stories of people who found life today. I never get sick of hearing that.

We all need to be experiencing the love of the father. Love Jeff's line "if we are not experiencing the love of God who's fault is that our's or God's?" We choose to accept the love of God. He has already offered it.

I am so tired after this full weekend. But its so worth it. Wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

Set List Sunday May 10th:
All Who Are Thirsty (just the chorus) - Brenton Brown
Open Up The Gates - PlanetShakers
The One Who Loves Me - Adam Cruz
Indescribable - Chris Tomlin
How He Loves - Kim Walker

resting,
adam

4 Things that Create a Healthy Worship Team (4)

2009-05-07T22:50:00.005-06:00

This will be my final post on Healthy Worship Teams. Again these are just some thoughts that I have had the last few weeks about what creates a healthy worship team. You must adapt and adjust aspects of these to fit your team and model, however I think the big ideas are essential. You can read my previous 3 posts here, here, and here.

#4 - Create a Community
The trap that a lot of us can get stuck in, is to focus only on the sunday morning worship time slot and the rehearsal to get you there. This may sound a little like the last post but its different for its focus on the group as a whole. I am not saying that Sunday morning isn't important, because its the reason we have a team. Its what all the hours and hours of planning and practicing go into. However from a team perspective, there is way more. And its the behind the scenes action that creates the best platform experiences.

One of the big things for me this year was to create a "COMMUNITY OF DISCIPLESHIP". I didn't want Thursday nights and Sunday mornings to be all there was to our worship ministry or our relationships. Inside of that "COMMUNITY", I wanted to see individual growth as "WORSHIP LEADERS", stretching us in our talents, and to encourage/challenge us to a "LIFE OF WORSHIP".

Community won't happen on performance day. It happens off stage.

About 2 months ago, I felt that we needed to start a lifegroup on sunday mornings with the worship team. Now that we are doing 3 services there was some room to do that. We meet during the sermon of 1st service and talk about life. Its a chance to cast vision for where I feel God taking us, its a chance to hear each others stories as a group, to get to know each others personalities, to encourage one another. This has been a great UNIFYING experience for our team. We are just getting started and I have a lot of ideas. I have found that there needs to be time where you as a leader cast vision, teach on worship, etc. Not just lead music. We as leaders have to 1st model a life of worship privately and then teach and invite people to join the journey.

Another community thing I have seen effective is to cancel thursday nights and go have fun. Again BBQ or watch a DVD of other worship teams, change things up. I know rehearsal nights are vital and key, but you have to be willing to provide opportunities for community which will enhance your sunday mornings. Do your best to make rehearsals enjoyable and fun. If its stressfull and full of attitudes and negativity all night, your team will eventually get burned out. Bring in food, or jam on some good Jazz chords in pre-rehearsal, be creative, but have fun. Your team will feed off of you as the leader. I have seen this first hand, for the better and worse.

Again if your team is unified and together, you worship experiences will be that much better.

learning,
adam

4 Things that Create a Healthy Worship Team (3)

2009-05-07T09:18:00.003-06:00

Over the last 2 years of doing worship ministry I have learned a great deal about NON-MUSIC related leadership. When I was in the School Of Worship I remember one of the things they would always say is "WORSHIP MINISTRY IS 10% MUSIC and 90% PEOPLE". Man have I seen that. If you pour into your team and invest in your people, then the experience/music side of it should come naturally. Once again, I am learning this big time right now and by no means claim to have it figured out. You can read my previous 2 posts here and here.

#3: INVEST IN THE VALUE OF THE INDIVIDUALS
This is probably one of the most difficult things for me. Not only are you trying to cast vision, lead rehearsals, pick music, make sure all the administration stuff is done, but also create value in each and every team member. Each person needs to know that they are essential to the team. That without them they would be missed. Now its important to understand that some people DO carry more weight. If you have and entire rock band on stage and your drummer doesn't show, there will be issues. BUT that does not mean that BGV's aren't as valuable. So its important to find ways with each individual to make them feel valuable.

One thing that we have started this year is a quarterly evaluation. Its an opportunity for me one on one to challenge my team members and to help them understand what I want out of them, so that their is never any confusion. It also gives them an opportunity to be heard. Maybe they have some concerns or just need some confirmation that they are doing a great job. Give them an ear.

GET TOGETHER OUTSIDE OF WORSHIP ATMOSPHERES. Do a BBQ together, go to some concerts, hangout, become a community. This will help them understand you are interested in THEM AS A PERSON not as "your just my drummer, or my singer, or whatever".

Check up on your team. Make phone calls and text messages, emails, etc for NO REASON. Just to see how they are doing. Not always wanting something from them. I just received a phone call with a message from a friend that said "I'm not calling for any reason just wanted to see how you were doing, call me later". That meant the world to me!

Again this is something that I am not great at, but I'm learning. EVERY PERSON IS A DIFFERENT PERSON AND WILL NEED VALIDATED IN THAT MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.

When you invest in your team they will invest back into your ministry. When they see that you care about them its much easier for them to care about you and the worship ministry. The goal is a unified team and when there is unity, your worship experience will be that much greater.

investing,
Adam

4 Things that Create a Healthy Worship Team (2)

2009-05-06T09:06:00.003-06:00

I am continuing the blog series on what I have seen that creates a healthy worship team. You can read my previous post here. Again I have by no means figured this thing out, but as I continue to grow these are things that have helped me as a leader.

#2 - Coach Others To Do What You Do
This is a brand new concept to me. As a staff here at Element, this year, we have made it an intentional part of our ministries, to begin coaching people. I am learning how to do this and finding ways to be coached at the same time. It is healthy for your team and the congregation to realize that "blank" church worship does not rest on your shoulders. Its healthy for them to see other people leading worship, and its healthy for you to let others lead.

Now realize as I said in the previous post, NOT just ANYONE can lead. In fact this is a lot more of an EXCELLENCE issue. While many people can be on worship teams as instrumentalist and vocalists, not everyone is designed to LEAD worship. WHICH IS OK!
Character, style, personality, talent, and most important, does your lead pastor approve with direction of the church, all play HUGE roles into finding worship leaders.

Its important to find these leaders and invest into them thru coaching. Provide them with all that you are learning and avenues in which to grow. Have them help you with song selections and song structures, styles and formats. This will give them tools necessary to develope into a worship leader. Then give them opportunities to lead. Maybe a song here or there on different weeks. And then give them an entire set.

BE ON THE PLATFORM WHILE THEY LEAD! Its one thing to be out of town and say "hey your on this week". Its another thing when you say "hey I am backing you up this week". Give them center stage and let the lead it all. This is a very healthy approach for your congregation. It teaches them that its not about 1 guy, and 1 style. and again giving them opportunity is what will help them develop into who God may be calling them too be even if they mess up, and even if its not done as well. You have to be willing to create growth opportunities. JUST REMEMBER WHERE YOU STARTED! (I KNOW I DO)

As things grow you HAVE to multiply yourself. If you are never coaching anyone then you will never have anyone PERIOD.

This is a concept that is hard for a lot of leaders. To share their SPOT. However, its the most healthy for you, your team, and your church.

Being Coached,
Adam

4 Things that Create a Healthy Worship Team (1)

2009-05-05T12:17:00.004-06:00

At the beginning of this year I began to feel God stir my heart for some specific directions to take the worship team. As I met with Jeff from time to time we talked about next steps for the team. I have by no means figured this thing out, and in fact these are things I am currently struggling with and learning my self. But these are some specific things I feel like God has placed inside of me to help create a healthy worship team.

1 - Multiply your Team: I really struggled when we launched Element Church with what the worship team would look like. I wanted excellence and believe that that is a key component to a great experience and there are several team models out there.

I don't believe in the "ANYONE WHO LIKES TO PLAY AND SING, CAN PLAY AND SING" model. That model is not effective at all. Every time I have seen it and talked with the worship leader they are stressed out and very frustrated and most of the time its more of a distraction than anything. Also,you may be leading someone in a direction opposite of where God is calling them because you don't want to offend their lack of ability to play or sing.

But on the flip side which is where I tend to lean, is the "ONE BAND, THE SAME BAND, EVERY WEEK" model, no hick-ups, no unpredictability, no major mess ups, so on and so on. The problem with this is that you are limited. When everyone leaves the church and moves on and you haven't been raising up knew people, then you have no-one. You also may limit someone's development into the next greatest worship leader because they were never given the opportunity. There is a balance. I tried Church Wide Auditions, and I've tried private auditions, both have there plus and minus's. The key is to be multiplying your team. Allow people to sit under your other band members on rehearsal nights and learn. Encourage each team member to be investing in someone else. You will never have a shortage of quality musicians at your disposal. And you just may be allowing the next Chris Tomlin come thru your ministry.

New blood can stretch you as a leader as well, from style, to song selections, to creative ideas. Find that balance for you but in order for there to be a healthy Worship Ministry that will last forever you must multiply your team in an excellent, quality environment.

learning,
adam

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-05-04T13:11:00.002-06:00

"I am tired"!!! - Is what I told Amber around 4:00pm yesterday. We had a very full day with rehearsal at 7:00am, 3 services, and Lead Council meeting. But I can't imagine doing anything else.

Yesturday we mixed things up a little. Pulled out an acoustic set. Very stripped down with some percussion. It was a lot of fun and a powerful time of worship. I stepped aside and had Katie lead us in worship and I got to chill on my acoustic guitar. Katie did a fantastic job leading us. I am blessed with great musicians and singers.

We did a knew song called "I've Had Questions" that Nathan suggested. If you haven't heard it, go download it now. By Tim Hughes. Its a very powerful song.

Our creative team put question marks all over the ceiling above the stage and 2 huge question marks at an angle on the back wall, with tension fabric stretched everyone. It looked amazing. Steve and Christina, you guys are awesome. Element you are blessed with some very creative people.

