It’s Beginning to look a lot like…CHRISTMAS!

Wow.  I love Christmas.  For of course, many reasons…but mostly because I’m committed to making Christmas-time better for my friends & family.

Here’s Ed Young’s take on Christmas…

Christmas is s big deal. That may seem like an obvious statement, but not for the reason many might think. Yes, it’s a big deal in our culture—it’s the centerpiece of the winter holiday season. Yes, it’s a big deal for retailers—it’s when they typically go from red to black in their financial forecasts. Yes, it’s a big deal for kids—they wait with bated breath for the arrival of Santa and Christmas morning. And yes, it’s a big deal for families—when loved ones get to spend lots of quality time together (for better or for worse).

But the really big deal about Christmas is what it means to the church. Christmas is the new Easter in the church today. The poinsettia and lily crowd is becoming just the poinsettia crowd. For one reason or another, people who give church just a passing glance all year long will brave the elements and attend a Christmas service. They might get warm fuzzies about “peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” They may have nostalgic memories of attending Christmas services as children and hearing the story of that special baby born in a manger. Whatever the reason, they will come.

My prayer is that, when they do, I will be ready and you will be ready to introduce them to the Savior. When they step into our Christmas services next week, we need to prepare their hearts for Christ to step in and rearrange their lives. That’s why it’s so important that our message at Christmas doesn’t stop with the traditional story of Christmas. You can’t talk about the Christmas story without talking about the Easter story. In reality, it’s all one message. Christ was born to die. He was destined to step into time and space as a baby so He could walk that long road to the cross as a man.

That’s why I’m so excited about this and every Christmas.  It’s not just the story of Christ’s journey on this earth. It’s the story of everyone’s journey to, or away from, the Savior. We all have a monumental choice to make—to take a step toward Jesus or away from Him. The wise men made that step; the shepherds made that step; Mary and Joseph made that step. And men, women and children throughout history have been making that step.

The journey continues this Christmas. We have the awesome privilege to walk alongside many hundreds and thousands of people as they are presented with an opportunity to make an eternal step towards the Savior; so that He, in turn, can step into and change their lives forever. God’s best to you this Christmas as you share the only real and lasting message of hope in very uncertain times.

*** Make sure you are leading your group towards Christ this season (6lb 5oz baby Jesus – AND the Easter Jesus) and have a Merry Christmas!

GroupLife Strikes Again!

Many of you know the great impact that the Willow Creek GroupLife conference and Advisory Board meeting has had on me in the last year.  I want to extend an invitiation to any of you considering diving deeper into small group ministry to attend the Annual Willow Creek GroupLife conference in Chicago.

We have been considering hosting the CCN simulcast of the conference to make a local solution available, but have not landed on that option yet…i’ll keep you posted.

If you have any interest, please see all the details HERE !

The RETREAT is coming!!!! Wahoo!!!

That’s right!  The 2008 Journey Groups Leader Retreat is coming very soon on July 18th & 19th!  I hope you have all enjoyed your RoadTrip CDs and are getting ready for an awesome RoadTrip: Embarking on God’s Adventure Together.

A Vision talk from Clark, worship with Kyle, catering from Goldie’s, vision about group purpose & planning for the Fall by our Group Leadership team!  The retreat center has hotel style accommodations so just bring your Bible, your spouse, your apprentice leader & spouse, & your toiletries and you’ll be all set.

Registration is after 5:30pm and dinner starts at 6:00pm on Friday the 19th.  The last session concludes at 11:30am on Saturday the 20th.

RSVP to Herschel.

The Challenge Has Been Issued…

One of our amazing groups, the Crews Life Group, has issued a blanket challenge to all groups for a volleyball tournament coming up June 29th! 

Here are the details!

Join us for an evening of fun, fellowship, food, and friends at the Sturgell-Rosa on Sunday, June 29th starting at 5 pm. We will play a 6 person team (substitutes ok) bracketed volleyball tournament with winner take all..(bragging rights). All ages, all groups are welcome to join and if you don’t have six people come anyway and we will make teams at the games. Bring a Pot luck of Sandwiches and finger food. Drinks and ice will be provided. Bring the kid’s, bring Grandpa and Grandma, bring Aunt Betty but bring your “A” game because the Crews’s small group HAS been practicing..(once)..and will dominate. We expect a great turn out so please come.

Directions are easy. Go South on I-35 (from Norman) to exit 104. The exit will curve you around to the west, past the Goldsby store, where you will see a yield sign. Go right, past Libby’s restaurant, and in about a mile and a half you will see balloons tied to a mailbox on your right. YOU’RE HERE.1676 S. Main Goldsby. We will have a lot of fun so don’t miss out. Leaders talk to your groups and if you want to let us know you will attend email us at dc@thecrews.net , if not , just BE THERE because God is Good……all the time…..and all the time…..

 

Pure fun.

