Month: February 2009

I am a small groups guy so I was very interested in reading the conversation that is taking place on the Willow GroupLife Blog. The topic is whether small groups are dying? Various people in the movement have chimed in including Mark Batterson, Eric Metcalf, and Randall Neighbour. If you would like to take a read and comment yourself here is the link.

My two cents is that they are declining in impact but that is mainly due to our efforts to make them into something that they are not. When the process or the system does not fit the context for the vision, the groups fail. I believe in the power of groups to produce life change and I will stand firm on that belief. The methods, philosophy, and systems that we use should and must change and adopt.

What do you think…are groups really dying?

Over the last couple of weekends, Melissa and I have visited a couple of churches in our area as we search for a place to call home. Two weekends ago we visited The Church at the Ridge. We enjoyed ourselves suffice to say the only negative was the “hard” seat that my pregnant wife did not particularly enjoy. Steve Whipple is the Lead Pastor at the church at the ridge and I have gotten to know Steve a little bit and I can see that God is blessing what they are doing at the Ridge.

Yesterday, Melissa and I attended West Ridge Church which is up the road in Hiram. West Ridge is a very large and growing church. Their lead pastor Brian Boyle is a great guy and God is blessing their ministry to the point that they are going to be starting a Sunday night service in March. We enjoyed ourselves yesterday and Westridge and are making plans to go back.

I do not like “shopping” for churches but during this time and season it is nice to be free to look around and celebrate what God is doing in local ministry and see where he is calling us to serve. We are planning on visiting a couple of more churches in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for the reviews!

I wish to welcome my sister in law to the world of blogging! Check her out at http://www.airforcewife232.wordpress.com

My apologies to my readers but I have not had the motivation to blog in several weeks! I know that I have been a bad blogger and I am sorry!My time has been divided between trying to find things to do around the house because I do not know how much time that I will have before I start working again. My other pursuit is looking for a job which takes up a considerable about of time.

This past weekend, the wife was sick with a bad cold which she has managed to pass along to me now. We had hoped to attend the first service of Passion City Church but did not make it. There is another service next month and hopefully we can attend that service.

Maggie has enjoyed having me home. She no longer spends her days in her crate but instead gets to sleep in a comfortable spot while I search for the means to keep her in puppy food and treats!

All in all life goes on here at the Brunke house! Perhaps this experience will prompt me to write more which could be a good thing.