Aaron Proffitt

It was a great day yesterday. I think our marketing campaign this past week proved to be a success. We probably had close to 40 visitors. And that is saying a lot because the students are not yet back in town.

If you missed out on Pastor Dave’s Bible study then you missed a good one. But don’t worry because it will be podcasted for your listening enjoyment. It was a very evangelistic message and challenged all of us to step out more to be a light and share God’s love with those around us. His message struck a chord with Emilio, Chelsea, and Byrd. Those three went right out into the community yesterday evening after the message, and knocked on some doors. They shared the Good News with some people and even prayed with one girl who received Christ right at her door step. Pretty Amazing stuff!

The worship was awesome as well. There was tons of energy in that place as people were singing at the tops of their lungs praising God with all their hearts. The set list was: Let God Arise, Sound of Melodies, Blessed Be, Ready Now, and We Shine. The Hi-light of the morning had to be “We Shine.” The place exploded with excitement. It’s fun to see people passionate about worshiping God.

This week is a big week for us as a ministry as the college students begin to make their way back to Harrisonburg. The JMU freshmen will be rolling in on Tuesday and Wednesday and as always, Aletheia will be helping to move them in. If you want to be a part of it, meet up with us at 9am on both days at Pastor Dave’s house. If you can make it at another time since we will be moving people in until 4pm both days, give us a call or shoot us an e-mail. Also, we will be providing lunch for everyone so that’s extra incentive. Serve God and get a free meal! Hope to see some of you working folks out for this.

What a week it’s been since I returned from Puerto Rico. There is so much going on at Aletheia right now as we are gearing up for an exciting fall. The momentum is picking up and we are pumped about the students getting back in town.

Many of you now know but the new Aletheia logo has finally been introduced to the world and this past Sunday night, a crew of 30 people canvassed the community with posters, as well as yard signs and sheets (that we put in front of aletheia people’s homes); all to promote the site www.3blocks.org. If you haven’t been there yet please take a minute or so to check it out. Below the logo is a description of it by our very own Ace Cosner…

“The Aletheia 3-Blocks logo has numerous meanings. It is first and foremost intended to communicate a feeling of solidarity. The structural essence of the blocks reflects the strength of Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of the Christian’s life, and reinforces its most critical understanding: that He alone is our strength. In that there are three parts, it also reflects several key aspects of Christian doctrine: the Trinitarian unity of God, the three nails of Christ’s crucifixion, and the three days comprising His death and resurrection. It carries further symbolism in that the three shapes act as the inside of the letters ‘A’ and ‘C’, the initials of Aletheia Church. Furthermore, every letter of the word “Aletheia” can be seen abstractly somewhere in the logo. It also beckons the eye to move upward, regardless of which way it is turned. This angular and acsending quality can also reflect the modern architecture of cities in which Aletheia intends to do ministry. All of these elements combine to reflect what Aletheia’s ministry exists to do: demonstrate the power of God to change lives in a way that is both culturally relevant and biblically orthodox.”

Another big event is the launch of the new Aletheia Church website. At 4am on Monday morning, Thomas, after many hours of toiling, finally made the site available for everyone to enjoy. If you haven’t been to it yet then you’re going to need to do that right now www.aletheiachurch.com.

Thanks to Thomas and Ashlee especially for creating and designing an incredibly amazing web site.

I’m back after an incredible 7 days away in Puerto Rico. In case you hadn’t heard we took a team of five to the island on an evangelistic mission. There will be more on that later. The only negative about the trip was that I had to leave Ashlee and Drew behind. I didn’t want to risk anything with my wife being so pregnant, so I left her and Drew (and the one in the tummy) at home.

We were scheduled to land in Dulles at 11:20pm last night which, because we had to catch a cab to go pick up our cars, made it so that we wouldn’t have arrived in Harrisonburg until 2 this morning. Our connecting flight was in Atlanta and we arrived earlier than scheduled so we were able to miraculously catch an earlier flight and I was able to surprise Ashlee by arriving home at 11:25. Usually I can’t keep surprises from her but I played this one off pretty well. It was so amazing!

Our journey to Puerto Rico and our time there was nothing short of God-directed. 9 people committed their lives to Christ for the first time. Emilio’s grandparents gave us their condo for the week so we got hooked up big time there. JR was able to audition for American Idol…Yep that’s what I said. AI was holding auditions in San Juan and we randomly got off at a train station one day to stumble upon it. Of course I was too old so JR was our next best option. It was so funny. I will definitely be posting a youtube video of that one day soon. He sang “Jesus Paid It All” and explained to the judges why we were in Puerto Rico.

The trip was unique in that we didn’t have the overwhelming amount of opportunities to share Christ with people. This is true especially when compared to the past trips we have taken to other Latin American countries. Since we quickly realized this after the first couple of days being there, we started asking God to send us to those few people who were so ready to hear the Gospel. And that is exactly what God did. I think we shared the truth with 15 people while we were there and 9 of them accepted Jesus. And those 9 people were so genuine in their commitments.

