Greetings Adult community of ORB,

God has been moving in some amazing ways among the adults at ORB, and I am excited to be a part of it. You may have heard the "buzz" that in light of all that God is doing among our adult community, we've responded with a shift in focus. We feel that in order to have effective ministry with adults, this new approach will require two things:

(1) An emphasis that every adult has been called by God to serve others and has been given the gifts to do so;
(2) An outward focus on intentional living wherever God has placed us.

This means that every one of us is a functional part of the body of Christ, and that our current life setting is where we are most likely called to minister: our families, work, homes, friends, church, etc.

God is already at work in this capacity among us, and here are the current ways adults are engaging in ministry to others:

-Small groups of adults meeting together regularly to pray for, encourage, and challenge one another
-A mission's team that has already sent one group down to the Dominican Republic and is planning on sending a second early next year
-A mid-week Bible class offering in-depth teaching on the Scriptures
-A mid-week meeting of parents of older children called Mid-Week Oasis that is designed to encourage spiritual growth among older adults
-A mid-week morning prayer group that gathers to intercede for our community
-A service group called ORB Care that understands discipleship as manifesting itself in serving those in need in our area
-A music team that leads and guides the community in worship every Sunday night

So practically, what does this mean, no more "Adult Group"? In addition to the above ways in which ministry with adults is happening, we have scheduled monthly gatherings of all adults at ORB--those involved in ministry and those not yet--to come together, celebrate what God has been doing, and look for new ways of how to minister effectively among adults. Look for an upcoming announcement about our October celebration!

If you are interested in any of the ministries listed, or if you feel there are other areas where your gifts could best be used to serve others, please contact me at mike@theorb.org. My current role is helping adults realize how they can use their gifts as members of this body; as well as encouraging, equipping, and challenging those who are currently involved in adult ministry.

I look forward to serving with you as God leads us,

Mike

Hello adults,

After much thought, prayer, and consideration, the adult group is going through significant changes. The largest is that it is being restructured so that ORB, as a community, will have a better opportunity to outreach to the adults in our families, friendships, neighborhoods, workplaces, etc. It is no longer going forward as adult "group", but as adult ministries. Quite simply, any ministry throughout ORB that is for adult falls under this umbrella. This goes for adult small groups, softball teams, BBQ's, Bible studies, prayer groups, football games, dinner parties, etc.

As adults in ORB, we have the awesome charge to share God's love in the world, wherever we find ourselves. Contact Mike Oliver for more information and to find out what you can do to serve Christ in this world.

Hi All,

Great meeting. It was great to see all of you and I really enjoyed the small group time. Thanks to all of you who brought food. Thanks also to the Medrow's who continually open their house to us. Dave gave a great example of what facilitating is like. Read the study guide, Read the chapter, make questions, and give a small blurb about what the group will be studying. If you would like to fill this need of the AG group let the leadership team know. I think it would be great if we could get as many people as possible to facilitate. Also, if you have an idea for an icebreaker, give us a shout as well. We are always looking for new ideas. Thanks to Sandi as well for sending out the prayer requests!

Couple notes:
0. Next meeting is at the Eyerman's house. Medrow's are out of town. Same time 5:00pm. Here is the map.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=90+Birch+Drive,+Shrewsbury,+NJ&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.631106,82.265625&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=40.333722,-74.070339&spn=0.016749,0.054245&om=1&iwloc=addr
1. There will be an email heading out about babysitting from the leadership team. Watch for that.
2. Watch for the next POTLUCK sign-up email
3. Dinner Swap is coming up the weekend of the 31st. Contact Korin at korinoliver@hotmail.com for more details.
4. Read the whole book of James aloud. It is worth the 15min 38sec.
5. More to come this week......

Have a great week

Matt

Hi All,

The AG leadership team has been working hard to make AG a success. As a team, we wanted to fill you in on what the next AG meeting would look like, when we start the Book of James. First, as a team, we put a standard operating schedule together so that the night runs smoothly and with purpose. Second, we discussed what specifically the format of the study should look like so that facilitators know what to expect.

First the schedule - It is not hard and fast, but should be a good guideline. We will see how it works and make adjustments as needed.

