everything designed

Wow, great article posted front page on the Sunday, October 11 Houston Chronicle Newspaper. “Praise for Technology: Tweeting during church services receives blessings from pastors.” Really excited that Pastor Kerry jumped in and is experimenting with new technologies and connecting with the congregation. I am still amazed and how church is viewed and how this sort of thing might create controversy in the public. Check out the comments and the rest of the article here: http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/metropolitan/6662287.html

Seems to be a bit of a controversy Tweeting in church. What do you think? Cast YOUR VOTE. Also, fun note: just got off the phone with my other half and she said this is the main article on the front page of the printed edition!! Amazing. Give a quick hello to Pastor Kerry via Twitter and maybe follow Woodlands Church if you want to track with us.

Great article! Your comments and thoughts can be posted via the huge button below.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named… be strengthened with power through His spirit in you and the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Ephesians 3:14

Thank you for today. You are our Father and you only want the best for us. Sometimes you let us see it through our choices or possible choices. Our hearts can be filled with so many things. Thank for time enough to slow down to make sure it is you.

Sitting Poolside at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center. Beautiful place.

Posted via email from Everything Designed

Recently our Senior Pastor Kerry Shook challenged our congregation to step up and meet an overwhelming need for shoes in our community. Over 6,000 pairs of shoes were given sacrificially that weekend. Just a few weeks later we began receiving reports of churches offering similar challenges to their congregations.

Pastor sparks spontaneous shoe giveaway for charity

CHAPIN, SC (WIS) – Hundreds of people in Chapin are helping others survive in ‘09, donating shoes to a local homeless shelter. The congregation took the phrase ‘give someone the shirt off your back’ literally. Dress shoes, tennis shoes, sandals, flip flops, boots. Shoes of all shapes, all sizes and from all walks of life. It’s the result of a challenge from a pastor. “Not someday, but today. We’re going to do something right now to conclude this service that is a today action,” says Pastor Jody Flowers. Flowers encouraged the congregation in Sunday’s sermon to take action that would affect their community. The mission was to provide shoes to the Oliver Gospel Mission in Columbia. But rather than walk away from church with a plan to do it later in the week, he encouraged them to do it right at that moment. The staff supported the challenge. “Someday, I’m going to do this. Someday. And talking about that someday today, that you go ahead and do it right now. There’s nothing stopping us doing it right now,” says Pastor Paul Allen.

And then Pastor Flowers took off his own shoes and laid them at the alter.

“To really capture the opportunities of doing things now and not putting them off and doing things that truly are meaningful and touch people’s lives,” says Allen. Then one by one, members of the congregation walked up to the alter, took off their shoes and gently set them down, knowing someone in need would later put them on.

“Yesterday, we took it to a new level of not what can we do this week, but what can we do right now, immediately,” says Allen.

The motivation behind the challenge coincides with a series the church is focusing on right now called “One Month to Live,” based on the book.

Read full article and watch video here: http://www.onemonthtolive.com/news.asp

Walk the Talk Challenge Info Here: http://bethemessage.com/shoes/

READ ARTICLE HERE @time http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html

The summer internship that is hotter than your mom’s dog. NO LIMITS INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2009. If that makes no sense to you at all and you still want to jump in and contribute/learn design, marketing or internet (and ministry), begin shopping here: http://www.woodlandschurch.tv/nlip – Apply early and often, three spots go quick. Cya.

Oh yea, be ready to submit your work online. If you don’t have an online portfolio you can upload some images or art to any one of these: http://www.creativemyk.com or http://www.flickr.com or http://www.tumblr.com/.

Heard Chapel Live was amazing last weekend. I am looking forward to checking it out this Sunday night. We will probably go to the 5:30pm service. We have not attended services in the Chapel yet – should be fun. I think we will have to move our small group meeting time around, we usually meet Sunday nights as well. We will see. College age to thirty-somethings will probably love the service.

I’ll post some photos of the service after this weekend.

Link here: http://www.fotw.org/currentseries/default.asp

Highway 242, The Woodlands, Texas – Waters Receding, on my way to Saturday Night services just after Hurricane Ike moved north.

Hurricane Ike Hit us Friday Night with about 70 to 100 MPH winds; trees fell, power went out and life seemed to stop for about 24/48 hours. Woodlands Church however pushed forward and held services as promised Saturday evening at 6:00pm. About 400 brave people decided join us for services (without power) in the Chapel in The Woods. Pretty cool service actually. Afterward we held sign-ups for those who needed help with trees, food, water, ice, etc and those who were able to get out early and start helping. Since then we have cleared over 100 homes of trees and debris, distributed over 50,000 meals, hundreds of thousands of bottled water, not sure about the hot meals, I think about 15,000 to 20,000 so far and we are just getting started.

Check out more information on what we are doing to help the community get back to par.
http://www.fotw.org/main/connect/churchimpact/

Excellent new series at Woodlands Church. Fresh, Reviving Stale Faith. To the ancients, daily life included spiritual disciplines such as meditation, silence, fasting and confession. Our modern world has all but abandoned these time-honored principles, giving way to overcrowded agendas, busy schedules and a fast-paced existence. In this powerful new series, Pastor Kerry Shook explores these ancient disciplines and reveals the irony of how old patterns of the past can become new practices that promise to revive a faith that is stale. Come hear how a return to the past can bring great reward to the present!

Link here: http://www.woodlandschurch.tv or http://www.fotw.org