Okay, so if you’ve every been looking for a great alternative to watching Clark on podcast?  Try one of the Reverand D. Ray Montgomery’s Godcasts at http://www.revveduptv.com/.  I, nor Journey Church, nor Clark, endorse this guy, but our office was rolling today watching some of these…

ARC Conference day 2 part 2

Q&A Session with Billie Hornsby (ARC), Greg Surratt (Seacoast), and Matt Fry (C3 Church in NC)

* tips for new church  leaders? = learn by and train an apprentice

* how do you inspire leaders? = get them around other successful leaders and successful environments and let them soak it up.  they’ll catch the vision.

* do all visionary leaders have to be bald? yes (all 3 are…)

* How do you break through growth barriers? = pray, have great content, change the method/process that the content is delivered in, ask your people for help-word of mouth is #1

Workshop #1 – Geoff Surratt – Seacoast

* multisite keys = not too soon, not too late, key strategic leader, not too far or too close, follow God.

*Also, I learned that while interpreters are great, if you have a small room for the workshop with twice the firecode # of people in it, an interpreter can be a real distraction.

Workshop #2 – Layne Schranz/ Church of the Highlands- Intern director

* They have a great 3 year training program for 18-24 yr olds, borderline “militaristic” (his word), excellent training for mission field. 

* Anyone that can devote their time to 1 & 1/2 hours of PE, 1 hour of prayer, another one for journaling & Bible study daily, plus work is pretty stout and all their interns do it!

Their study structure was pretty interesting an applicable to us…Luke 2:52.  They keep a balance (like 4 legs of a table) in educating in wisdom (mental) & stature (physical), in favor with God (spirtual) and man (relational).

How is your balance these days?  My table is definitely lopsided but moving towards balance this week as I am actually in town and get back to the Y.

Starbucks Anyone?

Many of you have taken personality tests and can articulately describe yourselves by the labels of the test… mayby you’re an SCID, or a TFD, or you’re a blue, or sanguine/choleric, or some other mix of labels.  I was in my favorite restaurant recently (yes, Starbucks is a restaurant) and got to thinking about how drink orders give insight into the lives of the people that place the order. 

For example, my wife usually gets a tall, iced, decaf, vanilla latte.  Tall because she’s a minimalist, iced because it is getting warmer out, decaf so she can maintain a low level of caffeine intake, and vanilla latte because it’s not too sweet, but sweet enough.

Our CFO here at Journey gets a venti americano (triple shot plain coffee) first thing in the mornings but orders a venti triple vanilla nonfat with whip latte if it is after noon.

What about you?  Coffee orders are one thing that may define you but what about other labels that people overhear?  Christian?  Journey Church member? Small Group Member?

People have perceptions of what those terms may imply, but only you know the reality of what those terms mean in your life.  I encourage you to take the time to speak about your life with others in terms that you know they understand, or go the opposite direction and explain it in terms that are new to them so that you can define those terms.

I’m a venti Jesus lovin’ community living desperado…what about you?

Blessed Life Project

In our ongoing pursuit of seeing a city transformed, one life at a time, we saw a radically creative curve-ball this weekend!  Journey kicked off our Blessed Life Project by giving out cash to attendees along with a talk on the Blessed Life (from Robert Morris’s book of the same name), and challenged those that attended to ‘pay it forward.’  Envelopes contained from $5 to $1,000!  We have heard amazing stories of philanthropy already, and look forward to hearing many more!

One creative couple is using their funds to make snacks for small groups (so you don’t have to cook) and then collecting donations to fund the project they are working on to benefit single moms.  If you’re interested in having some awesome snacks (and you live in the Norman, OK area!) please email Julie at backfxr@swbell.net to sign up!

If your group has decided what they are going to do, please leave a comment so we can share it with others still trying to decide!  And have a Blessed Week!

Retreat #2 in 2 days…

So, I am out Long Beach, CA right now gearing up for what promises to be another great retreat in just 2 days!  The group I’ll be hanging out with are all small group gurus from around the country to discuss some great topics for this year’s Willow Creek GroupLife conference.  Something about my fairy godmother showing up and getting me a premium ticket to the ball!  Anyway, the GL guys will be blogging about the conference at the above link, and I’m sure I’ll put in my 2 cents as well this week on this Journey Groupslog.  If you want to pose a question to the gurus, please leave a comment on the GroupLife link above!

Oh…and here is the weather forcast through Wednesday…

3 Day Weather Forecast for Long Beach
Mon	Tue	Wed
Hi: 76F/ 24C Lo: 51F/ 10C	Hi: 72F/ 22C Lo: 52F/ 11C	Hi: 70F/ 21C Lo: 52F/ 11C

Shout out to my beautiful wife…wish you were here.

Retreat!

Just returned from an overnight retreat at Jacob’s Ladder with our Journey Group coaches & I am always amazed at how God grows our vision for ministry & connection with each other just by getting away for a night!  Good food, chocolate, fun activities, a beautiful setting, & great friends make strategic planning fun!  Whether your ‘1st team’ is your family, church ministry team, small group, or other friends let me encourage you to set aside some time get away together to pray, wrestle with the issues God has put before you, & have some fun together.  It will be time, money, & energy well spent.

For you Journey Group leaders don’t worry, we are still planning our annual Group Leader Retreat on July 18-19, 2008 so save the date!   You won’t want to miss it.