Happy Birthday to Kathy!

Today is the birthday of a very special person in our lives. Today is the birthday of Kathy Ramirez. We have known the Ramirez family for many years now. Not only did we have the awesome priveledge of working with Kathy in the office at Celebration, we were very close to their whole family. Her and Patrick are such incredible people. They are some of the most giving and generous people we have ever known. They give so much of themselves in everything they do. Kathy was always such an amazing person to work with. In the office, she always remembered everyone's birthday and always did everything she could to make it special and personal...even buying a cake herself and bringing it for everyone to share! Her and Patrick are always making sure everyone else is taken care of, putting others before themselves. They are truly an amazing family!

Kathy, today we wish you an incredible birthday! Everyone who knows Kathy, give her a call, send an email or something just to let her know how special she is! We love you girl!

UPDATE: (Ok, just to let you know how much of a help Kathy was to me, I just found out I have her birthday down wrong!!! It's Sunday!!! Kathy was the one who always kept me straight on birthdays! Kathy, I NEED YOU!!! Sorry Kathy, I was off a couple of days!)

HE'S ALIVE!!!!

And we found him in Bellevue Walmart!

Ok, this was THE most hilarious thing ever! Well, almost ever! I thought Angela was going to kill me after this! We had gone to Walmart on Saturday to pick up some things for the Children's classes and some other things. I kept getting distracted because I kept catching glimpses of this person at the end of some of the aisles we were on. I couldn't figure out at first if he was trying to be a look a-like or if he was just dressed up and happened to look like him. Well, finally we ended up near him again. So, I was just messing around and told Angela I was going to take a picture of him from afar off so he wouldn't know I was taking a picture. Well, by the time I took it and was looking down at my camera, he walked right by me, looking at me with my camera and gave me a nod and said, "Hello there". I was caught off guard so I just said (kind of loud I might add), "Hey!". He stopped and turned back around to me as if he was waiting for me to say something else, which was exactly how I said "Hey" like there was more coming. Angela had went to the other side of the freezer area, hiding. So, I just asked him, "Can she get a picture with you?" pointing to Angela hiding behind the freezer! He was more than happy to oblige! He said, "Absolutely!" as he placed his bread on our cart. Angela was shocked I think to say the least. So she walked over near us and Mr. Elvis wrapped his arms around her for a picture! By this time people were stopped near us watching. I don't know if they thought he was someone famous and didn't recognize him or if they thought we were struck by the awesomeness of this Elvis wanna-be! Really, we were just having fun! Well, Mr. Elvis didn't want to stop at one picture! Oh no, he said "One more. This time with her getting a kiss on the cheek!" That kind of freaked me out at that point, so I said, "Oh no, that's it!" as I'm handing him his bread back.

Angela was laughing so hard her sides were hurting and so was I. We kept watching Mr. Smooth-move Elvis as he's walking away and then a group of three ladies were walking up to him with a video camera as they were posing with him. I think we started something. And needless to say, he was LOVING it!

It was so funny that I told her I was sharing in on our blog! I hope it's not one of those things you read and think, "I guess you had to be there" because it really was hilarious. Come to find out, he is seen in Walmart a lot.

So there you go....our latest celebrity sighting.....well almost celebrity! Have fun!

Help Protect Christian Broadcasting!

A couple weeks ago there was an email going around about a bill that was trying to get the FCC to stop allowing Christian broadcasting by people such as Joyce Meyer, Rod Parsley, etc. It was asking for people to sign the petition and forward it on. It was returned stating the rumor was not true and that the FCC could not stop Christian broadcasting.

Well, this is actually what I believe they were referring to. There is a bill in legislation that is trying to be resurrected called the "Fairness Doctrine". This bill would require Christian programs such as Believers Voice of Victory, Creflo Dollar, Rod Parsley, Joyce Meyer, actually ANY Christian program, to provide “equal time” for opposing viewpoints. This means whatever they share as according to the Word, they would have to give the opposing viewpoint the same amount of time to share the opposite view. Can you imagine some of these great ministries sharing the Word on all the issues we face today, and then have to allow EQUAL time in their program, for the opposition to share their worldly view! As Rod Parsley's website shares, "this qualifies as a blatant violation of the right to free speech protected under the U.S. Constitution."

While we are careful about the issues and fights we involve ourselves in, I couldn't help but feel grieved as I was watching this information being shared on television. That here in America, you could actually have no choice in sharing your views on morality on a Christian program that you paid the broadcasting time for! We just felt this needed to be shared so others would know.

