My new friend Bobby Gilles (@bobbygilles on Twitter) just outed me in his latest blog on Sojourn Community Church Music site. It was a fantastic time… overwhelming in some regards as the Holy Spirit flooded me with vision for Sojourn Huntsville. I hopefully will have time to blog a “debrief” of the things I learned and things that left me challenged (or mentally dizzy). I still have several videos and pictures to post. Life has been in full sprint since I got back from Louisville… I guess I can sleep when I am dead.

Heads up. The Sojourn website may very well be offline the next time you load it. This is due to maintenance that I am performing on the website and servers. If the website is ever offline you may want to have a look at our Group page over at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2211739518

Unfortunately, it appears that you need to have a Facebook account to view the group page. Sorry, but there’s no way around that for now.

I will display a maintenance page to notify everyone that the website is offline. I trust that we won’t lose any data, so feel free to continue commenting and publishing blogs until that time arrives.

Meet Philip, another Sojourner with his own blog Philip’s Tunnel to nowhere.

In my 30+ years as a Christian and fellowshipping with many different great churches all over the world, I don’t think I’ve ever been in any church with as diverse a group of people as Sojourn. And it’s wonderfully liberating. The Body of Christ - as it should be.

Bob

Check out this blog on Church Plants to Watch

Extract:
Sojourn Church - Huntsville, Alabama - David Thew
These guys are meeting in a brewery in downtown Huntsville, the “Seattle of the South”. They are really reaching the area around them in exciting ways, and it’s great to see a church not afraid of the open-hand issues.

Cell-phone lunacy

I may well be the last person on planet earth without a cell phone (although Apple’s new iPhone could possibly change that if it pans out as well as the initial specs indicate.) My determination not to go over to the Dark Side is due in large part to the sheer lunacy exhibited by so many cell phone users, so seemingly powerful is the addiction. I fear becoming one of them. I’m scared of the crack cocaine-like dependency that cell phones seem to have mysterious power to exert.

I wonder if cell-phones aren’t now a bigger cause of traffic accidents than alcohol. I’m thinking of starting the first chapter of F.A.R.C.E. (Fathers Against Reckless Cellphone Enthusiasm.) I can’t count the number of drivers I’ve seen cruise through redlights, sit still at green lights, do 50 mph while in the fast lane on the interstate, turn left with a right turn signal, etc. …… all while merrily chatting away on their indispensable cell phone about the latest trivial piece of gossip.

There isn’t anything that frustrates me more than being too busy. And I think there is a reason for this: God doesn’t want it!! One thing that characterizes my “busyness” is a schedule that is crowded with much activity, but without focus. Busyness creates an attitude in me of getting from one activity to another, and ruins my focus on the people involved in that activity. And this is God’s objection to our busyness: we lose our focus on Him and on His mission.

Simplicity is a word that comes up over and over again in our conversations and teaching in our Sojourn gatherings. What does it mean to simplify? During the past few months, as I was recovering from my bicycle accident, I was forced to miss many activities that would normally fill my schedule. I had to look at each activity and discuss with the Lord, “Is this what you would have me do with the certain amount of energy that I have to spend today?” I discovered that I had to make choices that sometimes I didn’t like (and sometimes others didn’t like!), in order to make it through the week. I had to simplify my schedule. But you know what I found? I was much more “present” at the activities that I attended. You know what I mean… my heart was there, I could focus on the people I was with, and on what God might want to do in that situation. What a cool feeling this was, though – in contrast to my normal distractedness!!

churchinabrewery.com

We have purchased the preceding domain. Currently it links to sojournhuntsville.org. In time, our techguru will develop a microsite which will have its own functions as well as hyperlink back here. Check it out. Forward it to your friends. Pique people’s curiosity.

Within a week we will have some rave-type businesscards to hand out. They will be black with “churchinabrewery.com” on it.

Soon: Church in a brewery