12 Stone Church

Last weekend I had the chance to visit a church called 12 Stone in Atlanta, Georgia. It was an awesome trip! I've never seen a church so spiritually alive before. Every worship service we went to I was amazed at how excited the people were to worship God.

Beyond that I just love the heart beat of the church. Everything they do, everything they have is to reach the lost. Everything they have is seen as a tool to that end. And if what they're doing doesn't work than they'd try something different.

The DNA of the church is based on prayer and scripture. Specifically the scripture of Gideon. There are battles going on in people's lives. And you know even Gideon felt unsure and afraid when he was told by the Lord, "You are a mighty warrior". He felt like he was the least, but God said "I am with you". In the battles we face, just like the ones Gideon faced we need to remember that yes we often feel like the least, we are afraid and we feel weak, but God is with us and that makes all the difference. We need to start living like God is with us. 12 Stone is founded on this and when they pray over the service Saturday nights, and pray over the people, they carry swords as they pray. It's such a cool representation.

12 Stone is also a very artistic church. They use art worship...paint and dance. They're children's ministry is full of art. And they hired an artist from Israel who created a couple sculptures representing Gideon. One sculpture shows the moment the angel came to Gideon. On the one hand the angel gently cups Gideon's head in his hands. In the other the angel is pressing the sword into his hand. Gideon however still appears asleep. In the statue next to it Gideon is drinking the water cupped in his hand. he's gripping the sword in his hand and he's peering intently back at who he once was. However in this scene he is fully awake and knows that he is a mighty warrior. The stained glass that connects the two sculptures represents the heavenly battle that's taking place.

The church is awesome! Check out the pictures...

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12 Stone Church

This is the stained glass above the sculptures of Gideon

The DNA of the church

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The first sculpture of Gideon. The angel gently holding Gideon's head and placing the sword in his hand.

The second sculpture. Gideon peering back at who he once was.

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The sanctuary.

All the techy stuff--basically the brain of the church.
The worhsip was amazing!
We went to the college pastor's house for a cook-out.

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The tree gaurds the entry way to the early childhood of the children's ministry

This is the stage in the kindergarten and 1st grade room
All the children's ministry rooms have leveled steps for the kids to sit on with their small groups.

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The children's ministry is so awesome! All the murals are 3-D done on wood pieces so they stick out from the wall. It's so cool!

1st week and man, am I exhausted!

Jumping back into a crazy pace I'm finished with my first week and half of my senior (again) year. Working at Willow this summer has taught me just how fast things can change within a week's time and being back at IWU has proven to be no exception.

Moving off campus has been an interesting experience. For the first time in our lives we're learning how to deal with somewhat common household problems. In one weekend I survived a flood as the water heater in the apartment above rusted out and caused a steady stream of water to flow through our bathroom ceiling for an hour and half, and heard some type of critter living in the wall. Though I haven't heard our 'pet' for a few days now, so maybe (hopefully) he found his way out.

I've also learned the downfall of taking all gen eds in my final semester...between two history classes (where all the text books sound the same) american lit. and my biology class (where my prof speaks in some foreign scientific language--I swear!) I'm definitely working hard at balancing my homework time. Unfortunately I'm already on the stay up late and get up early schedule to get homework done and work ahead if I can. It's almost hard to believe that I have my first test on Monday--the second week of school!

Church is going great! The children's pastor has offered me a few leadership opportunities that will challenge and stretch me I'm sure. For our Wed. night program I'm leading the early childhood, at the end of September I'm planning and leading a training for our volunteers, and on Sundays I'm assisting in our large group program as well as building community with the volunteers in a once a month huddle. She also has me doing a few other things here and there, but these will be the main things I'll focus on this semester.

Praying to submit this year to God...I feel as though satan has been attacking me since then. Between the house issues, my boss and friend having what was first thought to be a heart attack, and a few other stresses along the way...I'm still just trusting in God and following his lead.