Tonight Dialogue held it’s first annual Heart Of A Generation dinner.
The evening included a spaghetti dinner, which was followed by a service produced completely by our students.
The service was focused on seven topics.
Passion
Love
Acceptance
Unity
Diversity
Justice
Hope
It was simply amazing listening to the passions and heart of these students.
The evening consisted of skits, vocal performances, poems, and videos.
The service ended with a video about Hope. It was a video made by one of the students, Hannah. It was full of humor, passion, authenticity, and deep passion.
That is just a taste of the creativeness and heart of the students at Dialogue.
God is using this generation to change the world.
If were there tonight and you questioned that before, you no longer do.
(I originally found this story on www.good.is )
In reaction to a Christian marketing campaign, a group of British atheists have launched a media blitz of their own. The “British Humanist Society” has purchased advertising space on 800 buses rolling through streets of London and 1000 posters perched in retail districts and subways. Their slogan, “There’s Probably No God…Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Life,” wages holy war with church propaganda on bumper stickers and billboards.
I think it’s amazing!
I don’t know what church the Atheist organization is reacting against, and I have no idea what the offensive message was, but I am thrilled. People are listening! People are reacting! People are joining the conversation!
How long has the church been ignored? For how long has our message fallen on deaf ears? Thank God that people are listening again. I can only imagine the financial investment it must have taken to purchase ad space in London on such scale! I wonder how many good people with real questions got together to plan the bus adds and billboards. It only happened because the church opened the door for conversation. Let’s meet them where they are and dialogue! Let’s get real with our own worries, and then sit down and listen to theirs. Let’s take their advice and enjoy life! Really love and laugh and wonder and experiment and LIVE!
Let’s listen.
And let’s join the conversation.
-PR
…how God works.
Some weeks we come in and everything works like a charm…set-up goes smooth, the team is gellin, the worship is rockin, the message is powerful (ok, so it’s never quite that good). Then other weeks things seem to fall apart. I mean let’s face it, at Dialogue Church if it can go wrong it probably will. I’ll never forget the sight of my microphone slowly descending to the floor like a helium balloon that’s lost it’s magic.
The cool thing is that god doesn’t seem to be limited by our lack of ability! (As if this is new news to any of us…) Something I’ve realized is that we need to do our best for God—it’s our worship, our offering to him–but he doesn’t need the best from us. He can build the church without an awesome guitar solo. He can build family without the perfect location. He can save souls without the most amazing sermon. He’s looking for our heart not our performance. I believe our heart, and the heart of Dialogue church has been shining through.
Thanks for hanging in there when things have been rocky. Thanks for not giving up–for believing in the dream. Thanks for letting the heart of God show through our failures and weakness. Thanks for not giving up when things are blowing up. Thanks for not hitting snooze when the alarm goes off early Sunday morning. Thanks for giving generously when the money could be spent so many other places. Thanks for standing together as warriors and kneeling together as family. Thanks for giving yourself to the call to live by faith, to be known for love, and to be a voice of hope.
-PR
As Dialogue Church continues to grow and learn, so will we.
You might take a moment here in the next few days to check out the changes that are being made on the Dialogue Church Website. The layout is being completely revamped piece by piece. If today you have looked, tomorrow be sure to do the same because I’m sure something will change.
We at Dialogue Church believe that God teaches us daily. He takes time in our every day lives and speaks to us intently in new ways. As we take time to listen, we expect to hear. We expect God to move us and change us, and therefor our designs, our delivery, and our production will all change as well. The one thing however, at Dialogue Church that will never change, is our vision to love.
Please, continue to check in and wait for those new updates. I have a feeling something exciting is about to happen here at Dialogue Church.
Be blessed,
Kyle (Production Team Leader)
We will be having a Team Meeting this Sunday. I’d like to start the meeting 15min after service is dismissed and tear-down after the meeting. I’m hoping that this will inspire me to keep the meeting short (75min), and allow those who have to work Sunday afternoon to stay for the meeting. It is very important that everyone attends!
So who is “everyone”? Who should attend?
In this case, everyone is anyone! Anyone who is interested in the future of Dialogue Church is welcome to hang out with us!
Will there be food?
You are encouraged to bring a sack lunch if you would like, but we will not be having a formal dinner. (Do i hear a suggestion that next month Dialogue provides pizza?)
What will be discussing?
Such a good question that I’ve included the entire Meeting Agenda for your previewing pleasure!
Dialogue Church
Team Meeting Agenda
08.24.08
Updates :: Ministry Team Updates
[Finances: Amanda]
[Insurance: Jamie]
[Early Childhood: Kimberly]
Discuss :: Thursdays
[We will discuss our thoughts about hanging out together on Thursdays. Be prepared to share your thoughts, struggles, testimonies, ideas, etc.]
Update :: Open Mic
Discuss :: “Be the church/Build the church”
[We will discuss which ministries need to be our emphasis as we focus on “being” the church?]
Update :: We Coffee You
Encourage ::
[Dialogue church will rise and fall on the quality and commitment of its leaders.]
Open Floor
Pray
See you there!
This Sunday, August 17th, we begin a new discussion at Dialogue Church. ‘E’lympics or “Evangelism Olympics” is a study that questions our motivation for evangelism. We will ask ourselves why we go to such extremes to bring other people into relationship with God. Are we driven to win souls for the kingdom of God, or have we let ulterior motives sneak in? Do we truly and honestly care about the person we target, or are we just trying to put butts in chairs? Do we see a soul or a statistic?
Join us as we look at the “games” churches play and discover ways we can partner with God to love people into their future!
So what do you think?
- Has the church become obsessed with salvation and forgotten the soul behind the sinner?
- What pulled you to Christ?
- What has helped you engage the people you love in spiritual dialogue?
