This last weekend was a great weekend! On Friday evening we had a freedom celebration cook-out out on the front lawn of the church house. We had a great crowd and the weather couldn’t have been better. Especially considering last year it was stifling hot. And wow, can realHope church bring on the food, or should I say the desserts! I guess the last pitch in we had we didn’t have a lot of desserts, so whoops we had plenty this time. But hey, that’s the best part! We also have a new mascot who was a big hit – a baby goat. The kids loved it and I think it may replace me preaching on Sunday mornings.
The Quay’s fireworks were ok this year. I feel like they were shot low or someone grew some trees, but I think most everyone enjoyed the few high ones, our own going off, and not having to deal with the huge crowd at South Park. It also turned out to be a great night to meet many new people who I hope to see again at realHope.
On Sunday we finished up our marathon of child dedications. A couple of our guys have crazy work schedules and could not participate on Father’s day. So we celebrated their decisions to raise their children knowing God the past couple of Sundays. It’s great to see the church filling up with so many kids! And speaking of kids, our realKidz ministry is being transformed on Sunday mornings. Upstreet is launching September 9th and it’s really cool to see our children’s volunteers so excited. They’ve been working really hard on the plans and it’s all coming together really nice. I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for our families this fall.
And believe it or not, we only have four more sermons in the Gospel of John. We’ve gone through the entire book and it’s been really awesome. We’ve been using clips from the movie the Gospel of John. A little weird that Desmond from Lost plays Jesus, so I get confused sometimes, but it’s really added depth to the message.
thegathering continues this Friday night at church with Turn your TV off Friday Night starting at 7 PM. So if you have time, stop by with your favorite snack, board game, and friend.
Ok, good night readers, and if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and see us at realHope
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I had forgotten how good this story is. Our friend Suzy first introduced us to this story a few years back when we were traveling back from New York. This is a must read and see for the church staff at realHope. A couple of great leadership points that stand out in this story are -
1. There will always be those who cower and more than likely you will meet those people serving on boards and making decisions.
2. Risk-takers are few and an organization’s growth is dependent on risk-takers.
3. People who do the right thing are even fewer and organizations need people who will do the right thing no matter the consequences.
4. Women should always be treated like a princess, never underestimated, and valued in an organization.
5. Courage, bravery, chivalry, and being a gentleman are examples of good leadership.
6. The harder the journey, the greater the glory. Any organization that wants to be great will have to take hard journeys.
7. Even your critics have critics and one day the cat will eat them.
8. If everyone would shine some light each day, the world would be a better place.
9. Serving soup would cure world hunger.
10. No matter your size, you can be the critical mass in your organization. No matter the size of your organization, it can be the critical mass in your community.
Well, lots. Last week was a busy week getting ready for our first thegathering event which went really great! The DeVarne’s hosted an awesome cook-out, at which I got completely soaked by the youth in a water gun fight. We had new people come and I’m excited about all of this summer’s events. Thegethering’s next event is tomorrow night starting at 7 PM at the church. We are having a family movie night!
Between meeting with all of our volunteer staff (who I might add are amazing people and a great team to work with) and our children’s launch team, somehow I found time to volunteer at Luke’s new school for the day helping put out new school supplies. Christie and the kids have been battling a summer cold all last week, and so today I found myself plain exhausted (and a little grumpy, sorry honey)! So I’m glad to start a new week with new pursuits.
Hey, if you haven’t heard yet our podcasting is now working and up-to-date with all the sermons from realHope. I’m still adjusting to the fact that all my sermons are online and hope they are a help to people. I mean, if you can use them to put you to sleep that’s cool too, I guess that is helping you. But really I hope it encourages you to be more real and to get more missional in your community.
That’s all for now. Remember if your looking for a place to visit this summer close to the mountains and close to the beach and want to visit a great church – my parent’s place is always open…ok, so is ours. Really, drop by if you’re in the neighborhood. We’d love to see you!
A few weeks back we looked at the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. After that amazing miracle, Jesus took the disciples to a quiet place to eat, rest, and share their experiences with Him.
