Meetings meetings meetings....(& I love them! heh)

Unleash the flood of The Waters!

Well, it looks like this week is sure off to a good start. We plan on receiving the new Laptop this Wednesday...which means I will be spending lots of time learning the thing and to start the process of learning how to use the video editing software. I am se that I will be spending lots of my time with friends that actually know how to use it and once I get the basics then I know that I will then start to play around enough to really get decent at it. I am excited (because I am a computer nerd, but I am also not looking forward to the loss of sleep that I know is coming, heh)

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I am now starting to meet with the people that will be having the parties in the summer and getting them all organized to throw a party and to invite some normal people to the parties! It is amazing to see how it is al coming together. Just the other day @ our 1st OG we had a guy listen in to the scripture discussion and he came back last week!!1 the way that we envisioned with God with how the OG's could possibly work is working! Not that we thought that they would not work...but it sure is god to see that something is happening how we thought it might!

We also had a new couple join us last week and I hope that they will come back soon too!

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Well, I am now planning out all my meetings to meet with various people with-in two weeks, so my calendar is filling up left ad right all over the place. It is a great thing, but if I take it al in sure is stressful...but I have God and my wife to remind me about reality and that it is only as big as I make it out to be....I love meeting with people and I look forward to meeting with all these people it is just sometimes I have a tendency to look at the entire year and se what we need to get done and then in my mind assume that it has to get done by tomorrow, heh... It is very funny to type it out...but I know that I do that a lot (and I am sure that I am not alone out there!) Come to think of it I think that I have mentioned this habit before on the blog, but oh well. heh heh.....

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I plan on also attending a leader's gathering of Vineyard Central, to kind of see how they "do" the leadership thing and see if we can get any good ideas and thoughts from them. I will be meeting with Aaron this week to find out the best one to attend. I am excited about it and look forward to see what we might look like in a few years!

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Not much else to say other than I do need t put all the files from my current work computer to a flash drive to transfer them over to the mac. Then my current computer can be made into the computer for the A/V booth in the church and then that computer can be used to upgrade the computer in Kay’s office! I think that this laptop deal is making a lot of people happy in Florence...and it will further the kingdom in many different ways! Thank you again to the LARGE $ donor for the purchase of this new laptop! I hope to create a basic video with it and put it up here for everyone to download...but we will have to see where and how I could be able to do it, heh.

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I do ask that you all continue to be in prayer for The Waters! We are really hitting hard the development of the Leadership growth steps and this is a vital area that must be done well for The Waters to keep our head above it (wow...OK that was bad....I will leave the jokes to the mistakes I make in service each week, heh)

Well, thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for The Waters and please KUTPs!!!! God bless yall!

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Fozzie: You can come with us.
Gonzo: Where are you going?
Fozzie: We're following our dreams!
Gonzo: Really? I have a dream, too.
Fozzie: What?
Gonzo: You might think it's stupid.
Fozzie: No.
Gonzo: Well, I want to go to Bombay, India to become a movie star.
Fozzie: You don't go to Bombay to become a movie star. You go where we're going, Hollywood.
Gonzo: Well, sure, if you want to do it the *easy* way.

--The Muppet Movie

--Funny how most of the time God has a "simple" dream for us...but we tend to try and make it more complicated, heh heh.

Another week and more excitement!

Have you ever felt like you are trying to cause a river to flow and then realize that you are on a boat flowing with it? Seeing that there is very little need to paddle and you can relax and just be amazed at how it is all happening around you while you are not having to be creating the flow?

Well, that is exactly how I am feeling with The Waters right now. It is just so crazy to see how God is working things out left ad right and it just seems like when you thought God gave you a role of leadership, He helps you realize that he is the one leading, and sometimes you just have to keep up. Ha ha ha...

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Well, not too much has changed, but it is amazing how yesterday when I was meeting with Bryan Sims (my and The Waters' ministry coach/partner) how all these things that we need to do are already done it is just a matter of getting them down somewhere and some how so that others can see the beginnings of the vision for/of The Waters. The vision and mission are already alive and living and in most cases something that would normally be painful and agonized over the course of months just comes nature with me and al those a part of The Waters and the OGs. Brian was asking me about the vision and I shared with him how I saw it so far and he said that is exactly what it should e and then I shared the working mission and he said the same.... It is almost as if when we are truly passionately following God we just speak what we are experiencing with God and it becomes who we are and exactly what God has intended for us to be.

I think I tend to think that it has got to be harder than this or that I am not putting in enough time with figuring this stuff out...but God then shows me that the only way it will be realized and known is to be closer in relationship with God and then it just becomes who you are individually and in community. Then it is the life you live that becomes the perfect vision and mission for what God is creating you to be! It is just awesome, and we are so blessed to be a part of it!

Not much is new on the The Waters front (ha ha ha)...other then a lot of the what i would call busy work is slowly getting done and it actually tons of fun doing it!

So I guess just keep praying how yall are praying because The Waters is really starting to come into fruition!

