Kettle Bell Ringers?!?!?

Kettle Bell Ringers -- Your group could do a great service to the community and have fun, too. The Salvation Army is looking for folks to work as a group and take a day to ring the bell at many of the pre-determined locations here in Howard County. Each year the local Salvation Army is trying to man these kettles with more volunteer groups....last year groups had fun dressing up as Santa, singing Christmas carols, handing out candy to children and just having fun interacting with the public. The bells will start to ring all over the county starting November 15th through December 24th, except Sundays.

Adopt-A-Family -- Your group could Adopt-A-Family through the Salvation Army. Take a family’s Christmas “wish list” and purchase everything on it. You will be supplied with particular information about the family in need and be asked to provide a food basket as well as gifts and clothing for the children. Approx. cost for a family of 2 is $200, 3 is $350, 4 is $500, etc. Deadline to commit to this is November 25th.

Angel Tree Attendants -- Your group could take a day and monitor the Angel Tree station at the Columbia Mall. Your community service would help children in the county have a great Christmas. Volunteer days for this are November 28th - December 13th, except Sundays. Deadline to commit to this is November 15th.

If your group would like to serve and you are interested in any of these great opportunities, please contact Pam Carnock at carnock90@aol.com.

Thanks to all!

“This was awesome and I believe my life will never be the same as a leader because of this conference.”
“Will Miller was great. I really enjoyed laughing. I haven’t laughed so hard in a LONG time!”
“I wish our whole congregation would have been a part of this great experience.”
“They were good speakers, lots of great nuggets to take back.”
“I quickly felt at home in your great facility.”
“I loved the worship – both onsite and simulcast.”
“Russ Robinson’s practical advice is extremely useful – especially the four H’s”
“My soul felt nourished, it was great!”
“The event volunteers were most gracious and helpful.”
“The practical advice was very relevant and supportive.”

Those were just a handful of the dozens and dozens of positive comments that we received from last weekend’s Group Life Conference. Altogether, we joined about 14000 people across the nation who experienced this great conference. Thanks to everyone at Grace who volunteered their time and talents to make this happen. 49 people from 10 other area churches joined all the volunteer leaders at Grace for the day and a half conference. They were overwhelmed with the graciousness and generosity of all of our conference volunteers. I don’t think any small group or ministry who had attendees here will be the same going forward. We were all challenged in our relationships to the Lord and each other. Thanks again for making this a success!

Michael m.

Increased Intimacy with God

Have you had a chance yet to participate in Shepherding 201? In this workshop we explore what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus. We then try to unwrap what it means to bring some folks along with us on that journey. How do you create an environment in the context of small group where people are challenged and encouraged to take their relationship with Jesus to the next step? We are going to talk about just that. Many of our small group leaders and members have been to this workshop several times. If you have not experienced this yet, please come and join us this Saturday, 8:30am-12:30pm at Grace. Give Cynthia a call (240-553-1090) or drop her an email (cynthia@gracegroups.net) to let us know you will be coming. (You do not need to attend 101 before 201.) I look forward to seeing you there.

LET’S GET DIRTY TOGETHER

Come and join volunteers from 10 local churches (Building Bridges) as we all serve the Howard County Public School System. We need 150 people, of all sizes and ages, to help plant 300 trees in a barren area in front of Cedar Lane School in Fulton. The date is Saturday, October 11 from 9am – 1pm. No experience necessary. Just show up with a servant’s heart and bring: shovels, wheel barrels, steel rakes, pitch forks, 5 gallon plastic buckets, work gloves and boots. You can let us know you are coming at building.bridges@gcconline.org

What's going on in your group?

Worship/Prayer
When asked what intentional thing groups did most frequently to promote worship during the group time:

• 41 percent sing together.
  
• 36 percent have time set aside for prayers of praise.
  
• 4 percent read Psalms or scriptures of praise.
  
• 19 percent said they do not have regular intentional activities of worship.
  

As far as the amount of time a group spends in prayer together:

• 36 percent of groups spend 5–10 minutes in prayer during group gatherings.
  
• 31 percent spend 5 minutes or less.
  
• 20 percent spend 10–15 minutes for prayer.
  
• 13 percent spend 15 minutes or more in prayer time.
  

Outreach/Service
When asked about the most recent type of service project the group had done:

• 25 percent served a meal to the hungry.
  
• 17 percent did an act of service for the poor.
  
• 12 percent provided cleaning services to someone outside the group.
  
• 8 percent provided childcare as an act of service.
  
• 7 percent did some type of construction.
  
• 4 percent painted as an act of service.
  
• 3 percent visited the sick.
  
• 3 percent provided transportation as an act of service.
  
• 21 percent did some other kind of service.

HOW TO BE "PERFECT"

HOW TO BE "PERFECT"
by Michael Bischof
Group Life Conference Speaker

I became a Christian in the ‘70s, when the proper way to distinguish oneself was “born-again Christian.” I think this was done to make a statement against other kinds of “Christians” who were different in some way. I had never met any of these other kinds of “Christians” and didn’t really know why or how I was supposed to be different, or for that matter, even what “born-again” really meant. But it was in this context that my idealistic teenage mind took a word that I had heard from some Bible teacher or preacher and took it to its logical extreme.

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