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We're Open (Hopefully)
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(06/15/2008) |
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Last night I asked the leadership team about what criteria we would use to determine whether to have church on Sunday. I admit that I was a bit pessimistic about our chances. Full Story
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Work Day Tomorrow
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(06/08/2008) |
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We have several outdoor projects scheduled for work day tomorrow. Here is a short list: Full Story
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New Things
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(06/01/2008) |
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Ann and I just spend an hour with Pastor Dave. We talked about some of the adjustments we will have to make in the office. So far that will be minimal. We went over the preaching schedule for the summer (July & August): it looks great. We will post it soon, so you can see what is coming. Full Story
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Partnership with Genesis
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(05/25/2008) |
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Last Sunday we voted on the partnership with Genesis Church. The vote was 55 in favor and 5 against. This is terrific support for a very complex and creative proposal. Thanks for hanging in with us thru this time. Full Story
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Upcoming Vote
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(05/18/2008) |
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Sunday, right after the church service, we will vote on whether to form a partnership with Genesis Church, called Converge Iowa City. The ballot has been posted, and the major items on the ballot were included in my special blog last week. Full Story
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The Search Team and the Leadership Team have recommended the partnership with Genesis Church.
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(05/11/2008) |
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The Search Team and the Leadership Team have recommended the partnership with Genesis Church. This includes calling Dave Conrads as teaching pastor and Gail Mitchell as executive pastor. It also means that the Sunday Morning service would move to 9am. Full Story
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"Signs of Life" Follow-up
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(03/16/2008) |
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There are many ways to serve our community. These are signs of life for our church. Here are two ways that we can get started with this service. There will be others. Full Story
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Coming This Week!
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(03/09/2008) |
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New vinyl in the west wing bathrooms. Like many of you, I think of the bathrooms as “new” and have to remind myself that that renovation was about 15 years ago. So it is time to redo a bit of it. Renewal must be constant to keep the building in proper shape. Full Story
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We Support Some Great People
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(01/20/2008) |
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How many people does it take to reach the world for Christ? I don’t know the answer, I’m sure that somebody has made an estimate of the number of people and the amount of financial support that it would take. I know that we are involved in the process. Our mission support is about $30,000 each year and it is divided up among several different groups and people. To help understand how we raise missionary support, I am going to explain a bit about our church finances. Full Story
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January is going to be a hot month!
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(01/06/2008) |
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We start out with a congregational survey on January 6th. It takes most people about a half hour (quite thorough). So we will have worship and communion before we take the survey. The rest of the month we are going to talk about missions (we had announced an emphasis on the Psalms, but God must have been steering us in another direction). January 13 we get a taste of a new church plant—Genesis Church in North Liberty. Pastor Dave Conrads will bring the message. It is exciting to see what God is doing around us. We are working on a missions presentation for the last two Sundays of the Month. Full Story
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I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
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(12/09/2007) |
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I’m dreaming of a white Christmas—and having nightmares of shoveling snow. We had a pretty small group last Sunday with the bad weather, and I hear talk of snow again Saturday/Sunday this weekend. We have a very good snow removal team. The lots was quite good last week and unless it is snowing during the service, I expect it to be good this week. If the weather looks bad, we don’t want anyone to take undo physical risks to get out to church. Nor do we want people to use the weather as an excuse to duck their chance to meet with God and His Church. Full Story
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We are Thankful For You Our Volunteers
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(12/02/2007) |
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Many of you commented on how nice the new doors look on the kitchen cupboards. You will see other changes happening slowly. Much of the work is being done by volunteers. They work when they can. When you see someone working around the building, give them a thanks. Full Story
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Work Day??
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(11/04/2007) |
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Work Day?? I am hoping to get a few things done early, then go home and watch the Hawkeyes defeat Northwestern. We start at 8. Bring rakes or leaf blowers. We will also paint in the west wing and clean out some of the junk areas. Full Story
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Your Leadership Team
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(10/28/2007) |
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Your leadership team continues to work hard every week. I am proud of this team. We have started answering questions which will determine what kind of pastor we want to hire. We have confirmed several names to recommend for the Pastor Search Team. We decided that we will post the names as soon as we confirm the list. On November 11 We will have a very short business meeting after church to ask you if this list is Okay. Full Story
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What is Worship?
