hey evo…here we go. we’ve been talking about this for a few weeks. we prayed you up this weekend in big church and prayed a blessing over the books too. in a couple of days when we meet for our big gathering we’ll be talking some more and then passing out the Lifebooks for your friends. take a few moments and watch these two videos. take good notes. this week is gonna be a lot of fun.
BIG IDEA: Worship as a lifestyle The middle school student ministry worship team from our sister outpost, crossroads community church in mansfield, spent the evening with us. it was an incredible time. a packed house – incredible talent – leadership of pastor jamie koenig and hungry hearts brought together a great evening of worship. Using music and a couple of skits we moved students to a deeper understanding worship, not just singing but talking about the different postures of worship. pastor tom and pastor jamie had a conversation at the beginning and end of the time together about the purpose of worship, how it connects us deeper to God and helps us grow in our spiritual journey. tonite was especially cool as it was a homecoming of sorts for pastor jamie. jamie grew up attending the former church that was located in our space….who would have known those few years ago.
BEST MOMENT: One of our female middle schoolers made a decision to follow Christ during our small group time. her best friend and the small group leader were given the privilege of walking this young lady through the conversation. there was a huge celebration in our space (and in Heaven!) for her decision. It was a huge blessing to the visiting ministry team to know that God had used their time and talent to leverage and move one person closer in their spiritual walk.
What’s up next: next week we’ll be launching our LifeBook Saturation. There’s already a lot of anticipation and it will be cool to see the impact locally.
and it two weeks its our first mr. christmas tree pageant.
Current Series: Week-off Thanksgiving Eve and Bonfire
Big Idea: Community. This week our gathering time was focused on two thoughts. 1) to experience together (adults and students) big church an experiential worship of in preparation for Thanksgiving. Many of our students aren’t connected to our Sunday morning experiences so we intentionally brought the groups together for a multi-generational time. Center around three conversations between Pastor Rob Paterson and Pastor Tom.
black friday
destruction in joplin
First conversation: our thankfulness for our many provisions. Centered between us having lots of stuff (and getting more stuff i.e. Black Friday) and having all our stuff stripped away (i.e. the stories from Pastor Tom’s journey through the destruction Joplin and Tuscaloosa). As an response to that we had everyone use crayons/markers to draw images or write words on the paper at their tables and then discuss.
celebration of family and friends
messiness of relationships
Second conversation: our thankfulness for our families and friends. This was centered between our gratitude for having friends and families and even being thankful for our “cousin eddie’s” who create relationships that are complicated. As a response we had an “open mic” that allowed students and adults to share publicly about someone that they were thankful for.
Jesus-Emmauel =God is with us
Jesus- His blood covers our sins
Third: conversation: our thankfulness for Jesus. This was centered between on our beginning a celebration of Christmas in just a few short days. The celebration Jesus’s birth, one of his nicknames: Emmanuel – God is with us. And the tension that results in the reality that he came to offer us life through his death on the cross. Our response was to celebrate with communion. Allowing each table to partake in the sacrament.
There was much energy in the room because of all in attendance. it was a great sight to see our students with other members of the church in a common experience of worship. It was fun too to end the service with, what has become a tradition (we do have a couple ) a Christmas carol – O, Come All Ye Faithful.
After the students and adult leaders headed out to Trish and Rod Edmondson’s for a late evening hotdog cookout and a huge bonfire. Lots of fun here.