Review of LC

It was a great time with leaders yesterday at leadership community. As it's titled, our leaders really spent time together in community. First connecting over coffee and Rice Krispies, then celebrating our new ministry leaders and vision for the future. I reminded them of the things we measure based off of the philosophy, "You inspect what you expect". There are five basic things we inspect to see if we are truly living out our core values: Baptisms, Attendance, New Leaders, Tithes & Offerings, Small Groups & Bible Studies, and a church plant birthed out of Encounter. Presently there is growth in the first four and the fifth, a church plant, is something we have put 5% of our offerings toward since last January 2009. Our dream is to see a church planted out of us before we ever own land or a building. That may be a little radical for some but it is what we have been talking about since the beginning of the plant. Just before getting into our various ministry teams I asked everyone to get into groups of two or three and pray.

Jeff Persall Preaches

Tomorrow will be the fourth time Jeff has preached at Encounter since we began services February 1st, 2009. I've told him that every time I've heard him speak I learn something new. His topic is "The Bible" and is the second week of ten in our series titled, "ALL IN".
Here are the message titles for all ten weeks in order:

March Leadership Community

Tomorrow is another of our monthly Leadership Communities (LC). We meet from 9:00-11:00am at Eli Pinney Elementary the first Saturday of every month out of the year except April, July, and December. Nine LC's a year for 2hrs. That's not too much to ask, right?:-) It's a great time for our leaders to get together and connect over a coffee & a treat. Sometimes we worship our awesome God in song and sometimes through prayer. Typically we're celebrating new leaders and hear about the vision and decisions we're moving ahead with for the body. I feel that leaders deserve to find things out before the general congregation b/c they are so essential in the carrying out of the vision. Plus, many of our leaders are part of the decision making process anyway. Another important aspect of LC is that each ministry team gets together and discusses best practices, how things can improve, they pray for each other, and bond more as a team. It's a great way for leaders to feel connected to other leaders.
To learn more about LC click on the links below, esp. #5 & 6, to read past blog entries about LC.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6

Your Secret Name

I've told you in the past about my good buddy, Kary Oberbrunner. He and I pastored together for over seven years at my mother church and were workout buds three times a week for 5 1/2yrs. Well he's got another book coming out and I just saw the promo video for it and wanted to share it with you. The book is titled, "Your Secret Name" and comes out in September. It will be his fourth book. I'm so proud of my friend for using so well the gifts God has entrusted him with.
Enjoy:

ALL IN

This Sunday we start a new message series on membership called, "ALL IN". It's a little longer than most series (10wks.) we do at Encounter but should prove to inform our people about what we believe, what they can expect of the leadership and what the leadership can expect from them. Part of me could give or take even having a formalized membership process. The biggest reasons why I am leading us down this road is so that people may be shepherded better. In order to shepherd, one needs to know the sheep: in this case the sheep choosing to align themselves with the mission and vision of Encounter. The plan is to yearly have everyone inform us of whether they're still, "ALL IN" or not. We're calling it an annual covenant commitment.
The requirement for membership is that a person is a true follower of Christ - having submitted themselves to His love and authority, believing that He died for their sins, was buried,rose again and is coming back for His church. That's the only true requirement.
It makes sense that if someone is wanting to fully join themselves to this body of believers, that they will want to spend time with its people. So we will, as we have from the beginning, stress the importance of joining a small group or Bible study and serving in a ministry at Encounter. i.e. Sunday morning.
Having gone through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) recently and going through the book of Acts in a men's Bible study I attend, it is clear that our Lord's command is for His people to be baptized and to participate in communion. We do both at Encounter Church.
So we will, as we have from the beginning, stress the importance of believers baptism and communion.
Thanks for taking the time to read this pre-Sunday morning message from your pastor:-)

Hope to see you Sunday.