Upcoming Events

The following is a short list of events that are coming up that I wanted to broadcast. For anyone who reads this blog who might be interested in coming to any of the below events, please email me at nottaemail@yahoo.com for locations, directions, or if you just wanna discuss the nature of the events. I'd love to hear from you...

1) Helen and I are having our much planned HouseKewling this coming Sunday (9/2) from 1pm-5. As Helen is fond of saying, it's way too hot to have a houseWARMING, so we're doing a houseKEWLING instead, although hot food will be served. We moved into the neighborhood back in June, and we've had the pleasure of meeting a few of our neighbors. But we've invited the whole neighborhood, plus a bunch of other folks we know. We don't know how many people will come, but hopefully we'll get a good turnout.

2) Beginning September 11, we will be hosting our church's rollout of Christianity Explored. For 10 weeks every Tuesday night (except for Thanksgiving week), a group of anyone who wants to come will gather together for a time of fellowship, an evening meal, and a topical though expository walk through Mark's Gospel. By the end of the 10 weeks, we will have gone through the total of the Gospel of Mark, and will have touched on 3 main themes - Who was Jesus, Why did he come, and What does he ask of his followers. The course is intended to provide a relaxed and safe environment for people who have questions and doubts about the Christian faith to come and speak freely without being jumped on. In the process, our hope is that we might learn about them and love them wholeheartedly, and that they might learn about us and our faith and be encouraged to continue exploring and ultimately accepting the Gospel message in God's good time.

3) Beginning in early January of 2008, I will be teaching an 11-12 week Adult Sunday School course at my church on the all-encompassing nature of Christian Hospitality. This is not a course on how to make a better pot roast for our guests (although, if anyone happens to be teaching such a course, please let me know cuz I'll sign up!). This is a course designed to set forth a biblical view of hospitality (Scripture has tons to say about it), as well as discuss how vitally important the practice of hospitality was (and still is) in the life of the church and its witness to the world. Once we've laid the foundation of Christian hospitality, we will then spend the last half of the course discussing how Christian hospitality does (and can) impact some key street-level contemporary issues like worship, evangelism, issues of race, outreach to immigrants and the youth culture, etc. My hope is that hospitality, when biblically understood, will empower us with a whole life perspective that rejuvenates our passion for God's Kingdom and its cosmic renovation of all aspects of creation. My hope is that those of us who attend the course will come away with a richer and deeper understanding of their own role in the Kingdom, and be prepared to graciously extend hospitality to strangers and neighbors in ways that bring enormous credibility to the cause of Christ.

Again, I would encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about any of the above to email me. I'd love to talk with you.