We're having parties, and a specialy party I went to....

First off I would like to apologies for not posting anything last week. With Thanksgiving my birthday(Nov 20^th), and now my wife's birthday tomorrow(Nov. 30^th). I am a little swamped and to top it all of I am attempting to finish all of the requirements for ordination in the United Methodist church as well!

OK enough excuses and down to the update....

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Well, Friday before last (i think that is right) I went to a gathering of the Vineyard Central network of house churches...that my good friend (becoming better each day) Aaron Klinefelter invited me to go to. It was made up of tons of people that were all friends and have the same passions that The Waters has for growing Christ centered community with each other but most importantly with those in the world that do not know Christ. The food was wonderful...and my wife loved the chocolate fondue flowing fountain! (I wonder if The Waters should invest in several of these as an Evangelism tool, heh heh just kidding…kind of, ha ha) But it was amazing to greet and get to know lots of people from all over the US and of course Cincy. that have the same passions and are actually doing what we are on the very starting end of birthing. I did not get to ask all the questions that I really would loved to ask these "bigwigs" but my wife and I could not stay long, but introductions were made with lots of people and I will be keeping in contact wit several of them to get any insights and thoughts they may have. A Special thanks to Aaron who's calling in life is to connect those people who need to be connected for the continued growth of the Kingdom! lots of great people doing lots of really cool and innovative stuff in this world! Wonderful time wonderful...... I think the closest thing I could call it would be a church picnic of great friends that also just happened to be a part of a house church network, heh.... Aaron has posted a little about it on his blog and given you a chance to read about others blog accounts of the party too!

two people/websites that I got out of the whole thing were these:

Bill Bean: Bill runs a website that sells books! He is just as cheap most of the time as Amazon...but where he can really help out is in bulk book buys....This is what he does for a living (as much as I could gather from talking to him...sorry if I am wrong Bill) And so I can not encourage you enough to buy your books from Bill in the future so you can support a great guy, instead of Amazon and growing the money piles they already make!

Bean Books

The next guy I did not get to talk to much (but I wish I had) was Jim Henderson Jim just finished a book called A.K.A. Lost Jim's website Off The Map (OTM) has been a huge blessing in my life...finally I found a group that thinks and lives like I do...it is so refreshing to find those people in the world that are a lot like you...to remind you that you are not alone and that God indeed is ding something among his people...not just among his one single lonely person, heh... (I know that is not the case with The Waters with all the support from FUMC...but finding your own kind is nice. I would encourage you to go to Off The Map below....it will give you all great insight into why The Waters is in existence and how we see this organic network of churches reaching the "A.K.A. lost". please go to the site and watch an interview!

Off The Map
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And as if that was not a perfect tie-in to the next update about The Waters parties I don't know what is. You see, when I went to the party the only reason I went was because of my relationship with Aaron. I trusted Aaron and he let me know what to expect before i came...and yes, it took a little bit of me jumping out of my comfort zone and especially tiffany (she had not met anyone before this party...and just had to trust me)...but I went, and I had a great time and I got to know lots of great and wonderful people! I joined for one night a community of people who gathered in the name of Trinity, to enjoy fellowship and Christ-centered-community.

This is exactly what our desire is for The Waters parties. We want to throw 20 parties by the end of March '06...so that we can start the process of developing Christ centered communities and organic churches that enjoy fellowship, communion, and discussion (not preaching) about what The Bible says about humanity, God, and relationship!

so, we had a party planning meeting and we had at the very least 25 show up to hear why and how they can be involved in throwing these parties to start developing relationships with acquaintances and such and see over time if they would be interested in weekly gatherings where community is grown and shared with the world. During this "meeting" we found out lots of great ideas for party themes, found out the level of support that these people were willing to support The Waters with, and started the thinking of people who in their lives could they invited to these parties that might not be Christ followers or church goers who possibly would enjoy a supportive, loving, and growing community in thier lives and in the life of their family!

So, needless to say.......now is the crunch time for the prayer!

I am currently in the process of gathering all the support data and forming out with one of the party coordinators where to start and who to contact for what to get the parties started! So, great news on that front....

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Well, that is about it for now...... I am preaching on Sunday 11th @ FUMC...if any of you would like to come hear a sermon about Advent from Revelation....it should be interesting and fun! heh heh.... until next time I give you my full gratitude and love for your support of The Waters and ask your continued support of it to allow it to become the movement the Christianity was meant to be all along!

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Oh, and I got harassed for typing long blog posts at the VC party I went too. I took the suggestions to heart...but man that is hard...... I love to talk.....and more often than not...I talk too much...so lets just say in the future i will try to be shorter in my posts...or I might look for some way to making it look smaller, heh..... until next post...God bless yall and please KUTPs!!!!!!!

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William Wallace: "There's a difference between us. You think the people of this land exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it."
--Braveheart