- What are some things we did in core that worked really well or had a positive impact? (Anything related to core: leader meeting, one-on-ones, core partners.)
- What are some things that we should revamp/rework for next year?
- What are some things that didn't work? How can those be fixed?
- What's one thing that you wished we did differently? Why?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Core Growth
Friday, April 3, 2009
Time
So this is my birthday wisdom, by the way. It has a theme of time, so I thought that was a good title.
Becoming Holy
I always knew that becoming holy was a life long venture. There's always some attitude, sin, ambition that needs to be removed or reworked for God. After I'd finally convince myself that now is the time to correct a certain aspect, it would usually go away or improve quite a bit. For example, I wanted to remove the default attitude and action of complaining. For two or so weeks, I'd be successful. I'd stay joyful and content, trying to find the good in everything, or at least not complaining about the bad. But then after a while I'd catch myself complaining. Perhaps while talking to someone at FOCUS or core, even more often at work (being in a world that loves to complain). This would usually get me down, to some degree it should, but I started thinking, "Is this never going to go away?"
After ready Every Man's Battle I started to learn that, although God wants us to remove sin and become closer to Him, that it's not going to be an overnight change. That it takes about six weeks to break a habit and to replace it with a new one. It's not instant, but it's not really all that long either.
Dating
Growing up in middle school and high school, if I was single and liked a girl, we'd be dating within the next month. It was probably due to being the coolest, most charming guy ever to grace Cedar Park. (That last sentence should be read oozing with sarcasm.) Once I got to college, that all disappeared. My pursuit to find a girlfriend quickly overran my pursuit to grow close to God. The fellowship dating talks (and various other things) reminded me that I'm just 22 (and 8752/8760ths). That I have a long time before I really should want to get married, and that for right now, fellowship dating is all that I need.
Two main differences between fellowship dating and the way that I used to date: physical contact, and conversational conjoining. (That's a great term right there.) Both of which would be best if saved for my spouse. I don't need to be married by 25. I need to grow closer to God and if I meet a girl along the way that's fine, if I don't, according to Paul, that's even better.
Serving
I wait for somebody to plan a service project, then if it fits my schedule, and I don't mind doing it all that much, I go. God doesn't really want us to be sitting down all the time. We are told to do what's best, not just what's good. But I end up valuing my comfort over somebody else's needs. Not only should I jump at opportunities to serve (and do so with a joyful heart), but I should be initiating my own service projects.
These service projects don't need to be five hour trips to a homeless shelter every time, although sometimes that is what's called for. Helping out somebody locally is an often overlooked aspect of serving. But the key is just to serve somewhere. Stop waiting and go!
Evangelizing
Self-comfort is Satan's greatest tool. We are told to go out and make disciples and to teach them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. The teaching them to obey part might take a while, even the making disciples part might take some time, but there is one part that I can do right now: go. When I'm at work, how often do I walk around to people's offices to start up a purposeful conversation? Maybe once or twice a week to the same person. There's even a guy (I don't know his beliefs or reasons) that does that, but I never return the favor. For all you school kids, how often do you go on campus to meet people and actually do it? I know that while in school I went on campus to meet people several times, but only thrice did I actually do it.
We often pray for opportunities to meet people and reach out to them, or if we're a little bit wiser we might pray that we see the opportunities that God has already given us. But I think we see a lot of those opportunities and we choose not to take advantage of them for the sake of our self-comfort. We question, "what will they think of me?", "will they think I'm just another religious person pushing my beliefs on to them?", or any number of other self-doubting excuses. What we have should be overflowing our cup, that we can't help but tell everybody about it.
