2011 January » russbutcher.com

Sunday Reflections and This Week at the Grove!

Church at the Grove, Church Planting, Faith, Jesus, Leadership, Missional No Responses »

Jan 312011

What a weekend! So many things happening all at once.

Friday night was significant! We had 26 people show up for our “Social Circle Campus Info Meeting”. It was a great crowd with a great energy and enthusiasm. I can’t wait to see what happens with this as we dig into the details. I truly believe that God will bless our efforts to multiply for the sake of the gospel and that He will bless our faith.

Sunday morning: “Stop the Hop” & “Embrace your Place”! God has called us to follow the Apostle Paul’s lead and adopt the mission of redemption that Jesus has called all his followers to embrace. Our identity as followers of Jesus and Kingdom missionaries cannot exist independently or exclusive of one another.

Memory Verse:
Philippians 3:7–8 (ESV)

⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Action Step:
Stop the Hop
Join a ministry team
Join a community Group
Pray and Plan to invest in people in your mission field.

This Week:

Next Steps this Sunday lunch after our morning gathering. If you are interested in learning more about our church and/or joining, this is the place to be! Let us know by calling or emailing if you want to be there.

Thankful Thursdays: We will be at Youth Middle School on Thursdays in February. If you would like to help with food or serving please let us know.

Coming soon:

Launch class: Want to grow in your faith? Check out this class on how to cultivate spiritual disciplines in your life. Sunday morning Feb. 27 during the morning gathering. Reserve your spot!

I love CATGrove! Our journey with Jesus gets better and better!

Keep praying, Keep investing, Keep inviting!

Sunday Reflections & This Week at The Grove!

Church at the Grove, Church Planting, Faith, Jesus, Leadership, Missional, Random Thoughts No Responses »

Jan 172011

What an unbelievable morning at Church at the Grove!
We had a record crowd for January and one of our all-time high attendance days outside of Easter/Christmas gatherings! God is working through you and in the life of Church at the Grove! People are being reached for Jesus! Let’s keep the momentum going! Don’t miss a single thing God is doing!

Things to remember from Sunday!

God’s grace provides for us to have a new foundation to build our life upon. Repentance is giving Him the permit to do the work. It is a desperate admission that you need God’s help in turning your broken life around.

What separates David from so many characters in scripture and makes him stand out and establishes his legacy as a “man after God’s own heart” is he practices true RADICAL REPENTANCE.

True repentance results in a changed and transforming life.

Scripture Memory:
1 John 1:9 (ESV)⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Action Step:
Be SPECIFIC in identifying something in your life you need to REPENT of and act on it. Share it with someone else.
ADMIT
CONFESS
TURN

Upcoming Reminders and Events:

Community Groups:
Community Groups will be beginning this coming week. Make sure you connect with a Community Group and get connected to others in our Faith Community/Family. Grow spiritually and grow friends! Check out www.churchatthegrove.com

Next Steps Class/Gathering:
This is where you learn about Church at the Grove and it is required for membership. Attending doesn’t automatically make you a member.
Next, NEXT STEPS: Sunday lunch Feb. 6 12noon at the home of Brandon and Carolene Walker. Sign up online, email us or call us.

Social Circle Campus Info Meeting:
We are planning to launch a new campus in Social Circle. God is leading us to GROW in the direction of Social Circle. We are having a general info/Vision Casting meeting on Friday January 28, 6:30pm at the home of Russ and Jill Butcher. Let us know if you can make it!

LAUNCH Class:
Learn how to grow in your relationship with Jesus. Recently accepted Christ? Returning to Church? Learn how to cultivate spiritual disciplines for spiritual growth in this Sunday morning environment. Sunday Morning Feb. 27 during our morning gathering at Walnut Grove High School.

