We have now officially been meeting in the new building for 3 weeks. What a 3 weeks it has been as God has more than doubled the size of the church since arriving. Thus far the feedback has been mostly positive about the building, the messages, and the overall experience. One of the major challenges seems to be keeping the neighbors happy about the parking.

1st service is pretty much totally packed and 2nd service is at least 80% full. It is awesome and slightly overwhelming. Who would have guessed we would move in and be pressed to add a 3rd service almost right off the bat.? Not me.. I guess it is good that God is in charge and not me.

Yesterdays open arms message seemed to resonate with many and I am praying that God continues to use this Don’t Stop Believing series to touch hearts and change minds. Drawing people to into a relationship with Christ.

A couple of prayer requests: Pray that God would give us wisdom regarding adding back Saturday night services, and if we are to do it that he would raise up the volunteers to make it happen. Pray that God lays it on the hearts of those who have been guests in recent weeks to continue to come back and become a part of Journey. Pray for the launch of our small groups this coming Sunday and for our small group leaders. Pray for this weekends Journey Women’s event …

Serving Opportunity for this week: Wednesday night we are having one more work night. Show up any time after 5 pm…

There is a huge range of emotions Mary Jo, myself, and the staff are going through as a result of the amazing way that God showed up yesterday for the grand opening of the new facility. It was totally mind blowing as we received 643 people as the official count for our first services in the new building.

Wow.. something I would have never, ever imagined. If you would have told me 400 or 500 people would have showed up I would have thought you were crazy. But God showed up in huge way. The volunteers stepped up to the plate in every area welcoming people, caring for their children, giving them popcorn, leading them in worship. You name it, everyone came through in amazing ways to make it what I felt was a great experience for all.

The range of emotions flows from elation over witnessing what God did as we had 4 decisions for Christ. Exhaustion over many long days and nights leading into the new facility, excitement over what lies ahead.

Yes, what exciting days lie ahead as the people of Journey Church have an opportunity to live out the vision of Loving God, Loving Others, and serving the world with everything that we have in us.

Thank you God for blowing us away, thank you God for the precious gift of all the visitors who walked through the doors. Thank you God for all the wonderful people who we are privelaged to serve with. Thank You God for the love that you have for us. Thank you for reconciling old friends. Wow. There is so much to thank God for..

To everyone who offered support the people of Journey Church extend a huge thank you, thank you, thank you.. We love you!

This past weekend we had our Pre-view service in advance of the official launch and it was simply incredible. The house was completely packed out for our 1 service that we did and our team trainings went exceptionally well. There were some hitches with audio and some flow issues, but that is what preview services are for. They gave us a chance to fix those things before next weekend.

I hesitate to publish any picks, because I am hoping that people will really be excited when they walk in for the first time and see what the volunteers were able to do with the building. I am blown away and can’t believe it is the place that God has given us.

This weekend we are transitioning to 2 services – 9:30am and 11:15am – I want to invite everyone to come and encourage you to bring a friend, if you are out of the area but know anyone in the Orange Park or Jacksonville region – call them up, tell them they need to be there. It should be an awesome weekend.!

Pray for us this week- and I hope to see you there.

Journey may have an opportunity to have it’s own building and we could be doing Sunday services by August 24th of this year.

We are working with the owners of the former Cypress Club Ballroom to begin leasing their space in Orange Park off of Blanding Blvd. Everything is looking extremely positive.

Right now we are asking for everyone to join us in praying for God’s wisdom and direction for the next steps for Journey.

More details will be coming out rapidly and we will be holding an open house at the facility this Wednesday Night @ 7:00pm. Details and directions will follow.

We are extremely excited and believe this is a real God moment for the church!

We have a huge – momentous announcement for tomorrow night at church.

You will want to be there!