Church Online

Great news!  Soon following every Church Online experience, you can hang around a few minutes to discuss, process, and gain even more from the messages covered.  This is a great opportunity to become better acquainted with the people who attend experiences and a wonderful way to add traction to the lessons we’re learning each week.

What are Talk it Over Groups?

• 20-30 minute Guided Small group discussion for the development of relationships
• Easy curriculum designed around the experience to reinforce the message
• A way to touch people after an experience and guide them to continue exploring God’s word
• Initial contact after an experience when people are ready to listen before life turns their attention
• Easy Step, Short time, High Impact

The Talk It Over leader is a new role for every experience each week.  We need people to volunteer to facilitate the conversations that happen during Talk it Over.  Our team will provide the training for you.  This is a simple way to connect with others and grow spiritually.  Interested?  Get more information here.

Meetups are the best way to meet some people in your area.  I have attended two different meetups, and both times it has been more than I expected.  I just attended a great meetup with 63 other people in Lancaster, CA.  We had some tasty gelato and great conversation at Farley’s Gelato & Coffee Roasting.  There were many there from Journey Church, a local church in the area.  It was amazing to see the “aha” moments for people as we talked about Church Online.  I know that there are many from the church who are excited to visit and possibly serve at Church Online.

My favorite story was my talk with the owner of Farley’s Gelato.  He was an engaging 65 year old man who talked with me for a long time about spirituality and God.  I am excited to say he will be joining us at Church Online to check out all that is happening.  You never know what God will do when you decide to meetup with others!

I encourage everyone reading this to try one meetup…just one.  Organize one yourself or attend one in your area.  It is simple, and I am confident that God will exceed your expectations as well.

Where would you like to have a meetup?

In June we at Church Online launched an internal campaign to invite people to become volunteers in our different areas. This campaign, called Plus One, was designed to get current volunteers to talk to people they know about the opportunity to reach the world while serving with Church Online.

I’m excited to say that we added 30 new volunteers to our numbers through this initiative. To those who invited people to join in, thank you! And to those new volunteers who have joined our community, welcome!

This is really just the start. If you’re part of an experience team or lead a LifeGroup or serve in ANY way with Church Online, YOU are the best recruiting tool we could ever have! You can still ask people you know to consider getting involved – just have them check out http://internet.lifechurch.tv/get-involved for more information!

Every now and then I meet someone who thinks that people who attend Church Online are holed up in a dark room somewhere, having not showered in a few days, and are only willing to engage with people in chat rooms using fake identities. Not true! Those of us in the Church Online family love face to face interaction just as much as anyone and make it a point to seek out relationships with people in our local communities, too.

If you’re looking for a way to meet the friendly faces behind the user names in the Church Online experience chat rooms, check out the Church Online Meetup Page! Every week people in cities across America and in countries around the globe are gathering in homes, cafes, and churches to share Dinner and a Movie.

Check out the highlights on two of our most recent meetups!

Melbourne, Australia
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Meetups are a non-confrontational way to share a meal and The Gospel with people you care about. You can host one in your town, too. Learn how by downloading our free Meetup Kit.

Let’s make week 4 of At The Movies a hit!

This week seven of us gathered around in my sister’s living room to share Dinner & A Movie. While watching this week’s At The Movies film, I began thinking about the many dreams I’ve had in life – things I’ve wanted to become, achieve, see come to pass. It’s funny to me how some of those dreams weren’t meant to be, yet the things I’m working on becoming today are shaping me into someone vastly different than the person who was confronted with the shocking love and grace of Jesus Christ nearly 13 years ago.

Here are some of my dreams that haven’t (and likely won’t) come to pass:

* Be an executive in a corporate setting
* Learn to play bass guitar
* Own enough property to plant a large vegetable garden

These are dreams that God fulfilled by surprising me with a new opportunity in life (as happened to Mr. Fredrickson in the film this week):

* Adopt a child
* Live overseas
* Start a non-profit organization to assist churches in Europe with online ministry

In the future I hope to run a half-marathon, adopt another child, and return to Europe.

What is one of your biggest life dreams that you hope to accomplish?

This is a wonderful email we received from Church Online friends in Australia. Read the inspirational way they used Church Online to reach out in their community this week!

Guys thank you so much for providing such incredible opportunities for us to engage with our community. Dinner and a movie is ‘inspired’, what a concept! We had our ‘meetup’ tonight and it was a blast! We had our intersting moments technically however God jumped in and fixed everything (who knew the Holy Sprit was a technician!)

Tonight’s menu for us was Pizza which was easy to make and a favorite for everyone, one of the single Mom’s who was so excited about coming called us a few hours before dinner to tell us that her child was sick and she was unable to make it, so we made her and her son a pizza, and took it around to her house so that she could do Dinner and movie from home without missing out totally, she was so overjoyed that she could still be a part of the experience. We had a few people who were unable to make it at the last minute however have asked if we could do this more often…my answer? ABSOLUTELY! It was interesting that when we logged on tonight to church Online for the first time in over 2 years we had a problem and couldn’t get video or sound, we refreshed, we restarted the modem and nothing all we could see was the chat and a black screen! So my wife and I stopped and prayed and asked God to step in and bring a resolution it was only a couple of minutes after this that for no apparent reason everything began to work and we were able to worship and see and hear the message! God is good! So it seems from this experience we will have a regular Sunday night meetup for dinner, worship, teaching and all round love and care for our community.

Have included a couple pics of some of the guys that made it to out Dinner and a movie night.

To the church online team (who I have the privilege to call my friends) thank you so much for spending yourselves on us, we appreciate you, pray for you and thank you.

Blessings,
Dave & Melinda Marrett
Melbourne Australia

What’s keeping you from hosting a Dinner and a Movie meetup? Get a free meetup kit and details by clicking here!

This week’s film selection for At The Movies left many of us searching for the fingerprints of God all around us. Sometimes in the hunt for “His will for our lives” we neglect to comprehend that there are people and jobs He desires for us to pour into right in front of our eyes. What’s even worse, we can actually grow to despise those individuals and tasks as they seem to be hindering us from being able to fully walk out His “ultimate” plan. The sad irony is that usually they are critical components on the journey to becoming all that He’s designed us to be. In fact, in hindsight, we sometimes realize that these steps along the way were actually the destiny itself.

While reflecting on these truths I was reminded of Francis Chan’s latest book. If you were moved by the lessons portrayed by Mr. Fredrickson and Russell I encourage you to read or listen to Forgotten God. Francis Chan goes into depth about being the type of Christ follower who walks in tune with the Holy Spirit, seeking His purposes in the here and now on a daily basis.

In what ways were you uniquely challenged by this week’s message? Are there relationships or duties, once held as burdens, which you now see as part of His mission for you? As a first step of faith, in addition to potentially serving as a catalyst to other readers of this blog, would you take a minute to tell us what you feel God is leading you to devote time and energy to right now?