breathing air again...

i would like to share a very special song, that has meant alot and helped me keep my head up and focused on what is to come...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8ch3WmK0qE

luv u guys!

The wind blows

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8

Thinking about the journey.

We are going to be starting an all community celebration service next week. I am very excited. We have a very long way to go as we learn to find our freedom in the use of our spiritual gifts. As a group we seem to be "careful" when it comes to community and sharing. Pray with me this week that the Holy Spirit will give us freedom! We still have some detoxing to do from the institutional church but God is at work and we are beginning to let go. Jesse and Josh have a great story to share about the Spirit's work in Josh's life as he prepared to go through the 7-steps. Rachel is ready to be baptised-- Jessica (the young lady I have been sharing with) is sooo close to making a committement to be a disciple--Pray! Melanie and Robert's Baby will be born Aug. 27, I can hardly wait to celebrate this new precious life. It is wonderful to actually feel the wind of the Spirit as he begins to blow in and around us!

moving on

It has been an eventful few months! God has brought us through some real spiritual battles. I have learned to let go, to sacrifice and I have grown to love all of you more and more. It is time to move on and be about the work God has set before us. God is at work! Let's join him!

action seems to release the movement

some of our group have been working in Martinsville the last two days. As I sat and talked with some very tired men tonight at Steak n Shake, I felt the passion renewed in my spirit. It seems action releases the moving of the Holy Spirit in me. As we Act he moves more. I was just saying to the guys we need an all communtiy gathering to share the Lord's supper together. My soul seems to be aching for this. I think we will do it soon.

the future...

i have seen this reference now twice in the last 2 weeks, "Isaiah 58", first with robert and nathan. i came across it again, when i was listening to shane claiborne's talk, "finding your calcutta".

what a great chapter. and it really gets rolling in verse 6. the first verses the people are kinda being called out about what they are doing. then in verse 6, it cuts loose with what we "should" be doing.
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness [a] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

i am especially encouraged by verse 8. this encouraging as we begin with this movement of a missional church and moglo. the Lord has our backs. sweet!

but then i kept on reading and saw this,
"Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

oh man, that is cool. rebuild, raise up, repairer, restorer...wow...

let me think on that some more. it is deep and meaningful to where we are right now. on the edge, listening, anticipating what God is wanting us to do, where to go, how to share the vision, how to impact the community with His redemptive love and work.

rock on...

keystone

I am at keystone this week. Class for 10 hours a day should be wearing me out but I am energized. As I began to lead this wonderful expression of The Church, I remind of these things. How important it is to clarify the vision and then keep our eyes on it, we must only walk in and by the spirit, unity is essential, we must practice the one anothers daily and begin to do what we talk about and become who you dream to be. Love marti

Crossroads

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

who we are

I have been working on a mission statement based on your words that you sent--not so much to be a mission statement but to just be a simple way to clarify who we are becoming. I tried to take phrases from each group below--now you give it a shot.

we are followers of Jesus living together in community as we multiply the kingdom for God's glory, serving and loving people, partnering in unity with all believers to restore and serve Morgan County and beyond. Our focus is to love God and love People in a radical, transforming way as we live a simple life style in order to give God Glory.

I grouped the comments together under five catagories. You can take a look below and maybe come up with some more concise phrased that represent each group. I don't think we have to have a fancy mancy mission statement that is perfect. We just have to describe who we are. Steve is correct that just saying we are a church may not be discriptive enough however I believe that is exactly what we are a local church that is apart of THE CHURCH/bride of Christ

Group 1: living in community, community, connecting to the body, common life, partnering, radical, hospitality
Group 2 training, teaching, great commission, discipling, discipleship, spiritual transformation
Group 3 meeting needs, serving, partnering, volunteerism, safe place, respite, refuge, shelter, comfort,
Group 4: healing love, hope restorative, neighborhood transfomation, green, bring back to life, peacemaking
Group 5: Loving God, God's manifold wisdom, bring Glory to God, walking in the spirit, spirit led, denying self and picking up cross.

