Merry Christmas!!!

Mat 1:21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

That is the crucial element of the gospel. It is Great News. He would save me from myself. No longer would my own sins, mistakes, shortcomings, and pitfalls come back to haunt me. I have been saved from that.

About 2000 years ago we find Angel's beginning to preach the age old story that Jesus was soon to come on the scene and save people from their sins. Jude says that these things Angels desire to look into. Prophets of old were seeing into the destiny of the Church as they foretold of a Savior to come. And now in context of Matthew 1:21 it seemed the fate of the world was in the belly of a 14 year old virgin. Hebrews 10:5 says, "a body you have prepared me." Psalms 139 is clear about the formation of our natural and spiritual development.

The Good News is clear. He saved us from our sins and in response to His love we have responsibility to do the same. He saved you so go save others with His love. This is Christmas time. He came to give. Freely you have received, freely give!!! God Bless You.

3 Keys to Breaking Materialism

1. Generosity/Giving
2. Receiving
3. Love

1. Generosity/Giving
· Giving to God, others, others in need
· What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you
· Lu 6:38 Give and it shall be given…
· Give God your best.
· 3 wise men brought Jesus Gold Frankincense and Myrrh
· You must learn to give for the right reasons
· Giving makes you a generous person
· Proverbs says that when you give to the poor, you lend to the Lord and He will repay you.
· When you give you break the spirit of greed, and materialism

2. Receive
· People must learn to receive
· Part what makes this season great, is receiving when you don’t deserve it.
· A gift is free.
· You don’t earn it, work for it, or save for it. Just open it!!!
· Mk 11:22-24 believe that you receive when you pray…
· Don’t be too prideful to receive help, or money, or prayer.
· It is a natural flow in life to give and to receive, but it is better to give.
· Rms 6:23 wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
· What is something that is too great to receive?
· Is there anything that you would say that is too much, I won’t receive it!

• Learn to Receive!
  
  3. Love
  · 1 Cor 16:14-do everything with Love
  · 1 John says God is Love
  · Ascribing worth to each other

Some Greek Words for Love
· Agape love-unconditional God kind of love
· Phileo Love- friendship love
· Eros-Erotic, love between a husband and wife (yeah!)

· We must learn to ascribe worth to each other, and to our enemies

· Mat 5 let them see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.

HC Prospectus

Horizons now has the finished product available. "The Prospectus". The purpose of this is to adequately describe in some detail the scaffolding or structure of the organization. If you are interested in one, please email me for a copy. I could put it on this site, but that would be too easy. I want you to request it! Many are!! Those that see it say it is done with excellence and professionalism. Only the best for you! It is simply a conversation piece. In detail, it is a 45 page, full color, with pictures (for those that like that!), descriptive, glossy, informational tool to show you that much hard work is being done to lay the ground work of our new church. We want all the systems, infrastructure, and organization to be done with full harmony before we even open the doors. There is much work to be done, but it gives us all purpose!

I am hesitating to name any names at this point, but many thanks go out to the one who opened his doors to me, to print 40 copies of a 45 page prospectus! That is 1800 pages (so you don't have to get your calculator like I did). It was taking me 1 whole hour to print only 1. You can do the math on the time it saved me, not to mention printing costs, paper and ink. God Bless You MK3. You know who you are. You get the MVP award for this month for HC.

More later. God Bless.

Vision, Mission, Core Values

Horizons Church posted its Vision, Mission, Core Values, and Committments in the last post.

Check it out under "Vision".

Vision

Vision is one of those things that comes from the seat of desire. When you begin to get a vision about your life or what you want to do, you realize pictures of desire within yourself that are not yet achieved. But these dreams become the frames of the future as you put the scaffolding around your dreams. That scaffolding is the vision. It is large and tall, but there are a lot of gaps. You may right out your dreams and desires. What you want can become a vision for your life if you can lay out a clear process for attaining those dreams. So the dreams, desires, hopes, and anything ever scratched on a restaurant napkin, only become vision as you begin to envision those things happening.

