Community Group

 This summer marks our 2 year anniversary of hosting a community group at our home.  We have a few of the original members still in our group, but along the way some have moved away or grown into other groups or even started other groups.  We, as a church, decided in the summer of 2010 to start meeting together in smaller groups in people's homes as a means of forstering community and living out what the Bible says about being united together and sharing life together.  We began as one big group that met in our back yard, but we quickly out grew that and apointed other leaders in our church to open their homes and lead groups there.  Greg and I struggled at first with the idea of cleaning and preparing a study every 7 days.  We began to feel tired on community group days and found ourselves quickly skimming the chapter of the book we were working in hopes of leading a good study.  But it didn't take long for us to realize that the group is not about perfection or apearances, but it's about caring for one another in a real and genuine way.  Sometimes we don't get a chance to scrub the bathroom or pick up all the toys before peeps show up, but as long as we make some coffee and pray together, we're golden. 

We quickly fell into a groove of choosing a study that includes a DVD component, which takes the pressure off us to think of questions or evoke conversations.  With the pre-written questions we can easily all share our experiences or thoughts and learn together. 

We just finished the 'Prodigal God' series by Timothy Keller (epic) and decided to have a big meal together on our last day of that series as kind of symbolic of the big feast the father had when his lost son returned.  So of course, that meant bacon and steak...right? 

I was on veggie duties so I wrapped asparagus, peppers and onions in bacon and roasted it to delicious perfection.  The maple flavors in the bacon were super good with the veggies and I was proud of making something that tasted good.  If you know me, you know I'm not great at cooking and I'm really not great at making things up on my own. 

 Again, messy house but still ready to be filled with laughter and friendship.

 The night was truly made by these massive steaks that Greggy grilled to perfection.  SO good and SO huge.

 A delightful pot luck of salad chips, potato salad, drinks and the rest made for a perfect taste combo.

 enjoyed by all...

 Especially Brad who ate at least 2 steaks .no problem...

And since summer is coming and some more students are moving home or friends are off to work at camps, we will shift again into a different group, grow again and hopefully challenge one another again.  This summer we hope to incorporate some acts of service and practical workings of our faith into our group.  I can't wait!