GET INTO LIFEGROUPS!

LifeGroups have begun! What is a LifeGroup? A LifeGroup is a place for Singles to connect with other singles for accountability, fellowship, and support. We meet in small groups weekly and through sharing our lives, studying the word of God, and serving together, we are not only growing spiritually, we are offering a place of spiritual growth for others. Currently we have 3 groups meeting, and every week, all 3 groups have grown! We now have over 20 people that have gotten involved with LifeGroups! We thank God for this, but it will not be long before our small groups are getting to be large groups, and it will be necessary to create more groups so that others can experience the sense of community. If you are interested in being part of a LifeGroup, leading a LifeGroup, or otherwise helping with LifeGroups in some capacity, post a comment or shoot me an Email: jmarkum@edgewoodbaptist.net

Also! If you are currently part of a LifeGroup and want to let people know what your group means to you, post your comment and I'll make sure it gets seen on the blog.

Pastor John

Sharing our Faith

Per our poll last week, nearly everyone admitted that we tend to only share our faith if someone else brings it up first. If that is actually the truth, than good for those you who do so. If there are those of you reading who let opportunities slide by because of potential embarassment, what have you really protected? For many it seems that the problem is that they feel inadequite to share their faith. Maybe they feel like they lack the experience, theological know-how, or rapport with the person to deal with something that's "personal". On the other hand, you claim to be a rational, inteligent human being with brains and you came to the conclusion that there was something bigger than you out there. So maybe it wouldn't be such a stretch for you to simply explain to the high school friend or college roomie why you became a Christ follower. Maybe they too will see their own need for God in their own life, just because you were not afraid that He was in yours...

History provides evidence of Christ

This week's poll on whether Christ can be proven from history to be a legitimate historical figure, gave evidence that most of you believe Christ is found in history outside the Bible. The question is do you know where? Let me introduce Flavius Josephus a Jewish historian during the time of the birth of "Christianity". A man loyal to the Roman Empire, hated by his Jewish brethren, and eye witness to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. He is quoted by secular historians to give evidence for historical figures such as Julius Caesar. He says this from an excerpt about Jesus:
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
There are literally dozens of others that, in their writings of letters and such, give testimony that a "man" known as "Jesus of Nazareth" was executed despite his kind and miraculous acts. Many of these writings, such as that of Josephus, not only speak of Jesus's life and death, but also of his resurrection. The point: know why you believe what you believe; and, our faith is not a fairy tale. It was not "a long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away". If it really did happen, we should live like it...

Get ready for Small Groups

I am looking to get serious about small groups really soon! In case you’re like “wha…?” I’m basically talking about having our soon-to-be growing class split up into groups of 5-8, and every week meeting at someone in the group’s house to have a time to study Scripture together, and hang out. Worshipping together, eating food, drinking coffee, and doing acts of service, also will be things the groups will be aiming to do. The Bible says this about the very first church in Acts 5:42: “Daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” Bottom line: This is a way for us to grow deeper in God’s word, closer together, and build accountability. The very first group, (or two) will probably be lead by myself and my wife. Our goal will be to grow the group spiritually, and numerically. Once the small groups begin to get… non-small… we’ll begin splitting them and creating more groups with more leaders. So here’s what I need from you guys!
1) Start getting excited about this opportunity and praying on how you can be involved.
2) I need ALL of you to pray and consider how you can participate.
3) All of us (myself included) need to beginning reaching out and bringing people into our C&C family. I will shortly be providing you with resources for doing this without wanting to throw-up!

Ideas for Activities

Listen guys, I’m trying to think of some fun stuff for us to do so that I can go ahead and plan out an entire calendar of events for like the rest of the year. So do me a quick favor: Give me every idea you’ve got for things we can do as a group. Anything (almost!) is a valid suggestion. If you don’t get ideas to me, then expect to eat BBQ and probably shoot stuff for the entire semester! So if you guys would want to have a guitar hero contest, play laser tag, just have a game night with board games, or have a gym night with volleyball (or dodgeball…) let me know what you think and what you’ld want to do.

Goodbye and Goodluck!

This Sunday marked the end of the beginning, in a certain manner, as we said goodbye to several of our students who will be returning to colleges outside the Quad Cities this week. We had a total attendance today of 26. Because of the friends that we have leaving for school, that same group would be about 14. I know that the lack of a leader influenced alot of people to stop coming to "Avenue 4:12" over the last several months. It's time to let those people know that things are changing and that this ministry is going to be active again with new leadership, new vision, and new passion. For those of you who are going to still be around to see the action, be ready to do more than just watch. Also, expect to begin hearing details over the next several weeks about what is actually going to be happening to turn this ministry into a communtiy of singles that are living life with a passion for God! Those of you who are leaving us, when you come home next summer, we want you to be amazed at the impact that your church is having in your home town. Until then, goodbye for now, goodluck, and God bless...

Check out the Polls

Every week, I'll have a featured poll at the right hand side. The questions are intended for anyone to answer, so don't be afraid to get friends and coworkers in on it to throw in their thoughts. Also every week as I post a new question, I'll give my thoughts on the old one, so I hope you enjoy and maybe learn something new as well.