Also, the next thing supporting your vision is the mission, and core values of what you are, and what you want to be the bullet points of your vision. Things that you will always come back to in life, regardless of what happens, those become your core values. No matter what, core values are made up of what works. Your mission will begin the road to how you will achieve the vision. See if you like this Vision, Mission, and Core Value sheet. It is called The Plan...

The Plan

The Vision
To Know Christ and Make Him Known

The Mission
To Passionately Love God, Sacrificially Love Each Other, Stay Committed To The Lost

Core Values
1. Great Communication
2. Building Strong families, and Develop Great Relationships
3. High Impact, High Energy Music Teams
4. Great Kids and Student groups
5. Life-Giving Small Groups
6. Stay Committed to the Lost, or Reaching People
7. Planting Missional Churches for Impact

Commitments
1. Build Strong Families Through Great Relationships.
2. Evangelism Through Bridge Builders, Church Planting, Events, and Individual Servant Hood.
3. High Energy-High Impact Worship Experience With Focus On The Presence Of God.
4. Maximum Impact Media Presentation Through Technology To Reach All Interests In TV, DVD, Internet, Satellite, Radio, ETC.
5. High Energy-High Impact, Culturally Relevant Kids, Student (Jr & Sr High), College and Singles Groups.
6. Multiplication through Solid Discipleship, Practical Bible Teaching and Small Groups.
7. Spirit Filled Community Of Believers Loving God and Loving Each Other.
8. Great Stewardship through Giving- Our Time, Talents, and Treasures For God’s Purposes.
9. Partnerships by Networking New Relationships for Kingdom Advancement.
10. Leadership to Bring Help, Hope, and Encouragement.

New Church Starting

This post is to begin the call to reach thousands of souls for Jesus Christ.

What a responsibility we have to focus our efforts with the completed work of Jesus Christ.

The best way to evangelize is to plant churches.

Within 2008, Horizons will launch a great church with hundred of volunteers to serve you.

The Church itself has been called by God, but it does have nonprofit status too!

The Vision
To Know Christ and Make Him Known

More later, on the mission and core values, but let that sink in a bit!

Everything is Great

Thank you everyone for being so patient with me. I was out of state this week, and I will be updating plenty more next week. God Bless You. I will be praying for you.

Dan Mastrogiacomo

Favor

Favor is very interesting. Blessing and favor can overtake you. Blessing is something you have, but favor is something you walk in and grow in.

Luke 2:52 Jesus grew in favor with both God and man.

Favor grows on you as you walk out a measure of blessing.

I was investigating some public schools in our area the other day for potentials to launch Horizons Church in the future.

A few days before someone had told me about a church building for sale in Rochester.

Well, I heard about it about 3 times from 3 different people.

I went and looked at it. As usual it had a realtors name on a sign that wouldn't call me back.

I really wanted to talk to the former pastor.

As I looked closer to the front glass doors all the former pastors info was attached to the door.

I called him and immediately he arrived to show me the building.

The building was for sale for $800,000. For some of you that is chump change, for me I choked because I had something in my throat.

He said they would be interested in letting us use the building either until it sold or we could figure out something later.

I am waiting on a call back from him...

Favor!

Non-Profit Status!!!

Horizons Church now has non-profit status!!!

All you big givers that were waiting for this, now is your time to empty your wallets!

Horizons has an incredible challenge to raise $30,000.

We have hooked up with another church planting organization called ARC.

They will match my $30,000 with their $30,000!

For all you math wizards, that's $60,000!

I will send a breakdown later of all the details needed.

Sound systems, children's ministry curriculum, Building Rental...God has it all!

Get in faith with us! God Bless You.

You Don't Want To Miss This

Horizons Church is beginning core group meetings on Thursday's now.

I was just in Louisiana last week and met with some church planters, and a church planter organization named, ARC.

They want to partner with us!

