Another week and another joy....

Times are good and I am please with the process...but as with anything I believe it is normal to always look back and forward and continue to ask God if you are going in the right direction, need to slow down, speed up, or be open for new areas and directions for what He desires. And the more and more I am thinking about it the more and more I am told to be patience and listen or in other words...be still and know that I am God...or perhaps better yet I am because I AM. heh heh.....

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So far the map of union is finished with all the names of the existing membership of FUMC and this Sunday we even had those who attended worship to come by and make sure that the arrow was indeed pointing at their house. There were a few that we did not have on the list that I was given and a few moves of the arrow were made....over all I was impressed on how well Google Earth pinpointed the member's houses on the street. There were a few that it was wrong...and there were a few that the members changed where their house was originally pinpointed and then after close inspection changed it back to where I put it, ha ha ha....oh well, not many of us know where we live from a map satellite view....(when was the last time you flew home from work to your drive way? heh)

Now that the map is finished I think I might allow for one more Sunday of worship attendees to check the house marking and then I will start o group the existing membership into geographical groups to find out who I need to contact and call to start having our geo-cluster house meetings for me to share the vision for what we are doing and to find out the level of commitment they would be willing to provide for the near future house block parties.

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We are still in line to start the parties in November/December/January and hope to have a few of them to reach as many neighbors as possible and get to now them and find out what needs they may have for us to add their needs into the demographical pot and see if we can listen to God and find out what need we can focus on and meet that need in the Union community and invite those people who needs are being met into a tribe extension.

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The prayer team will be meeting for the first time this coming Sunday between services to finalize the specifics as to how often to meet, where to meet, and other basics and then I plan on giving them the purposed name of the Tribe extension and ask them to put then name into their prayer lives and if their hearts reflect the same as ours after prayer then I will officially share the name of the Tribe Extension and I will be able to call it by name!!! (I am looking forward to that!)

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I am still in search of finding or searching out someone with a background or currently deals with marketing and branding. After the talks we had with Linda it seemed that that is an area that would be of benefit of us in offering a few minds that market and brand companies or people for a living to allow their creative minds to have a shot at taking the name of the tribe extension and playing around with a logo, slogan, etc.... besides I love doing that kind of stuff and I would love to sit around a table of very creative people and watch their minds have fun with this.

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We had a wonder concert this past Saturday evening. The music was just amazing...Will is really talented. The coffee and desserts were amazing as always! The turn out was not exactly what we would have wanted, but the artist Will Solomon was happy with the CD sales (Will said he has had 75 people come to a concert before and only sold 12 CDs and Saturday night even though only 9 people showed up (including children) he sold 6-7 CD's) considering the low turn out. And the owners of Sterling Manor Coffee Shop seemed pleased to know that we are very interested in working with them for the block parties and that we care about them. So, the purpose of the concert was accomplished and the Joy that is developing new and lasting relationships was and still is celebrated! Here is a picture of the concert!


Free Will Solomon Concert @ Sterling Manor!

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Well, on to the next steps. Today I am meeting with the teaching pastor @ Crossroads Community Church in Cinci. This is a major church in the Cinci. area that is providing an amazing ministry to the city of Cinci. and one that looks like it may have a lot of insight for us to gain from. I hope to find out about how they do Small Groups and if they were, are, or plan to do any other campus ministries. So, I am very excited about this opportunity!

I also plan on contacting a church planter in Santa Fe (Christ Church) that has a good history of these block parties and I hope to gain any more insights and suggestions for how to makes these an authentic way of allowing those who come to these parties to know that we honestly care about them and desire to help them anyway we can.

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Please pray for our continued focus on God and his direction for this ministry and also, pray for a possible new opportunity that might involve a small sample of what we are thinking about that would be a real life example of true community and in a creative way that could be a real possibility! And I will share more as it gets fleshed out.

Thank you again for all your prayers and YHWH bless!!!

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"I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
--Morpheus in The Matrix