Fall Fest Rocked

That was fun! If you were there you had fun, simple as that. If you want to see all that fun you can look at the photo stream right over there >>>>>>

New Bible Study Format

Hello all,
It is time to start a new Bible Study, and we will meet for the first time Sunday at 9:00 AM at the church building. I came across this format at a meeting of Mission Developers in Tampa. I like it because it is less about me rambling on about the text and more about how the text shapes and changes the individual readers. The scriptures have a power that goes beyond simple knowledge or education, they have the power to re-shape the reader if the person reading them is open to being changed. This may be at the very heart of the Christian way. We do not choose God, he chooses us. We do not change to mirror God, He changes us. We do not we choose to become Christians, Christianity chooses us. All of this hinges on a truth that goes back to the Garden of Eden: free will. God does none of these things without our free choice to accept them. This is the true choosing that a Christian does, the choice to allow God to move us. This perhaps is the first mystery that the Holy Spirit works in the heart of a human, the power to make that choice if we want.

This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African."


1. One person reads passage slowly.

2. Each person identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention ( 1 minute ).

3. Each shares the word or phrase around the group ( 3-5 minutes, NO DISCUSSION ).

4. Another person reads the passage slowly ( from a different translation if possible ).

5. Each person identifies where this passage touches their life today ( 1 minute ).

6. Each shares ( 3-5 minutes, NO DISCUSSION ).

7. Passage is read a third time (another reader and translation if possible).

8. Each person names or writes "From what I've heard and shared, what do I believe God wants me to do or be? Is God inviting me to change in any way?" ( 5 minutes )

9. Each person shares their answer ( 5-10 minutes, NO DISCUSSION )

10. Each prayers for the person on their right, naming what was shared in the other steps ( 5 minutes ).

I hope to see you there.

Pastor Rus

Stuff

This Sunday we will be talking about our stuff. I thought this might give you something to think about.

Pastor Rus

Failure is not an option

I don't believe a person can fail a system, I think it is the system that fails the person. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that absolves a person of wrongdoing. Nor do I think it endorses laziness. How I mean it is that a good system has a method for making sure everyone is able to play their part, and if they are not playing their part the system should have a method for helping that person better themselves.

I think this may be what is most wrong about our society today. We endorse personal success and condemn personal failure. In fact there is nothing personal about either. The star athlete isn't solely responsible for their success. They are the product of their parents support, their coaches expertise, their teammates assistance, and even their own random genetics. Personal effort comes to play, but it isn't the be-all-end-all that us humans want to think of it as. In like fashion failure isn't accomplished alone but has many, sometimes very many, accomplices. Personal character flaws come into play as well, but they also are not the be-all-end-all that we would like them to be.

When I think of Family of God as a system I ask myself how can we best help everyone to play their part, and if they aren't how can we help them to better themselves. In particular I have been considering the exceedingly important task of outreach and evangelism. As pastor I hardly am able to, lone ranger style, single handedly grow Family into a healthy worshiping body. I need all of your involvement. But, in like fashion, the system has to be such that folks have a way to participate in outreach that works. I would love to just say, "Go and invite!" and know that everyone can show up next Sunday with 2 or 3 new families. But that does not take into account the burning question of "How?".

So, to help the system best work for everyone, next Sunday you will all get a "Press Packet". I talked a blog posting ago about recruiting everyone to the Family of God Press Corp. This Sunday I want to start equipping you to carry out some of those Press Corp missions. It isn't fair to tell you all to just go out and talk to folks about Family of God without giving you some tools. That would be the system failing you. Sunday you will receive a packet with some posters to put up random places (your favorite coffee house, at work, on the bulletin board at Circle K, you name it), A few Family of God business cards, for when folks ask you about your church. A couple of brochures that you could give to a friend or just leave lying about, say, at your doctor's office. A Family fridge magnet, slap that one up at home or wherever. We want you to be successful Press Corp members. So get ready for some equipment, it is one of the first of many things we will do to help you.

God bless.

Pastor Rus

The Devil on the economy. After all, he would know.