Horizons Church now has the opportunity to have matching funds.

For every dollar you give it will be matched!

Hopefully, that will inspire you to give more!

$30,000 is the amount to raise, and of course the amount turns into $60,000 by my new friends at ARC.

Check them out at Association of Related Churches.

Updates

Horizons is on its way to being a huge conglomerate of churches in the Detroit metro area with all the surrounding counties around. 6 church plants over the next 12 years is the plan. But, I can already see that happening before 12 years. But, we can't put the cart before the horse! Rochester Hills is the first plant coming out of the gates with one month away before our launch of advertising. The advertising will be used to build a core group of families. It won't be our launch for first services yet, but hopefully we can put a date on that sometime in Feb of 2008! The vision of Horizons Church is clear and simple, To Know Christ and Make Him Known. If you are reading and are interested in being part of a new church that will impact your lives with high energy worship experience, a great place for your kids to be trained up, and positive, and encouraging proclamation of who Jesus is, then this is the place for you. Consider it, think about it, contemplate it, review it, rehearse it. You know you want to be part of it. Just do it! Engage.

The best way to evangelize is to plant more life-giving churches. God is doing something incredible in this last end time hour. But He is doing a new thing. Luckily, it is not smeared with the muddy puddles of some other move of God. God never puts a patch on anything. He always grants a new fresh wind of His Spirit to a new generation of vessels. What are you? Old wineskin, or new? It is not an age group either, necessarily, but a willingness to move with God by faith. God does not have to move the same way He did 40 years ago in order for it to be genuine. I know I am speaking the language of my readers now. How do you describe steak to someone who can't chew? How do you describe the color blue to a blind person, or at least color blind? The new thing God wants to do is hard to explain because it has never been on our plate before. But we have a few hints from the Lord...hungry yet? More later!!!

The Waiting Game

Waiting many times in life is so difficult. But some of the best things in life take time to settle. Anything made well, is made slow. We really don't know what we want until we have waited to see what we don't want. That has been the case as Ashley and I have been looking at houses. You see a lot of what you don't want, and very little of what you do want. Either way, waiting can be the most difficult thing when you are in a hurry, or being impatient. When your patience gets frustrated with time, recognize that God is in control. When things are out of your control, that is when God is at His best. When you can't touch it and mess things up! Usually when you wait for what God has for you, it is really what you wanted, and it is better too!

If we could see 3 months, 6 months, or even farther up the road, then we wouldn't need faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11). We believe for things we can't see. But if we have what we are already believing for we don't need faith. From time to time we can't escape the idea that we have needs. We hate to need, but love to want. But God supplies all of our needs! So not only does He grant us what we are believing for (things according to His will), but He also gives us the faith to carry on and receive the rewards of what we think is "our" faith. Mark 11:22-24 is clear. Verse 1 states to Have faith in God. That literally means to have the faith of God. God has faith. Through faith the worlds were created (Heb 11:1-3). That is why faith in Christ alone is so important. Our faith, becomes His faith as we partner with the Holy Spirit to see the will of God accomplished here on Earth.

Faith doesn't have to be large. It just has to be present. Just know that with God nothing is impossible. God bless you with faith for today. Remember, His mercies are new every morning!

Let's Talk About Love

Love is something unique in the eyes of God. God's love toward us is unconditional. Meaning, we can't earn it, whether we believe in Him or not His love for us is greater than the universe. Bible says that God is Love. Interesting enough, His love is in us for others.

Think about a channel. A channel in a waterway allows (keyword) something to pass through it. The great gift of being a channel for the Lord is the residue left in it.

Let me explain,
Jesus feeds the 5000. After the 5000 eat and are stuffed the disciples pick up 12 baskets extra for them to take home. They were the channels God used to bless others. After they finished serving others there was a whole basket left over for each of them! They were left with what we would describe as the scraps or leftovers. These however were not leftovers like they had sat out and become stale, but left wholly for them. To be used of God is the greatest honor in the World, but Love is the thing that conquers all. And when you allow God's love to permeate your being for others, you not only get what you are giving out, but fresh bread in quantity and quality.

