Scott's Thoughts: Sun, Aug 21, 2022
Total Reading Time: 5 mins (acc to the “normal” reading speed at wordcounter.net)
Aug is Life Groups Month, Revamped LG Page on Website with Update re Vision, FAQs, etc., Going Back to Gospel of John Next Week — This morning is the last of our 3-week series looking at how small groups of believers in the New Testament book of Acts helped them and the gospel to grow. With our August push re LGs, it was time to update and revamp the vision and verbiage on fccgreene.org/lifegroups, so go there to find out more (and perhaps remember what you’re supposed to be doing in your Life Group!) ;o) If you wanna know more about your Life Group options, let us know on the Connect Card (on Sun Worship Guide, the “Home” page of the fccgreene.org/app, or fccgreene.org/cc). Next week we jump back into John with John 13:31-38!
Worth Saying Again > Guests & New Peeps: We’re Launching a Third Campus on Sun, Oct 16, at South Greene High School — Just figured I’d say this up front, as much of what follows assumes you know this!
Don’t Miss the “News Feed” on the App – Seriously, every week there’s good stuff that you’ll miss, like…
See! Good stuff. On the app or at fccgreene.org/news (online, but not linked on our website). Not only is it encouraging to hear about how God is working in others’ lives, but as we continue to plant campuses and try to keep them small and personal, it’s all the more important for us to all stay on the same page. (Can you tell I’m focused on ensuring we maintain unity in the body as we go to 3 campuses?! If you can’t, you’ll likely notice that half of what I’m working on lately is to help ensure we don’t drift from our mission of disciplemaking. Btw, staffers working on our #ForGreene t-shirts, please ask me about something later. Yes, I occasionally use ST to carry out staff biz.)
Marriage Ministry: Pray for new re|engage Couples, New Videos on the App – (1) We’ve got a great group with 8 couples! Pray for their marriages. (2) Just letting ya know, there are tons of good marriage videos now on the app. Look under “Watch” > “Media”.
3rd Campus Launch: Multi Update Dinner & South Greene Preview Night, Launch Guide, Updated Multi Response Cards, Campus & Financial Commitments Update, Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg #1 (of 2) – (1) Click here for a recent news/blog post re the Sun, Aug 7 Multi Update Dinner. There’s a really great 1-minute highlights video there that you don’t wanna miss. Love seeing our people smiling and seeing, and then praying and serving as Elder Mark Liebert prays in the video for us to “Radiate Jesus.” #tshirt Really. Cool. (YouTube link here.) Also, the video of the Sun, Aug 7 MUD, in its entirety, is there if you missed it. Lots of good info. (2) If you haven’t yet picked up a hardcopy (or PDF) of the Launch Guide, make sure to do so in The Hub this morning. (3) Today we’re rolling out a smidge of different verbiage on the Multisite Response Cards. So check it out and fill one out (and commit to South Greene!) (4) We’re at 100% of our goal of at least 125 commitments at both Afton and Greeneville, but we need 42 more at South Greene (which is at 66%), so please pray about your campus commitment and let us know, if you haven’t yet, that you’ll be going to South Greene. ;o) Also, we’re at just barely over $97,000 of our goal of $100k to “launch strong” (see the Multi Response Cards for what that means.) Please ask the Lord for some guidance about helping us get over that last $3,000. (4) Re the Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg, whether you’ve committed to a campus or haven’t (which is all the more reason), don’t miss next Sunday’s important mtg, Aug 28, at FCCGV (GreeneVille campus), from 6-7p. Here are some important upcoming all-church items.
More campus-specific info like outreach, practice, and preview services are in the Launch Guide.
Elders Update Letter on the way This Week – Just a heads up, if we’ve got your address, you’ll be getting an important letter from our Elders to help ensure we stay focused on our God-given corporate mission. Will probably get to you late this week or early next?
Parents Night at 180 Student Ministry Gathering This Wed, FCCGV Campus, 6-8(ish)p – I think I accidentally said in last week’s ST that this was last Wed. Oops, sorry. It’s this Wed. But you should still come again! ;o) For details, go to fccgreene.org/parentnight (or the “News Feed” under “Pulse” on the app.)
