A Vent and an Update

Hey everyone: Last Friday, Cindy and I had the opportunity for a night out without the kids. We went out to dinner and ended up buying two movies from Suncoast and taking them home to watch. One of the movies was Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy. This is the vent portion of the blog because I have to be honest....I thought that the movie was terrible. I only laughed twice. I could have just shredded the ten dollars that I spent on the movie and probably gotten a better return for my money.

That being said, on to more important things. We now have all the carpet up in the sanctuary/coffee shop area of the building and it is ready for flooring as is what we are calling the "Family Room." That is the addition that we built for LIFE Groups and meetings. Thanks to everyone who has helped. You guys are birthing something great. Lets keep moving forward.

PJ

To Connect or Not To Connect

Now that we are both hooked up to the blog this is our first collaborated entry for LIFEhouse West. The conference of last week was all about connectivity and linking together with those whom God has placed us with to accomplish his work. Just to bring everyone up to speed LIFEhouse West is connected to the LIFEhouse Church network and is a church plant of Bethel Assembly. As a network we are emphasizing connectivity as the way to most effectively do the work we are responsible for. On a network level this is about joining with other churches, organizations, and ministries, not to reinvent anything, but to partner in using the strengths of each group to accomplish a task or meet a need. This is not necessarily only within our network or within "denominational lines" but linking up with others on the same "team".

For too many years churches and ministries have been trying to be everything to everybody but really becoming nothing to nobody. We feel that mindsets like this have become obsolete and ineffective in impacting our culture today. At LIFEhouse West we believe that this should not only change but that we should model it. We think that it is about being involved in the community, with community organizations, and in the lives of those people who make up that community. For us that means afterschool care for children, tutoring, providing a gathering place for people outside of "church services", meeting real and felt needs, and being involved in community activities and not just church activities. In other words being outside the walls of the building more than inside the walls. Jesus spent much more time with people just living life than he did in church, bringing LIFE to each life he encountered.

After hearing what we think now what do you think?

Next Week

I wanted to bring some finality to the blog for this week. I know that I was planning on putting something else on this week. But being as it is the week of a conference that I am a part of there is a great deal of information that I am processing. I will be making some notes next week after the conference.... Talk back soon.

Actually Figuring This Thing Out

Well this is kind of a great way to start the morning. I forgot my username and the password to this thing and had to get it all working. Now that I have done this we can comment at will and share as a community. Sorry for any confusion. I will have a thought for the week later today if possible. We can start with this: As followers of Jesus, our imagination should exceed out memory.

We cannot stop being creative for the kingdom.....

Thoughts anyone?

Welcome to the Official LIFE House West blog!!!!

Welcome to the beginning of a journey. The Chronicle of the what we are calling LIFE House West. This blog will not only be about the story of LIFE House West (LHW) but also about, a journey with God that I am taking. We will be talking about everything here. This is the journal of the journey. So if you stop by and visit the blog there will be plenty to discuss.

I will be posting thoughts on the Bible, life in general, my emotions, whatever comes out onto the keys. This place is as much about my personal faith journey as it is about planting a church. We will lay all of this out as we go, so lets just have fun......

Check it out whenever you want, at least once per week for a discussion point of LHW information. Since part of the goal is to have LHW become a hub for social interation as well as spiritual stuff. We can all enjoy this jouerney together.