We launched our knew series called "Life's Toughest Questions", where Pastor Jeff is addressing 5 weeks of real, raw, burning questions inside us all. He really handled "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?" brilliantly.
-- God assures us of trials and hard times - "LIFE SUCKS SOMETIMES" Jeff Maness - LOL
-- "WHY" is the wrong question
-- "We must turn to the cross... The Cross Proves God's love, The Cross shows God's control, and the Cross reveals God's plan."

We are very excited about worship this week. Going to open things up in a way we have never done. The set really sets up the message. COME WITH ANTICIPATION!!

***I guess its time to make the official announcement that I am no longer apart of the BOYCOTT TWITTER group. I am officially a twitterer. LOL. SWORE I NEVER WOULD. GUESS I NEED TO STOP SWEARING. You can follow my profile using eworship.

Set List:
My Savior Lives: New Life Worship
Sweetly Broken: Jeremy Riddle
Lead Me To The Cross: Hillsong United
I've Had Questions: Tim Hughes

egg drop recap

2009-04-28T10:57:00.004-06:00

Here is the 2009 Egg Drop recap.
Thank you to all who volunteered and thank you to all who came out.
Over 5,000 people, 40,000 Easter Eggs, and a Uhual filled with food for the shelters. Amazing!

sunday afterthoughts

2009-04-27T09:25:00.003-06:00

"i feel lost" was the text i received from Jeff at 6:30am sunday. lol.
Jeff hasn't preached in 2 weeks. Its been healthy for everyone, but buckle up cause the fire is coming next week. Can't wait.

Curtis closed up our Generations series and did an outstanding job.
Loved his main idea:
"God is not something to believe in He is SOMEONE to EXPERIENCE".

We are launching Life's Toughest Questions next sunday. This is going to be a great series.

We had our smoothest/fastest sound-check/pre-service rehearsal ever yesturday. I think we knocked it out close to the actual set time. It was really good. THANK YOU BAND AND TECH GUYS FOR COMING IN READY AND STRONG. MADE FOR AN AWESOME SUNDAY MORNING.

Looking forward to the week ahead. Got some creative juices flowing in my head for upcoming series graphics, videos, set designs, possible NEW ELEMENT T-SHIRTS, new videos and random graphics. I really feel like I am headed to the next level in some things.

Alright out to lead team,

Worship Set for Sunday April 28th:
Counting On God: New Life Worship
Marvelous Light: Charlie Hall
The Glory of it All: David Crowder
My Glorious: Delirious

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-04-19T17:56:00.002-06:00

Im always interested in the week after easter. Who comes back? What sticks the most? How many come back? Churches always see an increase on easter sunday, the catch is what sticks and causes them to WANT to come back. Not sure what the percentage is of post easter attendance but i was amazed.

We saw 960 people come to element church today. A non easter record for element.

Today Jeff was on vacation with his wife Sabrina, so he handed the pulpit to Andy our student ministries pastor. Andy did a fabulous job.

A funny story today:
We started doing a Life Group time together as the worship team during 1st service. So the entire team was over in the office meeting while Andy was preaching. First mistake was not asking Andy what his que was to come back up. And I wasnt sure how long he would preach for. But after 20 min i received several texts saying, ITS TIME! LOL. I heard "WHERE'S THE BAND" like 3 times. Funny moment. Next time ill find out how long the message will be.

Set List:
My Savior Lives - New Life Worship
Glorified - New Life Worship
Reign in Us - Starfield
Rescue - New Life Worship

Adam

easter

2009-04-17T13:10:00.002-06:00

this easter was one of those sundays we will never forget. PRAY DANGEROUS PRAYERS AND PARTNER WITH GOD AND THEN WATCH.

We really sensed God was urging us to pray some specific prayers for easter sunday! God exceeded all those prayers in incredible ways.

1217 people came to element. 2nd service was out of control. I was finishing our closing song and they were still trying to pack people into the worship center. LOVE IT.

35 people STOOD to their feet, giving their lives over to Christ. AMAZING. SIMPLY AMAZING.

We built a 24 x 8 foot Flannel Graph and told the easter story. It was a very creative and powerful approach. STEVE AND CHRISTINA, thanks so much for all your hard work on the creative team side of things.

I am really excited about our new series starting May 3rd called LIFE'S TOUGHEST QUESTIONS. We will be answering questions that all of us rassel with from time to time. You can email your questions to questions@elementweb.net.

Set List:
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle
Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin
Salvation is Here - Hillsong United

loving jesus,
adam

WWW.ELEMENTWEB.NET

2009-03-26T07:09:00.002-06:00

Alright we have launched the new website. However check back periodically. We had to launch pre-mature due to our billboards and mailers being up. There are some graphical things still to update and our media center should go up today! Check it out, we are very excited, let us know what you think!!

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-03-24T07:18:00.005-06:00

Sunday was awesome! There is nothing like a facility that is jammed packed with people. Shoulder to shoulder, can't even move, bringing in more seating, and creating overflow in a lobby. LOL. That explains what happened sunday!

Then 9 people get saved! COME ON CHURCH! I love it. Jeff had them be bold and stand up and the church erupted in tears and praise. It was really powerful!!

This was an awesome opening of our new series Sunday School. In this series Jeff is unpacking some of the major bible stories in a whole new way! Week one was awesome and I am looking forward to the rest. ESPECIALLY EASTER! You dont want to miss what we have planned for easter!

Dont forget that we are moving to 3 services this sunday. The new times are 8:30, 10:00, & 11:30am!

Alright and I promise that there will be a website this week! We have been working hard, hit a few snags, and had a bit bigger project than expected in some areas. But it looks amazing and its coming!! Ill announce that today or tommorow!!

OH YEAH & my creative team knocked it out of the park with our set design this series. Simply brilliant. Great job, very creative. You guys rock.

Alrighty I am off to the gym!

Sunday Set List,
Beautiful One - Tim Hughes
My Glorious - Delerious
Reign in us - Starfield
Hosanna - Hillsong United
----
Adam

I HATE YOUR NOISY WORSHIP

2009-03-16T13:22:00.005-06:00

Here is a post I did last week as a guest blogger on Jeff's blog. I wanted to add a few more thoughts God has awakened me to, but for those to make since I thought I would first re-post that blog. More to come!!

Over the last few months God has been forming something deep inside of me in regards to worship. For years I have been a Christian, worshipped at churches, camps, conferences, etc. But lately something changed. There is something beyond a band, beyond lights, beyond a stage, beyond hymns, it’s more than a traditional service and it’s bigger than a modern service.

In Amos 5: 21-24 it reads: I hate all your show and pretense – the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living!

You must define what worship is. I see it this way. THE GOAL OF WORSHIP IS FOR MY HEART TO CONNECT WITH GOD’S HEART. That’s it! Its not about singing 1 song or 5 songs. 15 minutes of worship or 50 minutes of worship. The GOAL is that our hearts would connect with God’s heart. Alright so, if that’s the goal then what happens next is God begins to give us His heart. My heart should be changed in worship and I begin to get His heart. So the question is, WHAT IS GOD’S HEART? WHAT DOES HE CARE ABOUT MOST! I think its evident that he was passionate about lost people, hurting people, the poor, the lonely, the outcast and the broken. That is who he was around, that is who His heart breaks for. So in worship, if my heart is connecting with His heart, and I begin to have heart change and get more of his heart, and I begin to feel and care about what He cares about. Then I have to ask the question, WHAT AM I DOING ABOUT IT.

See this is where I think Amos 5 is key. WITHOUT ACTION OUR WORSHIP IS NOTHING BUT “NOISY HYMNS OF PRAISE”, or as the message puts it “I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.”

My goal for worship at Element Church is to facilitate and environment where your heart will connect with the heart of God. I want them to get fired up about what God cares about and leave to change the world. See most of us leave our worship times at church and do nothing, absolutely STINKING nothing. And then God shows us Amos 5. Too many of us in communities across America do nothing. We want the world to come to us and we never become the hands and feet of Jesus. BECAUSE OF WORSHIP the poor should be fed, the needy taken care of, cities given what they need most. But its not just pastors, its YOU connecting with the heart of God and partnering with a passion bigger than you. I love how the message says it:
“Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it.”

This is also why EXCELLENCE is key. Without excellence you become a distraction. Distractions hinder heart-connection. When things are done well, with preparation it actually creates an environment of freedom and flexibility. Lights, Stages, Rock N Roll, music, instruments, hymns, cathedrals, and sprung buildings are all tools to help CONNECT OUR HEARTS WITH THE HEART OF GOD AND CHANGE THE WORLD!

Adam

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-03-15T21:15:00.004-06:00

Today I wore flip flops!!

This is my favorite season. I love flip flops. And it was a busting 60 degrees today, so I started early.

We had some hickups this week with the worship team. But they did awesome. Adjusted well. And God was worship. I really felt like today everyone was connecting. I love seeing physical demonstration of what God is doing in peoples hearts during worship.

Jeff closed the Wild Goose Chase series today with a passionate, fire-up, finale. I love being behind a man with so much vision and executing passion for a church and its impact in a city. COME ON CHURCH! Its game time!

We have SO many things happening here at element, there is buzz in the air.
1) We are launching 3 services in 2 weeks
2) We are launching our new series Sunday School
3) We are launching our brand new website by the end of this week
4) We are dropping 40,000 easter eggs from a helicopter April 4th
5) We are doing an easter service in a way I am sure will surprise you all!!

I love this church!

Set List for 3-15-09
Everyone (praises) - Desperation Band
Blessed be your name - Matt Redman
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
Mighty to Save - Hillsong United
It is well

Buzzing
adam

men's advance

2009-03-13T23:06:00.002-06:00

Tonight we headed up somewhere between Cheyenne and Laramie to a great retreat center for the first ever Element Church men's advance. This is a very cool location, and a beautiful setting. Tonight an associate pastor from Calvary Chapel shared on the big picture of life. He did a great job. And we just ended the night with the one and only BRAVEHEART. That movie never gets old. We are called to be on the OFFENSE not the DEFENSE. The kingdom of God is ADVANCING. Love it that we titled it the Men's Advance. Grant, Bob, and Ryan did a great job getting this thing set up. I walk in and there is table of automatic 10lb weight gain. lol. They brought so much food. Good thing I worked out everyday this week.

