August 14, 2006

Happy Monday Team!

Thank you so much for your prayer support. We once again have tangible results to report. We had asked you to be in prayer for the spirit of worship to engage in our gatherings. The past 2 Sundays, we have been studying worship together. It is becoming obvious that some of our people are putting the puzzle together. Their minds are wrapping around the concepts of living sacrifice and God-centered praise. Small steps of surrender are also taking place in many people's lives.

We also asked you to pray about participation in our small group fellowship and discipleship groups. (You may have noticed some changes on the web site regarding small groups.) After a Sunday gathering devoted to the Biblical principles of small group participation we have seen 25% of our Sunday morning worshippers sign up to participate in our small groups.

We are beginning to feel like we are making it over the next hump of our genesis. Thanks for your prayer support. These are important developments in the process of building health into our church. The process is slow and can be discouraging, but your support is always an encouragement as we press on.

This week's prayer requests
1. Please pray that God will grow healthy/effective fellowship and discipleship groups from our launching event in September. Ask him to provide leadership and support for all that the ministry will entail.

2. Please pray that God will bless our efforts to show His love to our community at our Kindness Fair on August 26th.

3. Please pray that God will make our outreach and evangelism to the unreached successful.

Thanks for your prayer and support!

Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt, and Mason Kane
epic Hanford

July 24, 2006

Hello there team!

What a busy weekend for the Kanes. Merritt turned 6 on Friday, and on Saturday we celebrated with a huge Pirate Birthday Swarray. WE planned a pool party and had record breaking heat with the highest humidity of the year. While the kids were real troopers, getting out of the pool to play Pirate Treasure Coin Toss, Musical Islands, and Treasure Hunt we parents struggled to keep up. Parents, kids, and random pets returned to the pool between events to keep from 'swooning' in the heat. Then if that weren't enough for one weekend, we had an all-church swim party on Sunday evening. A full 1/2 of our Sunday morning crowd was there for our Sunday evening party.

Some Epic praise reports: Summer finances have been nearly as strong as our Spring finances. Even in the Summer vacation schedule new people continue to make connection to our congregation. Summer Supper groups are loved by all and have build the kind of connective friendships that are necessary to make us more than a crowd. Worship is growing in our gatherings. Small groups are nearly ready for launch in August/September. (At our most recent leadership collaboration there was an amazing unity in desire to see small group flourish in our congregation.) A Community Kindness Fair is in the works for late August with great excitement from our congregation. (Donations of school supplies are already flowing in.) This past Sunday morning was devoted to prayer: an amazing number of those present participated in the various stations for prayer provided.

This Week's Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for effective small groups to be formed in the coming weeks: relationally strong, spiritually authentic, Biblically sound, discipling. Ask God to bring strong leadership. Ask God to protect shared vision.
2. Pray for a meaningful Community Kindness Fair. Ask God to provide all the resources, including people and to give us wisdom in planning and promoting the event to our community. Pray that God will get all of the honor and glory at this event. Ask God to break down cynicism through our kindness.
3. Pray for Brad, Brent, and Lori Kane who are buying a business which will return Brad to the Aerospace industry that he loves. God needs to direct and provide in many ways.
4. Pray for Steve Farris who has run into barriers in opening his optometry practice in Hanford. He needs direction and favor with local zoning officials.
5. Pray for rest and focus for Bruce and Rhonda.

Thanks friends!!!!
Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt and Mason Kane

 

July 13, 2006

Hello!

It's a great time to share some terrific news with you.

On Sunday we baptized 5 people in the pool of one of our launch team members. It was a great celebration with worship and warm fellowship. Check out the pictures on the website 'gallery' page. www.epichanford.org

This past Sunday we also held a ministry faire over lunch. At the faire we had some individuals already serving on various ministry teams available to talk with people about the goals and mission of each team. Everyone could sit at the table marked with a ministry they thought they might be interested in. We had 13 people sign up to get more information about being involved in our ministries. We will invite them to upcoming ministry collaborations where they can get more involved if they choose.

