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!