40 Days of Purpose

[50by30]

Greetings!

My church, Hikes Point Christian Church in Louisville, KY LINK (http://www.hikespointchristian.com) is participating this Fall in the "40 Days of Purpose" campaign, based on the Rick Warren book "The Purpose Driven Life." As of this week, over 3700 churches worldwide (all 50 states and 13 countries) were on the list to participate.

I thought I'd see if any of your churches are participating. If so, drop a note! As Worship Minister of our church, and part of the leadership staff, I'd love to hear from others currently in the mix.

God bless!

In Him, Patrick :wave

[Mommy2KandM]

Our church is doing this too. I think we start the study on Sept 7th. We got a discount on the books at $7 each. I think they are like $14.99 at www.christianbooks.com

I have heard great things about this book and am excited for our church to be doing it all together! :dancing

[Wileyzmuse]

I've also heard good things about the book, but haven't seen it yet. Let us know how it goes!

[ChristineMarie]

Mines one of them!


Plus we are starting a Satellite Church and our Family is in the Core Group!


There is work to be done.

[Dan]

Central Christian in Mesa finished in July.

It was wonderful!
I learned quite a bit, and it seemd to bring the church body closer.

Many of the small groups that were formed specifically for this study are still together studying other topics.

Many friendships were formed, and because of this, it's had a far reaching influence into the community.

I have such a better understanding of my relationship with God; why we exist in the first palce; our responsibilities as servants to God; where our priorities need to be, etc.

In short, it put my worldly life into perspective.

I wish we'd do it again! :D:

[kgreen20]

My church is doing the same thing! Starting tomorrow. Every Sunday evening, until sometime in October (except for August 31), there will be a Bible study at 5:05 p.m., and on Sunday morning, prior to that study, the pastor will preach on the same theme we'll be studying that night. So we're going to be immersed in it! =)

Yes, I'm going to participate. I've already purchased my materials and am ready to start!



Yours truly,
Kathy G.

[loiodice]

A Purpose Driven Life

IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU! The purpose of your life is greater than your own personal fulfillment, your career, or even your happiness. To know why you exist, you must first know the One who created you and the five purposes for which you were created.


"It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ,...he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. Ephesians 1:11.


Volume-01
ftp://info-02:info-02@65.127.169.45/info.html

[lookinupval]

Count me in! We are starting on October 11 ... isn't that the day of the simulcast?

I was asked today if I'd like to be head of one of the children's core groups, but I don't have a clue what that means.

Then I was asked if I wanted to be on one of the organization committees, so I thought I'd do that to learn more about what's going on.

I'm very excited about this! It will hopefully get some of the pew warmers more involved in ministries.

[50by30]

Val,
Awesome! What church are you located at? What size church? We're a mid-sized church (350+ members). I call it "small," but I came to this church from Southeast Christian Church here in Louisville, which has a weekend attendance of 17,000 (yes, three zero's!), and a membership of around 24,000....so 350 seems tiny.
I was on a conference call just today with about 90 other churches. We were talking with Rick Muchow, the worship leader at Saddleback, concerning the Sunday morning worship time. I am so excited about this event, I know it's going to impact so many lives in our community. I know it's already effected mine, from independently reading the book, and from being a planner.

Keep me informed of your progress and insight.

In Him, Patrick

[lookinupval]

Hi Patrick!

I'm at New Hope Christian Fellowship in Sacramento, CA.

There are a few other churches in the area who will be doing the program at the same time: 2 or 3 baptist churches, a vineyard, and maybe one other.

I heard another church in the area did the program a while back, and they are planting new churches all over the area!

Patrick, do you know what it means to be leader of a children's core group? I haven't had the chance to ask anybody yet. I'm thinking it is like a Sunday School group, meeting on Sundays.

Later this week or early next, I'll try to meet with one of the planners and see what they have for me to do.

[lookinupval]

Oh, right now I think we are at around 300.

We've had a decline since we let an assistant pastor go last summer, but we've been faithful, and since we've been planning this 40-day thing, our collections have gone up.

We had our best August offerings in over 10 YEARS!!

[50by30]

Val,
I was trying to figure out which church you were at based off the new "master list" planners can get from the Purpose Driven web site...it has ALL the churches involved.
We've got a handful (4-6) churches within a 30 mile radius of us involved, though we're one of only two within the Louisville city limits.
As for being a leader of a children's core group, I think your on the right track as far as "job description" goes. It will vary, depending on the age of child you'll be working with. But here's kinda the layout of what you'll be presenting in a week-to-week setting:

1. A weekly lesson/memory verse: The lesson will be based each week from the same memory verse the adults will be learning. This is tied-in with a Bible story, a drama, a video, or some other audio/visual aide to "bring it home."

2. The MEMORY VERSE: This is probably one of my favorite aspects of this program, because, each week, EVERYONE within your church will be learning the same memory verse. That means adults and children alike. The only slight variation on this is for the smallest children, who will learn a simplified version of the verse. (of course, when you look at the bigger picture, you realize that you and 1.6 million of your closest Christian brothers and sisters will be doing the same thing!)

3. Daily Devotional: Varies on age level, and is really up to the church to design. For the smallest kids, a coloring book is suggested. Games for the older children. Devotional books for older elem., middle school. All, again, designed to reinforce the weekly theme.

Okay, I hope that wasn't too much info. (I can imagine you sitting there, reading this, and thinking "I just wanted to know if I'd be using flannel-graphs!") But seriously, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I have access to all of the campaign resources, am always willing to lend a hand. This will be my first time through the church initiative, so I'm a rookie at this too, but I have really been "diving in" to the preparation and thus have been going over nearly every resource the program provides.

Val, I know you're gonna be blessed, both by going through this program, and by serving in the children's area. I look forward to keeping in touch!

In Him, Patrik

[lookinupval]

Cool! that's great information! Sounds like the children's core group is right up my alley.

In the meeting last night, my pastor referred to some people as "ministry pigs" -- those who are involved in two ministries -- and "ministry hogs" -- those who are involved in three, four, or even more ministries.

Funny thing is, there are a few of us who do that only because we have a heart to serve and have filled in wherever we are needed. I told my pastor that it would be a huge blessing when we see the day that we have to give up all but one ministry. Right now, I'm on the missions/evangelism team, ushers team, counting team (count the offering), teaching team, social hall team (setting up and serving food and cleaning up afterwards, on a rotating basis), and a few months each year I go in early to get the coffee, etc., set up.

DANG! I'M TIRED! I never realized how much I was doing until I wrote it down! I'm probably even missing something. So, yeah, I guess I'm a "ministry hog!"

But it will be nice to focus on a major area. Actually, I'm trying to figure out what to do, because my heart is seriously into missions/evangelizing, but I also LOVE to teach the kids. So I'm thinking the children's ministry will be #1, but I'll always want to be involved in the other.

Also, I have a school schedule, so I might just pick my cell group depending on which night of the week they meet!

It's great to have people here who have been or are going to go through this.

when I get time, I'll find the website and see if I can find our church's name on it.

Val