What a full couple of weeks...

Well, I have been busy doing several things these past couple of weeks..and it is amazing how in your mind you have time lines figured out and everything is right on schedule...and then life happens and things start to back up. Well, that is what has happened.

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OK, on the Prayer ministry front...I have wonderful news!!!!! The basic prayer team has formed..and we now how agreements with several current members of FUMC to be vital active prayer team servants to form the foundation of the ministery that God desires to have with t he people in and around Union. The team plans for their first meeting to be in the first to middle of September, and they will decided how often they feel they need to meet and what ways they are going to lay the foundation of prayer of the community of Union. (I have heard they may do some prayer walking, and prayer driving, lots of time praying over the maps we have and all kinds of other things especially listening to God's direction and leading for the entire ministry.

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Speaking of maps.... It turns out the maps that we purchased did not match up side-by-side so I had to get them to redo the maps so they would fit together...and they have done that now...and I spent the afternoon in Kinkos cutting the maps for our Sr. Pastor to take to his wife to laminate them and then finally....we will be able to put the maps up on the wall and start pin-pointing the current FUMC member locations of the map...And start the one-on-one meetings with individual homes of at least a few homes at one time to let them know of our next steps and see if they could help this ministry continue to grow in the right direction.

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I have been spending the last two Sundays (and I hope to continue to do until finished) meeting with FUMC Sunday school classes to share a little built about me and what I have done since I have been here and what the near future plans are shaping up to look like. It is a great time...but I am still learning how to share everything and not use up too much of the Sunday School hour to allow for questions. I hope that everyone will feel welcome to ask me questions anytime (and any staff member for that matter). I truly feel the better the communication we have in FUMC of what God is doing in this Tribe Extension the better and greater the support will be for God!

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I have formed a very basic a preliminary time line for the next few months and it really is me just testing if any form of basic timeline will be effective....I have found that God's watch does not look at all like my watch and the same goes for my calendar! So I would ask for prayers of leading from Holy Spirit to guide us all in this process of holding each other accountable in the work that we each do for Christ while also not have expectations in the time that WE think that everything should be done.

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I wanted to touch on a few terms with yall so you will know and remotely understand what I talk about when I mention a few terms when talking about the tribe extension.... The first two terms are those that I defined for everyone in the first post Cultural Architect. This is the title that I have borrowed from Erwin McManus and I feel it does a better job of explaining what the "church" should be about...God has called us as God's people to join God in forming a new Christ centered culture that is know for its words of hope, its selfless giving of love, its transformational creativity, and its showering of grace in this world. I am and invite everyone to join me in becoming a transformational Culture Architect!

Another group of words I wanted to share I will just copy from my personal blog that talks about what a Crash and a tribe extension is (that will also explain why there is a group of Rhinos as the picture in the upper right of this blog)(those of you who have already read my personal blog can skip this and read the end of the blog post):

Why Tribe Extension? (some of you may ask) or What in the world is a Tribe Extension? (a few more may ask) or even What the? Honey....I think this guy has gone insane! (as a few of you very special people out there who actually know me might say, heh)

Well, let me explain.

"Extension" is self explanatory...Whatever "tribe" means it is an extension of an existing tribe. and I can say that most people could and probably will use the term "tribe" synonymously with the term "church"...but I have more reasons to use the term "tribe".

1. All too often the term church has lots of baggage with it when people hear the term...and to people who are not Christians I have a feeling that the term is not all that positive in their minds. The same would go for the terms "evangelical"(no offense, but this is the first picture that Google brings up), "conservative"(notice the image name), and even "Christian" (I have had a run-in with these people sadly...and man they give Christian a misunderstood understanding)" for that matter...and tribe forces people to think of what "church" is (and I believe should be) in a different and new way.
2. Tribe carries a better understanding of a group of people more so that the term "church"...which to the average non-Christian...and even average Christian can come to mean a building where a group of people who worship together meet. Tribe emphasizes the people and the community not a building, place or location.
3. The "Church" has always meant to have the meaning of "the people of God" and the community that is formed when Christ is the center of their community.
4. Tribe is just cool! heh heh....

So, what I am doing is providing a atmosphere where a gathering can form to make a tribe for Christ! This tribe will be known as a tribe, community, gathering of people who seek relationship with God and each other and can walk into a journey of unknown, growth, and kinship. This will be a place that discussion is emphasized, creativity is encouraged, and Christ is glorified by honesty and real lives truly seeking for relationship and community.

Peter put it this way:

NLT 1 Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 "Once you were not a people; now you are the people of God. Once you received none of God's mercy; now you have received his mercy."

This allows us to all be different and not walk in the same line that is "expected" but that we are all still part of the same tribe and all walking at least in the same direction.

(this stuff sounds like it is coming from a Cultural Architect? heh heh)

Oh, and "why a "Crash" you may be asking? Why a group of Rhinos in the picture up top? Well, Erwin McManus puts it this way:

"Rhinos moving together at full speed (30 mph) are known as a crash (because they can not see past thirty-one feet..but they run at full speed a lot of the time because of the big horn in front). Even when they are just hanging around enjoying the watershed, they're called a crash because of their potential. You've got to love that.....That is what happens when we become barbarians (a Tribe) and shake free of domestication and civility. The church becomes a crash. We become an unstoppable force. We don't have to pretend we know the future. Who cares that we can see only thirty feet ahead? Whatever's at thirty-one feet needs to care that we're coming and better get out of the way......there is a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full force because of what and who we do know." (Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way, 2005, page 138) (the Bold I added.)

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Ok well that is plenty for you to chew on for now...but please in encourage anyone to promote discussion on the comments of each blog post and talk about your thoughts and feelings on these new terms and please express your prayer support for the Tribe Extension....what would you like to see? How could you be more active in helping God make this Christ centered transforming creative culture a reality?
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Thank you all for your prayers and never forget the (I believe better) translation of Philippians 4:13:

"I can endure all things through him who strengthens me."