It is the Love of God to save the best wine till the last. It is the Love of God to save the lost sinner. And it is the Love of God, above all things that will speak louder than words.

Your Word Is Your Bond

Back a few years ago I went to a Promise Keepers convention somewhere, and all I remember was one of the preachers, I don't know whether it was Tony Evans, Ed Cole or any of the other divine line-up, speak about your word being your bond. People must do what they say they are going to do. When people fall short of that too many times their character is in question. Now we all have grace for the one who is double-booked in his planner, or someone like myself, that if I don't write something down, I may forget entirely...that is not what I am discussing. But someone that makes promises and never keeps them has a serious problem. I don't know if it is a vitamin B deficiency or if they are just plain liars. Call me stupid, but because I try to do the things I say I am going to do, I guess I sort of expect others to do the same. It bothers me, can't you tell? People say things to get you off their back or just to blow you off. That is not true friendship right? Of course not. I want to encourage a few readers to keep strong character, and do what you say you are going to do. Your word is your bond. I know people are human, and not perfect, but how about a little common courtesy to each other. We shouldn't have to put our hand on the Bible to tell the truth, just do it! Keep your commitments.

The Core

Check this out, tellstart.com
I think you will find this very appealing if you have ever thought about starting a church or even a business of any kind. I had a long conference call today with Phil Spry, who is a pastor, church planter from Raleigh, NC. Part of reaching out to others takes work, energy, and money. I am looking to evangelize to a large scale of people to not only start Horizons Church, but to discover a core of believers that want to get in on the ground floor of this new plant. I am interested in you to help be a part of what God is doing in Rochester, and the Port Huron church as well. There are many opportunities for others to get involved, whether you play an instrument or sing, or administrate, or work with children, or whatever. Send me a note and be a "peace" of the puzzle.

Calling All Bloggers

We have moved down into Rochester Hills from Bay City as you know. I have also adjusted our phone numbers to fit into the 248 area code. Dan's new cell number is 248.202.6990 and Ashley's new cell number is 248.202.6867
Please make the appropriate adjustments to your rolodex!
That is all for now!

Called To Stay With The Stuff

1 Samuel 30:1-31 gives the account of David coming home to Ziklag from battle. His wives and children are kidnapped, and his hometown literally burned to the ground. The smoke from his home I am sure was still smoldering, and now all David's men want to kill him because of the loss of their families to the Amalekites. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. God told him to go and get his wives and children and he would prevail. They get to a brook, and 200 of David's 600 men are too tired to go save their loved ones! I don't know about you but if some joker wants to take my wife and kids behind my back and I find out about it?!...Someone will be picking up their teeth with a broken arm! Know what I'm saying brah!? Well, you get the idea, shoot first and ask questions later! Anyway, I get so sidetracked! David recovers all that he lost plus all the plunder of the Amalekites. When he goes to share it with all 600 of his men, the 400 are ticked at the 200 who were being pansy's about saving the world! And David says something very important that the Church needs to learn, 1Sam 30:23-24 New Living Translation, "No my brothers, Don't be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of raiders that attacked us...We share and share alike-those who go to battle and those who guard the equipment, or like KJV, stay with the stuff".

Some of you are called to be on the front lines taking ground in a five-fold ministry calling, and others of you are called to stay back and stay with the stuff, or guard the equipment. At times you are able to go on short term missions but really most of the time you are not called to the front lines in the sense of leading a whole church in a lead role. But what you must understand is that God views your role as equally important as those who go and those who stay with the stuff because both are needed. Roles may be different, but responsibility to be obedient is still the same for both parties. Some of you are great in business and God has given you a knack for making money. My friends, make billions! Just keep Jesus front and center and He will continue to pour through you to others. Be blessed to be a blessing!

