New Time of Gathering

Change: WE WILL BE MEETING ON SUNDAY EVENINGS 5PM WITH PIZZA AFTERWARDS
Most of you know that we are in a time of change.

I wrote a couple of posts ago about realities of change and what it can do to you. It causes you to evaluate your priorities and what is important.

We are changing a gathering time and we will be working on when to implement the name change.

The leaders anticipate more change. It is almost a requirement going forward. We WILL BE FACING CHANGE!

We do consider all change right now in anticipation of what is coming. It's kind of like the winding of a rubber band or waiting for the wind.

As we wait, we are preparing for what is next. Things are being put in place, we are trying to anticipate needs, and we are getting things ready. It is like winding a rubber band up and getting ready to let it loose. But the timing of when it is to be let loose is not ours - it is God's.

And as we wait, it's not unlike waiting for the wind. You cannot catch the wind if your sails are not up. And our God is the one who controls the wind; the direction and time and strength.

Psalm 135:6-7

The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

We wait on the Lord as we wait on the wind. It will come, and He will give direction, and He will provide for what He intends to do. We just have our sails up and get ready to go where He chooses!

We get ready!

We Wait!

We Listen!

We Trust!

We Change as He leads.

The Mountain Top prepares you for The Valley

Sometimes we forget to mention why we gather together. Maybe we just forget what we are about on Sunday mornings? We are not just a social club! We have a purpose for gathering. We believe that Sunday morning should be a mountain top experience that energizes you.
THE BATTLE
Your week has been difficult. You are working at your job or at home while being a living witness in that world, loving your families sacrificially, and no doubt, enduring abuse from people who do not work or think like you do. Yet, you are determined to follow Jesus each day and if that is your plan, you have been opposed all week. Even getting out of bed to come to worship on Sunday morning feels like misery sometimes. But you come with hope in your hearts.
HOPE FOR WHAT? Because you hope to experience what the first church experienced in the first few Sabbaths after Pentecost; the presence of God through the movement of the Holy Spirit in your soul. He promises to be with us always but sometimes we forget. The first church worshiped God and they were energized by His power for their mission to their world.
THE BIBLICAL PATTERN FOR US
However, please notice that worship did not come first. (Acts 2:42-47) Worship was the outgrowth of, and the result of hearing teaching from the Word of God combined with intimate relationships. Worship was also a response to prayer and the breaking of bread; a remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. In keeping with that pattern, our worship comes after the teaching of the Word each Sunday; not before. Some will argue that prayer and studying the Word of God IS worship. I can accept that but still like the physical worship of Sunday morning to follow teaching.
TEACHING
As for teaching the Word, we began teaching the book of Genesis on April 1st of last year. We are currently making plans to teach Ruth and then John. Whatever we teach, teaching the scriptures will always be our plan and sometimes, but not often, we will divert from the steady teaching of a specific book of the Bible for a topical message.
PREPARATION FOR YOUR MISSION
You were designed specifically to be sent to your world in the power of Jesus Christ to a hurting world that is seeking life in all the wrong places. You were made by a loving God and redeemed by the Blood of Christ for this specific battle; to take Jesus Christ, the living water, to a dry and thirsty land. It will be the continual plan at Journey to prepare you for your mission.

Journey Calendar/Newsletter

Here is the Journey242 calendar (click here). If you like, save the (internet) address and bookmark it or even print the calendar. If you know of a church event that needs to be on the calendar, please email us at Journey242@gmail.com with the details. We will try to limit this to church and small group related events.

There is a danger in using the internet to communicate to people. As I think about this, it points to a possible confusing paradox to have most of our church information on the impersonal internet. We stress a relational focus rather than the impersonal focus of being event driven, program driven, and propositionally driven. If we do not continually and actively pursue relationships with one another as we follow Jesus, we could just become another non-relational, impersonal, propositionally driven church where legalism prevails and lives never change.

However, I (Bill) believe that the younger generations are using the internet to investigate and make decisions before they would ever darken the doors of our church or even more, before they would contact us in any way. With the internet we can be quite transparent. We can say up front who we are and what we are about. We can avoid being dogmatic and pursue open, honest communication where doubt is ok; where tough questions can be asked and hopefully answered.

