busy



who is the blue dude in the pictures?


Rob Fogg has a group of teens who do outreach most weekends...they had an invite to throw a party at Warner Middle School...it was a blast...kids had a great time...

Big ways to lead teens into outreach, Robb has discovered...
1. Teens like to care for the elderly so he organized monthly outreach experiences, visiting widows, shutins and people at a low income retirement hotel.
2. Teens like to do something...so he seeks to create positive environments where the teens, plant flowers, dig gardens, mow lawns, throw parties, pray for the elderly etc.

Not rocket science but...consistent, constant outflow into the community creates outward focused teens.

Staff Outreach


keeping in the theme of Big Spring Clean the Vineyard staff helped 1 single parent and 1 grandparent today.


We mowed 2 lawns, did the trimming, trimmed roses, moved concrete, steel posts, and generally made the yards look great...We also cleaned a kitchen and a bathroom and generally tidied up a bit...

two teams, we were finished in about an hour(behind the scenes took about 4hrs planing visiting the sites, gathering the materials, buying the panera bagels, and making the coffee)...power mowing yard work is huge fun...

We returned to some home cooked BBQ from Patrick's BBQ
he was wanting to use some of his brisket for the staff...we gladly ablidged...

Deep south style and Kansas City style...can't beat that...


all staff commented we should do things like this more often...pause...

we are all extemely busy...it seems like an interruption from business as usual would cause concern...the oppsite is true...all work and no play by serving others, makes workers inward, not outward.

If you are a church leader and don't have a planned staff...serving day...maybe you need to pause... and ask some questions...

The reality: outward focused leaders don't just naturally become outward focused. They need opportunities to practice outwardness as a team together...it's huge fun and makes an impact both in the people served and in the staff who do the serving...unity, encouragement, remembering why were are here in the first place etc...

the Buzz... people served say,
guess what our leaders did today?

It's Party Time!


yesterday 60 vineyard people went to our fist low income party of the summer season...we set up the event in about 30 minutes... then the action began...kids playing games, parents helping the kids, people eating hot dogs and hamburgers with all the trimmings, snow cones, popcorn and Oreo cookies for desert...big fun with a big B...

as we neared the end, we raffled off a tv, a Toshiba, 19 inch digital flat screen...i read the number 149044...no one responded....then i read another number....no one...then a girl of about 8 came up and said, did you read out 149044? I replied yep, she had taken her ticket home for safe keeping, i told her to go get the ticket....

so she ran home, grabbed the ticket and ran back...when she returned she kept saying,
we're not very good at these raffle things...i held her ticket and compared the numbers...149044...surenuf she won!

The interesting element she was a twin, so two smiling girls, Halley, and Kaley took the tv home...they had never won anything before...


As we cleaned up and finished packing the trucks...it began to rain...

it was a great day...60 tired but grateful vineyardites had completed their mission...
to practically to show God's love to a group of people who would never be able to afford going to a fair, or purchase a snow cone, or pay for some time on a bouncy castle, or eat gourmet hamburgers, or have their faces painted, or make a top notch craft all for free.


An encouraging impression of grace is clearly presented by the activity of kindness when the act of kindness is reflected through our attitudes and through our words.
steve bowen

flowers everywhere


good day sunday...flowers everywhere...went well...it was good to hear: hey it's kindness to go weekend, flowers how cool
guest to attendee...what are the flowers for?...it's kindness to go weekend, it's one way we reach out to our community... really!??

hey, let's take some flowers home and plant them...nope the flowers are not for us but for our friends, and neighbors.


a lady loaded up a bag of potted plants
, we are going to plant them in our neighborhood today.

mom's, kids, grandmas, dads, uncles, aunts, and friends will be planting flowers everywhere this week. touching one life at a time. that's kindess to go! big time

Yikes!


last week i kicked my trusty ibook cord... I saw my computer fall in slow motion from my TV where I had placed it...as it hit the hardwood floor...my heart sank...sure enough it not only smashed my logic board but damaged my hard drive...our noble friend Vince took the computer home to seek to save some of my info...some was saved most was lost...

Back up...your stuff..

Being the kind of guy I am, i back up often...whew! i thought..so i pulled out the trusty 30 gig hard drive and plugged it in to my new mac book pro...nothing...my heart is now beginning to pump, hands begin to sweat...i attempt to plug it in to my wife computer to test...nothing...now life becomes tense...

Decision...I decided to take the sealed top off the hard drive...plug it in...nothing...so I go for broke and hand spin the drive while plugged in...suddenly...it begins to whirl data shows up... after 2hrs of downloading...I recover about 95% of my 7 years of work at the Vineyard and 5 years work from other places, old notes, thoughts, messages, PowerPoint, Keynote, and Word documents, ITunes, Film etc...

moral of the story...if you're not backing up... better purchases a good hard drive and download all your stuff weekly...I'm heading to best buy today...

Big Spring Clean


We had an ok BSC for single parents and grandparents raising children we learned a lot... realized we need about 120 Vols to pull this off...

here's what happened.
we:
painted four rooms
fixed one unworkable toilet
demoed one mammoth deck ...you'd have to see it to believe it

fixed one hole in wall
fixed one broken door frame

cleaned and fixed two gutters

cleaned one yard of concrete and iron posts

mowed four yards
power washed one driveway

planted one yard with flowers

cleaned 4 homes
moved washer and dryer to basement

also we sent all who requested help a free oil change coupon from Car-X


8 singles touched 25 shops with kindness bags near Wright State University
one lady when receiving a bag...exclaimed you are that church...it's my turn to receive a bag...she hugged the bag...then received meaningful prayer from the team.

