Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sunday Reflections

Today was a great day in the life of GFchurch. There are new things on the horizon for our church and we are excited about what the Lord is doing in and through us. The month of December is upon us and we have a few eve ts we need to tell you about.
Dec4 :: Ladies Ornament Exchange
Dec13 :: Children's Christmas Program
Dec20 :: Pastor's Open House
~ be watching my blog and our Facebook page for more details concerning each one of these events.

We will be starting a new series this Sunday called, "Unwrapping The Christmas Gift" Make sure to join us for Coffee and Conversation at 10:00 am followed by our Worship Gathering at 10:30 am.

We know have 3 weekly connect groups that are meeting.
Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm at Zach and Susan Snow's
Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm at Trent and Natalie's
Sunday morning at 9:15 am at the church
~feel free to come to the Sunday morning Connect Group even if you are already attending another group during the week. These are meant to suppliment one another. You do not have to choose just one.

We will also be talking about an opportunity for us to send 10 Christmas Smile Packs to help give Christmas to families in the Dominican Republic through an organization called Children Of The Nation. This is the organization that many of our staff members at GFchurch have served and partnered with, in the past, to take our trips to the Dominican Republic. It is also the same organization that my family sponsors Yanelli, who is a first grader and lives in Algodon, Dominican Republic.
.... We will be talking about the Christmas Smile Packs this Sunday morning and you will have an opportunity to help put one together.

I love our church
I love our community
I love our people
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing through us
I love that He is not done with us

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Steve Hayes @ Grace Community

Steve Hayes @ Grace Community

November 15, 2009
Grace Community Church

The Holy Spirit

The Spirit is what we perceive with rather than what we perceive

While every Christian in indwelt with the Holy Spirt not every one is
living in the power of the Spirit


The Holy Spirit is
... Our helper
... Our guide
... Our way to see Jesus better
... Our engine to our spiritual life
.... Our unity and diversity In the body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12
4 key words ::
...baptized
...by or with
...were
...all

The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to trust in Christ

The Holy Spirit imparts unique spiritual gifts to us

The Holy Spirit secures our future

He will complete the work He has started in us. He is the author and
the perfector of our faith

H is real, He is personable


Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Dino Rizzo @ Dirt Conference

Dino Rizzo @ Dirt Conference

Why do we do what we do?
What we do with what we have
What is the ultimate outcome of everything we do?

John 13:1
Now before the Feast of The Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had
come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having
loved His own who were in the world, He lived them to the end.

... We have to be able to show the full extent of His love to those
around us
... We have to show the full range of who He is
... People need the full measure of His love

What do we see Jesus starting to do
... He begins to serve
... He washes the disciples feet
... He expressed it with a basin and a towel

Jesus could have done anything as He unleashed the full sweep of God's
love but he chose to SERVE

Jesus could have made a huge deal invited a to come when He unleashed
the fullness of God but He chose to do it in the Upper Room

The fullness of God's love was culminated in His service to all of
humanity on the cross

We must descend to greatness.
....Most of us serve to get out of serving
....we should serve because that is what we do and have been called to
do as Christians and leaders
... It must be about One
... It must be about Him

What is the ultimate goal of what we have at our fingertips?
... To make Him known

Our potential is many but our passion is One

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Anne Jackson @ Dirt Conference

Anne Jackson @ Dirt Conference

Is serving the church interferring with your communion with Christ?

You can not forget how to BE with God in the midst of Doing for Him

The discipline of "being" with Christ is one o the strongest
challenges as a church leader

We're tired not from doing too many things, but from doing the wrong
things

We must never let "doing church" get in the way or "being the church"

You can not let anything get in the way of your communion
(relationship) with Christ

Be still (cease striving) and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10

Communion with Christ will transform us as Christ Followers and will
make us more effective as Creatives

God wants your heart more than H wants your designs, videos, blog
posts, sermons, etc.... He wants your Heart

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Team Chemistry session @ Dirt Conference

Team Chemistry session @ Dirt Conference

What happens when someone is not a team player::
... It all starts from the hire
... You have to hire for heart at church
... You can teach talent but with no heart they will not play well
with the team
... You must filter from the front end