In just about a month we will launch our home fellowship and Bible study groups as our summer supper groups conclude.

This Week's Prayer Requests:
1. Pray that those who showed interest in ministry involvement will enjoy the collaborations they attend and will get fully plugged in to ministry with epic.

2. Pray that we will achieve 65% of our Sunday morning gathering attendance involved in home fellowship and Bible study groups.

3. Pray that God will give us wisdom in planning and implementing collaborations and small groups for epic.

4. Pray for encouragement and refreshment for Rhonda and Bruce and the pace of a very full summer is weighing on us already.

Thanks for your prayer. Your prayers have sustained us as a family and the ministry we all share at epic.

Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt and Mason Kane

 

July 04, 2006

Happy Independence Day to you!!!

I am so pleased to report terrific things going on at epic!

Bruce just finished a week at Royal Family Kid's Camp 9 days ago. Rhonda and the epic worship and media teams just returned from the Purpose Driven Worship Conference and Festival.

On Sunday the 18th of June, epic launched a campaign of kindness in our city. Each attender that morning received $5.00 as the entered the building. On their seat was a note card with a general message of kindness from God. At the end of the message that day, each attendee was asked to use their $5.00 and their message card to perform a small act of kindness in the community. One person paid for the coffee of the person behind them in the McDonald's drive thru. The recipient of that gift was so impressed that they wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper. It was very exciting to see that small kindnesses do make a difference. (Check out the article on the front page of our website to get a link to the op. ed.)

This coming Sunday we will baptize 5 believers in water at our first baptism celebration. Be sure to look for news and images on the web site next week. Also this coming Sunday, we will host a Ministry Faire, offering the opportunity to get plugged in to God's service. We will do this over lunch following our morning worship gathering.

SOME COMMENTS FROM OUR NEWCOMERS:
"Since becoming a part of epic, I have gleaned more practical application of Biblical principles in my life. I have also found new reasons for faith and have reaffirmed my commitment to Christ."

"I have really grown in serving others. I really feel like a productive part of God's kingdom. I can't wait to go to worship gatherings and all my ministry team meetings, dinners, etc..."

"I have been having a very difficult time in life, but every message I hear and everyone I meet has encouraged me and is helping me get through this extremely difficult time."

THIS WEEK'S PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. Please pray that God will continue to meet the needs of our family during the summer months.
2. Please pray that God will provide a new location to store our trailer and supplies indoors. (Our current location is no longer available for storage.)
3. Continue to ask God to connect us with lost people so that we can introduce them to Him.
4. Please pray for the success of our ministry faire. Ask God to bring productive new members into service on our ministry teams. WE need to release two volunteers from Children's ministry in order to facilitate the launch of other ministries .

Thanks for all you do. You are making a huge impact in our corner of the globe through your faithful prayer.

Warmly,
Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt, and Mason Kane

May 31, 2006

Hello... OK, Sorry!

It has been nearly 1 month since our last prayer update. Things have been overly busy and even trying. Come commitments that were made before our launch are still being fulfilled and the demands of our expanding ministry are noteworthy. We do not intend to overlook you or the value that you are to the epic ministry. We continue to believe and to report to our team that you are the real backbone of what we are doing.

In the past 4 weeks, our gatherings have leveled off at between 100 and 140 people weekly. We have held our first monthly servant and leadership training session. We just celebrated together at our Memorial Day Picnic (see the gallery online).

We just completed our 3-week response to the DaVinci Code. The message series was very well-received and gave us a chance to discuss heavy-hitting theology in a very current and compelling context. We are launching a new series on 24-hour Christianity. The series will take us through most of the summer and has some very exciting elements as we unfold our vision for radical commitment to Christ in Hanford. The series will play off of the style of the hit TV show "24".

We have 6 additional people working with children. This is a direct answer to your prayers. Thanks again. We continue to need workers in our elementary age ministry. We also have a graphic designer on the team who is designing our weekly visuals for us now. In just a couple of weeks, our Prayer ministry will take off with a meeting of the minds of those who are passionate about training others in prayer and facilitating consistent prayer in our congregation.