I am very excited about what God is going to stir in our hearts as men this weekend. Its a great time to get to know each other also.

Looking forward to sunday to worship with you all and close our Wild Goose Series.

Advancing,
Adam

new post already

2009-03-09T16:05:00.003-06:00

its been a while. Life has seemed to be majorly busy lately. I feel like i barely have time to read let alone write.

My latest blog was actually as a guest blog on Jeff's. You can read it here.

Sunday was tough. My mind was heavy and I felt like i was under some sort of attack. Worship went solid, but we had to push thru.

Something exciting on the tech end of things, is that we will be launching our new element church website next week. It has been a long time coming but very much worth the wait. The look and feel will be similar with a much upgraded build and flow. Look for that in the middle of next week. Some cool new aspects of the site will be a detachable video player on the home page of each weeks sermon. In the coming months we will be posting our entire service, worship and all. We are also adding our forms and blogs accessible directly at the site. Ways to join life groups and to volunteer here at element. So, look for that announcement on my blog in the coming months.

Adam

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-02-08T20:12:00.004-07:00

Starting on Friday night, I began having a buzz and an anticipation in my spirit for Sunday. All day yesterday as we were constructing the set design for our new series, I was so pumped for today. God is up to something at element and I don't understand why I get to be a part of it. I feel so blessed. I have so much to learn.

This morning I got up, just pumped. Again I couldn't wait to start rehearsal. And it went great. And then FIRST SERVICE happened. Man it was rough. Between a broken string, a broken guitar (pickup sounded like it was exploding, headphones that were blown, so i didnt hear anything the entire service, and no metronome, a backup guitar out of tune, and then peaking with distortion, wow. I struggled honestly today. It was tough. After so much anticipation and excitement for everything today, I was discouraged. I went and hid in my office and pouted, "why this, why that". As Nathan and I reflected on how tough it was to continue, I jumped into the psalms to set my heart right. God spoke something big to me during that time, which I think is key for us as leaders:

"I MAKE IT HAPPEN".

"Your cool new set design. Awesome. It helps with what I am wanting to do. Your creative spin on an acoustic set. Awesome. Thanks for changing things up. Your light show, haze, sound tech, motion backgrounds, cool songs, etc. Awesome. It all helps people find life in ME. BUT I MAKE IT HAPPEN. YOU DON'T. ME SHOWING UP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. Not that everything would go just right although I think its important to eliminate distractions. SALVATION AND REPENTANCE IS THE GOAL. Not a cool set, good tunes, creative guitars. I MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I felt a huge heart check and talked with Nathan and encouraged us in our attitudes.

THEN...

I go to close service and my guitar freaks out again, sounding like it was going to explode. So I dismissed everyone, and Nathan and I just laughed. My friend Brian came up to me and said "REMEMBER WHAT YOU ALWAYS TELL THE TEAM, WHAT ITS ABOUT". He is right I just didn't want to hear it.

WOW.. Sorry so long. Just thought I would be honest about my feelings.

However, 2nd service was moving. No crazing technical things happened and worship was powerful. It was both services, my heart was just right second service.

702 people today. So good.

Love seeing new faces every week and hearing the stories of how they come.

We built a sweet set design this weekend, I will post pictures tommorow.

We stripped everything down and did an acoustic set. Lots of fun. Good job nathan.

Then to top everything off we baptized 8 people tonight. I loved that. It was amazing watching all those people.

Alright I am off to play some "SETTLERS.

Peace out!

Set List:
The Chase is on - Tony Sutherland
Unchanging - Chris Tomlin
Everything Glorious - David Crowder
Yearn - Adam Cruz
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle

Adam

a scary place

2009-02-05T12:15:00.003-07:00

so I started my 21 BEST day challenge. one of those is to work out consistently. I have an ideal weight goal, I am attempting to acheive. IT SUCKS!! LOL. Man are there days that just are lame. But I have to stay committed and focused. I feel so much better when I work out. I feel so much better now that I don't eat fast food and have reduced my pop intake.

This thought hit me today as I was out to get lunch. I was craving so bad the taste of a sonic cheeseburger and a dr. pepper. I remembered what that tasted like. And how much I love it. But I always, EVERYTIME, feel tired and drooggy and horrible after I eat it. I never feel good. But I convinced myself of this: the pain I will endure afterwards is worth the pleasure now. HOLD ON! So then it hit me, DO WE HAVE THAT ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN.

THIS IS THE SCARRIEST PLACE WE CAN BE.

When the pleasure of a moment is worth the pain of a lifetime. We replace the pleasure of sin, KNOWING the result, and become OK with the after effects, a miserable life and a scary eternity. You see, if I never choose to stop eating fast food, it has a bad ending for me. If settle for the pleasure, DEATH is the result.

As I was listening to a new IHOP song called I surrender, I heard the line "YOUR LOVE MAKES IT WORTH IT". I said, "JESUS, cause my heart to find PLEASURE in you because your love makes the PAIN OF STARVING MY SIN LIFE worth it".

And this morning I remember reading James 1:14 in my devotions: "temptation comes from our own DESIRES, which entice us and drag us away. These desire give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death".

STARVE YOUR SIN!

STARVING,
ADAM

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-02-02T13:56:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was wonderful.

Jesus was lifted high and people are finding financial freedom.

Joe Sangle ended our series 21 on the topic of finances. Helping people become financially free. He did a great job and we have already heard stories of people making steps into financial freedom.

This series really really has the potential to change our lives forever. If we will apply the 5 weeks, then our lives will not be the same. It does us no good if we don't apply the principles. I encourage everyone to pick up the complete "series in a can" of 21. Re-listen to it and make some life changes. So Good. Great job Jeff on putting those messages together and not being afraid to challenge.

I love that as a church we are not afraid of any topic. There are so many REAL LIFE issues that REAL people are dealing with and they are finding freedom in Jesus every week. As Tim Stevens said, "the church is providing answers for questions the world is NOT asking". I love that we get to partner with Jesus in helping people life and becoming free in REAL areas.

Our new series WILD GOOSE CHASE starts next week. Invite people thru this video below. Email it, facebook it, myspace it. LOL.

The Wild Goose Chase from Jeff on Vimeo.

Grab a bunch of rave cards and invite your friends.

May we continue to make HELL less populated!!

Set List 2-1-09
My Savior Lives - New Life Worship
Glorified - New Life Worship
Enough - Chris Tomlin
Pleasing to You - New Life Worship
Everyday - Hillsong United

Let the chase begin,
Adam

www.josephsangl.com

2009-01-31T14:38:00.003-07:00

Amber and I just finished with the finance seminar at element with Joe Sangl. I have NEVER heard someone talk about money in such a fun energetic way. I am excited to hear the stories of those who will become financially free. There are so many great resources at www.josephsangl.com. I am looking forward to hearing him speak tommorow at church.

Adam

Sunday AfterThoughts!

2009-01-26T09:14:00.004-07:00

it was a great weekend around here at element church. Brad and Danielle Nyght rolled in late friday night in preparation for the worship team auditions. Saturday we had an eventful day with rehearsals for sunday and rehearsals for auditions. I must say that for our first time doing auditions, it went pretty well. We had a good group of people show and they all did a great job. Thank you to all who came out. It means a lot to me that you would be a part of what God is doing here at element church. Brad and Danielle were an incredible contribution to the audition process, for flow, structure, evaluations, etc. It was a blessing to have them apart of this. I am looking forward to the additions we will make here at element worship.

WOW has it snowed. It started friday and is still going today, monday. Probably a good 6 - 12 inches on the ground. It has been a blast. I love when it snows like this.

We really had a great worship time yesterday. We have made huge headway in our sound. I really feel like its very close to what it needs to be. Brad and Danielle were able to join us for worship, which always a good time. I asked for them to do a complete evaluation on me as a worship leader, and it was so good. They really pushed me in some areas that I feel like are going to help take element worship to that next level. I love learning. I read 1 kings a couple of days ago, which has become a common phrase around here, but this weekend I really felt this. Chapter 3 vs 7, "Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn't know his way around." I have a long ways to go but I am humbled to be a part of this team.

Jeff really did tackle probably one of the most uncomfortable topics in the american church. We almost opted out of it, but Jeff pushed thru and delivered well. We had great response, "that's just what I needed to hear", "thanks for being bold", etc. Glad he chose to stick it out. He tackled the issue of self-control, living disciplined PHYSICALLY, mentally, and spiritually and how they all relate.

Brad and Danielle decided to stick around one more day. We had so much fun yesturday afternoon. After eating at Guadala-HOLL-A (curtis's tag for the mexi resturaunt), lol, we hit up walmart for some ingredients. Brad Nyght actually made ice cream out of the freshly fallen snow. I must admit i was blown away. Never knew you could do that. I was a really fluffy version of icecream but tasted amazing. I have a new thing to make now. After watching some office episodes we sat down and introduced the world of LOST to Brad and Danielle. We popped in the first disc and watched 4 episodes. They are hooked, SO GOOD TO SEE!!!

Thats it, we had a great weekend and now its time for a huge monday and a good week of planning exciting things here at element.

Set List,
Counting on God - New Life Church
Sing, Sing, Sing - Chris Tomlin
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle
Let it Burn - Adam Cruz
At the Cross - Hillsong

Loving life,
adam

big day tommorow

2009-01-23T21:01:00.004-07:00

1 more day until element church does its first worship team auditions. We are looking forward to all the talent that will pour in. Brad and Danielle Nyght from the Desperation Band in Colorado springs will be sitting in on our evaluation team. They both have such a strong passion for Jesus and worship, along with being extremely talented. Looking forward to hanging out with them this weekend. They will also be joining us on Sunday morning for worship.

