Sermon from last week and update coming....

Hey everyone I wanted to give yall the link to the sermon I preaching last week @ Asbury Theological Seminary:

Here is the paper (Adobe) form of the sermon...

and Here are the links to the audio of the sermon (QuickTime format):

High Quality
and
Low Quality

(the only reason you would use low quality is if you have a slow internet connection)

(for the audio you will need to scroll down to the date I preached and then you can click on a low or high quality version of the worship service that I participated in......and it would do you god to hear the entire service and not just skip to the sermon...the music guy is awesome! I hope yall enjoy it and I will be back with a larger update soon!

Thank you all for your prayers sooo much! KUTPs!!!!!

(The links work now!!!!) Coloring pages, mazes, and word puzzles for kids!!!

Sylvia Choi is one of the people who attend the first OG! She is an amazing teacher (just like the other teachers in the 1st OG) and we asked her to create some stuff for kids to do so they could join in the discussion with the adults, and these are what she came up with for the first 8 weeks of each OG!!!

Lazarus Coloring Page
Word Puzzle
Maze


I just finished scanning all these in and had to show everyone! BTW...you will need Adobe Reader to view them and they are still decent big files, so only download them if you have high speed internet, or have lots of time, heh heh!

Bye bye have a great weekend and God bless ya! KUTPs!!!

Take care and enjoy!

Preaching, IOGs, and moving on....

Well, this weeks post is short. I am writing a sermon to preach @ the Wednesday chapel of Asbury Theological Seminary. This is such an honor that I had every intention to say, "no",because I was so humbled at being asked for such an opportunity. I kept praying to God telling him that this was a place that was reserved for "real" preachers and people who have written books....lots of books, heh....but then after praying with my wife, her only question was, "So why are you still thinking, 'no'?"

The only reason I could come up with was that I was not wise or distinguished enough to preach to the very people who taught me. And then my wife reminded me how that excuse was no where never being good enough, so I immediately called J.D. Walt and Peg back and told them how honored I would be to share my life with ATS.

So needless to say my life has been busy as of late and I am taking a little bit of a break from the sermon to write this blog post...but I am begging you all please be praying for me as God uses me in this way! I pray that my life and God's word and mingle together into one bold life example that helps the Holy Spirit to transform lives of anyone who hears God's words from my mouth and mind......Preaching is still such a mystery to me.

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The 1st OG (Organic Gathering) has just finished up their 1st 8 weeks last Friday and all of them have decided to continue to keep meeting on a weekly basis! The next few weeks they will be going through some basics of Th3 Waters and get to know the ministry a little more intimately. We will cover the basics of our theology and we will start our hands on experiences of living out what we discuss each week. They have moved from an inquiring OG to an OG in full connection (I borrowed some UM terms there, heh)

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The 2nd inquiring OG is meeting this Saturday @ a McDonalds. This IOG (Inquiring Organic Gathering) is made up mostly of Florence UMC active participants who are discerning if God desires for them to possibly be a future OG Discussion Leader? They will go through the first 8 weeks just like all IOGs will do so they can get a feel for what we are and doing. They we will start to form them into the Core Leadership Team, and they will represent Th3 Waters Leadership. So I am very excited about how this OG enjoys the worship and discussion we will be inviting them into.

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Oh and one last thing.... Sylvia Choi is one of the people who make up the 1st OG and Sunday she created coloring pages, word puzzles, etc... for children to be able to work on during each OG at least for the first 8 weeks!!!! They are amazing! I plan on scanning them in and then printing them off for children so that the children can participate in each OG with their parents if any of the future OGs would like to use them! They are great and I will have to show yall some of her artwork for children as soon as I scan them in.....(after the sermon is done)....I told her that she really should consider doing these on the side for publishers. I mean she created stuff for all of the 8 weeks in about 2 hours! It was amazing...Anyway can't wait to show yall! and Thank you Sylvia if you read this!)

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Buzz: To infinity, and beyond!
-Toy Story

What a great Church motto!

He is Risen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is finished!

OK I think that I am a little weird....

I know that most of you already know this fact, but I think I am a little weird! I think that last week was one of the most productive weeks in my life. Why? Well, the only thing I can think that was different was that I am now using a laptop! And of course when I might have used the excuse in the past of I have no computer to work on...and now no longer an excuse...heh heh... I have got a ton of work done, because I am now working everywhere I go, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Panera Bread Co., you name it I can now work! And I just discovered that the Starbucks that I am in right now has free wi-fi!!! Woohoo!!! Now I can enjoy snassy Jazz music and get lots of work done, heh. And the only time I am not getting work done, I am talking with normal people and getting to know them and develop relationships with them and possibly down the road invite them to be a part of Th3 Waters! oh yeah that is just dang cool! I love my life and I live to love!