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In the 1st OG last week we met and the Cinci deaf community surrounded us in Starbucks! It was a little distracting for us, but it was just amazing to see an entire community gather just like us to enjoy one another and to speak with their hands and to listen with their eyes. Something I think we should all learn from! But we knew that this night no one would give us dirty looks if we got to loud with our laughter, heh heh....and another amazing part of what happened was John (some guy that was listening to our conversation) was interested in our discussion and listened in for a while and even joined in the discussion! We are starting to see some proof of the experiment possibly working and being what we felt God desired to be for the world. John hopes to join us in a few weeks when he can!

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The 2nd OG (made up mostly of Florence UMC people and that will most likely become the possible future OG discussion leadership) met for their second party last Saturday and we had a great time and we even allow the children to participate and that part of the experiment seemed to work excellent, as well! We got to know one another much better and the majority of them decided to start the normal OG 1st 8 weeks weekly commitment starting the Saturday after Easter!

So we are still on schedule to probably throw a few parties in the summer and then have them start their 8 weeks around August!

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I have also found a ton of individuals that have experience with Apple computers and especially with the software and camera work needed to film the OG scripture discussion intros...so that is a ton of help! I know that I am the type of person that will spend weeks working on the computer and forget to do other really important stuff, heh. So great news and once again God just keeps providing all of the time!

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Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. We need them all and are very excited about what God may have in store with us all! Until next time..... KUTPs!

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"Phillipe: I know I promised, Lord, never again. But I also know that YOU know what a weak-willed person I am."
-Ladyhawke

"weak-willed" could sum up a lot of us, huh? ;)

Sorry about last week and we have started the parties of a 2nd OG!!!

Well, last week for some reason the blogger website would not allow me to post a post on the blog....so here is a summary for what last weeks post would have said:

• I have been spending the last few days researching the purchase of an AppleLaptop for The Waters. The only reason we are looking into Apple is because we eventually will be creating and editing digital video to show at each Organic Gathering in the future, so we will need a laptop that will allow me to be portable, as well as, for its capabilities of video editing! In all the Information Technology circles I contacted, every one of them suggested Apple for the software called Final Cut (in total this is an expensive purchase, but one individual @ Florence UMC as already graciously given $2000 for this purchase! God is good!
• I am also planning meetings with experts in the fields of worship, biblical theology of worship, and United Methodist tradition of worship, to make sure that what we are doing with The Waters is biblical, Wesleyan, and UM! (and in reality...we would just like to have the support of all of these and talking with experts in the field will help us support what The Waters is experimenting to be!
  
• I am still developing the MAP (Ministry Action Plan) for The Waters.
• The possible future OG discussion leaders will be eating breakfast @ Bob Evans this Saturday and I hope to have lots of people there to share with them how they could be involved and to answer any questions they may have. I also hope to see if they could help the future developing OG parties and eventual maybe potentially lead the discussion of the OG’s at the end of this year.

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Now, let me sum of what is going on now and in the near future:

The potential future OG leader's OG party @ Bob Evans went great! And some people were very excited about the possibilities of The Waters! We immediately set up our next party that will meet this Saturday @ Panera Bread, so we can get to know each other a little better and after they have a week to think about what I shared last Saturday they can ask me any questions about the Waters experiment. I will even close this blog post out with a poem/song that one of the attendees wrote from being inspired by God and what God will be doing with The Waters!!!!

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I have purchased the Apple Laptop, with the Digital Video Editing software, and a case to carry it around with! With a little help from the church and the generous donation of a FUMC member we will hopefully be getting it sometime by the end of this month in the mail! And I have found several friends that I have have worked with this software for several years and are willing to teach me the program for free and might possibly help out with filming the short videos for each of the OG's each week! Very good news and once again God is blessing us all over the place!

And we also have a few people @ Florence UMC that do digital video filiming/editing for a living, and I am having lunch with one of them this Thursday to talk about the basics and what we might need to do to prepare for the filming.

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I am still working with the potential future house hosts of the OG parties in the summer, and hope to have talked to them together within the next 2 weeks.

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The first OG that meets on Friday night is still going GREAT! Everyone loves it and they are even continuing the scripture discussion online during the next week after we meet! Everyone loves it and everyone is also still trying to invite others to be a part of their OG!

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All in all, I am so blessed and excited to be a part of The Waters! It is amazing to see how people’s lives (including my own) have already been blessed by this ministry! I hope and pray that you who read this blog continue to keep The Waters in your prayers and thoughts, and that you too are blessed by your involvement in The Waters!

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Here is a song/poem that Ben wrote while inspired by the excitement of God's working through The Waters. I will leave you all with this blessing and please never forget to KUTPs!:

Water is an ever living, moving, changing entity.
Full of energy, life giving, and all around us.
The Waters surrounds its members in love,
struggling alongside them in good and bad,
and gives them new life.
Jesus is alive through us all,
moving in and around our lives,
changing, changing, changing...
The best part,
is that water is a mighty force to be reckoned with.
With momentum, and the love from its first offspring,
the waters will keep moving,
keep loving,
and never stop.
We can't stop, because we live and we love.
God is with us, God is with us.
"It's such a good feeling, a very good feeling."