I Like It!

I really like the idea of a community garden. Maybe we could call it God's Garden...Planting Seeds of Hope (kind of in keeping with Tim's idea, which I also like.)



A few musings :



1) Who would we target as users of the garden? It seems to me that the people who pick up food may not be the most self-motivated when it comes to planning, scheduling and following through on a commitment of this sort, I don't mean that disrespectfully by any means, only that their life skills may not be such that they would take advantage of the garden. I could see those around us as having more potential as well as senior citizens.



2) What about the maintenance of the garden? Watering, weeding, pests and other critters, etc.



3) Is that piece of land next to the church the best place for this or should we perhaps see if there is someone willing to donate some land already given over to farming?



4) Are we better off commiting to doing this ourselves and then adding the fruits of our labors to whatever Gleaners brings?



Those are just some of the thoughts I have regarding the garden.



As far as the name goes, I do like the dual type of format. Crossroads Community Church...A Bridge to Hope for Our Community

That's it for now. Say goodnight Ron. Goodnight Ron.

Loving?

It was brought to our attention that while we brag about being a church of 'love' and that we 'love and welcome everyone' there have been visitors-recently even-who did not feel that 'love'. What can we do to remedy this? I can say that I personally will look for someone new every Sunday and be sure to welcome them. I want to take that on as my responsibility. Maybe that's why God made me a sales person? :-) Who knows? We can all try to be better at noticing others but I think I (my family) will go ahead and take charge here. Let's pray that no one steps foot inside our church thinking we are not welcoming them again. And let's be careful what we say about ourselves as well.

As the ladies studied in Bible class...Love is patient, love is kind....it does not boast, it is not proud.......love never fails

1 corinthians 13:4 God bless........Sal

Thanks to the Teens

...for taking care of the little ones while we have our discussions. What an important and appreciated service you have provided to us! You are all amazing kids and we are blessed to have you as part of our church family!

What can we Do?

If money or manpower was not an option, what type of things could we do to reach out to our community? How could we use our building everyday of the week?

Alanon Group, After School Activity Center, Teen Center Celebrate, Recovery Program, Painting Services, Financial Guidance/classes,
Food Drive, Video Game Tournaments, Service projects, Community garden, Foster Care, Parent Mentoring, Painting Services

Home Schoolers (Our building is presently being used by the Homeschoolers and Joy Bareman wanted to let us know how much that is appreciated!)

Salt and Light

We had a small group today but the discussion was good. Thanks Tim for leading and thanks Kristen for leading worship.

There are two ways we as Christians lose our impact in a community. One is by losing our saltiness-we become like everyone else or we become known for all we are against, and not what we are for-love, mercy, compassion and service. The second way is by hiding our light. We cannot confine our light inside our four walls.

To have an impact we must be both salt and light. Matthew 5:13-16

How will we become more like salt to become more Christlike in our actions and values? And how will ee shine our light? So that all may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven."?

Crossroads Church

Tim has a new idea that encompasses other ideas......He was thinking of naming our church"CROSSROADS CHURCH" and underneath that "a Bridge to Hope Community".So putting Sue's and Pam's idea together. The church name would be the first and what we're about is Pam's idea. How cool.

CROSSROADS CHURCH
~A Bridge to Hope Community

-Caroline

Name Ideas

Vicky brought this up a little while ago and I thought it worth sharing with everyone. Perhaps in this process we ought to turn back to Scripture and read again the stories of Abraham and Jacob and reflect on what it meant when God changed their names. Jesus too changed some names as I recall. ;) Ron

Bonnie just called me to tell me that she had been praying about the name and one seemed to come to her out of the blue. It is Victory Chapel. As of right now the suggestions we have are: Bridge to Hope Community New Life Community or just New Life, New Hope Community or just New Hope, Victory Chapel. Let me know if you have any others. Ron

Just thinking...

I thought that the food distribution last Saturday had a pretty good turn out, and I was glad I joined in the fun (however, my back was telling me the next day, that I should not have unloaded that truck with quite so much enthusiasm.) The thing that sort of bummed me about the food, was that most of it was not "staple food" (yes, we had onions and potatoes, but caramel apple dip, BBQ sauce, Slimfast, and whipping cream?). Kathy looked at all of it, shook her head, and said, "Look at all that sugar going out the door". I know that Rik & Heather's neighbors were really excited about what arrived at their door, (which makes me happy), and I realize that free food is always good, and better than letting it all go to the landfill, but in general, I guess I was hoping to see a bit more nutritious fare being offered.
I got to thinking that a community garden on the plot of land north of the parking lot might be a good way to plug some good solid food into the monthly distributions, (and get to know the neighborhood). Bags of beans, corn, and tomatoes would be a welcome addition to packaged food that Gleaners brings in. (I was told that they do have more of the fresh stuff come summer, so we'll see). Still, I wonder what people would do if we tilled up available land around the church, and offered our local neighbors an opportunity to claim an assigned area to plant vegetables. Maybe we could even offer seeds, and offer to help plant and/or water, if they would do the weeding and harvesting. It would give those apartment dwellers a chance for some free, fresh produce, and we'd have a chance to work alongside them, and get to know them.
We have a lot of open land around our building, and it all just sits there, and has to be mowed during the summer months. Why not put some of it to good use? We have a good share of gardeners within the church family who would be a valuable resource of knowledge for any first time gardeners, and we have home gardens with strawberries and raspberries that could be transplanted to the church plot for future harvesting for the neighborhood.
Wouldn't it be fascinating to see a church landscaped with vegetables and fruits? (Hey...watch your step as you enter for worship, those cucumbers have kind of grown over the sidewalk).
Just a thought..
;-)

Today

Today I had an awesome lunch with a new friend. I'm hoping she will be able to come and visit us next Sunday. I just want to encourage everyone to talk about this with your friends and family and just think about Jesus being at your side all day long.


Course, you know what has been transpiring in Dean and my life lately so this is much easier I suppose for me, but I am just so excited to see what God has in store for us! I had lunch with a lady today who is so in love with Christ. I don't know. She is a fairly new believer. Well, maybe not so new, but Dang, I can't even explain this feeling. She was telling me about her conversion and I was blown away.

I hope she comes to visit us (Sal)

CAROLINE

Hi Sal,
Thanks for the great idea. Yes it is hard but fun picking a name and we need to support it in prayer. I like "New Life Community" because it signifys beginning again, starting over and Jesus is the giver of new life. I also like the name "Victory Rock Church" or "Rock of Victory Church". I know Jesus is our Rock and he gives us victory through his death and resurrection and the power of his Holy Spirit. I saw a name too on line of "Radiant Life Church" and we do have a radiant life when we are walking with Jesus in the power of his Spirit. This is so cool. Looking forward to more blogs.

February 22, 2008 6:53 AM

Here It Is!

Please, feel free to give advice, share opinions and any experiences you might have had, etc....at Friendship Chapel. Then...share as we go along and experience this new adventure as we grow together as a family in Christ in our New Church.