Community FunFest

gearing up for our next community funfest always a great time..this funfest we are supporting our new friends Crosspoint Vineyard...a new addition to the Vineyard family...I've been there a few times speaking and encouraging outwardness. We will be going to a low income apartment complex...cooking hotdogs, burgers, making snowcones, popcorn, hosting some games, painting faces, making crafts and generally loving on the people.... below is a picture of our last group of volunteers...a good looking bunch...i must say so myself...

Change?

this past weekend two events rocked...one was live earth

and the other the call...

the back ground was the 40th year after the Summer of Love.

my thinking...
which was more significant?
both had ton's of youthful people
both were inspiring active involvement
one was God centered
the other man centered

A conversation i had with my wife went something like this...'I'm sad that the 60's and 70's didn't produce more of change for our culture...most people settled for personal peace and personal affluence at any cost'...boomers are now the richest generation in our history...'few attempted to change their world'...

live earth had thousands of people attending, but will any actually do something to make a difference?

The call had thousands of people attending...on one hand they actually were making a difference through prayer. On the other hand, my hope is that prayer and worship can somehow be connected to social justice, encouraging serving as an outward expression of a God filled heart.

Imagine if both events somehow propelled people into active service.... soul survivor in the UK has done this effectively in London combining passion, and service. Thousands of people gathering for worship, then going out to practically make a difference. They've tapped into the passion and desire of most people. That is: to be tapped into the Spirit of God and to make a difference in their world.

my hope for both events is that there would be movement toward action.

Heb 13:15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

My man Robb

Favor has really been on Robb lately. Robb is a Jedi Knight, risk taker, boundry pusher, outside the box thinker, flutist, jump before God kinda guy....he has really grown over the last couple of years and is usually as busy as fleas on a dog... here is a great story.

XENIA, Ohio (BP)--When the campers and staff of the Athletes in Action Ultimate Training Camp in Xenia, Ohio, awoke early June 2 to participate in a local service project, they never guessed they would end up at a gay pride parade where commitment ceremonies were taking place for gay couples, as foaming soap filled the streets.

However, after serving citizens of the government-subsidized Biltmore Hotel in downtown Dayton, Ohio, the campers and staff spent time at the Dayton Gay Pride Parade, serving those taking part in the festivities.

The camp-group handed out cold sodas and bottles of water, with an accompanying card that read “God loves you! No strings attached.”

“Going to the gay pride parade was an out-of-comfort experience for a lot of the student-athletes, but it was a great opportunity to show the love of God to a group of people who have often felt deeply hurt by the church,” said camp director Scott Mottice, AIA staff member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Robb Fogg, a teacher at Xenia Christian High School, led the outreach effort. Fogg believes God had a specific purpose for the outreach group ending up at the gay pride parade.

“When [we went to the parade] I got a real sense that the Lord was orchestrating for the Athletes in Action group to have the most challenging and most difficult experience possible to take the campers to a new level of leadership,” Fogg said.

Fogg also challenged the campers to seek out the Holy Spirit in their service endeavors, which made an impact on Karen Johnson of Gordon College and Brent Duffy of York College.

“There was one guy I really felt drawn to and even though I didn’t have a drink left to give, I was able to give him a card and it felt like what Robb was talking about,” Johnson said.

“Spiritually, my last semester of college was stagnant. The outreach was the first time in a long time I have felt the Holy Spirit,” Duffy said.

Prior to their time at the gay pride parade, the campers were divided into four groups and went door-to-door on every floor of the Biltmore handing out free food, drinks, newspapers and shampoo. They were also able to pray for any hotel patrons who wanted prayer.

“This wasn’t like going to a soup kitchen and checking it off a list of things to do. This was more hands-on and we actually got to talk with people,” Johnson said. “The experience was good because [during camp] we had a lot of inside teaching and we were able to act on it.”

Many of the residents were elderly or disabled and seemed to enjoy having people visit with them.

“On the second floor that my group went to there was a lady named Rose in a wheelchair and she had a look in her eye that she needed love from someone,” Johnson said. “Our group leader, Jamie Ehrlich, pushed Rose around the hallway in her wheelchair, which was cool to see.”

