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Newsletter: NVC
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Author Archives: Michael Dennis
It is getting hot in Texas
It seems like it has been over a 100 degrees for over a month now and it is really hot. Not like the kind of hot where a nice breeze is appreciated, but the kind of hot that makes it hard to breathe at times. Honestly, I almost pass out walking from my car to the coffee shop.
I was looking through a blog the other day and noticed a way to make the most of a hot day. Bake cookies! Who doesn’t love cookies. Beat the heat this summer by setting a tray of raw cookies on your dashboard to bake in the stifling heat inside your car while you work — you get a tray of warm, fresh-baked cookies to eat on the return commute!
Washing Clothes
On July 25, 2-5p we are going to partner with Magic Cycle to provide free laundry for low income families. It is a small step but it is a direction we are looking to go in so that we can better serve the community.
If you have any interest in helping us out send me an email: michael@northvillagechurch.com
Second Practice Gathering Review
Last Sunday we got to have a practice gathering at Lucy Read. It was a lot of fun. Our goal is to keep it as simple as possible. Our set up and format is fairly basic because the sum of who we are as a church is more than an 1-2 hours on Sunday. This is just one part.
Overall it went really well. I think everyone had a really good time and it was fun to look at scripture with one another and sing out in worship. Thanks to everyone who helped out!
Second Practice Gathering
This Sunday we will be meeting at Lucy Read for the second time as a core team and we are going to try to provide for the children, sing a little, and maybe, just maybe look at some scripture. We are going to set up sound, speakers, and even have a trailer. It is a small step for our core team but a huge step for North Village Church. It will be messy, unorganized, and maybe even chaotic but it will be fun.
As a group we challenged one another to invite some friends to share the experience. At first, we have some hesitation because we aren’t really sure “what we are inviting them to” because we are still making this up as we go.
Our second hesitation is that it can feel a little awkward inviting a friend to church because it can feel like “church” is the end goal in mind. However, church isn’t the end and honestly church isn’t just something we do on Sundays. Church is something that takes place throughout the week and what we do on Sunday is just one part of it. Therefore, we are inviting our friends to come and experience one part of our lives with them.
If we hadn’t invited them to lunch, a movie, over for dinner, etc., then, well they are probably not really friends, but if they are then this is just another part of our life as we look to share our lives with others.
In the end, it will be a lot of fun. All of our equipment is either used or has been given to us and could possibly break down in the next 3 months but I feel like we are a part of something special and hopefully a new church will start we will continue to see something different
Game Show: Converting Atheists
A new Turkish game show asks clerics to persuade atheists and win prizes. Although this could be a total farce and never hit the airwaves I think it would be an interesting show because it seems like there is so much confusion about the beliefs to begin with.
The show will showcase a Greek Orthodox, rabbi, an imam and a Buddhist monk against one another with over a panel of professed atheists. The game show is to broadcast on Turkey’s Kanal T television in September.
Helping With Set Up
This Sunday we are going to help a new church in central austin called Christ’s Church. It is an Anglican church that started a little over a year ago and we are going to help them set up.
This will be really helpful. They are in a similar part of Austin and sense they are in a similar stage it will be really easy to learn from the experience.
New Logo
Looks like we finally decided on a logo…mostly because of time restraints. My goal was to have a logo by June 1 and after weeks and months and multiple graphic artists and tons of options we finally landed on one. Most of the difficulty is even knowing what we are looking for, which is my fault.
The other part of it is that we are starting a church in a community that is diverse and eclectic and that we are still learning. So we have landed on one of our main lessons we have learned in starting a church: just start. Sometimes it can be really easy to want to have everything ironed out, feel 100%, and then make a decision, however, if we waited until we were 100% we probably wouldn’t have started this project.
Quick Fix
As we step out to start a new church, a new expression of spiritual truth. I am surprised how easy I run to quick fixes. Quick fixes in my marriage, parenting, friendships, my job, conversations…I function through life with little band aids that make you feel better in the moment but really hurt when you pull them off and leave your skin all pale and squishy.
I have found it exhausting. Why do we run to quick fixes? Why does it feel so awkward in the moment and everything in us just wants to move past those moments as fast as possible with quick fixes.
Who Is God?
Genesis 1 is often times one of those areas of scripture that is often debated. Is it an old creation or young? Did it evolve or created out of nothing? Was it created to appear older? Are dinosaurs accounted for? Is it accurate with science? Was it a muddy blob that God steps into and forms? Were unicorns involved? The questions are endless.
Who Is Jesus?
The scriptures tell us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The unknown has been made known. However, many of us have an image of Jesus that is inaccurate. Some of us might see him only as a judge, only as a friend, someone who is impersonal, or one we try to stay away from and try to avoid at all costs.
Materialism
I was reading a quote by John Wesley:
“Wherever true Christianity spreads, it must cause diligence and frugality, which, in the natural course of things, must beget riches! And riches naturally beget pride…Now if there were no way to prevent this, Christianity is inconsistent with itself and cannot continue long among any people; since, wherever it generally prevails, it saps it owns foundation.”
Interesting quote to consider that wherever the gospel spreads it brings about spiritual transformation and ultimately financial prosperity. However, when the blessing of financial prosperity comes it will, in general, result in pride and ultimately lead us away from a greater devotion and dependency as a Christ-follower.
Church Partnerships
This morning our core team met at Hillcrest Baptist Church off Steck and Mesa. I met with the pastor a few weeks ago and explained that we had outgrown our home, and although we had a place to meet in the fall, it would be helpful if we could meet on the property of an established church in the community.
I was surprised how quick he was to be helpful and this morning was our first meeting and it went great. It was helpful on two levels. One is that it allows us to check in our children to their children’s ministry and as of now we have about 15 kids from infants to 13 so this was a huge help. It also helps us save money as we continue to gain momentum and not have to pay “rent”.
Overall, it was a great morning and a huge encouragement as a city wide effort takes place to start a new church in north central Austin!
First Sunday Practice Gathering
This last Sunday we gathered our core team to dream, pray, and cry out to Jesus to move in us and through us. It was pretty powerful. We spent the first 20 minutes in worship and simply praising Jesus because of His work on the cross. It is His work alone that allows us to gather as a transformed people.
After sharing our dreams and expectations with one another we then spent some time in scripture looking at John 15. Jesus admonished the disciples of the necessity to abide in Him. As we reflected, we concluded that unless we are abiding in Him it is impossible for our dreams and expectations to become a reality. Even if it did become a reality and we neglected to abide in Him then our efforts wouldn’t last and would quickly fade.
We ended our time by revolving between a variety of prayer stations set up around the room. We prayed for the community, the worship, gospel, teaching, children, school, finances, and spiritual transformation. Overall it was a really powerful experience.
Our next gathering is in July!
Financially Aware
I was reading through some content the other day and found a list of the top 25 common factors for those who are financially struggling. It was interesting to see as we consider the state of our economy as a country. In addition, consider the state of the local church as it continues to decline.
Serving North Central Austin 