A few months ago The Grove (thats the church we go to) had church outside in the park. It was really fun, partly just to be outside, but it also feels like you are more connected to community your church is in when you have church outside among the daily activities of people rather then in the walls of a building. I kind of thought that it would be cool to just always have church outside in a park (practical considerations, like thunder storms and snow aside…). I ran across a church that is doing it. The church is in south California, so they have a bit less weather to deal with. The church outside part is cool, but what i really like is why they did it. Partly it was a money thing, its a lot cheaper and they feel the money can be used better somewhere else. I also really like the way they are integrating there church into the greater community around them by building parks and sports fields around there outdoor sanctuary, and leaving a lot of natural open space (of course there is a little irony that they are building a “small” auditorium inside which will seat more people then most churches i have ever been in has come in 10 years, but its all relative to the churches actual size i guess).
Archive for » November, 2007 «
The Vision Dinners are done. They seemed to go well. around 400-500 people (i don’t know the totals for sure) came and found out what NLR is all about. There was a fund raising component as well. We were (and i believe did) raising money to build a bridge to the island here at camp. It will help make the ropes course more accessible, which will increase the number of people it can serve. It also is the first step to developing new facilites (like Leadership Village) on the 500 acres across the creek.
overall i think it went well…personally i sometimes struggle a bit with the banquets as fund raisers thing…but i know that there are lots of people who really enjoy them and it is an important connection to the ranch for them.
any way, here is the video if you want to see it.
Brandon is running a new web site called abide. The idea is to read through the Gospels often and consistently (check out the about page for more info), and to develop a community of people discussing the words of Jesus online. Check it out if your interested at http://abide.wordpress.com. I have been trying to read along (although in reality i am always behind….).
I heard some disturbing news yesterday.
Apparently some Sonic’s now have drive thrus. My initial reaction of shock was followed by this:
“But it’s a drive-IN. I mean really!”
My boss tried half-heartedly to defend this by saying that it saves you the time of backing out of the parking space. My response:
“But it’s a drive-IN. You don’t even have to get out of your car!”
I’m not sure why this bothers me so much. But it does. A whole lot. Is this strange to anyone else?? And if you enjoy the drive-thru at Sonic, I apologize for calling you lazy…but I mean…really.
We had the first vision dinner last night, which means the video is done. It went well…i like the way the video turned out ok, and its good to be done….
I’m not a runner. But some days I kind of pretend to be. Like last weekend when I ran in the 5k of the Tulsa Run. It was fun….I beat my time from the 2 previous years and had a fabulous running partner (Brandi).
I had fun running (for the most part)…but if you looked at the pictures that the race-sponsored photographers took, all you would see on my face is extreme pain. We will not be purchasing any of those photos.
My next feat is the 3rd annual Casserole Crawl. The Casserole Crawl is our own little 5k here at NLR. We picked a spot 3.1 miles down the road (the correct distance for a 5k) and we end at the speedbump as you first pull into camp. It’s fun & last year we even had shirts made.
Anyone else out there trying to be a runner like me?
(notice my cool runners number & the Siloam Springs Panthers shirt)