Hit the comment button below and Join the Conversation!
Wow! Where do I start? I had planned on doing an update for some time, but so many people keep stepping up there game, I didn’t know where to start! Here’s a few of the things that made me proud to be a part of Dialogue Church…
1) Steve and Connie Smith–(as most of you now know) pulled some strings with Connie’s boss and got us an incredible deal on a meeting place for Dialogue Church!! Get this: $100 per MONTH for a great location with room to grow!! Man, do I feel stupid for getting bummed out about the Dinner…Thanks Steve and Connie!
2) Kimberly Spieldenner–did a heck of a job putting together some offering envelopes. If you haven’t picked one up, you need to! She (and her family) looked up quotes about Jesus on the internet, then added a different quote to each envelope. There are something like 20 different ones! Quotes range from Ghandi to MLK Jr. They are very inspiring and extremely well done! Great job, Kimberly!
3) Keith Spieldenner–got inspired and made a cash register program for our rummage sale! You won’t believe it until you see it. Each transaction is totaled, recorded, and printed out for the customer. Plus, if the customer desires, the program will take their picture and recored their contact information so we can keep them informed about Dialogue Church!! Amazing…
4) Amanda Shamblin–did a crazy good job Sunday night at our Start-up Team Meeting leading a discussion about our finance team. She outlined Dialogue Church’s responsibility to be good stewards of the monies we’re entrusted with. She also provided Purchase Authorization and Reimbursement Request forms for us all. I’ve tried to get her to talk in front of people a thousand times and she always says “no”…now we KNOW she can do it! (She’ll be preaching on a Sunday morning soon…)
5) Shawn Hinds–is in charge of staging and she designed an incredible (and low budget) set for us to use on Sundays. She is working to get us some super-good deals on some banners, and her husband (Bill) is building some aesthetic elements to help create atmosphere. I can’t wait to see it!!
Thanks to everyone for making this a team effort! I could go on and on about this person or that person, but suffice it to say that I couldn’t do this with out you! This is just one more example of how “We are stronger together than we are apart!”
Have you ever wondered what your friends were up to? How their day was going? Or, what their plans were for the weekend? Well, wonder no more: Twitter to the rescue!
Twitter allows you to keep up to date with your friends and family by sending out short messages from your phone or computer. You create the message and twitter automatically sends it to everyone who follows you! You also receive updates from the people that you know and follow. It’s a great way to stay in touch. And best of all its free! (If you choose to receive twitter updates via your mobile phone, standard text messaging rates apply.)
I intend to use Twitter to keep everyone updated on the day to day affairs of Dialogue Church. I’ll post updates on meetings I’m having, people who are joining, events we’re doing, ideas I have…just the day to day stuff of running a church. Since Dialogue is a conversation, I’d love for you to follow my twitter and let me know what you think.
I’ll also use Twitter to post what I’m doing personally–prayer requests I might have, pictures of the slow-poke trying to write a check at Wal-Mart, random thoughts wandering through my mind, etc. And I want to know what you’re doing as well! We aren’t just a church, we are a family. This is one way we can stay close the other six days.
So hit me up on twitter. Here’s how:
1) Go to www.twitter.com
2) Sign up for an account. (It is free.)
3) Add your cell phone if you want to get updates on your phone. (Click on Devices.) Remember, that standard text messaging rates apply. If you don’t have a text messaging package, contact your mobile provider. It is pretty cheap.
4) Follow people that you want to receive twitter messages from. (Follow me at: www.twitter.com/rjschaefer
It’s as simple as that!
Once you’ve signed up, leave a comment with your twitter name so we all can follow you!
(If you have any questions, ask them in the comments and I’ll step you through the process.)
There was a mistake on the reverse side of our business cards!! Luckily I caught it before it went to print!!!
Here are the new images:
Front
Back
They should be here on the 10th!
I heard someone say, “the method is the message”. That’s deep. I wish I understood it better…
But I’ve thought a lot about it and I really think that guy was on to something. So many times I’ve tried to say something with words but what I said was completely sabotaged by the condescending tone in my voice or the roll in my eyes. You know what I mean. When your son or daughter hand-made you a card in kindergarten you hung it on the refrigerator because it came from the heart, not because of the words on the card. The fact that it was made by the hands of someone who loved you–the method–spoke louder than the message itself.
So what does that have to do with shopping bags?
A lot actually. And Gaby helped me see it. We began to wonder what message we send to the world around us when we market Dialogue Church with “Business Cards and Banners”? Lots of churches do that. Are we trying to say, “we’re just like them”? Or are we trying to show the culture around us that we are somewhat different? If we claim to be different how do we show it?
There isn’t anything intrinsically wrong with business cards or banners–and we’ll use them when we need to, but how can we get the word out in a way that reflects who we are and what we believe? I suppose that there are lots of good answers (and I’d love to hear them), but one thing that we are doing is giving away Eco-friendly shopping bags.
One of our core values at Dialogue Church is that followers of Christ must live a life of social and ecological responsibility. We, as followers of the Creator of the Earth, should esteem and value the health of God’s creation. One way we can do that is by cutting back our use of plastic shopping bags. Here are some facts about the ecological impact of plastic shopping bags:
* The raw material of plastic bags is oil. Therefore, the more we use plastic bags, the more we waste oil – a non-renewable energy source.
* The petroleum-based plastic bags take up to 100 years to break down, so if they are not recycled they litter. It creates visual pollution: in the streets, on the beaches etc.
* They endanger wildlife and particularly sea life such as sea turtles and dolphins which can die of entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion because they assume that these bags are jellyfish.
So we are giving away Eco-friendly bags as a way to get our name out to the public, but more importantly, it is a way to demonstrate to the world who we are and what we believe.
So what do you think? How else can we demonstrate our core values to the world around us?
