This will take some time, and some planning. We'll be able to talk more about the details after Thursday, when he receives his contract- and the keys. Keep praying.
There's more...
A few months ago, I was approached by Pastor Short-Tee, a short rapper who loves Jesus and speaks faster than the micro-machine man of the 1980s. He heads the Gospel Hip-Hop awards- and was looking for some street projects for his army of musical artists to do on October 24th. Moreover, they wanted to do something that would 1) support an existing ministry, and 2) be an ongoing effort that would last. They wanted to invest in something that would be standing a year from now, when they all come back...
So, at the meeting today, I proposed to Mr. Mitchell that we bring these guys in, set up the fabulous Trailer that The Village men built, and throw a small block party- complete with Pastor Ron's grilling, some rapping by Short-Tee & the others... and the opportunity to share some time with the neighbors- and let them know the whats, whens, hows, etc., of everything yet-to-be-determined.
It's a go!
Mark that date down. Set it in stone. 10/24/2009. Time: TBA, Location: Southtown.
And keep praying. God is good.
Here is what we are discussing (that has already been verbally agreed to on the phone):
1) Picking back up with everything that we had started in Southtown, including the weekend worship experience in the community center.
2) Duplicating everything in Collegeville (the site of one of the previous monthly prayer walks).
If all goes as planned, I will have Mr. Mitchell in a church service with us soon, introduce him to you all... and we'll pray together, and get ready to go!
We're working on details Monday morning (the 28th) at 9:30 am at our offices!
For now, pray for...
1) Continued progress on the vision...
2) Pastor Rodney to make it back safe- and to get the apartment for an on-site ministry hub at Southtown.
Greetings Followers of the Way.
Here goes the info for this week...
1. Southtown
The
update on this for the moment is simply keep praying. We are still
unable to use the Community Center on Sundays for now, and, honestly,
we do not know the answer other than to keep doing what we are doing
and wait on God to open whatever the necessary doors are. We trust in
His sovereignty. He reigns. He rules. He will act on behalf of His
people in this city for His glory. So, let's pray for Him to display
His glory in a greater way than we imagined! Keep praying for the
people in the Southtown community.
2. The Feast- Sign up now. Right Now. Go. I will wait here...Seriously, go.
If you have yet to sign up for the feast, go to www.thejourney.org,
click on the feast page on the right side of the blog and sign up for
some food and such. There is still much room for people to bring some
stuff, so go sign up! On Wednesday, come on and bring your food @ 6.00
so we can get all set up an ready to go.
3. First Sunday Worship
IMPORTANT CHANGE-
While we are meeting in the warehouse, there is really no need for the
extra corporate worship time, and it is an extra thing in everyone's
schedule. Therefore, we are going to hold off on the Sunday night
worship gatherings until we are back up and running in Southtown. So,
on March 1.2009, we will keep up the house church schedule as usual.
That is the plan. Tell your friends.
4. Day to Make a Difference/Easter
Pastor
Andrew had a meeting with many of you on Thursday night to pass on
information and get you planning on the Day to Make a Difference and
Easter week of Goodness (not necesarily the actual name- but good, I
think). It continues to grow and expand and will require more and more
of God's provision and our hands to pull it off. There will be hundreds
of folks working in the Park Place area and much opportunity to show
the Gospel to people. Cover it in prayer and prepare to get your hands
dirty!
Grace and Peace
Happy Tuesday all!
I will jump right into the stuff you need to know for this week:
I. This Sunday
We
will again be worshiping together at the warehouse this Sunday, unless
something miraculous happens quickly. Keep an eye on your email and the
blog for any
new updates on location. You guys all did a wonderful job adapting back
to the warehouse, changing up space from how we have used it in the
past, and continuing to plug away at preparation for ministry.
II. Pray- Southtown/Day to Make a Difference/Easter
Continue
to pray for the people at Southtown. They have a history of having
churches bail out on them, and some of them probably think that is what
we did, as well. Pray for grace and favor with them as we try to keep
contact with all of those who have visited and came for classes.
Continue to pray for the decision makers in leadership in Birmingham,
including Mr. Frank Horn, the executive director of PING, who controls
the use of the community center in Southtown and all of the other
government housing communities in the city. Pray for the pastors here
as we look for God's wisdom as we communicate with city leaders on how
to get back into Southtown.
As well, be in prayer for the Day to Make a Difference project that
will be going on April 4 when many area churches will converge on the
downtown area to serve the people of the local communities. Hundreds of
people are expected to join in local service projects, dirtying our
hands in order to serve and make the city better. Following that
project, we will be setting up prayer and other service opportunities
to occur throughout the week leading up to Easter Sunday, April 12. On
that day we are going to have a shindig (defined by wikipedia as any sort of clever party, covered dish gathering,
or a dance party with lots of music). Insert your own ideas of what
that should be, because we need you to plan it. Pastor Andrew has been
working on some of the ground work to get it rolling, but we need many
of you to jump in and put all of the pieces together and make it
happen. If that is you, please email back or contact Pator Andrew about
jumping in. It will be a great day, so plan to join in, serve, and
party!
