sunday

9am classes for children and for adults i'll do a lecture called, "How The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe has helped me know, enjoy, and follow Jesus Christ."

10am worship
--no children's church
--Lord's Supper will be shared

Sunday Night: Women's Christmas event at the home of Paige French--6:00pm
See the church website for more details.

reading cs Lewis

what with the upcoming release of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, CS Lewis is hot right now. If you have never read LWW... I won't beg again here. But you are really denying yourself a treat if you haven't read any Lewis. It is simply fun learning. One suggestion is below. I'm sure you could google "weight of glory" and read it online...
"Begin with The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. Here you will be introduced to themes that pervade Lewis’s works: “Joy,” heaven, Christian ethics, approaches to education, the background of two world wars, the meaning of myth, the importance of imagination, personal holiness, and the Body of Christ, all within the space of the less than 200 pages in most editions. Read Lewis’s famous lay-sermon, “The Weight of Glory” first. Alan Jacobs correctly maintains that “The thought expressed in those sentences is everywhere woven into the fabric of Lewis’s work.” Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, Lewis’s spiritual autobiography, is another good place to start. One caution: Lewis sometimes uses abstract literary references with which first-time readers may be unfamiliar. Don’t let that stop you. The book is still well worth the effort. Obviously, any introduction to Lewis is incomplete without reading Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and the Chronicles of Narnia. If you want to read what Lewis considered his best works, read Perelandra and Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. If you are a first-timer and choose to tackle these books, be sure to have Clyde Kilby’s, The Christian World of C.S. Lewis and Images of Salvation in the Fiction of C.S. Lewis close at hand. Kilby’s introductions to these books are invaluable."
Reformation 21 � December Article Mercer:

Children's Activities Today

Club 45 is working on the set for the children's program, 2:30-5:30 at Stankunas home.
All children meeting at church house at 6pm for Christmas Program rehearsal, 6-8pm.

OK, we're addicted

For a year and a half Kim and i were unexposed to the tv show "Lost". Now, after a chance sighting of an episode 2 weeks ago... we're hooked. I was just sent out to the video store to get Season One, Disc 2. Great show.

Thanks for all who expressed concern about my health. I am feeling much better.

Turkey Bowl was huge success and fun was had by all. Old guys won.

Finally, huge thanks to PATTIE THOMPSON, who stepped up big time to coordinate Monday's CLUB 45 activity at Stankunas' home, 2:30-5:30.

Sunday

NO 9am children's classes
10am worship
11:30 Turkey Bowl (Flag Football game for the guys)

Sunday is the beginning of Advent. Advent (from the Latin Adventus, sc. Redemptoris, "the coming of the Saviour") is a holy season of the Christian church, the period of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, or Christmas.

Youth Group Progressive Dinner

 
 

spiderman 2, has anyone heard this?

today i came across a list of 50 significant spiritual films and this quote caught me way off guard the evangelical outpost: The Lists:
50 Spiritually Significant Films: "Spider-Man 2 (2004) (Oddly enough, this film presents a the comic-book superhero as the best allegorical representation of Christ since Aslan.)"

Lunatics, Knowing God, and Worship

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word "darkness" on the walls of his cell. But God wills our good, and our good is to love Him (with that responsive love proper to creatures) and to love Him we must know Him: and if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. —C. S. Lewis

turkey bowl III is day after FSU game, 11:30am

nuff said

Youth need Help... updated

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!!!

Calling all CCC folk!! The youth group is having a Progressive
dinner and we need your help!!

Who: Anyone willing to cook and open up their home!
What: Progressive dinnner. WE, the youth group, travel around and
eat dinner in four different courses at four different houses. One
house will provide appetizers, another house will provide side dishes,
another house will provide the main dish, and finally we'll stop at
our last house for dessert!
When: Sunday, November 20th from 6:30 - 8:30
Where: 4 different homes
Why: Because we like to eat yummy food!!!!

Appetizers: THIS SPOT NEEDS TO BE FILLED. It can be any kind of
finger foods that teenagers enjoy. Enough to feed 15 - 17 people.

Side Dishes: THIS SPOT NEEDS TO BE FILLED. It can be any kind of
thanksgiving style side dishes. Enough to feed 15 - 17 people.

Main Dish: HORNER FAMILY

Desserts: PENDLEY FAMILY.

If you are interested, contact Erik Folgate at erik.folgate@gmail.com
or 352-378-7608 and leave a message. Thanks!

