is this thing on?

do you remember this game? the game where you had the stand up playing board and the red and black checker pieces that you dropped into the slots at the top and you tried to connect four of the same colored pieces? i loved that game. really. i did. problem was. i didn’t have anybody to play with me because i was/am an only child. so when the rains came and my play time was forced to be inside, i would break out the connect four game and make designs with the pieces. you could make diamonds and squares and rectangles. it was hours of enjoyment. well, at least for me it was.

basically the premise of this game was to take your playing chips and prevent your opponent from making a connection with their playing chips while at the same time, attempting to connect four of your chips together, in a straight line. seems easy enough. well, it wasn’t. your opponent was trying to block you at the same time.

this is sort of how it is in the church world. ok, its no where close to the way it is in the church world. but the premise is the same. take your playing chips (people) and connect them with other playing chips (other people). most churches nowadays are going with a concept called “small groups”. this is a group of about 8-10 individuals who meet together on a weekly basis to connect throughout the week and apart from the actual church building.

FreedomChurch is a little different. right now, we have no small groups. we just have Sunday morning. Sunday morning is awesome but eventually, we’ll need to build a stronger sense of community. if we’re going to accomplish the vision and goal that God has given us with helping the 90,000 people in Acworth who are far from God move closer to God, then we’ve got to create some outlets for people to get connected.

as of this past Monday night, i am no longer the Creative Director of FreedomChurch. i have taken on a new, and frankly rather daunting role as Connections Pastor. basically, i’m in charge of connecting people to FreedomChurch - helping people move from a first time guest to a regular attender to a partner. this is a big undertaking and i am supremely excited about it. i may still dabble in some creative stuff because my mind doesn’t really have the capability to shut that off, but most of my efforts will not be concentrated on small groups.

if you know somebody or work with somebody at your church who is involved with small groups, please send them my way. i will need a lot of help and guidance. this is a great step in moving FreedomChurch in the direction that God is moving us. God has called us to keep moving. He is so far ahead of us in his plans and dreams for FreedomChurch, we don’t want to keep him waiting on us to catch up.

i am super excited about this opportunity. this is going to be big.