To Live Oak – The Plan, part 1

Don’t know about you, but Sunday was great! I love it when the Church comes together and gets excited about what God is doing!

The concept of “Table Ministry” has hit Live Oak. Here are the details:

Jesus invited everyone to join Him at the table. His table is one of unity, healing, hope, and grace. He is still calling everyone to His table today.
The Church must have the same mindset in everything it does: how do we get people to “the table” to introduce them to Jesus?
This metaphor, this concept, is the HEARTBEAT of our mission statement:
“Love God, love people, bring the two together.”
How do we, as a church, do this effectively?
In Acts 2:42-47 the early church exemplified this concept. Every person was committed to :
- Connection (“devoted to fellowship,” “worshiped together … met in homes … shared their meals”)
- Contributing (“shared everything they had … with great joy and generosity”
- Compassion (“shared the money with those in need,” enjoying the goodwill of all the people”
- Transformation (“devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching … and to prayer,” ”they worshiped together each day”)
We are calling everyone involved at Live Oak to commit to these expectations. Here’s what that looks like:
- Connection — Doing life with others “at the table.”
  (Small groups, Bible studies, Fellowship!)
- Contribution — Building “tables” for others to come.
  (Volunteering on a ministry team, getting involved in the mission of our church)
- Compassion — Serving others “at the table”
  (Local and Global Compassion involvement, ServeFests, serving others every day!)
- Transformation — Worshiping Jesus “at the table.”
  (Sunday worship every week, In the Word every day)

There is a “buzz” right now around here – excitement for what God is doing! Here are some of the upcoming opportunities “around the table” at Live Oak:

Monvee is an exciting “spiritual growth” tool that we will use extensively at Live Oak to help people get connected to God and transformed by spending time with Him. You can check out hot it works HERE.

From March 2 through June 1 Live Oak will be reading the Bible cover to cover in 90 days! Think about what God wants to and can do through a church that is committed to studying His Word. We’ll meet every Wed. night for reading accountability, teaching, and table discussions. It will transform us! To see more details on the study, check it out HERE; for details on the study at Live Oak, stay tuned!

Small groups are about to become the “nervous system” of our church. It is through these CONNECT groups we hope to see people connect to others, serve in the community, and grow their relationship with Christ. We will be recruiting/training leaders this spring and summer and launching groups this fall. It is our hopes to see the entire church networked through small groups.

Live Oak is making a significant shift in the way we do generational ministry. Many churches, Live Oak included, build separate ministry “silos” for children’s ministry and youth ministry. Often these silos end up competing against or, at best, only complementing one another. We want to create one ministry dedicated to raising up a new generation of uncompromising followers of Jesus. We believe the best way to do this is to equip parents with opportunities and resources to fulfill God’s plan for the family, and to create environments where children, youth and parents become thirsty for God.

To this end, I’m pumped to announce the hiring or ERIC CAMPBELL as our Family Discipleship Pastor. Eric is no stranger to Live Oak as the Campbells have been hugely involved with our church for the last few years. Eric’s start with us is a part of the transition plan in place for Kim Rayfield. Kim (our Kids’ Pastor) will be leaving us in mid-April, with Eric beginning the 1st of May. Eric’s mission is create an overall plan for spiritual formation in our children and youth by discipling (leading, equipping, and supporting) families. We are pretty stoked about seeing FAMILY DISCIPLESHIP take off in 2011!

Did I mention how excited I am?! There are our “table plans” for Connection and Transformation at Live Oak. Join us next Sunday as we take a look at Contribution and Compassion!