A note from a pastor in Missouri whose church is in their 1st week of the E-vent!:

Our kick-off weekend for the e-vent was this past weekend. We had several joys to share. First, our worship attendance was up significantly from our average!! There was a great buzz in the air and an energy that pulsed through the place. Many of our small groups happen on Sunday mornings, so that added to the energy. People were connecting the sermon and their small group experiences and sharing among one another in ways I have not witnessed before at this church.

My true joy was with the youth. We are taking a lead from the youth resources that another church posted here. As I led the youth lesson at youth fellowship last night, I was amazed at how these 7th-11th graders responded. They were interested, active, and involved. When I gave them a bunch of supplies to erect an altar and prayer wall just for the youth area, our fringe kids were the ones who jumped right in and took ownership. They had such pride in what they accomplished for the group!! These youth, who usually stay on the outside of things, were the first ones to grab hold and say,"YES!" to an experience which I know will bring all of us closer. During our closing time, the prayers that they posted on that wall were truly prayers of their hearts. These weren't the "help me through my math test that I didn't study for" prayers... they were prayers for healed relationships, broken hearts, wholeness, and physical healing. I was floored! Again, this group has never shared like this before and I truly believe it is because of two things... the growing momentum/synergy of the e-vent and how it connects the entire church, as well as the many weeks of prayer for our church leading up to this. God is amazing and does wonderfully unimaginable things when we step back and let him!

the youth resources are in the exclusive downloads on gracenet.info.

We are in week four of our E-vent and I decided to make the rounds and visit each small group this week. It is wonderful to see how each group is so unique. The one thing they all seem to have in common is that people have amazing stories to tell! I am particularly excited to hear about people sharing their faith (for the FIRST time in their lives) with friends and strangers who don't attend a church.

One participant - who joined a small group reluctantly - struck up a conversation with a stranger in a coffee shop. This was nothing new for a person who is a self-proclaimed talk-a-holic. But realizing this would be an excellent person to interview for the exercise at the end of chapter 4 the conversation became an opportunity for faith sharing. Praise God!

Another participant recounted that a particular individual was revealed to them in prayer. Later in the week the individual called to talk about some life struggles. The conversation ended with an invitation to worship.

There are so many more stories I could tell and this is not a big congregation. But God is doing BIG things.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers MGR. We concluded our e-vent today with 5 baptisms (2 adults, one teen and two children) and welcomed 3 additional new members into the life and ministry of the church. And I can't tell you how many people used the invitations from week 4 to invite friends and family to worship. After it was all over, we gathered in the church dining room for a thanksgiving feast. IT WAS AMAZING.

As I sat down tonight to reflect on the e-vent and send a letter to my e-vent team, I was struck by the language used in baptism and how that really applies to what has happened to our church through this unbinding process. "Through the waters of Baptism, we participate in Christ's death and resurrection by which we die to all that separates us from God and are raised to new life in Christ." In many ways, the study of Unbinding the Heart allowed us to die to those practices which were separating us from God. The E-vent, like baptism, was not the end of a process but rather the beginning of a new direction for our church. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. Now comes the hard work of living into this new life that we have received.

I give thanks to God for everyone who made the Unbinding series possible.