"A Family-Friendly Ministry"

As The Source Church gets ready for our move to Rockin' R Ranch (find out more in the blog below), I have been charged with the task to draw up the ideas for "improvements" that we need to make in order to make it "family friendly."  And of course as I consider it, I ask myself, "Self, what does a family friendly ministry look like?”

SAFE for the Entire Family:

If you are like many moms, the first thing you think of is physical saftey.  Is this location safe for kids?  Our leadership team has discussed at great length what this means.  

- Do Exits keep wandering kids from wandering out?

- Are there any places a toddler can easily hurt themselves?

-Does the classroom set-up provide security and accountability?

- Are children encouraged to stay in the main area when with their parents?

ENGAGING for the Entire family:

A white-walled room is "safe" for the family, but we also want a place that is engaging!  We desiring to build a new playground that is fun for the kids, and make them want to be there.  We are building children's classrooms that are attractive and can help in focusing children's hearts and minds on the truth of the gospel.  

We believe the Western theme location can instantly be engaging for the rest of the family as well.  We want to update the lighting and A/V of the main room to create a truly worshipful atmosphere for all ages.  

WORSHIPFUL for the Entire family:

Many ministries separate families to worship.  This is understandable when it comes to aspects of teaching, but do we go as far as we can to help the family worship and fellowship together?  Our church has made the decision very consciously to keep the whole family together for most of our worship morning.  The children then head to classrooms during the message to have the little hearts focused on big (but wonderfully simple) ideas about God.  

Our fundraising will hopefully give us what we need to provide classrooms at the back of the main room, where the kids will not be far from the rest of the family, but get focused teaching.  One of those rooms will also be a nursery room, where parents can sit with their babies or little ones, but still hear and be involved in the worship and message time.

WHAT ELSE?

This topic is not done.  I have purposefully ended there to get your thoughts.  What other things are necessary for a Family Friendly Ministry?  Please let us know in the "Comments" field below!

A BIG Story Told in a BIG Way!

Each Christmas Eve has been a bit different for our family.  Our relatives are scattered, so often we're traveling.  Away from home, we're often at the mercy of others' traditions, schedules, and preferences.  When we're not traveling, we spend the day in different ways each year, with a few standing traditions.  THIS year, however, was a year that we will never forget, and hopefully a tradition that we can hold for a long time to come.  Our church family, The Source, hosted a live interactive manger scene!

We spent the evening singing christmas carols and keeping our thoughts on the TRUE significance of Christmas - the incarnation of God himself, come to earth as the baby Jesus. 

We sipped hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows for s'mores, and enjoyed fellowship in an environment that felt nearly like we were in Bethlehem, at the stable where Mary and Joseph found shelter and Christ was born. (okay, minus the concrete and the school chairs)

We even had live animals!

The favorite was this two week-old donkey and his mother!

There were roughly 100 people in attendance.  100 people who worshiped under the stars as the shepherds did.  100 people who could TOUCH and SEE (and smell!)"Away in a Manger".  100 people who chose JESUS over Santa.

Without a doubt, this is exactly how I would choose to spend my Christmas Eves to come!  As a church family, we are praying that next year we will have a more prominent location that is visible to passers-by so that even more people can join us!

A Season of Wishing

What do you 'wish' for this Christmas Season?

Personally, I am wishing for "people."

And not just any "people."  The all illusive "new people."  I like my "old people" (not referring to age of course), but I would really like "new people" too; new faces, new ideas, new hearts, new opportunities...new friends.

I am hoping to make new friends this season!

My current incredible friends at The Source are hosting four amazing events in the next few weeks! To start, this Sunday is our Christmas Service.

Have you ever read the Christmas Story IN a manger scene...personally?  Well you will get that opportunity to do that this Sunday at The Source, amidst classic Christmas carols and other friends.

Then two days later is our
Christmas Eve Live Nativity.
That's right...we have LIVE people, LIVE animals, and LIVE warmth around a campfire.  I certainly hope you can come and bring some of your friends!


Then next Sunday is our Balloon Release Service.  Have you have been a part of a group balloon release?  Well you will next Sunday, as we consider our hopes and goals for the 2014 year!


Finally, the Sunday after that (January 5th) we will be hearing a special message from a 95 year old America legend.

Let me ask you, what would you say on your "death bed?"  What message would you want to leave for the world?

Many of you may know that one of the most influential men of our times has been in the news recently, because his health is deteriorating.  His name is Billy Graham.  We recently had a video made, that desired to be his last message to the world.  On January 5th, we will watch and talk about his message.  I look forward to the discussion, and hope you to too.  Once again, this is a great time to invite new OR old friends to The Source, to experience this opportunity together with us!

Hope to see you make more friends in the next few weeks.
I hope you can be a part of it.

Fall Rewind

This fall has been very exciting!  It is fun to look back and see all that we did.

First and foremost, I think of our Baby Dedication in which we dedicated 7 babies (and parents)!  All at once!  I love having so many young and growing families in our church family at The Source. (Click on the pictures below to see them larger.)

We joined Legacy School in their Fall festival by offering a full-scale Angry Birds game.  The line of kids went on forever!

(We had to finally turn kids away to close down the event after it had gotten so dark we could barely see the birds flying through the air.)

We hosted a free Christmas Photoshoot for the families of our community.  We had numerous families show up and were very thankful for this opportunity.


All of that was on top of our Source family events of a lunch at the park, a family night at Vertuccio Farms, game nights, Starbucks meetings, and finally our Christmas party this last Sunday.

And we are not done yet!  We have a lot of holiday plans...but that is another blog....

A Culmination of our Discussions

Hello Source Family,

I just wanted to say how much I am looking forward to tomorrow's discussion.  It really completes these past four weeks.  In fact most of what we have talked about these past four weeks don't matter without a response of some sort, which is what we are talking about tomorrow:  "What does it matter that God has given us gifts and passions?"

I went ahead and also posted a new question for the Discussion Board, that I hope to use for the next few weeks:

"(Based on last few weeks Sunday discussions...) Complete the statement "I have a dream ___________ !"
http://source59community.proboards.com/thread/8/dream?page=1&scrollTo=45






Please, please take a moment to answer it!  We'll see you tomorrow!

Pastor Eric

What is Your Spiritual Gift(s)?!

Hello Source Family,

I have Posted a new discussion question, that I look forward to seeing the answers for:

"What do you see as your spiritual gift?"

http://source59community.proboards.com/thread/7/09-16-question-spiritual-gift


Pastor Eric

A Special Sunday

Hello Source Family! 

This coming Sunday is an important one for all of us to be there, for several reasons!

1.  We will be discussing in the message how to see our daily jobs and activities as building God's kingdom!

2.  This will be the last Sunday Charlie and Debbie Lucero will be with us.  (If you were not with us this past Sunday, you missed their announcement that they have accepted a wonderful job opportunity in Georgia).

3.  As a going-away gift, we want to take a big group photo of The Source family this Sunday (as well as having everyone sign the matte of a frame for them. 

4. AND of course we are serving a going-away lunch for them--please plan to stay and enjoy it with us.


Hope to see Everyone there!

Pastor Eric