maybe one day...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Mt. Vernon photo journal
cool idea Brown Memorial! I'm inspired!
bus stop, MLK and Howard
African cafe and gallery, Read St
Read St.
Some good, thought-provoking questions for YOU!
Hi everyone!
I'm studying Luke. I found this nice study from Liberty Pres, in NJ.
Check out Luke 17: 1-10
from study notes:
"an unwillingness to forgive is a lack of humility"
... (me:) loving and forgiving others, and humility, must come out of our LOVE RELATIONSHIP (oh, Blackaby, our hero) with the LORD. We love BECAUSE He loved us first.
In what ways can you meditate on God's Grace?
What area of service to God, if any, never wearies you and always feels like a privilege?
I'll post my answers if you do :)
I'm studying Luke. I found this nice study from Liberty Pres, in NJ.
Check out Luke 17: 1-10
from study notes:
"an unwillingness to forgive is a lack of humility"
... (me:) loving and forgiving others, and humility, must come out of our LOVE RELATIONSHIP (oh, Blackaby, our hero) with the LORD. We love BECAUSE He loved us first.
In what ways can you meditate on God's Grace?
What area of service to God, if any, never wearies you and always feels like a privilege?
I'll post my answers if you do :)
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
notes from may 16th meeting
hey folks,
this is VERY late, but these are the notes from last Wednesday's (May 16th) meeting.
General schedule is that our plans are to meet 1-2x/wk thru June and the latter half of July. (the beginning of July is free and clear from meetings). Come August, we might be meeting as often as every night during the week. While this might sound crazy right now, we will probably need that kind of frequency to make things happen come September.
Immediate schedule is to meet
May 22nd (yesterday, i know), 5pm for a prayer walk through Mt. Vernon. We wanted to begin walking the area where the church is intended to reach, covering it with prayer. I have a feeling it will be the first of many, so if you missed it, be on the lookout for more! woohoo! I'm officially inviting those who participated to share their thoughts and prayers and impressions on the blog. (alison, i'll help you do that, if you want!)
May 24th - Thursday, 7:30-9pm Core Group meeting at my house
May 29th - 9pm Prayer meeting, place: TBA
June 5th - 9pm Prayer meeting, place: TBA
(since the mission team is going to Peru, our meetings resume on:)
June 6th - Wednesday, 7:30-9pm Core Group meeting at my house
*June 16-17 - Church visit - looking more and more like Mars Hill in Mich.
(*note this is a change from my last missive, later by one week.)
June 22-24, we are planning to go away as a group on a team-building retreat
June 28, 29 the Buzz Conference.in DC. turns out discounts are a little tough to come by, but if you register as a church planter, it's $140. There are some funds available to help subsidize your registration, but see the notes on our funding discussion below. The 28th (Thurs) is 9am-4:30, while the 29th (Fri) is 9am-12:30pm. The registration deadline is June 15th.
We did spend some of the time talking about seminars we are planning. The more i have been thinking and praying about it and talking with PR, the more i/we have realized that we want to make sure that y'all have an intellectually grounded theological basis to work from. To be honest, my assessment of y'all overall is that y'all are grounded individuals, at least in terms of your faith. But i don't know that the popular opinion of artists is that they are grounded. So, we would like to give/teach y'all a biblical basis so that no one has any reason to doubt your groundedness. Thus we did a brief seminar on prayer walking in anticipation of our prayer walk on tuesday. there is a handout if you would like a copy. :) we will also be scheduling a seminar on Spiritual Gifts, so that we can teach specifically on what are termed the "charismatic" giftings (includes, isn't restricted to: tongues, prophecy, healing, discernment, etc.)
In line with this, PR shared that he has been questioning why him and why now as far as his involvement, considering that there are others who are more gifted than himself in the area of arts and pastoring the artist. While we still need someone who is gifted in that way, God has been showing him that his role is to provide that theological/doctrinal stability, which has reassured him, i believe. (correct me if i'm wrong, PR)
Funding: We are getting some funding from Mississippi, but we need to do some fund-raising of our own. Frankly, if we are willing to spend someone else's money, but aren't willing to lift a finger to raise some ourselves, or to give sacrificially, i'd call that irresponsible at best, and downright despicable at worst. And Mississippi probably won't give for long if we don't do our part. This is less about amounts than it is effort and heart (think: the parable of the widow's mite).
