Franks ‘n’ Steins
This Saturday, November 1st, the Cromer family will be hosting the 3rd annual Franks ‘n’ Steins party. We are all very excited, because this year’s party will feature fabulous black bean burgers for those (French accent, please:) crazy, crazy aspiring vegetarians in our midst. This celebration is a great time to dress up in crazy, crazy costumes, invite your friends, drink bucket-loads of root beer, possibly swim (it’s still hot out there), and pose for family photos. Everything begins at 6 p.m.
Address:1834 N. Desmond Lane
Money, Moving, & Support Letters
Okay, Village! Here we are again, with our three favorite subjects all packed into one nifty paragraph. The Village only has until February to find another place to meet, because the Lutheran church will then start construction in the space we currently use. This means that we need to raise another $48,000 soon so that we can receive our $300,000 donation and buy ourselves a building. If you are one of the people who plans on sending out support letters, Sue & I are hoping to throw a little party at the Wodrich abode to provide a place and time where we can all wrap this up at once. Also, Rod & I will be in the process of tracking down other spaces to rent. If you have good ideas or suggestions for that, please talk to us. As you spend time thinking about what you have to offer in community, please remember that the Village operating budget is always very tight, and money is a good thing to offer.
Culture Change for the Sake of Mission
You have probably either heard from Rod or seen in past newsletters that the Village is trying to change the regular Vespers start time from 5:15 to 5:10 p.m. Not only are we trying to modify when we begin, but we are also trying to become prompt about starting on time. We had noticed that even though we were saying that the start time was 5:15, we were often not getting started until 5:20 or so. This pushed back the end of Vespers to as late as 7:00 sometimes. Several people, including Pastor James, who I’ve asked to make suggestions toward helping us become more effective, have pointed out that this erratic starting time makes it difficult for families with children to know when things will start or end. This, in effect, undermines our ability to be missional and reach out to the larger community. It also creates an awkward environment for new people when they show up at 5:00 and nobody is there to talk with them. Our hope is that you will consider your arrival time as an important element of your life as a missionary at the Village. Thanks for already putting this into practice.
The Assignments:
1) Alleviate confusion: memorize Scripture.
2) Who’s gospel are you tolerating?
3) What’s your mission – have you told anyone?
4) Articulate, explain, and articulate some more.
5) Boast – “I got bowhunting skills, nunchuck skills”… teaching skills, preaching skills, helping skills…
6) Boast – it’s all about Jesus’ transforming work as displayed in my weakness.
Editorial Correction on Sermon
My wife pointed out to me that due to my short- and long-term memory loss, I lost our mission and misstated it during this week’s sermon. I said that it was “to love people like Jesus.” A good mission, indeed. However, the mission we’ve actually lived out since we got married, and the one we hope to continue growing in, is “to create accessible pathways to Jesus.” |
