Welcome – Let’s hear your stories
31Aug09
Thank you for committing to learning how to love your “neighbors” better. We are so excited about what God is going to do through the Love Every Neighbor Dare @ Phos Church.
We wanted to give you some space to share your thoughts and stories about your personal LEND journey. So, this blog is yours. Have at it! Share what God is doing in your heart and in your “hood”. (to learn more about LEND and print out resources, check out the tabs to your right.)
If you have any questions or need help with any of the LEND components please email Meredith@ph-church.org.
Get out there and LEND!
Meredith
Filed under: Meredith | 21 Comments
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COMMENTS
Tony Velasco on Neighbors who are they. David Buckner… on Map of Bluegrass Balloon … Jeff on Map of Bluegrass Balloon … Tony Velasco on Welcome – Let’s he… David Buckner… on Welcome – Let’s he… Jeff on neighbor Jeff on Welcome – Let’s he… Jeff on Welcome – Let’s he… Jeff on Welcome – Let’s he… Robbie Mueller on Welcome – Let’s he…
Please pray for Jeremy and I as we have our new neighbors over on Thursday for the first time!
Meredith,
LENDing is gonna fire up a lot of us! In learning more about how people grow spiritually there are two biggies that seem to help people grow stronger faster — digging into their Bibles on a personal basis and SERVING.
What I like about this is that as people dig into the LEND Journal and OUTFLOW they’ll get the motivation and know-how to serve in simple everyday ways AND they’ll have access to resources to prompt personal Bible Study.
Of course, backing all this up in our small groups (LXGs) will accelerate the journey even more.
Thanks to you, Jeremy, Anne, and Tony for putting together an incredible resource to help us love God and love our neighbors LOUDER than ever!
Have a great day,
Jeff
Thats great. Watch out for the “Jeremy” hug. You to are great. Let me know what good things happen.
Anne
Meredith,
That’s great me and my neighbor are having a cook out on Saturday, from 12-3pm. There will be food fun and games for the whole neighborhood. I’m going to try to get the whole neighborhood doing lend.
Tony
Tony,
YOU are a rockin’ human being! The way you serve around Phos, lead out in Service Worship Opportunities and the work you and the team did on this LEND experience is powerful. Way to go.
So glad that God has you on this ride!
Keep it up RockSolid!
Have a great day,
Jeff
Merideth,
Great job on the LEND Journal! You, Anne, Tony and everyone else involved in getting LEND going have done an awesome job!! I look forward to participating and using this program for my personal growth as I build stronger relationships with my neighbors. I’ll get to spend some time tomorrow reading the journal in more detail and also plan to start my daily reading in Outflow as well. Though not an “official” part of LEND, I did get the opportunity to help my next door neighbors for an hour or two this afternoon as he worked on building a deck on the back of their home. I say not “official” because I have been helping him off and on for the past month on this project and so I don’t know if it really qualifies since it’s not a “new” way to love them. But hey, it’s day one of LEND and I wanted to get something in my journal!!! Thank you again for organizing this awesome program.
Worth
Worth,
Great to run into you this morning at JAVA!
Hey this Deck Project absolutely counts as you are out there building a relationship with your neighbor. And, that’s what this all boils down to is building relationships.
I’ll be talking about the concept of P.S.I.I. as the core of LEND in the next few weeks. P = Pray / S = Serve (building a deck qualifies! ) / I = Invest [find ways to serve them …again the deck dealio qualifies} / and I = Invite — better said this is not just an invite to an event (although, it may be) it’s an invitation to a spiritual conversation when you sense the Holy Spirit prompting you to do so.
You’re on it!!
And, the way you serve around Phos is powerful. We don’t tell you enough how much you mean to this journey.
Love you buddy!
Have a great day,
Jeff
Just an encouraging word. This stuff is GREAT. I really think this would/could be something God can/will use for Kingdom growth. As long as we actually DO what we TALK about.
For anyone out there who is wondering whether or not to invest in the Outflow book: DO IT. Like Mere said, it really does bring depth to what LEND is. Also… to the teens out there: there is a youth journal for sale at group.com (search: outflow youth journal) which is a great investment, too. It’s 4.99 and worth every bit. We’ll be going through it some in our youth small groups so I hope you’ll look into it (though you don’t have to have it to still get something out of group time)!
This passage keeps coming back to mind whenever I start doing anything with the whole LEND thing. So I’m passing it along for anyone else who may benefit from it.
Phil. 1:9-11 … And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Had a great time with some folks in our LXG. They have so many GREAT ideas on how to make a difference in the lives of others! Gonna be a fun ride in the days ahead. Looking forward to hearing the stories.