Our whole goal in sharing this on this blog is just to inform other Christians of the threat that exists in the passing of this bill. For more information, you can go to Rod Parsley's website, https://orders.rodparsley.com/Order_First.aspx?ostr=edCLPN0dHHE%3d.

You research the information and decide for yourself if you want to take action or not. We, more than anything, just wanted to help inform the Christian people about what is going on.

Thanks for listening!

Gray skies but happy smiles!

Just wanted to pop in and say hi to everyone today. It's been such a beautiful day here. Yesterday and today both, we've had rain, some thunder and lots of gray skies. But that is my favorite kind of weather so I'm definitely enjoying it.

We staying busy with everything. Our classes are going great. We've been having them in an actual classroom at another church here in Bellevue that has offered to let us use their resource building. It's been great because it's more of the setting we were desiring for our classes. It just brings a whole new dynamic and feel to the classroom. Everyone involved has really stuck to the classes and we've even had some new people in too. There's been a lot of growth and foundation being built.

I know this one is short but we just wanted to say a quick hello. Thank you again for your continued prayers and support. God is so good! We love you all and miss you very much!

Freaky Lookin' Things!

Ok, after reading Larena Gibbs post, I realized that I had some pictures that I wanted to share on some really creepy looking things we've seen here in Tennessee! There's been many more but these just happen to be the ones I actually stood close enough to so that I could take a picture!

I have no idea what this thing is but it is ugly. The finger "petting" it belongs to Brooklyn. We saw this when she was here visiting and she couldn't wait to touch it. Ok! Whatever!!!

And this one.....creeeepy! This guy was huge! He was crawling on the walkway outside our door. He moved on all those legs. And man did he "crunch" when Rick stepped on him!

Now those of you who know me (Sheri), know how much I dislike creepy, crawly things, so this has been a real adjustment for me. But I have to say, I'm doing okay with it all. I have grown tremendously in learning how to coexist with these little creatures. Obviously, there are many more creepy things but I'm not even getting close enough to take a picture.

So, there you go! Just a couple of our "friends" we've met since being here. Thanks Larena for making stop to appreciate all the great little creatures that live in Nashville!

Sunday Update

Yes, we're still here! Sorry it's been a while since our last post. We had a great weekend. Seems like we're saying that every week but it's true! We've got new families that are connecting with us and we're very excited about that. God is bringing in people who can help shoulder weight, carry vision and become leaders. They are coming in ready to just get to work and plow ground. That's exciting. The service this past weekend was really great in that it reached a new level in the Spirit. We're seeing people step out of their comfort zone of the chairs and come forward praising and worshipping God, not only during worship but for giving! That's amazing and a HUGE step of growth. We're seeing more than ever what we're fighting against here is traditional religious mindsets. There is so much tradition regarding church attendance. That is what we are fighting against and breaking through. We are seeing a difference...we are seeing people's mindsets change and growth come in those areas. That's amazing! We keep hearing over and over from people coming or calling, "There's nothing like that here in Bellevue!" A Spirit filled church that is strong in the Word. It seems that a lot of people are looking for that. We've even been called "extreme, intense, edgy", you know, all the things we consider a compliment! :>) We know God has a people here for this church and we are praying every day that nothing hinders those from coming in that God has called to this work! We're ready for them!

If you can't tell, we are excited! How many times can you say "excited" in one post? haha. I need to get my thesaurus out! Energized! How's that? Really, we are.

We miss all of you so much! We love you and thank you for your continued prayers.

Fall has arrived!

Well fall has arrived in Nashville! The weather is unbelievable! Breezy, cool and very nice. The change in weather has made me ready for one of my favorite seasons of the year! Fall is second only to Christmas! This spark of fall frenzy even prompted the change to the blog! I'm just waiting for the leaves to change like I've heard they do here! In the meantime, I'll leave you with pictures of our last fall...our annual family trip to the pumpkin patch! This has become a tradition that we all have come to enjoy. This year will be different and we will miss being together. That makes me appreciate these photos all the more!

I love this picture! One of my favorites! I don't even remember what happened but Brooklin was having a meltdown! The best part was Alex's reaction. So glad I had my camera ready!

These are my absolute FAVORITE kids! The best kids in the world! We miss you guys like crazy!

Unel Rick had all the kids pick out their pumpkins before we left so they all got to leave with their own. Notice the itty bitty one in front that Brooklin picked out!

Ok, these are not little kids but their my favorite BIG kids!

These two dudes are the coolest! They love to hang with each other.
We have the best family!
(Sorry, I know all of yours are wonderful too but we all feel we have the best, right!)