Summer is the season of connection. Relationships are beginning to form but it is slower going than I expected. This concerns us, but we had designated the entire summer to focus on that element of our congregational life. It seems like we will need it all.

Our first baptism celebration is scheduled for early July. We have a handful of believers scheduled for that party.

Allie e-mailed Bruce this week and shared her gratitude for epic in Hanford. She had been attending church and not engaging with God for quite some time. She had allowed herself to be lulled into passivity in a setting that was not meaningful to her. She said that she feels like she has spiritually come alive since she found epic.

This Week's Requests
1. Please pray for meaningful relationships to develop and for a welcoming and inclusive environment to be fostered at epic.
2. Please ask God to inspire earnest worship at our gatherings, and to give us insight into what we might need to do and/or pray in that regard. While people 'enjoy the worship,' we are uncomfortable with the level of spectatorship. "24" will address this.
3. Pray about Bruce attending a leadership conference in July. The conference is called catalyst and was begun by John MacArthur for emerging leaders a few years ago. It is in Atlanta and appears to be cost prohibitive. But it would be incredibly valuable to epic at this important juncture.
4. Pray for our summer finances. Bruce will not be substituting and epic will begin to give us a salary. Church finances need to remain stable and... well you get it!

Thanks again.
Sorry again for the gap in communication.
We love and appreciate you.

Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt, and Mason Kane
 

May 3 2006

Hi there friends,

We're sorry that we did not get a prayer e-mail out to you last week. We had intended to do so from the hotel at which we were staying (explanation to follow), but internet service would have cost 10.00/day. We decided to go without that service.

Our Easter gathering was terrific. With 105 adults and 47 children we had a great celebration. 1 person committed their life to Christ.

This week at the Southern California District Council of the Assemblies of God, Epic was recognized as the 51 newly planted church in the first decade of the 21st Century. It was a terrific celebration of God's kingdom-building work here in Hanford. And thanks again to Glad Tidings Church - Hanford, Grace Assembly - Bakersfield, and Life Center - Lakewood for the God-sized support of this mission!

Today, we had 92 adults and 26 children. Another commitment to Christ and a continually growing community of worshippers.

We have been preparing to launch summer supper groups for a few weeks and put out sign-up sheets for the first time this morning. 45 people signed up to participate in these connection groups. (Summer Supper groups meet once a month in homes for 3 months for supper, just to get to know one another.) Some of our new participants are asking to help out with the ministry. We are doing our best to plug them in quickly.

It will be time for a membership process pretty quickly, to spread the vision and gain commitment.

We have 2 early teen boys with special needs who would like to participate in our elementary children's ministry program. One of the boys is the some of a launch team member. Chris has some learning disabilities, ADD and is bi-polar. The boys present a significant challenge to the elementary program. We do not yet have a youth ministry and need God's guidance and provision to meet their specific needs.

This Week's Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for Chris and Kyler - special needs boys. Pray for us to know how to meet their needs and how to address our abilities with their parents. Pray for Chris' mom, Kim. Her husband is away, on a military ship and she is dealing with Chris' issues on her own, in addition to the needs of their other 3 children. She is on the Worship team.

2. Pray that God builds meaningful Christ-centered relationships through our summer suppers. Pray that in the Fall, those groups will transition smoothly into home discipleship groups.

3. Pray for our mission to reach the lost of Hanford.

4. Pray that God blesses and refreshes all of those who have sacrificed to make Epic Church a reality.

Thanks So Much,
Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt, and Mason Kane

April 11 2006

Hello friends once again!

What an amazing weekend we had. We knew things were going to be right when it took us only 1 hour to completely set-up for our services.

We had 85 adults and 22 children this Sunday AM. It was a communion Sunday and we really celebrated. People are getting more comfortable being a part of epic and there were many people hanging around on the patio after our worship gathering: some great conversations taking place and some relationships being forged.

