Well friends, it's hard to believe it, but this is THE LAST BLOG!
April was PACKED full of fun and craziness! The month obviously started on April first.... and for those of you who know me, you know I love doing fun things! So what better thing to do on April first the prank someone! You may be thinking I did something calm like make a prank phone call, or hide some fake cockroaches. NOPE! I decided, what better way to prank someone than by pranking my step-dad, who was out of town, by putting a for sale sign in our front yard! If you need to buy a house, I'm a certified realtor! (But only on April first....)
We also had one of our biggest services in Christianity this month, Easter! This Easter I got the blessing to produce our service at Whitehouse. For those of you people who love numbers, this next part is for you!
- 18,282 people attended our Easter service, both in person and online
- 1,726 people attended the service in person at Whitehouse
- 295 kids and students at Whitehouse
- 188 Baptisms across all campuses
- 14 Baptisms at Whitehouse
- 263 people raised their hands, showing they made a decision during the service to start following Christ!
Those numbers are physical proof that we are carrying out our mission at CedarCreek Church. It was such an honor to serve with such an amazing and dedicated team during Easter. Not to mention, the AMAZING live art that Michelle Caldwell did! I was in awe getting to see the painting done every service.
This month, all of us interns got the opportunity to pick a place to go eat for lunch during our intern class. After a few rounds of voting, we landed on going to Tony Packo's, but not just any, the ORIGINAL Tony Packo's! Even though I have lived in Toledo all my life, I have never been to the original. It was such a fun experience, and I'm so glad I got to share this first experience with some of the other interns!
We also had our Dream Team celebration this month! Some of you may be wondering, "what is a Dream Team celebration?" Well I am so glad you asked! At CedarCreek, anyone who serves in any position on the weekend, they are considered a member of our Dream Team. You could serve in production, kids, students, facilities, ETC, that means you are a member of CedarCreek's Dream Team. So now for the second part of your question! Every year, we do a Dream Team launch, and Celebration. The Dream Team launch is held at Perrysburg, where all Dream Team from every campus come together to worship, hear vision of the church, and just have fun together. Dream Team celebration is where campuses meet on their own, and celebrate the progress we've made as a whole church, and as specific campuses. And because it has the word "celebration" in it, you better believe we had a fun time! We started our celebration off with worship and trivia, Shawn shared lots of things for us to celebrate, and shared some vision of where the church is going. And finally, we ended the celebration with a "Dance Like Reuben" competition. And for thoes of you who know Reuben, you know he LOVES to dance. I made a song mashup for him to dance to, and programmed some crazy lights to make it even more fun! You may be wondering, "Well how did it go?" Lets just say, Reuben did some sort of back flip, and one of the students we had "Try To Dance Like Reuben", fell flat on his back......
At CedarCreek, we pour A LOT into our next generation. We have what we call the Student Leadership Group, and thats a small group of High School students that we pour an extra amount into. This month they had their over night retreat at the Oregon campus. They treat this as a lock-in, and spend the who night having fun, and growing in their faith with all the students in the group from all campuses. I got the pleasure of playing an acoustic drum and running sound for their worship set they had. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have been apart of since I started serving at CedarCreek. The Holy Spirit was so prominent in the room it was unbelievable. The Holy Spirit worked through me during worship in many ways, during some of the songs when I didn't have to play, I just fully enjoyed worship. At one point, I was so hyped up and into the song I was jumping up and down with my drum!
Every year the church takes a production staff, and a few key volunteers from each campus to a conference in Chicago called FILO. FILO stands for "First In Last Out" It is a conference tailored to production members who serve in a high leadership capacity. We had a total of 26 people from CedarCreek that went to this conference. We got to learn new skills, and worship together without having to worry about anything going wrong, something that most of us don't get to do except maybe a couple times a year.
As I wrap up my final blog, I am extremely excited to announce that I will be continuing on with a one year contract as an apprentice when the internship ends!!!!! My title will be the "Apprentice Assistant Director Of Production." I will continue working under Matt Gorey at the Central Offices, where I will help with equipping campuses with production items for weekend services and events. I am so excited to continue on this journey of growth at CedarCreek. I can't thank you all enough for the support and encouragement I have received during my time as an Intern.
VERSE 1
I got the joy of the Lord deep down inside of my soul - When did you first feel the love of Christ deep in your soul?
And I can't hide it no more I gotta praise Him - What's your favorite way to praise the Lord? Worship, Scripture, Journaling ETC?
I got the joy of the Lord deep down inside of my soul
And I can't hide it no more I gotta praise
PRECHORUS
The One who broke my chains and bought my freedom - What chains or struggles has God helped you overcome?
What else can I say but thank You Jesus - When was the last time you genuinely thanked God for something specific?
CHORUS
'Cause You're just that good just that faithful - What ways have you seen God's faithfulness in your life?
And You're just that kind I'm so grateful - What steps can you take daily to show more gratitude towards
That You saved my life like You said would
So with my hands up high heart abandoned - What does fully surrendering to God look like in your life right now?
And a faith on fire singing and dancing - What helps your faith grow stronger and stay passionate?
'Cause You saved my life like You said You would
'Cause You're just 'cause You're just that good
VERSE 2
You put a song in my heart I sing with all that I've got
And tell the world who You are I'm gonna praise You - What testimony or story has God given you to share with others?
You put a song in my heart I sing with all that I've got
And tell the world who You are I'm gonna praise