Becoming Holy
I always knew that becoming holy was a life long venture. There's always some attitude, sin, ambition that needs to be removed or reworked for God. After I'd finally convince myself that now is the time to correct a certain aspect, it would usually go away or improve quite a bit. For example, I wanted to remove the default attitude and action of complaining. For two or so weeks, I'd be successful. I'd stay joyful and content, trying to find the good in everything, or at least not complaining about the bad. But then after a while I'd catch myself complaining. Perhaps while talking to someone at FOCUS or core, even more often at work (being in a world that loves to complain). This would usually get me down, to some degree it should, but I started thinking, "Is this never going to go away?"
After ready Every Man's Battle I started to learn that, although God wants us to remove sin and become closer to Him, that it's not going to be an overnight change. That it takes about six weeks to break a habit and to replace it with a new one. It's not instant, but it's not really all that long either.
Dating
Growing up in middle school and high school, if I was single and liked a girl, we'd be dating within the next month. It was probably due to being the coolest, most charming guy ever to grace Cedar Park. (That last sentence should be read oozing with sarcasm.) Once I got to college, that all disappeared. My pursuit to find a girlfriend quickly overran my pursuit to grow close to God. The fellowship dating talks (and various other things) reminded me that I'm just 22 (and 8752/8760ths). That I have a long time before I really should want to get married, and that for right now, fellowship dating is all that I need.
Two main differences between fellowship dating and the way that I used to date: physical contact, and conversational conjoining. (That's a great term right there.) Both of which would be best if saved for my spouse. I don't need to be married by 25. I need to grow closer to God and if I meet a girl along the way that's fine, if I don't, according to Paul, that's even better.
Serving
I wait for somebody to plan a service project, then if it fits my schedule, and I don't mind doing it all that much, I go. God doesn't really want us to be sitting down all the time. We are told to do what's best, not just what's good. But I end up valuing my comfort over somebody else's needs. Not only should I jump at opportunities to serve (and do so with a joyful heart), but I should be initiating my own service projects.
These service projects don't need to be five hour trips to a homeless shelter every time, although sometimes that is what's called for. Helping out somebody locally is an often overlooked aspect of serving. But the key is just to serve somewhere. Stop waiting and go!
Evangelizing
Self-comfort is Satan's greatest tool. We are told to go out and make disciples and to teach them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. The teaching them to obey part might take a while, even the making disciples part might take some time, but there is one part that I can do right now: go. When I'm at work, how often do I walk around to people's offices to start up a purposeful conversation? Maybe once or twice a week to the same person. There's even a guy (I don't know his beliefs or reasons) that does that, but I never return the favor. For all you school kids, how often do you go on campus to meet people and actually do it? I know that while in school I went on campus to meet people several times, but only thrice did I actually do it.
We often pray for opportunities to meet people and reach out to them, or if we're a little bit wiser we might pray that we see the opportunities that God has already given us. But I think we see a lot of those opportunities and we choose not to take advantage of them for the sake of our self-comfort. We question, "what will they think of me?", "will they think I'm just another religious person pushing my beliefs on to them?", or any number of other self-doubting excuses. What we have should be overflowing our cup, that we can't help but tell everybody about it.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Camping
I’m going camping today. I’m not really ready, but I’m going. My mental list of what I want to bring including 4 things: guitar, Bible, pen, notebook. Now I know I’m supposed to bring a tent and clothes and food and all that other stuff. But that’s not why I’m going.
There’s definitely some sense of escapism in camping-the want to just get away from it all and have nothing to do. I hope to leave Dallas around 10am, but secretly know that it’ll probably be more like 1pm. That would give me twenty hours of light and twelve hours of dark before anyone else comes. That’s a lot of time to do nothing by yourself. I might be miserable before anyone else shows up, but I don’t think I will.
See, I’m going with a guitar. It’ll probably be severely out of tune in the cold. I want to write a song. Actually, I have 3 or 4 floating around in my head right now. But right now, they are too vague. I don’t know what they say, what they’re about, and of course, how they sound. It doesn’t sound like much is in my head... I want to sit down with the guitar and not play Zeppelin, Hendrix, or Clapton. I want to play for God and I want to write it down.