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.Mark 6:30-32 (Today’s New International Version)
This was a good reminder of what I needed myself. I think a lot of church planters get caught not doing this enough. Our entrepreneur and driven spirits keep us running to the next thing and forgetting what might be more important than anything else we do – spending time with Jesus. The deeper I am with Christ, the deeper the church I serve will become.
So today I ventured to a special secret spot where my church planting dreams began. Normally, I would have found the whole Jesus loves you inscribed into the picnic table a bit cheesy. However, today it struck me differently and appropriately.
Hope you find a quiet place to rest with Him today.
The last two weeks we have been in Chapter 6 of the gospel of John and Sunday we finished up this chapter with some difficult and hard words from Jesus. When we began this journey about discovering Jesus through the gospel of John we encountered a man that seems pretty likable. After all, we’ve seen Jesus turn water into wine, who wouldn’t want that at their wedding? He feeds a crowd of about 20,000 people with nothing more than a few loaves of bread and fish. I would love it if he’d show up at my house and make the mac n’ cheese do that. Last week we saw Jesus walk on the water to the disciples in the midst of a storm and calm their fears. If this is all we knew about Jesus up to this point the evidence seems to point that this person, Jesus, is a guy you can trust, a guy you’d like to hang out with.
This Sunday, we dealt with some hard words from Jesus as he draws a line between those who just wanted to consume, take, and feed off the physical things he offered without taking what Jesus was really offering – spiritual life.
Today the church is filled with consumers. We’ve got people who believe that if I come to church, if I sit in a chair, and hang out with the speaker, I’m good. (And unfortunately, leaders, we’ve promoted that in our churches!) But coming to church and sitting in a chair is not the mark of a Christ-follower. It’s the mark of a seeker or even a doubter exploring their faith but it is not a true mark of a fully devoted Christ-follower.
I believe it is possible to follow Jesus and make an impact in our culture. It is going to take us living a missional life to make this impact. I ran across a great blog posting on living a missional life by Aaron Telian and you should check it out and read the entire post, but I loved one statement in it all that brought home the need for Christ-followers and the church, for that matter, to examine how we are living.
The point is not to avoid the culture but to avoid evil. (Of course, if you avoid everything, you’re automatically avoiding the evil. But that is not what Jesus prayed for.) A working knowledge of what makes our culture tick is vital if we want to engage with the people around us and understand their perspective. We are not “in orbit” somewhere above the earth; we are here, on the ground, breathing the same air, seeking salvation from the same curse.”
We did not plant realHope because we thought we were better- that we’d offer better children programs, offer a better worship experience, better preaching, better coffee . . . We started this church because we thought it would be better for our community to see fully devoted Christ-followers living out life together. Because when we simply do what Jesus did – live the way he lived, and loved the way he loved – and we do that together, then it’s possible to follow Jesus in our culture and make an impact.
When we start to simplify our lives, we are able to give more attention to what God’s purpose is for each of us. When we keep the church running simple, we are able to concentrate on who God is sending us.
Jesus had the nerve to ask the twelve in John 6:67, after a lot of other followers already left, “Do you want to leave?”
I wonder if more preachers had guts like Jesus to start asking our flocks that question and start demanding missional living, what changes would take place in our communities. Ok, I understand maybe you need a more positive and ‘pc’ way to ask the question: do you want to make an impact?
Look, the big picture is that if we are going to be fully devoted Christ-followers we must practice his ways, not just simply appreciate them.
Raleigh Company Teaching Job Seekers How to Utilize Social Media to Find Employment
Raleigh, NC April 21, 2009
E-TalentSourcing offering social media job search workshops to assist displaced workers in their job search.
With the unemployment rate soaring out of control, a Raleigh based company is taking the initiative to educate those who are seeking employment on the most strategic job searching methods using the latest technology with a special emphasis on conversational social media sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Linkedin.
E-TalentSourcing was formed to fill a need in educating job seekers by providing information based on a step by step process, as opposed to job seekers struggling with maneuvering through the massive amounts of information on the Internet related to their job search.
“We are pleased to be able to give back to the community by offering our in-depth knowledge of the recruitment industry. There is clearly a gap in how people 40 and over look for work as it applies to understanding social media and web 2.0 and that’s where we come in.