How to keep team chemistry::
... Once again it is all about relationships. You must communicate to
keep team chemistry.
... Team chemistry is can be looked at as a bank account. You must
make some deposits. You must not make withdrawals all the time.
.... As the leader of the team, you must be mindful of their lives. Do
you know how to pray for them. Do you know what they are going through
.... You must care more about them as individuals than what they can
do for you
.... You must set up others well

People on the team must exhibit these things::
Character
Chemistry
Competency (you can work with this one)


Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Pastors Only Session @ Dirt Conference

Pastors Only Session @ Dirt Conference

Pastors have to work with their creative person in such a way that it
is a co-creation

... Creative guys work in spurts
... Creative guys are typically lineal people
... The Pastor and the creative person have to understand tbat they
are co-crewting the journey of the church
... The Pastor must be able to give direction in a way that helps
Father (push) the creative person. This relationship has to be one
where you help build, encourage, and give enough room for them to work
... You must be able to trust you creative person
... Set aside time to meet with your creative person to continue to
build your relationship
... There is a great deal of strength in building into each other
.... Truth is most pastors are creative also
.... Do not micro manage:: give vision and let them work
.... Relationship and Communication is crucial
.... Make time for your team and or creative person to share with you
what they are walking through... They could be at their breaking point
... Relationship will solve the us and me mentality


Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Series Development session @ Dirt Conference

Series Development session @ Dirt Conference

How far out do you plan services?
....90 days is ideal in order to give creative team time to do their
magic
.... easier to ditch a plan that create at the last minute
.... If you can get some sort of a template for about 6 months out,
creative team can really bang it out
.... How often do we ask those who aren't churched what they are
thinking and why they don't come to church. We should be asking them
how to package our stuff. We have to be mindful of our community an
culture
... Get different types of people on the creative planning team- do
not go at it alone

Creativity is meant to enhance..... to add to what is there..... It
has to be purposeful

Recap videos during sermon series are great. Think about the people
who come on week 3 of a 6 week series. They need some context of the
series. A quick recap video before sermon is awesome


Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Rick Bezet @ Dirt Conference

Rick Bezet @ Dirt Conference

If you are not willing to change, you are not creative

Do we create environments in our churches that cause people to fake it
(can people be real an authentic in our church)

They have to be able to be real...

Barna Research::
Why are you not in church anymore::
... We don't like the music
... Kids don't like the church
... Sermons are boing and irrelevant
... Church just wants my money
... People that are there are weird and not like me

We must be encouragers!!!
... Do not lose the confidence of you call
... Do not lose confidence in your dreams


3 types of people
.. Those who have no dream
.. Those who have the wrong dream
.. Those who have the God dream

Have you forgotten the value of the soul? It has to be about souls! It
can not be about you an what you want. What does HE want?

Criticism comes from those who have lost the dream

Lord, restore to us our innocense

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking more of others

Finish the race... Finish it well

We have got to do life together. He did not intend for us to live on
an island

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Sunday Reflections

Service was great today at GFchurch I had a really great time preaching over the parable of the rich fool this morning. We looked at a few specific things. The first was the fact that we have to look beyond ourselves. The second is that we have to look beyond today. Are we really building His kingdom or are we building our own? In the parable we see that the landowner, because he had many crops and had run out of room to store them, decided to tear down his little barns and build bigger ones so he could store up his treasure. Scripture even states that the landowner was telling himself to ease up, eat, drink and be merry because he had done well and accumulated much. However, Jesus calls him a fool and tells about the difference between those who store up treasure for themselves and look only to themselves and those who set their minds on His kingdom and what He has called for them to do.

13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."


If you missed the service this morning, you can catch it at GatewayTV.


This week, we move forward with our change in our connect group times. We are going to take those of you who are currently meeting on Thursday night and ask you to join either the Tuesday night group or the Wednesday night group. We will be birthing a few more groups out of our existing groups once we have a general consensus as to the day of the week most preferred to meet on. The groups will still meet at 7pm on a weekly basis.

