Connexus Community Church

The Long Weekend Rocks @Connexus

I have to say probably more than any other series we've done so far at Connexus, I've loved the I Doubt ItOrillia and wrap it up with part 4 in Barrie.   It should be a great weekend.  series.  I'm really looking forward to this weekend as we move into part 3 of the series in

If you've got friends or family over, bring them out.  I don't want to say "I promise you it will be worth it", but I've really enjoyed doing part 3 and preparing for part 4 of the series.  Man, I'm pumped!

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Orillia Campus | Sunday June 29th 2008   

I Doubt It | Part Three: I Doubt God is in Control

With this much atrocity and evil in the world and around us, how could God possibly be good? Why would anyone believe in a God in light of all the suffering we see?

Service times: 8:30 am and 10:00 am

Galaxy Theaters Orillia 865 West Ridge Blvd.

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Barrie Campus | Sunday June 29th 2008

I Doubt It | Part Four: I Just Doubt

Are doubts an inherent part of the Christian faith? Do people ever reach a stage where we just stop doubting? Why is it that sometimes as we grow spiritually, we question more, not less? What does God think of our doubts? What do we do with our doubts? Join us as we see how doubts are an essential part of a life of faith.
   
Service times: 8:30 am and 10:00 am
Galaxy Cinemas 72 Commerce Drive Barrie

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Finally, thanks to our incredible volunteer crew.  We had a great bbq last Sunday to celebrate you, but I'm going to be celebrating you again on this long weekend Sunday when you do all the things you do to create great environments that help lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus.  You inspire me!  Thanks to all our summer serve people who will be stepping up this weekend for the first time too.

All for Jesus folks.  He's more than worth it!  See you Sunday.

- Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor 

Sunday Brain Dump . . . Orillia

Hey friends,

Some photos from around our Connexus location in Orillia today!  What did you notice?  What caught your eye?

                                   

	Hollywood was picking up on the trends that Connexus was setting during the "God & Sex" series and decided to throw together a little movie called "Sex and the City".  The thinly disguised attempt to capitalize on the trend we are setting can be seen in the name of the the lead character - Carrie!
	Over the last two Sundays we have given out over 1000 of the world's best chocolate bars!  A yummy treat for everyone indeed!  Who knew church could taste so good!
	Our UpStreet team rocks!  Every week they do their best to host a great environment for kids.  I was walking around this morning and just happen to walk in on my daughter on stage doing some fun stunt for her UpStreet friends!

It was a great morning!  Thanks again Connexus friends for making it a good time for all!

Rich Birch
Connexus Community Church
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com

Cindy Morris - Saying Hi

I just love sharing great news.  And after a long four months, it's fantastic to be able to post this one about Cindy Morris.

As many of you know, Cindy is a member of our staff team here at Connexus, and was involved in a serious car accident four months ago that nearly took her life.

Cindy was finally able to come home last week. Yesterday, she and her kids made it to our Barrie campus (her home campus) for the 10:00 a.m. service (it was a surprise - I wasn't allowed to tell) - it was like a homecoming in so many ways for our community and I think for Cindy and her kids.  When Cindy walked in, people in the foyer started to applaud.  While there are still some recovery issues ahead of Cindy, to be able to walk again and begin to function at home as a mom again are incredible. Plus her great sense of humour and infectious personality is 110% there, as anyone who has talked to her can witness to. 

I know Cindy has thanked people privately many times, but she said she wants to repeat how grateful she is for everyone's help - for the families that cared for her children (incredibly well), for everyone who went way over and above in caring for her needs, for the Under1Roof event, and for all those who have helped in every way, including the unbelievable prayer support.  I don't know anyone who wouldn't call Cindy's recovery "miraculous".  And while there is still healing and further rehabilitation that needs to happen, the progress so far has been unbelievable.

Welcome home Cindy.  Welcome back!  We missed you so much.  It's great to have you back in the community!

Radical Followers

Often we can talk a good game in the Christian world, but the real issue is who lives a good game? The longer I live my life as a Christ follower, the more I ask why my life doesn't look more like Jesus' life. It's easy to talk compassion and sacrifice, I love it when Christ-followers go out and do it.  I want to foster that kind of atmosphere as a community.

So that's why I'm excited about some of the things our people at Connexus are doing to make an impact on our community and the globe - an impact that's costing them something and expressing their faith in real terms.

Sarah Flemming and Jessie Scott, two college students at Connexus, are heading to South Africa and then to Mozambique in early June to work with children through some local churches. They'll be taking some of the things they've learned here to provide a vibrant teaching environment there.   Sarah writes:

Here are some of our prayer requests. From what I have learned this far, men and women have very different places in the community, so it will be necessary for us (Sarah and Jessie) to abide by culture expectations in our actions and appearances.  It is winter in Mozambique, but temperatures are still soaring during the daytime, and living conditions will be rough and unhygienic, please pray for our health and safety as we work.  We will run into things that will break our hearts, please pray for our strength and courage. Most importantly, please pray for our unity as a team, and that we will be open to transformation in ourselves as we serve with the love of Christ and see what He sees.

