Apostolic Passion!!!

Do you have Apostolic passion? Do you know what it is? Did you have it at some point but seemingly have lost it thru the everyday grind? Can you remember a time when you felt absolutely confident in what the Lord was calling you to do? What happened? What got in the way? How are you going to respond to that call? What are you willing to do in pursuit of your calling? How far will you go for Jesus? Will you obey at all costs? What if it means you have to suffer, are you ready? Where are you storing your treasures? If called will you make the ultimate sacrifice......YOUR LIFE???



HE DID!!!!!!!!!

Barb

Hi group,
Please pray for Barb and her family. Her Grandmother has passed away. For those of you that want to go to the funeral home please contact Brandy or myself and we will get you directions. The showing will be tomorrow from 2-4pm and Monday from 4-5 in London.


Also please keep Tim in your prayers. He went into the hospital on Thursday night with pneumonia. He is at Mt. Carmel west. He is due to get out either Sunday or Monday.

Spiritual Leadership...

Uh oh. Craig's not blogging for awhile. Where will we go for spiritual leadership?

Just kidding, of course. If this were a lesser homegroup, we'd have to worry, but there are so many amazing people (and, no, for once, I don't mean me). So keep on posting here. People do read it (and, this time, I do mean me).

Good luck, Craig. I'll be praying for you. I know that God wants to tell you great things, so I pray that he'll open your ears to hear it.

Things on my end are good. It's cold out here, though.

I will be off the Blog (for awhile)

Hi group,


As the title of this post says I will be off the Blog for awhile. The short version (if that is indeed possible for me) is that I need time with God. The last month has taken alot out of me emotionally and spiritually and I need time to refresh, away from the everyday stuff. I want to let you all know that this is something I do periodically anyway and it just so happens to be more public with the Blog and being a Home group leader. I need to take this time and figure out what exactly God would have my next step to be or what HE wants done. It's a time of spiritual inventory taking for me and it has become a necessity in my life. Please rest assured that I will check the Blog every few days to read prayer requests and other things that may be going on. I am still available by phone if you need anything and if there is a need that arises that needs to be communicated from me I will post that on the Blog. I don't know how long I will be off the Blog, it could be a few days or it could be much longer? I really want to encourage everyone to continue to use the Blog and to post new thoughts or ideas that you may be thinking about. This Blog has the potential to be a great tool in building community and friendships as well as stirring conversations and thoughts. BUT IT CAN ONLY DO THAT IF YOU USE IT!!! I hope that we will see others posting that have not been as active on here, as well as those of you that have. Please keep this Blog up and running while I am away, it's an important tool. I love you all and I will be back.

Where to begin?

I just want to thank everyone for thier great response to the call to bless our Missionaries in Brazil. You know as I was sitting here thinking about our group I couldn't help but think that this is what Heaven is going to be like. This group of believers we have are truly a community and I am in awe of how much you love one another and how much you are in love with Jesus. Never in my life have I experienced anything quite like this. I think about our community which now extends to three countries and I know without a doubt that God has knit a group together that not time or distance can ever tear apart. You make me want to be a better person and you keep me uplifted and encouraged even when I want to sink into a state of depression or when I want to pull away. I want you ALL to know that I pray at all times for all of you, I can't wait to see what our Lord is working out in your lives. I know there will be times of great trial and that our group will have to endure them but I am confident that the people in this group will band together and triumph under the banner of Jesus. Keep pressing in, keep trusting in the Lord, keep building community, keep praying, keep loving one another, and never forget that Jesus dwells among us and it is for HIS glory that we are the community that we are!!!

Do you want to be a blessing to someone?

