I. PASTORAL NOTE

I can’t believe how much fun we are having on Sunday mornings in August! Let’s face it… in Idaho (the frontier of outdoor recreation), August is usually a tough month for churches. We’ve had a significant increase in attendance and it really feels like the Spirit of God is at work in our community.

Likewise, I just want to remind everyone of the theology behind Common Ground’s worship service. In our day, worship services have really taken on several different meanings. You’ve probably heard terms like seeker sensitive, consumer driven, or even evangelistic services. Fact is, we’re all aware of these discussions and we care very deeply for those who don’t go to church. Hence our involvement in so many other areas of ministry. Yet, when rubber meets road (so to speak), Common Ground is not about building a worship environment where people feel they are the primary target of the service. Common Ground is about giving to God all God is worth! Praise, worship, prayer, teaching, fellowship, communion, etc., etc. Everything we do (& I pray it really is everything) in the context of our worship service is about giving glory to God!

Now to quote a popular and recent article, with our rock band & night club style, “Common Ground is a very cool place to be.” No doubt we reflect a certain persona in our worship services. Many do in fact find this appealing and accommodating! But this is not an attempt to market or target a specific group, it’s just who we are! Quite honestly, every time we do dress up at Common Ground, people are shocked to see us! We’re just a flip-flop wearing kinda community. No one is trying to be cool (& for what it’s worth… quite honestly, I think many of us have very strange social skills), we just are cool! In a Common Ground kinda way!

There are so many different kind of church communities. I think all of us are called to lay down our pretense and come clean on what is meaningful to us. This is why authenticity is such a significant value at Common Ground. So you might ask, what is meaningful to people at Common Ground? The message of Jesus Christ, his announcement of God’s Kingdom, and the call to form communities around such truths: Christ, Kingdom, Community!

With these claims we gather together! I know we have a unique personality. I pray all the time that people who belong in a church like Common Ground will find us. I also pray that our work in the community would be a witness to our message. Yet, when it comes time to gather corporately on Sunday morning for our worship service, I pray that each of us will make every effort to gather together with the intention to glorify God!

To Him be the Praise,

Tom

II. SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE

I’ve always said that the hardest part about a CG event is getting people to show up! Organizing CG is like trying to guide a bunch of cats into walking a straight line. There’s no doubt that CG folks are characterized by a free spirit and an even freer commitment to a scheduled calendar.

Now I know everyone is not like this, but as your attention deficit pastor, I resonate with the popular majority. The thing is, once you get us all together, we have a blast and each of us usually leaves encouraging the other to take up the unwanted responsibility of getting us all back together.

Why all the reflection on event planning? Simply put, I heard a number of people mention they would like a Sunday evening service. I know it’s August and I know school is about to start, but if you were among the interested and haven’t yet attended, it would be good to see you!

Just a heads up, however, when we mentioned Sunday Evening being a different service from Sunday morning, turns out we weren’t kidding. We really are doing something different! It’s taken a week (or two) to see a little more of where this is going. Quite honestly I think we’d be better off calling it a “Gathering.”

Nate Hamlin has really begun to address a number of key developmental issues in our spiritual lives and as of last week the conversations really started to blossom. We only sing a few opening songs, so don’t expect the same rockin’ worship as on Sunday mornings. It’s a fairly contemplative and interactive time together. I’m looking forward to seeing where this is going!

Please Note: RIght now we are not providing a Children’s program & the entire gathering time (worship, instruction, & interaction) has been lasting about two hours.

III. RIVER CLEANUP (UPDATE)

I know we planned a Boise River Clean up this month, but turns out there has been a change in plans. Attached is an e-mail I received from Dennis.

A Note From Dennis:

Just got a call from Chris from Boise River Volunteers. They have had so many people helping out this year that they do not need us for this project. The good news is they have a project in Nampa cleaning up a creek. Apparently there are some older folks who live along a creek where garbage has collected over the years – tires, mattresses, cans, etc. The neighbors cannot do some of the physical labor. We are going to need as many trucks as we can take. People that don’t want to get in the creek can separate trash that is recyclable. This is going to be a challenging service project but I told Chris we were up to it. Chris wasn’t sure if we’d be willing as he said most groups want to enjoy a raft trip along the way. When I told him we’d do it, he was genuinely surprised. We will have an opportunity to serve the community and probably talk to a lot of older folks along the way.

They have a b-b-q planned for us at the end of the day. More details to follow. Would whoever is doing announcements Sunday let the congregation know the change and what our new project is. I have the sign up sheet at my house but will get it to church. Pass it around again as this will require some hard work.