It makes sense that God works this way.  He always has.  Look at the conversions in the scriptures, especially in the book of Acts, and see how whole households were converted.  Notice how the evangelists pronounced the Kingdom to people in their own towns.  Even the cross cultural missionaries like Paul found himself in relationship with people, divine appointments, where he was given voice by the wishes of God.

Even today, if you ask people in church how they got there, the vast majority will tell you that they were invited by friend or family, or they knew someone in church and came because of them.  The relationship with friend or family was the starting point for a relationship with Jesus.  In your Life Post, relational barriers are already removed.  You are already in their lives, you already know them, they already know you.  You’re not targeting them just to witness to them. You’re not striving for another notch in your evangelism sword.  They will not feel spiritually abused by being your target.  You are, quite simply, already in relationship with them because you work with them, or go to school with them, or take martial arts with them, or see them daily on the subway, or are in the same family with them, and on and on it goes.

God’s purposes and intentions are surely more complex than this may sound, but certainly he at least means for us to ‘make disciples‘ of the people in our life post.  How each of us does that will depend on our gifting, our calling, our talents, etc.  It could be as simple as loving people we already know just as Jesus would, and to invite them to church.  It could mean having conversations about deep things, like what it means to be in relationship with Jesus.  It may mean paying attention to being kind to them.  For some of us, it means better accepting them, and maybe forgiving them.

Regardless of what our individual role may be, it will probably require a bit of a paradigm shift for us to start looking at our world around us, our Life Post, and start recognizing that God assigned us to this spot on purpose.  He intends on us being his hands, feet, and voice in their lives.  Start praying for the people in your Life Post.  Ask God to make himself known to them.

Ask God to use you in any way he wants in that process.

Fletcher is a licensed marriage counselor and brings knowledge and a passion for this extremely important area of our church.  He will be letting you know the vision and mission of this Life Team, as well as some of our ideas and plans.

Our first event will be Saturday, February  6th, from 10 AM to noon.  It will be a round table discussion of the topic Communicating with the Opposite Sex.  Singles and Marrieds are welcome.  Childcare will be available (RSVP Robin Wise 706-310-1736).

Be looking forward to monthly events, along with retreats, workshops, support groups, and more.

Lots of my friends have tattoos.  Sometimes they ask me if I’m ever going to get one.  I always say that it would need to be something that has significant meaning to me.  Storms are one of those things, but I can’t imagine being satisfied with a little storm on my bicep.  It would have to be huge and intimidating to fit the image I have of a decent storm.

Life has been stormy around here lately. When you’re in the middle of it, you wonder if it’s going to destroy you, don’t you? I was water skiing one time as a boy and my mom was driving the boat.  A storm blew in, and we were hustling back to our dock/lodging.  I was huddled down on my seat under a towel when lightning struck the water somewhere  nearby. I remember it being the loudest sound I had ever heard.  I was fully expecting electricity to light us up and throw us onto the shore. Maybe that’s when I really learned to pray! But we made it back safely, and soon the storm blew over.

During Push (our pre-service prayer time) on Sunday, one of the men reported something he saw. He explained that storms around here (GA) usually hug the ground, and all you can see in the midst of the storm is more storm.  But he had been places (Texas) where he would see the storm rise up, and when you looked toward the horizon, you could see light on the other side. That’s what he saw; a dark storm, but  when you looked toward the horizon, you could see light on the other side of the storm. (click on picture above). As a former farmer from West Texas, I know that picture.  We always knew that a storm wasn’t terribly intense when you could see daylight on the other side.

What he saw has been a great source of encouragement to me. The longer I walk this life out, the more confidence I have in our God who loves to rescue, grow, discipline, teach, stretch and shape.  And he regularly uses storms to do it. Learning his ways builds trust in him – read faith. Maybe even more than when he makes life easy, storms followed by rescue/deliverance build faith. Storms blow in, and you start looking around for how he’s going to rescue you this time. For him to give us a picture of hope and light on the other side of this storm is quite comforting.

Embrace?

Anywho, Griffin Billings, the three year old recently diagnosed with leukemia at our church, had a day honoring him this past weekend. Griffin Day! A 5k was run, songs were sung, raffles were drawn and smiles were had.

In its aftermath I’ve learned that I had a couple failures on that day:

First, I failed to take the day slower… focusing on the facts and the people. Griffin is certainly sick, but folks showed up in droves to run, to laugh, to listen, to support.

Second, I failed to appreciate God’s grace… focusing on the realities of God’s goodness instead of the intensity of Griffin’s sickness. Sure, Griffin is sick, but allowing my exuberance on his day to be tempered by his condition missed the point of the day itself. I failed to celebrate as hard as I wanted.

Third, I now frequently fail to realize that there is no formula for these things. Griffin is sick. Two things have the power to heal him. One is possible – medicine. The other is perfect but can be mysterious – God.

What I won’t fail today is thanking God for that day. For Griffin’s Day. It was precious. Sweet. A hopefully positive memory that floats on top of the difficulty of the past few months for the Billings family.

*Last four photos courtesy of Lauren Ashlee O’Brian.

Images contributed by Lauren Ashlee O’Brian.  Special thanks to Jennifer Bailey and Noelle Griggs for their design concepts and work.

In this category you will find all areas of substantive ministry at least outlined, and at most very active sharing week-to-week via recent postings.

Unlike adhering to a industrial model of church, we think that our ministry efforts do not have to be finished products as they roll off the initial assembly. All areas of our church could use fresh leadership, fresh insight, fresh energy…