Likewise, there are some things that we are asking you to invest in personally in preparation for the church plant. Things like the trips to visit churches and the Buzz conference. We are not intent on wasting your money, but rather are trying to choose wisely the things that will prepare us all the best. We know that few, if any of y'all are rolling in cash, and are prepared to help subsidize some of these expenses. But we can't bankroll the whole thing. If you can afford an aspect of this, please don't rely on the church just because we have the funds right now. Instead, spend when you can, and let us know honestly when you cannot. As our relationships grow, we will learn better when we are asking too much and when we are not. Dialogue on this is the most helpful.
We want to encourage you to raise funds for yourself for these endeavors as well as for this church plant. Do you have artwork you could sell (i'm not asking you to sell out, here!)? Do you know of ways to or want to group up and raise money? brainstorm on this, folks! :)
ok, i think that's all. :) i'll see y'all tomorrow, 7:30pm, my house!
this is VERY late, but these are the notes from last Wednesday's (May 16th) meeting.
General schedule is that our plans are to meet 1-2x/wk thru June and the latter half of July. (the beginning of July is free and clear from meetings). Come August, we might be meeting as often as every night during the week. While this might sound crazy right now, we will probably need that kind of frequency to make things happen come September.
Immediate schedule is to meet
May 22nd (yesterday, i know), 5pm for a prayer walk through Mt. Vernon. We wanted to begin walking the area where the church is intended to reach, covering it with prayer. I have a feeling it will be the first of many, so if you missed it, be on the lookout for more! woohoo! I'm officially inviting those who participated to share their thoughts and prayers and impressions on the blog. (alison, i'll help you do that, if you want!)
May 24th - Thursday, 7:30-9pm Core Group meeting at my house
May 29th - 9pm Prayer meeting, place: TBA
June 5th - 9pm Prayer meeting, place: TBA
(since the mission team is going to Peru, our meetings resume on:)
June 6th - Wednesday, 7:30-9pm Core Group meeting at my house
*June 16-17 - Church visit - looking more and more like Mars Hill in Mich.
(*note this is a change from my last missive, later by one week.)
June 22-24, we are planning to go away as a group on a team-building retreat
June 28, 29 the Buzz Conference.in DC. turns out discounts are a little tough to come by, but if you register as a church planter, it's $140. There are some funds available to help subsidize your registration, but see the notes on our funding discussion below. The 28th (Thurs) is 9am-4:30, while the 29th (Fri) is 9am-12:30pm. The registration deadline is June 15th.
We did spend some of the time talking about seminars we are planning. The more i have been thinking and praying about it and talking with PR, the more i/we have realized that we want to make sure that y'all have an intellectually grounded theological basis to work from. To be honest, my assessment of y'all overall is that y'all are grounded individuals, at least in terms of your faith. But i don't know that the popular opinion of artists is that they are grounded. So, we would like to give/teach y'all a biblical basis so that no one has any reason to doubt your groundedness. Thus we did a brief seminar on prayer walking in anticipation of our prayer walk on tuesday. there is a handout if you would like a copy. :) we will also be scheduling a seminar on Spiritual Gifts, so that we can teach specifically on what are termed the "charismatic" giftings (includes, isn't restricted to: tongues, prophecy, healing, discernment, etc.)
In line with this, PR shared that he has been questioning why him and why now as far as his involvement, considering that there are others who are more gifted than himself in the area of arts and pastoring the artist. While we still need someone who is gifted in that way, God has been showing him that his role is to provide that theological/doctrinal stability, which has reassured him, i believe. (correct me if i'm wrong, PR)
Funding: We are getting some funding from Mississippi, but we need to do some fund-raising of our own. Frankly, if we are willing to spend someone else's money, but aren't willing to lift a finger to raise some ourselves, or to give sacrificially, i'd call that irresponsible at best, and downright despicable at worst. And Mississippi probably won't give for long if we don't do our part. This is less about amounts than it is effort and heart (think: the parable of the widow's mite).
Likewise, there are some things that we are asking you to invest in personally in preparation for the church plant. Things like the trips to visit churches and the Buzz conference. We are not intent on wasting your money, but rather are trying to choose wisely the things that will prepare us all the best. We know that few, if any of y'all are rolling in cash, and are prepared to help subsidize some of these expenses. But we can't bankroll the whole thing. If you can afford an aspect of this, please don't rely on the church just because we have the funds right now. Instead, spend when you can, and let us know honestly when you cannot. As our relationships grow, we will learn better when we are asking too much and when we are not. Dialogue on this is the most helpful.
We want to encourage you to raise funds for yourself for these endeavors as well as for this church plant. Do you have artwork you could sell (i'm not asking you to sell out, here!)? Do you know of ways to or want to group up and raise money? brainstorm on this, folks! :)
ok, i think that's all. :) i'll see y'all tomorrow, 7:30pm, my house!
