Thursday, November 19, 2009 Untamed Truth: A Night of Worship & Art

You are invited to Untamed Truth: A Night of Worship & Art. It is a community night of worship expressed through music, art, and word. Join us at Exploration Works on Friday, November 20 @ 7pm for a free, casual environment to explore Christian faith and connect with others.

This is part of an intentional and strategic effort to fill the gap that exists in Helena for end-of-day activities. At Encounter, we want to provide an opportunity for people to connect with others and encounter God in a unique, authentic, and creative way that is expressed through music, art, and creativity.

Join us just to participate in the worship. Or if you are a poet, painter, sculptor, or similar there may still be time to share your talent as part of the event. Just contact us for more.

Refreshments will be available. There will be no childcare for this event.

EVENT: Untamed Truth: A Night of Worship & Art
LOCATION: Exploration Works, 995 Carousel Way [map/directions]
TIME: Friday, November 20 @ 7pm-8:30pm
COST: Free

Help Get The Word Out

Please help us get the word out about Untamed Truth. Please tell your friends. Let them know on Facebook and MySpace. You can event invite them to the Facebook event or download and print out some flyers in PDF format. Here are the links:

Facebook Event Page (link)
http://tinyurl.com/untamedtruth

Downloadable Flyers (PDF)
Full-Page Poster (5.5mb)
Half-Page Handouts (5.5mb)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 EncounterCast 11.17.09: Night of Worship & Art

This EncounterCast, we're highlighting this Friday's special event Untamed Truth: A Night of Worship & Art. You are invited to join us at Exploration Works in Helena on Friday at 7pm for a night of worship creatively expressed through music, art, and word. You don't want to miss it!

View the video above or on YouTube here.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 Untamed Worship: Last Items In Place

As you may know, we've been putting together a one-night event called Untamed Truth: A Night of Worship & Art. It will be a night of worship expressed through music, art, and word.

It has been amazing how God really helped everything come together and allowed this to happen. It's so exciting!

VENUE FINALIZED

I went down today to reserve the upper floor of the Exploration Works: Museum of Science & Culture. The folks at Explorations Works were really awesome to work with. It really is a cool room and will serve as a great canvas for creating the atmosphere of the evening. Below are some photos, but the exhibits will all be moved and cafe tables and chairs set up. We're planning on having coffee and refreshments.

Exploration Works was not our original choice, but I have to say it is probably better than anything we were thinking. Again, God knows better.

FUNDS RAISED

You may also know that we held a 24-hour Facebook fundraiser. We called, messaged, and emailed friends in order to ask for gifts from $25 to $50. Again, God took charge and we raised nearly all of our several hundred dollar goal in just 24 hours. Awesome! Thank you so much for everyone that contributed both here in Helena and around the country. We couldn't have done it without you!

The date of the event will be next Friday, November 20 @ 7pm. I would begin inviting everyone you know, but our goal is for each person to see at least two people come. If you would like to get involved, we need help for setup and breakdown from 5:30-9:30pm. Let us know if you would.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS

I have linked some PDF posters and handouts here and on the other posts. If you can print some up at Staples for 59¢ a sheet, we could really use your help getting them out into the community. Finally, you can also let your friends know online. You can send them the link to this page. Or you can invite them through Facebook. These links are:

Facebook Event Page (link)
http://tinyurl.com/untamedtruth

Downloadable Flyers (PDF)
Full-Page Poster (5.5mb)
Half-Page Handouts (5.5mb)

Monday, November 9, 2009 Untamed Worship: The Momentum Continues

As you may have heard or read, we're putting together a one-night event called Untamed Truth: A Night of Worship & Art. It will be a night of worship expressed through music, art, and word.

Creativity and the arts are an important value of our group at Encounter, so such a night would will a great reflection of who we are. The idea is to pull from local talent and showcase different individuals in a group worship setting.

WHY WE'RE DOING IT

We met recently and discussed the purpose and details of the upcoming event. After some discussion we all agreed that Encounter wants to be intentional and strategic about filling the gap that exists in Helena for end-of-day activities. We have asked numbers of people lately what they do in the evenings and the consensus is "there IS nothing to do." We want to provide an opportunity for people to connect with others and encounter God in a unique, authentic, and creative way.

WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW

The musicians and singers that have been involved have been rehearsing over the last weeks and sound awesome! They are quite gifted, but also humble and authentic. I am personally excited to see some of these guys lead through the songs with their own style.

Finally, our planned venue is not working out. So we are looking for another venue that can facilitate this type of gathering. Join us at Exploration Works on Friday, November 20 @ 7pm for a free, casual environment to explore faith and connect with others.

Download Full-Page Poster here (pdf - 5.5mb)
Download half-page Handouts here (pdf - 5.5mb)

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Now is the time to bring it together. It's so important that people in our community not just attend this event, but actually participate in some way. It's the only way that this night of worship becomes a reflection of our community. So our question is simple. Can you help?

• Are you an artist? Do you paint? sculpt? Something else? There is still room to get involved. This would be a great way to get involved in something different.

• Do you write poetry? Lyrics? Stories? Again, share your inspiration with others in an alternative setting. We invite you to participate.

• Do you own or work in a place that would benefit from such an event? Do you have a connection that might help us pull this off? Let us know. Help make this happen and make a difference in Helena.

• Finally, can you help financially? Right now we are looking for just a few people who want to see such a night happen. People who want to see lives changed by a night of connection. A night of encountering Jesus in a unique, authentic, and creative way. If you can contribute with a $25 or $50 gift, it would only take 5 to 10 people to make an impact in our community, and FOR our community.

I am so excited about what's coming up. God is on the move! Contact us today if you can participate or help in some way.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 Little Tykes Trick or Treat: A Huge Success!

This last Friday, October 30, we partnered with walking mall businesses for the Little Tykes Trick or Treat event held in Downtown Helena.

Like our involvement with Downtown Helena's recent Kid's Fall Fest, serving parents and their kids is a great way to develop relationships and engage our community by impacting peoples' lives in a positive way.

SERVING BUSINESS OWNERS

First, we offered to help business owners decorate their store fronts. Decorating for Halloween can be difficult for business owners in the midst of all their other responsibilities. Shown here is the display for Lasso the Moon.

SERVING PARENTS & KIDS

Second, we created a decorated area in the walking mall (hay bales, scarecrow, etc) as a free photo opportunity for parents. Parents love to have photos of their little tykes dressed up for Halloween. But for parents who did not bring a camera, we partnered with local professional photographer Anthony Harden of Harden Photo-Graphics which is located in Helena, Montana. Visit his blog at blog.hardenphoto.com.

The photo opportunity was a huge hit! We had lines of 5-15 people throughout the day, snapping nearly 300 photos for 107 families. One photo every two minutes during the three hour event. Now we are in the process of delivering these full-resolution photos via email. No small task!

Since the event, we have been receiving emails thanking us for the great photos of their little ones, as well as thanking us for creating the opportunity in the first place. We are grateful to the Placer Management for sharing the need and partnering with us in this, and we want to thank Anthony Harden for all the time and effort he donated to this event.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

We see this as just another way to be a church FOR Helena, not just a church IN Helena. We are eager to serve because it is another way to share God's love in a tangible way by "being the change." We invite you to Be The Change in Helena and join us in our next project at Encounter Church.

NOTE TO PARENTS: We have successfully delivered nearly 80% of the photos in two emails sends. If your child's photo was taken and you still have not received your photo, we suspect that our email has been 'blocked' or filed as 'junk/spam' by your email provider. We need you to contact us with 1) a verification of your email address, 2) a possible alternate address, and 3) a note that you have not received your photo.