Church Name Survey Continued

In my last post I asked people to comment on which name they liked better for the new church Kyle and I are going to be a part of in La Crosse. I thought after I got a few responses that I should explain the names a bit and get a second opinion.

La Crosse is referred to as the "Coulee Region". That is where Coulee Rock comes from. The word coulee is widely used in the La Crosse area, so it would give the church name regional significance. The Rock part of the name comes from Jesus being the bedrock of the church (Matthew 16:18).

Stone Ridge refers to the stone ridges seen all over the area because of the bluffs, so it is also regionally significant. It also has some spiritual significance because the bible refers to Jesus being the capstone (Psalm 118:22).

Both names have both spiritual and regional significance. Our concern with Coulee Rock is that coulee is very widely used in the area so it might not stand out. our concern with Stone Ridge is that is sounds more like a housing development than a church. Personally I am not crazy about either name and would kind of like to start the process over, but I don't see that happening, so we need help picking between the two names.

If anyone has any opinions on the name now that you know our reasons for choosing them, please leave a comment. We have a meeting on Sunday and I believe we will be making a choice between names, so please respond by Saturday.

Comment Please

Kyle and I are part of a church in Eau Claire that has decided to start a new church in La Crosse, WI in the next year or so, and we are part of the church plant team. That means that in the next year we will be moving down to the La Crosse area, Kyle will be getting a new job and we will be busy getting a church up and running.

Right now our team is trying to pick a name for this new church and I would love some input from people outside of the team. We opened it up for anyone in the church to submit a name idea, then our team voted for our top 5 favorites individually, then we voted again to get the top 2. At our next meeting we will discuss the top 2 and decide which one will be the name of this new church. We have discussed the meanings behind these name choices and all that, but in reality the people down in La Crosse aren't going to know anything about our decision making process or what these names mean to us as a team, so I want input from people who also don't know the reasons why these names were so popular among our team. In short, I would like it if anyone who reads this post would tell me which name they like best, why they like it, and if they would be willing to go to a church with that name.

The top 2 names are "Coulee Rock" or "Stone Ridge". They would either have "community church" or just "church" at the end. We are hoping to attract young families who are currently not attending church regularly.

It doesn't matter why you like one more than the other, please just tell me what you think!

Oh, and here is a picture of our church plant team. There are 20 adults and 13 kids, with 2 more on the way!

Pigtails for Ella!

Ella's hair is getting really long, so I tried putting it in pigtails yesterday. I could barely get her to stay still long enough to put them in, and then she pulled it out, but I got a few pictures for all to see her cuteness! Her hair is still too short to see the pigtails from the front, so here are pics from the back and side. Pretty cute, huh? Now, if I could just get her to leave them alone...

Ella feeding herself

A few nights ago we decided to let Ella try to feed herself. I suppose we should have let her do that awhile ago, but I don't like messes all that much so I have been putting it off. Ella loved it and actually did a pretty good job!