What behaviors did we see to illustrate "Growing Followers of Christ"?
· Maybe the growing followers part was hidden in plain sight. The main attraction was the worship of God and the listening of His Word preached.
· I just wanted to highlight one anecdotal experience coming out of the picnic. I had an opportunity to talk with "Jeff" who became a follower of Christ his Junior year at Purdue; he is now a grad student. The reason he is still at Covenant is because Josh Tierney (Covenant family member) invited him to experience the Covenant family. Jeff has stayed because of the preaching and teaching that focuses on Biblical integration--how our faith plays out in the day-to-day real world. He was thankful for how the Navigators trained him in the spiritual disciplines and sees that Covenant encourages growth "beyond" the spiritual disciplines as we grow together as followers of Christ. The conversation was even more rich than what I captured.
· In terms of growing, I had some good conversations with a few women about what the needs may be for another women's Bible study. (There are some gaps right now in terms of what is offered and when.) It was neat to hear their desire to be in a study with others.
· I thought Brently's exercise was a great idea to start the worship.
· For growing followers of Christ, Brently's brief exercise at the start was effective..."Tell someone how you are growing". I spoke with a man who didn't have a real specific example, other than he sensed consistent growth. BUT, immediately after the benediction, he got up and walked directly to me, saying, smiling, "I thought of a specific!" and he proceeded to tell me of a recent event at Covenant which took him deeper.
What behaviors did we see to illustrate "Reaching Past Ourselves"?
· I saw a few couples stop to talk with a woman in a wheel chair after the service - a neat picture of reaching. I'm fairly sure that at least two of the people who stopped don't really know the woman. I appreciated the college forum having a big sign so new Purdue students would see a special place to eat together if they chose.
· I was also a recipient of reaching. I was talking with Deb Trice and in the course of the conversation she mentioned two godly women whom I had never met. She took me over to one woman on the spot and introduced us and Deb and I are going to try to do a threesome for lunch with the other woman. I'm not a non-follower, but it was great reaching on Deb's part and neat to receive on my part.
· The reaching past ourselves part was easiest for me to see today. Many people were reaching by serving in various ways. One specific example was a senior high girl who was helping direct parking who "left her post" and walked with a woman and shared the woman's load of folding chair and covered dish.
· I did get to talk at length with Christian Steffey about their adoption process, it was exciting for Jen and I to hear that they are trying to adopt from a similar situation as the Newsom's. Christian made it sound intentional so that they can raise these children together as allies. I certainly think adoption by the Newsom's and Steffeys shows both growing and reaching.
· I had two separate conversations, one with Andrew and another with Peg Baugh about how Bill has been encouraged by how God is moving to open new doors for him since losing his job.
I found it encouraging what both said, and it sounded like Bill was seeing God move in a time that could be very stressful and discouraging.
· I liked the metaphor David used in his introduction, welcoming visitors and pointing out our desire to be a "church w/o walls." A very effective word picture...for our people to hear as well.
Leanna then posited some insightful questions, wondering aloud why seeing an example of "Reaching Past Ourselves" stands out to us.
1) Why are we so attracted to this? My gut says because it is still more exception than norm.
2) What's holding us back from it being the norm? Insecurities, feeling ill-equipped, fatigue and "busyness," not knowing what to do?
3) How do we fill people with the Spirit and power to go out and "just do it" so that reaching becomes something they just can't help but do, rather than another "should" or item on the to-do list?
4) How do we help people understand their gifts and their passions, so that they feel comfortable finding the ways God has for them to reach out? And understanding that while it might fit into something that Covenant is doing as an official ministry, it doesn't always have to be. And that's OK – it's about sharing God's love. Period. Church without walls – exactly.