If you are a worship leader looking to do a studio project or looking for someone to create loops and programming for live use, Brad is the man. Check his studio out at www.thebakerystudio.com.

Got to get house ready for him within the hour. See all auditionees tomorrow. Looking forward to worshiping with you all on sunday. Come with expectation and your hearts ready to receive from God.

Adam

never to old for the zoo

2009-01-23T20:38:00.003-07:00

today amber and I went to Denver with Pastor Jeff and Sabrina. We were filming our PROMO video for our next series that starts in 2 weeks at the DENVER ZOO. It was such a good time. I haven't been to a zoo in like 7 years. We were able to see everything out side, typically i remember all the animals you would want to see would be locked up or inside. We were able to see the lions get fed. Thats was phenomenal. Monkeys, elephants, giraffes, it was so much fun. It was like being a kid again. lol. I am so pumped for our next series. Our current series 21 has been rocking our world and seriously has the potential to change our lives forever, this next series which you will find out about sunday, is going to be a perfect follow up.

We topped it off with an incredible dining experience at the Melting Pot in Fort Collins. A 4 course Fondue experience. Amber and I went to one in sacramento about 4 years ago, and this was a great trip back. What a way to spend a friday.

One last thought that blew me away. The staff new how to assure everyone they were going to have the best experience. You could tell they put a bunch of effort into the entire dining experience. One thing that stood out to me was that our hostess, after sitting us said, oh "julie" will be your server tonight "SHE's ONE OF OUR BEST". It totally made you feel like you were given the best. It set us up to have an incredible experience. So it made me think, what are we doing to help people in our churches experience God in the fullest possible way every single sunday and keep that experience with them all week. We leaned over to listen to the hostess introduce another table to a different server and she said the exact same thing. They were very intentional on having you come back. Are we being that intentional and relevant, providing an environment for unbelievers and believers the same, to want to come back, to want to continue investigating the scriptures and Christianity. Something that will stick with them all week. Something that's different than everything else. See the melting pot will forever be like nothing else. They have targeted their nitch. What is your nitch. Anyways, final thoughts for the night.

Had a blast Jeff. Glad we got to do it.

Adam

LOST

2009-01-22T09:15:00.004-07:00

wasn't LOST just incredible. My mind was hurting from how much was going on. SO GOOD!

sunday afterthoughts

2009-01-18T19:56:00.004-07:00

We had a great sunday today.

We continued our series 21 with the topic of SIN today. I really felt like worship and the message connected with everyone today. Worship really setup this message thru the lyrics in the songs. Jeff nailed it on SIN today. Very powerful story illustrations. YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR THIS ONE!!

634 today. I love worshiping with all of you.

Tech team, Andy - Ben - Jason - Nate - Terry - Jerry, you guys are awesome. Seriously thank you for the hours you put into making our sunday morning experience the best it can be.

We announced today that we will hosting a Super Bowl Party AT THE CHURCH on the big screens. Going to be a blast. GO ARIZONA!!

I am very excited about our 1st annual worship team auditions. I know there is a lot of talent in our church and I am looking forward to seeing who God brings us. Remember its this Saturday. Please email or call the church office if you have any questions.

Just got back from ESPN Zone in Denver for a friends birthday. Had a bunch of fun with the guys.

Set List for Sunday the 18th
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
Sweetly Broken - Jeremy Riddle
The One Who Loves Me - Adam Cruz
My Chains are Gone - Chris Tomlin
Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
I am Free - Desperation Band

FULL,
Adam

worship auditions

2009-01-12T15:26:00.003-07:00

Remember if you are interested in becoming a part of the worship team to sign up, pick up an application and chort charts. If you have any questions please email me at adam@elementweb.net.

Looking forward to everyone coming out. Its going to be a good time.

Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2009-01-12T15:14:00.005-07:00

awesome day yesturday. 2nd week of 21.

-- Jeff talked about our devotional life in a very challenging way.

-- "why do we call them devotions if we aren't devoted" - so good

-- 670 people today. Lots of new faces. Full room. SO GOOD!

-- You need to know how blessed you are to have such an awesome tech team and worship team (not boasting of myself). They put in so much time to provide you the best worship possible. We have made some huge headway in our sound for that room.

I love being your worship pastor.

Set list from Sunday:
Solid Rock - New Life Worship
We Lift You Up - New Life Worship
Hungry - Vineyard
Better is one day - Matt Redman
Everything - Lifehouse

sunday afterthoughts

2009-01-06T21:01:00.003-07:00

sunday blew me away once again.

over 5 people gave their lives to Christ. SO STINKIN AWESOME. It will never get old.

634 people in church. The most we have ever seen at element. I can not believe I am a worship pastor of 634 people. That freaks me out. I have so much to learn.

21 could not have opened any better. SERIOUSLY RIGHT NOW GO TO WWW.ELEMENTWEB.NET and watch this weeks service or listen to the podcast. WARNING!!! It has the danger of changing your life. I am so stoked about what this series is offering people. Already in my life as Amber and I have committed to our 21 and it has changed me. Inside a couple of other commitments Amber and I are limiting our time with TV, exercising with weight loss goals, eliminating pop and fast food completely, and other things. God has designed us to live in self-control. We control our lives and thru this series God is going to empower us to become who he has made us.

We finally are getting our sound controlled. This was by far the best week we have had in our new facility. We flew 2 center speakers and it help disperse sound very nice. We are making a couple of major tweaks this week that I think will help even more. This week felt the most at home for me.

I am doing my first ever worship team audition this month. Make sure if you are interested in auditioning for the worship team that you pick up an application and a cd with charts in our lobby. Brad Nyght (Drummer for the Desperation Band & Producer of The Bakery Studio) and Danielle Nyght (Vocalist at New Life Worship) have agreed to come up to be on the evaluation team for that night. Both of them are great friends of mine and extremely talented. I look forward to them playing a huge role in this.

Set List for Sunday January 4th:
Salvation is Here - Hillsong United
Everyday - Hillsong
Solid Rock - New Life Worship
God Has Come - New Life Worship
The One Who Loves Me - Adam Cruz

-- adam

Auditions 2009

2009-01-03T10:44:00.003-07:00

Pick up an application on sunday morning, or by visiting our office. Make sure to pick up a CD and chord chart with app.

Looking forward to this.

Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2008-12-28T22:43:00.004-07:00

YOU CHOOSE set list was today. I had a great time doing that. YOUCHOOSE was Element Church's chance to pick the set list for sunday. Great job on picking good songs.

It is always so tough to rehearse on sunday morning only. I was nervous about today because we didn't have thursday night. Reheasal is always rough on sunday morning that way. But I had a major heart check today. I really felt like God was saying, just "press in". Get up there and press in. Don't worry about what got rehearsed and what did not, just press in. So I really encouraged the band today to just PRESS IN. If we choose to go there and people see that we are connecting and responding to our creator it will inspire it in their hearts as well. If we choose to get worked up on tempos and perfection, (WHEN WE HAVE DONE ALL WE CAN), the people will see it and it can be more of a distraction than missing a beat. Anyways, big learning stuff for me today. Worship is so much about the CHOICE. PRESS IN and CHOOSE to worship regardless of how you feel. WOW. That is more than an afterthought. lol.

Please be patient with us in our tech area. We have some big decisions to make tommorow in the area of our sound. We have fought this room a little to get it where we need it. We have not been happy thus far. We understand its been louder but full in previous weeks and softer but lacks fullness in other weeks. We are working on solving all that soon.

Great job tech team. You guys sacrifice a lot and learn a lot, thanks for your energy and time.

Jeff really nailed some things for me in my life today. Listen to his podcast, its a good reminder for our change over into the new facility. ITS NOT ABOUT A BUILDING, ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS.

Looking forward to a relaxing week of hanging with friends.

21 is going to ROCK OUR WORLD. Make sure to get in on that series. God will mess you up and its going to be so good. He has already been messing me up and I am looking forward to what he will do thru this series. Make sure to invite some friends.

ROCKIN AROUND THE TREE VIDEO will be up this week. Check back on Tuesday.

Set List for Sunday Dec. 28th (YOU CHOOSE):
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
Counting on God - New Life Worship
Yearn - Adam Cruz
Glorious One - Steve Fee
Came to the Rescue - Hillsong

"this isn't your grandma's christmas service"

2008-12-24T22:12:00.004-07:00

last night element church pulled off a christmas event like none i have been too. ROCKIN AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE was a rockin good time. We had so much stinking fun as a band. Every time we transitioned into our next scene we would laugh and talk about how much fun we are having. Again I can't express how much fun i had.

I was so stressed and nervous about pulling this event off. 2 weeks ago I pulled together our set list for the night. Introduced everything to the band. Some of the songs they laughed at me for. We did 3 rehearsals, then last week I put together videos for transitions. Then we had a caotic dress rehearsal and had so much to get done for tuesday night. Then tuesday night happened and I tell you what, it was rockin. Our tech team pulled off an amazing light show, my creative team made snow fall from the ceiling and the band pulled of a drummer boy version that was killer.

Over 500 people came out to worship God thru some rock n roll. Thanks to all who came out. You made it so much fun.

The greatest quote of the night was Curtis Marshall's welcome, "this will not be your grandma's christmas service, UNLESS YOUR GRANDMA GOES TO ELEMENT". The coolest thing is so many do go to element and love it.

I will be posting a link on this blog of the full service start to finish on VIMEO. Stay tuned for that.

Amber and I just flew into Wichita, KS. which is now home again. We had a great time with family and looking forward to a relaxing week.

relaxing,
adam

YOU CHOOSE RESULTS

2008-12-24T07:59:00.003-07:00

FAST SONGS:
SALVATION IS HERE
COUNTING ON GOD
HAPPY DAY

MEDIUM SONGS:
YEARN
MIGHTY TO SAVE
GLORIOUS ONE

SLOW SONGS:
THE STAND
CAME TO MY RESCUE
FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Again I will pick 5 of these songs to build a set list with. You'll have to wait till sunday to know which five. Thanks for participating.