I met with another Connexus volunteer on Monday who is going to India in November to work with some of the "untouchables" in the name of Jesus.  Way to go Bill!

Another Connexus couple is spending their honeymoon in Africa working among the poor in Jesus' name (isn't that awesome?)!  And I've spoken before about Bill Fitch (who will be part of our Muskoka campus) and his amazing work training African church leaders through Listen2Learn.

On the local scene, groups and individuals are serving at places as diverse as the Light House Men's Shelter and the Pregnancy Resource Center.

This is all in addition to the great work so many of our people have done and will be doing in Guatemala.  Last March, numerous Connexus families traveled over the March break to work with the people of Guatemala.  Guatemala will be a natural focus for GlobalX (our international mission arm) when it launches in the next twelve months.

We live out our faith when we give out our faith.  You're a community that makes me grateful to be your pastor.  Thanks for expressing your love for Jesus into the community and this world at large.  You inspire me!

Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor 

Kindred Spirits . . .

Do you ever meet someone who you feel like you've known for years?  Do you ever bump into a group of people who seem to asking the same questions and attempting the same stuff?  I totally had that happen today!

A friend of mine, Jim Tomberlin, works helping churches multiply their impact.  Jim is a pioneer, visionary leader, and a lot of fun to hang out with.  So when he asked me to spend a day with him it was easy to take the day to do that.

Anyways . . . today I was with the leadership team of an incredible church in New Jersey called Liquid Church.  As I was sitting around the table I was thinking . . . I wish I could have my leaders sitting here and listening to this group.    They launched a year ago with 400 people and today they are around 1200 on Sundays - not in the Bible belt - but in New Jersey (insert Sopranos joke here)!  Incredible growth on the surface . . . but it was some of the "below the surface" stuff that impressed me most.

In talking with Lauren, their groups guru, I found out that just over 1/3 of their adults are in groups.  That's fantastic when you consider that means they've added hundred and hundreds of new people while their weekend attendance is exploding.

Mike, their lead "get it all done" dude, was telling me about the commitment of their set up team.  This might sound familiar . . . 3 transport trailers full of gear every Sunday - the majority of the team rolls in at 5:30 am.  They start so early that some of the team actually sleeps over at the hotel they meet at!

Tim - their "Carey" - I was very impressed with.  Can I be honest?  I would think if the church I was pastoring grew by 300% in 12 months my head would be huge.  (Can I be a little too honest?  I've met pastors who churches aren't growing anywhere that fast who's heads are huge.)  But Tim is a down to earth dude.  (Although he does have really big hair.)  It was my privilege to watch his interactions with his team - showing so much respect and care for the team.  Not a sense of "this is all about me".  Quality dude.  I think God is going to use that humility.

Dave serves as their Executive Pastor . . . A solid guy who has left the marketplace to throw his leadership behind this church.  He serves as the CFO . . . and is the guy standing up driving the vision and saying "let's go farther, faster!"   

I wish you could have been here today (although fitting a few more dozen people in the room would have made it tight!).  I count it a privilege to interact with leaders like this.  If your ever in NJ - drop by Liquid.  If you are looking for a podcast to follow - tune in!

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church

Celebration Anyone? Don't Miss These....

It's so good to chat, even by blog.  I'm excited about being at Orange and Drive, but can't wait to come back to our community late Wednesday night.

We are going to celebrate some great things soon. 

Under One Roof
Just a reminder that Under One Roof, three simultaneous concerts designed to benefit the trust fund set up to help Cindy Morris and her children  happens this coming Saturday at three locations:  the Free Methodist Church in Barrie, Bethel Baptist in Orillia and Trinity Community in Oro beginning at 7:30 p.m.  Cindy continues to recover remarkably well from her injuries, and your prayers are appreciated!

Connexus' Six Month Anniversary
On May 11th in Barrie and May 18th in Orillia, we're going to celebrate Connexus' six month anniversary.   We've been gathering stories of life-change over the last few weeks and I can't wait to talk about what God is doing in people's lives.  It's going to be a fun celebration that will certainly be great for our team and for our friends.  Don't miss the celebration when it comes to your campus!

Irresistible
We're also going to be hosting an event called Irresistible for all those from Muskoka who are thinking about being part of our Muskoka campus launch.  It's June 8th at 7:30 the Rene M. Caisse Theater in Bracebridge.  Tell your Muskoka friends about it!

Volunteer Summer Celebration
We love our volunteers!  Wherever you volunteer, don't just go home on Sunday, June 22nd. Join us at a soon to be announced location for an early afternoon Volunteer Celebration BBQ.  Just to be clear, we don't plan on barbecueing you - just some meat. Should be fun for the whole family.