Horizons Church over the next few weeks will have some expenses in regards to 2 computers-$2000, a Direct mail approach to the Rochester Community-$3000, and some printing costs for advertising and informationals-$2500.

Those are the immediate needs, but maybe you could help with all of these items, or a portion. Many times money donated can be looked at, the same as you partnering with a particular ministry as the Lord lays it on your heart. The blessing that you receive is limitless, but all of us get to share in the victory. Example: If I give money to a missionary it is because I cannot make it to the areas that missionary will go, but I can make sure that missionary is doing what God has told him to do by sending him the means to do it. And when he succeeds, we all rejoice and share in the victory because we partnered together. Partnership is great because everyone profits at victory.

Consider what the Lord might have you to do. Partner with us! All checks can be made out to Horizons/LFC, with Rochester in the check memo. As always you will get your tax deductible receipt at the end of the year for your stewardship. Please mail it to 165 W. Hamlin Rd, Rochester Hills, MI 48307.

Remember, all that we do, we do as unto the Lord, as we partner with Him. God Bless You!

Port Huron

God is doing something spectacular in Port Huron! I believe it is a gateway spiritually too. About 8 weeks back my wife and I began praying about leading a small church in Port Huron. It is called, Blue Water Christian Church. The water in Port Huron is blue like the ocean. For all you Bay City folk, you won't know what I am talking about! BWCC was planted back in the 1940's. There are still some people there that have been there from the beginning. There style is very traditional. I am very accustomed to that from growing up at Bethesda Christian Church. However, I have changed quite a bit in my methods, but luckily the message is still the same! We really love the people there and they seem to reciprocate that love. They are very encouraging and believe in church planting. They have been talking to us about potentially planting a "Horizons Church" in Kettle point. Yes, that is in Canada. Some of the past leaders from this church used to do services over there, that were standing room only! About 50% of BWCC membership is made up of people from Canada. Some of them wait on the Blue Water Bridge almost 2 hours to come to church. We have since been set in as their Pastors. As we pastor this group of people we are very hopeful that this church will grow. Their weekly Sunday attendance is about 40-50 people. As we begin some outreach, which is simply reaching out to others...we will see more people come to the Lord. Be in Faith with us. I am believing for over 200 people for BWCC in the next year. Check it out some time. Blue Water Christian Church is located on 14th and Chestnut, here is the address...
www.bluewaterchristian.org

Where Do We Go From Hear? (no typo!)

Well, we are closing on our house Wednesday at 3:30pm. What a ride! We are also moving on Friday morning to Rochester Hills. Thursday night I will pick up 2, 26ft trucks, well one is a 24ft truck, but we will be out of Bay City, Friday sometime. We will miss all of our relationships here.

When Moses stood and stared at the Red Sea, I am sure that he thought in the "flesh" for a moment, "God, what the heck are we going to do? The Egyptians are barreling down the hills at us and the Red Sea is splashing us in the face. Where do we go from here?" We have all seen the movie of the great Moses in his multi-striped robe facing his rod out over the water. Moses heard God every step of the way. He, in a sense had his ears pressed up next to the lips of God. From time to time you need to know specific direction in your life. I believe Moses received that same type of direction in places like the cleft of the rock, like scripture says. Or at other times on the backside of the desert tending sheep. Either way, they are places of potential lonliness, or at least solitude. No matter how you slice it, it stinks. Tending sheep stinks quite literally, but spending the night in the mountains in some cave isn't so appealing either! Sometimes the places that God speaks to you are difficult, hard places, where you say, like David in the Bible said, God, I can't see you, feel you, or touch you, but I know you are there!

God allows those times in your life for you to press into Him. He wouldn't let you go through anything that you couldn't handle. Here is good news. If you are facing a giant, (not the boring Christian movie), it must mean you can handle it. He is always with you for the purpose of helping you, and to show Himself strong, so man cannot say that he did 'this' by his own hand. Ok, I have to say it, Wise Men Still Seek Him!!! Enough.

