Jesus Feeds the 5,000

Tonight, we talked about the passage in Matthew 14 where Jesus feeds the 5,000. We took a look at the story behind the story and brought up questions we had about the story. I wanted to put some of the thoughts shared tonight down in writing while they were still fresh in my mind. Here's a link to the passage.

Verse 13 starts with "When Jesus heard what had happened". The "what" that "had happened" was that John the Baptist had been beheaded by King Herod. So, when it says "[Jesus] withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place", the assumption is that he withdrew to mourn the loss of his cousin and forerunner.

Something I read said that it was customary to mourn for three days. I wonder how long he stayed out on the boat.

The second half of verse 13 says, "Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns." I think, our assumption was that the "hearing of this" was related to hearing that Jesus was out on a boat and not hear that John the Baptist had died.

So, Jesus was out on a boat, most likely mourning. I'm not sure where he is in the boat. At the end of chapter 13, he was in Nazareth, but there is no mention of where they are in chapter 14. And, people are following along on shore. We assumed that these people were not coming to give their condolences, but were seeking out Jesus because by this time he was well known in the region as a rabbi and miracle worker.

When Jesus comes ashore, after however long they were out on the boat, he gets right to work. "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick." In the midst of his mourning, he has compassion. His mission is not compromised by his personal suffering. This will eventually come back up for him when he takes on the cross.


Well, this is taking much longer than I had thought. So, I am cutting this off for now and maybe I'll come back to it, but maybe not. It's not like anyone really reads this thing anyhow.

Announcements 9.5.08

Here are some announcements...there is a lot going on!

Sunday September 7th -
9:00 am Journey Group meeting - for folks interested in joining one or learning more about them. This is before the service. Email Traci if you have any questions.

9:15 am Prayer Gathering - A few of us are taking time to meet each Sunday before service in the room behind the balcony to meet with the Lord. We are gathering with the belief that prayer ca be devotional, worshipful, and it can be battle. We have the desire to see God leading us in all that we do and become as a church, as well as celebrate God's healing and triumph in the world beyond our church. Please join us anytime. Contact Julianne Shelton for more information.

Newcomer's Reception - this will take place after the service. If you are interested in representing our HG at this let me know.

1:00 pm Baby Shower - This Sunday Elizabeth and Julie are having a baby shower for Diana, Jason, Addison, and Aidan. It is a coed shower and all are welcome. They will be providing sandwiches and cake but you are suppose to bring a side dish/finger food. :)


Monday September 8th - Jubilee Dana Vaughn-Mgunda, Human Trafficking Training Coordinator for NC, will be leading "Human Trafficking 101: NC and Beyond," at Visio Dei. It will be from 6:30-9:30 pm. This 3 hour session will be geared toward helping participants understnad human trafficking on both a local and global level, and what they can do about it. Contact Traci for more information. It is free but you must register ahead of time.

Sunday September 14th - Leadership Development - this event has been CANCELLED for now.

Sunday September 14th - Sunday September 21st - WIHN Week
If you are in charge of an area please email the organizers of each Homegroup (listed below)
I guess we will just make announcements on Sunday mornings and then contact the organizers in each group to help us recruit volunteers. Send me the information when you have it and I will plug it in a spreadsheet.

Christy Gould gould_christy@yahoo.com - Edenton
Debby Meeks dmeeks@nc.rr.com - Raleigh North
Kelly Wick kellymichalwick@gmail.com - Oberlin
Kristen Wenger kristen.wenger@earthlink.net - Apex
Rebecca Schlieman rschlieman@gmail.com - Raleigh North

The Africa Hope Center Team is still meeting the 1st and 3rd Sundays of every month. Contact Sam Ed for more information about those meetings.

There were EVEN more things listed in the WEEKLY from Jason so make sure you read it!

If you have any prayer requests you would like to share with the group email Kim and she can send it out.

Enjoy the rest of your Friday and Hurricane Hanna!

Announcements 8.28.08

Hello All! I hope you are having a great week. Here are some announcements that I wanted to post.

This weekend the Ramseys/Gores are still moving, cleaning and painting. Their HG is helping them do some painting tonight but there are a lot of things to do so if you are still interested in helping them tonight I am sure they could use it. I think you could head over there at 7:00 and help out.

Also they are planning to move bedroom furniture on Saturday morning, clean those rooms, and then maybe paint. So if you are interested for either night and want more details you could contact Jeff or Jason.. or just email me and I will try to find out times and exactly what is being done.

Sunday August 31st - Last Sunday to bring shoes for WIHN and cans for the Food Drive.


Wednesday September 3rd - Social Night for our HG...let me know if you have any ideas or would like to organize something. email me.


Sunday September 7th -
9:00 am Journey Group meeting - for folks interested in joining one or learning more about them. This is before the service. Email Traci if you have any questions.

Newcomer's Reception - this will take place after the service. If you are interested in representing our HG at this let me know.

Sunday September 14th - Leadership Development - this event has been CANCELLED for now. It may be rescheduled and it may not...

