Del Sol Northeast update - 01/13/20X

Here's the latest update on Del Sol Northeast:

- Sunday the 10^th was our third and final preview service at Del Sol Northeast. It was a great experience and was a booster shot of momentum for our launch team. We had 53 adults between the 9:30 volunteer service and the 11:00 public service, 11 kids, and 7 in the band and tech team. That’s a total of 71 people in attendance for the day. Since we’ve had 2 kids for both of the previous preview services, it was great to see so many kids there and their parents as well.

- Aside from our launch team (which is a mix of Del Sol people that live in the Northeast and that live on the Eastside), we had around 20 adults from the community show up for the public service. That really helped give the room a fuller feel and it helped create somewhat of a buzz about what’s going on at Del Sol NE. As I’ve followed up with the guests from Sunday, they’ve all seemed excited about their experience with us and seem to want to come back for our grand opening on the 24^th.

- Most of the people from the community who showed up were people we had met through previous outreaches like our Fall Festival and other servant evangelism events we’ve done. A couple of them had been invited by people from Del Sol East and one family showed up because some of our launch team members had seen them stopped on the side of the road and pulled over to help them.

- On Saturday the 23^rd, we’ll invest some time in outreach at a convenience store and a laundromat not too far from the NE campus. We’ll invest a couple of hours washing windows and mirrors for people at the convenience store and giving people tokens to pay for their laundry loads and detergent for them to use. As they do their loads, we’ll take time to talk with them and hear their stories, try to entertain their kids a bit, and will also have some coffee and donuts available – all of it will be free, no strings attached, just to show God’s love in a practical way and to invite them to the service the next day.

- So our grand opening will be Sunday the 24^th at 9:30 and 11:00 am. I want you to know that you’re invited. We would love to have you come see what God is doing in Northeast El Paso through Del Sol NE. Also, on Thursday the 21^st, we will have a time of worship through prayer and praise at the NE campus from 7 – 8:30 pm and you’re more than welcome to come then as well.

Here's how you can pray this week:

1. Ask God to bless our upcoming outreaches and the grand opening, making them fruitful and successful according to how He would define success. Ask Him to give us favor with those we are trying to reach, that they would see we have no other motive than to share God’s love with them.

2. Please continue asking the Lord to give me wisdom so that I can delegate what is appropriate to delegate and so that I can use my time wisely and efficiently, and in a way that honors Him.

3. Ask the Lord to continually encourage our volunteer launch team members - that they would know that their work is tremendously valuable and that God will honor them as they honor Him. Ask the Lord to show me how I can constantly encourage them in and equip them for ministry.

Thanks for your prayers - I truly believe they make a big difference.

- Ariel Martinez | ariel@delsolchurch.com

Del Sol Church - Northeast Campus Pastor

11501 Vista del Sol, El Paso, TX 79936

Office: (915) 855-3798 ext. 231 | Cell: (915) 449-0552

Excusing vs. Confessing

A few days ago I wrote about a major lesson that was drilled into me last year - the difference between expectation and expectancy. Another major life lesson that God was teaching and reinforcing in me last year is the important difference between excusing and confessing.

Maybe you hadn't given much thought to the difference between expectation and expectancy, bit I think that if we were honest, we'd probably say that we're a bit more familiar with excusing vs. confessing. And if you're anything like me, you probably excuse your faults far more than than you confess them.

When you're excusing your faults, you say things like "I'm sorry I'm late, but ..." or "I know you said you didn't want me to do that, but ..." or "Yeah this is wrong, but ..." There's always a "but" and there's usually some remorse and sorrow - but it's usually remorse and sorrow for getting caught, not for erring. Excusing gets you off the hook in the short term, but in the long term it hurts relationships because people will eventually get tired of your big ol' but, will stop giving you the benefit of the doubt, and you'll lose credibility because people will stop trusting you. Keep it up and you'll become known as someone who always has an excuse, albeit usually a really lame one.

Confessing is different. Confessing is healthy and though it can occasionally hurt relationships in the short term, it actually strengthens and fortifies relationships in both the short and the long terms. Confessing is saying "I'm sorry." Did you get that? It's saying "I'm sorry - period." Not "I'm sorry, but ...", just I'm sorry. It's owning up to your mistakes and being willing to accept the consequences and hopefully the grace, mercy, and forgiveness that will come with your confession.

Funny thing is, in the Bible God doesn't mention much about excuses except to condemn them and show how people really mess up and look pretty lame when they make excuses. God does talk in Proverbs 28:13 and James 5:16 about the incredible power of grace and mercy that comes when you confess your sins.

I wasted too much time and squandered too much credibility in 2009 making excuses, so as 2009 came to an end I decided to stop excusing and start confessing. And now that 20X is off to a running start, I hope that you will choose with me to not waste any time excusing but to invest into our relationships by confessing our sins to each other so that we can find mercy and healing.