Stuff

Stuff:

  • We’re almost halfway through the series “Revealed” at CrossWay.  It’s going well, but I wish I had another two or three months to prepare for it!  Guess I’ll always feel that way.  Sermons are like paintings–it’s hard to reach a point where I can say, “It’s finished.”
  • Laura Marie is eating “solid” food!  Doesn’t look that solid to me, but I guess it’s solid compared to milk.  She really likes the peas, green beans, and carrots, but the sweet potatoes seem to be her favorite so far.  It’s so cute to watch her eat with a spoon!
  • I’m really pulling for a Yankees-Dodgers World Series.  That’s the classic matchup, and it hasn’t happened in 28 years.  Unfortunately the Phillies don’t seem like they’re keen on the idea.  And the Angels aren’t exactly one step away from elimination.  We’ll see.
  • Cheez-its rock.  And now they have some made with whole grain, which are even better.
  • Greg Cooper, the youth pastor at Ocean City Worship Center, is leaving soon to become the pastor of a church in Columbia (Maryland, not South America).  I’m sad.  Happy for Greg and his wife Heather, but sad for the community, the Worship Center, and me.  Greg is such a tremendous asset to our community.  His absence will leave a hole in our ministry to the teenagers in this area.  He’s also a lot of fun to hang out with and very encouraging.  Today we’re having our last hurrah at Plaza Tapatia, which I think is the only place we’ve ever met for lunch except for one time in D.C.  God bless you, Greg and Heather!  (Sniff sniff.)
  • Autumn is totally the best.  I love the smell.  If I ever took two months off, I think I’d take all of October and November and just sit on the back porch watching the trees, drinking Vanilla-Macademia coffee, and listening to the wind.  And maybe reading a 19th-century Russian novel.
  • A couple days ago I finished reading Monster by Frank Peretti.  It was really a great read.  I’d forgotten what an amazingly talented writer Peretti is.
  • About a month or so ago, Carolyn and I started having a community group at our house.  We talk, pray, read the Bible (we’re going through the Gospel of Mark), and eat.  It’s wonderful.
  • Speaking of Mark, I’ve been studying it for a couple months.  It’s been great to slow down and really spend time in Mark.  It’s been spiritually invigorating.
Published in: on October 20, 2009 at 9:51 am  Comments (4)  

Community

Last night our church started a new community group.  A community group is where a lot of church really happens.  Rather than a larger, impersonal setting with lots of people, it’s a smaller, more personal setting.  It’s where life-on-life relationships can really happen.  Community groups have played such an enormous role in my own life that I’ll forever be completely sold on their tremendous value.

We started small, but that’s okay.  In fact, that’s kind of the point!  Carolyn and I host the group at our house in Ocean Pines on Tuesday evenings.

One of the things we talked about last night was how the point of this isn’t just to have another routine Bible study and prayer group.  I don’t want us to get in a rut where we all show up and act polite, shoot the breeze, eat brownies at 6:35 and pray at 6:55 and run through a list of prepared questions.  Instead I picture this group really being a community–getting together for dinner, having game nights, going to movies, being honest with each other, sharing our struggles, and being there for each other.  It can’t be just about that once-a-week meeting.

For the Bible study portion of our gatherings, we’re reading little by little through the Gospel of Mark; and instead of me asking all the questions and sharing my thoughts, I’m asking other group members what questions and thoughts they have.  For most of the history of the church, people came together to the Scriptures to discover together how we can learn and live the Word of God.  Nothing like a community group to really be the church, grow together, and practice all the “one anothers” found throughout the Bible.

I’m so excited about the new group!  I’ve really missed being part of a small community over the summer.

Published in: on September 16, 2009 at 10:35 am  Leave a Comment  
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