5:00 - Evening Starts
5:05 - Prayer
5:05-5:45 - Eating and Talking
5:45-6:05 - Meet as Group, Group Icebreaker, Facilitator gives 5-10 minute overview of what is being studied that night
6:05-6:45 - Break into groups of 5-8 and discuss questions provided earlier in the week by the facilitator.
6:45-7:00 - Reconvene as a group under guidance of Facilitator
7:00-7-15 - Announcements and Prayer Requests
7:15 - Evening ends

Second - Format of the Study
We have 5 meetings to cover the 5 Chapters of James. In addition to the text itself, the AG leadership team has purchased 25 study guides to be handed out. Couples can share. You will receive these on Saturday. The study guide is from Tyndale, and is titled "James (Life Application Bible Studies:NIV). This study guide is intended to help our study of James. It provides the text of the book, background information, commentary, as well as suggested study questions for small groups. This guide should be seen as a resource by all, but especially for facilitators. It is our hope that with this added resource, that more people would be comfortable facilitating the study.

One last note and challenge: The Book of James was probably written as a circular letter. It would be carried from congregation to congregation where it would be read aloud in its entirety. I would urge you to read the whole book of James aloud this week. This is the way it was intended to be read and understood. Do it with a friend, or by yourself. Korin and I did it and it took 15min 38sec to do. It is a great way to spend 15min and 38sec. Doing this will prepare all of us to hear and discuss the book of James, Chapter 1 this Saturday.

As always, the meeting is at the Medrow’s at 5:00pm.

http://maps.google.com/?q=181+3rd+St,+Fair+Haven,+NJ+07704&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.631106,82.265625&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=40.36064,-74.035921&spn=0.008371,0.027122&om=1&iwloc=addr

See you soon

Matt

Hi All,

The votes are tallied and scored, and I had a great time doing nerd statistics with them. If you don't care about that sort of stuff and just want the results, then the winner is James, followed by a close second of Making Room for Life. These two came in first and second respectively in both the scoring and the ranking. So, it looks like we have a 22 week schedule ahead of us. Next meeting starts our James study. Stay tuned for more info this week, as the leadership team digests the results and moves to implement the new study.
There are some nerd plots attached. If you have any questions, send me an email at oliver@imcs.rutgers.edu


Matt

Hi All,

Well we did it, we got through Romans. We decided to study this book on Feb 25^th 2006, and finished it in January the following year! What a haul. I know that I will look back with fond memories of our times together while studying Romans. Just think about how we have all changed and what God has put in our lives in the last year! I know it was a great experience for me, and many of you have told me the same thing.

I want to thank Christian and Michelle Andrews and Dave and Nancy Medrow for generously providing their homes for all of us to use. I also want to thank all of you who brought delicious food, and those of you who facilitated the study of Romans. It really was a group effort!

As you all have guessed, one of the next big decisions for AG (if that is what we still want to call it) is what to study next. In Romans, we ran the table of topics….from the guilt of mankind, faith, the supremacy of Christ, the place of Israel, transforming our minds, and how to treat people as Christians. Looking back on it…it was a tall and worthwhile order!

At the next meeting, I am asking you to come with answers to two questions in mind, and be ready to discuss them.

1. What do you want to study next?
2. How long do you want to study it?

After the meal, the AG leadership team is going to break us up into smaller groups where we will discuss these questions. I think if we break up for discussion, it will allow more ideas to be heard. The goal of this break up is for the AG leadership team to listen to the group, to see what we should study next.

To get you thinking about this subject, I am going to put a few examples of topics to study next. These are just suggestions….you can think of your own. Hopefully these will get you thinking about this important question for the group (they do not appear in any particular order).

1. Another Letter from Paul (ie. Galatians, Philippians, Timothy I, II)- One of Paul’s main concerns was for Christians to understand what Christ had accomplished for them on the cross, and how that relates to the way they understand themselves and how they should treat each other. Paul addresses a variety of disputes that arose in the early church, such as the role of spiritual gifts, resurrection, and leadership in the church. We also find some of the most beautiful expressions of love in these letters. Most of these letters are short (unlike Romans which is Paul’s longest letter).