Sunday September 14th - Sunday September 21st - WIHN Week
If you are in charge of an area please email the organizers of each Homegroup (listed below)
I guess we will just make announcements on Sunday mornings and then contact the organizers in each group to help us recruit volunteers. Send me the information when you have it and I will plug it in a spreadsheet.

Christy Gould gould_christy@yahoo.com - Edenton
Debby Meeks dmeeks@nc.rr.com - Raleigh North
Kelly Wick kellymichalwick@gmail.com - Oberlin
Kristen Wenger kristen.wenger@earthlink.net - Apex
Rebecca Schlieman rschlieman@gmail.com - Raleigh North

Also we encourage everyone to attend the services in September. We are doing a Values Series with Membership to follow. We are staying at one service for now.

Also as of this morning...the babies are still in the womb! So keep praying for the Gores. Also be praying for the Ramsey/Gore household as they are moving and flip-flopping floors.

Not sure if ya'll did prayer requests last night but if you have anything you would like to share with the group email Kim and she can send it out. Or if someone took notes send them to Kim :)

Have a great Labor Day Weekend! YAY an extra Day off!!!

Spiritual Gifts

Tonight we listened to a talk by Tim Keller on spiritual gifts. Afterwards, we had a good discussion about the talk and the subject of spiritual gifts. I wanted to open this up to continue that conversation.

What are you thoughts on spiritual gifts?

Were there any thoughts about the talk that you didn't get a chance to share tonight?

Do you feel like you have a good handle on what your spiritual gifts are?

Announcements 5.24.08

Monday May 26th - 2:30 pm Memorial Day Cookout at Jenny Profet's House
(1413 E Jones St, Raleigh 27610)

What to bring:

chairs/blankets

side dishes and desserts

beverages

outside games

She will have hot dogs but if you want to grill something else then bring that along. Please try to RSVP so she can be sure to get enough.

Wednesday May 28th - Home Group Meeting at Mandy/Daniel's place

Sunday June 1st - ONE SERVICE starting today - 10:00 am
Newcomer's Reception after the service. Let me know if you are interested in representing our homegroup and attending this for about 20 minutes or so...mrsdanielglennsmith@gmail.com

Wednesday June 4th - No HG meeting at our house this week :)

Thursday June 5th - Durham Bulls Game 7:00 pm... more details to come

Wednesday June 11th - Home Group Meeting at Mandy/Daniel's place

Weekend of June 13-15th (I think) - Guys in our HG going to the mountains..talk to one of them for more details...

Saturday June 14th - Race for the Cure...It is a 5K in Raleigh. We did it two years ago and it was fun besides the fact that I hurt my ankle. :) But let everyone know if you go sign up because maybe we could get a bunch of us to go walk or run

Wednesday June 18th - Home Group Meeting at Mandy/Daniel's place

Sunday June 22nd-29th - WIHN week

Wednesday June 25th - No HG Meeting at Mandy/Daniel's place this week... instead we will probably be making dinner together with the WIHN Families

Saturday July 12th - Drag Bingo - More details to come as it gets closer... Contact Bernie for more information... bernardnewton@gmail.com

Sunday July 13th - Next Leadership Development Meeting 4:00-6:00 pm...mark it on your calendars! :)

Announcements 5.16.08

Saturday May 16th and 17th - Amanda and Mike are moving TODAY - Here are the plans...

Friday: We figured it would make more since to start at 6pm, since most don't get off work before then. Between 6 and 7 you can stop over at the apartment (4804 Crockett Ct, Raleigh, NC, 27606) and pick up a car load, then head over to the house (1112 Lombar St, Raleigh, NC 27610). If you can't make it til after 7pm, call my cell #440-371-6353 and see where we are, or just go to the house. We will order some pizza in thanks for all your help.

Saturday: We pick up the u-haul truck at 8am, so we will probably start loading at 8:30am at the apartment. We need between 4-6 guys/ strong girls :), to help with the big stuff. We should be done by 11am. (We don't have that much stuff).

TOMORROW Saturday May 17th - Meg, Cara, Barry, and (someone else I forget) have graduated and they are having a Graduation "Kegger" Party. Everyone from HG is invited so if she left you off the evite.. she apologizes. She tried to add everyone's emails on there. Check out the evite for more information

Sunday May 18th - Africa Hope Center Meeting - 10:30 am...they are meeting the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month at the Visio Dei Building

It is John Enzor's birthday..wish him a Happy Birthday when you see him!

Wednesday May 21st - Homegroup Meeting at Mandy/Daniel's place


Memorial Day Weekend - someone should have a cookout or something :)

Wednesday May 28th - Homegroup Meeting at Mandy/Daniel's place

Sunday June 1st - Newcomer's Reception after the 2nd service. Let me know if you are interested in representing our homegroup and attending this for about 20 minutes or so...mrsdanielglennsmith@gmail.com

Wednesday June 4th - It is the 1st Wednesday of the month...we are looking for someone to organize dinner again..let me know if you are interested mrsdanielglennsmith@gmail.com

Weekend of June 13-15th (I think) - Guys in our HG going to the mountains..talk to one of them for more details...

