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Well, with summer here we are taking a little more casual approach to our gatherings. Not sure how we could get more casual but we have. That just means that we have scaled back out preparations for gatherings. We are not introducing as many new songs, not preparing extensive activities like stations and such, we are still doing music and having great talks. We are also taking field trips to have our discussions at places like Cold Stone Creamery. Other field trips we are talking about are to the park, to the beach, out on a boat, cyberspace (Second Life), etc.

What an awesome gathering we had last night. The gathering area was set up with a table set for a meal. Crystal glasses with grape juice, plates of rolls, a nice table cloth, and a lot of candles. We had some inspiring live music and then sat down for a simple and small family style meal. First we passed around a set of sealed envelopes numbered sequentially and we each took one. Then we started with the person who had envelope 1. That person opened it and followed the instructions inside. The first envelope had instructions to ask a series of questions to help us all get to know each other better. "What did you have for breakfast?", "Did you ever wish you had a different name?", etc. Ice breakers. Other envelopes has us read some scripture and have us discuss it, have us share our joys and concerns then pray for each other, etc. Near the end it has us toast each other and share a communion meal. It created a very special family type atmosphere and connection for all of us. We ended our gathering with another set of some inspiring and high energy live music. Can't wait to see what next Wednesday holds.

Well, we went sent our Liquid band to Relay for Life along with the River of Life Praise Band. What an awesome day! Overall the River of Life band(s) ripped through 40 songs filling 3 hours on the main stage. Great event, great day, great music (of course). Can't want until next year. If you missed us there come any Wednesday night for some hot music and a good time.

Our Liquid Praise Band has been invited to play at Relay for Life this Saturday (May 3rd). What a great opportunity to share our passion and our music with our community. Come join us in celebration. May 3rd, Bartram Trail High School football field. The event kicks off at noon with our River Of Life Praise Team. Our Liquid Praise Band will be playing around 2:30pm.

The bonfire was not the large raging furnace I remember from my youth living at the beach, but it was nice. We started inside, having some coffee, talking a bit, playing some music, and finally talking about the Christ candle that was burning near the altar. We dimmed the lights, each picked up an unlit candle, and lit our candles from the Christ candle by passing the flame between us. We reflected on that moment briefly then took our flames outside into the world to light the bonfire.

We had several of our flames go out in transit due to the wind and we had to use each others flames to relight ours. Like in real life, when you are close to Christ your flame is strong. As you take that flame out into the world it can grow weak and possibly go out. That's why it's important for Christians to support each other in life. In that way we can keep each others flames burning stronger and relight them if they go out.

When we tried to light the bonfire from our candles it became obvious how hard it can be to pass on our flames to new people. It takes a lot of time and patience. Sometimes it tries to light only to go out and need more coaxing to get started. Once it does start, like our bonfire, it started blazing brightly and then after a while settles down into a nice glowing fire with strong coals supporting it.

So many lessons to be learned from such a simple activity. We played and sang a few songs around the fire, shared some more metaphors, prayed, and bid each other goodnight. What a beautiful evening to be shared with friends, outside in the woods with God's creations all around us.

We had out first post-launch gathering last Wednesday. We had no idea how many to expect. We ended up with 18. Not bad. We had a great evening of music, scripture, and discussion. Everyone was willing to share their life experiences as we explored a different stages between hiding from God, to realizing that God is always with us, to moving from darkness into God's light, to giving up control and diving into God's will. We had the sanctuary dark except for a ring of 25 chairs. We had a rough pine cross at one end of the circle light from below. We also had strings of white icicle lights in a ring on the ceiling right over the ring of chairs to provide soft lighting for the group. Surprisingly it provided enough light to read the scriptures and song lyrics. One very interesting thought came from one of our teens. We were talking about sometime not wanting to bother God with our insignificant prayers when there are so many people in the world to listen to. One of our teen members explained his thought that God is not limited to time like we are. God time on a string and can bend it, twist it, move forward and backward through it, etc. Someone in the group also came up with an interesting term. When it seems like we only desire a relationship with God when we need something. That got labeled "God Mooching". So, we learned a lot about control, holding onto it, giving it up to God. We learned an interesting view on God and time. We also had a little fun with the new term we came up with. Overall it wa a great evening of learning, fellowship, and worship.

We had a great time tonight talking about what worship is and exploring many different kinds of worship. We tried a small Taizé meditation, we tried some high energy worship with contemporary and rock praise music, we tried reflecting to some more mellow worship music, and we tried worshiping with a tambourine like David in the psalms.

After our worship exploration we talked about what preparations were still needed for our official launch on Saturday and we planned the next two gatherings.

The planning team is growing, the music team is coming together nicely, things are right on track.

Working with our team over the past few months to create a new worship experience has been a very rewarding yet humbling experience. With all the pre-planning stress and anxiety, all the doubts and uncertainty, putting together a new worship band, exploring and learning new genres of music, researching alternative methods of worship, learning how to create a more intimate and interactive worship experience. well, you get the picture. Our whole team has been very busy in a good way.

Now that we have a number of gatherings behind us things seem to be going great! The atmosphere has been very relaxed and people have enjoyed the experience. We've had some very good interactive talks. The stations we've used have worked well and encouraged that spiritual connection everyone was looking for. The music has come together nicely. God has anointed our group with talents and spiritual gifts that we are very grateful for.

Now it's time to focus on our official launch. Postcard invitation have been printed, we are busy planning the content and music, everything is moving forward quickly. Hopefully some in our community will find these gatherings a friendly place to explore their faith in an enjoyable way.