I (Matt) also believe the internet forms a foundational and grounding place of many of our relationships already. We use it to find out about people, who they are, when to meet them, and alot of other simple aspects of relationships. The internet is an entry way into relationships for many, and for some it's often the only place of personal relationships.

For many young people, relationships begin on the internet and we welcome those relationships and the tough questions. Jesus did too. Jesus embraced the lonely, confused, and lost who had real questions and who were really seeking something they did not already have or understand. Jesus only attacked the hypocrites who thought they had all the answers. We want to reach the lost, the lonely, and the downtrodden.

Sometimes I (Bill) have to remind myself that we are on a Journey as we follow Jesus, walking and talking with Him as he changes us into His image. Jesus fulfills the laws by offering a relationship that by its very existence, changes our life. New friends can change our life by how they relate to us and how we relate to them. If we want to be "like Mike" we will buy Nike shoes and try to imitate Michael Jordan.

A relationship with Jesus does the same if we are following Him. To follow we have to surrender control. We have to want to be like Him. So don't let this calendar become something that replaces people or God. Let it become a planning tool that helps you find more time for living the Kingdom life now, following Jesus now, and inviting friends into that life with Jesus now.

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=journey242%40gmail.com

It's About Fruit -- Not Achievement.

"It's About Fruit; Not Achievement"

This statement is the heading of chapter 10 in a book by Wes Roberts entitled Reclaiming God's Original Intent for the Church. Wes is a mentor and friend who challenged me (Bill) to return to Evansville and plant a church. I tried to avoid this call for several years but it would not go away. When a seed is planted in the heart of an individual and nurtured by God, it eventually breaks soil. When a church is planted by God it will yield fruit.

What is this vision? Here is a piece of it....

Many reasons to plant a church come to mind supported by statistics, cultural studies, and personal challenges from friends. But in the end, some things have to die in order to really live.

In John 12:24 Jesus says___ "Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over."

I think some of my thoughts about church have died over the years and out of those deaths a vision has emerged. I think what died is my hope that I would see fruit in the local church. I gave up for a while and did not even attend church I have been terribly disappointed as I see churches become irrelevant having no life changing impact on their communities. Yet I know that Jesus' church cannot and will not die. That truth had to become real again and hope in seeing real life change come from within the life of the local church had to be revorn in my heart.

Just as followers of Jesus will reproduce other followers of Jesus, healthy churches will plant other healthy churches. A healthy church will reproduce. If we do not reproduce, we will become extinct. From the very beginning and for several reasons, it has been and will remain my desire for us to reproduce churches in communities nearby rather than to grow large. By virtue of their size, large churches draw people out of their personal communities and make it easy to hide. Changed lives occur in the context of a life seen clearly by God and others where the truth of scripture can become personal and relevant. We want the church to be a personal, life changing community again.

We want to plant seeds as missionaries to our neighbors in communities nearby. The mission field in America is near to us, not far.

This vision of being missionaries not to a foreign culture but to our diverse culture, requires a greater discipline, a greater call to an open, visible, personal walk with Jesus. We will be counter cultural. This call is not to just a very few in our congregation but to each member. Our lives will speak more loudly than our words and therefore, none can hide. Hiding in a big church is much easier so we will divide and plant in another community nearby before we grow large.
All of us are missionaries to our own personal communities; to our neighbors. To walk in the light is to be seen, not hidden. It is a frightening thought but if our faith in Jesus Christ has not changed us to be counter cultural, we will be irrelevant as missionaries. We want our very lives to be a witness to those nearby.

II Corinthians 6:13 paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in the Message says, "Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!"

We repeat often at journey..."It's not what you do, it's who you be". If you "be" a healthy (church) plant, fruit will come forth and seeds will develop for planting. You will not have to try harder to achieve but only to be a follower of Jesus and fruit will come forth.


We invite you, our community, to join us and help us remember our vision for being personal missionaries to our neighbors nearby each day as we Journey together.

Why Evansville/Newburgh, IN corridor?

• We (the leadership team) all grew up within 30 miles or less of the area, and have a calling and desire to see people finding their way back to God through salvation in Jesus
• The population within the 15 mile radius was determined to be over 258,000 and growing
• If 1/3 of those folks attend a religious service (Christian or not) once very 6 months (research according to Barna) that means there are 172,000 people who are not finding their way back to God through Jesus within 15 miles of the location!

“Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35

• If we share the Good News of forgiveness of sins and salvation in Jesus Christ with only 1% (with a much larger vision) of that population, 1720 people will have heard the Gospel.

“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7

Where in the world is the Evansville/Newburgh area?

The part of the world we will be going into with the Gospel is the Evansville/Newburgh, IN corridor. Newburgh is on the east side of Evansville and a continuing growing community (the current meeting location is here).

I (matt) graduated high school from Henderson, KY, only 30 miles south of Evansville.

The area and culture of people we are actually "targeting" is the Evansville/Newburgh "stretch" which is considered the East Side of Evansville, but Newburgh is in another county.

Toyota built a plant 30 miles north of downtown Evansville in Gibson County (Princeton), and has seen a considerable amount of economic and demographic development in the last 5 years:

Religiously, the area historically has a German and Catholic background. Having grown up in the area, Christianity can be very cultural and ingrained in the family for generations. After Catholicism, Evangelicalism is probably very much the predominant "religion."

Evangelicalism great contributions in the 70's, 80's, and 90's was a spread of the Gospel; but in some ways, the great "Evangelical Right" which produced alot of cultural and political Christianity probably did as much harm as good to that same Gospel message. Many who are turned off by the Evangelical Culture turn away from Christ for cultural reasons long before they can even hear the true "good news" (the word "Gospel" actual means "good news).

Who we are targeting, in many ways, are those of us (me, Matt, included) who grew up highly influenced by cultural christianity, but walked away from Jesus at some point because the intermingling confusion of the religious Christian culture with Jesus made us lose Jesus and not hear the good news of salvation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

...I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard
what I have entrusted to him for that day - 2 Tim 1:12b

Separating out, or divesting oneself, from the religious culture of institutionalized Christianity (whether Catholic, protestantism, or mainline evangelicalism) can also mean a wandering or getting lost. Many want and are convicted that they need what the core of the good news (Gospel) is but because of the religious institutionalism created by cultural Christianity that is passed down generationally, they can no longer "hear" the gospel due to cultural noise.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they
believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them? - Romans 10:14

This means we are potentially "breaking traditions" and possibly stretching the boundaries. We want to be allowed to ask the hard questions of theology (who is God?), ecclesiology (what is a "church"?), and doctrine (what does it mean to "teach them everything Jesus commanded"?), and also grounded in the word of God. We want them to understand the meaning in the traditions.

Our greatest hope is that many find Jesus. For some it may be a revival of what was a dying hope. For others it may be really hearing the good news of forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ for the first time. But it doesn't matter where you are on your journey, we urge you to join us on a mission to bring people back to God through the Good News of Jesus Christ. We are hopeing to follow what Jesus has commanded and promised.

We are calling this a JOURNEY and specifically JOURNEY 242. It is based on Acts 2:42 and what happened when the first followers of Jesus Christ shared the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ (with the evidential help of God):

That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

Links about Evansville:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evansville,_Indiana
2002 Census info: http://www.helloevansville.com/Census.Cfm
University of Southern Indiana's description of Evansville: http://web.usi.edu/iceeagles/evansville.htm
Pictures: http://members.virtualtourist.com/vt/s/?m=6&l.q=bedb9

Downtown Freedom Festival: http://www.evansvillefreedomfestival.org/Festival_2007/Welcome.html

Bluegrass in the Park: http://www.bluegrassintheparkfestival.com/index_main.html?pathid=home

OUR VISION REMEMBERED

OUR VISION REMEMBERED.

We, at Journey242, are on a mission. Here are some of our goals.

1. To plant one healthy church that will help people find a way back to God.
2. To teach the Word of God in a relational context while providing a home for the "unchurched" who have lost hope in the local church.
3. To send one another to reach the "lost" in our personal communities with the hope of salvation we have found in Jesus Christ.
4. To enter authentic, honest, and open relationships with one another where becoming more like Jesus is the focus.
5. To support one another as we walk together as missionaries in this world while looking forward to the next.
6. To reach 400 worshipers in our fellowship before supporting and sending out at least 100 missionaries to plant another church in the Evansville area.
7. To multiply and plant at least 5 churches in the Evansville area.