Pearl Day

Saturday, May 19th The Exchange took part in the Pearl Day weekend festivities. Thousands of people flooded Pearl City Park for food, games, rides, concerts, shopping, and fun for the whole family. The Exchange hosted a self-tie dye and face painting booth. People of all ages stopped by to tie dye an Exchange t-shirt in their favorite colors. The team took shifts throughout the long hot day to help people tie-dye shirts, paint faces, and pass out Exchange balloons. It was an incredible opportunity for us to support the city, get to know tons of new people, and pass out information about The Exchange!

Below are some pictures from Pearl Day.

Teacher Appreciation Breakfasts Recap

Part of the vision of The Exchange is to make an impact in the city of Pearl by loving and serving the schools. Last week was state testing week for Pearl schools as well as National Teacher Appreciation Week. We had the opportunity to show some love to the teachers, administration, and faculty at Pearl Lower Elementary and Pearl Upper Elementary. The menu included a crowd favorite - Chick Fila chicken biscuits, fruit, and orange juice all packed in an Exchange lunch bag given to the teachers as a gift. We all had to get up a little earlier than usual, which made us appreciate these teachers and all they do even more! We had a great time meeting the faculty and staff at both schools, and look forward to the next opportunity to serve our schools.

Below are some pictures from the teacher appreciation breakfasts.

The Exchange Story

The Exchange is a new Christ-centered, life-giving church launching in Pearl, MS in August 2012. To watch The Exchange story click on the logo below, and then share it with someone.

How You Can Pray for The Exchange

God has done some incredible things over the past year of this journey as a team and even over the past few weeks, but we believe that we should never only be satisfied with where we are but continually expecting and desiring to see God do more. We have learned that part of seeing God move is asking Him. In Jeremiah 33:3 God tells Jeremiah, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." What incredible promises that God would not only hear Jeremiah but that He would tell him things beyond what he understands or knows. We believe the same thing is true for us as Christ followers and as a brand new church. If we will call on the name of Jesus, we fully believe that He will answer us in ways beyond our understanding.

Please join us in praying for God to do an incredible work through The Exchange by not only birthing a new church but by birthing a movement to transform a city for the name of Jesus! Below are a few specific things you can pray for:

• People to exchange their old life for new life in Christ
• The addition of more passionate and devoted leaders on The Exchange team
• Financial partners to help fund the mission
• Favorable influence and connections in the city

Highlights from the April Interest Meeting

Sunday night April 15th was the last of the four interest meetings as The Exchange prepares to launch.
We were so excited to see even more new people at the final meeting at the Pearl Community Room! At the meeting we laid out the background and vision for The Exchange. We walked through 5 reasons we are starting a new church and 5 reasons we are not starting a new church. (To read those reasons click here.) Finally, we spent time looking at the foundational passage for The Exchange - 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. We reviewed the verses we have talked through from the last few months discussing how the love of Christ compels us to go, to serve as the church we must no longer live for ourselves, and to take the perspective of Christ we must no longer view anyone from a worldly point of view.

Although this was the last interest meeting, we have some BIG plans for the late spring and summer as we prepare for launch day on Sunday, August 12th. Over the next few months we will continue with LIFEgroups, host teacher appreciation breakfasts, take part in Pearl Day, host a sports camp for kids, host a family day at the park, and do lots and lots of planning! The schedule is jam packed and we are incredibly excited about all that God is doing through The Exchange! 

It's not too late for you to join us! You can always pray for us. You can become an investor in The Exchange by clicking the "Donate" button or going to our website. You can also join the team as we aim to bring the hope of Jesus to people far from God! For more information, send us email. 

Exchange Easter Egg Hunt

This past Sunday The Exchange hosted it's first ever Exchange Egg Hunt. The event was open to friends and the Cunningham Heights neighborhood in Pearl. Over 50 kids and around 100 people stopped by to enjoy the over 1,000 eggs,  inflatables, homemade cookies, lemonade, face painting, and more fun than could be packed into one backyard! Around 30 members of The Exchange team jumped in to serve and love the families in the neighborhood with the love of Christ. God exceeded all expectations by not only providing an incredible afternoon of fun but by connecting new families to The Exchange.

Below are some pictures from the afternoon:

The Exchange Core Values

At our March interest meeting we unveiled the five core values that The Exchange will build it's foundation on. Our core values are characteristics based on God’s Word that will be built into our DNA as a church and as individuals. We believe so strongly in these statements that we will make decisions based around them and do everything we can to help new people who come to The Exchange understand what we are about and why.

You can view the values below or to download your copy of The Exchange core values click here - Core Values.  

At The Exchange we're exchanging...

IDEAS for TRUTH - No more believing that there are multiple ways to get to God, we teach Jesus as the only way and He is at the center of all we do.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father

except through me. John 14:6

SELFISHNESS for SERVING - A mindset shift not intended for the faint of heart! Although serving when we fill like being selfish goes against everything we know, we will serve others because it's in line with God's Word. 

And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:15

PLEASING for REACHING - We won’t be about pleasing people, but about reaching the lost. We will make decisions based on who we will reach rather than who we will keep.

            Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have

            not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

  

KEEPING for DISPERSING - Don’t be a knowledge hoarder, always keeping what you’ve learned to yourself. As you learn more about God and His Word, share it with other people! This is how we multiply.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, Hebrews 10:23-24

  

FORGETTING for CELEBRATING - We’re over pew sitting and taking for granted all that God does. We’re about celebrating life-change and actively responding to what God has done for us!

Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5