in house 7/1/2007
Alpha: Interested in God? by Eric Pickerill
We will be starting a new group at Panera called the Alpha Course. It begins July 17 and will run for seven consecutive Tuesday nights through August 28. Alpha is an introductory group for those who are interested in learning more about the Christian faith. Over eight million people around the world have participated in an Alpha group. If you are interested in participating or you know someone who is not meaningfully connected to Jesus or to a church, check out the Alpha page...
What’s Going to Happen With Joshua House? by Eric Pickerill
Most of you know by now that Julia and I are going to lead a team from
Vineyard Columbus to start a new church in Amsterdam. For those of you
who don’t, I’ll quickly bring you up to speed. For the past two years,
Julia and I have heard the Lord speaking to us about a “change” in our
lives. We didn’t know initially what that change would be, but we had a
clear sense that it was a change in our ministry focus. God was keeping
us on our toes once again—he began to speak to us about change just
when we were getting comfortable with the idea of sticking around here
for the next 20 years! We asked the Lord to speak to us and lead us
through the changes, whatever they were. The Lord did begin to speak in
numerous ways, and he did one more thing, too—he opened up a door for
us to begin to dream big dreams, something I hadn’t done very much up
to this point in my life. In short, over the past year and a half, we
have begun to test those dreams with our leaders and friends in Joshua
House and on the pastoral staff and with Rich to make sure that our
dreams weren’t fantasies. At this point, we believe that God is in this
dream and we are stepping out of the boat to follow him! Later this
summer, Julia and I will go to Amsterdam with a small group of people
who are praying about being part of the first phase of the team. In the
fall, we will then begin to assemble the second phase of the team. Next
summer, 2008, we will move with the team to start to first Vineyard
church in Amsterdam.
Breathe 2006, by Jericho Foster
Hi my name's Jericho and I'd love to share some of my experience last
year getting to and being at Breathe and some of the work that God did
in me. I had been going to Vineyard for about a year when I first heard
about Breathe 06'. I was only 17 at the time and had never even been to
Joshua House but still had a strong desire to check it out...
Breathe 2007, by Carrie Christine
It only takes a spark…to get a fire going... Hearing that old Sunday School song in your head? Yeah, me too. But cheesy as that song may be, there is truth in those old lyrics. Truth that you can fully discover at Breathe 2007: Ignite!
Life Apart from Comfort... by Christina Wurdack
Joshua House brought a team of 18 to Nicaragua for the first time for
some of our trip in conjunction with Costa Rica. Personally I wasn’t as
prepared for what was ahead as I generally hope to be. Our team was
completely stripped of all our United States comforts and it was rough.
The first night we got into town we took a quick tour in daylight of
downtown Nicaragua (which mostly was in ruins) and then to the
orphanage (Arms of Love) where we would stay for a few days to unpack
and eat dinner. The electricity was out, and we ate & cleaned our
dishes by candlelight upon arrival. Nicaragua being one of the poorest
nations, there wasn’t cold water to drink (especially from the
faucets), nor hot water to shower in. We wore bug spray when we met in
the lobby for devotions & worship and even to bed, still the
mosquitoes were after us. The climate there was uncomfortably hot, and
there was much work for the kingdom to be done, this was obvious, and
definitely overwhelming. I remember one afternoon our team went out to
pick up trash in the community for a couple hours. The sun was
scorching, I had yet another severe sinus headache, and my shirt ended
up being soaked with sweat. Afterwards, we went back to the Nicaraguan
Vineyard for a quick lunch and went back out for a couple more hours
with several liters of “Big Cola” (a generic coke) and cups asking
people we came in contact with if they would like some soda that we
wanted to show God’s love in a tangible way. Then we regrouped and went
out door-to-door asking if we could pray for anyone that would let us.
Survey, by Michael Cuckler
During one of my monthly trips to speak at Vineyard Chillicothe, I
passed a small white church building that I had noticed numerous times.
However, this time I almost wrecked my car because it suddenly had a
half motorcycle mounted on the front gable above the entrance. I
wondered if I had entered the twilight zone or something strange like
that, so I pulled over to pinch myself and investigate this strange
occurrence on foot. Sure enough, a sign on the front door read
“Chillicothe Motorcycle Club.” After talking to a few locals, I learned
that this former church had closed its doors and was sold to a biker
club.
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