What's happened . . . What will

A short video talking about what's happened so far and what we're working toward!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor


Grand Opening - Freedom Valley Church from freedomvalleytulsa on Vimeo.

New Highlight Video

The last few weeks have been pretty cool at Freedom Valley Church.  Here is a 2-minute video showing some highlights of our first water baptism and a cool service thing we did out at the Cinemark last Saturday.  Our next service is August 1 and I hope you'll consider being with us that morning.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

Big Weekend!

This weekend is gonna be BIG!  Mark your calendars for Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, July 10 - The Freeze Pop Giveaway!  Yeah, we went ahead and bought and froze 5000 Flavor-Ice pops and we want to give every last one of them away!  Our team will be outside the Cinemark Theater from noon - 8pm giving away as many pops as we can to whoever wants one.  Just because.  Hope to see you there.

Sunday, July 10 - It's Freedom Valley Church's next monthly service!  We start at 10am at the Cinemark.   Our momentum and our crowds are growing.  I hope you'll come be part of an exciting movement to reach people who have given up on church here in Tulsa!  I will be teaching Part 4 of the Primal Series.  You can see a very short explanation here on our website.  I will also be introducing you to Brandon.  He's thirteen years old and is actually saving lives in the Dominican Republic by purchasing water filters for people who don't have clean water to drink.  You can see his story here and meet him in person this Sunday at Freedom Valley.  See you this weekend at the Cinemark on 71st and 169.  It's gonna be great!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

blessing from a friend

I picked up 8 portable church cases today.  They are huge and wonderful and they were a gift from a great new friend.  Brad Jenkins at The Gathering offered them to us last week and I was not about to refuse.  These will really change the way we pack, load and unload our equipment for church in the theater.  I can hardly wait to figure out how to pack them and start using them! 

You know, before I moved to Tulsa, everyone warned me how competitive and unloving the pastors of other churches would be.  My experience over the last six months has been the exact opposite.  We have been welcomed with open arms.  Thank you Tulsa pastors, for that.  Thank you, Brad, for those awesome cases today.  And if you're looking for a great church, try out The Gathering.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

Free Ice Cream for Dads Today!

Hey dads, the ice cream is on us today.  Visit Freckles on 71st and Mingo today (June 19) from 1pm-3pm and get a free ice cream cone.  Compliments of Freedom Valley Church.  Just because dads are cool and it's hot outside today.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

Big Opportunity = Big God

Last week I posted a blog about the big opportunities ahead to open the church debt free. This week, God has helped us with some big progress. Our team conceived a plan we are beginning work on and I connected with several people this week who may be helpful toward our financial goals! I also met with a pastor this morning who's church has several portable church cases that he is going to give us! I continue to be amazed by God!

If you want to read a more detailed update on the church, click here for our latest e-newsletter, which just came out today.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

BIG opportunity

I've had a sense, as of late, that I should run the numbers and see just how much God has blessed us to date. I knew it was big, but didn't realize how big. Since December 1, 2009, God has brought over $85,000 in cash into our church! That is absolutely huge and if you were part of that, I want to say THANK YOU!!

Even more exciting than that, I have figured that if God blesses us with another $35,000 in the next 3 months, we can reach our grand opening absolutely debt-free! In real terms, that means that all the money we have been and will continue to put aside for future church planting efforts can immediately go toward church planting instead of paying back money we would have borrowed to open this church!

I am asking for your help in reaching this goal. Perhaps you will consider praying, fasting and even giving a special gift toward our goal of opening debt free. You click here to give a financial gift and I would love to hear from you if you are praying or fasting with us!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor 

Church is on tomorrow!

Freedom Valley Church will be having it's third monthly service tomorrow morning at 10 am at the Tulsa Cinemark on 71st and 169.  You can get all the info on our website.  I will be continuing our "Primal" series.  Tomorrow we talk about the lost soul of Christianity.  Hope you're there with us!

Jason Fitch - lead pastor

School's Out Party was great!

Last Saturday Freedom Valley Church sponsored the School's Out Party @ LaFortune Park.  If you weren't there, you missed a great day.  The weather was beautiful, the food was good and there were new friends everywhere. 

Whether you came for the free balloons, face painting or the free food served up all afternoon, it was well worth the time.   The team from Freedom Valley worked so hard all day long, not to mention all the preparation they put in ahead of time.  You can watch a short video highlight here.

Overall, we gave away over 200 meals, 300 balloons and many hundreds of invitations to our next monthly service on June 6!  If you or someone you know has given up on church, we are here just for you!  Come on out and spend an hour on June 6 and see if you can find your way back into God's family.  All the info you will need can be found on our website here.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

e-newsletter is here

Just click here to view a copy of our May 2010 update.  You can also subscribe via our website.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

new video update

You can watch our new video update here.  Enjoy!

new video coming

I'll be shooting a new little video for the home page of our website this morning.  Hopefully, it will be up later today.  You can look at our website here, even though the welcome video on the home page is old :) 

If you happen to be looking for a way to contribute to the cause, we could really use a small video camera to shoot this kind of stuff.  We're working with borrowed stuff right now and I'd like to do that for as short a term as possible.   $300 will set us up with what we need.  If you would like to help,  just click here.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

podcast is up and running

Looks like our podcasting system is up and running.  You can subscribe via RSS or i-Tunes here.  For now, we are only posting audio messages, but may go to video in the future.  Let us know if you would benefit from video podcasts.

