The Essentials for the Week of 1.4.2009

Thank you all for such an amazing time of worship together on our first Sunday @ Southtown. You all worked hard- setup and teardown was a cinch. Well done. It was good to actually be outside the walls of the warehouse as we have been anticipating the move for a while now, and this was only the start! Remember to continue in prayer for the classes that will start up on January 25th.

A few things:

1. Fasting and Prayer

We have begun a season of fasting and prayer in our body. For 21 days (at least!) we will be fasting corporately. You can find out more about the fast by checking out sermon audio or notes here. There are a few different types of fasts, and you need to pray and listen to God about what is best for you and your family. If you need more resources, you can check out these helps- Bill Bright's notes on fasting- the hows and whys, and a cookbook for the daniel fast (partial fast).

As well, the prayer room is open and available now. You can use it for you and your family. Look for a sign up this Sunday for the remainder of the 21 days for the prayer room. We want to schedule it up and have people praying like crazy for our families, our city, and all that God is oing right now. The men have been praying @ 6.00 am in the warehouse (those who knew about it) and will continue that for this week. Next week we will move out to places around the city where we will be ministering- places we think God may move us to @ some point. So, men- come join us. Look for updates on Twitter and on the blog- www.thejourney.org.

2. Southtown

We need some help spreading the word out in Southtown now that we are there. Pastor Rodney has made up some flyers that need to get out into the community. If you can help out this week (during the day), email rodney@thedowntownchurch.net and note your availability. We will be out and about in the community for the next couple of weeks, so come on and get to know some of the wonderful people in Southtown.

We also need to put together a setup/tear down team to get the place together for worship and clean up afterward. The process will include picking up a bit of sound gear, kids supplies, and cleaning supplies from the warehouse and getting them to Southtown, getting the chairs/bleechers, sound, and video equipment set up and ready to go, setting out the signs, and checking the bathrooms for toilet paper and paper towels. Tear down just does everything in reverse (with some sweeping thrown in the mix). The team will probably need to be at southtown to set up by 8.30 am, which means picking up gear from the warehouse @ about 8.00 am. We may can do 2 teams- one for setup and one for tear down. We already have a few of the Village fellas ready to jump in, we just need a few more to make it fast and easy. If this is you- email Pastor Rodney- rodney@thedowntownchurch.net and let him know.

We need to know who is leading each of the ministry groups that will be leading classes on Sundays. So, if you are going to be leading one of the groups, email Pastor Rodney, as well.

A NOTE FOR ALL OF US ON THE USE OF THE SPACE @ SOUTHTOWN-
We want to be incredibly respectful of the space there. It is not ours. You guys did a wonderful job on Sunday. So, let's keep it up. We want to leave the place in better condition than we found it. That means not using things that are not ours or we do not have permission to use. It means caring for the place better than we would our own stuff. That means we will be bringing in our own paper products for the bathroom, and we need to be sure not to use theirs up. We want to be a blessing to them in whatever way we can. They have graciously opened the doors to us- strangers. We want to be gracious guests, so that one day we may become part of the family.

3. House Churches

There has been discussion about when house churches should get going again, and several emails have come in wanting to get them moving again sooner rather than later (which is awesome- we miss each other!). So, we are going to officially kick them back off next week, January 18th. If you just can't wait, and you miss each other too much, go ahead and dive back in this week. It is completely up you. Enjoy!

If you are unsure of what/where house churches are or to which one you actually belong, keep your ears open on Sunday and we will introduce the house church leaders and let people figure it out.

Here is the a bit of a change in the house church plan-
There have been a whole lot of you asking about whether we will ever be able to worship @ the warehouse again with the band, some video, some lights, all loud an such. Well, the answer is yes- we will. We will actually be gathering one Sunday night a month to worship @ the warehouse. We are not completely sure what that will look like yet, but we are praying and working through it. We will gather on the FIRST SUNDAY NIGHT of the month @ the warehouse to worship together. That means that the first week in February will find us in the warehouse together. So, if you start your house church back up the 18th, you will meet for 2 weeks (18th and 25th), and the next week we will all be together for worship. It may change up and be different stuff each time- who knows? But it will be a good time to gather and just celebrate our God and all that He is doing.

4. Another Reminder

Try to keep a regular check on the blog, as there is much information being dropped in there on a regular basis. Some of it is just good information we want to pass on to people who want it (like book reviews, rewinds of events, etc...), but some of it is important programming and/or scheduling information that we want to get out quickly. So, again, just keep a check on the blog- www.thejourney.org. You can Subscribe to the blog @ the top of the page, as well.

That is all for now.

Keep praying, fasting, and expecting great things. See you Sunday.

Comments

[Jason Elam]

Sounds like things are really coming together in Southtown for you guys. God is obviously up to great things and ready for the kingdom to show up huge in that community.

I'm impressed. You guys felt the ground shifting beneath your feet and followed the lead of the Spirit. I've never seen an established church so quick to respond. Great things lie ahead for a family that moves when God moves and refuses to get comfortable.