Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Dream Team Gathering: Casting the Anchor of Tradition - Oct 2

If you are a part of the Encounter Church movement, want to be, or just want to find out more...you need join us this Friday for great discussion, worship, and FREE pizza!

We will be continuing to discuss building a faith community that engages culture by becoming more fluid. This time we'll be looking at Casting the Anchor of Tradition.

• Worship to some great songs!
• Hear about Connection Tour highlights!
• Talk about the next steps to launch the Encounter worship gathering!
  
• Eat some FREE pizza! (please RSVP for pizza ordering)
  

If you wanna find out how to get involved and make a difference in Helena or if you just want to check us out, you can join us for some spiritual discussion, worship, and pizza. Also, we'll have games and videos for the kids during the meeting. We hope to see you this Friday!

WHAT: Dream Team Meeting
WHO: Those who dare to dream
WHEN: Friday, October 2 @ 6:30pm
WHERE: Powell Home [map/directions]

Please RSVP or attend the Facebook Event to let us know how much pizza to order.

Sunday, September 27, 2009 Connections Tour: Connecting With People and Churches

As this week has flown by, we've driven nearly 1,000 miles across Southern California while bracing temperatures up to 110 degrees. From Manhattan Beach to Pasadena, from Riverside to Rialto, the last half of the week has been about connecting with people and churches.

SUNRISE CHURCH

On Thursday morning, I met with Jim Coyle, the missions guy at Sunrise Church in Rialto. Andrea and I attended and served on Worship Team there years ago. Sunrise is a now a thriving, multi-ethnic church in the heart of the Rialto area. We just wanted the opportunity to reconnect and share a little about Encounter.

PENINSULA COMMUNITY CHURCH

Thursday afternoon was an opportunity to connect with my friend Martin Allen who is the president of Worship Foundations, and the worship leader at Peninsula Community Church in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Martin brought Les Sheckman who works with missions there, and we met for lunch at the LA Food Show in Manhattan Beach. Again, I shared what God is doing through Encounter in Helena and we had some great conversation. At the same time, Andrea and the kids snuck off to jump into the ocean nearby.

MOSAIC CHURCH

Andrea and I spent half of the day Friday with Mosaic Church at the Pasadena Campus. After talking with Eric Bryant last week about connecting, he suggested we sit in on an Immersion meeting as part of the Mosaic Alliance church planting emphasis. Steve Sacconi led a discussion about Relational Intelligence. Really great stuff!

SANDALS CHURCH

Early Sunday morning, we met with some of the guys from Sandals Church in Riverside. They have an awesome, vibrant ministry that is very similar to Encounter. Dan Crowley and Andrew Boganwright both focus on small groups there and we had an awesome conversation about what's working at Sandals and why. If course, we also shared all about Encounter in Helena as well.

FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH

Finally, we worshiped with our old friends at Fellowship Baptist Church in Riverside. I was serving at the Worship Leader at FBC over 5 years ago when we were called to Helena, Montana. During worship, we had the opportunity to share some music, a little of our journey, and our Encounter Church Intro video. We also had a great lunch at SuperMex after the service.

FRIENDS AND PARTNERS

In addition to all these churches and the universities earlier in the week, we also had the opportunity to meet with some old friends, prayer partners, and financial supporters this week. It is so great to see how God is also moving in their lives and we were excited to get a chance to say thank you face-to-face. Thank you, guys!

HEADING BACK TO HELENA

It's been a eventful week and also a bit of a whirlwind. We've been praying that the connections we have made will resonate throughout God's Kingdom. We pray that God will be speaking to the individuals and organizations we've connected with, be orchestrating the support we need, and leading some individuals to join the Encounter team as interns, missions teams, or as permanent team members.

Tomorrow morning we begin the 1,200 mile drive back to Helena knowing that God is able to do far more than we can either ask or imagine. If we have not connected with you yet, I encourage you to contact us.

We'd love to hear your feedback, answer your questions, and encourage you to step out of the boat. Become uncomfortable with the status quo and get personally involved in what God is already doing in Helena through Encounter Church.

Read more here to find out how to get personally involved in helping launch Encounter Church.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Connections Tour: Connecting With SoCal University Students

Wow, the last few days have been amazing! While we've been battling traffic and hot weather all over Southern California, the last two days have been focused on universities.

HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Yesterday and today I was privileged to speak to seven different classes of ministry students at my graduate school, Hope International University.

I shared about what Encounter is doing in Helena and invited students to consider coming to Montana through an internship, practicum semester, or relocating here as a permanent team member. Through our times of questions and answers, it was clear that these were sharp students that Hope is preparing.

It was also rewarding to finally meet the professors I have been emailing back and forth with over the last month. They have a great hearts to prepare students to make an impact in this world for Jesus.

CALIFORNIA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

I was also able to meet and share with the Dean of Church Ministries at California Baptist University. Dr. Dan Wilson is great guy with a heart for students and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation about their internship program at Cal Baptist.

From our meeting, I am optimistic that some great partnerships can be formed to benefit both students who want to gain firsthand experience in ministry and churches in Montana that offer some excellent opportunities.

EXISTING ENCOUNTER PARTNERS

In addition to the university connections, we also met with several individuals who are financial and prayer partners for Encounter. We were happy to be able to share with them firsthand the awesome things God is doing through Encounter and to thank them for both their prayers and support.

PLACING MONTANA ON THE RADAR

One purpose has emerged as we've begun this Connections Tour, as we share about Encounter we are hear to place Montana on people's "radar." Quite simply, people just don't think about Montana. They've heard of it, but never really considered the spiritual needs that exist here.

CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR US THIS WEEK

We've completed our appointments with students and universities and will be focusing the rest of our week on meeting and sharing with friends and churches. Please continue to pray for us as we make more connections. Pray also that God would allow growth in the relationships we are forming so that these connections would soon become partnerships.

Read more here to find out how to get personally involved in helping launch Encounter Church.

Thursday, September 17, 2009 Serving Helena Food Share - Be The Change

This last Wednesday, September 16, a group of us from Encounter Church gathered to serve the Helena Food Share and support the awesome difference they make in our community.

There was something for everyone to do. We took on whatever projects they assigned our group including washing carts and baskets, filling and labeling 150 bags of oats, and organizing potatoes, eggs, and plastic bags.

I've recently seen the Food Share in action and they are a blessing to the many neighbors here in Helena who need a helping hand when it comes to being able to put food on the table.

We were eager to serve because we see it as just another way to share God's love in tangible way by "being the change" in Helena.

What an awesome way to make a difference, demonstrate God's crazy love in action, and engage our culture! We invite you to to Be The Change in Helena and join us in our next project at Encounter Church.

Great photos of the effort are on Facebook here.
View a full screen Picasa slideshow here.

You or your group can volunteer too. Just contact Dan Anderson at 443-3663. He's the volunteer coordinator at the Helena Food Share and he will get you hooked up.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Connections Tour: Let's Get Together

We've only talked a little about the upcoming Encounter Connections Tour, so we wanted to tell you more. Basically, we're going out on the road looking to connect with individuals and organizations to share about this new church plant called Encounter Church.

We're praying that we can also explore partnership possibilities and essentially make a connection with whatever ministry you are involved with. We would love the opportunity to present our vision and how we are working with God to change the spiritual landscape of Helena.

EXPLORING PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

First of all, please do not let the word partnership frighten you. By partnership, we simply mean a way of working together toward a common goal to glorify God and make Jesus known. We are praying that during this Connections Tour we will be able to form one or more of the following partnerships:

1) PRAYER
We are building a strong Prayer Partner Team to intercede for Encounter. We regularly send out specific prayer requests in email and would love to have your leadership team and congregation praying for us. [More here]

2) PEOPLE
We are still gathering Launch Team Members to join us in this work and prepare for the public launch of the Encounter worship gathering. While on our tour, we are praying for God to lead us to people who are willing to follow Him and relocate to Helena, Montana. There are also many short-term Missions & Internship opportunities with Encounter. [More here]

3) FINANCIAL
We are seeking ongoing monthly support and one-time gifts from individuals and churches to help with staffing needs and our startup costs. See the brochure or website about our Thousand Campaign. [More here]

Currently, there are few churches in Helena that are effectively reaching the younger generation and those far from God. With your help, we at Encounter can “do church differently” in order to fill the gap that exists in Helena.

Give us a call today or email us so we can get together!