Bruce stopped by the local business of one of the couples who have been coming since the beginning. He went to HS with Lisa. We kind of thought that they had been coming to lend friendly support. We didn't really know where they were spiritually. But today, Craig (Lisa's husband) introduced Bruce to all of his employees and invited each one to our Easter gathering. The employees went on to report that Craig has been quoting Bruce in the weekly sales meetings. When Lisa stopped by to join the conversation she was warm and excited about being a part of epic. It turns out that they had tried and tried to find a church that fit, even driving 45 minutes to some wonderful congregations in Fresno, only to feel out of place and to give up trying. Most Sundays have been spent at home. They are very excited that 'God brought them a place like epic'.

A great friend and member of this team purchased 3300 door hangers for epic. Those hangers are going out this week. Already, we have had some great conversations with the recipients of those door hangers as we walk through our city. People have heard of us, either through our many advertising efforts, or through the testimony of people who have been to our gatherings. The questions are great and it is exciting to see that people have taken notice.

This Week's Prayer Requests:
1. Pray that God will bring many unsaved people to our Easter gathering and that as they encounter God there, they will accept Christ as their savior.

2. Pray that God will continue to heal Bruce and now the other members of the family who appear to have a weaker version of the illness.

3. Pray for authentic community to develop among the growing epic congregation. Ask God to build meaningful relationships that result in ministry participation with a vision to reach our city.

4. Pray for our discipling ministry. We need children's workers to volunteer so that those serving in leadership capacity there can be freed to take their gifted role in discipleship. Pray that God will make HIS way clear to us as we plan to launch small groups in just a couple of weeks.

Thanks for your meaningful ministry. God is giving us a very healthy start and we know that you are the key to that provision.

Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt, and Mason Kane

April 5 2006

Hello once again,

 

Well, as 10:45 came on Sunday morning, and there were 11 of us in the Pioneer School gym:  the sound man, the video tech, 6 members of the worship team, myself and the 2 guests I was talking with.  Oh yeah, there were the team members standing just inside the door with bulletins.  So right on cue I began to read a description of the interior of the tabernacle, just as we had planned.  The whole time I was thinking, "What could we have done to have scared everyone away?"  As I continues a few more people strolled into their seats.  After Rhonda's rendition of 'Holy Ground,"I stood up to give the message and found a room of 75 people eagerly watching me.  That was our count for Sunday, 75.  In evaluation of our response cards.

 

This week, people were much more verbal with those of us on the launch team.  They gave us comments like - "this is just what I've been dreaming of,"  "I never thought I would find a place like this...  I feel like I'm home already,"  and "I could really get into a church like this one...  I'll definitely be back."

 

Our guests are already signing up to participate in our fellowship activities.  We are planning to launch our small group ministry as supper groups that will share meals monthly for the summer. 

 

Kids are loving our children's ministries. 

 

One of the members of this prayer support team has purchased Easter invitation door hangers for us to use to keep reaching our community.  3500 homes will get an invitation to epic's Easter service through this means.  An additional 200 individuals will receive invitations from our current congregation through printed handout invitation.  And if we have the funds, we will air another commercial on local cable TV.  (Our launch commercials were the talk of Merritt's school...)

 

As you can see, the launch is behind us, but the work is not.  We have successfully introduced an idea of "uncommon" church to Hanford.  Now comes the hard work of building that church - one soul at a time.

 

This Week's Prayer Requests:

1.  Please pray for successful Easter outreach and additional souls added to God's eternal Kingdom.

2.  Please pray for those who have expressed a desire to make epic their home church to make meaningful connections with each other and with our launch team.

3.  Please pray that our newly started food resources ministry will be successful at meeting needs in Hanford.

4.  Please pray for Bruce who has been fighting a strong cold for 5 days.

 

Thanks for your continual intercession.  God is reaching people because of your faithfulness.

 

Bruce, Rhonda, Merritt, and Mason Kane

AND the whole epic launch team