So, hope you enjoyed our fall post! We're just feelin' it here! Love and miss you all!

Greeting from Rick

Hello again! I just wanted to say hello to everyone and share a little something with you. Earlier this month, I shared a post about Keys to Living in Victory. I only shared a couple of those keys with you but told you I’d be back to share some more. Well, hopefully, you’ve had time to start with at least those two and get them operating in your life. I wanted to share the next couple steps with you.

First, let me just give a quick recap of the previous post:

Step 1: You must daily spend time in the Word. We forget 95% of what we hear within 72 hours. We've got to stay in the Word to know what it says. No excuses...get in and stay in the Word. If you will get in the Word, the Word will get in you! John 8:32

Step 2: Speak the Word. Don't talk the problem. Don't talk doubt and unbelief. You've got to speak the Word. You've got to talk your covenant! And when you speak, you release a sound into the Spirit realm. God's Word and your voiceprint will pull what is unseen into what is seen.
2 Corinthians 4:7-13

And now on to the next steps:

Step 3: Be a person of prayer. 1 Thess. 5:17 says, ‘Pray without ceasing.” This may sound overwhelming but all it means is this, never hang up on God! God will never hang up on us. We must always stay in tune with Him and what He is speaking. You would never just get up in the morning, say “Hello” to your spouse on your way out the door and then never speak another word to them the whole day. Well, hopefully you wouldn’t! You’re marriage would be in a sad state if you did! Yet, how many days do we do that exact same thing to God. Sometimes, He’d be doing good to even get a “Hello”! You’ve got to maintain that active continually prayer with Him, conversing and communing with Him continually.

Step 4: Be a giver! Now, I know what you’re thinking, “I give my tithe and offering.” Most of us think when we hear “Be a giver” that it’s automatically talking money. While it does include our money and that is important, it’s more than just that. We have to give our lives. Matthew 10:17 tells the story of a rich young ruler who just couldn’t seem to trust Jesus with his whole life. It’s not your stuff God wants, it’s your heart! Don’t be afraid to give your life completely to him.

God has given us a way to walk in victory in our lives. It is just up to us to apply it. It’s not hard, it just takes us making the decision!

Again, we thank you for your prayers and your continued support. We love and miss you all!

Sunday Update

Well it's been a busy weekend! We said goodbye to the Gannaways on Saturday.

This is an all too familiar sight! Seems like we were just unloading this truck! Oh wait! WE WERE!

Cleaned out and ready to go!

Kameron, I took this picture just for you, Mr. Dino-man!
I bet you can even tell me what kind of dinosaur this is!

We're going to miss the Gannaways but we're excited about this new chapter in their lives. We enjoyed having them here with us for this season. T & L, we love you guys and thank you for all you've done to help establish the work here in Nashville!

What a great Sunday we've had again today. God is really moving in the lives of the family here. We have seen such an excitement in people about serving. They are catching the vision and are really stepping up to make sure things are done. We had more volunteers this week than we've ever had before. Not only for services but also for set up and tear down. This Sunday, our tear down was incredible. We had a huge force of people all just getting in and helping out. We finished ahead of schedule, earlier than we ever have before and we have more gear and equipment than ever before! It was exciting. We had new people and just a great service! Can you tell we're excited???

Just wanted to give a quick update.....please continue to pray for us...we value those prayers! We love and miss you all so very much! Have a blessed week and remember.....LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE!

Much ado about nothing!

Well we just wanted to update with a quick post. Things are going well. We've been busy again this week just with all the prep for Sundays and meetings with people. It's great though. We're used to having full schedules so we're ok with that. It's amazing how we can just sense something that God is doing in the spirit realm. We know that He is working all things on our behalf. People are excited and we are really seeing them grow and develop into leadership roles. God has sure blessed us with great people and we know more are on their way!

We are in such a great place right now and that is the place where you are totally relying on God. When you know that without Him, you can do nothing! We always want to be dependent on Him and never rely on ourselves. We are seeking His face and His direction in everything we do. We still stand in amazement that He picked us to do this work. We know it is a walk of faith and sometimes it takes every ounce of faith in us but that is where God comes in. We know He is faithful and we are in such expectation! There are great things ahead!

It seems we say this everytime, but thank you all for your prayers and support....it truly means the world to us! We love you all.

Thank You for a Wonderful Birthday!

