Wednesday, December 10, 2008

JOURNEY GATHERING

Patsy and I are looking forward to hosting our Journey meeting this Thursday. Tree is in, decorations are going up...who knows, we may even have some snow for the weekend! You just got to love living in Portland.

Key Elements of our Evening

1. Connecting. We will focus on addressing the formation of small groups as we head in to the new year. We'll be giving you a new book, Sticky Church. This is the read that the staff and current small group leaders at PDX4 are doing to help us think through the development of an approach to small groups that will help people coming to the Journey, stay with the Journey.
  • Who are people we might consider encouraging to lead a connection group?
  • What format do we think would work best for the Journey?
2. Growing. Want to start working through the specifics of the spiritual formation retreat on March 13-15 which we have tenatively and playfully are calling, "Connecting with Your Inner Monk."

3. In addition we will hear an update on the Journey Alpha and the developments that are going on in that area of our ministry.

As Time Permits

1. JourneyKids. We are going to have take seriously how we are going to engage those who are coming and those who will be joining us with children.

2. Journey Membership. Starting conversations on what it looks like for people to "officially" belong and make commitments to be a part of the Journey community.

Personally

Don't forget your "1 Page Reflection" that talks about what God is working in your life through your spiritual disciplines, ministry expression and personal faith journey.

See you on Thursday!

Pastor Dennis

Sunday Night Meeting

Here are the basic notes from our last Sunday evening gathering time:

Missing Katy and Matthis, Adding Reina O'Beck to the group. Reina will be helping with our web presence, and communications.

Our next Thursday Meeting is December 11th 6:30pm at Dennis and Patsy's.

Upcoming topics of conversation:

* Journey as a community- what will our sense of community begin to look like as we move into the future. Understanding the different aspects of our demographics, and how to successfully move forward.

* Small Group aspect of the Journey: How do we want to move forward...groups, promotion, content?

* Retreat in March- Spiritual Formation. Looking into details to make this happen.

* Childcare for the Journey
* What do we see this needing to look like
* How do we find our way to supporting families in children's spiritual growth
and formation.
* How will this impact our current team and how might we leverage this for total
group growth.

Pastor Dennis will be posting a few things either today or tomorrow to help guide Thursday's meeting.

Thanks to you all.....Andrea

Monday, November 24, 2008

Leadership meeting notes Nov 13

Journey Leader Meeting

Debrief Room 101 Transition:

• Acknowledge the accomplishment of the idea in creation and with the push back from Dennis, and the group as a whole taking initiative to move forward in complete respect and honor of Dennis- but still taking a role in asserting ideas that may have value outside what can be seen.
o Worked to find our way towards trust.
o Great that we can become more bonded together
o Gaining a sense of respect for us as a whole moving forward.
o Eph 5:21- submit to one another


Meeting Details

* We gave points of responsibility to the various team members. More details are to come, and there is a level of fluidness to this as we find our way forward.

* Our next meeting is Sunday Nov 30th after the Journey @ church.

* Those who did not turn in a reflection paper to Dennis can send them to him electronically.

* If you have a skype account please send Andrea your name- if you do not have skype the website is http://www.skype.com/ and the software is free to download.

* Small Groups will be an upcoming conversation- be thinking about who we should go after to start a small group.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Taking the plunge!! :)

Hey all! I hope your week is going well so far.

I just wanted to put it out there and there might be already something in the making--

I've had a couple people approach me about water baptism, wanting to get baptized.

Can we put a date on the calendar and start talking about it during announcements and even talk about the importance of it?

Love you guys and I'm thankful for each of your lives.

Katy


Monday, November 10, 2008

This Thursday

Here are a number of items that I need you to have in mind for this Thursday.

MY JOURNEY
I would like each of you to prepare a one (1) page summary of your own personal journey that summarizes these issues: a. What spiritual discipline are you embracing currently to aid you in your own spiritual formation? How are you doing with it? b. Who are you shaping/mentoring/discipling (could be formal as well an informal)? c. What is the next thing? In other words what is the one thing you know that God is seeking to address and advance in your life, and what are you planning to do about it?

CONNECTION GROUPS
As a part of our growing commitment to build relational connections in the Journey we will continue to explore our approach to small groups and potential candidates for leading in this effort.

JOURNEY TEAMS
As we move forward we will need to identify all of the core elements that go into our Journey gatherings and see that as a team we have everything covered to keep making progress in mutually sharing the load.

Patsy is cooking so the food will be good God will be there so we can expect grace and together we can continue to enjoy the deepening friendship that God is giving us as we serve to lead The Journey.

See you on Thursday,

Pastor Dennis

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Night of Worship

I wanted to once again express my appreciation for everyone stepping up make the night of worship come off so well. At the risk of not giving everyone there due, I always appreciate the fact that Josh's servant's heart finds it way out through his hands.

I've got one more morning in my doctoral course and then I get to head back home and get focused back on things at PDX4. As we prepare for our upcoming Journey Team meeting on November 13...you can help me celebrate my 59th birthday! Ouch I'm getting older.

Over the next few days I'll post some notes that will help us prepare for our upcoming meeting. In the meantime, looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Pastor D

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Moving Forward...

Hey- I am adding a post to this to remind everyone that it is here, and still working. I think everyone will get and email to let them know a new post was added. We will begin using this way more as a point of communication so we want everyone to have acceess.

Andrea

Sunday, May 4, 2008

I've been reading the book for the past four weeks and I have lots to say. But every time I go to write, it just doesn't come out right. While at church, it struck me how to finally address what I have been thinking about.

What's banging around in my head is the idea of community. Instead of coming right out and saying what it should look like, I thought it was best to ponder the types of communities of which I have been apart over the years. Here are the top five:

5) Sophomore, Junior and Senior year of High School;

4) Summer 1995 to Summer 1996 at Portland Foursquare;

3) May, June and July 1998 in London;

2) Freshman year in the dorms; and

1) Sophomore year in the dorms.

For me, it comes down to a combination of quality of relationship and time spent together.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

An invitation to discussion...

Hey all! I just wanted to break the ice on the blogging. This is  a great place for us to talk about the book we are reading, talk about our fasting/prayer, or just share what God is doing in your life. The blog will help us connect our hearts and lives and help us process what God is doing, especially since we only get together once a month.

If you have any questions on how the blog works, just email me or call me. k_goodheart4@hotmail.com

Much love to you all and HAPPY BLOGGING! :)

Katy