Hi group,


I received a e-mail from the church that the Toths and the Joellenbecks have asked for some items in hopes that we as a church would be able to provide for them. As some of you know we are sending a team to Brazil in March and we are hoping to have the items needed by Friday March 3rd so that we can send them with the team. I signed us up for the purchase of 5 bottles of Multipurpose Solution for contacts (Equate brand- you get at Walmart). I need 5 volunteers to provide 1 bottle each and bring it to the home group next Wednesday. So the first 5 that respond will be able to bless both the Joellenbacks and the Toths. I only need one bottle a piece from 5 different people. If the church still needs more items then I will pass that information along to you. Right now other home groups are getting the opportunity to bless our missionaries by purchasing or supplying other needed items. Please respond either to this Blog post or to the e-mail I sent out a few minutes ago so I know where we stand. God bless you and thank you for your service to the Lord.

True Worship

While talking with many different people at church I realize what a impact this latest series has had. It seems that it has "kicked everyone's butt" (Angie's words) and I would have to agree. I am still trying to figure out what my "episode" meant and what my life is going to look like going forward. You know it seems that the Holy Spirit has shown up at Grove City Vineyard and is not leaving anytime soon! For months now I have felt a different feeling there, it's as if God is speaking directly into the lives of those willing to obey Him and placing a nugget of truth in thier hearts. At the same time He is directing the fellowship as a whole into a new "revelation" of Himself, combining the path of the fellowship with the path of the individual so that a birthing may take place at some time in the near future. For those who have had the "experience" I believe you/we are the people that will be asked to sacrifice and obey a call that is greater than ourselves and we may soon find ourselves in a position that we may not have dreamed of. For those who didn't necessarily have the "experience" I believe you have been called to sacrifice in another way. You will have to pray and support those "called" and you may be called to step into the roles left vacant. Your sacrifice is every bit as important and in many ways much more difficult to obey. The GC Vineyard is a living, breathing organism and the life of the church must be upheld and strengthened and many are called to that task. With that said I want to share a little about my "experience" and what I believe I have heard since. On Saturday night,last week,I met for prayer before the service as I do most of the time and during our time of praying for the service I kept getting the impression that God was calling us into a time of "true" worship. A time that is not manufactured by man and not necessarily created by singing songs or teaching or even praying,but a time of fellowship with the only one worthy of praise and worship. The feeling gripped me at first but then it was time to leave the prayer meeting and go into service. Most of the time when I get those "impressions" it doesn't turn out to apply to the service, but 10 minutes into the saturday service I felt a feeling come over me, I couldn't tell you what Tom said for the rest of the service because I couldn't concentrate on him. I can only tell you that as we began to sing at the end of the service I began crying (I am not a person who cries in public) then I heard Tom say that there were people there who want to worship God with thier tears. Now let me interject here for a moment, left on my own I would never go to the front of the church and ball my eyes out.I wasn't left on my own, I had to go up and I couldn't stand there I had to get face first before the Lord and I sobbed, and sobbed and my whole body was shaking. I couldn't control it and I really didn't want to. I couldn't stop crying for two days and even now I find myself in a more emotional state than I usually am in. While up front Tom asked for a couple of volunteers to tell the congregation what was going on with them. I began to arise but I couldn't stop crying and I couldn't verbalize what was going on, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!!! Only after the crying stopped, two days later, was I reminded of the prayer meeting before the service. "True Worship". I began to get it. God is calling us to true worship and he wants us to find that place where we are naked before him, where we can't hide behind singing along with everyone else, we can't pray "the right" prayers, we can't take down the notes from (Tom's) message or sit there passively and listen. We must, without fail, get NAKED before the Lord our GOD and we must do whatever it takes!!!! We must continue to press in to Him and Him alone and not lean on the understanding of men. Only by seeking Him and His will, will we be able to transform our lives into something of eternal significance and in the process we ourselves will be set free from the bondage that we are in. The chains we have placed on ourselves.We have for far to long conformed to the world and sang the songs of this world and prayed the prayers of this world and listened to the teachers of this world without giving a second thought as to what true worship looks like to GOD.

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in thier hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever Amen." (Revelation 7:9-12)

What is God saying to you?

(note to Craig)

Craig - can you help me move that desk to my apt. on Thursday sometime? It could even be during the day?