In preparation for the new sermon series, Making Sense instead of Making Cents, I thought I would bring in an expert. So enjoy.

The Blessing of Stupidity

Ok, I know that God can use anything to bless those who work for the kingdom of God, but who knew my own stupidity fell into that category?  

At the end of last month I logged onto the online service that hosts Family of God's website. They have a lovely piece of software there that tracks how many distinct individuals have visited our site.  The software tells me how many, when, for how long, etc people looked at our site. I was looking forward to seeing how the 9000 postcards we had sent out affected the number of folks checking us out.  I figured we would have a high month.  Can you imagine how shocked I was to see that September had been one of our worst months ever.  I  was dumbfounded.  So, I reacted the way I usually do.  I threw myself at correcting it.   No way I was gonna let our web site go unnoticed.  So, I started a new blog.  I started a twitter stream.  I enrolled us with the company that sends out those cool email newsletters.  I updated the website, a lot.  I started a Facebook group.  I did all the social contact stuff online that is supposed to draw folks to your site.  

Today I re-checked the visitor tracking software to discover that ZERO people had visited in October.  Ok, now I was suspicious.  I knew I had visited.  I would be at least one.  I knew my boss had, because he told me how much he like it.  What was I missing?

I tell my kids all the time how important it is to pay attention.  Well, it applies to us grown ups too.  Apparently, I failed to notice that the software on the website had changed.  Now I have to hit the "Update" button before it would update my stats, instead of doing it automatically like it used to be.  So I hit the button and PRESTO the statistics for the site showed me that September was one of our best ever.  What's more it showed that October was on it's way to being a full 33% better than September!  

I sat there and couldn't figure out if I was feeling happy about the exposure that Family of God was getting, or sad because apparently I am starting to have more and more "senior moments". But it made me think if we were doing this much better with all the wrong information, what would happen if we tried harder with all the right info.  

  I want to recruit all of you to getting the word out about the great ministry we are doing.  So, it is time to start up the Family of God Press Corp. Feel free to think of yourself as officially recruited.   Each month (at least) there will be a new Press Corp assignment.  Don't worry they will be fun, quick,  and easy.   For example the first task I need the Press Corp to do is forward the last email newsletter to everyone you know.   That is as easy as hitting a button.   Now is your chance to return the favor to your friend who is always sending you forwards of pictures of cute cats with funny sayings.  You may already even have gotten a Newsletter newsflash asking you to do just that very thing.   Don't get the newsletter yet?  That's ok, just go to the Church's home page and sign up on the form at the bottom right. 

I don't know how many ways we can use the network of folks we have here at Family of God, but I bet that we are just scratching the surface.   So hit that forward button with pride my good Press Corp member.   Be watching for future assignments and maybe even contests.   

Good luck, and God bless.

Pastor Rus

Look for our new sign.

Hey we have a new sign. This is the original rendering but the real thing looks almost exactly like it.  Only difference is it has our web site on it too.  I can't tell you how much I love that folks can find us now. 

Why we do what we do

So it seems like there are so many hyphenated churches out there today. You know, retirement-churches, young adult-churches, contemporary worship-churches, boomer-churches, seeker sensitive-churches, mega-churches, etc, etc, etc..... So what are we, and why?

I have struggled with this for a while, after all, isn't God's church for everyone? Well, of course it is. But, that's like saying food is for everyone. Yes, but not all foods are for all people. Take me, I could live on sushi and Thai. Could most folks? Of course not. But that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with other people's tastes, it just means people are different. Do you really need me to tell you that people are different? Of course you don't. So what kind of folks are Family of God trying to cook for? Young families.

When I agreed to come and do a mission in Florida it was because the Florida Bahamas Synod of the ELCA wanted to start a church that wasn't retirement-church flavored. I loved the idea, and I still do. I think we are in a positions to do some tremendously cool ministry.

I still think our ministry is good for anyone who wants to come but the bottom line is our programming, set up, worship, and service is geared to the needs of young adults.

The wonderful thing about God is that he knows what we need. Sometimes you just need a that right hyphen.