You Choose Update

2008-12-23T08:16:00.002-07:00

Only 16 hours left.

Here are the Current standings for you choose!!

FAST SONGS:
Happy Day
Salvation is here
Love the Lord

MEDIUM SONGS:
Yearn
Mighty to Save
Hosanna

SLOW SONGS:
The Stand
At the Cross
Came to my Rescue

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE.

Vote here!!

sunday afterthoughts

2008-12-22T09:13:00.005-07:00

Ill begin with, what I thought was the coolest part of the day. Jeff actually did an altar call and 10 people came forward. SO GOOD!

Wow what a week it has been. I want to say thank you to our worship team. They have poured some incredible hours into rehearsals lately. Not only thursdays but tuesdays and several weekends. They sacrifice a lot so that we have good music at element. Thanks you guys.

Rockin around the tree on Tuesday, can't wait. Its going to be a great time.

YOU CHOOSE UPDATE:
I will be pulling the vote at 11:59pm Tuesday the 23rd. Results will be posted christmas eve the 24th. Again I will pick 5 of the 9 songs.
Here are the current standings:

FAST SONGS:
Happy Day - 53 votes
Salvation is here - 47 votes
Love the Lord - 36 votes
Close in contest:
Solution - 35 votes
Counting on God - 30 votes

MEDIUM SONGS:
Yearn - 67 votes
Mighty To Save - 63 votes
Hosanna - 41 votes
Close in contest:
Glorious One - 33 votes
Madly - 31 votes

SLOW SONGS:
The Stand - 57 votes
At the Cross - 53 votes
Came to my rescue - 49 votes
Close in contest:
From the inside out - 49 votes
God of this city - 35 votes

Make sure to grab "21" invite cards, to invite people to our next series. This series has the potential to ROCK YOUR WORLD if you let it. I am already having my world rocked. Please make sure your friends and family get here for "21".

Set list sunday december 21st:
Sing, Sing, Sing - Chris Tomlin
O come let us adore him - New Spring Church Version
God has come - New Life Church
Spring of Life - Kristian Stanfill
Mighty to Save - United
I celebrate the day - relient k

---adam

you choose update

2008-12-16T08:32:00.004-07:00

So up until now I have allowed unlimited entries. Due to some people only be able to vote 1 time a day and others having the ability to sit and vote all day long, I am limiting everyone to 1 vote entry per day. This will help balance the EXTREME changing results out. Thank you all for participating, it has been fun to watch the votes tally up and the 28th is going to be a good time.

Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2008-12-14T17:29:00.005-07:00

well today wasn't as weird as last week, however I do have to admit it is taking some adjusting with our new facility. I love it and especially love not setting up and tearing down each week, however its just taking some adjusting.

a (-34) degrees was the temp today. It was cold. When we got there at 7 this morning it was 55 inside. I wasn't sure I would even be able to play guitar because my fingers were so cold.

The band rocked it today. We wrote a new version of Joy To The World that was a lot of fun.

Jeff has done a fantastic job with this series, honestly, when we had come up with the series idea I thought it was great but we didn't have 4 topics. We knew a couple issues we wanted to address, but nothing was nailed down. All that said, the topics and delivery has been amazing. Deep issues are being drawn out that I had no idea were going to be so impactful.

We ended todays service with a response time, (so nice to actually be able to do that), we had 3 tables setup with bowls and incense (symbolic of burning). Jeff talked on Family but more than that on forgiveness and invited people to let go of hurts by family or close ones in your life. We had them write down there hurts on paper and place them in a bowl. I sang "Carried to the Table" by Leeland and it was a very special time.

Remember to go to www.elementweb.net/youchoose and vote for your ideal set list for December 28th. You have until TUESDAY December 23rd. Again we pick 5 of the top 9 songs to build a set list. Here are the current standings:

FAST SONGS:
Happy Day
Salvation is Here
Counting on God
Close Behind:
Let Your Kingdom Come
I will never stop

MEDIUM SONGS:
Mighty to Save
Yearn
Glorious One
Close Behind:
You never let go
Here I am to worship

SLOW SONGS:
Came to the Rescue
The Stand
From the inside out
Close Behind:
At the Cross
God of this city

Please pray for safe travels for Jeff and his family as they travel to the funeral of Sabrina's grandmother.

Our next series is going to be one not to miss. More details coming THIS SUNDAY!

Set List sunday December 14th:
Counting on God - New Life Church
Joy to the World - Hillsong United
O Come let us adore him - Third Day version
Here is our King - David Crowder
Your Name - New Life Worship
Carried to the table - LEELAND

---Adam

YOU CHOOSE UPDATE

2008-12-08T15:05:00.002-07:00

Alright votes are coming in like crazy. Just a heads up.... YOU CAN VOTE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT. SOME HAVE VOTED EVERYDAY. LOL. Here are the current standings:

FAST SONGS:
Happy Day
Counting on God
Salvation is here

MEDIUM SONGS:
Mighty To Save
Yearn
Glorious One

SLOW SONGS:
Came to the Rescue
From the inside out
How Great is our God

sunday afterthoughts

2008-12-08T14:55:00.007-07:00

yesturday "was", period. It happened. I felt like I was in an entirely different church leading worship. It was amazing and awkward at the same time.

10 people got saved yesturday. I told my wife, "that is the greatest way we could have entered the new facility".

I love this church and being used by God in what He is doing here.

Remember to go to www.elementweb.net/youchoose to vote for the set list on the last sunday of the year.

Also make sure to get your tickets for Rockin Round the Tree. Our Christmas EveEve service. YOu won't want to miss it. Tickets are almost gone. We are out of first service and half way thru 2nd service.

Set List:
Counting on God - New Life Worship
Gloria - Mercy Me
Glorified - New Life Worship
Maker of Heaven - New Life Worship
Wrap me in your arms - Lisa Gungor
Permanent - David Cook

YOU CHOOSE

2008-12-03T10:22:00.012-07:00

Alright the votes are coming in quickly. If you have not voted go to www.elementweb.net/youchoose and put in your choice. A lot of you are only picking 3 songs total. You need to choose 3 songs from each category. You have until the 22nd to vote. We will choose 5 songs from the top 9.

Here are the current standings:
Fast - Happy Day with 8 votes
Medium - Mighty to save - 11 votes
Slow - How Great is our God - 10 votes

Waiting
Adam

We Are IN

2008-12-01T14:42:00.001-07:00

WE PASSED INSPECTIONS!!!!!!
WE WILL WORSHIP IN OUR NEW LOCATION ON THIS SUNDAY

excited,
Adam

practice

2008-10-30T10:41:00.004-06:00

I have been thinking a lot about my role as a worship leader lately, and how ministry is so different than any other job I have ever had. Its not just something you leave at work after 5:00pm. And its beyond that. Its more than just taking it home. Its not just a matter of meeting deadlines and counseling appointments after 5. Its deeper than that. There is something that has to take place deep in who I am in order for me to be all I can be in my job. I have been thinking about how important it is as worship leaders for us to WORSHIP. I am not talking about sunday morning. I am talking about our personal time. In order for us to lead good worship we need to become a worshipper. Monday thru Sunday. I remember having times where I just turn on a cd and just worship. I get before God and let him pour into me. I think this is so vital to becoming great worship leaders. What happens in private will come out in public. I think its that way for us as christians. I know a lot of times we come to church on sunday morning and get our FIX. We go to this church or that church that has great worship and we get our FIX. OUR ONLY LASTING FIX IS JESUS. I am a firm believer that if we are getting close with Jesus during our week that sunday will be an overflow of what is happening in our hearts. And that is very much the case for us worship leaders. God has really been challenging me with this. You have to practice what you lead. Get alone with God.

thinking out loud,
adam

carving pumpkins

2008-10-30T10:34:00.004-06:00

Last night Amber and I rocked out some pumpkin carving. She went with the simple little spider web and a little spider. While I went with the complex CROSS (its supposed to be the element logo, HA). I think its obvious who is a better pumpkin carver. I love hanging out with my wife.

sunday afterthoughts

2008-09-29T14:32:00.004-06:00

Sunday was beautiful in so many ways. I took 4 team members from the worship team down to the ENTER worship conference in Colorado Springs for the weekend. You can read all our posts about that below. I told my wife after service today that as we were worshipping I was seeing so many of the things we talked about from the conference take effect, or I just saw why or how they worked. It was a neat experience for me.

We didn't hold a thursday night rehearsal this week which made me very nervous, and yet the band rocked. For not rehearsing you guys did an amazing job.

Curtis knocked it out of the park yesturday. I thought he did a great job on personal evangelism. Make sure to listen to that if you weren't there.

I love worshipping with all of you.
adam

set list sunday
Solution - United
Let your kingdom come - adam cruz
the stand - united
rescue - Jared Anderson
Go tell it - Lee Mcderment

final session

2008-09-27T18:15:00.003-06:00

this last session was a stool set format with Ross, Glenn, Paul, and Thomas Miller from Gateway. This discussion was on creating a "PRESENCE CULTURE" in you worship ministry.

-- The presence of God is what we are after when leading worship, nothing else.
--the presence of God is what makes us different that everyone else
-- We carry the presence of God everywhere we go.
-- Convince your people that they carry the presence of God. It doesnt just come from the pastor or worship leader. You bring when you walk into that sanctuary.
-- In order to have a presence culture we must have unity, we must create community.
-- stop coming to church for you, your coming to "come together". Don't isolate when you come to church. (THIS WAS HUGE)
-- God wants to have a conversation with us. Its a dialoge, not a one way conversation.
-- become a worship PASTOR not just a worship LEADER
-- You must pastor your worship team before you can pastor the congregation. WOW. SO GOOD.
-- if worship is not just music then why is it the only model we use

This conference was more than I expected. I can't explain in words how excited I am to implement stuff. Most of what I was challenged with was personal leadership stuff. There was so much that I learned how to be a better leader. I am overwhelmed with such good stuff. I have heard it said to wait 3 months before you implement anything from a conference because after 3 months what still sticks is what really meant the most to you. So I will be evaluating some things over the next months. Your worship team here at element church is so excited for the opportunity they have to lead you and we are excited for what we learned this weekend.

