1/9 Small Group Meeting Review

Hey guys,

We talked about a lot this past Wednesday. It was good. But in all we talked about we forgot to go over when we are going to meet again. So please comment or e-mail me with when you guys can meet next week.

Also, here is the link for the article about the tomato growers in Florida:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/opinion/29schlosser.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=ERIC+SCHLOSSER&oref=slogin

So we are getting a little behind in our book, so I really want to insist that we all read Chapters 4 and 5 in Irresistible Revolution, so that we can discuss it next week.

Peace

Hellooooooooo!!!

Yo Homies,

We all agreed that we could meet on Wednesday, the 1st of January at 7:00pm at my house. We will be going over Ch. 4 so please make sure you all read it. You have almost 3 weeks so this should not be a problem.

I must warn you, that for some this chapter might seem like he is once again getting down on rich people. But I urge you to read into what he is actually saying and see how he actually affirms many of the rich people he meets who he can see pursuing kingdom values. This seems like a turning point in his life because at first his culture shock of returning to America is hard, but over time he starts to see that God is really working here as well.

We talked a lot on Monday about whether it was possible to live a "normal" life as a Christian. I stumbled upon another podcast recently at Mars Hill that addresses this subject. For those of you who know Donald Miller, you know he is mostly known for his books. He writes memoirs sort of that have deep theological implications. In this message he is speaking about what makes a good story, and how those elements work similarly in our own lives.

You can go to this link: http://marshill.org/teaching/index.php. Then click on the mp3 link next to the message for November 11 called, Story by Donald Miller. If you are so spurred on I would then recommend also listening to the sermon titled Glory by Rob Bell. Both of them have deep insight into this profound calling we have to be followers of the Way. Please check them out, put them on your iPod or something and listen to them in the car.

Lastly, I would love to hear people's thoughts on the podcast I posted last week. So please enlighten me. peaceLoveHOPE

Wrap-up for 12/13 and Announcement

First things first, we decided to meet this coming Monday 12/17 @ 8:30 instead of next Thursday. That will be our last meeting for a couple weeks so make sure you are there. Some people need to catch up on the reading a bit, so let's just make it so that you must finish Ch. 3 by this Monday.

Next, I want to remind everybody about Buky, the kid Jeremiah told us about. We have a chance to bring freedom to a prisoner, so I want to encourage all of you to be praying about some way that you can help him. It could be money, it could be a Christmas present, it could be an offer to tutor him. Or maybe one of you has an extra bed in your house. It might take some convincing of your parents but pray hard (as the bumper sticker says). I want to talk about this more on Monday. Maybe we can band together as a small group and think of a way that we can help this kid out. Something like working out a ride schedule where we each take him to school one day. But I don't really know the kid's needs so Jeremiah will have to enlighten us more. Also, I want to know if this is making any of you nervous, it might.

We had a lot of great discussions last night I thought so bravo gentlemen. One that we touched on a little was the topic of truth. I heard a podcast a little while ago by a "guest" speaker at Mars Hill Bible Church that I thought was interesting (he is actually the Junior High Pastor). It is by far the edgiest message I have ever heard at this church, but he makes some very interesting points. The link is: http://marshill.org/teaching/index.php. Once you get to the page click on the mp3 option next to the message for November 18th titled The Table - Steve Carter.

Lastly, we had some great discourse on this blog last week but only three people took part in it. I would love to see all of us take an active part in them. See you all Monday (unless you can't make it in which case I will be expecting a phone call or e-mail or comment). peaceLoveHOPE

Wrap-up of 12/6

Last night we had quite a discussion (or many discussion) about a number of great issues. The things that we talked about are immensely responsible for shaping our worldview, so I think in that sense it was very productive and hopefully edifying. But...first of all I need to apologize, I realize that it is lame to apologize through a blog and I will apologize in person next meeting but I don't want my defensive and disrespectful posture to affect the way you read the book, thus crippling it's ability to impact you. I got defensive to be honest because first of all the book has radically changed my life. It was the first thing that showed me the hope God gives us that there is another way to live other than the options the world gives us. We don't have to succumb to materialism nor do we have to force ourselves into a life of self-absorbed asceticism. We don't have to choose between the conservatism or liberalism, pacifism or violence, or any other dualistic understanding of reality. Instead we get to follow the Third Way, Jesus' Way, which always transcends the only two options that our culture gives us.

So I really appreciate you all who have grounded me in this. And I pray that I become less bull-headed in the future.

Here is the clip that I promised to post. The Psalters are a freakin' amazing musical group that have adapted a nomadic lifestyle in order to flush greed out of their lives. This is not the only way to be a Christian, but it is a way to follow Christ. Please leave comments on your thoughts on the video and continuations on the discussion(s) we had. Thanks guys.

Also, I am putting what we are reading and the location of the meetings on the right hand column. So you can always stay up to date by checking there. And please let me know if you are not going to be at a meeting or if you are not going to come anymore. My feelings won’t be hurt, I promise.

Introducciones

HELLO FELLOW GROUPEES!!! This is the real deal here. I am officially stealing Brent's idea and making a blog to catalog and direct our small group experience. I am not very good at doing anything that involves visuals, but I will do my best to make this a pleasurable experience.

You can check in here any time you need to find out the assigned reading, catch up on a week you've missed, or just get a little recap of what we have gone through.

I will also post links to other articles relevant to the reading, and even embed some youtube videos.

I would also like to use the comments section for a variety of things. First, you can let me know if you are not going to be able to make it to group (Please! Please! Please! always let me know this beforehand either through a comment, e-mail, or telephone). Another thing the comments section is useful for is to point out to myself and other groupees what you feel is important stuff in the reading so that we can all come pre-prepared on your topic.

I am also going to try and post afterthoughts on our sessions. Just little blurps about what we went over so that the conversation can continue in the comments section.

I think this will work out well, and I will still e-mail everyone if anything dire comes up at short notice. Thanks groupees.

peaceLoveHOPE