Go Orange and OUR Church!!

Last night our church wrapped up the last night for VBS, or GO ORANGE, as it was called. It was amazing!! You see, orange is a color that is actually the combination of two colors, red and yellow. With red acting as the church and yellow acting as the family, what you get when you combine the two is an amazing orange. An orange that is much more vibrant, interesting, and alive than either of the other colors. Our church, is among churches who believe that by combining the two, something amazing can happen within families.

Often, children are dropped off at their class as parents go into "big church" and nothing else much is said. What would happen if the parents and church came together with a common goal? What if the church planned its message series to coincide with what the kids are learning about in their class? What if the church provided families with weekly discussion questions to talk about it with their kids? That's exactly what is happening at Eastridge Community Church and I'm so in love with it!!!

A little background, I was a member there when Clay and I started dating. We were later married by the associate pastor, my old youth leader and were members there for several more years. We left Eastridge and became members at Passion Community Church, were our heart was at for a long time. A lot has changed now and the Associate Pastor who married us is now the Senior Pastor. We've been visiting ECC now since around December or January and while Clay and I have enjoyed it, we haven't made the commitment to join. Nothing has pulled us away to visit other churches yet nothing has given us that feeling of really wanting to commit either...does that makes sense?!?!

Last weekend, while talking with some friends on our back deck, Clay said something about "our" church and we realized at that moment that we (myself, Clay, and even Evan) never referred to ECC as "our" church. When speaking about it, in a sentence, we always call the church by it's name. For example, whereas, someone might say, "They go to our church," we would say, "They go to Eastridge." Sunday, during the kick-off for Go Orange, I found myself in love with ECC, silently repeating and praying asking God if this was "our" church. As I listened to Greg Miller talk about Go Orange, and the church's beliefs, I became a bit emotional wondering if this had just become "our church."

Our biggest reason for not committing before now has been because of our concern with Evan. He went from a classroom at Passion with 4 or 5 kids of which he was the oldest to a huge room filled with probably 50 or more kids, all aged K thru 5th grade. He found it very intimidating and he never wanted to go to church with us. Each Sunday was a constant battle, as he begged and pleaded to stay with his Amma and Ampa. Each Sunday we would hear things like, "I don't want to go to Eastridge" and "I don't like Eastridge." The workers in E-Town are awesome, by the way! Each week, that he didn't want to stay we would find Mrs. Andrea, she always calmed him down and helped him find a friend to sit with. I need to let her know how much I appreciate that!

Anyway, this week, at Go Orange, Evan has made several new friends and has looked forward to going to church each night! Everyday, he has told me how much he loves "our" church and wants to always go to "our" church. Like us, before this week, he never used the word, "our" church. Can you believe that?! Each of us, all using the terminology of "our church" separately! Now he's already looking forward to Sunday, so that he can go to "our church!" (I know, that sounds a bit redundant with all of the "our churches" in there, but I need you express the scope of what's happening in our family.)

Go Orange was very powerful for our family! We feel like we now have "our" church and that God gave it to us through Go Orange!

Below is a recap video from Go Orange this week at ECC. The music playing is played with the theme song from the week. All of the kids were given the CD on the first night and honestly, I'm surprised that ours still works, because it's been played on repeat so many times.

By the way, the skits, singers, and dancers that you see glimpses of in the recap video is a part of what the kids participate in weekly in E-town at ECC...it's amazing! For more information on "OUR CHURCH" check out http://www.eastridgefamily.org The song played in the recap video is "LIVE IT OUT" and can be purchased by clicking HERE.