Feed The First State

The series Fringe Benefits has challenged all of us to live a life of selflessness and experience the unexpected value of helping someone else.  That challenge is why we’ve begun Feed the First State.  We don’t want to be all talk–we want to put feet on our words and we want to help provide food to people who are hungry.  Here are the statistics:

-The Food Bank of Delaware provides emergency food for an estimated 241,600 different people annually.
-44% of the members of households served by The Food Bank of Delaware are children under 18 years old.

Through partnering with The Food Bank of Delaware, we’re going to help alleviate hunger in our community!

Here’s how you can be a part:  If you’re in a Life Group, do all you can to make sure your party is a success!  If you’re not in a Life Group, here’s how you can be a part:

• Go to this link to see when and where various Feed The First State parties will be happening in our community and drop off your cans of food.
• Stop by The Journey this Saturday (June 25th) anytime between 3-5pm to drop off your cans of food.

When we gather again on Sunday, we’ll celebrate how many cans we collected and how many people we’ll be able to feed as a result.  Plus…we have a surprise.

“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop-do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19)

On the journey with you,

Pastor Andrew

::Andrew Wilson is the Connecting Pastor of The Journey

 

Empower Your Team

I follow a large number of blogs and came across this and was reminded about how true it is. I had a chance to interview Brad Lomenick who is the genius behind the Catalyst Conference and this guy oozes humility, leadership, creativity and loyalty. Everything I have heard about him is good and reveals his heart of loving God and serving others. Great example to look at.  During my interview with him on Backstage Leadership he talked about the need to empower those around you.  What blows my mind is that Catalyst is run by 10 full time paid staff people and the willingness of a mega amount of volunteers.  Brad has appeared to master the art of empowering others to greatness.

Couple things I have learned.  Empowerment is not just delegation.  It is not micro-management.  It is not public permission but private control.  It is not easy.  It may never be done like you would have done it.  It is necessary to be successful.  It is needed for a team to stay motivated.

Leaders: one of the key things you must ALWAYS do is empower your team. As I’ve learned over the years, most leaders at their core are control freaks, which is part of the reason they are successful. But we all must learn and recognize the need to empower those around us to succeed and do what they do well. Most leaders think they can do it all on their own, and many try, but ultimately in order to grow a successful organization that outlives the leader you have to empower those around you.

Here are a few thoughts on Empowering your Team:

1. Give them the opportunity to make decisions, and don’t second guess them. A lot of us as leaders are willing to allow our team members to make decisions, but want to step in as soon as we see something done differently than we would do. Don’t make that mistake. It is totally demoralizing to your team.

2. Assign them responsibility by them owning key projects from START to FINISH. So once we allow team members to make key decisions, now we have to allow them to own projects and feel the responsibility of completion.

3. Fight for them. Whether it’s standing up for them to your boss, or standing beside them and supporting them in a disagreement with a vendor, always take the stance of fighting for them and being willing to go to battle for them.

4. Encourage them. This is the one we so often forget. But can go the furthest in creating team chemistry, longevity, and commitment.

5. Counsel, coach and instruct. Not necessarily the same as encouragement. Great coaches do this well. They scream and you and make you better, while also putting their arm around you and giving you “ego biscuits” when needed. Two different parts of empowering, but both equally important. Instruction is key for releasing again and assigning more responsibility.

6. Overwhelm them. Not on a continual basis, but ultimately your team members should constantly feel a bit overwhelmed by the projects or assignments they are working on, not underwhelmed. Many of their projects should cause them to feel like they are not prepared or ready. If they feel underwhelmed, they will probably end up looking elsewhere for greater assignments and more responsibility.

New Team Member: Billy Stephens

Billy recently joined the FSM staff at Fellowship Church.  Here’s a little bit of information about him to help you get to know him better.  When you see him, be sure to introduce yourself and give him a huge welcome!

The Basics:

Family info: I live in Newark, DE.  I have 3 sisters (2 0lder, 1 younger) a mom and a dad

Pet: Lots of fish

Hometown: College: Not currently in college (Ryan works me too hard), Just graduated from High School

Your Ministry:

What got you interested in doing youth ministry: Ryan asked me to be the intern, and I now feel God is calling me into youth ministries in some way.

Favorite part of being a youth worker: Being able to connect with students on a different level, rather than being one of the students.

How will you serve in FSM: Wherever I am needed to serve.  My title is “Intern”.

Finish The Sentence:

My top three “must do’s” before I die are…Missions trip to Africa, Skydive

My friends describe me as…Funny, quiet and outgoing (yes both), and honest.

I’ve always wondered…Why so many people are “against” God.

When they make a movie about my life who will play me…John Krasinski (The Office)

The movie about my life will be a…Comedy

Personal Favorites:

Bible Verse: Psalms 91 (okay that’s a chapter)

Song: I Can Only Imagine (Mercy Me)

Movie: Facing the Giants

TV Show: The Office

Game: I enjoy all games

Book: Anything by Ted Dekkar

Clothing Store: WALMART

Color: Green

When I Was In High School:

I was…at a vo-tech school studying to become an electrician.

I was voted most likely to…Not Talk

My greatest fear was…failing my senior challenge

My most embarrassing moment was…Throwing up in the hallway!

If I could do one thing over, I would…Probably choose a different career path to study.

How Can Students Connect With You:

Office Phone: 610.358.1358

Cell Phone: 302.598.1355

Email: billy@fellowshiptoday.com

Facebook: I don’t remember the URL

Twitter: Ryan is working on me about this.

Get Your Serve On…

Hey if you are a student that attends Fellowship Church on Sunday mornings, I NEED YOUR HELP!  I am putting together some teams of students who are willing to serve.  Why Serve?  Because sometimes its not about us but about something bigger and I think having a chance to serve God through set up and tear down is huge because that’s what our church needs to do to reach people.  Yes, it’s not flashy but it is a part of the bigger picture.  Are you dependable, motivated and willing to be used for God?  If so, contact Ryan at ryan@fellowshiptoday and let me know what you would be willing to do.

Set-Up…7am for volunteer central, 8am for guest services.
Volunteer Central Setup: curtains, tables, check in computer, tables for food, nametags, lamps, bringing in of all cases.  -This area is for those who serve and gives them a place to connect as well as get ready for the area they are serving in that day.  TEAR DOWN of Volunteer Central happens during 2nd service and all cases from VC get loaded into trailers.

Guest Services Setup: signs, a-frame signs, tables, truss and large black curtains.

TEAR DOWN- of Volunteer Central happens during 2nd service and all cases from VC get loaded into trailers.
Tear down of guest services begins 10-15 minutes after the service ends.
-pulling down of curtains, taking down of signage, putting away of tables, truss, product, pull cases to trailers.

Listen I need your help…I need your parents help…I need to put together a team of students that can either do it every week, every other week, once a month.  Let me know soon.