Update on the Growing a Movement Lunch

When we decided to have a "Growing A Movement Lunch," I really had no idea how it would turn out. For me, the most important components were that people felt at home and everyone had the opportunity to share their thoughts about Jesus. My hope was that it would be a big enough group that new friendship could begin, casual enough to be comfortable for all personality types, and simple enough that it could be replicated with little effort.

From a personal standpoint, the time together positively impacted my walk with Jesus. If you've been following my blog, you've seen that I've been going through a pretty dry time recently. I didn't realize it until last night, but I had kind of fallen into a 'habit of dryness.' I was talking to a friend who was sharing that she is going through a dry time. I just started to say that I echo her thoughts, but then God checked me. I stopped mid-sentence to share with her a couple of "God-happenings" that I've experienced in the last week. One in particular was a realization that I had at the "Growing a Movement Lunch."

I don't know about you, but I am very susceptible to life-overload. I go through much of my week doing all there is to do without much thought to where God is, where he's working, where I can be involved....It was fun to see that lunch go beyond just the hour or so we spent together to really impact my week.

At the lunch there were all ages of people there from young families to grandparents and everything in between. We talked about how it must have felt for those first followers when Jesus came in and claimed to be their way, truth, and life. We talked about how people may feel today as they see him as those things for the first time.

We talked about some of the practical aspects of following Jesus....We asked the question, how do we keep Jesus in the forefront of our minds throughout the day? Sometimes it's an email that sparks our thought, sometimes it's a conversation. Part of the equation is that openness to see where Jesus is working - even if it looks different than we expect.

One of the things we began to talk about how Jesus has a knack for challenging the status quo. He challenged it back then and he challenges it today. What do we do with that? I look forward to continuing that conversation this week as we look at the topic of Compassion: Loving as Jesus Loved. What does that mean to us, right here in Ohio, right now....

Anyone is welcome to join us. It's very simple, really. Just bring some food from home or pick up some fast food and meet us in the main room after the second gathering on Sunday. We'll push some tables together and hang out. One request: if you have kids you'd like to have watched at that time please let me know (330.565.4167), so we can plan accordingly.