Tommorow is going to be a good sunday. Don't miss it. These next 2 weeks are weeks at element church you don't want to miss. Come ready to meat with God tommorow morning. He has extended the invitation and wants to meet with you.

Adam

revolving door number 2

2008-09-26T23:09:00.004-06:00

again this has been, hands down, my favorite aspect of the conference. each speaker is given 12 minutes to deliver their best stuff. This session was in regards to the "FAMILY WORSHIP TABLE". Such good stuff

Ross Parsley -
-- the blended service model is the service model that makes no one happy
-- the next generation "alternative" service divides your church into 2 seperate churches that never cross paths. WOW
-- It takes no skill or expertise for a church to grow older. The challenge lies in remembering to reach down and raise the next generation.
-- church hopping makes you a critic of every church you go to
-- the ONE thing young people want in todays society is to BELONG, and we aren't doing a good job making that possible in a lot of todays churchs
-- we need Abraham, Isaac & Jacob for our churches to be strong and healthy
-- we have sent the kids away to the KIDS table so we can enjoy ourselves. HOLY CRAP!
-- how will each generation learn to serve each other if they never interact.
-- we need the wisdom, experience, and resource of older people mixed with the enthusiasm, zeal, and passion of the youth.

Glenn Packiam -
--20 year influence rule, we influence people 10 years on either side of us, thus the reason for multiple generations on our teams.
-- there must be a seat at the table for all generations
-- the songs they are singing in youth, and college should be the same as sunday morning and vice versa. VERY GOOD!

there is lots more, but thats the good stuff

worship with paul baloche

2008-09-26T23:02:00.002-06:00

Paul Baloche wrote Open the Eyes of my Heart and several other huge worship hits. It was great to worship with him tonight.

Session 4

2008-09-26T19:02:00.006-06:00

This session was one of the most well presented. Glenn Packiam did a session called "Let worship rock and Justice Roll". Wow was this session not only a good reminder of why we do what we do but even an eye opener for how we define true worship. I love element church because I do believe that we do a great job at this. At taking care of people in our community as our number one priority.

Here are some thoughts:
-- does worship cater to us or does it make claims of us?

-- worship has become something we are consumers of and not something that consumes us. WOW!

-- worship is designed to wake up up to the world not insulate us from it

-- do you really want to know what has God's full attention. Worship helps us hear what God hears. The cries of the needy.

-- worship is loving the least of these as if they were Jesus

garden of the gods

2008-09-26T10:30:00.005-06:00

yesturday during our 3 hour dinner break, none of us were hungry so I took everyone to the Garden of the Gods. It is such a beautiful place. I have had many conversations with curtis about devo's here and great God moments. So here are some pics.

Enter Session 2 & 3

2008-09-26T08:24:00.005-06:00

Ross Parsley and Senior Pastor Brady Boyd sat at a table and did a session together. I didn' even have time to take notes because of all the good stuff. I wrote down a couple of things from there session.
-- In order for this relationship to work you have to choose to HONOR each other. I am not sure I have heard anyone use this word in this context and it was so good.
-- In regards to concerns, TIMING & TONE is everything.
-- "Care about sunday morning as much as the senior pastor does" SO GOOD!!

As I was sitting there I was so blessed because as they talked thru different issues church's have, I was thinking how Jeff and I relate, and thought I really have it good. Even all our worship team made comments, "THAT DIDNT EVEN APPLY TO YOU HUH?". I just laughed. It was still really good. But I am definently blessed to have Jeff on my team.

Session 3.

So far this was my favorite session. They had a huge door with 2 screens on each side of it. It was called the "Revolving Door". They an 1.5 hours and had 7 speakers for 12 minutes. They cut out all the extra and just gave us the RAW best 12 minutes they had. This is such a great concept. It reminded me of our whiteboard conference.

Ross Parsley
--Teams are made up of individuals who have given up their RIGHTS in order to benefit the whole team.
--insecurity comes from comparison of the wrong things. (talking about people who get jealous of other people)
--we're not responsible for the opportunities we don't have, but the one's we DO have. O MY WORD. SO GOOD

Matthew Fallentyne
-- create a culture of trust not a circle of trust
-- do you love the people of your church, if not you shouldn't be the pastor
-- your team is able to sense authenticity

Brad Parsley
-- create a culture of evalutaion
-- life is not fair, ministry is not fair. We have to evaluate and challenge our team
--as a leader you must first, HUMBLE YOURSELF, in order to create this culture
--you must be child-like not CHILD-ISH,

Glenn Packiam pt 1
-- when bringing up conflict issues, if you bring up problems after the set its called criticism, if you do it before its healthy conflict.
-- Seperate the person from the problem
-- focus on interests not positions, THIS WAS REALLY GOOD
--invent option for mutual gain
--Have a standard or system for making decisions
--People will own a decision when they are allowed into the process

The last one I wasn't able to get. but this was my favorite.

Starting our Friday morning session right now. Looking forward to what we will learn. Today are all the break out sessions. We are all torn because there is going to be such good stuff.

refreshed,
adam

Enter worship conference update

2008-09-25T18:51:00.003-06:00

expanded! Thats the word of my heart right now. I love it. I love these conferences where I am stretched, encouraged, & challenged.
Things opened up this morning with some incredible worship. A great time of soaking in God's presence. The concepts being presented by each speaker so good.
Session 1 was with Ross Parsley on 21st century worship. Here are some thoughts.
---God is the initiator and we are the responders. God has already extended the invitation to worship, we just need to respond. Our prayers should never be "God come", we often spend time trying to convince God to come to our worship experience. Guess what he has already extended the invitation, he is already here, WE MUST RESPOND. WOW.

---If you are resentful with the team God has given you then why would he give you anyone else. HELLO!!

--- We are called to be multi-sensory. Whole body, whole hearted, whole mind.

--- Skill is a terrible foundation for your worship ministry. WOW!

---Many of our worship ministry flow this way: Skill, tradition, personality, musical style, organizational structure, ministry philosophy, biblical principles. This is opposite of what it should start with.

--- We often believe that worship style is where the annointing is.

So much more, to much to even right down. More to come on session 2. Later tonight. The New Life CD release party is starting now. Its going to rock my face.

LOVING JESUS,
Adam

enter worship conference

2008-09-25T00:41:00.003-06:00

I am sitting in our hotel room here in beautiful colorado springs. I brought some of our worship team down for a worship conference here at New Life Church called ENTER. We had a great drive down, I got the AMAZING sampler from T.G.I.Fridays (one of my favorite resturaunts), then we caught a late night movie, GET SMART, which for the 2nd time was gut wrenchingly funny.

I am strongly anticipating our time this weekend. We are going to be encouraged, stretched, moved, and have a great time worshipping God all weekend. I will be posting details from each speaker, I am very excited. Off to bed.

Anticipating,
Adam

its been to long

2008-09-14T17:33:00.004-06:00

sorry it has been busy lately, I havn't had time to update at all.

We have had some great things happening around element lately. 496 today. I heard we had 3 chairs left in 2nd service. We really need to get into that next location so that we can continue to grow.

Jeff and I talked after church today and he shared some incredible stories with me about things God is doing in people. AWESOME. Our Launch Anniversary is coming and you do not want to miss it. Talk about some good God stories.

Jeff brought it down today. If you missed his message, you SO NEED to go listen to it. My favorite line that has convicted me: "stop trying to be like someone else, and start striving to look like Jesus and you will become everything you are supposed be". My Paraphrase, but close. Also gave a huge challenge to be in the word.

Halfway thru the series LOST. You will not want to miss our last week. Its going to be powerful.

Alright off to have some dinner with my wife,

Set List - Sept. 14
Not to Us - Chris Tomlin
Glorious One - Kristian Stanfill
O Lord Most High - Joel Hatcher
Better is One Day - Matt Redman
Pleasing to You - Jared Anderson

playing with Big Daddy Weave

2008-08-13T10:34:00.003-06:00

this weekend will be a great weekend up in Sheridan wy.
I am taking some of the band to the Wyoming RockStock Festival featuring Big Daddy Weave. We have been asked to play for the festival. YES! Going to be a good time. We are playing stuff off of my previous record "Nights Like These".

mid - week catch up

2008-08-13T10:20:00.003-06:00

friends,
the staff of element and wives were able to go up to Estes Park Sunday thru Tues for a Staff Advance. Our staff advance is where we dream up our year for element church, we seek God thru worship and prayer, we plan sermon series, solutions for different areas in our church, and outreach events, and "What's Next" steps for us. It was a great time. Very intense at times and yet so refreshing. I love this team I get to surround myself with. I am so challenged when I am around them.

Looking very forward to what's next for us after this time together. ELEMENT CHURCH, GET READY, CAUSE HERE WE GO.

Our new facility stuff is coming along. Look to Jeff's Blog for more on that.

We had a great worship time sunday. About 2 weeks ago Jeff asked if I knew of any songs with the Lord's Prayer, my response "NO BUT I'LL WRITE ONE". So thats what we did. We read the Lord's Prayer as a church all together and then sang the new song. I really sensed God moving on sunday. I love worshipping thru music with you all here at Element.

Our RockBand series is going very well. 5 people committed their lives to Christ sunday, and that my friends is what its all about. We opened with "LIVIN ON A PRAYER by Bon Jovi", Good Times. This week's opening song is a tough one, but I have faith in the band. We're going to have some fun.

Back to work,
Adam

Sunday Set List,
Livin on a prayer - Bon Jovi
Spring of Life - Kristian Stanfill
Let your Kingdom Come - Adam Cruz
Center - Charlie Hall
Turn Your Eyes - NewSpring Church

sunday afterthoughts

2008-08-04T08:32:00.004-06:00

Its good to be back. I miss when I don't get to worship with you guys. Amber and I had a blast on our vacation last week and resolved that we never want to live in NYC. WOW there is a lot of people. I know you find you nitch everywhere you are and your circle of friends, still its cauos there.