Saturday June 14th - Race for the Cure...It is a 5K in Raleigh. We did it two years ago and it was fun besides the fact that I hurt my ankle. :) But let everyone know if you go sign up because maybe we could get a bunch of us to go walk or run

Sunday June 22nd-29th - WIHN week

Saturday July 12th - Drag Bingo - More details to come as it approaches... Contact Bernie for more information... bernardnewton@gmail.com

Sunday July 13th - Next Leadership Development Meeting 4:00-6:00 pm...mark it on your calendars! :)

Thank you for learning, loving, and giving within our community!

Smile...
Mandy

Recap 05/09/08

Wednesday night we held a discussion about how and where the home group is going. Before I get into that, there was some discussion about the AIDS Walk and Ride after which the following conclusions were made:

1. It might be nice for some folks with the gift of hospitality to man (and/or woman) a rest station for the bike ride. Rest stations are simply stations at which the riders rest and recoup with snacks and such from the previous leg of their journey. Scott said that it really made a difference to ride in on a station that was up and cheering the riders on as opposed to just lounging around in chairs. The riders really like to feel welcomed to the rest stops. This is one really easy way to be a positive part of the event next year.

2. Entertainment. I didn't notice as this was my first event of this nature but as I understand it, the walk lacked a certain "pizzazz". There should have been sword swallowers and flame jugglers dodging the little Shriner's mini cars as the walkers made their way around the city. Maybe next year we can spruce it up a little, huh? Anyone know how to twirl a baton?

3. Mo' people, mo' money. This year we raised just under $6,000.00 after setting a goal of $5,000.00. I think a total of 36 people participated. Not bad, but we can do better. Those numbers put us in third in the overall standings for total dollars raised.


Okay, on to the meeting.
This discussion was born out of the leadership development meeting that took place on Sunday the 6th. The purpose of the discussion was to take stock of where we are as a home group and discuss ways that we can make it a place to facilitate our growth as learners, lovers and givers. There was a lot of focus placed on the learner aspect with some loving and giving sprinkled in. Here goes. (I'll try to format this in a way that doesn't make this feel like trying to swallow a whale.)

1. Is home group a place that we should feel comfortable bringing newcomers?
It was mentioned that someone who visited with us didn't really feel like the group was "open", meaning that they didn't feel welcome. This is a problem. We should all be making an effort to welcome an embrace anyone who comes in the door. Let's try to be aware of that going forward.

2. How are the studies going?
We have been studying "children's stories" from the Old Testament through the lens of an adult and we got some feedback on how that's been going. Some say it has been enjoyable and lessons have been learned, but there were also folks who weren't a fan of this particular study. Some people tend to learn better from the inductive study we did before this one.

Also there was a desire to see more follow-up with the studies we've been doing. We need time to process what we've been learning. A lot of us are learning so many different things from different places that it's difficult sometimes to really let the lesson sink in and become part of your life.

3. Should we structure Wednesday's to allow us to rehash and pick apart what was taught on Sunday morning?
The rebuttals to this were (1) that this may put undue pressure on the teacher to come up with something since there are only 2 days between Sunday and Wednesday and (2) that this plan would be dependant on the teachers attendance during the Sunday gathering.

The solutions to this were (1) the teacher could take notes during the sermon and simply facilitate a discussion based on questions that either the teacher created or ones that may be embedded in the Sunday teaching and (2) this could be as simple as the teachers communicating if they will not be in attendance on a given Sunday and ensuring that someone was available for the task. After posing solution "1" the question arose of should our teaching be more lecture or more discussion? Thoughts on this included that we should tailor the teaching style to the character of the group and let "structure submit to spirit".

If we did this the Wednesday night meetings might look a little like this:

• Hang out
• Recap Sunday's teaching (for those who are new or weren't at the Sunday gathering)
• Discuss
• Challenge (optional)

It's worth mentioning also that if we do change to this new format that we will keep the same flexibility in our Wednesday meetings. Just because we would be discussing Sunday's message doesn't mean that we would need to teach every Wednesday. There will still be room for social and mission-based activities.

4. Should we let the teaching be driven by our experiences of loving and giving to those around us?
This is an alternative to question 2 in so far as it would fill our time with something different than Sunday's teaching. This would be valuable however for a few reasons.

a. We would be speaking directly to struggles and issues that people are having in their attempts to live out the lessons learned.
b. This would imply that we carve out time in our Wednesday night meeting to share our experiences with one another which would result in us having the opportunity to know each other on a deeper level.
c. This would provide the opportunity for the teacher to challenge us in a given area and the experiences of those challenges can be shared at the next meeting and so on.

5. Should we spend time learning what our giftings are?
It was mentioned that this type of thing may be a little to personal to handle in a group this size. It may be overwhelming for some folks to take that journey in this setting.


There was probably more that I didn't capture on paper but, seriously, did you even read this far? If you see anything I missed feel free to leave it in the comments.

There will be more discussion about the leadership development meeting as well as planning for the upcoming WIHN week this summer at our next meeting. Until then...