are you reading this?

we had another great service this past week: we got to know debbie robinson a little better and were encouraged by her enthusiasm for the future at trinity and pastor jeff shared with us about being rooted in Christ's love.

last week we streamlined the message board at the trinity web site, so check that out and get involved with the conversation. we've also started recording the message at service in preparation for posting them as podcasts; our first attempt came out better than expected so those may be availible pretty soon.

so far we've been posting every week about whats going on but the response to this blog has been... underwhelming and we're wondering whether its worth the effort to post that frequently. we're gonna try instead posting every other week or so and see how that goes. if you're reading this please make some kind of comment about your thoughts on that (both for the feedback and so we can get a feel for how many people are reading this at all). thanks.

this coming week we'll be welcoming back those who have returned from the workcamp missions trip. some of them will be sharing a meesage with us from what they learned there and the youth will be helping to administer communion which we're excited to share this week for the first time as a new faith community. hope to see you there.

another great week

so far, so good! we had our second weekly gathering yesterday and it went really well. a lot of people came, the worship was engaging, pastor jeff shared a great message about the peace of Christ and paul sipson gave us an intimate look at one of the experiences that really shaped his journey of faith. there have been some other developments too- there is now a tab on Trinity's website devoted to this community of believers, its still a work in progress but there's a message board and contact info. feel free to leave any kind of comments you like including song requests, ideas for making the service better, things you'd like to see outside of service (a bible study or small group time afterwards?) or questions you've always wished to hear answered in a sermon but haven't. also, in the next couple of weeks we should start posting podcasts of portions of our sunday gatherings so watch for that. peace be with you.

first service

wow. we had some very enthusiastic responses when we started talking about this service so we opptimistically set out 60 chairs, thinking that that way we wouldn't have too many empty seats and joking that we could always get out more when tons of people show up. apparently God has big plans for this service.
so, we started 10 minutes late after scrambling to setup enough chairs to seat everyone- pastor jeff counted 92 people at one point (after the kids and their teachers had left). we were all blown away. there were a few small snags but overall the service went very well. pastor jeff shared with us about our lives being love letters from God to the people around us, we all got to know jim ellson a little better as he told us how serving- especially through workcamps- was a big part of his faith and the praise band sounded great leading worship through music.
it was an incredible blessing to see so many people, both young and old, so enthusiastic about being at church. please pray that they will continue to be and that this service won't be a novelty or a fad but a real opportunity for growth in our congregation.

planning meeting

the planning meeting last friday went well. we talked about the music- there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm about the praise band- as well as how we can keep the service informal but also include a little bit of the liturgy that connects us with the traditions of trinity, the united methodist church and christians around the world. we also talked about how we can try to really foster a sense of community amongst those who gather with us; one thing we're gonna try is including a time each week when someone will share about their faith experiences or some part of their spiritual journey (i'm really excited about this). so come on the 12th and get to know jim ellson a little better.