2. Book of James. A letter written by James the half brother of Jesus. This is a short book focused on the works and deeds that Christians should be engaged in. He is deeply concerned to tell us that true belief always shows itself by what we do. This is a very practical book and basically shows Christians how they should be living in real-life concrete situations.

3. Book of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. These four books are around or a bit longer than Romans and recount the life of Jesus. Each of these books is concerned with showing us different aspects of Christ’s life. I think any of these would be enormously helpful as we are called as Christians to live like Jesus lived. Instead of asking ourselves “what would Jesus do?”, we could just go see what he did.

4. Books of Proverbs or Psalms. These are lengthy books written by a variety of authors that instruct us primarily in wisdom, worship and prayer (although there are many other things). Each of the chapters of these books is more or less self contained which makes them amenable to short and brief study. These books are often poetic in nature, but communicate many rich truths about the life of the believer. These books seem to lend themselves to topical studies.

5. Books of Ecclesiastes. A book written by King Solomon. The focus of this book is in comparing the wisdom of God over against secular culture. It is a magnificent work that exposes the folly of trying to find meaning to your life in this world as opposed to finding meaning in God.

6. Old Testament Narrative Books: (ie Genesis, Exodus Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1,2 Samuel, 1,2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah) These books recount the lives of real people who have real encounters with God. They are not stories of people who “got it right.” These books have the excitement and intrigue of novels. The things that happen to the people in these books are, quite frankly, amazing. These books are a great opportunity to look how real people encountered God, and how God used them (warts and all) to accomplish his purposes. I can imagine studying the life of Moses, or David, or Ruth or any other character to see what we could learn as believers from their successes and failures.

7. Books that teach Christian principles: There is an array of books that many of you have read such as “the other 6 days”,“blue like jazz”, or many of the C.S. Lewis or N.T. Wright that I know have impacted the life of people in the group. If you have a favorite which you think would be good for the group, bring it and be prepared to talk about it.

8. Topical studies: instead of looking at a specific book, we can study specific topics such as relationships, finance, leadership, etc. This sort of study is generally very practical, and draws on a variety of resources for learning. Bring your suggestions if a topics!

Hopefully this gets you thinking about what you want to study next!

If you have any questions, contact me at oliver@imcs.rutgers.edu

Matt

Hi All,

An outstanding meeting! What a great discussion about how we are to relate to each other on issues of faith and practice. Dave Medrow did a great job with the questions and with leading the discussion. I honestly think it was one of, if not our best meeting. This topic is so critical for a community of grace to operate properly Paul gives us some very practical guidelines to live by, while focusing our attention on the work of Christ. Let's remember and be sensitive to the fact that all of us are at different points in the path that God has for us in our lives, yet, despite these differences, we are all united in the work and person of Christ. Thanks Dave for all of your effort. Also, the meal was fantastic! The Medrow's cooked a whole turkey…mmmm so good. All of the food was delicious. Thank you to all of you who brought it. Hopefully you saw the prayer requests and the announcements from Sandi…if not, here they are again.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Our next meeting will be on December 16th at Christian and Michelle's at 5:00pm. Our plan is to finish Romans that night. Chapters 15 and 16. And maybe, possibly, combine that with a Christmas party?

The Lootsma's plan on hosting a New Year's Eve party at their home for the Adult Group. Kids are welcome. It will probably start around 7 PM or so. Think about some sort of either traditional food from your family that you would like to bring or some type of finger food that reminds you of New Year's Eve or the holidays.

If anyone is not already sponsoring a Connect Family for Christmas and/or would like to be involved in that for the Adult Group, please let Matt Oliver know so we can decide ASAP if we are able to sponsor a family or not. Thanks!

Our responsibility for the Sunday service for the next two weeks is as follows..

Dec 10: Power point responsibilities

Dec 17: Welcome announcement

If you would like to volunteer for these please let me know so I can pass it on to the Sunday service team.

Also, our last night on Romans is Dec 16; After that, we don't have a topic. I propose that the start of our next topic be on January 13 so that we have time to decide. I have heard some good suggestions from all of you, so please throw them out there via email.

As always, look for updates and the POTLUCK sign up sheet in a separate email.

Matt