Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Random thoughts for today

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I really look forward to the day when you are all here and I can just post some stuff to think about leading up to our bible studies or whatever.

Anyway, I have been thinking about a lot of things lately, so I am going to throw in most of them out there and just see what you guys think.

First, I am working on drawing up some sort of covenant we can all agree on. Obviously I will send it to you all and you can look it over before, but I think it could be a good way to kind of agree on certain things as a team and a church. Some things I am thinking about including; something about helping the church financially when able, helping physically when able, attending, moderation in things like drinking and smoking cigars or pipes, the refusal to complain and gossip, agree to go to the other person in the church if there is a problem. What do you guys think about those things? The last thing I want is some list of legalistic things for us to stick to, but I also don't want us to pretend like freedom in Christ means we have no responsibility to each other.

Second, there are a lot of guys at the Rescue Mission who I think will really want to help us. Most of them have skills in manual labor, like drywall and painting and stuff like that. This is assuming we have a place to work on, but I know at some point we will hopefully have a building of some sort. I know these guys love to get out of the mission every now and then. They will be happy to help us and we can just give them a little lunch. For those of you who helped at Nexus, I know you will be excited and relieved by this. Some of those guys even have electrical and plumbing skills. There are also guys who are musicians there. One of them is staff, so he might be willing to help with music for awhile.

Third, it may seem like a long ways away, but you will be here before you know it. And we will be meeting as a small group before you know it. And we will have our first service before you know it. Don't put off getting ready to be here. Plan as best you can now, look for jobs online, it might not even hurt to apply for some. And most importantly, be praying that God will provide for us.

Fourth, it is amazing to me how many people Robin and I have met in our jobs that are excited about Refuge. I could guess 20-30 that might come and visit or check out our small groups if they were already started. That number will grow dramatically when you are all here and working. There is a huge group of people that want a church like the one we are preparing for. It will be some work, but I think it will be nothing but rewarding for each of you.

We are excited and anticipate all the great things you will all do when you get here. You are all awesome and I couldn't ask for a better group to do this with. Let me know what we can do to help you guys with the move, and post any prayer requests as usual.

2 comments:

Bethany said...

Just reading this gets me excited...

I wholeheartedly agree with making a covenant of promises we will keep to each other and to the church. I am quickly realizing how soon I will be there and it scares me, but also excites me greatly. It scares me because it means I have so little time left here and there are many things I need to do to be prepared to move. But it also excites me because of all the opportunities I can already see opening before us. I'm hoping to begin searching for jobs soon and I need to look at my calendar and find a weekend when I can come visit. My prayers are always with all of you. I'm excited to see the ways that God will move in the few months before we are all together again!

Tanner said...

I really like the covenant.The whole thing about promising not to gossip and keeping each other accountable is great and much needed in church. We are really excited about moving you there!!! Please be praying about our families and us just finding time to get plans in order. How is everyone? Its really cool to hear about the people who are interested in the church! Awesome!