Happily Ever After :: who wants to be a millionaire? May 28, 2009

Oops = sorry for the delay on posting!  The holiday Monday threw off my system and I forgot!

Sunday night we looked at the dream we all have of having wealth – real wealth that can’t be taken away and that rust and moth will never claim.  Who DOESN’T want to be a millionaire?  We asked God to open us up to understand His wisdom so that we can have these dreams come true in our lives.  Dreams of wealth and riches that are stored in heaven instead of in our bank accounts.  Dreams of investments not affected by the economy, of investments that have eternal rewards and un-matched returns.  We know that God wants to use us to reach this world with His wealth – so this night we were challenged to consider how we can give, and in giving find we are made rich.

We opened with a couple songs: Salvation is Here (Hillsong United) and All We Need (Charlie Hall)

Our story sharers for the night were Connie & Jerry Noland - God has walked with them through many ups and downs when it comes to  finances.  They’ve come out the other side VERY servant and giving oriented.  They shared how God taught them to give and how their biggest blessings have come through passing on those blessings to others.

It was a Discussion Night – so we broke into groups and worked through these questions:

1) Think about the best “investment” you’ve made.

2) We heard this proverb: 
Proverbs 11:24-25 (The Message) The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.

How have you experienced this proverb to be true?  Why is it true?

3) Share a story of a time someone invested in you.  What did they give to you; what did they in turn receive?

4) What gets in the way of such generosity?  What reasons/excuses do we use to hold on to our “wealth”?

5) We also heard:
Proverbs 3:9-10 (The Message) Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.

Try to give a specific example of something you think God is asking you to turn over to him in some way.
How do these verses encourage you to follow through?

6) Pray together – lift up the thing each person shared in the last question. Ask that God give each of us the strength to follow through with our giving so that we can be open to receive the true riches he has for us.

We wrapped up with a couple more songs: God of this City and Everything (Tomlin)

We also gathered around Lacy Thompson – a college student from our church who is leaving on the 31st to spend about 6 months in South America doing missions work – after she shared about her work, we laid hands on her and prayed for her travels and ministry.  Please keep her in your prayers also! 

Here are our other prayer requests this week: (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is back in Mexico for more treatment and is feeling good. Pray for healing and hope.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – the grandmother’s hip replacement surgery went well, but the grandfather has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.

:: Pray for Lynn Kelly – she’s doing good, but still struggling with several recovery issues. Her sister-in-law is also battling cancer – her name is Susan.

:: Pray for Tony – job is going well, pray that he begins to get his feet under him again.  His wife and he are also working on reconciliation – pray God will be in the middle of that process.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons – God provided a miracle in the transportation department!!  Still need a place to live. And she is waiting to hear about a great potential job!

Happily Ever After :: finding “Wuv, Twue Wuv” May 18, 2009

Yep, I’m a big Princess Bride fan!  Always have been.  Some of my closest friends and I still lisp on occasion because of this movie.  And this line was the first thing I thought of when we decided the night would be about love.  The Proverb behind the theme is 18:22 - He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.

So we started with an open mic of people sharing the Proverbs from that week’s reading that really stood out for them.  Pretty funny – there’s good stuff in there!  Then we sang a couple songs: Because of Your Love (Hughes) and Foreverandever, Etc (Crowder).  I introduced our testimony time by showing that clip from the Princess Bride.  And then Con and Beth Kellerhals took the stage.

Con and Beth have been married I think 35 years (correct me if I’m remembering that wrong!) and they agreed to share their love story with us.  They turned it into a Top Ten List.  “Top Ten Ways to find True Love and Have a Happy Marriage” was the title.  They worked in pictures, video and music.  It was awesome!  The video is in 3 parts on youtube…
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

For you non-video watchers, here is their Top Ten:
#10 – Marry the person God has planned for you
#9 – Surround yourselves with Christian friends and role models
#8 – Never go to sleep angry with each other
#7 – Be sure you share common values & beliefs, but allow for individual differences & interests
#6 – Be your mate’s greatest encourager and fan
#5 – Keep the romance alive
#4 – Build a relationship of trust and mutual respect
#3 – Agree on the big stuff, and don’t sweat the small stuff
#2 – Make family a priority
#1 – Keep God at the center of your marriage

Then Andrew & McKenzie did an awesome skit.  It was inspired by this one – if you want to watch it.  Pretty funny!