Stress

Over the last few weeks I have heard from a number of people about the kind of stress that people are under. Well I am well accoustomed to stress. I am trying to run 2 churches. One in Port Huron, the new church plant with Horizons, plus moving, transitioning out of our home church, and so much more. How many know that there is a level of stress in my own life that needs to be dealt with. Some of the ways that I deal with stress are these...

Run
Not running away from my problems, even though I would like to! But physically running. I never needed to run when I was younger, but now I find myself in the need of some good cardio work at least 3 times per week. Of course you know the physical benefits of excercise, like chemically balancing out! But there is a mental rejuvination that comes with working out too. Eitherway, with my ipod blaring my favorite worship licks, or some great preacher yelling in my ears, seems to be, in some odd way, relaxing. So Get off the couch, in fact run as fast and as far away from that couch as possible!

Prayer
Prayer is the good Christian, religious answer. But it works. You need some time everyday to steal away and be energized by God Himself. Jesus said it best when He said in Mat 26:41, pray that you don't enter into temptation. Prayer does a lot of things for us, but one thing is for sure, I have a sense of accomplishment when I have prayed. Not in an arrogant way, but it is the right thing to do. Temptation in any area is taxing on the mind. So pray, so you don't have to "enter" into it! Someone one time said that they never get tempted, they just give into it! Well, that is a joke people. You've got to pray, just to make it today!

Get a Life
My wife and I went fishing today. It was great! She thinks she caught more fish than I did, but I definately caught the largest fish. At least 22inches, no joking around. There has been a serious level of stress at our house with all that has been happening, so we decided to stop packing the house for a few hours, take the boat out, hit the water, and just chill, or in my words, FISH. There was barely a breeze on the Saginaw River and pretty quiet. We spent some good time together as we enjoyed freedom. My point is this...have a mountain to run to. Jesus did. And so do I. Get a Life! Enjoy the Lord, and enjoy the ones God has put in your Life. So don't be a loser, Get a Life!

Moving

We are moving next Friday the 24th out of Bay City! It's pretty scarry, but the Lord is with us. 2 huge trucks are rented and we are going to Rochester Hills. We are still looking for a house, but we will stay at my parents house during this transition. Thank God for that. Horizins Church is looking intently for people that want to be part of the ground floor of a new church plant. Maybe you, or someone you know would be interested. Pass this info along and see what happens. Many are beginning to partner with us through prayer and support. Also, my wife and I are also pastoring another church in Port Huron too. That church is called Blue Water Christian Church. It is a great group of people hungry for the Lord. There is some great potential looking to come out of Port Huron. So we are working on planting a new church in Rochester Hills, along with Pastoring the Port Huron church as well. Sounds like a full plate, which is true, but I would like to plant about 6 churches over the next 12 years. Calling all those church planters out there, this could be your time! I had a call the other day from someone from out of town willing to quit their job and come up to be trained and be one of the first ones to be sent out to plant out of Horizons! How exciting! More on that later.

You Can't Get In The Way

I come in contact with so many people that are trying to figure out God's will for their life. Most of those people usually want the "pastoral" answer for their questions. However what I have found in my relationship with the Lord, that God gets what He wants, when He wants it, regardless of you, but he wants you too. For instance, when God wanted it to rain on the earth, and a flood to come, he called Noah. Noah had never seen rain nor knew what rain was. He just simply knew God wanted a boat. Even though Noah didn't have the first clue about rain, he had a hint about a boat. So he built a boat based on obedience, not about his presuppositions about rain. God of course, gave Noah exact dimensions about the details of the boat after he committed to building the boat. What am I saying? I am glad you asked because once you are obedient to do what God has asked you to do, then all the details will fall into place. Many times we want the details up front, but those only come through the faith of obedience. When your patience is frustrated with time, consider Noah. It took him about 100 years to built that boat. For all of us that is more than a lifetime that any of us deserve. However, I have to believe that Noah thought from time to time that maybe he was getting in the way of what God wanted, or maybe it was taking him too long to build the boat! God graced Noah with time to build the ark, and then the rains began. It is God's grace to allow us any time at all, let alone, 100 years. But the payoffs were huge! Noah built an ark for the saving of his house. And God is creating something great inside of you, but it will take time. Hopefully not 100 years, even though it seems that way at times. So don't think that you are in God's way. He is The Way. If you are following Christ to the best of your abilities you won't mess it up, don't worry! The plan of God for our lives is so supernatural that at times I have felt as though I can't do anything to mess this up. Remember for all you control freaks, like myself, God is in control. You cannot mess this up! Let Go and Let God!