We have finally got a system down for our new theater that we are in and have finally gotten so great volunteers in place. We now have an awesome Road Crew manager who runs all the set up on sunday morning. We also have a guy picking up trailer and loading it so that Jeff doesn't have to be a part of that anymore. Great job road crew. you were on yesturday.

We launched our new series entitled Rock Band. In creative team we decided we wanted to build 2 8ft tall Les Pauls for the set design. So I contacted Mike Greenley to build them and Steve Doolin to paint them and they did an incredible job. Ill post some pictures below.

We opened the service with a group of guys that played ROCK BAND live thru our projector and sound system. They did "wanted dead or alive". It was incredible. They had a ton of fun and it looked like you all enjoyed it too. 1st service the guitar player actually landed a guitar throw over his sholder. 2nd service, well, we'll just leave it at that. HA.

The band really did a fantastic job today. I love watching people do what they do best. They seriously take the songs I bring in and make them what I want. Let it burn is a song I wrote several years ago and was an ok song for me at that time, the band is helping make it quickly one of my favorites.

alright thats it,
peace out, (yeah i just said it)

Adam

set list,
wanted dead or alive - live on rock band
happy day - tim hughes
spring of life - kristian stanfill
faithful - steve fee
let it burn - adam cruz

new york update

2008-07-27T13:33:00.001-06:00

wow,
--- got to see some crazy cool things in new york city this weekend. It blows me away to stand in so many spots that I have seen filmed in the movies. Walking thru central park was very beautiful. The bridges are breath taking. Time square is about as insane as I can handle. Its so hot in the midst of a million people surrounding you. The building are so tall, not sure you knew that or not, but DANG. Ill throw some pics in slide show later.

--- Definently missed being with everyone at element this week. Thank Jesus for a guy like Nathan that can run the show and do a fantastic job. I hope I have a job when I get back. HA. I love what I do and never am glad to be away, its a nice breath'r here and there but I hate being gone.

--- Got a few more spots we are going to hit up tonight and then catching a 6:30am flight out tommorow morning. And jumping into the swing of things for our new series "ROCK BAND". We have a sweet set design coming your way.

--- By the way speaking of set designs we had a cool idea gone bad. We had created words out of PVC pipe that were the "MAIN" idea for each week. Opening week was "DANGEROUS". PVC was painted silver and stretched 28ft. Drilled holes in the back of each letter and then shoved rope light inside to give a glow off of the pipe and drape. It was a cool idea, next time we just have to have more thoughts in for the engineering. It had trouble standing and took a while to put together. So if you were wondering why you didn't see anything new, thats why.

Saying goodbye to the east coast. Until next time.
Adam

vacation cont.

2008-07-25T08:23:00.003-06:00

Yesturday we found a couple of really cool spots. We went to an restaurant on the beach and then to Mystic Seaport. Pics below.

Ok so I know everyone says this, so in my little pizza world, it doesn't get better than this. This pizza was incredible.

Adam and Amber at Mystic Seaport

The train we are taking to newyork

View from lunch

View from lunch 2

Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport

Car restoration shop

2008-07-23T13:55:00.003-06:00

Yesturday Amber and I got to go to her Aunt's car restoration shop, where some car have $100,000.00 invested into them. Take a look at all the pics. There are a lot so I think you can just click on the pic and see them all so you don't have to wait for the slide show. Pretty amazing.

Got a sweet jacket I have been looking for a long time.

--- New York City is this weekend, cannot wait, staying two nights, going to try and see all I can.

Relaxed,
Adam

Amber's home town

2008-07-22T20:20:00.005-06:00

Wow, it has been such a great time on the east coast here in connecticut. Everything is so green, the ocean is a mile away, so close to so much (I can see long island and new york city from the beach here in connecticut), ambers uncle has 6 INCREDIBLE guitars and is a fine guitar player, we are having a blast.

Started this morning off right with breakfast on the beach!

This is the front of Amber's house that she grew up in!

Amber's back yard growing up. Rough huh?

Back yard again!

Seriously imagine this home being your back yard. Unbelievable that people get to live this way. HA. Sloans lake here I come LOL.

We are having a blast, missing everyone already and going to miss worshipping with you all this sunday.

Going to post some really RAD, YES I JUST SAID "RAD", pictures tommorow of where Amber's Aunt works. Car Restoration Shop. Lets just say there are a lot of cars worth $100,000.00.

Relaxed,
Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2008-07-20T13:41:00.004-06:00

Man I am not on the blogging role lately, I am trying to be better. Jeff just stills all my ideas. LOL. J/K

Today was a good day. The band not it out of the park. Great job guys. I hope you all realize how much this team invests into making worship the best it can be. Not only do they give their time on sunday mornings but they have personal practice time and then invest 3.5 hours on thursday night. So go team.

Again we are continuing the search for another electric guitar player if anyone is out there. If you know of someone have them email me at adam@elementweb.net.

Jeff's one prayer was Lord Make Us ALIVE. Incredible message today. This is element's heartbeat and pours through each of us on staff. That God would bring life to the Lost in cheyenne and pour life into every church. Jeff way to go, so proud to serve under you. YOU MAKE ME PROUD, SON. LOL. (inside joke, had to be there).

Man once again we had movie time technicalities. We luckily ended service a little short this week, but if we would have went any longer we would have been interrupted by the amazing theatrical previews.

IT WAS SO HOT TODAY. I thought my face was going to melt away. O MY WORD. When the lights are on and the Haze is going it creates a 110 degree environment. Hope we get that fixed.

Going to miss everyone this week. Amber and I will be in Connecticut and New York City visiting Amber's home town. Looking forward to being out east again. I have never been to New York, so I am looking forward to all that we will get to experience.

Looking forward to getting back to the drawing board. We have some fun SURPRISES for you all in our next series. Can't wait.

Alright off to play ULTIMATE FRISBEE,
See you all in 2 weeks. Follow the blog this week for updates on Adam's first experience in the Big City.

Set List for 7-20-08
Dying to Live - Jonah 33
I am Free - Jon Egan
Marvelous Light - Hall
Here in your presence - Jon Egan
God of this city/Make us alive - Chris Tomlin/Adam Cruz

Excited,
Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2008-07-07T10:09:00.005-06:00

yesturday was so much fun. we did church in the park and had a blast. The atmosphere was so laid back and people just enjoyed it so much. The band was incredible. Had a lot of fun.

Jeff is down in Oklahoma preaching at a camp, so curtis took over for the day. Curtis did a fantastic job. His first sermon ever at Element Church (maybe ever, can't remember). Regardless he did a great job.

Jeff here is your little surprise from your people here at Element.

i thought that would be fun

One Prayer starts this week. Don't miss this series, its going to be so good.

Set List sunday July 6th
Love the Lord - Lincoln Brewster
Open the eyes of my heart - SonicFlood
Blessed be your name -- Matt Redman

Adam

2 opportunities

2008-07-03T16:33:00.002-06:00

We have 2 opportunities here in the tech/worship dept. that you or someone you know might be interested in.

1 -- Electric Guitar Player -- I am looking for an experienced electric guitar player for sunday mornings. If you would be interested please shoot me an email at adam@elementweb.net, or post a comment here with info on how to get a hold of you.

2 -- Lighting Tech -- No experience required. Just a willingness to learn. Rotate 1 week on 1 week off. As we move into more of a detailed light system we need committed people dedicated to running them on sunday morning. If you would be interested please email me at adam@elementweb.net.

Set List Sunday June 29th

2008-07-03T11:12:00.003-06:00

We had a ton of fun last sunday, mocking up our own "Tonight Show" called "Straight Up". Check that out here.

-- Remember church in the park this week. Starting at 10:30am.

Set List
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
Holy is the Lord - Chris Tomlin
Wholly Yours - David Crowder
How great is our God - Chris Tomlin

Adam

what a day!!

2008-06-23T14:16:00.003-06:00

Jeff is gone, party in the office. HA.
Jeff had the opportunity to go and offer his expertise to a great friend who is planting a church in Boise, ID. He is part of a team of pastors that are rallying with Dusty in his plant of Connections Church.

Man yesterday was tough. I recently read a blog about a pastor having a bad experience at starbucks and how they completely took care of everything and apologized for the bad experience, and how many times he should apologize for a bad experience at his church for various reasons. Not sure it was that bad but from staff perspectives we had a rough day. I was very sick all weekend. God gave me much grace to get thru. It was so stupid hot on the stage I felt like I might pass out. In fact I heard several comments after service in regards to weather I would make it or not. LOL. The my pedal board went out and so there was no electric guitar for our entire set second service. Nate did a phenom job stepping up and leading while I tweaked stuff to get something back in my guitar. When the guitar finally came back it was so out of tune I might as well have started dancing and spinning in circles and it would have been less distracting. HA. OK maybe not so bad, but you get the point.

We will have those days and you just learn to push thru.

Jeff has done such a great job with this series, UNTOUCHABLES. Make sure if you haven't listened to each week that you grab a copy online or in our lobby. Also remember to turn in your questions to questions@elementweb.net this week so that Jeff can tackle them on sunday.

We launch our new series coming in a couple weeks which is going to be one you won't want to miss. More details to come.

Superday is this Saturday. Please come help us volunteer as we provide inflatable games and a Baby Station for families in cheyenne.

Alright back to work.

Setlist for Sunday june 22nd
My Reward - Adam Cruz
Beautiful One - Jeremy Camp
Enough - Chris Tomlin
Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill
Beauty of the Lord - Jared Anderson

set list from sunday

2008-06-17T12:39:00.002-06:00

Love the lord - Lincoln Brewster
My Reward - Adam Cruz
Famous One - Chris Tomlin
Here I am to worship/All I want - Tomlin/LifeHouse
Came to the rescue - United

Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts

2008-06-09T09:21:00.004-06:00

Here are some thoughts from the day.