I love our community...and it's great to see what God can do when people come together.  So get that iCal , blackberry or good old fashioned pen and paper out now and mark these dates.

- Carey

Sunday Brain Dump

Hey friends . . .

It's another "stream of thought" from Rich!  It was great to be at our Orillia Campus this morning again after having been in Barrie for the last month or so.  Here's some stuff that I saw . . .

• Fastest Set up by Eteam - Jeff and his ETeam rock.  They continue to set land speed records for setting up in Orillia.  In fact they are moving their "doors open" time back 15 minutes because of that!  Another 15 minutes of sleep for this team counts for something!  (I think that's something like another 13 hours a year of sleep . . . but I digress.)  Good job team!
• Kids Environments - It was great to see our children's environments packing out today.  We are in the great spot of having to work on "expansion" plans to accommodate the numbers of kids coming to UpStreet and Waumba.  Great job folks!  (plug ... plug ... wanna help serve?)
• Clean front end - Our welcome teams continue to do a great job to present a nice "face with the place" at Orillia.  They do a solid job of being friendly and available without being "too available" (ala Walmart Greeters.)
• Band - Another solid experience by Turn of the Stars again today.  Love those guys . . . hearts of gold.
• Orillia Invited Friends - Typically the Sunday after Easter is a down attendance Sunday in church-world.  Not at Orillia this weekend - thanks for inviting your friends and family!  We hope they had a great time!
• Challenging Message from Carey - Personally I find the passage Carey used this week in the message from Acts 17 very inspiring and challenging.  It's one of those places that self validates the new testament for me ... if someone was making up a series of stories to attempt to "win over" the Jewish believers of the day they simply wouldn't have written that in.  Paul goes to the people at Athens and starts by comparing God ("big G" God) to an idol (think "little g" god) in order to ultimately tell people about Jesus.  Do you see how crazy that would be to the religious folks of the day?  The old testament is full of God talking about how band idol worship is and here Paul uses an idol as a starting point for a conversation.  Brilliant ... the Jewish believers of the time simply wouldn't believe that it happened ... if it didn't.  Anyways . . . now I'm preaching a different message.
• Conversation - Great to see people sticking around and talking so much after the services.  It's a first step to community ... so glad people are expressing interest in GroupLink already even though we've just started talking about it. 

Those are the top of mind things . . . what about you?  Any reflections on your time at Connexus today?

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church

Road Trip to Orillia

So yesterday I took a little road trip to our Orillia campus to teach live for the first time.  I had been joking with some church leaders that I pastor a church I've actually never been to -- which until yesterday is technically true.  I hadn't been able to even attend a single service because of my preaching commitments and our video schedule.  Anyway, I loved it!  Thank you Orillia.  You were so kind and so welcoming and it was so much, well, fun!

Here's what made an impression on me about Connexus Orillia:

• An incredibly infectious positive spirit in people.
• Dedicated enthusiasm about serving in all environments!
• Passionate ownership of the mission.
• Numerous new faces (thanks for inviting your friends)
• The facilities were so clean.

As I pointed out to people in both services, while I was genuinely glad to be there, we need to continue to imagine how we can leverage our leadership in fresh ways so more people can begin a relationship with Jesus.  As Connexus continues to grow at our existing campuses and then into more campuses in the future, it's exciting to imagine what will happen as we are able to open up more and more relevant environments for people who are far from God.

Great to be together in a fresh way yesterday!

New Page on our Web Site

We wanted to let you know that we have added an "Employment" page to our web site.  It's a great place to find out about any employment opportunities at Connexus.  There are two roles posted there now so why don't you check it out. 

Nadine Russell

Good Fr-rr-rr-iday and some Good News

Two things happened in the last 24 hours I just have to share with you.

First, we shot our Good Friday message video today - outside. Why on earth did we pick the coldest day of 2008 to shoot the video?  I haven't been that cold in years.  In fact, tonight at home six hours later, I'm still cold!  The good news is I'm really excited by the format (we shot it at various locations -- all part of the script) and the message.  It's all about the cross -- and reflecting on the cross as I wrote the script earlier this week brought me to tears. 

Why did we shoot our Good Friday message video a month in advance?  We did it so that I could actually preach in two places at once on Good Friday (Barrie and Orillia at 10:00 a.m.). I'm deeply excited by what God might do through the message and the service. I think it could be incredible.  Please pray with us as the day approaches.

Second, I spent Tuesday night with about 20 small group leaders who serve in Waumba Land and UpStreet.  I wish you all could have been there.  We talked about why we don't do class room environments  for kids at Connexus, and why their role as your child's small group leader is so pivotal.  We want every child to have someone working with parents to personally help a child trust God in every season of life. The leaders in the room are simply amazing people who every week, carry the best interests of your son or daughter in their hearts.  I left so grateful for that crew!

Thanks to everyone who serves in our children and student ministry environments.  I also left grateful that I somehow get to serve as pastor of this place.  You folks just rock the house!

- Carey