What a great day it has been for me today. It started first thing this morning when I received a call from my mom wishing me a happy birthday. Before I could hang up, another call came in, when I answered, it was my favorite three kids in California singing "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone at the top of their lungs! That just made me smile and my heart happy! Then I talked with my sister for a while and she wished me happy birthday. I was greeted all day with text messages, emails, ecards, and blog posts with birthday blessings from so many of our wonderful friends and family. Not to sound mushy but the day was honestly filled with so much emotion from all the wonderful words everyone shared. Blogs were full of birthday wishes and thoughtful things that brought tears to my eyes! I don't know when I have ever felt so loved and appreciated!

Then we went to dinner tonight. Nothing big, just Mexican food (really because no one thought I should be cooking on my birthday!). Then right before we were ready to leave, all I noticed was something huge coming at my head! All the waiters came to our table with this HUGE sombrero and put it on my head! They began singing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish (very loudly I might add!) and smeared whipped cream on my face from the flan they brought to the table. I was so caught off guard. It took me completely by surprise.

Now, I didn't want to go to the "other" restaurant we normally like because they actually bring a sawhorse to the table with a saddle on it and you sit on it while they sing happy birthday to you! I don't think so! I thought I was getting off but NOOOO, my daughter made sure she did everything she could to make sure I was embarrassed. I told her, "You're just getting me back for all the times I took you to school and embarrassed you!" She replied with, "Yes, like the time you and T picked me up from HIGH SCHOOL and T had Abba's 'Dancing Queen' blaring on the stereo!" Oh, yeah....I miss those days....a parent's revenge! Haha. Anyway, back to dinner. So, of course, Ashley had her camera ready. How I missed that I don't know. Well, I'm glad they met her need of embarrassing her mother!

So, after we arrived home, there was a knock at the door. It was my brother, Michael, with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a decadent birthday cake!
I was so shocked! He has never done anything like that before.....he's always thoughtful and giving but it seemed like such a grown up thing to do! He said he wanted to bring them by to wish me happy birthday and tell me he loved me! Ok, bring on the tears AGAIN!

Then, I get a call from my favorite little guy in Nashville, Alex, singing the best happy birthday solo to me! It was priceless.

So though it may seem like nothing super-spectacular happened.....I think it did! Thank you everyone for making my day unforgettable! Love you all!

Sunday Update!

Ok we're here with our Sunday update, even though it's Tuesday! The weekend was awesome. We had a great service, the crowd was healthy and everything went smooth. The really great thing about this weekend was that our volunteer base is really stepping up and coming together. They are taking ownership of the vision.

On Saturday, we had extra people show up to help set up. We even added more new things this weekend that required set up. Last week, we added the whole projector system, screen, etc and then this week we added black fabric walls on the sides to give it more of an auditorium feel. So, every time we add something new, it takes longer to set up because of everything we're adding. However, this week, even with adding all the new equipment, we were able to accomplish all of it and get much more done earlier than we normally do. That was great! Just to have people there and helping take hold of the vision is powerful. Everyone working together and becoming unified.

Then on Sunday, we had more people show up early to help. We had more greeters. We stepped up the ushering. We're training on running the audio/video for the service. Everything was really stepped up this weekend. So for that we are so excited.

God has blessed us also with a couple who is incredible at planning social events and they love it! She's great at design work too. Needless to say, her and Ashley always have their wheels turning on fun events the church family can do together. They're planning now as we speak!

So, that's just a quick update on our weekend. We know God is growing this church and is bringing in the right people! We are not just praying for anyone, we want the RIGHT people who are looking for a move of God.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. You'll never know how much it means to us just to know we have people who love us and are praying for us. We love and miss you all!

Happy Birthday Lori!

Lori, it's time for that three days of the year when I get to give you such a hard time! You know what I'm talking about but I won't share it here! Wishing you a happy birthday and a wonderful day. I'm going to miss you when you leave but we'll always be friends!
Love you!

We had a ball!

Bowling that is! Yes, we had an event on Sunday evening for the church families. We've wanted to post before now but this week has been extremely busy for us. All exciting things though. We've been getting together with many of the church people to begin putting them in place to help carry the vision. People are excited about putting their hands to something. We have been strategizing about how to begin to put people to work, volunteering and helping carry weight. We have many who have been here since the beginning or close to it and they are ready to get to work. So, our volunteer base is definitely growing. We're excited about that!

Back to bowling! This event was a huge success. This was really our first all church event. We've had other things for men and for women but this was the first for everyone to all get together. We had such a great turnout of people. I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised! Especially for this to be our first even and to have so many come. We were excited about that. And we had two couples who are family of a couple who attend Gateway but they couldn't get their family to come to church with them, but they came to bowling! It was great for them to be with the group and just get to know people. Here's just a few pictures to share:

I just love all these different colors of bowling balls!