I want to make some decisions during those thirty two hours what God’s called me to and what that looks like. I know I won’t have tons of answers. I don’t necessarily think that by just sitting down and thinking that I could figure anything out. But I think with prayer it’s possible. I might get something. It’s that little kernel of hope that got me excited about going camping this time. In one sense, this is going to be one big quiet time. Something I’ve never been good at doing. Maybe God will speak through or to me. In prayer, I often ask a lot of things from God. Maybe this will be an opportunity for Him to talk and me to listen.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Point of Core
What is the point of core? Is it to have a Bible study? Is it to be used for outreach? Is it supposed to be a “home base”, a place to recharge? Is it to raise questions about the nature of God and how He works?
We based core this year around the idea of bringing people together to push their minds and get them to critically think about God and what He wants us to do. We’ve done the Bible study more than anything else, especially with our 9-week reading of Luke. And I think we have somewhat of a home base/recharging feel to core.
I wonder if by covering a bunch of topics lightly, like we do when we read through Luke or cover a new topic each week, we short change each topic not giving it the full weight it deserves and more importantly implicitly say that they don’t deserve more discussion. Obviously we can’t cover every topic in-depth, nor should we. I don’t think it’s very beneficial to discuss at length the signs at the end of the age or what happened at the transfiguration.
Last semester we gave core challenges to try to give opportunities to implement some of the principles we learned about discipleship. But how much focus was on completing the core challenges? How much does there need to be? Obviously we aren’t going for completion just to have number or to even show obedience to the core. Instead, the challenges in essence show willingness to be obedient and make an effort to get closer to God.
What would it look like if we talked about evangelism, for example, then for the rest of the month spent each core (not necessarily Wednesday nights) actually doing evangelism? Or if we talked about servanthood, then we’d spend several weeks serving various people (the girl’s core, campus, NTFB, etc.). Emphasizing that we need to actually DO what we talk about?
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy Two
What would it look like for our core to adapt this for our campus and do it? Should we have focused on outreach more? If so what would that look like? Do we just feel comfortable resorting to a Bible study?
We based core this year around the idea of bringing people together to push their minds and get them to critically think about God and what He wants us to do. We’ve done the Bible study more than anything else, especially with our 9-week reading of Luke. And I think we have somewhat of a home base/recharging feel to core.
I wonder if by covering a bunch of topics lightly, like we do when we read through Luke or cover a new topic each week, we short change each topic not giving it the full weight it deserves and more importantly implicitly say that they don’t deserve more discussion. Obviously we can’t cover every topic in-depth, nor should we. I don’t think it’s very beneficial to discuss at length the signs at the end of the age or what happened at the transfiguration.
Last semester we gave core challenges to try to give opportunities to implement some of the principles we learned about discipleship. But how much focus was on completing the core challenges? How much does there need to be? Obviously we aren’t going for completion just to have number or to even show obedience to the core. Instead, the challenges in essence show willingness to be obedient and make an effort to get closer to God.
What would it look like if we talked about evangelism, for example, then for the rest of the month spent each core (not necessarily Wednesday nights) actually doing evangelism? Or if we talked about servanthood, then we’d spend several weeks serving various people (the girl’s core, campus, NTFB, etc.). Emphasizing that we need to actually DO what we talk about?
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy Two
Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge:"What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands. On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You're like lambs in a wolf pack. "Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage. Don't loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way.
"When you enter a home, greet the family, 'Peace.' If your greeting is received, then it's a good place to stay. But if it's not received, take it back and get out. Don't impose yourself.
"Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don't move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town. When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, 'God's kingdom is right on your doorstep!'
"When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, 'The only thing we got from you is the dirt on our feet, and we're giving it back. Did you have any idea that God's kingdom was right on your doorstep?'"
What would it look like for our core to adapt this for our campus and do it? Should we have focused on outreach more? If so what would that look like? Do we just feel comfortable resorting to a Bible study?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