We used some of Eric and I’s wedding vows to say a prayer thanking God for the love in our lives – more than just the romantic love, but the friends we have and the love we share with God himself.  As we thought about those love relationships in our lives, we prayed together:

I take you as a gift to be my companion
I will serve you with tenderness and respect
I will provide Christian leadership in our relationship
I will weep with you in sorrows and rejoice with you in blessings
I will live with you a simple, just and peaceful life as Christ has called us to live
I will forgive you as we have been forgiven
I enter into this relationship
To give and to receive
To speak and to listen
To inspire and to respond

I shared that my favorite part of weddings is the line: With all that I have, and all the I am, I honor you. 
I challenged folks to approach all their relationships with that mindset.  If in every opportunity, you looked at that person you’re interacting with and thought, “right now in this situation, with all that I have and all that I am, I honor you.”  what would  our world look like?

Then we closed out singing: Beautiful One (Hughes) and Unchanging (Tomlin)

These words from our vows became our sending forth:

The grace of Christ attend to you
The love of God surround you
The holy Spirit keep you that you may grow in holy love
May there be truth and understanding in your relationships
May you enjoy length of days, fulfillment of hopes and peace of mind
May God bless you and keep you always – AMEN.

Here are our prayer requests this week: (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road.  Pray for the details to come together.  For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is back in Mexico for more treatment and is feeling good. Pray for healing and hope.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents - the grandmother’s hip replacement surgery went well, but the grandfather has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult.

:: Pray for Lynn Kelly – she’s doing good, but still struggling with several recovery issues. Her sister-in-law is also battling cancer – her name is Susan.

:: Tony got a job!! Pray that it goes well as he begins to get his feet under him again.  He’s also suffered the loss of a dear friend (like a mom to him) so pray for strength in this time of great grief.

:: Pray for Christa and her sons – they desperately need some transportation.  And a place to live.  And she needs a job.

Happily Ever After :: building a legacy that lasts May 11, 2009

This week wel talked about our dreams of leaving a legacy, of being a part of and creating families that will impact our world when we’re long gone.  Very appropriate on the day we celebrate our Mothers to take time to say thank you and to consider how we can do our part to encourage and create a legacy. 

We opened with a couple songs: Lead Me To The Cross (Hillsong United) and Everything Glorious (Crowder).

We’ve invited everyone to read a chapter a day from the Book of Proverbs (the inspiration behind the series) and so we asked anyone who was willing to come up and share anything from their reading that stood out to them.  A couple did. 

Each week of this series we have a testimony time – someone willing to share their story and how they’ve experienced the wisdom to help make their dreams come true.  This week we focussed that time in on some of the kids of our church.  Here is a video I made of what those kids had to share about who they are, about their families, and about the lessons they’re learning…

The Proverb for the night:

Proverbs 6:20-23 (New International Version)

²⁰ My child, keep your father’s commands
       and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

 ²¹ Bind them upon your heart forever;
       fasten them around your neck.

 ²² When you walk, they will guide you;
       when you sleep, they will watch over you;
       when you awake, they will speak to you.

 ²³ For these commands are a lamp,
       this teaching is a light,
       and the corrections of discipline
       are the way to life

Then John (our pastor) shared some of his story.  His father left when he was 13 and he didn’t know it, but a handful of men from his church came together and promised that they wouldn’t let John fall through the cracks.   They decided to fill some of the void his father left behind.  And it made all the difference in John’s life.  We talked about how the idea of family is much bigger than just a mother and a father.  We thought about how all of are called to love on the family of God and that it is an honor to do so. 