The campers and staffers’ service was helped by the fact that Fogg had a good rapport with most of the people living in the hotel, because he has served them for eight years and is in the early stages of a church plant there. The campers also had help from Cathy Jones, one of the hotel’s residents, who has helped Fogg throughout his time of service at the hotel.

“It was really interesting to see how much the people knew Robb and Cathy already, and how much Robb and Cathy had already reached out to them. We could tell that we were accepted and loved,” said Jon Limm, a club lacrosse player from Towson University.

Fogg was impressed by the leadership shown by the campers and loved serving alongside the AIA group.

“There were a lot of leadership-driven folks, and everywhere I went the AIA group made a significant impact. One of the women helped a hotel resident with physical therapy and another group went back later in the day to have dinner with a woman from the Biltmore,” Fogg said. “[The AIA group] was a dream team.”

What a weekend!

wow! boy howdy! Community FunFest
We’ve been praying for a few weeks that there would be more people showing up for our outreach events. This past Saturday over 75 people turned out for one of our biggest parties of the season. As they gathered I encouraged them to read Mark 4 when they returned home.

It's the story the sower...Note the Duh-ciples didn’t understand or pick up on the message. They came to Jesus later in private and asked some questions. His reply was stunning, ‘If you don’t understand this parable you won’t understand anything concerning the Kingdom of God!’ He then explained the illustration.

Bottom line: no go, no sow = no reaping.

I also encouraged the team to be on emotionally and to view their assignment with a positive, attitude. Our assignment for the day was to talk to the kids the families not just do the games, grill, facepaint.etc. It was a great event. Lot’s of positive energy. A strong sense of peace.

One lady showed us a gold fish her daughter won 4 years ago!

As we left we carried bags of groceries to some of the attendees homes and left $600 of Kroger gift cards for the people who were displaced by a recent fire... a good day.


We also had a great bbq on Sunday for over 100 people who turned out for our Water Everywhere! Outreach downtown Dayton. Most of the 100 or so people had never done an outreach before...we divided up into four teams and went to Riverscape where the 1st of July fire works were going to be launched...it was a blast... family and friends working together, having fun, praying for a few people, connecting with the city.

Skateboarder Day

What do you do when you live near the best street skateboard park in the USA and it's Skateboarder Day...you grab 500 bottle of Gatorade of course. We partnered with an Apex Community home church and met up at the park. I knew it would be a large crowd. When we arrived the free t-shirt, stickers, shoes, hats etc was in motion to end the event. As the crowd turned to skate some more we held up FREE DRINKS! sign... We were busy for about 30 minutes. the hot dogs the group brought were gobbled up and the 500 drinks were handed out... It was interesting, 1. because i often go up to the park and hand out Gatorade..not telling the skaters I'm a Jesus follower guy... however, they are pretty perceptive and asked often, 'Are you a God guy?' 2. because the new group had a line that went, 'God provided the food.' fun to look at the faces, in both groups... we also used a new kindness card from steve sjogren that pointed the skaters to a web site www.kindness.com it's a cool card that provokes interest...i'm sure the site will improve to point searchers toward the ONE who can change a life. a fun day...provoked some thoughts i'm sure.

free gas part 2

what do you do when you pull into the parking lot and see 1. group holding up free car wash signs but are asking for donations...and 2. kids selling lemonade in front of the filling station...for a moment i paused...got the team together and laid out our plans, fill cars, wash windows, give away five dollar bills...after the pause...

1. I went to the car wash and gave them fifty bucks and 2. went to the lemonade stand and gave them fifty bucks... both parties were stunned...one dad phoned the number on our connect card and exclaimed, 'I can't believe you were so generous to my kids!' I could tell he was moved by our generosity...

small things done with great love...

Free Gas No Kidding!

Today a group of 30 headed out to our local Marathon Station to bring some relief to the people who are paying an arm and a leg for gas. Our signs went up....slow, we then decided to grab our other signs...
Free Gas!

We washed the windshields, put in windshield washing fluid 35 bottles, in the end we served over 100 cars. Big Fun, a great time... Every person received a special connect card, the bottom tears off they handed it in inside for a $5 bill.

Comments were positive and encouraging.