We will also be launching a Sunday morning connect group that will meet at 9:15 am at the church. Mark your calendars for November 29, 2009. This is the day we will kick off our Sunday morning ConnectGroup.


Here are a few things coming up in the life of our church:


11.21 Gateway N Gear (working with Habitat for Humanity)
11.22 GFchurch Thanksgiving Feast
11.29 Sunday ConnectGroup

12.04 GF Ladies Ornament Exchange
12.20 Pastor's Open House
12.31 This is A New Year


.. I love our church
.. I love our team
.. I love our people
.. I love our community
.. I love what He is doing in us
.. I love what He is doing through us
.. I love that He is not done with us

There are some awesome things coming up in the life of Gateway Fellowship.
.. new ConnectGroup studies by Zach Snow
.. new Creative Arts stuff being led by Scott Finch
.. new way to stay connected with GFchurch Facebook Page

Friday, November 6, 2009

Francis Chan @ RightNow Conf

Francis Chan @ RightNow Conf
Are we seeking first His kingdom?

Will we deny ourselves or build our kingdom?

We are not worried about living, we are worried about our standard of
living

We are not concerned even with others living we are stil more
concerned with our standard of living

We only think something is an emergency when it affects us personally
meanwhile people all over the world are dying

If we are about building His kingdom, we are along for the ride. It is
the Holy Spirit that creates the movements, we can try too hard to do
it ourselves instead of getting on our knees and praying about His
kingdom movement

I has from day one been a movement of God

2 Peter 1
.... I am a servant of God
.... I am in equal standing by the righteousness of our God and Savior
Jesus Christ
.... Grace and peace are multiplied in the knowledge of Jesus Christ
.... He has given us everything that pertains to life and Godliness.

Everything is given through HIM

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Matt Chandler @ RightNow Conf

Matt Chandler @ RightNow Conf

Are we preaching the Gospel or just behavior modification.... Moral
Deism

1 Corinthians 15
The Gospel is of first importance
The Gospel is that Jesus was crucified, buried and rose again in the
fulfilment of the Scriptures

You can not preach sanctification apart from the cross..

What does the Gospel look like and how is it being taught?

Colossians 1:13-
God is infinately Holy.... Our best day is filthy in reference to Him

But Ephesians 2 brings hope

Creation is good
Fall ruins it
Redemption reconciles it
Consummation brings about newness

We need to understand what the Gospel is

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

Sent from my iPhone

Mark Batterson @ RightNow Conf

Mark Batterson @ RightNow Conf

What is the primal essence of Christianity?

..... The Great Commandment

The Lord said, love the Lord your Gid with all your heart, soul. mind
and strength

The church today is more known for what they are against as opposed to
what we are for

Loving the Lord with all of our mind::
.... We must love Him w/ all that we have and all that we are


1 Chronicles 29 Temple was built
.... He gave his son the plans that the Sprit had given him for the
temple
.... Must have God ideas not good ideas


The things that will make us or break us are when the Spirit of God
births something within us. This is a God moment.. It may just seem
crazy!

When God conceives something in you It Is A God Moment and we need to
hang on to them

Pray for God dreams not just good dreams


Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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@timrossorg teaching Connection Session @ RightNow Conf

@timrossorg teaching Connection Session @ RightNow Conf
New Testament Leadership


You must decrease to allow others to increase
... You may have to get out of the way

In leadership:: often times your pain may be somebody elses passion

You must replace yourself
You must be willing to let those around you succeed

You are either laying hands on someone for succession leadership or
you are laying hands on them and holding them down

Jesus says, greater works should you do

Do not trap disciples in apostles bodies

You have got to be able to see the exit sign

Paul to Timothy," I am finished"
.... generationally there are many who are running around the track
with no baton (no one has handed them anything)
.... There are others who are just waiting for the baton.... You must
be willing to hand it to them. You must not pass the one who is
supposed to run that leg of the race

Paul understood his leg of the race

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

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Francis Chan @ RightNow Conf

Francis Chan @ RightNow Conf

What is truth?
What is it that the Word tells us?