So let me tell yall what I got done last week....

Well, I would post it online, but it is all still just in its basic stages so I really don't want to post the stuff, because it is still be formed and developed, but I have finalized a beta versions of the mission, vision, and strategy (basic and leadership) of Th3 Waters!
I have had them in my head for a long time and the more times I got to share it the better it has formed...but now that I have done the heavy lifting (thinking) in my own head it is now ready to take to the newly forming future core leadership team for them to chew on what I have written so far and see what they would say or do differently! This will allow them to take ownership of Th3 Waters as well as bring more input into this awesome ministry of God! So those things have finally made it to paper (well, computer memory, heh heh) and I have been wanting to get it out some way and I finally did it! woo hoo! So... good news there!



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Also, I think that the final logo for Th3 Waters is probably only 2-3 weeks away! It has been an extremely interesting process, and for an inspiring graphic/website designer and cinematographer like me it is a blast to be a part of!!!

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Last Thursday the 1st OG had an attempted Seder Meal together @ our house and a great time was had by all, even if we were missing three people! The Lamb was amazing and the company was even better! We learned a lot from our resident Jewish expert, and will all be better at growing remembrance in community when we meet each week! Here is a picture of us all:

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Well, that is all I can think of right now..but please keep Th3 Waters in your prayers I am meeting with new people that are excited about being a part of Th3 Waters every week and sometimes 2-3 people/couples a week that are interested!!!! So keep the prayers coming! Thank you! KUTPs!!!

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Bob Porter: Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I wouldn't exactly say I've been *missing* it, Bob.

-Office Space

Spring Break = fun work = purpose

I am trying to live out what the purposes of Th3 Waters is in my everyday live all the time...and one of the things we are attempting to be/do is to bring our relationship with Christ into our everyday lives, for example, finding and living our Christ relationship @ work, in play time, with families, @ church, etc. so I am finding that yes I am a Pasotr, but even a Pastor does things that are not too spiritual in nature and seem sometimes like just paper work...but I am finding that this week I am having fun while I do my paper work. I am being impassioned by God as I do the boring paper work...and I believe that it is possible to do the same in any job/work environment. So this week even though all the schools are out for Spring Break, I am working and working hard...but living every second of it because I am relating to Christ in what I am doing and being! Man I love relationship!

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Well, on the logo/website front...

Design District is amazing...have I said that before? heh...well they are and the logos they are coming up with are very cool! We have narrowed it down to two and now we are taking those logos and really trying to think about how they will be used (color most of the time...and probably more often with video than print) so we are taking all of that into consideration and going from there. I would put a link to it to this blog...but I am not sure about all the copyright stuff and so I will just let yall see the final logo when they/we finish it.

Also, I have contacted a good friend of mine that lives and works in Nashville to see if he could possibly come up with some possible intro/closing music for each of the OG videos we will be shooting/editing and maybe even music to go along with the logo...although I am still excited about what Design District might come up for the music/sound effects piece of the logo.

So lots of cool stuff happening there.

One bad part of news is that the software that we purchased for the Apple to do our editing does not work on the newest mac laptops (the one we bought) yet...but they are working on an update to get it working and hopefully will have one by this summer when we will be starting to shoot the videos. I called Apple and they have given us a $50 reimbursement for our problems and that will probably make the upgrade free for us when they eventually bring it out!!!

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Speaking about the new computer this is the first post on the blog with the new laptop and even though it is Apple...and I am having to learn a few new things with it is really not too bad and I think that I have enough knowledge about it now that I can maneuver well, not all I need to do is set up a time to visit the Video editing dept. on the Asbury Seminary Campus to start to learn the Final Cut Pro edition of the software that we are waiting for an upgrade for to work on this computer. But other than that I am enjoying the laptop, and have already had several youth come into my office telling me how cool the computer is...now that to me says we got a great computer, heh.

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I finally have several meetings down on the calendar to meet with several people. Some are possible OG future leaders, and others are people that might be interested in starting a third Organic Gathering. It is exciting, but just like anything else I want to make sure that everyone has the same first experiences with Th3 Waters and once we have trained (or in the process of trained) leaders then I will not be solely leading several OGs by myself and others will take over the lead. I do not mind leading OGs and in reality I love it! but I also must make sure that I know my limit and make sure that we equip future leaders to make this experiment an effective one!

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Not much else to say other than I feel very good about the direction God is pointing us into and I am very excited about bringing the Kingdom into this world in a new and different way!

Please take care and God bless yall!

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Paul Edgecomb: On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That is was my job? My job?
John Coffey: You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?
Paul Edgecomb: Yes, John. I think I can.

--The Green Mile