Welcome to The Waters...Again...heh....

I must tell you all how much fun it is serving God. It is crazy yes...and a little insane...but it sure is fun. I am finding out that sometimes you think you are doing what God desires and then when He changes it, It is OK to allow for the change and differences in what you do...but the fun part comes in sharing the changes with everyone else and having to re-tell the story of who and why we are...so let me just remind everyone what The Waters is and why we are! Then I will tell you where we are at now.....

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What is The Waters?

The Waters: An Experimental United Methodist Network of Organic Gatherings .

Experimental: I cannot find any UM church in the US that is doing or attempting to “be” what we are. Therefore, this entire ministry is an experiment in the UM church, as a whole.

United Methodist: just that, UM! This entire Network will be United Methodist (first and foremost Christian, of course) in theology and beliefs mainly because it is led by Christians who are of the Wesley flavor.

Network: This will be a single organism. So if one takes a larger picture of The Waters they will will realize that each Organic Gathering will be connected to one large network. This network’s hub will be the online presence of The Waters in the form of the use of the web. (i.e. bogs, website, and video iPod. (website is being developed)

Organic: Organic is just another word for natural. We desire for these gatherings of people to be natural in their formation and especially in their multiplying. The Organic Gatherings (OG) will consist of people who naturally know one another from work, friends, or family, and they will continue to always be praying for the next person they would like to invite to each gathering.

Gathering: We desire to promote relationships and community. The community's relationship as a whole, as well as, with God. Each gathering will be these people’s “church”. They will worship (as a lifestyle), share with one another, care for one another, and discuss the Bible for the purpose of life transformation. Each gathering will also include missional aspects within the community and possibly work with other gatherings in the network on mission projects (i.e. building a habit house, etc...).

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So, now that this is clear as mud.....if you don't understand anything all you have to do is leave a comment and I will answer you!..... Let me tell you where we are to date:

Well, our First Gathering went great! Tons of fun and extreamly enjoyable....We did have lots of people not be able to make it due to scheduals, and that is just fine that is why the gatherings are ORGANIC in nature, heh....we want them to naturally happen when people can come...so we are haivig another party tonight (Friday) and people are already inviting more friends to come and enjoy developeing relationships and community. so we are very excited about that!

We are also planning on starting a second Organic Gathering after this first one gets going of the people in Florence UMc that have hinted that they might be interested in being a Organinc Gathering possible discussion leader. So that willbe very good to have and they are currently getting back to me via email what wold be the best dayfor all of them o meet on a weekly basis.

The party we had for those people that we need to throw parties for thier frirends went great! We all had a great time even thought most of the time was spent explaining what the Waters is and how it has been reshaped by God since the last time we met...but the food was amazing and everyone loved the time...at least from what I could tell, heh. So, we (i.e. Roseanna that is ...and BTW you rock!!!!) are meetinjg with those people who would lik eto help have te parties at thier houses to give us dates so we can start inviting our friends, families, and co-workers to these parties, as well. We are hopeing to have around 3-4 parties (or more) with the people they invite to build up the community and relationships, and it will be ou desire if possible to start having weekly gathering in August when everyone is planning thier average weeks with school starting back up and such.

Oh, and I am going to meet with the guys who will be designing and creating our website on Thursday so I am very excited to hear about thier plans and ideas for what they would like to do and see with this ministry!

So....needless to say we are all in full swing @ The Waters and so very blessed and excited to be apart of this ministry! So, you can assume that every ounce of prayers is greatly appreciated and never stop KUTPs!!!!!!
Until we meet again (or I remember to write again...hopefully this time it actually will be on Monday, heh) may Grace and Peace be with you all!

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Councillor Dillard: Commander, do you think that we have any chance of survivng?
Lock: If I were you Councilor, I wouldn't ask me that question.
[looks to Morpheus]
Lock: I would ask him.
Councillor Dillard: Why?
Lock: Because *he's* the one that believes in miracles.

--The Matrix Revolutions

("maybe it is those who believe in miracles that others might need to look upon to find strength!" -- D.G. Hollums)

"When your faith is hard to find....you can borrow mine." --"Borrow Mine" song by Bebo Norman