Many of you know that Megan and I recently left our positions at Pierced in Colorado Springs, CO to come on staff at Calvary Church in Souderton, PA (just north of Philadelphia). I've been hired to pioneer new territory by creating something that currently does not exist: a Sunday Night gathering at Calvary Church that is creative, innovative, informal, participatory and committed to encountering the Living God. (For those of you who were involved at Pierced its intent is to be very similar). Yet, at the same time, we are not attempting to imitate anyone; we're intending to create something that does not exist in the entire region in and around Philadelphia.
Megan and I are excited and absolutely freaked out at the same time.
Calvary Church is beginning a shift in vision to a church of different venues at Calvary that speak to the herat language of people. Calvary has designated my specific venue to be the Sunday Night Venue. [We are in the process of naming the venue, so for the time being we will simply refer to this new ministry as "The Sunday Night Venue."]
The "launch date" of this new service is Sunday evening September 17, 2006 at Calvary. Much too much needs to happen between now and then.
But one of the main things that needs to happen that is extremely important to this new ministry will be to inform, vision cast, remind, communicate and then communicate some more. I've spent a lot of time the past three months considering how do lead change most effectively. What I hve found is that when leading change one must communicate the changes clearly, compellingly, often and in various ways, in various settings and through various media. Simply put, anytime someone is trying to lead change it is of utmost importance to (over)communicate what is happening, why it needs to be happening, when changes will occur and how change is being implemented.
So, with that being the task at hand for me in the next several months with this new venture, my blog will be committed to informing, reminding, visioncasting, correcting and communicating what Sunday night is all about. I don't have all the answers; I am no expert to launching new ministry. I don't know exactly what it will look like - it's a process that continues to unfold with the work of the Holy Spirit.
Most of the content throughout the remainder of the summer will be directed towards communicating the vision and direction of what we are attempting to do Sunday night. I want to encourage any and all of you (especially those if you in the Eastern Pennsylvania area) to be reading this blog, leaving comments,asking probing questions and engaging in dialogue about the future of Sunday night. More than communicating the vision and direction on my end I need all people to be challenging me, dialoguing with me, encouraging me with these thoughts. (I invite all of you all who read this blog, not just those of you in and around the Souderton area, to enter into this dialaogue).
Certainly, we will have 'breaks' from Sunday Night Venue information. I want to include other posts -some serious, some funny - throughout the summer, but most of the content will be directed towards this new ministry in an attempt to lead change most effectively and to communicate the message of what and why we are doing this.
Check back every few days to read, ponder and ruminate over new ideas and values of this new venue. I invite you to be committed to prayer for us in this new venture - prayer for wisdom, creativity, courage and fresh insight, all with the intent of seeing God honored and people touched with the message of Jesus in the Eastern PA/Philadelphia region.
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