KyleGoen.com

Remember to turn your clocks back on Saturday evening before you go to bed. To remind yourself put reminder notes on all of your clocks in your home. (ha)

Really the event isn’t sold out… we gave away all the tickets for the event.

That means we are at capacity for the Multi-Purpose Facility. You, the families of FBCSmyrna, have really done a great job of partnering with the staff to invite your friends to this I2I event. We want to make it as smooth as possible.

Here are a couple of very important things to remember about the event;

Remember this is time change weekend…fall back and hour. This could affect us in the second hour programming (10:45 am) if we forget to set our clocks back.

Please attend the time on your ticket…both hours are full.

Remember to bring your ticket with you. One ticket per family and those with tickets are allowed in first. After families with tickets are seated others will be allowed into the Multi-Purpose facility.

If you have a family coming that you invited by all means sit with that family, you are the link to the church.

Be prepared to be flexible. This is one of our Core Values as a church. If we are in need of seats so a guest can be seated please be flexible enough to offer your seat so someone who is not apart of our fellowship can take part in the event. Our church body exhibits this value wonderfully. We need to be mindful of this on Sunday.

There will not be an overflow area for this event, but we will try to create an area for Standing Room Only.

We will offer Kid’s Club for children and Creation Celebration for Preschool children whose parents are on campus for 2 (two) hours on Sunday. Invite the families that are attending for the first time to go and view the Preschool and Children’s area so they will feel comfortable with where their child is on Sundays.

Help us spread the word about Sunday and how we can make it a positive experience for everyone.

If you have questions about Sunday and the To The Depths event please call the office (615-459-3311) and speak with Allen, Brittany, or Dana.

FBCSmyrna is a wonderful place to serve and I am looking forward to what God has in store for Sunday.

The Smyrna-La Vergne Food Bank is in need of food donations. This is an agency we work closely with as a church to help with the food needs of the community. Our own Helping Hands Ministry, FBCSmyrna’s benevolence ministry,  we work with outside groups like the Food Bank to minister to our community. This is a great opportunity for FBCSmyrna to bless our community in a time of need.

The Smyrna-La Vergne Food Bank saw a 30 percent increase in applications in September 2008 compared to the previous year, according to Denise Esker, director of the food bank in Smyrna. Earlier this month, 10 families applied for help for the first time in the same day. “Seventy percent of our yearly intake of food comes this time of year (because people want to give),” said Esker. (www.dnj.com)

Let’s get involved and help out.

Here are the numbers and addresses you need:

The Smyrna- La Vergne Food Bank is at 130 Richardson Road, Smyrna. The phone number is 615-355-0697.

Hours are from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

A very distressing article about the new book from Victoria Osteen.

[HT] Justin Taylor

Each November through March FBCSmyrna is involved in a ministry called Room at the Inn. This service ministry is lead by Lisa and T.J. Burke. The Burke’s initiated Room at the Inn @ FBCSmyrna over three years ago and have been leading the ministry with the help of many others. Each Friday evening FBCSmyrna host 10 (ten) men who are homeless from the Nashville area, they are fed, their clothes are washed, given haircuts if they would like one and given the opportunity to have a warm and restful sleep without the fear of any danger.

Small Groups and Sunday School classes prepare the evening meal and then spend time conversing about life, family, interest and showing the love of God to these men. If the men are in need of clothes, coats, hats or gloves they are able to look through some donated items to find the right sizes and given what they need.

The Burke’s have expressed a need for men to drive the van to pick up the guests on Friday evening and drop them off on Saturday morning. They need men to sleep over at the church. They are also in need of men’s socks, underwear, and gloves. The gloves and socks can be gently used. The underwear needs to be new. They need deodorant, shaving cream, and toothpaste.

Room at the Inn is a great service ministry and I encourage you to become a part of at FBCSmyrna. If you would like to volunteer contact Susan Garland in the Global Initiative office @ 459-3311 and she will put you in touch with Lisa and T.J..

Thank you Lisa and T.J. for your leadership and your servant heart. Your example of showing God’s love in a tangible way is making a difference.

In early 2009 (Feb.) I will begin teaching on Wednesday evenings at FBCSmyrna about living missional as a follower of Christ.

What are some subjects/topics that are related to this subject you think should be included in the teaching? Maybe they are a full session or maybe a short topic or statement included in session about something else. I would love to hear your thoughts.

People who are talking, thinking, and writing in this direction:

Ed Stetzer

Alan Hirsch

Subtext

Al Hsu

[note to skeptics/critics - these guys challenge my thinking to live intentional in my culture so Christ can be known, we may or may not agree on everything, but they are leading the way in thinking missional]

On our recent trip to China we spent a considerable amount of time in a local bookstore on the campus of the local university. We were there to help the college students with there English access. Most Chinese begin learning English in the second grade, reading and writing. They do not speak English very well. There aren’t any native English speakers to converse with naturally. We utilized our Middle Tennessee English to help the locals converse and as a bridge to share the power of God to change lives. For many on the team this time in the bookstore was the highlight of the trip.

Ed Stetzer writes a blog post also talking about the positive effect of utilizing English teaching in the missional lifestyle.

Incredible stuff from an incredible trip. I began to wonder recently how could this be utilized in the States.

A few years ago I was introduced to an artist named Andrew Peterson. There is nothing in his presentation or his appearance that would necessarily win him popular appeal. But, his thought provoking writing and Americana musical style is really good. He writes from a  biblical perspective and has a great ability to turn a phrase in such a way that causes you to really think about what was just sung.

My favorite Andrew Peterson CD project is called Behold the Lamb of God. It is a wonderful look at the “coming of the Messiah.” He starts in the Old Testament and works his way to the Gospels with Jesus being prophesied about and to his birth, very biblical. I would highly recommend you download the project.

For the last few years my family has made his Christmas concert at the Ryman a part of our seasonal celebration. Great artist along with many special guest appearances, wonderful music, and incredible worship during a time of the year that has become overly commercial.

You might want to check out the CD and the concert.

Well….I’m back on after a five month hiatus. It has been very restful and I think I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish by backing away for a while.

I am going to get things started back with a video from my recent trip to China. Enjoy!

Chinese Worship
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftvvpc63Bv8]