His Word spoken to us
Hi Ya'll:
I had a thought that we can start sharing some of the things God teaches us/speaks to us individually (since mostly we don't have enough time for everyone to share this when we meet) So please post the things God reveals to you. I think it will really deepen our relationships to each other to hear these things.
(After I did a study on Luke 15: 1-10; God gave me this thought:)
It’s a wonder that the world turns at all: that we even have full lives and the things we need—THIS IS GOD ALONE. Without God’s active presence in our world, it would be so full of corruption that few would have the essentials of life – and all those who live in poverty (and they are majority of the world’s population!) would not even have life at all. IT IS GOD’S GREAT MERCY. Even to those who don’t know Him at all.
Mark 10:18—“No one is good – except God alone” –Jesus
Psalm 145: 8-9 -- The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
2 Cor 9:7-9 -- Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
I had a thought that we can start sharing some of the things God teaches us/speaks to us individually (since mostly we don't have enough time for everyone to share this when we meet) So please post the things God reveals to you. I think it will really deepen our relationships to each other to hear these things.
(After I did a study on Luke 15: 1-10; God gave me this thought:)
It’s a wonder that the world turns at all: that we even have full lives and the things we need—THIS IS GOD ALONE. Without God’s active presence in our world, it would be so full of corruption that few would have the essentials of life – and all those who live in poverty (and they are majority of the world’s population!) would not even have life at all. IT IS GOD’S GREAT MERCY. Even to those who don’t know Him at all.
Mark 10:18—“No one is good – except God alone” –Jesus
Psalm 145: 8-9 -- The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
2 Cor 9:7-9 -- Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
Sunday, May 13, 2007
notes from May 12th
Hey, folks, before it gets too much later, here is a brief synopsis from this last Saturday's meeting.
Firstly, in hopes to dislodge out core group meeting from the high-traffic Saturday, we will be meeting, at least for this week, Wednesday night (May 16th), my house, 7:30-9pm.
given that our group was small this last saturday (due to impending graduations, various end-of-term-busy-ness and whatnot :)), we know that this time might not work for everyone, but then, last saturday didn't either. :P So, let's give it a whirl, and at the very least GET ME YOUR SCHEDULES, please. :)
things we talked about:
the Travelling bug:
3 dates in June you should reserve and prepare for:
June 9-11, we will probably go visit a church. we were talking about Mars Hill in Michigan and another one in Indiana?; The Well, in PA; one in DC. those are all churches we might visit, but which one(s) that weekend, we are still looking into.
June 22-24, we are planning ot go away as a group on a team-building retreat
June 28, 29 there is conference in DC, called the Buzz Conference. PR is looking into discounts for us (for the record, PR is a great negotiator. Beware the man in a game of Monopoly). He went last year, i believe, and found it really useful.
Essentially, in our not-in-depth-yet research, we haven't really found another church in the US that is doing what we want to be doing. (Eunice has taken that as a challenge to do some research, i believe. Yay!) If they are out there, then they aren't "big" enough for us to know them or they haven't gotten the exposure that would let us know about them. That means that until we find them, we are essentially pioneering new ground, in terms of how and what we are doing. That can be exciting, and that can be daunting.
however, we still want to go a see how other churches are "doing church": how they operate, how they think, how they plan, how they respond to what God is doing in their midst. One thing we need to remember, when we visit, is that what we see on a visit is most likely their (quasi-)finished product, and doesn't necessarily reflect what they started with, or the journey they took to get there. this serves as both an encouragement and a sober reminder to us as we pray and plan: that we don't have to have it all figured out before we start, but also that we shouldn't hold on to our original ideas/plans/agendas so tightly that God can't do what he wants to do with us. :)
This was a lot of our discussion, as well as rather nebulous talk about "what does it mean to be a creative church?" and by nebulous, i don't mean to imply that it was too vague to be important, but rather i mean that it simply hasn't taken much shape yet, and will be expanded upon as we continue.
See y'all Wednesday!
Firstly, in hopes to dislodge out core group meeting from the high-traffic Saturday, we will be meeting, at least for this week, Wednesday night (May 16th), my house, 7:30-9pm.
given that our group was small this last saturday (due to impending graduations, various end-of-term-busy-ness and whatnot :)), we know that this time might not work for everyone, but then, last saturday didn't either. :P So, let's give it a whirl, and at the very least GET ME YOUR SCHEDULES, please. :)
things we talked about:
the Travelling bug:
3 dates in June you should reserve and prepare for:
June 9-11, we will probably go visit a church. we were talking about Mars Hill in Michigan and another one in Indiana?; The Well, in PA; one in DC. those are all churches we might visit, but which one(s) that weekend, we are still looking into.
