Today we got to have a picnic at Brentwood Park. It was something fun for our core team and it was a way to reconnect with some people from the dog fair. Overall it was a good time. The best part of the picnic was seeing our original core team challenge and cast vision to new people at the picnic. That was a lot of fun to see and experience.
In the next month we will be taking step to purchase a considerable amount of audio and visual equipment. This is tough because it is expensive.
On one hand we don’t want to waste money but we don’t want to purchase low quality equipment that will break and burn out or purchase equipment that we will hopefully outgrow. Meaning a microphone and a boom box only gets you so far.
We have already started 3 neighborhood gatherings and hopefully start another in the next week! Neighborhood gatherings are simply getting our friends together to explore spiritual truths. It isn’t a formal process but something we encourage one another to initiate naturally so that we can create casual environments to explores spiritual truths with our friends.
Our hope is that neighborhood gatherings would take place throughout the city.
April 5th we are going to have a picnic at Brentwood Park as a chance for people to get to know the people and vision of North Village Church.
1-3pm
Brentwood Park
Well, it isn’t just to have another church. There are plenty of churches, but our thought was that when Jesus spoke creation into existence and then stepped out of the heavenly realms and entered into human history that perhaps he intended more for us then just showing up on Sundays at 10:30 am.
“Where do you meet?” Is a question we get all the time and it is something we are constantly praying about. Our desire isn’t to put money into a building but to find a place to meet that is affordable and also meets our needs for a Sunday gathering. The above picture is one of the locations we are looking it. We met with the owner today and discussed the possibility of using his space on a Sunday morning for an affordable price. We are still thinking through the details but this is a possibility.
Yesterday we got to host a dog fair in central Austin and it was great! We had about 12 local pets shops, vets, and trainers come out to answer questions and serve the community. There were over 500 people that attended the fair between 2-5 on a Sunday afternoon and it was great! We heard positive responses from the local shops, people attending, and we had a blast being able to serve the community. This is something we will have to keep going! We will have more pictures coming soon at:
Yesterday we got to host a dog fair in central Austin and it was great! We had about 12 local pets shops, vets, and trainers come out to answer questions and serve the community. There were over 500 people that attended the fair between 2-5 on a Sunday afternoon and it was great! We heard positive responses from the local shops, people attending, and we had a blast being able to serve the community. This is something we will have to keep going! We will have more pictures coming soon at:
There have been a number of articles I have read recently:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/03/09/daily9.html?ana=e_du_pub
http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/01/state-of-church-planting.html
It seems to be a common conclusion that the spiritual landscape in the United States is changing. There is a thought that Christianity is moving from majority to minority, settlers to sojourners, and maintenance to mission.
Prayer is one of the most important parts of our spiritual lives that is often times something that is difficult to explain and confusing to participate. Below is a simple outline that I have found helpful to enhance our own prayers and share with others as well:
Often times when I talk to people about Jesus they refer to the church and when they reference the church they perceive it as an institution. They seem to perceive the church as over organized, impersonal, hierarchy that is more focused on promoting a common mantra or doctrine than genuinely exploring spiritual discussion.
As a result, people are stepping away from church and sometimes Jesus and looking for spiritual insight in other measures. Today it isn’t difficult to find other avenues for spiritual insight. There are blogs, podcasts, books, sermons, translations, commentaries, and other forms of content that provide enough fodder for anyone to spend years sifting through. Therefore, what is the purpose of the church? Is it possible to still gather as a church body without becoming an institution? When does a church become an institution?
March 15, 2-5pm we are having a Dog Fair at Brentwood park. Everyone in Austin loves dogs so we are excited to get them together for the afternoon. We have invited local pet shops, vets, and trainers to make their services available and it will be a blast!
I have lived in Austin over 3 years and in Austin that is a long time. We live in North Austin which is technically not considered “Austin” if you live in the south, however, it is the part of Austin that I love. It still has the folksy, artsy, creative side to it, but still has the feel of a city. Not sure how you get folksy and city in one place, but North Austin does it.
Bruce Tuckman describes team development going through four sequential stages which are outline below. I think it is a good process for teams to keep in mind as they are shaped and formed into a defined group which is functioning at its highest level.
Serving North Central Austin 