Posted by herschelthompson on December 7, 2009
Merry Christmas everyone! As a proud dad, I am amazed at my own short-sightedness in not being ‘constantly vigilant’ for ways to bless my kids & spouse. Luckily, my wife is amazing at it and brought back some of her Lutheran roots with our family celebration of Advent.
Growing up Baptist, we didn’t celebrate Advent…probably more to minimize my love of fire than anything else… Anyway, what a great way to celebrate the birth of Christ for a whole month instead of just one day! We have the advent wreath with candles & light a new one every Sunday starting 4+ weeks before Christmas. Then we read verses together around the meaning that Jesus plays in Christmas in 4 different ways & pray together. Advent studies abound & you can usually find one, with candles included at a local Christian bookstore or giftshop.
Another thing we’ve started to do is to READ THE CHRISTMAS STORY to our kids in shorter sections instead of all at once! This works great for kids’ attention spans AND usually works well for your small group as well!!! (adds in discussion time on the main points) Here is a suggested reading plan from BSF International.
Christmas Story Reading Plan for Families or Groups
A Savior King is Promised – Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5; Micah 5:2-5a
The Angel Visits Mary – Luke 1:26-38
The Angel Visits Joseph – Matthew 1:18-25
The Trip to Bethlehem & Stable Lodging – Luke 2:1-7
The Christ Child is Born – Luke 2:6-7
The Angels Visit the Shepherds – Luke 2:8-14
The Shepherds Visit the Manger – Luke 2:15-18
The Wise Men Travel to Jerusalem – Matthew 2:1-8
The Wise Men Worship the Christ Child – Matthew 2:9-12
The Trip to Egypt – Matthew 2:13-15
Enjoy the Season!
Posted in Fun stuff, Group Curricululm, Personal Growth | Tagged: Christmas Story, Jesus, kids, most important, small groups, wife | Leave a Comment »
Posted by herschelthompson on June 3, 2008
Not only is it my birthday this Sunday, but even more importantly we are embarking on fantastic adventure with hundreds of other churches across the country! Over 800 churches have joined together in an amazing sign of unity of the Body of Christ for a 5 week study on our ‘one prayer’ for the Church as a whole. Clark starts it all off this weekend with his prayer for all of the churches…Lord, make us EFFECTIVE. See HERE for one prayer details.
Small Group DVDs will be available at the What’s Next booth, and we are utilizing the One Prayer DVD materials for this series so you guys won’t have to watch me for this series! Let your coach know if you have any questions!
Summer is an awesome time to enjoy relationships, and the perfect time to get into a group. OR if you’d like to START a new group here at Journey the process is very simple. Grab 3 or 4 friends, come visit with us at the What’s Next booth and pick up your “Out of the Blocks” starter DVD, register your group online (we’ll give you the link), and start meeting!
Posted in Group Curricululm | Tagged: birthday, one prayer, starting a new group | Leave a Comment »
Posted by herschelthompson on February 28, 2008
My wife loves gardening. Flower gardens are great, as long as they consist mostly of perinnial plants, but mostly she loves the idea of a vegetable garden. I say ‘idea’ because although we participated in a community garden a few years ago we have never actually had a garden at our home…something about full shade from our trees or raising 3 pre-schoolers. Hopefully she’ll be able to have one soon…but not this summer.
I think her infatuation with gardening is deeply rooted in our belief that helping things grow not only gives life to the thing, but also to us. WE are a part of positive change, for a season. It applies to parenting, to friendships, to church, & even to our groups. Not all groups last forever, but whatever season you find your group(s) in right now I hope you’ll pray, nurture, water, feed, weed, & celebrate the harvest during this next year.
One of the ways that want to help with that process is by offering GROW GROUPS at Journey. These groups are a teacher-led or DVD-led environment typically meeting at the church building focused on a specific topic or study and ending after a certain number of weeks. For a complete listing of our current Grow Groups check out www.journeychurch.tv on the adult ministries tab under groups. Some groups just sign up together, be a part of the grow group, and then jump back into their normal group mode. It is a great season of replenishment for thee leaders, a great change of pace for the members, AND surrounding a great topic.
For those interested, the BUSINESS BY THE BOOK Grow Group starts tonight at 6:30 and will be led by Chris Gregg/ AltaMere window tinting & Keith Steincamp/ Marriott.
Posted in Group Curricululm | Tagged: class, gardening, grow, wife | Leave a Comment »
