Here’s a quick update from the crazy life of me: (Thanks Mel and V. for kickin my blog butt)
* The “autumn that is” is getting close to the autumn that was… had our first snow on the ground this morning. Drove through a blizzard yesterday on our 13 hour drive back down from northern Saskatchewan to visit Sherry’s family for canadian Thanksgiving.
* October 15th is my support raising deadline. 33% is what I need to have to even have the position of “Urban Missionary” here. Whatever I get by the 15th is what the leadership here will restrict my hours to. ie: If I raise 1/3 I will drop from my current full time to 1/3 time and need to get a part time job, if I get 1/2 my support I can work here 1/2 time etc. I’m pretty close to getting the 33% now but this week will be where it all falls together… or falls apart… which I’m not scared of… well maybe a little bit… but I know He has a plan either way.
* The first event I led for young adults was a smash! We did a cafe crawl (my version of a pub/bar crawl). I’m currently pulling together a lead team so I don’t have to do everything myself and can get a little freed up from logistics to crank up the missionality aroud here.
* Riverwood continues to buck the local trend by growing. We continue to get media attention which has been really positive… apart from them latching on to our moniker as the ugliest church in Winnipeg. We have our first “third service” this Saturday evening. This will be a challenge, and hopefully a blessing, to the young adult ministry as we have to now work our Saturday evening events around this new service.
* I’ve also (after literally years of scheming and dreaming) launched an arts group here at Riverwood called “Render”. www.riverwood.cc/render First gathering went great… lots of hunger for this kind of artistic community here. Already had an invite from a new cutting edge local gallery to explore some sort of working relationship.
* Currently reading “Exiles”, “Breaking the Missional Code”, and “Art & Fear”. Next up is a translation of the New Testament based on bible numerics.
That’s it for now…
nooc
17 of us squeezed into a circle of couches in the loft of The Park Cafe. Sherry is on the left.
6 comments
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October 17, 2006 at 8:04 am
Sam.
Good to hear from you Greg!
October 19, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Mel
Thanks for the update. Sounds like you’re keeping busy. How’d the fundraising go?
October 19, 2006 at 2:42 pm
nooc
Thanks Sam!
Hey Mel - The dust is still settling on the support-raising stuff. It’s not certain yet but my best guess is that I will end up dropping from full time to half time here. Thanks for asking - I’ll post more when I know more. I was hoping to hook up with everyone at Humana in Orlando in Feb but we’re going to need to concentrate on putting food on the table for the next little while. Ah the missionary life!
nooc
October 21, 2006 at 10:48 am
Ruth
God BLESS you guys.
November 9, 2006 at 11:26 am
Nicolas Nelson
Put food on that table, Greg! I’m at that point too. Looking for a seasonal side job, like with UPS over the holidays. And redoubling my eBay efforts: I have a lot of inherited family clutter to unload, some of it might be valuable. Just sold a book for $57.50!
…a CAFE-crawl! What a great idea. May have to ask you for logistical details on that. Sadly, I know exactly how to move a group on to the next bar or pub, but not sure my tactics would translate to christians looking forward to… the next muffin? better-looking… wall art? hmmm. maybe I could translate my tactics, but I’ll likely need help.
November 12, 2006 at 10:51 am
nooc
Hey Nic!
Great to hear from you! I’m in one of my frequent blogging slumps again… or at least I’m using any blog time to blog on the young adult blog I run for my ministry.
Yes the cafe-crawl was a hoot. Actually… getting people to the next destination was as easy as saying “Time to go to the next one!”. As for tactics, just insert “coffee” wherever you’re thinking “beer”.
Everybody got a handout that on one side had a google map of the route and on the other side was a series of rating questions to answer about each cafe… what did you drink?, rate the drink, rate the prices, rate the atmosphere, etc.
nooc
p.s. - Yes I am officially down to half-time, though I explained to my pastor that I couldn’t go cold-turkey and it would be a process to pare down to 20 hours a week. So last week I pared down to 35.5 hours! I guess once I get a part-time job it will force the issue.