October 3, 2007

Everyone who doesn't have thanksgiving family commitments at this time is invited to come hang out at the MacLeod's at 29 Deerbrooke, Colby and enjoy some desserts and good times. Feel free to bring your favorite dessert or just come and enjoy the spread.

Thanks everyone for your warm reception to the vision and direction of the compassionate ministries of Deep Water. I'm excited to get the team going and get everyone involved. Here are some questions I'd like to get your input on to ensure that the projects we get involved with are both areas that we're passionate about and areas that we can minister strategically. Please take a few moments and give these some thought.

1. What compassionate ministries are you passionate about?
2. What compassionate ministries do you think Deep Water would be uniquely suited to do?
3. What types of compassionate ministry activities do you think your one degree will be most interested in participating

Here's a vision of the church that I think you'll find helpful and inspiring as you consider how we get involved in our community and in the world.

I use the word "church" here with a somewhat heavy heart. I know that for many of my readers that word will carry the overtones of large, dark buildings, pompous religious pronouncements, false solemnity, and rank hypocrisy. But there is no easy alternative. I, too, feel the weight of that negative image. I battle with it professionally all the time. But there is another side to it, a side which shows all the signs of wind and fire, of the bird brooding over the waters and bringing new life. For many, "church" means just the opposite of that negative image. It's a place of welcome and laughter, of healing and hope, of friends and family and justice and new life. It's where the homeless drop in for a bowl of soup and the elderly stop by for a chat. It's where one group is working to help drug addicts and another is campaigning for global justice. It's where you'll find people learning to pray, coming to faith, struggling with temptation, finding new purpose, and getting in touch with a new power to carry that purpose out. It's where people bring their own small faith and discover, in getting together with others to worship the one true God, that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. - N.T. Wright

Areas to be praying over:

• That the last few steps toward a confirmed venue would go smoothly and favorably
• For God to provide us with a worship leader
• For God to supply the funds for our start up costs (sound system, nursery stuff, etc)
• That God would give us boldness as we invite those in our "One Degree" to Deep Water
• For God's continued wisdom and creativity for our ministry leaders as they begin to build their teams in the coming weeks and for all of us to have wisdom and a sense of the Spirits leading about where we serve

And now you're in the loop.

AJ

AJ Thomas
Lead Pastor - Deep Water Church