This is MElissa VElasco andI’m loving the Outflow book! What a fantastic read! I’m also loving the whole LEND concept. I have always been one to be shy at first but then come out of my shell later, and wow! Leaving notes for people and offering to help people carry their groceries and becoming great friends with people in the neighborhood that have lived there for years…why have we not done this before? Why have we always just stayed in our own little groups or clicks…? People just want to be loved on and I’m all about it! I’ve gone to the gym with some newfound neighbors on Friday(yes, still sore) and had hour long conversations with a mom down the street whose daughter is in class with JT at school. Yes, IN JT’s CLASS and we didn’t even know they were 6 or 7 houses down! Props to the LEND team for this project and I hope it will become habit for all of us! Fear is not an option! Just go
LEND!
First of all, I must say that I’m not the most outgoing person in the world, so the whole idea of LEND is a little intimidating. I’m really hoping that this will challenge me to get out of my comfort zone and get to know some of my actual neighbors. One of the neighbors that has lived in the neighborhood for a long time said that they used to have a block party and everyone would come out and play games and have a pot luck. I know organizing something like that would be way out of my comfort zone, but I am thinking it might be a good idea.
Clark, that is awesome! I hope that you are able to get something like that going. One thing that Jeremy and I have done for the last 2 years and will do again this year is host a block party on Halloween night. It is the one night of the year when you know your neighbors will be out and about and you can get meet and talk with a lot of people. Let me know if you need any resources or would like to know what we have done in the past. Can’t wait to see what God does in your “neighborhood”.
I”m pumped about Clarks idea here and about the Halloween yard parties coming back again this year! What a great way to get to know the families in your ‘hood. Keep it up.
So I made these little goodie bags for the office people at my school. It was very easy stuff like microwave popcorn, rice krispie treats, some crystal lite mixes, and a little herseys kiss. You would have thought I had given them a huge gift. Some of them even got teary eyed. I couldn’t believe how such a little thing could really make someone’s day a little better, but I really think it did. For a couple of days after that, they just kept thanking me.
this is so cool….we often run past people that just need a little encouragement and Theresa is great at this. Super doable idea. What I love is that Theresa moved from simply ‘intending’ to do something nice and deluding herself with the notion that ‘it’s the thought that counts’….I wish that were true and then people would know that I really do intend to do nice things all the time–but I rarely do…..
ACTION makes the difference!
Way to Go T.C. May!!
With so much going on in recent weeks I have really found my self distracted. Although I have enjoyed the Outflow reading, I have not completed as many as I would have liked to. To put it bluntly, it’s been difficult to focus on “LEND-ing”. I have seemed to be the one who desired to be served, needing & desiring the attention instead. But again today I am reminded that the most effective way to get beyond “yourself” is to be alert to the Lord’s nudgings. To see the opportunity He has provided and to respond. He does the rest! In the course of the last three days I have had three instance where there has been a simple need. Needs that required so little of my time, yet meant so much to those affected.
– A man broken down on the interstate only needed the reassurance that he wouldn’t be hit
while changing a tire. All it required of me was to park my truck in a position that would
provide him a shield, turn-on my flashers & provide a distraction to three little boys &
their crawdads while dad did the hard work.
- While at my art show, a young vendor & her mother were stressed & tired from a long day.
They struggled w/o success to get their tent closed-up for the night. Her young baby was
loudly expressing her displeasure, when I offered to assist. Five minutes & a little
repostioning of the tent poles & she was “zipped-up” for the night.
- A young man in my neighborhood was struggling to cut up downed tree limbs from a recent
storm. The sawzall he was using was making his work nearly impossible. My chain saw and
five minutes of my time provided me the opportunity to meet his beautiful family.
Lord, thank you for reminding me that each time you ask me to serve others, I am the one who recieves the blessings!!!
Robbie is definitely in the ‘flow’ and his life isn’t making that horrible sound that my shop vac made on stage yesterday because he’s caught up in what God is up to in the world!
He’s living out the J.O.Y. principle of Jesus first, others second, and You last.
Way to go Robbie!
Just keep being you,
Jeff
It’s neat to be reminded that some of the seemingly “smallest” things can be some of the “biggest” LENDing.
Thanks for reminding me to keep paying attention to the little things.
Today I mowed the yard, mopped the kitchen floor, picked up the main room of the house, then picked up the dog from the vet. All “little” things that mean a HUGE amount to Mandi.
Now to just transplant some of that effort to the ‘neighbors’.
It’s been a really great experience to be part of LEND. It has brought serving others to the forefront of my thoughts. It’s always been just second nature for me to help others. But with the LEND journal, I found out that there are new ways that I might have overlooked. The Journal opened up my mind to the possiblities of different ways I can serve. I also am not so worried about checking off, making sure I get my LEND done for the day. But instead I’m focusing on changing my thinking, so that LEND is apart of what I do all day. Plus, this allows me to receive as much as I give. With that I mean, people’s reactions to the door being opened for them or taking someones paper up from the end of the driveway for them, because it’s raining. The thank yous and kind words that come from people. So enjoy the LENDing, because GOD rewards those that give with a loving heart.
“build it on the Rock”
Tony