Brown Bags & Bibles and Coffee Convos – It’s worth a listen/watch to get some good Bible teaching on the “Necessity” of the Bible in the last few BB&Bs and some encouraging insight into God’s work in peoples’ lives on CC. I’ve recently chatted with a local pastor, a couple FCC staffers, an FCCer about his growth in re:gen, a couple from our community about their youth/camping ministry, a university president, an FCC couple’s adoption journey(s, plural), and a young FCCer who shares about serving and what she’s learning in our Residents program! How cool is that?! (“Wait, we have a Residents program?” Yep. More to come on that soon, including a webpage outlining what’s involved. Note to self, Scott: Maybe do a CC with your son before he leaves for college?! Hmm…)
“Events Calendar” on the App – Under “Pulse,” we have an updated list of upcoming events. We don’t put those on the website because it’s insider info and we need to be careful with such stuff. (More on that later, when we implement a “Directory” on the app in the not-too-distant future.) Anyhue… (yes, I know, it’s typically “anyhoo” or “anyhow,” but I pronounce it “anyhue.”) … we’ve consolidated and simplified a few backend software things and, while we’ve got a bit more to do to finish up before completed, the info on the “Events Calendar” on the app is always updated. (Famous last words. Hopefully we don’t break the new system. It’s complicated. Powerful, but complicated. And it didn’t cost us anything new! I feel the need to celebrate that aloud.)
Difference Between fccgreene.org & the app, Scott’s Thoughts & Great Questions Answered Now on Web, Few Small Explanations on Web – Every day it seems there are multiple times when I think something like, “I bet a bunch of our newer people don’t know this yet.” (And probably quite a few not-so-new folks!) One such thing is that, during late Summer 2021, when we finally finished the launch of our new website and app—you can’t see, but my body is twitching—we were careful to make a marked distinction between the two. The website is overall vision and info for those checking us out and wanting to know what we do and how, and the app (fccgreene.org/app) was meant to facilitate more engagement and insider info. While that still holds, I’ve noticed more folks who don’t know where to go and how to get there on the app. So while we’re still leaving a lot on the app that won’t make it to the fccgreene.org website—prayer list, many news items, H7 Stories, sign-ups/forms, media, e.g.—as of this morning, because obviously throngs of dozens are pining to stay in tune with my thoughts and musings… (<— This is sarcasm. I promise. I have no delusions of grandeur.) … we’ve included Scott’s Thoughts and Great Questions Answered under the “Resources” menu at fccgreene.org. As there are many who are checking us out online (350 different “users” per week during each of the last 4 weeks), and some of our folks don’t use the app and/or try to limit phone use, it’s worth making a little of that available for them and guests on our fccgreene.org website. This will help us all stay on the same page a bit better at 3 campuses. In this vein of trying to communicate effectively with lots of folks in many ways… (Sounds a bit like Hebrews 1:1-2!) … I have begun providing snippets of intro info on the website in such places, to help folks know the purpose of said content. For example, though I’m not there yet, things like Brown Bags & Bibles and Coffee Convos, etc., on the fccgreene.org “Resources” menu need a smidge of intro info, hopefully coming sometime this week. (Scott, note to self: Be more careful to not use names and personal info on ST.)
Briefly, another big reason to put ST & GQA on our website is because I’ve had a few folks ask to read the Scott’s Thoughts from Sun, Aug 7 where I kinda rant-slash-come-out-of-the-closet as refusing to further privatize Christian ideas when it comes to important sociocultural and moral issues like gender identity, e.g. That, plus, in that same vein, a bit more intentional focus from me when it comes to Great Questions Answered, (which almost has two new snippets ready to post on “mark #3” in the essentials of what makes a good church when considering joining/leaving and how to respond to he overturn of Roe v Wade, but I’m not quite there yet, sorry. A bit more to do. Working on it, I promise, but there’s this thing called a church body and staff and a 3rd campus launch that are also kinda taking a lot of my time lately.)
Worth Saying Again > Guests & New Peeps: We’re Launching a Third Campus on Sun, Oct 16, at South Greene High School — Just figured I’d say this up front, as much of what follows assumes you know this!