New Email Addresses

Don't forget that Ashley and I have new email addresses too.
Dan's is pd@horizonschurch.tv
Ashley's is AshleyM@horizonschurch.tv

Ashley's Grandma

Ashley's grandma passed away Sunday morning at 9:30am. It has been very difficult for her, and of course her mother. Ashley has been a real trooper through this whole thing. She is dealing with the loss of her grandma, plus our transition out of Bay City. A lot is happening right now, and we know that through Christ we can do all things, but it is not always easy. Please pray for Ashley, and the family as we face the funeral Wednesday morning at 10am. On Thursday morning we are looking at a number of houses too. One for the second time! We will keep you filled in, if you keep us in prayer.

New Email Addresses

Hopefully you are enjoying the new site. Here are our new emails for both Ashley and I.
pd@horizonschurch.tv or AshleyM@horizonschurch.tv
send us a note and let us know that you got it!

Now Look For Daily Updates!

Now expect to see daily updates as we begin the work of building a core group. email in and let us know how you can help.

The Timeline (Phase 1)

This process has been an absolute roller coaster. But I suppose the ride that you would want to get in line again for! I thought for some of our soon to be many readers, I would give a general timeline of what we have done to this point and keep updating that as we go.

Christmas Time

Christmas 06
My wife and I begin to sense that in 2007 the Lord would lead us out of Bay City.
My Senior Pastor confirmed. And at our staff Christmas party in 06 the beans were spilled and the staff found out. Secrets are so hard. We never told!

California

I started 2007 off with the idea of leaving Bay City within 2007. 1st quarter seemed normal, but with some expectancy of the future. In March I took a trip to California with my Sr.Pastor to speak in some churches and conferences, but in the mean time we were chewing on some of the details of what leaving Bay City meant. Good, deep, thought provoking discussions. In the churches we were at, they were confirming to us that the Lord was at work in the darkness and change would be coming. All the more, it began to confirm to me the idea of church planting this year. Timing is a huge thing. If you don't think it is, then please think again...
California was very pivotal in my life as my Sr. Pastor began to not only confirm the call to do what God wanted us to do, but also get behind it and support it!

The Pastors

After I got back from California my wife freaked out a little as the realization of planting a church became clear. Not just the church thing, but leaving Bay City, uprooting my family, and starting over in another city, in another house. I was cleared to begin to investigate with other Pastors in the Rochester area or surrounding areas to meet with others to discuss our plans, and get prayer support from other leaders in the local area of Rochester Hills. Most of the pastors, about 15 in all, were very supportive. A lot more than I thought would be. That was my first stage of the process of just getting familiar with the area again. Remember, I grew up in Rochester, so making some of these contacts were not difficult as I began to think a little. I met with these leaders for the purpose of casting the vision for Horizons Church, to give a courtesy call to the existing leaders, and to hopefully network with them in the future so that our relationships will continue. It has been very fruitful to do that. I have made some brand new relationships, and strengthened the existing ones too! Also they are opening there church to us to come speak and raise support for the vision of Horizons Church.