Romania Mission info Meetings:
Jan. 23 & 30; both immediately after Sunday morning gathering in the cafeteria.
Romania Mission trip date: July 22-30

RADICAL Repentance and David’s Example

Faith, Jesus, Leadership No Responses »

Jan 172011

I worked full-time in construction and went to school part-time in my late teens and early twenties and the trade I learned and cultivated was pouring and finishing concrete. I prepared and poured countless concrete foundations. I learned that the preparation is the most important part. You have to dig footings down to hard ground, put plastic and wire down and make sure you order the right concrete mix. All these details determine whether you will set a foundation worthy to be built upon and that will not sink or crumble.

On more than one occasion, the company I worked for was hired to come in and break up and redo a poorly prepared foundation that was sinking. We had to break up the existing concrete, take it away and re-pour a new foundation.

I believe this is a good example of the process that leads us to repentance. By God’s grace being revealed through the gospel (good news) of Jesus, we come to the realization that we have built our life on a faulty foundation. Repentance is our willingness to allow God to began a new work, first breaking up the old and taking it away, and then laying a new foundation for our life to be built on.

Many of us attempt to simply change things without going down to the foundational level of our heart and thinking and the result is mere behavior modification. It looks good for a while but will eventually crumble in our self-effort.

True, genuine repentance is allowing God to completely break up our foundation and begin to rebuild according to His Grace.

What Jesus did for us in his pure life, surrendering his life to die on the cross and his resurrection that demonstrated his power over sin and death provided for our new foundation free of charge. He promises to do the work if we will allow him to do it.

Repentance is giving him the building permit to do the work.

What perhaps separates David from so many in the Bible is his heart and his response when confronted with his sin. His legacy may have been cemented and most established by his teachable, correctable, and repentant heart!

Psalm 51:10-12 (ESV)

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Radical; stir-crazy & Incredible Sunday is Coming!

Church at the Grove, Faith, Random Thoughts 1 Response »

Jan 122011

Let’s do something RADICAL this Sunday!

I don’t know about you but I have grown a bit STIR-CRAZY the past couple of days! I am feeling ready to get out of my neighborhood. I imagine that many of you might feel that way and may be suffering from a bit of “Cabin Fever”!

Let’s get out of the house “together” and do something RADICAL this Sunday! It is supposed to warm up over the weekend! (If you call the 40′s warming up!) At least it’s supposed to get above freezing! Let’s set an attendance record this Sunday for Church at the Grove! Let’s get as many people as possible in that auditorium at Walnut Grove High School! Call and invite someone! Invite a neighbor! Bring a friend!

This past Sunday we concluded that “Intentional Dependency delights God into acting on our behalf!” We must cultivate radical dependency since we are confident that God has our back! Joshua was confident that he could move into the promise land because he knew that God would never leave them or forsake them.

John 15:5 (ESV)
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Determine for what you may have a hard time trusting God. What are you insecure about? Spend time honestly talking to God about it. Make a wise courageous decision, depending on God to overcome your fear and insecurity.

I loved doing “ACCESS PRAYER” last night via conference call! We could not get out of our houses but it didn’t keep us from utilizing technology to gather and pray over our church, community and reaching people! It was awesome! I hope you will consider joining us for ACCESS Prayer sometime this coming year! Prayer is acting on our dependency on God!

Reminders:

Community Groups will begin soon. Consider which group you would like to be a part of and let us know on Sunday by putting it on your encounter card.

Next Steps Class: This is a chance to learn more about CATGrove and it is required for membership. Sign up and join us for lunch after our Sunday gathering. Next Steps takes place next on Sunday Feb. 6.

LAUNCH class: This class will give you a great foundation on developing basic Christian disciplines that “LAUNCH” your spiritual growth. It is for New Believers and those who simply have yet to take steps to grow in their spiritual journey.

Social Circle Campus info meeting: Join us on Jan. 28 at 6:30 at the home of Russ and Jill to hear about our vision to take The GROVE to Social Circle. This will be a NEW campus in addition to what we are currently doing in Walnut Grove! You have the opportunity to be on the ground floor of something awesome at it’s beginning.

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