300 mom's received a flower from their children on Mom's day
many children were dedicated to the Lord on the weekend...


this coming weekend Flowers Everywhere Kindness to Go!

We learned much...one painting team went in the back door of a home they had instructions to paint the hall...they did...a neighbor came in to see if they had gotten the note on the front door...they hadn't...they painted the wrong hall...now we will be painting both halls...

things you learn...
all in all not a bad weekend.

Beginnings Membership




it was a good night last night sharing about outward focus, who we are, and why we do what we do as a church...some points are always better than others...

two ah has that stood out...
Lost Defined:

people are away from God's presence...He wants to invite people into His presence...they are lost, distant, away, frightened, hiding.

ill.
Have you ever been shopping and lose one of your kids?...a minute seems like an eternity...heart begins to race, mind and senses are on full alert, emotions begin to be churned up, every second intensifies the feeling...

Matthew Dyer, pastor Cedar Ridge Community Church, once told a story about losing one of his kids in Target. He was doing some shopping and one of the kids went missing. He looked around and couldn't find her. As time went by the store was alerted, people were looking, security was called. Each passing second seemed like and hour, minutes seemed like days, panic began to settle in as time slowly passed...

then, out of the corner of his eye spotted her...she was hiding in a clothes rack...even though she heard him call her name, she was frightened, didn't want to get in trouble, so she stayed in her hiding place...away from his presence.

he was too upset to be upset... he turned toward her, called her name and knelt down opening out stretched his arms as she ran to him. The sense of love and relief was overwhelming as they were reconnected, safe...now in his arms, the sense of dread, now a sense of relief... she was found.

God senses this every moment of every passing day...grieved, beckoning with out stretched arms, calling our name, asking us to come out from our hiding place to be in His presence...safe...His...forever.

Get the point...People are lost, away from a Loving Father who is searching, longing for them to come out of hiding, turn to Him and run into His arms...

2nd ah ha...
People don't need to hear they are in the garbage, have their stuff pointed out, they need to have someone point the way out, by presenting the good news. Most people know intuitively the bad news...they need the good news...how to begin again, how to life life in a new way, how to over come, how to love God, how to love and to care for others.

this old cartoon sums it up...Quilt driven preachers tell us...


What Guilt ridden people hear from a guilt driven message.

Big Spring Clean


Tonight, Tuesday, and Saturday we will be helping single parents and grandparents raising children, cleaning homes, planting flowers, painting, doing yard work, and home repair.

Yesterday I pressure washed a drive way and another friend planted some flowers.

Grandparents raising children is on the increase in the USA. Their children having kids, then divorce, or drug abuse is driving up the stats. Many grandparents are not prepared for this second round of raising kids...

Single parents are chasing daylight most days and have the stress of being alone, attempting to better themselves, and keep the kids moving forward. One, recently divorced mom stated, 'I didn't sign up for this.' She is now going to college to better her life and support her children.

In the news, a lady has written a book about women taking a risk by being stay at home moms, not working, and moving up the corporate ladder then be divorced. She has seen countless women abandoned, without a job struggling to make life work.

We've come a long way from stable family homes. Signs of the times. See Fox News report below...

'Life's Short, Get a Divorce' Law Firm Ad Causes a Stir in Chicago Neighborhood...

So we are attempting to help in small ways, like free oil changes, a great meal every 2mos., free baby sitting vouchers and Big Spring Clean.

high highs low lows


been thinking about the world impact tour coming to Dayton in 2008...what a challenge to knit together a leadership team and enlist participation from hundreds of different church backgrounds, races, and traditions.

I'm not sure that we'll make it...sometimes in my low lows...i see the flaws, the distance between the churched and non churched that is reflected by the inwardness of most churches.

The language, the dress, the selfishness, the traditions...
church is about meeting my needs, i want to get my praise on, i want deeper teaching, i don't want to serve, i want to be served, i don't want to give, i want to be given to, i want to be cared for, i don't want to care...and they out there are the enemy...

Also, most meetings are geared toward believers... A couple of years ago i worked with some churches that were so entrenched in their church culture they couldn't understand serving others with no strings, or understand why unchurched people wouldn't flock to their building for revival meetings...heaven forbid if someone did venture in wearing shorts, or jeans.

A few years a go i also went to speak at a major denomination gathering in PA to attempt to help the leaders to focus out...it was painful, heart breakingly so...Even though the message and concepts were well received...I sensed it was too little, too late...no young pastors, and no young people in their midst...they were in danger of going the way of the dinosaurs, becoming extinct...yet, they continued to do business as usual.

One major church leader recently told the story of his movement toward faith...he was turned off by what he observed, the unspoken dress codes, the ancient hymns, the guilt driven speakers, ... he became a believer through listening to a
Christian comedian... sadly, he has become the very thing he resisted during his journey...he became churched...what's even sadder is that he doesn't know it.

I do hope the church of Dayton embraces the diversity of believers, and lay aside their churchiness in order to reach out to those who need Jesus...on my high high days i'm hopeful...but on my low lows....sigh...