The Scoop, October 16, 2008

Hello to Prodigals 99. Hope everyone is having a great week and we look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow night at the PowerHouse. Indeed, like Mrs. McKee said, house church will not take place tonight in lieu of the fact that we are having an outreach tomorrow evening. So make sure to catch the Office tonight, it is on each of you to remember, lol. I wanted to take this opportunity to cover some things in the life of Prodigals 99. First off, I would like to apologize to everyone for the time it is taking to find an outreach for us to be a part of. My hopes are that the PowerHouse, Hope Center, and our inner city church would all work out as outreach opportunities for us. I have not followed up like I should with the inner city church and that is completely my bad. Sorry. Second, I would like to apologize to all the men of Prodigals 99 for failing over the last 2 months to set up discipleship meetings. Again there is no excuse. I know we are getting into the holiday season and Koleson will be here before too long but I still feel it is very possible to meet 1 Saturday a month for discipleship with the idea of using 1 Thursday night a month to break up male and female for more discipleship. So men, please email me and let me know which Saturday in the next 3 weeks would work for you--the 18th, 25th, or 1st. Again, apologizes to all for my lack of leadership in these 2 areas. Okay, I would also like to throw some ideas out for some fun times we could enjoy as a house church. Next Thursday, we will be meeting like regular and we will be going through what the Bible has to say about politics and God and all things government. I recommend that everyone bring a Bible, pen, and paper. The Bible to look up passages, and the pen and paper to doodle when you are bored. We will have less than 2 weeks before the elections the next time we meet and will spend those 2 Thursdays getting ready for the elections. The 30th we will again look at both candidates and their stances on some issues we did not get to 2 weeks ago. We will also start taking 1 Thursday night a month to do discipleship like mentioned above breaking up into male and female for some in depth "bonding" if you will.Starting in November, if anyone would like to bring a "lesson", discussion, or worship time to the house church, please let me know. This hc is definitely not a dictatorship and I look forward to others bringing us "all things spiritual" on different Thursday nights. Jess and I are tentatively inviting everyone to our house on Saturday, October 25th for what we are calling a "house warming, body warming" party. We would like for everyone to see the house now that it is mostly complete and also enjoy the firepit I will be making this weekend. We are planning on everyone coming over around 4ish in the afternoon for some food and fun and then when it gets darker, we can sit by the firepit, hang out, and roast some marshmellows. Please no gifts for us, we just want everyone to come and have some fun. It is that time of year when the weahter makes having a bonfire quite appealing. We will discuss this more next Thursday at house church. We will also be discussing how we can enjoy the holidays coming up as a house church. For example, maybe a Thanksgiving style supper the Thursday before Thanksgiving, a $10 maximum white elephant gift exchange, and the harvest get together the McKee's brought up. Other possibilities coming up during the next winter months would be our Prodigals 99 sleep over and maybe a quick trip over to Ohio for some skiing, snow boarding, and tubing at a location 1 hour away from the Fort. We will just have to set some hard dates for both of these so they do not keep getting put off. Our next team event with the other 3 house churches in our group along with the Normans will be in November and is tentatively set for the 23rd after second service. We will be having a baptism/baby dedication and a meal. The plans are to eat first and then do the baptisms/baby dedications afterwards. I know the McKees mentioned about baby dedication. Please let me know if anyone else wants to dedicate a child or have a baptism. You can have anyone do it, it doesn't have to be the mentors even though we definitely will if we are wanted. We are recommending to all to invite any friends who want to participate and all family to come out and join in this time of celebration.
I think I will wrap up this first Prodigals 99 Newsletter now. I need a cooler name to call it, so please send suggestions. Also, please never hesitate to send suggestions, complaints, and constructive criticism my way. There will be no hard feelings. I know I suck in a lot of areas in mentorship so feel free to point them all out so I can work on them. I am so thankful for each and everyone one of you: Andy, Traci, Dave, Erin, Ryan P, Lynn, Ryan R., Maddie, Jessica, Ben, Myka, Mike, Heather, Aubrey, Lannie (sp), Evelyn, and Stewart. Thank you for allowing Jess and I to be a small part of Prodigals 99. Also, thank you for your patience as we continue to hopefully mature into the mentors you all deserve. Grace & Peace david3rd greatest sinner in the world.