3.03.2013

connect group


at the beginning of the year i shared some prayers that i'm focusing on for 2013, and God has already been faithful to answer one of my prayers in that he has grown our connect group significantly since that time

our group is one of the newest in the church, started just last november, and at the end of december we had about 8 or 9, mostly college students, and we knew the college students would be switching over to the college connect group; we prayed that if God wanted us to continue to lead a group, that he would grow it, and he has--in january we got another couple with a daughter the same exact age as zu (something i had hoped for--some children in the group and other christian moms of little ones for me to connect with--but hadn't even voiced in my prayer), and this past month one of our elders and his family joined our group. now we've got as many families as our little house can hold!

i never would have thought that i would love--and look forward to--opening my house up every friday evening to a bunch of people i'm just starting to get to know; or that i would love the sound of children running around crazy in and out of the room; or that i would find such joy and contentment in seeing my dining room table filled to capacity and then some.

when bryan told me at the end of our 6 week membership class that he felt that God wanted us to step up and become connect group leaders, since the church was in need of more, i was not so sure about that idea. hospitality has never been something that comes naturally to my introverted self (...you know, the textmessaging incident recently....), but i feel how God is shaping me in this area, turning something that i would've dreaded and been anxious about into something i look forward to with joy each week!

4 comments:

  1. That's so great! What a blessing! By the way, what is the text-messaging incident?

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  2. the internet was out at the school so bryan invited one of our college small group guys over to use the internet around 4 and he ended up staying for dinner then it was getting late, and bryan was off work that night (he only gets one night off a week that we don't have connect groups going on), so i was sort of ready for the student guy to go so bryan and i could have the rest of the evening alone. then my aunt texted me and i decided that instead of texting her back, i would text Bryan that he should take that guy home so we could be alone and not to read it ALOUD! and he of course looks at his text and is like "renee you accidently texted me" and he starts reading it aloud. oh my goodness it was awkward, i felt so bad! we've laughed about it since, but i'm not ever pulling that one again haha

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  3. Hahaha! Oh no! I'm always scared that sort of thing will happen to me. Why did he read it aloud? I guess he just started reading it out loud, not realizing what it said. ;) Did the guy leave? I know how you feel...that was nice of you guys to invite him over, though.

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  4. it was sort of my fault--i put "do not read aloud" at the End of the text message--should've put it at the beginning! and yep, he left--he realized immediately what bryan was reading before bryan got halfway through and realized what he was reading. extremely awkward. he's one of my students too! we joke now that i'll just text somebody if i'm ready to get rid of him in workshop lol

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