Don’t Miss the “News Feed” on the App – Seriously, every week there’s good stuff that you’ll miss, like…
- The Weekly Prayer Guide (no link provided, to keep info less public), Scott’s Thoughts, Great Questions Answered, and other important ministry-specific info and announcements like recent posts about multisite, Life Groups, Kids, Marriages, Students, and Pillar (young adults; see here if you’re unaware).
- H7 Story: “People! Sign up for South Greene!”
- H7 Story re Life Groups: “People to do Life With”
- H7 Story: “Scripture Memory as a Church”
See! Good stuff. On the app or at fccgreene.org/news (online, but not linked on our website). Not only is it encouraging to hear about how God is working in others’ lives, but as we continue to plant campuses and try to keep them small and personal, it’s all the more important for us to all stay on the same page. (Can you tell I’m focused on ensuring we maintain unity in the body as we go to 3 campuses?! If you can’t, you’ll likely notice that half of what I’m working on lately is to help ensure we don’t drift from our mission of disciplemaking. Btw, staffers working on our #ForGreene t-shirts, please ask me about something later. Yes, I occasionally use ST to carry out staff biz.)
Marriage Ministry: Pray for new re|engage Couples, New Videos on the App – (1) We’ve got a great group with 8 couples! Pray for their marriages. (2) Just letting ya know, there are tons of good marriage videos now on the app. Look under “Watch” > “Media”.
3rd Campus Launch: Multi Update Dinner & South Greene Preview Night, Launch Guide, Updated Multi Response Cards, Campus & Financial Commitments Update, Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg #1 (of 2) – (1) Click here for a recent news/blog post re the Sun, Aug 7 Multi Update Dinner. There’s a really great 1-minute highlights video there that you don’t wanna miss. Love seeing our people smiling and seeing, and then praying and serving as Elder Mark Liebert prays in the video for us to “Radiate Jesus.” #tshirt Really. Cool. (YouTube link here.) Also, the video of the Sun, Aug 7 MUD, in its entirety, is there if you missed it. Lots of good info. (2) If you haven’t yet picked up a hardcopy (or PDF) of the Launch Guide, make sure to do so in The Hub this morning. (3) Today we’re rolling out a smidge of different verbiage on the Multisite Response Cards. So check it out and fill one out (and commit to South Greene!) (4) We’re at 100% of our goal of at least 125 commitments at both Afton and Greeneville, but we need 42 more at South Greene (which is at 66%), so please pray about your campus commitment and let us know, if you haven’t yet, that you’ll be going to South Greene. ;o) Also, we’re at just barely over $97,000 of our goal of $100k to “launch strong” (see the Multi Response Cards for what that means.) Please ask the Lord for some guidance about helping us get over that last $3,000. (4) Re the Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg, whether you’ve committed to a campus or haven’t (which is all the more reason), don’t miss next Sunday’s important mtg, Aug 28, at FCCGV (GreeneVille campus), from 6-7p. Here are some important upcoming all-church items.
- Sunday is Pray Day – Every Sunday till launch, we pray. See the “Prayer List” at the end of the LG.
- Sun, Aug 28 – 1st (of 2) Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg, 6-7p at FCCGV – For all 3 campuses/launch/relaunch teams. Click on title above for deets. (<-- Old folks, that’s interwebs and Middle School girl speak for “details.” You’re welcome.)
- Sun, Sep 11 – “Shock & Awe” Promo Campaign Begins – See the LG for more.
- Sun, Sep 18 – 2nd Launch/Relaunch Team Mtg, 6-7p at FCCAF (AFton, not Air Force) – For all 3 campuses/launch/relaunch teams
- Sun, Oct 16 – South Greene Campus Launch!
More campus-specific info like outreach, practice, and preview services are in the Launch Guide.
Elders Update Letter on the way This Week – Just a heads up, if we’ve got your address, you’ll be getting an important letter from our Elders to help ensure we stay focused on our God-given corporate mission. Will probably get to you late this week or early next?
Parents Night at 180 Student Ministry Gathering This Wed, FCCGV Campus, 6-8(ish)p – I think I accidentally said in last week’s ST that this was last Wed. Oops, sorry. It’s this Wed. But you should still come again! ;o) For details, go to fccgreene.org/parentnight (or the “News Feed” under “Pulse” on the app.)