Thursdays

Shortly after I started meeting with pastors, I had many meeting with so many people that my pastor and I decided that on Thursdays I would be out of my office in Bay City, and begin to work the Rochester area. It helped schedule meetings with others and get things accomplished in the beginning of the week for Bay City, and also work on the Horizons Church Thursday's- Sunday's. Also any Sunday and Wednesday was open to me to speak at other churches to begin to raise funds for Horizons. However not everyone lined up at once to open their churches! But they seem to be now!

The Big One

The last thing was to ask to be released from our duties at the church to begin to work on Horizons Church. My pastor was out of town, but I think he was feeling it too before he left for his conference. Either way, while he was gone my wife and I prayed that if it was the will of the Lord to be released in that way, he would say yes. When he returned home we talked at a little restaurant on the water that afternoon. He seemed to be excited for us and was willing to "cut us loose"!But he did make me buy lunch though...hmmm. The Lord has been very faithful to Ashley and I. There are so many details along the way, so,try to remember, this is just a brief overview of our progress. I cannot even begin to type in our feelings, and the temperature of each day, maybe another time.

Yard Sale!!!

Lastly, there have been 5 specific things that we needed to sell or be removed before we fully exited out of Bay City.

1. The House
2. The Scooter
3. The Tree to be Removed
4. The Truck
5. The Garage Sale

1. We asked the Lord to sell our house without a for sale sign. On Friday morning we were going to put a sign in the yard on July 27, 2007. Saturday, 7/21/07 I get a call someone is interested in the house. Monday the 23rd they walk through our house and love it. Thursday 7/26 they walk through with other family members and write a purchase agreement on it, and we accept it! The night before!!! We presently need to find a house, so pray....!!!

2. I owned a little scooter for zipping around town at 65 miles per gallon. I did not want to take that to Rochester with me. It only goes 55mph! Detroit areas tend to move a little faster than that. My next door neighbor bought it last Thursday! I talking about getting what I am asking for it too! However my son Angelo cried when I sold the scooter. Angelo and I would bomb around the block on that thing. He loved it. I had to promise, that if he wanted one later in life, when he could drive it on his own, I would buy him another one. I quickly said yes. We went for one last "hurrah".

3. We had a dead tree in the front yard that I had called the city about a few times.
They said they would come out and cut it down, but we didn't know when. Months went by, and the tree limbs kept falling into my driveway. I prayed that Sunday night about what seemed like the silliest thing. Monday morning the city came and cut it down, and grinded out the stump too!

4. I also had a little red truck with 187,000 miles on it. It was a blessing to somebody that actually gave me money for it!

5. We had a garage sale along with our subdivision last weekend. Things weren't selling like we thought until one hour before we were to close up a little Mexican gal came in and bought literally everything on the table having to do with kids clothes and toys. We had items for $1.00 or less. She spent over $300 that day. My wife cleaned up the garage sale with a smile!

The most incredible thing about all 5 of these sales was that it all took place in the last 2 weeks! God is moving. People are quitting their jobs, moving up from out of state because they feel God is calling them to be part of Horizons Church.

too many stories to tell...
you are now brought up to "speed"

The Release

Today Ashley and I were "released" from BVCC, to lead a church in Port Huron, and also begin the new church plant of Horizons Church. We are going to do both. The Port Huron church's name is Blue Water Christian Church. It is located on 14th and Chestnut in the heart of Port Huron. It is a small church of 40 people that are hungry to keep the doors open. As the Lord makes change available we are going to run with it! Their style is very traditional and very different then what I have been accustomed to. However I am very aware of their style and perception of "Church". I don't want to infringe on that, but they are ready for change. The age group of the church is about 60 and up! I am only 33, but they can be lead, and that is my excitement for them. We are being "set in" in Port Huron next Sunday morning at 11am. As for our new church plant, we won't be having Sunday services till 2008.

Please do not be scared of the photo or the tie!

Presently a core group is being established. If you want to be a part of a new church plant email me @ Pastordan@bayvalleycc.org or ashley.dani@sbcglobal.net

Horizons Church

This is the new future spot for Horizons Church coming to Rochester Hills, Michigan very soon!