We offer workshops providing step by step instructions on how to register on the top social media sites, how to write effective resumes, how to use an Internet profile as a “personal brand”, and preparing for interviews,” said Paulette Bennett, President of E-TalentSourcing. “I’m hearing experts discuss job searching strategies but I’m not hearing or reading any good information to help guide people through the process. It is imperative that job seekers put forth a full force effort utilizing all of the resources available to find a job in this difficult economy. Traditional methods no longer work as a stand alone option. Many people have a presence on the Internet but they don’t understand how to leverage the power of the communities they are involved in.”
“These workshops are targeted at delivering the most useful information required to get people back to work. It is a minimal investment to gain the knowledge that is not only helpful in job searching but also to assist with understanding social media in general,” said Lisa Parker, Employment Specialist and guest speaker. “For organizations experiencing a high number of lay offs, e-TalentSourcing offers affordable employment search assistance tailored to meet the needs of the displaced workers thus reducing unemployment costs for the company. Offering this service to all classifications of workers and not solely focusing on executives is where e-TalentSourcing is different from other organizations in this market.”
Recently, e-TalentSourcing presented their Social Media Workshop to a group of individuals in Fuquay Varina at realHope Christian Church. “The Job Search workshop was a relevant way for us to help people who are jobless. The church is a come as you are church that wants to help people who are out of work and give them hope and this workshop was a great way for us to do that,” said Jeremy Tudor, Lead Pastor.
e-TalentSourcing offers national employment search assistance focusing on the individual needs of organizations and displaced workers. Services are offered at various levels and are customizable based upon the size of the company. They have published a book, “Social Media the Internet and Your Job Search—Making it Work for You! that is available on Lulu.com or by visiting their web site at www.etalentsourcing.com.
CONTACT: Paulette Bennett E-TalentSourcing (252) 955-1011 Pbennett@etalentsourcing.com.
We call our small groups relational groups. Cause, that’s what we want people to do. Get relational. Preferably with one another and with God. So we’ve started this whole conversation about what do relational groups need to look like for us? If our goal is to make fully devoted Christ-followers then what do we need in our relational groups to make that happen?
Here’s the deal. I am fully convinced that life change happens best in the context of smaller groups. I don’t think you can show up just for a Sunday drive by service and experience the community you need. There are good things happening on Sunday but it’s not enough to really dig deep into our souls and get real with yourself, others, and God. If you have been coming to realHope for awhile now and your not in a relational group it’s time to get real.
As we head into the summer months we are going to be changing up our relational groups to encourage even more relational interactions to take place. We simply can not go through this summer without more people coming to know who Christ. So if your not involved this is your opportunity to get involved and for peaks sake stop doing life alone – it’s lonely! Join the conversation this Sunday night at our Owner’s meeting at 5:30 PM. And then, the other five of you who read my blog you can pick up the details here. Ok, looking forward to an awesome summer of getting to know you and God better!
The big 3-0 is upon me. Crazy. Christie and I are still in discussion of exactly what our birthday celebration will be however I thought I would put together a small and conservative birthday wish list. (Seriously, this is very conservative for me. Those who know me close will be proud.)
Ok, I admit, the last one is not so conservative, but someday…
Right now, I’m sitting in a Job Search Seminar that we are hosting at realHope. Paulette Bennett (who is the author of sourcingconnections blog) and Lisa Parker are leading this workshop. They are great people who taught me a lot about business and the staffing industry. E-Talent Sourcing is a company dedicated to helping people and companies understand how to use the latest technology, sourcing techniques to find jobs and find the right people for the jobs.
This is a real hands on workshop showing people how to use the internet, social media networking, and Web 2.0 technologies find jobs, plus a “Social Media the Internet and Your Job Search – Making It Work for You” book by Paulette and Lisa. If your church or organization is interested in hosting your own Job Search Seminar, I highly recommend it. Both Lisa and Paulette are available for nationwide seminars. Some of today’s workshop will be online in the near future.
We thought this would be a great workshop to offer to people who are searching for new jobs. I hope too that we as the church might be able to offer some hope along the way.