June 22-24, we are planning ot go away as a group on a team-building retreat
June 28, 29 there is conference in DC, called the Buzz Conference. PR is looking into discounts for us (for the record, PR is a great negotiator. Beware the man in a game of Monopoly). He went last year, i believe, and found it really useful.
Essentially, in our not-in-depth-yet research, we haven't really found another church in the US that is doing what we want to be doing. (Eunice has taken that as a challenge to do some research, i believe. Yay!) If they are out there, then they aren't "big" enough for us to know them or they haven't gotten the exposure that would let us know about them. That means that until we find them, we are essentially pioneering new ground, in terms of how and what we are doing. That can be exciting, and that can be daunting.
however, we still want to go a see how other churches are "doing church": how they operate, how they think, how they plan, how they respond to what God is doing in their midst. One thing we need to remember, when we visit, is that what we see on a visit is most likely their (quasi-)finished product, and doesn't necessarily reflect what they started with, or the journey they took to get there. this serves as both an encouragement and a sober reminder to us as we pray and plan: that we don't have to have it all figured out before we start, but also that we shouldn't hold on to our original ideas/plans/agendas so tightly that God can't do what he wants to do with us. :)
This was a lot of our discussion, as well as rather nebulous talk about "what does it mean to be a creative church?" and by nebulous, i don't mean to imply that it was too vague to be important, but rather i mean that it simply hasn't taken much shape yet, and will be expanded upon as we continue.
See y'all Wednesday!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
notes from May 5th: Looking Ahead
this Saturday, May 12th, we have another meeting, 10am, my house.
just a couple of notes from our meeting last Saturday (may 5th):
There are several things we talked about:
PR's trip to Mississippi (MS) went well.
He made several contacts, and has several pledges-of-support. The older couple with whom he stayed have a son and daughter-in-law (i believe) who are artists and Christian, in about their 30's. He would like to bring them (or one of them) up to talk with our group at some point about their navigation through and wrestling with being a Christian in the art world.
Incoming Missions Teams, Artscape
There will be 3 times in the summer (July/August) in which missions teams will be coming up from MS to help with the church plant. Two groups will do a few prayer walks in MtV and BHill (early July and early August). The 3rd group will come in time to participate in Artscape (July 20-22). We have applied for a booth at Artscape, and assuming we get it, we will need folks to man (person?) the booth, as well as participate as volunteers in the actual festival (through official channels. we just need to apply by the end of June to be volunteers). We will also need to brainstorm things to do with/at the booth at Artscape.
October 7th Launch
We are planning an October 7th launch, as of now. That means that we will have "closed service" through September. Closed service means that we will hold services for ourselves, and those who are interested and supporters of the church plant (but who perhaps are not on a "core-group-level"). This is not the time to invite non-Christians, the-casually-interested, or general folks. This time of "closed services" is meant to give us time to hone the practicalities of running a service (set up, sound, logistics, the look, etc) as well as tailoring the content to us, the serving community, rather than seekers.
Meeting Space
We are beginning to pray and look for a meeting space. It will most likely be in MtV, since there seems to be more commercial space there (which is more likely to have rooms large enough to fit more people).
Training, Research Road Trips, Fun Trips
In the meantime, this summer will be a time of intensive training and research. We are looking at taking a few road-trips (in the quasi-local area) to look at other churches and how they engage in the creative. These would be weekend trips, probably leaving on a friday and returning on a monday, in order to catch their sunday services. If you know of any churches we should look at (i'm already talking to The Well, in PA - a classmate of mine went there), let me know.
We are also planning a couple of "fun" weekend trips - probably to the beach, or something. The purpose of these trips is to help solidify and build cohesiveness in the group. In our years of churchplanting, we've found that sharing "fun" time really helps to deepen relationships. We are already a group that prays and meets together, and individuals within the group all have different connections with each other. Really enjoying one another outside of the ministry context does so much to ease various tensions within the group and helps to guard against the enemy's ability to divide us against ourselves.
Make Contacts
There are a lot of things to do, but more than anything right now, it's crucial to start talking to people about the coming church plant. Whether they are Christian, non-Christian, new/old Christian, let them know that the Light is coming. Maybe start a small Bible Study at your place? Engage with folks and pray pray pray!
Scheduling
There are 2 things to think about with scheduling this summer. Our heaviest scheduling will be in June, late July, and all of August (esp. August). If you are looking to go on a vacation, or home, or something, the best time would be July 1-13th.
