Excitement

Hi.  I am really excited about 3 things

1.  I have run into a bunch (15?) of people who are doing an intentional plan to read the Bible this year. They found iphone apps, Blackberry thingys, they printed out the Mc’Cheyne guide (on pretty paper), they bought a BCP.  Way to go Restoration!  God promises to answer when we knock.  Reading the Bible is a great way to bang on His door.

2.  We just hired Andrew Thompson to nurture and develop a community of Middle School students.  Tonight we will have a time of prayer and vision casting for any adult who is interested in being a part of this.  I am thrilled to think about the intentional energy that Andrew will give to these precious students.

3.  This past weekend was our vestry retreat.  We spent 24 hours thinking through these questions:

• Who are we trying to reach?  What are the characteristics of various demographics in Arlington?
• How will we know we were successful?  What is the metric we will use to measure our plans and efforts?  We feel that Restoration has done a good job creating social space for people–  helping them connect to God and each other in small groups.  We want to create more groups that give more opportunities for more people to connect.
• What are our plans for 2010?  How will we reach those people in the way we hope to measure?  We prayed and talked from the idea that ‘to reach the people no one else is reaching, we have to do the things that no one else is doing…’

Excitement.