Other than being away from my family for so long, and experiencing the worst sun burn of my life (trust me if you saw my face right now you would run away), this trip has to rank up there with the top mission trips I have ever been on.

Thanks for your prayers and thanks to Emilio, JR, Dad, and Mom for their willingness and sacrifice to go on this trip to reach out to the wonderful people of Puerto Rico. Trust me, the stories we have of changed lives are worth writing a book for. Ask me about the encounters we had sometime and I’ll fill you in.

So I just got back from a five day church plant probing trip all up and down the southeast coast that included stops in Athens, Georgia; Anderson, South Carolina; and Greensboro, NC.

We were able to check out some pretty sweet churches that are doing cool stuff to reach people. If you are ever traveling through Athens or Anderson hit up Athens Church and NewSpring Church. These churches are really doing some cool stuff. Especially Newspring. I was very impressed that a church that size can be so personal. Perry Noble is a man who has the hand of God on his ministry.

Thanks to Jamie and Speedy for stepping up in Pastor Dave’s and my absence. Hopefully many of you were at Aletheia to experience what happened on Sunday. Thanks to those of you who were here.

Pastor Dave and I will once again not be in Harrisonburg this week. We are leading a team of five to Puerto Rico for the next 6 days. We leave tomorrow morning early and get back the following Tuesday. Please pray for us as we do God’s work in a location that needs Him.

So, I have finally experienced my first “proud dad” moment. It didn’t take long. About 8 weeks ago Drew (who was 11 months old at the time) said “Dadda.” Those were his first words. He didn’t go with some of the other norms like “mamma” or “ball” or “poo-poo.” Nope, he went with “DADDA!”

And the great thing is that I caught it on video. What you will see on the video is not the very first time he said it but it was darn near close.

Check it out and enjoy…He’s pretty cute, I know!

Drew says “Dadda.”

So, to say that yesterday’s worship experience at Aletheia was amazing would be the understatement of all understatements!

We started our newest series called “Light Me Up” and it was so much fun. We added a few new creative elements that put it over the top. To me it was the best creative environment our awesome team has ever created.

Reason being…

1. We handed out glow sticks to people as they came in with instructions to light them up during the first song.

2. The first song the band played was “We Shine” by Fee and it tied perfectly into the message.

3. We hung about fifty light bulbs from the rafters in the back of the worship center for people to see as they walked in…I know people thought to themselves “why are there light bulbs hanging from the rafters?”

4. We added a few new lighting cans on stage for extra illumination during the worship set. And, on top of that, we had two people manually working the control boards for the lights as well as the fog machine to create an energetic and exciting atmospher(thanks Sarah and JR). That was awesome!

   The energy and passion in that place was electric! I cannot even describe it in words.

You’ll just have to see it for yourself…

We had a nice crowd out, and those who came were excited to be there. And, what made it even better was how awesome the message was. I know people were encouraged through the Word. Isaiah 60:1 says “…shine, your light has come.” What an encouraging thought that we are people of light because of our position with Christ and that when things get dark, God’s light shines and that when we feel lost, God’s light restores us.

Thanks again to Josh Lazar and the LifePoint DownTown crew for coming and hanging out with us all day despite the sickness those dudes were spreading around to each other. They are amazing and we hope we can continue to build a lasting partnership with them. They have a great thing going in downtown Fredericksburg and it’s going to change the hearts and lives of the youth of that city. I love you guys and thank you for your passion to do quality ministry and to see young people’s lives changed for Christ.

“We are the redeemed, we are the ones who are free. We belong to Jesus.”

This weekend was a lot of fun for those of us that were around Harrisonburg. The long weekend was much needed for me I know and I’m sure a lot of you felt the same way.

We had an awesome activity on Friday at the original Aletheia headquarters (Pastor Dave and Chippy’s crib). About 50 people came out to the rain soaked event that included a pinata. We ate a lot of food and then walked downtown to enjoy the fireworks at court square. The event really reminded me of the early years of Aletheia when the church was still so small and we were always having these types of events. It was a little piece of nostalgia for me.

I remember our first 4^th here in the ‘burg out in Sangerville at Brandon’s brother’s house. Those were the days. There’s nothing like a brand new church where there’s unbelievable unity, closeness, brotherhood, AND vulnerability. I can remember thinking “will Aletheia church even be in existence this time next year?” Not only has it continued to exist, but God has increased our borders to Richmond and now Norfolk, and hopefully by this time next year God will do even greater things across the state of Virginia as well as the entire nation.

God’s plans are incredible. Sometimes I lack patience and I feel like I need to know when everything is going to happen and how exactly it is going to happen. God has been teaching me lately that I have absolutely no control over, really, anything and that even today at this point, I am completely vulnerable. But just like it was a good thing back in July 4^th, 2002, it is good for me no to be this way because my dependency on God during these times is at it’s peak.

