It's Time to be the Church!

Yesterday we made some more exciting announcements regarding July and August.
If you missed the announcements about our vision and worship location that were made on June 12, you can view that recap here...What's Changing

Here is the background and specifics...

The message yesterday was focused around the 3rd aspect of being a Christ-follower, which is your calling. Essentially, we often do a decent job at being "Connected" to the church. Some people even experience true "Character" transformation, but authentic followers of Christ also live out their "Calling", which is to lead people to Him. We aren't truly following Christ if our commitment to Him isn't impacting and balancing our Connection, Character, AND Calling.

For far too long, I've seen the church, myself included, be way too content with their church groups and programs, which are typically exclusive to church people whether we say they are or not. As The Overflow, we're trying to guard ourselves to make sure we don't fall into this mindset as well. Yes, the church should build up and care for its own (Connect and Character), but Jesus said that we are to make disciples and this requires us to realize that discipleship happens before people commit their lives to Christ. As I said yesterday in the message, it often takes multiple encounters with Christ, which may happen over months or even years, before someone makes a commitment to follow Him. Therefore, we have to CONSISTENTLY be among those who are seeking Christ!

Here's what we're doing to be intentional about this as a church...

Beginning Thursday, July 14th, we're asking people to come together to OVERFLOW into the community on Thursday nights. This first night will be a time of prayer and preparation. Then, each of the next 3 Thursday nights, we're going into the community to overflow God's love to the people. We'll be doing practical things to serve the community such as having free hot dogs and games for kids in park and giving away free fuel and fountain drinks. Each Thursday, we'll invite people to come join us the following Thursday at the next location. All of this will build up toward a Back-to-School event in mid-August where we hope to provide about 500 kids with back-to-school supplies. The Overflow is striving to be the church that's everywhere!

Why are we doing this? Because we want to love on the community and get to know the people that live there. Our goal is not to get them to our gathering on Sunday! While this may happen, we truly want to build both consistency and relationships with the people in the community! Then, if God leads them to connect with our church, that's fine, but our goal is to show and lead them toward Jesus, not The Overflow!

Then, after we've spent weeks doing these things together as a church throughout the summer, we'll be launching our Overflow Groups in early September. Each group will focus in on a community need/area and begin to build a regular presence there as well.

How can you get involved?...
-Come serve with us. Keep an eye on my blog and The Overflow's Facebook and website for the specific details. For now, clear your Thursday evenings.

-Give financially. The back-to-school event will not be cheap, but can you imagine the joy these families will experience as they receive free school supplies? You can give online through our website by using this direct link: http://theoverflowknox.com/give2.html. You can even designate your entire gift to go to the Back-to-School event!