Start with scripture and get the Truth from it asnopposex to starting
with a desire and then finding scripture to back it up;
which may even be used out of context

Have we found a middle road?
Scripture says there is a narrow road and a wide road. We have made a
Middle Road in the church Nd in our own individual lives

We are twisting things..
We say the right things but our life doesn't match up
We have created a culture in the church that says the right things but
often times we are not even following the things of God that we speak of

.....Everybody just wants to comment as opposed to committing
(do not be suprised at the trials that you will go through as a
pastor, teacher and leader)


There is a reality to trading in the pursuit of the American dream and
becoming what He has called us to do. We need to pursue Jesus and Him
alone.

1 Peter 4:12 ... May we use as an encouragement in what He has asked
us to do
...the church must speak the Truth
...even when it may hurt

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be on the alert...

..... The enemy will try to get you fired up.
..... The enemy wants division. He wants to destroy unity
..... The enemy wants chaos

1 Peter 5:10
After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will
Himself restore, strengthen and establish you

The Truth is found in the scripture. The truth is the fact that we
will go through trial and tribulation. The truth is knowing that He is
with you through it all. The truth is understanding the fellowship we
are to have with Him.

The Truth is that I have been created to be in an intimate loving
relationship with Jesus. I have been called to Lead the was he has
gifted me. I have been called to walk through trials but He will never
leave or forsKe me. He is our prize!!

Is Jesus your prize?

Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Tim Ross @ RightNow Conf

Tim Ross @ RightNow Conf
Phil. 3: 17-19

Paul speaking to the church at Philipi

... If you want to be like Christ follow me
Paul says the above. It is a very bold statement

Question:
Are we worth following?
Where are we leading those around us?

If people were to follow us would we lead them to the cross? Or would
we lead them to perversion or self-centeredness and arrogance

Leadership::
You have to be HOT
H... Honest
O... Open
T... Transparent


Oftentimes your past will help propel you to the future
We have to be able to pick up The Book and see our weakness
Don't just preach to others weakness

Are we allies or enemies to the cross with our Leadership
.... Leadership has to be honest


Trent Brown, Lead Pastor
Gateway Fellowship

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Incarnational Living ::: This is a great post on what it looks like for us to be missional



* Being missional means that the church sees itself as being missionaries, rather than having a missions department, and that we see ourselves as missionaries right where we live
* Being missional means that we see ourselves as representatives of Jesus “sent” into our communities, and that the church aligns everything it does with the missio dei (mission of God)
* Being missional means we see the church not as a place we go only on Sundays, but as something we are throughout the week
* Being missional means that we understand we don’t “bring Jesus” to people but that we realize Jesus is active in culture and we join him in what he is doing
* Being missional means we are very much in the world and engaged in culture but are not conforming to the world
* Being missional means we serve our communities, and that we build relationships with the people in them, rather than seeing them as evangelistic targets
* Being missional means being all the more dependent on Jesus and the Spirit through prayer, the Scriptures, and each other in community

Sunday Reflections

We had a great day at GFchurch. The worship was sweet and I really enjoyed teaching over the Parable Of The Talents. If you missed the service this morning, you can catch it at GatewayTV.


This week, we move forward with our change in our connect group times. We are going to take those of you who are currently meeting on Thursday night and ask you to join either the Tuesday night group or the Wednesday night group. We will be birthing a few more groups out of our existing groups once we have a general consensus as to the day of the week most preferred to meet on. The groups will still meet at 7pm on a weekly basis.

We will also be looking at launching a Sunday morning connect group that will meet at 9:15 am at the church. More details coming soon


Here are a few things coming up in the life of our church:


11.07 GFchurch Ladies Night
11.21 Gateway N Gear
11.22 GFchurch Thanksgiving Feast

12.04 GF Ladies Ornament Exchange


.. I love our church
.. I love our team
.. I love our people
.. I love our community
.. I love what He is doing in us
.. I love what He is doing through us
.. I love that He is not done with us

There are some awesome things coming up in the life of Gateway Fellowship.
.. new ConnectGroup studies by Zach Snow
.. new Creative Arts stuff being led by Scott Finch
.. new way to stay connected with GFchurch Facebook Page