The River Church Community

Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. (Titus 1:7,8)
 
Dear River friends,
 
This past summer, our leadership community nominated four candidates to serve on the Board that provides oversight for the church.  All four nominees were people of outstanding character and gifting.  In the midst of the discernment process, one of the nominees withdrew their name.  The other three have been welcomed into a trial period of service.   
 
We plan to commission them to their service publicly next Sunday, November 15.  But, in case you won’t be there, I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to them electronically.  Julie Priest, Myrna Hill, and Mike Valentine are veteran servant leaders in the church.  You can read more about them here.  Julie and Myrna have already joined our meetings.  Their hearts of prayer and wisdom are much appreciated.  We are deferring Mike’s participation until after our search for a new worship director has been completed (Mike’s enthusiasm and leadership skill are being put to work as he chairs our search team).
 
Our board members are entrusted with a great responsibility.  Though, their labor is largely hidden, I want you to know that the hours of their service are considerable.  Please hold them in your prayers (even as they have taken up the burden to pray for us all) . . . and when you see them, I encourage you to offer them a word of appreciation for the offering of their lives on our behalf.
 
Peace,
Brad Wong, Lead Pastor

Hello River,

Check out the Worship Director search team blog for the latest news on our search for a new worship leader.

Also, we just posted the Flow video featuring Brian Perronne speaking about the Giving Team.  This is a great way to learn more about the work of the team.  Click here and scroll down to "episode 5".

Last, please read the letter below from Mark Phifer-Houseman with a follow-up on the Vision Seminars.

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Dear Riverites,

Last month we had over 100 members attend our first personal vision seminar. Jill Bekaert had a good turnout for her parent/family vision seminar as well.  These are signs of how much we each feel a yearning to discover God's unique calling/purpose for our lives.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit with a group of friends and take turns sharing our time-lines and where we are at in discerning life values and major calling themes from them. It was amazing how much more clarity people gained by sharing their lives and listening to the themes that others heard or saw in their stories. For example, one friend had grown up in a bi-cultural, bi-socio economic family in a wealthy area. His whole life was marked with him befriending or influencing economically rich but spiritually poor people. Seeing the uniqueness of this through our eyes, it was easier for him to affirm the hand of God preparing him for a ministry among this needy group. Soooo,

• If you went through the seminar, but don’t know what to do with the work, I encourage you to get with a couple friends and share/listen to one another. Please feel free to invite any of the staff to join you and continue the work you started last month.
• If you haven’t yet developed a tentative set of core values, I encourage you to take some time alone with God to prayerfully finish this work. This is one of the key elements in understanding how God has shaped us; our key values guide all our choices and responses in life whether we are conscious or not.
• If you are married or courting, share your “poster” and values with your significant other. See if God may be pointing to things in your partnership through the interaction of your life stories. Are there ways your differences can synergize? Are there values not expressed in your partnership that need to find expression?
• If you missed the seminar, you can complete it with our MP3 recording and the resources on our website. You may also want to get with a couple others who missed for accountability as the whole process will take between 6-8 hours of prayerful work. But, it’s God’s call in your life, so what could be more worth the time?
  
  • Writing your life story: go to http://www.the-river.org/article/vision-seminar-i-pre-work/ and spend 1-2 hours journaling the major events, people, and influences in your life with the instructions given. Even if this takes 2 weeks at 20 min. a crack, it alone is worth it to see how God has been at work throughout your life.
  • Go to http://www.the-river.org/community-life/vision-seminars/ to download the MP3 of the seminar and the additional handout.
  • Workbook: There are 3 ways to get the workbook you will need to complete the seminar work. First, I have copies of the essential pages at the connecting table. Second, borrow the booklet from someone who has gone through the seminar. Third, order your own copy from the weblink in #2 above.
  • Poster/post-its: You will need a poster and 3 colors of mini-postits if you want to have the full scale visual time-line. These will be at the connecting table. Or, you can just do it in an excel spreadsheet if you prefer a virtual/smaller version.

• Put one of the two offerings of the second vision seminar on your schedule, Sat. 1/16 or 1/30, 9-2 at the Ministry Center. You don’t have to have finished seminar #1 to attend #2, but it will be helpful foundation.

We on staff are really encouraged by the way our church has engaged so far in the exciting/scary/cynicism challenging personal vision process. Let’s lean into God in this space before the holidays for his clarity re: lives of Gospel vision.

In the adventure of following Jesus,

Mark P-H

Announcements for Sunday, November 3, 2009

Giving Update

Pastor Tony Traback shared an update from the Giving Team.  You can view the update here.

Kindness San Jose

Kindness San Jose is coming November 15 - 21.  Click here to see the many ways that you can get involved this fall.

Women’s Breakfast

Dessert with the Kimseys

Come and preview the next chapter in the Kimsey’s journey with God!

You are invited to share dessert with the Kimseys and learn more about their journey with God. They are excited to share about why incarnational ministry with the poor is their next step to living out The River’s values. There will be opportunity for questions, and they will provide ways that we can stay connected with them after they leave San Jose in December.

There are 2 opportunities to join the Kimseys at the Ministry Center:

Saturday, November 7th from 7:30 - 9:00 pm
or Sunday, November 8th from 4:00 - 5:30 pm

Please RSVP to one of the dates .

Looking forward to seeing you there!