Brown Bags & Bibles and Coffee Convos – It’s worth a listen/watch to get some good Bible teaching on the “Necessity” of the Bible in the last few BB&Bs and some encouraging insight into God’s work in peoples’ lives on CC. I’ve recently chatted with a local pastor, a couple FCC staffers, an FCCer about his growth in re:gen, a couple from our community about their youth/camping ministry, a university president, an FCC couple’s adoption journey(s, plural), and a young FCCer who shares about serving and what she’s learning in our Residents program! How cool is that?! (“Wait, we have a Residents program?” Yep. More to come on that soon, including a webpage outlining what’s involved. Note to self, Scott: Maybe do a CC with your son before he leaves for college?! Hmm…)
“Events Calendar” on the App – Under “Pulse,” we have an updated list of upcoming events. We don’t put those on the website because it’s insider info and we need to be careful with such stuff. (More on that later, when we implement a “Directory” on the app in the not-too-distant future.) Anyhue… (yes, I know, it’s typically “anyhoo” or “anyhow,” but I pronounce it “anyhue.”) … we’ve consolidated and simplified a few backend software things and, while we’ve got a bit more to do to finish up before completed, the info on the “Events Calendar” on the app is always updated. (Famous last words. Hopefully we don’t break the new system. It’s complicated. Powerful, but complicated. And it didn’t cost us anything new! I feel the need to celebrate that aloud.)
Difference Between fccgreene.org & the app, Scott’s Thoughts & Great Questions Answered Now on Web, Few Small Explanations on Web – Every day it seems there are multiple times when I think something like, “I bet a bunch of our newer people don’t know this yet.” (And probably quite a few not-so-new folks!) One such thing is that, during late Summer 2021, when we finally finished the launch of our new website and app—you can’t see, but my body is twitching—we were careful to make a marked distinction between the two. The website is overall vision and info for those checking us out and wanting to know what we do and how, and the app (fccgreene.org/app) was meant to facilitate more engagement and insider info. While that still holds, I’ve noticed more folks who don’t know where to go and how to get there on the app. So while we’re still leaving a lot on the app that won’t make it to the fccgreene.org website—prayer list, many news items, H7 Stories, sign-ups/forms, media, e.g.—as of this morning, because obviously throngs of dozens are pining to stay in tune with my thoughts and musings… (<— This is sarcasm. I promise. I have no delusions of grandeur.) … we’ve included Scott’s Thoughts and Great Questions Answered under the “Resources” menu at fccgreene.org. As there are many who are checking us out online (350 different “users” per week during each of the last 4 weeks), and some of our folks don’t use the app and/or try to limit phone use, it’s worth making a little of that available for them and guests on our fccgreene.org website. This will help us all stay on the same page a bit better at 3 campuses. In this vein of trying to communicate effectively with lots of folks in many ways… (Sounds a bit like Hebrews 1:1-2!) … I have begun providing snippets of intro info on the website in such places, to help folks know the purpose of said content. For example, though I’m not there yet, things like Brown Bags & Bibles and Coffee Convos, etc., on the fccgreene.org “Resources” menu need a smidge of intro info, hopefully coming sometime this week. (Scott, note to self: Be more careful to not use names and personal info on ST.)
Briefly, another big reason to put ST & GQA on our website is because I’ve had a few folks ask to read the Scott’s Thoughts from Sun, Aug 7 where I kinda rant-slash-come-out-of-the-closet as refusing to further privatize Christian ideas when it comes to important sociocultural and moral issues like gender identity, e.g. That, plus, in that same vein, a bit more intentional focus from me when it comes to Great Questions Answered, (which almost has two new snippets ready to post on “mark #3” in the essentials of what makes a good church when considering joining/leaving and how to respond to he overturn of Roe v Wade, but I’m not quite there yet, sorry. A bit more to do. Working on it, I promise, but there’s this thing called a church body and staff and a 3rd campus launch that are also kinda taking a lot of my time lately.)
Posted in Scotts Thoughts