 That brought us to another family’s story:  We watched a video piece that will make you cry!!  BE WARNED.
If you have 7 minutes, you should watch this video now!!  It’s called 99 Balloons

So our big idea was that each of us has the chance through God to leave a legacy in this world that is much larger than ourselves.  For many of us that will happen through the blessing of family, but that is not the only way.  Our larger family of brothers and sisters in Christ is also before us and a part of us if we’ll follow God’s lead.  So we want to make the most of EVERY DAY and opportunity like the family in the video did.  We passed out slips of paper, pens and balloons.  Invited everyone to write a note of thanks to someone who has invested in them.  Might be a mom, but it could be any number of other relationships as well.  They wrote their notes, tucked them into their balloons and then brought them forward to be filled with helium.  After tying a ribbon on, they were ready to share their thanks.  Letting people know about the legacy they are creating in us.  (we only lost a couple of balloons to the ceiling, and only one exploded mid-filling right in the middle of a worship song!)  While people came forward to be filled, we first had the talented Neel family play “The Hand Song” by Nickle Creek and then we sang You Are So Good To Me (Third Day) and How Great is Our God (Tomlin).

It was a cool night. 

Here are our prayer requests this week: (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is home from another stay at a treatment facility and asks for continued prayers for her healing and wellness. There are still of lots of complicated life details to figure out as well. This will be a long, rough road.

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is back in Mexico for more treatment and is feeling good. Pray for healing and hope.

:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandmother (Sil) – had hip replacement surgery this morning.

:: Pray for Lynn Kelly – she’s doing good, but still struggling with several recovery issues. Her sister-in-law is also battling cancer – her name is Susan.

:: Tony got a job!! Pray that it goes well as he begins to get his feet under him again.

Happily Ever After :: Somewhere over the Rainbow May 4, 2009

We’ve started a new series!

Don’t we all want to live Happily Ever After?

No matter male or female – old or young…
We all want to ride off into the sunset of our dreams.
We all want a legacy to be remembered by.
We all want to find our true love.
We all want to be rich and generous.
We all want to live passionately.

During this series we’ll discover the wisdom to make these dreams come true. We’ll draw from the writings in the Book of Proverbs. And each week we’ll hear from people who have personally learned some of these lessons.

Proverbs begins with this:
“These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king— written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; A manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes & give our young people a grasp on reality. There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn— Fresh wisdom to probe & penetrate the rhymes & reasons of wise men & women.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m in!

5.3.09 – The dream: somewhere over the rainbow
On this night we focussed on the idea that discovering the plans God has for you, means listening carefully and letting him make all the decisions!  The verse for the night was Proverbs 3:5-6 (New Living Translation):

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

We opened with a couple songs: Marvelous Light (Hall) & Made to Worship (Tomlin).  It was Preschool Sunday at our church that day, so we watched a bit of video about our Preschool. 

We invited everyone to take a card and a sharpie and to write down a dream they have about the plans God has for them.  A prayer for guidance in whatever area they wonder about.  A question about what’s over their rainbow.  We then collected those cards and came back to them at the end of the service.

 Britta Alton shared some of her story with us as it relates to learning lessons about following God’s lead even when they had no idea what that was going to look like exactly.  She and Kevin (our youth minister) moved to Ringgold from Cartersville and God was definitely in charge of the move.  She shared her exprience in that process and how it was hard but rewarding, scary but beautiful to see. 

Following Britta’s testimony, Andrew & McKenzie did a great skit about giving God the gift of making our decisions.  About how hard that is to actually do, and about how most of the time we end up taking that control back from him.  You can watch a version of it on Youtube.  They did a great job with this!