These verses have helped me through times of impatience and vulnerability:

Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope.”

Thanks for continuing to teach me God.

After a day like yesterday it makes it very easy for me to write a blog because I am so excited. We didn’t do anything special per say for the worship experience, but God sure did. He did His thing by moving mightily in this place and it was humbling to be a part of it all.

First of all our largest summer crowd ever came out to be a part of the worship experience. About half of them came 15 minutes late. But at this point I’m not concerned with that anymore. The first worship set was amazing, albeit broken up at times because of the hoards of people that kept coming through those doors throughout the entirety of the set. But it was still incredible…the passion, the energy, and the voices being raised made for an unforgettable experience.

Then, came the message. Pastor Dave continued with the “Reset” theme by teaching out of Is. 59 and reminding us all of the casualties that result because of our transgressions…truth, justice, righteousness, accuracy, and did I say truth.

Finally, the second worship set. We ended with “Take It All” by United and I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never seen so many fists being pumped at one time in God;s house. It felt more like a heavy metal concert than a worship service. It was Awesome with a capital A.

We are now anxiously awaiting the return of the college students this fall and wondering where in the world we are going to seat everyone. Thank goodness that the Harrisonburg city manager is on our leadership team. He may have some ideas

Have a great week.

So we had another incredible worship experience this past Sunday. It was so awesome that it has taken me two days to gather my thoughts. Actually, that is not true, I just had an incredibly busy day yesterday and didn’t have time to blog.

We started our new series “Reset” and it was amazing. We set up a bunch of alarm clocks on the scaffolding next to the top cab speakers as props. All of the clocks were blinking and I swear that at one point I was being hypnotized. It definitely got the point across.

Also, it was Fathers Day so you know the band had to melt some faces off and rock out for the dads. We played a couple new songs, one of which was the Aletheia original “A Call To Arms.” It was the heaviest, fastest, craziest, and most edgy tune ever pulled off during an Aletheia worship experience. I think? it was well received, although 2/3 of the congregation wasn’t even there for it. One thing about our people, they are consistently late. It’s not just an “every-once-in-a-while” kind of thing…it’s every single week. I like the consistency though, it’s undeniable! Maybe we should start bringing in the circus and that will get people here early. I can see it now…

“Come out to Aletheia this week as we continue with our series ‘Reset’ and rock out with the band. Also, come early and meet our special guests ‘wolf man,’ ‘the bearded lady,’ ‘lizard man,’ and the ‘flying Waldenzas.”

Okay maybe that’s not too great of an idea. That’s actually kind of a scary thought and it will probably cause people to head for the doors running in a screaming panic. All joking aside though, for those of you who were at Aletheia on Sunday, you cannot deny the fact that it was an incredible experience. God’s presence was in that place and it was fun to be a part of it all. I love the people of this local body of Christ.

It’s official: This is the most amazing group of people I have ever been around.

I love You guys and I am so grateful to Jesus that I get to serve God as one of your pastors every week!

The worship experience yesterday was one of the most inspiring events I have been a part of in a while. I was once again reminded that it doesn’t take a whole lot of people to gather together for the Holy Spirit to be present. About 200 faithful people came together yesterday on a hot June day to worship God at Aletheia and there was more energy and passion in that building then what was present at times when we were seeing 450 people come out in the spring. It was amazing!

Sometimes in the past we have just written off the summers as a time in which all the students are gone and we can catch our breath. That all changed last year when I took a trip to Elevation Church in Charlotte. I gained a renewed sense of passion that our church is for everyone, not just college students. Yesterday we hit it harder than ever before. The music blew people away and the message was so tough that I know people felt uncomfortable. I mean who teaches verse by verse through Isaiah? We do, and we’re not afraid to do it. I think the quote of the day from Pastor Dave was that we at Aletheia are all about “DUDE-ifying” everything. See Mark Driscoll’s talk about that. You’ll understand what I’m saying after you hear him talk about it.

We finished up our “No Man Left Out” series and it was once again a “punch in the throat.” The band introduced a new song by Steve Fee. We ended up playing it twice because our people were loving it. I’ve learned over the last 10 years of leading worship that sometimes it’s good to bring a new song back in the same service that you already played it and rock it out again. That went over well.

Also, we are really being intentional about our new series’ now and developing quality videos, designed materials, and other cool and interesting ways to get the theme into people’s minds and to better prepare them for the message. We showed the video for our new series yesterday before the last song. I think it worked out well showing it at that point in the service. It gave people something to look forward to over the next few weeks. I posted the link in my blog on Friday. If you have not seen the tear jerking trailer video for our new series “Reset” or if you just want to see it again, here is the link “RESET.”

For those of you around this summer, get ready to be blown away this next Sunday again. It’s going to be one powerful day of worshiping our creator, bringing glory to HIS name, making Him known, and finding out what He has to say to us in His perfect Word. Hope to see you out.