Baby steps into the elevator....(oh and WE HAVE NAMED THIS TRIBE EXTENSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since the last post we have gathered all the names and houses in on the map of individuals that are active participants in the Florence UM Tribe and we are in the process of developing a contact list of households in two different groups the first group are those that live in the 5 quadrants that we have specified and then into subdivision groups that logically place the quadrants into subdivisions or street groups.

the next step is to have one large group meeting in the sanctuary sometime in early November to share what the purpose of the block parties are for, to get a judge on and offer different involvement levels of support for this next step to define the culture of Union by throwing parties to find out the needs of the community and to see if we can meets those needs.

So, we are finding a good date for a Sunday afternoon meetings and developing the contact lists in the correct divisions currently...and after this one large meeting we could have smaller quadrant meetings or even subdivision meetings.

This will also allow those individuals who love to entertain others to share ideas that they have done or could be effective in making these parties effective in the residence's involvement. (i.e. suggest what kinds or types of parties that we can offer and what kind of planning would be involved and implemented.

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I have my first full day incubator gathering this Wednesday...and I hope to start to develop a good strong supportive relationship with others who are currently doing similar ways of tribe experimentation or planning on them in the near future. It should be an excellent arena for support, accountability, and brainstorming development. I am looking for to the meeting...even if it is going to be the entire day, ha ha ha.....

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I also have a second meeting with the Associate Pastor of the Union Pres. Church who is interested in possibly partnering in this ministry tribe extension...and he just got back from a conference that he would be talking about and discussing with others who have the same passions and are or have been a part of something similar so I hope to have a great talk with him this weekend.

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I also have planned a meeting date for a leader in the cell (house) church community in Cinci. He has a background in the UM and was very excited about talking to me and interested in this being an idea of an extension of an existing tribe. I am very excited about this opportunity as well.

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I have been in talks with a creative marketing agency in Wilmore KY called Cre8tive Group....who is interested (and it is mutual) in forming a partnering relationship with us for the first 2 years of the tribe extension. they would basically be our marketing department for these years and would offer a huge needed option of marketing consulting work as well as the possibility of web development, print media...and what ever would be effective in a marketing understanding of the tribe extension. This costs money though...and that brings me to the next item.....

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After speaking with our Sr. Pastor of the Florence UM Tribe..... the need for start-up costs is great...and the most logical place for the money to come from is a joint effort of the conference, district...and primarily the Florence UM Tribe! So...I am looking at the possible and attempting to foresee the future needs and costs of The Tribe Extension and developing a proposal to the Finance committee of the Florence UM Tribe to raise the current budget of the existing faith community to fund the ministry costs of the Tribe Extension. This is something new for me...and will probably involve even more fund raising from other areas than just Florence, the Conference, and the District....fun to dream with God and challenging to provide the opportunity of service and financial offering toward the Tribe Extension....lots of prayer needed in this area.....

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One other thing I would love for yall to read for this post is a write-up from the Barna Group.... It is describing a new book that Barna is coming out with titled: Revolution. I would encourage all of you to read this article that I will link to below and leave your comments about your thoughts on what is being said...and especially the challenges that are ahead of ministries like the tribe extension that we are living out. It sounds to be a great book and I look forward to reading it when it arrives on bookstore shelves.

Revolution write-up

(1st Start development Team this is the article I would like for you to read for our next meeting)

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WE HAVE A NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know lots of you might love to know that we actually have a name for the tribe extension and will very happy that I don't have to keep calling the ministry by what it is rather now by its name....

A little history:

When I first arrived to Northern KY....I started desiring to have a name for the tribe extension....Gary (the Sr. Pastor wanted it just to make communication easier...and so I started on the task....a few of the names I came up with were:

The Seedling (Isaiah 30:23)
Connection
Release
Significance
Trinity
The Catalyst
Revolution
Illuminate
Alive
Synthesis
Fusion
Union Fusion
Paradox
Crosswise

These are all really cool words that I love and I thought would be a great name to find one's foundation in....but after a few meetings with Gary...he suggested that the name be something that is very visual...he believes (and I believe rightly so) that we live in an extremely visual society...and that what ever the name is that it needs to be visual PLUS he wanted it to be inclusive to all people (not just something that would include only Christians or that only Christians would understand...and that would relate to all people beyond race, gender, country of origin, etc.......so I went back to the brainstorming table:

Living Water
Saturate
Saturation
Drinking fountain
washing basin

see a theme coming into view here, hew...... Well, I kept at it knowing and feeling that water was going to be an important theme and went looking for a specific verse that would use water and help me out.....

The Story
The Narrative
Rain
Cleaning Snow
Pure

And then it hit me....I knew how important it would need to be for it to include an entire biblical view of God's desired community of believers...and something that was visual...and so I did a word study for water in the Bible....and wow....I guess I never knew it...but water in one of the most important "objects" in the bible through out the entire biblical narrative...it is weaved in and out of so many stories and has an integral role in the development of a right relationship between God and his creation (i.e. the waters of the deep in creation, the Red Sea, The water from the rock, crossing over rivers all over the place into promised land, Baptism, living water at the well, washing feet, even flowing from the Tree of Life in Revelation....water is everywhere.....(and it did help that I have been fascinated with water my entire life...there is just something about it...heh heh)

So I took the name of the Tribe Extension to Gary and asked for prayer...he loved it.....
So I took the name to the leader of the prayer team and asked for prayer.....she loved it....
I told it to everyone that I cared about their opinion and asked for prayer....they loved it....
I then as the last step asked for the prayer team to pray about the name to make sure that they agreed with God and us that it is a good and right name to sum up the foundation of the Tribe Extension...and it would relation to the Christian and non-Christian alike....and the name became a reality that came from Biblical study, fervant prayer, and communal discussion....and so it came to pass that the Tribe Extension: an experimental United Methodist Gathering shall now be named:

The Waters!

Thank you all for your prayer and I invite you to join us in seeking out the Biblical stories that water plays a key role in them and share with us your favorite or if you like it as well. Please also read the article and tell us what you think....and lastly...please continue to support us in prayer! Thank yall and God bless ya!

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Bob Wiley: ...baby steps get on the elevator... baby steps get on the elevator... Ah, I'm on the elevator.
[Doors close]
Bob Wiley: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

--Bill Murray in What About Bob?