After that John segued us into our monthly communion.  When we’re thinking about how hard it is to follow God’s lead in making decisions about the future, can you just imagine how scared the disciples must have been in those last days with Jesus?  Gathered around the table with him that night, do you think they realized how big this movement was going to get?  Do you think they knew what was in store for them?  When they took the cup and bread from Christ they were blindly saying YES.  In faith, in trust, they were giving God the reigns and that’s what we have the opportunity to do, too.  We invited people to come up and receive the gift of salvation, the hope of a future in the body and blood of Christ.  As they came forward we sang Indescribable (Tomlin) and Blessed Be Your Name (Redman).

When communion was finished, we closed with a very special prayer.  Earlier, we entered into Media Shout all the prayers from the cards people had filled out at the beginning of the night.  So looking at our screen we prayed each of those prayers together.  Some of them were beautiful:

“God, give us the faith to trust you without knowing the answers.”

“God, make us strong and courageous that we may always serve you and do your will.”

“God, open our hearts wide to receive You.”

“God, help us live an undivided life.”

“God, may everything and anything we do be for your glory.”

“God, we pray that our past would be that.  And our future would be with your plan and YOUR prosperity.”

“God, show us why we’re where we are now, so we can better understand where we want to be.”

It was a cool night.  More to come.  Here are our prayer requests this week:  (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is home from another stay at a treatment facility and asks for continued prayers for her healing and wellness. There are still of lots of complicated life details to figure out as well. This will be a long, rough road.

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is back in Mexico for more treatment and is feeling good. Pray for healing and hope.

:: Louise & Keith Kenney’s daughter in law – Michelle Kenney – has FINISHED her treatment for breast cancer and so far all is good!!! Keep praying for her and her family (husband and two kids)!

:: Pray for Lynn Kelly – she’s doing good, but still struggling with several recovery issues. Her sister-in-law is also battling cancer – her name is Susan.

:: Tony got a job!!  Pray that it goes well as he begins to get his feet under him again.

Celebrating our First Year! May 1, 2009

We took the Water’s Edge on the road Sunday night – not very far, just to the Children’s Park on the other corner of our block.  It was a great night! 

~ We set the band up across the street and we played for most of the hour.  (And only had a slight glitch when the pavilion we were in didn’t have the power it was supposed to have.  Our awesome tech guys figured it out though and it all worked out great!)

~ We grilled out hotdogs with all the fixin’s and fed all our folks plus anyone who happened to be at the park that night. 

~ We set up some children’s activities: face painting, bubble blowing, playdough table, and fishing for prizes.  Regular participants of the Water’s Edge ran all these things and served their hearts out!  The Youth Group also joined us for the night.  They were in charge of being goofy and helping clean up.

~ We gave out popcicles along with an invitation from our kids to come to The Water’s Edge children’s program: The Fishin’ Hole.  Cute little card with info about the service with a map on one side and a fish on the other side that our children colored.

Close to 250 folks hung out and had a great time.  We think we’ll do this twice a year – once in the Spring and Fall for sure.  It was fun for our people, but also a great way to meet and love on our community.  There were lots of great conversations had about The Water’s Edge – maybe we’ll have some new folks come and check it out this week.

Here are some pictures (thanks Dale!):

 

 

Here are our prayer requests this week:
(Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)

:: Jackie Anderson is home from another stay at a treatment facility and asks for continued prayers for her healing and wellness. There are still of lots of complicated life details to figure out as well. This will be a long, rough road.

:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary - is back in Mexico for more treatment and is feeling good.  Pray for healing and hope.

:: Louise & Keith Kenney’s daughter in law – Michelle Kenney – has FINISHED her treatment for breast cancer and so far all is good!!! Keep praying for her and her family (husband and two kids)!

:: Pray for Lynn Kelly – she’s doing good, but still struggling with several recovery issues. Her sister-in-law is also battling cancer – her name is Susan.

:: Tony needs a job – pray that his search will lead to something stable so that he can get his feet under him again.

:: Theo Pinkston is home from the hospital (pneumonia) and feeling much better.  So is Moab after his near death experience last weekend!  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!