Next live service is on Sunday, June 6 at the Cinemark.  Get all the info at our website.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

what a difference a day makes

It's funny how the thing you love can become the thing you hate.  The last few weeks have been very intense.  Mostly planning, meetings, traveling, speaking, raising money . . . all for our new church.  I love this church.  I put my heart and soul into it daily.  But, from time to time, I just get full.  I hit a wall.  I don't want to think, hear or talk about the church.

That's where I got to on Tuesday this week.  It hit me quickly and hard, but by Tuesday evening, I did not want to do one more thing or think one more thought about Freedom Valley Church.  Going to bed on Tuesday, I dreaded Wednesday morning.  The office was a mess and there were 1001 things to do before this weekend's service.

What a difference a day makes; a day with God, that is.  Yesterday morning I knew it was time to disconnect from all the "to dos" and reconnect to the one who can do anything of real value.  I needed a day to live my life and enjoy my God.  I read, I prayed, I wrote some notes in my journal, I got Mexican food, I got ice cream.  Then it happened.  The wall went away.  I felt all my love and vision and energy come back.

As I write this from my messy office, where there are still 1001 things to do, I feel rested and excited about the things I hated yesterday.  What a difference a day makes . . . when you spend it with God.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

first monthly service is in the books

Last Sunday (Easter Sunday - April 4), Freedom Valley Church held our first public monthly service.  Hey, I'm probably biased, but I think it was a great success.  Our team was absolutely outstanding and we even met a few new friends along the way!  You can watch the full-length video of that service here (about 55 minutes).  It's not edited at all and was even compressed some, so it's not the greatest quality you'll ever see, but it is the start of something that God has stirred many a heart toward.  And that's saying something!

Our next monthly service is May 2 - same time, same place.  Cinemark @ 71st and 169 - 10am.  Hope to see you there!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

We're Open This Weekend!

Looking for a place to go to church or invite your friends to this Easter? Come on out to the Cinemark on 71st and 169 this Sunday at 10am and be part of Freedom Valley Church's first public service. You can get more info on the church at www.freedomvalleytulsa.com

service tomorrow morning

Our team is doing our second practice service at my house tomorrow morning.  It's the whole thing . . . worship, connection cards, offering, preaching, children's ministry.  It's not public.  It's just for our team to try out doing what we'll do when we open publicly.  We did it last week and we learned a lot.  Looking forward to learning even more tomorrow. 

It's just two weeks until we hold our first monthly public service at the Cinemark Theaters.  Mark your calender.  Sunday, April 4 @ 10am we officially begin our teaching series entitled "Primal".  It's subtitled "rediscovering your Christianity".  If you want to reexamine your relationship with God or start one new, I would love to talk with you about the primal essence of Christianity.

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

March Newsletter is out!

Just click here to check out what's happening at Freedom Valley in Tulsa!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

basic training update

Jake Lewis and I have been in Ft. Myers, Florida for our Church Planting Basic Training. We're spending seven full days with the staff at Next Level Church and I can't even tell you how much this week is challenging us. Going into this, I was skittish about the $500 price tag. Now that I've experienced it, I would pay $5000 for this week! Some of the areas that God has used this week to challenge me in personally . . .

• As a leader, I need to make it my business to have my wife, Sara, more involved in leadership in this church. She's just too gifted and too awesome to not be!
• I'm really challenged about how our church will handle money. Coming in, we had a good plan. I think after this we may have an even better one.
• I learned how to paint a sunset for my team (more on that in the future)
• I saw portable church happen in real life and it changed everything about how think about it (for the better)
• I feel more equipped than ever to build a healthy church, not just have a big grand opening day.
  

There are a hundred other things and I'll come home with 30 hours or more of recorded audio from this that I'm going to pour over with my leadership team back in Tulsa. Speaking of them, this week has been awesome back in Tulsa too. The team is growing and finding their identity while I'm a thousand miles away. Just goes to show who's really in charge . . . God, not me.

Well, today is our last day and it's 12 hours long. Should be good. After we finish up tonight around 9pm, we make the 2 hour drive up to Tampa and then fly out tomorrow around noon. We'll be back in Tulsa tomorrow afternoon. I can hardly wait to get back!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor

tell em' to come see me

Man, I feel like I'm about to burst. Yesterday was a day when God broke some big things loose.

I had a meeting with Frank Cargill, District Superintendent for the OK District of the AG. Can I just say that I love this guy already! I walked into that meeting not sure what to make of the OKAG. I walked out feeling like I'm at home. I think this district will be a huge force in future church starts in this area and I want to help as much as I can.

As I left the meeting I felt like I was floating a little. I got in the car (the one God told a guy to give us for free) and glanced at my email. The newest email in my inbox started with “Great News!” It was Aaron Carlson telling me that the Cinemark Theater has agreed to our proposal and that will be our church's meeting space! This is huge. Not only is the Cinemark the best space for us, by far. It's also on a discounted and graduated payment schedule for the first year so it more financially feasible than any other place.

I just think back to last October as Sara and I drove by that theater and I said out loud, “Wow, could you imagine if we could get our church into that theater?” I can hardly believe how great God is to make that happen!

I could write all day, but let me finish up by saying a huge THANK YOU for all your prayers, encouragement and giving to Freedom Valley Church. We have so far to go, but these two milestones that both tipped yesterday are big. I want to give God His due praise on this one. He is great!

Oh, and did I mention I'm on a plane with Jake Lewis bound for PA and later in the week to FL where we'll be dreaming with and learning from some of the greatest leaders in the country! If someone tells you living a life following Christ is not an adventure, you tell them to come see me. I'll set them straight.

Jason Fitch – lead pastor