EP*C

Darrin Patrick & Matt Carter Exponential 2010 from Exponential on Vimeo.

One of the best things about summer is time with friends, whether it’s heading to the drive-in, hitting the beach or just relaxing. Summer is also a great time to make great friendships.

Some of us have a great group of friends and life is awesome, but it’s not the same for everyone. As part of the ‘Summer: Use It or Lose It’ series, one of the best things you can do this summer is connect with people you know don’t know that well.

Having a BBQ? Invite your close friends, plus someone you’ve never hung out with before. Headed for sushi? Grab someone you’ve only just met and introduce them to your mates. Hanging out with someone new is always worth it.

For most people, it’s the best season of the year. The scorching sun, beaches, BBQs, hikes, swimming, ice-cream…and the list goes on…

The great thing about summer is that so much can be done with the longer and warmer days. The not-so-great thing about summer is that you can fill your days with stuff that doesn’t really matter, and before you know it, the leaves are falling and you’ve wasted your summer.

Resolve to not waste your summer. Here are some useful tips:

1. Do you have a plan for what you want to do this summer? Are you just taking it as it comes or making the most of your time?

I like to lay out some goals, especially spiritually, mentally and relationally. For example, I can plan to read or listen to a few books of the Bible, learn more about leadership and set a goal to spend more time with my family.

2. How will you make sure this happens?

I find that if I don’t write it down, it doesn’t get done. For example, if I don’t sit down and decide what books I want to read about leadership, I won’t read about leadership. It’s great to have a plan or goals, but you need to make sure they happen. How will you make sure you do the things you want to do this summer?

In the coming weeks I’ll be passing through some great resource that you can use to make the most of your summer.

R.O.O.

Persistent Prayer from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

As a church and as a young adult community, we’re committed to making a lasting difference in our city. One of the ways we do this is by planting satellite sites that are able to reach out to different areas around St. Catharines.

Our downtown site recently started leasing a property right in the heart of the city. Throughout April the whole church will be volunteering to do some much needed renovation to the building. Join us by lending a helping hand to clean, paint, dry wall…whatever you can do will make a massive difference.

For more information on how to help, email natalievanderwier@centralcc.ca.

I haven’t yet read ‘Dug Down Deep’ (the new Josh Harris book), but I’ve heard some good things. Here’s a short video about it.

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Part 2 of the CHANGE AGENTS series.

Reading the New Testament, it’s clear that something is radically different when you compare Jesus and everyone else. The world is largely self-exaltation and self-preservation. Jesus has other ideas. Jesus is all about rejecting what is normal in this world for a life that’s focused on what God would have us do. This usually gets individuals in trouble; it’s kinda why Jesus was killed!

Matthew 5 says Christ-followers are the “salt of the earth” – but what does this mean? If you’ve been in church circles a while you’ve probably heard this phrase repeated and expanded on numerous times. Reading this passage again, it breaks down pretty simply for me.

Salt is a CHANGE AGENT. When salt comes in contact with anything, there is a change that comes about. Salt doesn’t just land on food or on pavement and leave that environment the same as before – it produces change. Salt is a CHANGE AGENT.

YOU are a CHANGE AGENT. When followers of Jesus Christ come into any environment, there is no way that the setting should remain the same. Jesus calls us to the same life that he lived. He calls us to be different from the crowd, whether getting strange glances for our opinion or praise for our loving actions, simply because of the truth of our faith and the action it causes.

How does this practically come about?

To be continued.

Great blog post by Francis Chan over at Catalyst website.

“If I were to ask those closest to you about your relationship with God, what would they say? If I were to ask God the same question, what would He say? If your family, friends, and congregation have better things to say about you than God, it’s because you give them that impression. We do this because we can. God gifted us with an ability to communicate. Too often we use this ability not to convey who we are, but who we want others to think we are.”

You can read the rest here.

Before you think I’m trying to start a massive revolt, wait a second and pop over to read what Jonathan Dodson has to say about going to church vs. being the church.

The church has never been about a building – it has always been about lives transformed by the power of God, and those lives then being used to change the world around them.

Read the article.

(HT: The Resurgence)