Rants on Issues that MATTER!!!
(to me)Archive for April, 2009
.a crazy time.
So, this past week has been crazy. With CW we were able to rent a room at what used to be a RIT Music and well, the room was not in good shape and was not painted. So on Wednesday a group of us started to paint the room, as we started to paint we noticed paneling that needed to come off the wall. Of course we didn’t get the room all painted the first night, so then Thursday we came back, finished painting and then decided to paint and frame a screen on the wall. Friday was the Good Friday service that was amazing. Then on Sunday we had our Easter service, all in all it was a crazy weekened, yet those are the moments that I live for. Great things were done and greater things are still to come in this city.
.this is my town.
As some of you might know, about a year and a half ago, Natalie and I started to attend a church called CrossWinds. As time went on, we got more and more involved, eventually I heard Jesus call me to being a church planter. Talk about something to rock one’s boat and well, one’s world. So through the course of some events we moved out to Wyoming, MI…to the place that God had called us. It was about 4 months ago that we moved out here.
To be honest, a first, while I loved where we lived, it didn’t feel like home. However over the past month this place has slowly become my town, my home. Natalie and I have a park that we love to go to and walk, we have a Seven Eleven that we like to go to. We have a store that we buy our groceries at, they are putting a Sonic in near us and most importantly we have found a donut shop that is “ours.” So while this town is way different than where I grew up, this is my town and I love it and long for the glory of Jesus to be known amoungst the people that live here, in my town.
.church, taxes & partnerships.
Partnerships are so important. Have you noticed that in life? I know that I am not the first one to say that but hopefully I have a perspective on them that you have not heard of. Now partnerships can be formal or informal, in this age partnerships can be very fluid. If you are from the church world you might know that denominations are falling to the wayside while networks are taking over. The great thing about networks is that every one that is involved can choose to be in or out, so the people that are there, want to be there. Another thing that is nice is that a group can be a part of multiple networks. There are many benefits from these partnerships, one being that you can partner with people who have a common goal, now every person in this group may not completely agree. In the church setting, a group of churches may want to reach the youth in the area so they partner, however these groups may disagree on some of their theology, yet can work together for the same purpose.
Now if you are in the business world you might be involved with partnerships, again some of them may be formal or others may be informal. Where I work we are involved in some informal partnerships and some formal partnerships. We are involved in some professional and tax associations of like minded people. Now again the companies may not agree on everything and how to do it, yet they have the same purpose.
Both churches and businesses have mainly the same reason for being involved in partnerships. To partner with others that have the same purpose and to make it easier for people to find somebody that has the same purpose that the partnership has.
In this world, if you are not partnered with others, you are bound to fail, while it may have worked in the past to be the lone wolf type of person, it does not work in a world that is so connected. With the advent of being able to communicate to the other side of the world in seconds, if one wants to be successful they must be connected to others that have the same purpose as them. So, who are you partnered with?