One’s baptism is one’s ordination into ministry and one’s commissioning as a missionary. Every baptized disciple has both a ministry to the body and a mission in the world. (Leonard Sweet)

getting started

I've been wrestling with all of this in my mind. reading everything twice , searching web for articles. Praying and looking for the next footprint to put my foot into. I am wondering if what Katie says is true that I am making it too difficult. Yes maybe. Are we not just going to be the church of Jesus. Maybe we are not starting a not for profit or Moglo or a commune. Maybe it is just the Church. Of course nothing like the church that we see but very much like the church in Acts. So next steps are easier....

a God thing...

all,



i wanted to share i neat thing that happened to us yesterday coming home from vacation. we wanted to visit communality in lexington, but didn't really know much about when they meet, where etc. so i got as much information as i could about them, directions to where i "think" they are in lexington. we left knoxville, tn. after a late night of trying to get a hotel room. (that is a whole nother story...hehehe...)

since we really didn't know a time or even if they met on sunday's we took our time and goofed around. we stopped at the birth place of col. sanders of kfc fame in corbin kentucky. had some chicken, got to see the kitchen where he made his "secret" recipe.

we made it in to lexington at around 4:30pm to 4:45pm. lisa and i were looking for the address of the place, and just happen to see several people on the sidewalk going to a house with crock pots full of food, lisa said that has to be it, so i zoomed into the parking lot. i kept thinking to myself, here we are just dropping in on them out of the blue. how do we introduce ourselves, what do we say we are doing here...etc.

we meet a couple of people, a lady by the name of lisa and another one, sherry, then will, john and jeff. it was all kinda overwhelming but cool. we go to talking to lisa about what they do, and asked what we had just interrupted or was getting ready to start. this was their fellowship time and we had made it just in time (God is so funny like that...) she told us that they have a worship time with song, a prayer time, then start their meal to gether by taking communion. cool, cool, cool.

they hand out the sheets for the first song for worship and it is "Be Thou My Vision"...oh my...i was floored. i can see God up there just loving this. that has been a song that has been on my heart as i think and dream about what is next. then my lisa pulls me aside and tells me that will and lisa are the couple that wrote "justice in the burbs"...whoa, completely crazy...

so...needless to say i was in awe of how God works out timing even in the sometimes silly things that we do. we ended up staying for about 2 hours just hanging out with all of them and talking their ears off. it was great. we asked them about making a pilgrimage down sometime to discuss stuff and they are all for it. a lot of the families keep their homes ready for hospitality, meals, nights over and that kinda thing. i have more to tell, but will wait to see everyone face to face. needless to say, my head was buzzing with the thoughts, dreams and prayers of what we are doing. it was exciting to see more people who are a part of this movement of Jesus in this day and age. i was so humbled by the common bond of Christ that binds us all together where ever we are. so much so, that we can just drop in and worship with other brothers and sisters. so crazy cool. wow...
steve

Prayer

I wanted to take a moment and challenge you all again to pray. Prayer is such an intimate conversation and that is so much what we need right now. Intimacy with God. He has much to say to each of us but we often have to quiet our hearts first.
Please pray with my meeting tuesday with Mooresville Community foundation. I am hoping to gain some wisdom on grants and things. I also asked for your prayers as I meet with IDT Wed. I need to make a decision soon on how I will be connected with IDT. I know they will be partners with us. Pray for the Holy Spirit to show us whats next and to continue leading. Lisa and steve were able to visit Communality in Lexington Ky, a place doing community together. They will be sharing their insight with us soon. I am also in contact with Vineyard Central in Cincy. I hope to have a meeting with him soon. I am anxious to move forward with the house pray that I will find the balance between patience and stepping out in faith.
ML

Face of Love

I was listening to Sanctus Real last evening while folding laundry and playing with Danny and the song 'Face of Love' came on. The words of the bridge really struck me:

And You are the face that changed the whole world
No one too lost for you to love
No one too low for you to serve
So give us the grace to change the world
No one too lost for me to love
No one too low for me to serve
Oh let us see…Let us be your face
Let us be your face

I'm not much for creating Mission Statements or Mottos, but this really sounds like who we want to be.... The Face of Love.

Dave

Fellowship

I am reading Jesus Christ Disicple-Maker.
He is talking about the dynamics of fellowship. He says Christians need to eat together, pray together, worship together(he says singing I changed to worship) and play together. He then makes this excellent quote.
"Eating together, praying together, singing together, and playing together will gradually knit disciples into a cohesive unit capable of accomplishing great things for God. This kind of fellowship produces a powerful outreach."

Let us start doing these things more often as a group!!!

KT

i think i hear thunder!!! Just a brainstorm.

Let's keep the brainstorming going!! Words, phrases, pictures, excerpts from books, semi-collected thoughts. If this is the "pot" that collects the ideas, we should be able to step back and see what we have at the end. Enjoy! Don't hold ideas back.

What is happening?

Had a thought! Why not blog? We can share cool stuff that we find. We can present ideas and help work them out together. This shouldn't subsitute meeting and eating together, but it could be a good idea generator in between meeting.

We can keep a list of upcoming events on the side as well so we are all on the same page.

What do you think?