Few Know

at 11am i'll be meeting with the women's study to look together at the bible's teaching that the free grace given us in Christ motivates/inspires greater holiness than does our own "elbow grease"... thought someone might benefit from this richard lovelace quote i found while preparing:
Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Martin Luther's platform: YOU ARE ACCEPTED BY GOD, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude. (emphasis mine)

I am Totally His

I am His by purchase and I am His by conquest; I am His by donation and I am His by election; I am His by covenant and I am His by marriage; I am wholly His; I am peculiarly His; I am universally His; I am eternally His. Once I was a slave but now I am a son; once I was dead but now I am alive; once I was darkness but now I am light in the Lord; once I was a child of wrath, an heir of hell, but now I am an heir of heaven; once I was Satan's bond-servant but now I am God's freeman; once I was under the spirit of bondage but now I am under the Spirit of adoption that seals up to me the remission of my sins, the justification of my person and the salvation of my soul. --THOMAS BROOKS

bookstores

Amazon is great, of course. But here are a couple of others:
monergism books
heart and mind books

narnia deadline today

please remember that today is the last day of Christ Community's 1st dibs on the december 8th movie tickets
all the info is at our website

call 379-4949 to reserve yours

Club 45 & Youth Stuff

Club 45 (for 4th & 5th graders) at church house Sunday 4:30 til 6

Youth Group at 7pm at church house.

Youth Group looking for 4 people to volunteer their home for a progressive dinner on Sunday November 20th.

Putting A Whole In Your Head: Suicide, The Voices, And Wounded Warriors

a realistic and hope-giving meditation from a guy who went to clemson & covenant w/ Steve Lammers
"The voices loudly proclaim that 'you suck', 'you're alone', 'it can't get better', 'nobody cares,' 'you won't be missed,' 'dying is better than living,' 'life sucks, I suck, everybody sucks,' 'I'm a mistake,' 'nobody loves you,' 'you're such a loser.'"
Anthony Bradley: Putting A Whole In Your Head: Suicide, The Voices, And Wounded Warriors:

9:00am- Sunday School Classes for all ages
10:00am- Worship Service (children's church will be dismissed prior to sermon)
4:30pm– Club45 @ the church house*
7:00pm- Youth Group @ the church house*

text notes on Acts 16:
1. when God captures your heart, your resources are with it (lydia's house)
2. lydia is on her way to being the multi-tasking proverbs 31 woman... which is SOO different from the stereotypical "conservative/traditional" view of women
3. loads of stuff on guidance of the Holy Spirit, First, we learn that God may guide us for a long time sending us only “no’s”
without any “yes’s” at all.
Second, guidance is never passively received--it always entails wrestling with
the evidence and using your mind and making a choice.
Third, guidance is corporate.
Fourth, guidance is gradual.
more here
4. "Lord, I thank you that i was not born a woman, a slave, or a Gentile." that was the morning prayer Paul had been taught growing up... boy, must his paradigms must have beens in pieces after his time in philippi!
5. lydia household baptized, phil jailer household baptized... doesn't say infants involved... but servants were almost surely there... certainly seems to at least leave open the possibility of the presbyterian understanding of "who" gets baptized
6. If you have people in your life that you think are not the "type to become a follower of Jesus" then you have forgotten the very power that reached your heart
7. Paul & mates SING in the night prison...men sing for 2 reasons (i can think of): 1.) they are drunk on alcohol, a sports team victory, or the grace of God 2.) they are in a rock band I can't think of other times men sing.
8. you gotta be flexible evangelistically
a.) lydia needed a bible study, reasoning
b.) slave girl needed direct assault on her heart, power encounter
c.) phil.jailer needed to see Xn character (they sang in night AND resisted fleeing jail post earthquake) and to be served in a personal crisis by Christians
So, Memorized gospel presentations can be useful and but perish the thought that my (or your) contact with every non-Xn should look similar

Club 45 Sunday 4:30pm

Calling all boys and girls of 4th and 5th
grades! Sunday, from 4:30-6:00pm,
we will have games and small group Bible
studies @ the church house!
Visit our website for more information or directions.
Christ Community Church - Gainesville Florida - Welcome to Christ Community Church Online

New Churches across N. America

Mission to North America (one group that started Christ Community) is assisting local presbyteries (the other group that started Christ Community) in placing church planters in the following cities:

Davis, California
Thousand Oaks, California

Smyrna, Delaware

East Naples, Florida

Dayton/Virginia City, Nevada
Henderson, Nevada

Cleveland (Westlake), Ohio

Hillsboro, Oregon

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Bellingham, Washington

Toronto (Mississauga), Ontario, Canada

Thank you Jesus

cool weather and starbucks has broken out the Christmas decorations... sweet

Resources for Ministering to Youth

Adolescence can be a difficult and trying time in the life of a young person. Today's culture pulls them in many different directions and offers them a variety of idols that promise health, wealth, and happiness but lead only to spiritual darkness. Covenant Seminary's Online Resources offers a variety of downloadable resources to help the Church minister effectively to youth. Find out more by searching the key word "youth" at:

i can't wait to see...

I want to see the part when Peter goes to the Professor to tell him about Lucy making up tales, and the professor talks him through to the logical conclusion that since Lucy is not a liar or a lunatic, then she must be telling truth about Narnia. How surprising for Peter...