Our adorable Alex!

Alex sharing his french fry with Ashley!


This is Camden learning to bowl. Isn't he just so cute?

Ashley & Camden
Ashley was telling him, "Smile for the picture" and he was saying,
"No, I don't want to...I want down".
Just imagine that little boy voice with a deep southern accent!

Princess Brianna!

Rick just couldn't pass up the challenge to a game of air hockey. His opponent, Roncie is very athletic, so I think he thought he could whip Rick but.....no, he didn't know who he was taking on!
RICK IS AIR HOCKEY CHAMPION AND HE RETAINED HIS TITLE AFTER TONIGHT!

It was a great evening and everyone left wanting to do this again soon so that is a good sign. We'll post again soon! Love you all!

Look what God has done!

This week, God moved a mountain for Gateway Life Church. Since the church began, we have praying and believing God for the resources for our projector system for our services. We had to start with the basics and do what was within our ability to do at the time, however, holding fast to the faith that God has called us to do this so we know there is provision. Even though, we felt the pressure of having words for songs and needing something more, we were determined not to do something to "just get by". When we did do something, it was going to be done with excellence!

So, even though we have been believing since the church began, Rick just began to share vision about a few things that we wanted to do to improve the services, the projection system being one of them. He wanted to just get the people in faith, believing God with us. Well, people really did catch a hold of that. He only did that for two weeks!

Last Sunday, we had a couple there who comes to the church when they are in town. The husband is an entrepreneur and they travel a lot. However, they love the church and really believe in what God is doing through Gateway Life. After service, they pulled Rick aside and said God had put it on their hearts to provide the resources for our ENTIRE PROJECTION SYSTEM!!! Now this includes the projector, screen, computer, software, cables, etc. The wife told Rick, "We were wondering why you don't have words to the songs. Now we realize, you know what to do, you just need the resources to do it!" Yes! We have believed God for everything we've done and He has provided.

God is so faithful!

So, needless to say, this week has been a marathon to get the equipment ordered, software loaded and learned, cables researched and purchased, etc. We wanted to have everything in for this Sunday and we did! It was amazing. We didn't tell anyone because we wanted them to just come in and see what God had done! The excitement in that place was unbelievable. That was all people were talking about before the service.

It was a great opportunity for Rick to be able to share about faith and believing God to meet the needs of your life. People's faith just exploded! To see what was lacking, and then believe God to meet the need and from one week to the next....there it is! It really was quite amazing!

New stage decor!

We also had a new set design this week. So when everyone came in, really everything was changed. Ashley came up with the entire design herself. She found everything we needed for it and put the entire thing together! She did a great job and we thought it turned out great!

The greatest thing about the whole weekend? Are you ready for this?
We had two people filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit

SPEAKING IN TONGUES!

Now these two people have no experience with the Holy Spirit. One has really no church background and the other is from Southern Baptist background. They have learned so much more than they ever have and they were both ready and wanted to speak in tongues.

Afterwards, they both were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. As I was speaking to one, tears were rolling down her face and she was saying, "I just wanted it so bad. It's like nothing I can explain!" The other young woman told Ashley after service, "This is just so amazing! This church has literally changed my life!"

Now that is the best thing that could have
happened this week!
That makes everything we've done so worth it!

Saturday morning hello!

Hi guys! We just realized we haven't updated our blog since Monday. So sorry about that. Things have been quite hectic this week. We've had a lot going on in preparation for the weekend. But we'll share more about that later!

We just wanted to post a short note to let you know everything's going good....just busy. We're in great expectation for the service on Sunday.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We love and miss you all!

Sunday Update!

Happy Birthday to Terry!

Terry had a birthday a couple of weeks ago, but because we had family visiting and other busy things since then, we hadn't been able to celebrate. So, last night we all got together for dinner at the Gannaways to celebrate Terry's birthday! (Now that I think about it, I don't think he even said how old he is now!) Anyway, we had a great time together.

Here's Terry, Lori and Jessica

Yummy birthday cake. Ashley made the cake for him.

Alex loved the cake! He couldn't wait to dig in to it!

Presents are always sooo fun!

Alex praying over dinner


Terry's dinner fork!
Laughing and having a good time together!

The guys looking at "guy" stuff!

We're gonna miss these guys!

"And that's what I think of that!"

Lori and Alex

Ashley and Jessica

We had a really great time celebrating Terry's birthday. He is such a blessing to everyone around him. He serves and gives and smiles all the way through it. Terry you are a blessing and we love you! We will miss him greatly around here and we just pray God's very best for their lives!