III. The Feast
The
feast is just over a couple of weeks away. Many are still fasting, and
we are all still praying, studying and seeking the facce of God
together. Pray for strength for all that are still plugging away on the
fast. We are quickly approaching the final days, and those still
fasting are growing weary. Please lift them all up in your prayers.
Following the fast, on Wednesday, Feb 18, we will come together to
feast and celebrate all that God has done in this time. Please plan on
attending, We will need food to arrive @ 6.00 pm so that we can make
sure it is all organized and ready to go @ 6.30. We will eat and share
stories that night. That is all. Plan to come and share all that God
has shown you and done in your life.
IV. Baby Shower
For all of you ladies-
Shalene is registered at Babies 'R Us and Target.
V. First Sunday Worship Night
Thank you to all of you who came this Sunday night for a night of worship, testimony, and baptism. It was a good time. The band certainly had a blast! We were able to celebrate new life with 3 men who chose to follow Jesus and were baptized. We heard testimony from 2 people who have been forever changed by God during this time of fasting. We sang a lot, and prayed for some very specific things. The next worship night will be Sunday, March 1st, again @ 6.00 pm. Go ahead and mark it down on your calendars to be there and participate in this wonderful time of sharing together.
Have a great week.
Grace and Peace.
So,
we had an amazing day this past Sunday @ Southtown! The classes kicked
off and we had about 25 new people show up for classes and worship. It
went incredibly well. You all handled the influx of folks wonderfully.
No one slipped through the cracks. There were some of you helping
people get started on GED prep, some of you helping folks start a job
hunt, some of you ministering to children, and some of you just hanging
out talking to people and praying with them. It was a beautiful thing!
We have had several calls this week from people planning to be there
this Sunday to get started, so be ready for more this week!
Here is the important stuff for this week:
1. Sunday Morning
Please remember that we need to be ready to accept people @ 9.00 am. So, you need to be there by 8.45 to set up and prepare.
2. Sunday Night, Feb 1.2009
The first official "First Sunday Night Worship Throw-Down Thingy" is
set to kick off promptly @ 6.00 pm this Sunday night, Feb 1. You might
be asking yourself, "are these people crazy? They planned a worship
service right over the stinkin' Super Bowl!" Well, to be honest, I
don't think any of us really realized it (not big NFL football folks).
However, I also don't think any of us cared too much. We are going to
gather for something far greater- to worship the King of Kings, to
share in our stories together, and to welcome new people into the
Family as they take part in baptism. So, if you care about whatever
that football game is, head on over to walmart and pick up one of those
VCR tapes and set it to watch it for you. Or tell your DVR to catch it
for you, and come on to the warehouse to worship. You can watch the
game later...
We want some of you to share this Sunday night. The Book of Revelation
tells us that there is great power in the word of our testimony
(12.11). We want some of you to talk about what God is doing in you,
how He has healed you, what He is teaching you, how He is providing for
you- just what it means for you to be grafte into His story right now.
Talk about what it means to be a part of His work in Southtown, hoe He
has pursued you to serve and how you have answered. There is power when
we share in the same story, so many of you need to share- because your
stories are full of life, encouragement, and faith, and the rest of us
need to hear it. If you would like to share, please send me an email
and tell me a brief synpsis of what you would like to talk about so
that we can be well prepared and ready to go Sunday night- rodneycalfee@gmail.com.
3. The Feast
We are still going to have a feast to end the fast, it has just been
moved. We have pushed it off until Wednesday, Feb 18. Bring your food
to the warehouse @ 6.00 pm. This is our normal leadership night. We
will probably print out a bit of info to hand out to the leadership
folks, but we will not have a meeting that night. We will only be
feasting. We pushed it off to give us a bit more time to organize and
to give the people pushing on to 40 days time to finish the fast. More
info to come, as we will put together a bit of a menu and let people
sign up to bring stuff...
4. Day to Make a Difference/Easter Party
Saturday, April 4- mark it down. We will have
hundreds of people from many churches converging on the downtown area
to work on projects- many projects- from landscaping to cleaning to
painting to...who knows what all...we are working on the list of
projects. Following that work day, we will have other projects/prayer
times throughout the week and work our way up to the Great Big Huge
Easter Party on Easter Sunday, April 12 in Southtown. Be in prayer for
this project. Pastor Andrew has made some preliminary connections this
week, but there is MUCH to do that we will be handing off to some of
you very shortly.
have a great wednesday.
grace and peace.
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.
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