--Kelly MacGregor

I can't wait to see the part when they meet the beavers (goes back to a family joke back home)

--Lizette Crosson

women's event Tomorrow 6pm

great opportunity to connect; strongly recommended; details at church website
Christ Community Church - Gainesville Florida - Women's Ministries

The Joy of Reading Great Works

Why should we make time to read great books? What should we read? How should we read most effectively?
good stuff here

Business for the Glory of God

The UF Prayer Walk went right by the business school... we were praying for things that are mentioned in this book review of a new 93 page book that looks very promising. Good Christmas gift for $10.

excerpt:...when people ask how their lives can glorify God, they are rarely told, "Go into business." Students, when they ask, "How can I serve God with my life," don't often hear the answer, "Go into business." This little book claims just this, that "many aspects of business activity are morally good in themselves, and that in themselves they bring glory to God - though they also have great potential for misuse and wrongdoing."

clarification on Narnia

This week Christ Community has first dibs on the tickets to the December 8th showing. Next week we will open up the tickets so that the larger community can purchase from us. So make your decisions and act by calling the church office 379-4949. Tell your friends in other churches na nanny boo boo--- I mean, hang on 'til next week.

here's the info

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Religious & Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers

this is link to a review of a new book on teenagers. (amazing that one of our worship leaders had time to write this book!) The Religious & Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
1) A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3) The central goal of life is to be happy ands to feel good about oneself.
4) God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5) Good people go to heaven when they die.

Prayer Walk #1

Rick Kingsley and I met at the Christian Study Center and
prayer walked for an hour. We prayed for campus ministries as we walked by (Baptist College Ministries, Study Center, RUF and Presbyterian Student Center) then headed across University Ave into campus.
We prayed at the Business School, Student Union, Journalism & Communications building, Turlington... and then of course, The Swamp.
We prayed for people to know the hope of Christ and the love of God, for the various departments to be used to train people who would use their business and communication degrees to serve people, not use them. Example: develop business in 3rd world countries, communications specialists who speak for the oppressed, etc
OVerall, it was very helpful to me. Easier to pray for an hour when your walking than kneeling.
Next Monday 9am we're meeting downtown. If schedule allows, join us. Details later.

(Is TODAY the day that Richard Horner, Steve Lammers , or my wife reads this blog?)

Sydney Schaef's email

many of you remember sydney, an undergrad at UF who has helped lead worship and hi school girls bible study... she's studying in Tanzania this semester and her recent email is worth readingsydney's email

Prayer Walk Monday 9am

read all about it

Sunday at Oak Hall when Christ Community Gathers

Individual renewal is indissolubly connected to the renewal of the whole church. We cannot attain the fullness of the Spirit without being turned inside out, so that our central focus is no longer our own growth, but the glory of God and the growth of Christ's kingdom. --Richard Lovelace, Renewal as a Way of Life

sunday 9am classes for all ages
10am worship gathering with celebration of Lord's Supper/eucharist/communion

In thinking through Acts 15, which we will dwell upon Sunday, it strikes me that there are at least these two marks of a healthy church:
1. There are enough people coming to faith in Christ who don't look-like & act-like the insiders that the leaders have to make some rulings about the congregation's life together
2. The leaders are zealous to both stand for the gospel of grace and protect the conscience of ALL followers of Jesus

May God pour out His Spirit to make those 2 things true of Christ Community.

SAVE THE DATE, december 8

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
We have reserved the Royal Park Theatre for a special viewing of
Narnia’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. This will be a fun,
Christmas church event for the whole family to enjoy!
December 8th, 2005
6:45pm @ Royal Park Theatre
$9.00/person
Due to limited seating the tickets will be
sold on a first come, first serve basis.
Call the church office to order tickets and make reservations: 379.4949

Parent's Night Out

Parent's Night Out is THIS Friday (November 4th), from 5:30-9:00pm!

RUF students are offering FREE babysitting at Faith Presbyterian Church (5916 NW 39th Ave.) This is to give you an opportunity to spend time together, go out for dinner, or do some Christmas shopping! Please RSVP to the church office (379.4949) as soon as possible if you are planning to bring your children. Our RUF students need to know how many children will be coming and what their ages are, in order to plan for this event.

Men's B'fast Tomorrow at Church House 6:30am

6:30 til 7:15 at church house; on parker road...1.5 miles south of newberry road

Legalism in a Decaying Culture

Legalism in a Decaying Culture

Parenting by Grace, not Legalism

Parenting by Grace

Prayer Walk

Next Monday Rick Kingsley and I will go on a prayer walk from 9am til 9:45. We'll begin and end at the Christian Study Center. Feel free to join us. What is a prayer walk? I'll post more later, but it is pretty much what it sounds like.