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(10/21/2007) |
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Get excited in Church? Yes, we think it would be great. We would like it if we all started getting excited about God, and that the excitement would show in our conversations, in our people interactions, in our family life, etc. What are we doing about it. We are talking about worship. Full Story
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I Have Never Worn Cowboy Boots
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(10/07/2007) |
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You know, I have never worn cowboy boots, or a big Stetson hat. Somehow that’s not my style. You know what I mean. There are some things which are great for other people, but just don’t feel quite like me. I remember a time when someone who did wear boots and a big hat said to me, “If I came to church, the roof would probably cave in.” It’s a way of talking about self image and comfort zone. (He eventually did come to church, and home Bible studies regularly, but that’s another story altogether.) Full Story
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Important decisions
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(09/30/2007) |
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Thursday Evening our transitional leadership team made several important decisions. Here are some of them:
A Mission Statement??
We discussed a mission statement—a statement of the why we exist and what we are trying to accomplish. We agreed on a statement that says we are here to
GATHER in worship and fellowship
GROW in faith, love, and service, and
GO and share the love of Christ
We are interested in you thoughts on this statement. Are we going in the right direction? Can we improve it? Talk with someone on the committee. Full Story
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Looking Ahead
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(09/02/2007) |
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I am getting ready to leave for vacation—an exciting 3 weeks of driving, sightseeing, and family. So I have been thinking about what will happen when I get back. Here are a few hints of things to come: 1. Basics class and 2. October-December Preaching Series with accompanying home-group Bible Studies
I have decided to teach the basics class, so we will delay its start until September 23. It will start at 9:30 am (right after the 9:15 hymn sing) and meet in one of the classrooms in the West wings. There are 3 target groups who will benefit from this class. a) it will satisfy the requirement for a membership class; b) it will be a great introduction to the Christian life for young believers; c) It will provide an excelling training and tool for people who want to become involved in discipling others. Full Story
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Here Are Some Things Happening at The River
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(08/26/2007) |
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Buildings and grounds.
1. We had a great work day last Saturday, with lots of landscaping work, and several small items inside the church were repaired. Thanks to all who participated. There is still much to finish. Full Story
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This Week We Begin the New Ministry Season
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(08/19/2007) |
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This week we begin the new ministry season. We call it kick-off Sunday. Then school starts on Monday and a new year is off and running. This is the season when new people visit the churches of Iowa City. We give a great big thanks to the MOPS moms (led by Lisa Browning) for spending much of last week painting the nursery and some of the class rooms in the kids wing. We have also have two work days, we many little things being done. The mail boxes have finally been mounted again, the ceiling in the fellowship hall has been replaced, electrical outlets have been cleaned up, etc. We have also been able to clean up and do some landscaping work on the outside. Thanx to Claude for hauling dirt, mulch and rock for the lawn. Thanks to several other people for their work. Many hands make lighter work. Willing workers make the whole place quite a bit more cheerful. Full Story
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Joy River Newsletter
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(08/19/2007) |
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Children’s Wing Renovation
Work has begun to improve the appearance and function of our Children’s wing! In addition to fresh paint, you will notice that we’ve rearranged the classrooms a bit. The preschool class will meet in the first room, walkers in the second room, and infants in the third room. The primary reason for this change is so that both the preschool and walkers classes can access the child-size restroom between the rooms. You will continue to see improvements in the Children’s wing in the months to come. Volunteers are doing most of the work and we can use whatever time or skills you have to offer. Come join us on scheduled workdays! Full Story
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What Is the Church Budget?
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(08/12/2007) |
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What is the church budget?
That sounds like a simple question, but it is actually very complex. Let me break it down for you.
General Fund
When we speak of the church budget we usually mean the general fund. When you put money in the offering plate it goes into the general fund. On the offering envelopes there is a line marked “Ministry at the River” to indicate how much money you want to go into the general fund. (note please use offering envelopes, it makes our record keeping so much easier.) We use that money to pay our local expenses and finance our ministry. We pay things like salaries, electricity, insurance and bulletins from the general fund. Wednesday evening we past a 9 month budget of about $126,000. That was a revision of our annual budget, since we had a major shift in our church staff. That would be about $14,000 per month or $168.000 for a full year. A few months ago we announced that this fund was overdrawn by about $21,000. Last night we announced that we Full Story
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Church Unity
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(07/15/2007) |
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Larry Osborne in his book The Unity Factor (Published by Christianity Today and Word Publishing, 1989) says there are 3 things necessary for unity. Full Story
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