Today, 1 year ago, marks the first gathering as element church in preparation for our Launch in October. We met at the holiday inn for a very stripped down approach to a service, called unplugged. We casted vision and developed our core team with these weekly gatherings until oct 7th. Great memories.

Jeff tackled the subject of alcohol today as part of our untouchables series. He did a great job. Quote of the day yesturday for me was, "Changing your behavior does not make you a christian, but in becoming a christian your behavior will change".

We had a full house yesterday, I wasn't sure if 2nd service was even going to be able to contain everyone. Its great to see all of you coming out thru our summer series. Most churches on average decline over the summer with all kinds of various reasons. It doesn't have to be that way.

Last night I jumped in a van with a group of Highschool/College students for a nice relaxing evening of some ROCK N ROLL in Denver, CO. I have never seen Emery or The Almost live, it was very good.

Worship Set for June 8th,
What I want - Chris Daughtry
Happy Day - Tim Hughes
Glory - United
Everything Glorious - Crowder
Glory in the Highest - Chris Tomlin

Untouchables and Frisbee

2008-05-31T10:18:00.004-06:00

Untouchables starts tommorow. THis has been one of those series we planned from the beginning where you are like "that is for ever away". Well here it is. The anticipated series of untouchables is here. Jeff will be takling 4 topics often untouched in the church today, ABORTION, DRINKING, HOMOSEXUALITY, and DIVORCE. We are offering a 5th week questions week, where we will be taking your questions about untouchable subjects over the course of this series. You can email your questions to questions@elementweb.net. You won't want to miss this great summer series.
Here is the promo:

Also we began our Ultimate Frisbee tradition last week. It was a blast! So again come out at Holiday Park (across from the church office on Lincolnway) at 2:00pm (NOT SHARP, if your late still come). We have a blast.

I am anticipating our time of worship tommorrow, as I do every week with you all, come ready to meet with our God.

Anticipating,
Adam

Sunday Afterthoughts

2008-05-27T16:14:00.004-06:00

SetList Sunday May 25th:
Everyday - United
We lift you up - Desperation Band
Open the eyes of my heart - SonicFlood
Came to the Rescue - United
Heart of a Warrior - Adam Cruz

Ultimate Frisbee started sunday. We will be playing every sunday at 2:15pm at Holiday Park off of Lincolnway and Morrie. Anyone is welcome, just show up. Here are some pics.

Worshipping Him,
Adam

AGHHH!! (sigh of relief)

2008-05-23T18:54:00.005-06:00

That is the feeling I have right now between getting lost on foot downtown D.C., & having an AK-47 flashed at me at the pentagon & the 1 hour car drive lost on 3 different interstates, and now I am in my bed. LOL.

Jeff and I had a great time today running around D.C. getting to see all the history of our nation. Before we left Curtis (our youth pastor) warned us not to drive into D.C. but to find the metro and only use that. Did we listen, NOPE! Should we have, YUP! When we got into D.C. we couldn't find any where to park so we pulled over and asked a traffic officer, he stared at us and said "there is not parking", we laughed, he pointed at our car and said "that was a bad choice". LOL. So we headed back out of town looking for a parking garage and a metro, which we eventually found.

We got to see the washington monument, lincoln memorial, white house, capitol, Vietnam wall of names, and so much more. A funny story is that we were at the end of our tour and decided we should go and see the pentagon. Great Idea I thought. We got out of the metro and there was literally NO WHERE to go. We walked down a side walk and saw four police officers with AK-47's and said "MAN", saw a bus stop and decided to walk around the building. We saw where the plane hit on 911 and so I thought it was a great idea to get my camera out. No later did I get my camera out, a MEAN security gaurd flashed his AK-47 and headed toward me. He said "did you take a picture" I said "NO" he said "DON'T", Jeff said "sorry we didn't know", he said "I JUST WARNED YOU". HAHAHHA LOL! I said "OK SEE YA" and we headed home. LOL.

We got to see so much stuff, it was great. Its hard to believe I am here. This has been such a great weekend I am so tired right now, we walked all over today and my feet hurt bad. There is a picture in this slide show below of an escalator we rode that had to have been like 200 feet NO JOKE!

We are heading out in the morning very early, so I am off to bed. More on actual White Board quotes starting MONDAY in a blog series I'll do called "WiBo Quotes", LOL. Really deep I know!

I can't wait to worship with you all in cheyenne sunday morning, come ready to meet with God.

Tired,
Adam

WiBo is done

2008-05-22T16:08:00.002-06:00

what a day! My word! This had to be one of the greatest conferences I have ever attended. 8 speakers 30 minutes a piece. They were each given 30 minute time slots to share their one current passion for the church. O my, I feel like I am having a brain over load of great stuff. I don't want to post all my thoughts right now so I will reserve them for later on this weekend. All I know right now is every pastor that spoke had on a "cool t-shirt". So the joke was "we need to find the coolpastorshirts.com website".

I am posting pics of the conference below. Going to see Indiana Jones. I will add more later tnite maybe. I hope you all are ok with all the tornadoes. That's crazy.

encouraged,
adam

lets get there early!

2008-05-22T05:25:00.005-06:00

HA. well its friday morning and what a great night sleep I got knowing that DAVID COOK won BABY. YEAH. I thought it was wrapped up in the bag for little ARCHY! I told Jeff I was mad how the judges were ripping on Cook and then he goes and wins and not only wins but slaughters by 12 million votes. yeah.

Woke up at 6 today, ate an amazing breakfast at the hotel and then headed off to the Hyatt where wibo is.

The band is sound checking for worship this morning and it sounds amazing.
Just saw Michael from Oakleaf, LOL, crazy, all these guys that we follow.

Alright I will update you all through out the day on the wibo goods.

anxious,
adam

Do we belong!

2008-05-21T19:01:00.002-06:00

WOW! Is the words to describe what Jeff and I are getting to do. We are in D.C. for the next 3 days for a conference called Whiteboard, featuring alot of the pastors that we follow on their blogs. We flew in about 5 o clock and checked into our hotel, which is out of this world. When we arrived here they immediately upgraded our room for no apparent reason. I posted pictures below.

I am so anxious for tommorow. So much good stuff that we will be able to eat up. We walked over to the hotel where the conference is being held and all the pastors were standing right there in the lobby chatting it up, I felt like a little kid in a candy store, LOL, oohh Jeff look there is "so and so", lol. So we sat down close enough to see them and far enough away not to look like we wanted to touch them, HA. Pray for us tommorow that God will download into our hearts His continued vision for element church through what some of these guys share.

Alright here is the pics of the hotel and some random D.C. shots. I will post more tommorow.

anxious,
adam

sunday afterthoughts

2008-05-20T13:46:00.002-06:00

Set List May 18th

This week was a lot of fun. We did all hymns. I wasn't real sure how it would all turn out, but it went well. The band rocked out those songs. Great job. We made them very elementish. Its funny how some people are sold on hymns as the only true way of worship and here we have guys in our church in love with Jesus that have never heard a single one of those songs we played.

All Hail the Power of Jesus Name/Raise up the crown - Chris Tomlin
Holy Holy Holy - Steven Curtis Chapman
Come thou Fount - Gateway
Fairest - New Life Church
My chains are gone - Tomlin

Jeff and I will be heading out to D.C. tommorow for a conference. I am very excited. I have never been to the east coast and this summer I get to go twice.

Hey for all of you out there that are ready for some "ULTIMATE FRISBEE" it is starting this Sunday at 2:00pm. If you have never played, COME anyways, it is a lot of fun. We will play this week at Holiday park off of Lincolnway and then we can discuss a better park for next time.

I love being your worship pastor,

Can't wait for sunday,
Adam

Sunday Setlist

2008-05-11T18:24:00.003-06:00

May 11th - Happy Mothers Day

Awesome is the Lord Most High - Chris Tomlin
Sing to the King - Billy Foote
For who you are - United
Hungry - Vineyard
One little heartbeat at a time - Steven Curtis Chapman

adam

Set List

2008-05-05T19:31:00.002-06:00

May 4th
Open up the gates - Planetshakers
King of Majesty - Hillsongs
Glorious One - Steve Fee
You never let go - Matt Redman
From the inside out - United

Couldn't sleep

2008-04-29T08:29:00.004-06:00

Not sure if its cause of a building, not sure if its because of what I see in the future of element church, not sure is its because of how much I love my job, not sure if its because of how much I love the band, not sure if its because of the opportunities we have as a worship team coming up, to play outside of church, not sure if its the songs God has given us since we started this thing, but what ever it is I didn't shut my eyes until 4:00am this morning. I could not for the life of me fall asleep. I was thinking about everything. I was thinking about all the songs we have written through element church, and it got me all excited about releasing them some day. I thought and thought and thought about so many things. At one point I got up to check the weather just to get my mind from racing.

This has not happened to me in a long time, and I am confused weather I love when it does happen, LOL, cause then I get no sleep. I love this church, and love "climbing these mountains" with you guys. I guess it was just one of those nights, where God was just showing me all the ways he has blessed me lately. I love when He does that.

Blessed,
Adam

sunday afterthoughts

2008-04-27T17:46:00.004-06:00

Wow,
What a great day today. We are so excited around here at Element, with what God is doing through this people. Today Jeff announced what is in the future for Element Church, read about that here. We are approaching a new facility, where we will be able to expand the ministry of Element Church. This is a very scary and such an exciting time here at Element. As you know, we will never be just about a building, while forsaking the city. We feel this only enables our influence in the city. This enables us to make more of an impact and this make God's name more known in our city. Great things.

Today I did a new original called "The Heart of a Warrior", which was inspired by Jeff 's message last series on climbing the mountain, going where very few men are willing to go. Props to the worship team for making that song great.

Sunday Setlist 4-27-08
Forever - Chris Tomlin
Blessed be your name - Matt Redman
Faithful - Fee
Yearn - Adam Cruz
The Heart of a Warrior - Adam Cruz