On March 18 for lunch, the church is going to have a big bingo bash to raise money for our small team of folks who are going to Honduras this summer with the Church of the Incarnation. This effort is part of a plan that will eventually have us taking our own team to Honduras. Our folks going on this trip are continuing to learn about the process and get trained up so they can turn around and guide a trip on their own. We want to support them in this effort of partnership with the people of Honduras.
The Bingo Bash will be an opportunity to connect with other church members, have a lot of fun playing bingo, win some silly prizes, and support this important mission team as they prepare to do their work. It’s $5 for your meal (taco salad bar) and one bingo card. Additional bingo cards are available for additional donations. Oh, and if you want some delicious dessert, that’s an extra donation too! Haha! There might even be some special celebrity guests on hand.
I’m excited to share about our big pub night with the Search and the Euc on February 7, 8:30-10:30 PM, over in Ft Worth. We’ll hear from a friend and fellow missional church guy, Steve Knight, enjoy some great food and beverages, and have a fun time. Steve just did a whole series on Participatory church, using some of the lingo from social networking to wonder how our faith communities might change and adapt to use these kinds of ways of thinking in our worship and work. He’ll share some of that and then open up the conversation for questions and ideas from the crowd. As always, the event is going to be informal and open to people from all varieties of spirituality.
BTW, the Search will be hosting worship that evening as part of the Wells Lecture series, so you can head over for worship at 7 PM and then join us for the pub night at the Flying Saucer.
Faith in the City, our Tuesday weekly pub ministry, has been changing locations, exploring what our great neighborhood has to offer. East Dallas has a ton of tasty places – pizza joints, burger spots, barbecue, tacos, southern cuisine, and more. But I know that can all be confusing if you are coming for your first time or trying to find us after being too busy to make it for a couple of weeks. So here’s the good news – we’ll always be posting our monthly calendar up on faithinthecity.com, so you will always know where we are.
Tonight, we’ll be on Greenville at the Bottle Shop. Bob has been raving about this place near his home for a while. It looks like we can order some takeout pizza from Greenville Pizza Company while we are there, which is awesome.
And just to be clear, since I get this questions a lot too – who can come to Faith in the City? Is it just for young adults? Everyone – it’s for everyone! Yes, we are predominantly made up of young adults, and the kind of group we are serves young working professionals well. But anyone of any age is welcome to join the conversation!
If you want to discuss theology, philosophy, life, work, and culture with a bunch of cool, respectful, and humorous people, come join us.
Tomorrow after the Table service, I have the great opportunity to head out with a bunch of youth for a week of learning, working, and reflecting at the Heifer International Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. If you haven’t heard of Heifer International before, they are the well-respected non-profit organization that allows you to give the gifts of sustainability to families all over the world – gifts like baby chickens, pigs, goats, and equipment to families who could use them for income and food. The ranch is a hands-on experience which leads youth teams in exercises that help them understand where their food comes and the disparities between different countries.
Plain and simple, it’s going to be awesome.
Throughout our trip, I am praying for that same spirit of compassion that comes from Christ to fill us and guide us to a deeper understanding of these issues. I want to hear personally and through our young people the words of Jesus from Matthew 25, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
For an inside peek at what we will be experiencing, check out the Youtube video below.
Keep us in your prayers as we go to learn, grow, and love.
And if you want to stay up with how the week is progressing, follow my twitter feed – @nathanjhill.
I am back from Nashville, where a whole bunch of Christians gathered for worship, business, thinking, praying, fun, and work. It was a bit of a recharge for me, even though such big events tend to be somewhat exhausting for me, especially when I am volunteered to do stuff. This year, I did just a single workshop on young adult networking around anti-racism work. Otherwise, I was able to float a little.
Highlights for me include getting to catch up with a bunch of old friends, meeting some new friends who are excited about the Table, hearing great speakers like Brian McLaren, Marian Wright Edelman, Fred Craddock, and Soong-Chan Rah, participating in some cool conversations about loving neighbors, and being in downtown Nashville.
Tuesday night of GA was especially unique because of a simple immigration vigil young, attended by a group of young and old. You can see me in the first picture below (on the right), praying with our General Minister & President as we began our journey along a short walk downtown. We gathered in a larger crowd then to pray for justice in our nation, yearning for compassion and hope. It was a nice way to take ourselves from structured business sessions to the real world for a time.
Enjoy the pictures – can’t wait to share more with you!
You are invited to check out the Table! We are a diverse community of followers of Jesus in East Dallas who seek to grow closer to God and make a difference in our world.
We worship together at 9:30 AM every Sunday morning.