Also, with the semester over, we hopefully will have a free-er schedule for meetings. i'd like to hear what y'all's schedules look like for now. Let me know when you know you will be away, as well as when y'all work, evenings that are free, etc. After PR, Jason, and John get back from their PERU trip, it would be nice to see if we can re-arrange the meeting schedule (so that folks like Andy Horng and Sarah Nix don't miss every single meeting).
THINGS TO DO:
Pray for the church plant, for a space
Look for a space
Make contacts
Get your schedules to me
Research churches that are doing what we want to do.
Brainstorm for Artscape
just a couple of notes from our meeting last Saturday (may 5th):
There are several things we talked about:
PR's trip to Mississippi (MS) went well.
He made several contacts, and has several pledges-of-support. The older couple with whom he stayed have a son and daughter-in-law (i believe) who are artists and Christian, in about their 30's. He would like to bring them (or one of them) up to talk with our group at some point about their navigation through and wrestling with being a Christian in the art world.
Incoming Missions Teams, Artscape
There will be 3 times in the summer (July/August) in which missions teams will be coming up from MS to help with the church plant. Two groups will do a few prayer walks in MtV and BHill (early July and early August). The 3rd group will come in time to participate in Artscape (July 20-22). We have applied for a booth at Artscape, and assuming we get it, we will need folks to man (person?) the booth, as well as participate as volunteers in the actual festival (through official channels. we just need to apply by the end of June to be volunteers). We will also need to brainstorm things to do with/at the booth at Artscape.
October 7th Launch
We are planning an October 7th launch, as of now. That means that we will have "closed service" through September. Closed service means that we will hold services for ourselves, and those who are interested and supporters of the church plant (but who perhaps are not on a "core-group-level"). This is not the time to invite non-Christians, the-casually-interested, or general folks. This time of "closed services" is meant to give us time to hone the practicalities of running a service (set up, sound, logistics, the look, etc) as well as tailoring the content to us, the serving community, rather than seekers.
Meeting Space
We are beginning to pray and look for a meeting space. It will most likely be in MtV, since there seems to be more commercial space there (which is more likely to have rooms large enough to fit more people).
Training, Research Road Trips, Fun Trips
In the meantime, this summer will be a time of intensive training and research. We are looking at taking a few road-trips (in the quasi-local area) to look at other churches and how they engage in the creative. These would be weekend trips, probably leaving on a friday and returning on a monday, in order to catch their sunday services. If you know of any churches we should look at (i'm already talking to The Well, in PA - a classmate of mine went there), let me know.
We are also planning a couple of "fun" weekend trips - probably to the beach, or something. The purpose of these trips is to help solidify and build cohesiveness in the group. In our years of churchplanting, we've found that sharing "fun" time really helps to deepen relationships. We are already a group that prays and meets together, and individuals within the group all have different connections with each other. Really enjoying one another outside of the ministry context does so much to ease various tensions within the group and helps to guard against the enemy's ability to divide us against ourselves.
Make Contacts
There are a lot of things to do, but more than anything right now, it's crucial to start talking to people about the coming church plant. Whether they are Christian, non-Christian, new/old Christian, let them know that the Light is coming. Maybe start a small Bible Study at your place? Engage with folks and pray pray pray!
Scheduling
There are 2 things to think about with scheduling this summer. Our heaviest scheduling will be in June, late July, and all of August (esp. August). If you are looking to go on a vacation, or home, or something, the best time would be July 1-13th.
Also, with the semester over, we hopefully will have a free-er schedule for meetings. i'd like to hear what y'all's schedules look like for now. Let me know when you know you will be away, as well as when y'all work, evenings that are free, etc. After PR, Jason, and John get back from their PERU trip, it would be nice to see if we can re-arrange the meeting schedule (so that folks like Andy Horng and Sarah Nix don't miss every single meeting).
THINGS TO DO:
Pray for the church plant, for a space
Look for a space
Make contacts
Get your schedules to me
Research churches that are doing what we want to do.
Brainstorm for Artscape
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The first of many to come
Hey ya'll! This is the Light blog for news, updates, meeting minutes, prayers and any other good ol' stuff. Figured with all of us meandering along different paths come this summer break, it would make most sense to be able to connect altogether through this gracious technology of a blog. I'm imagining how it will be pretty great to look back on this and remember the crazy things God was doing in our lives, in Baltimore, and with His church, The Light.
PEACE OUT G's
-Steph
PEACE OUT G's
-Steph
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