Friday, July 25, 2008

A Letter from Butch

Friends,

Thanks for serving with us on the Arts teams at GCC. I am continually inspired by your faithfulness to Christ, your Church, your fellow artists, and your craft. We have been running an amazing race together and our ministry has helped thousands know Christ. But as it is His way, God is calling us to something greater – to go further up and further in – to enhance our methodology – to shift gears – to reach more people for Christ – to change. How did we learn this? How do we know? Mark Beeson talked about this a few weeks ago.
First, we are beginning to see the changing face of the seeker … that is, the seeker of today is different than he was only a few years ago. Concepts that were considered outside his realm (religious icons, communion, hymns, and prayer) are now more familiar to him. He no longer fears these, but tends to lean in as he seeks Truth in the face of his current reality. What we can and must do in church to reach the pre-Christian is changing.
Second, we were enlightened by the results from the REVEAL study. Fifteen percent of those who responded at GCC said they were exploring Christianity. Forty two percent identified themselves as “Growing in Christ.” So, a full 57 % of our congregation describe themselves as spiritually immature. This is something for us to celebrate. Finding and embracing people far from Christ has always been our mission. But we cannot simply find pre-Christians, convert them, and be content with them remaining immature in their Faith; we need to help them grow by teaching them to feed themselves.
We are going to accomplish this two primary ways. The first is through teaching scripture, the spiritual disciplines, and life application. We’ll do this through our staff teachers and outside biblical scholars. There will be more biblical teaching at GCC than ever before. Wednesday nights at GCC will be filled with teaching three weeks of the month.
The second way we are going to help our people grow is to help them Experience God through amazing worship and compelling art. We will accomplish this by making more space for the Arts in all of our services. Our weekend services will be programmed about 15 minutes longer than today with the additional time being devoted to the creative arts. Our weekly New Community service will transition to a monthly First Wednesday service that will be about 75 minutes and be comprised almost entirely worship arts.
We are being given a sacred responsibility to take our people to higher place. It’s both exciting and frightening; an honor and privilege. But it’s going to require more of us … more from our leaders, our staff, our volunteers and it changes how and when we do things.
I believe the changes we are making will provide for a more rich serving experience for you. Attached is a document of that summarizes those changes to services and rehearsal and service times as well as a Frequently Asked Questions document.
As you process these changes, please know that you are valued as a team member and minister of Christ. Your Church is calling upon your talents and hearts more than ever and we hope and pray you continue to serve beside us. There are great days ahead.

In Christ,

Butch Whitmire
Pastor of Creative Arts

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Fall Kick-Off Party! Aug. 24th!

Hello Drama Team!

I know most of you were unable to make the Creative Arts Picnic, so instead of our normal Monday meeting for our first fall meeting, I'm inviting all of you to a shindig at my place to kick off the fall season. As most of you know, we have some great changes coming for the church that will provide incredible opportunities for us all to serve and grow, so let's celebrate! We'll be discussing the changes and what they mean for us, so bring any questions or concerns you have along with your spouses and families and drinks or a side dish to share. (We'll provide hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.) Hope to see you all there!

What? GCC Drama Team Fall Kick Off Party
Where? The Baker Back Yard (10177 Vistula Rd. Osceola, IN 46561) 574-220-2251
When? Sunday Aug. 24th 6pm - ?
What to Bring? side dish or drinks to share
the fam
lawn chairs
a fishing pole if you like to fish (we live on the river)
any questions or enthusiasm for "Chapter 2"

RSVP Here by leaving a comment or in the basecamp thread.

Monday, July 14, 2008

A Note from Deanna, our long lost pal!

My Trusted Friends:
As you all know, I'm in Gurnee and still loving it! It was a good move for me professionally and personally for my family. Although Nick misses his friends back in Indiana, he's had a couple of them come up here to visit, and they like it up here better too!

I'm still renting a home up here until my house sells in Indiana. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet under these market conditions. Therefore, I've made the decision to take it off the market if I can rent it out for awhile. I don't want to publicly advertise this quite yet, since I want to be selective as to who I allow in it. All of you know how much that house means to me and how appreciative I was to ever have the ability to own such a nice home all by myself. But I'm not making any progress by making 2 sets of payments either. So I'm putting the word out to you, my trusted friends, in case you know of anyone that may be a potentailly good rentee. If you do, please let me know.

Thanks!

DeAnna

Saturday, July 12, 2008

California is about to get Sunnier!


Sherry and I had the privilege of attending Rebecca's event this afternoon at the Chicory Cafe in downtown South Bend. What a cool experience of performance art! I wish you all could've been there! Great music, great stories, great poetry, and of course two amazing readings by Rebecca. The first was a roller coaster ride of honesty and beauty about the lasting effects of tragedy on our lives. But she truly captured the essence of both sides of the Drama masks with her hilarious monolog about an overzealous cosmetic consultant selling her "revolution" of skin care products. Again, I wish all of you could've been there!


This month, Rebecca and her family will be heading to sunny Riverside, California on the 28th. Some of you know the entirety of Rebecca's influence in GCC drama over the years and what she's meant to the team as well as the challenges she and her family will face with relocating so far away from the home and social circles they've created here. Take some time to shoot her an e-mail or stop by her blog (http://clunky2funky.blogspot.com/) and let her know she'll be missed and what she's meant to you. We'll miss you Rebecca!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Happy 4th! (and 5th and 6th . . . )



Marlene and Fletch did an awesome job this weekend! Join me in applauding them on the first weekend platform serve for both of them! So inspiring! Great job, guys!

"Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand." - Titus 3:1

Thanks for playing a part in a great reminder for all of us!