Why I hate community

February 10th, 2010

Between Thursday and Friday each week I have multiple meetings focused on how the Gospel needs to change us as individuals and a body. Saturday and Sunday evenings I am faced with challenging messages (like this one) from Josh. Sunday mornings I meet with my Fight Club- me and two other guys who will (lovingly, not literally) punch me in throat if I don’t deal with my sin issues. Mondays, my small group meets where we attempt to build up and challenge each other, and Tuesday mornings I meet with a group of godly guys for prayer and encouragement.

I hate it

The sinful, prideful, arrogant Jakob doesn’t want any of this. Deep down, my flesh hates it: “Community? Really? Why on earth would you want others involved in your life? You can and should do this on your own! Why let others challenge you when you are doing just fine!?”

I don’t want to be part of Gospel-centered communities because they hold me accountable for my sins and encourage me to grow. They challenge my heart. They force me to look at myself and my actions and compare them to God instead of others. They speak the call of Gospel into the life that I so want to be in control of.

I need it

But I cannot imagine being away from any of it! I sometimes wonder what my life would be apart from these people, the Church, God…

What would it be like if I dropped the Fight Club? If we ended our small group? If I quit Atmosphere? Nothing. Nothing good anyway. Pastor Cousineau talked about that in a recent sermon- if I stop moving forward I begin moving backwards. That is why I need my small group, Fight Club, and everything else: they hold me accountable for my sins and encourage me to grow. They challenge my heart. They force me to look at myself and my actions and compare them to God instead of others. They speak the call and the comfort of Gospel into the life that I so want to be in control of.

Being part of the body of Christ is vital to staying connected to the head.

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Missional Community

February 8th, 2010

We showed this clip at Atmosphere Park Ave. this past weekend. We hope that you can take the goal of Atmosphere and run with it into the community that you have been called to.

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Prepare your soul | 2.6.10

February 5th, 2010

Tomorrow (Saturday, 2.6.10) at 8:00 we, as Atmosphere Park Ave. will be sharing a meal together as we discuss what the Gospel says about our need for community. Please join us in this!

As we prepare to sit down and eat together at Park Ave. tomorrow night, let’s consider the purpose behind the meal together.

We are coming together to:

  • Worship God in Christ by His Spirit and in unity with each other
  • Hear the Word of God proclaimed
  • Fellowship with each other and meet each other’s needs
  • Build our faith

Come, join together with us tomorrow night as we do this and more. Join the community of believers that will be gathered at the Park Ave. Campus. Hear why we need other believers in our lives from the Word of God. Add your thoughts as to how to live in community in light of the Gospel.

May we be united in faith, and meditate on this truth:

I therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call– one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4.1-6)

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Josh’s Opportunities

February 4th, 2010

As mentioned in Sunday’s post, Atmosphere is constantly getting many opportunities to serve in churches and areas around the State and even some across the nation. For a small taste of why we need your constant prayer and help in this, here is Josh’s schedule of speaking for the next month or so. Please keep him in prayer through it all.

Feb 4th – 7th  | Verge 2010 Missional Community Conference

Josh flies out this Thursday for Texas. Pray for his travels, and as he works to connect with conference speakers, build a firmer foundation for our Student Life Groups and learns how we as Atmosphere can be more missional minded. He will also be working on some writing and reading while he’s gone, so pray for his productivity. Follow good quotes, highlights and photos from him on twitter.

Feb 13th | Atmosphere and 5:00 Service

In addition to preaching at Atmosphere Park Ave. and Oak Hill, Josh will be preaching at the 5:00 Saturday evening service. This is also the weekend where a number of us will be away at Snow Camp, so pray for us, but also for Josh, Tim, Richard, Carol, and others as they try to meet the needs at Atmosphere while missing some of us.

Feb 19th -21st | Winter Blast: Rumney

Josh will be speaking 4 times: once on Friday evening, twice on Saturday and lastly on Sunday evening. Pray as he prepares the message of the Gospel, and for his travel, wife, and kids as he will be away for the weekend.

March 12th | Winter Bash

Josh joins Joel and Janna at the True Love Waits Winter Bash: Message for Hope and Purity. Pray that he will have the right, Gospel-centered message for the teens that attend. May Christ be glorified there.

Above all pray that the gospel goes forth, God is made much of and that he stays healthy. Also for his wife and kids since he will be gone a lot.

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Technology over Community

February 2nd, 2010

This might help us better understand what our role in the lives of others is:

“We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry.” (Francis Chan- Crazy Love, p.25)

Is that what the Bible calls for? No, look at what James says about our communication with one another:

“…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1.19-20)

Our Conduct

Look again at how you use your social media accounts. Are you bitter? Angry? Do you show the love of Christ even when you aren’t near other people? Christ called us to lives that are worthy of His calling (Luke 14.27; Eph. 4.1-3) are you living that?

Real Friends

So if we are supposed to live lives worthy of the calling of Christ, why don’t we? Do you think you don’t have time to show love? Are you too busy? Do you care?  Here are some ways to show that love of Christ and live according to the calling:

  • Instead of wishing someone a happy birthday on facebook, why not call them and see how their doing?
  • If you are arguing with one of your friends, don’t approach them on facebook; go out for coffee with them, work it out in the name of Christ.
  • Use your accounts for good! Send encouragements, don’t mock others on-line (or in person). Show the love of Christ to all.

Are there other ways to live lives worthy of the calling even while you’re on-line?

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Open Doors

January 31st, 2010

Open doors for leaders, open doors for Atmosphere –

Many times you can hear a message like preached this weekend and thoughts like these run through your mind; “Well I’m glad Josh has a chance to minister”, “oh I can never join the leadership team, I don’t have what it takes”, “I can’t be on mission my life is too busy”, “I don’t know enough about Jesus, or the Bible to serve Him.” To be honest none of us have what it takes, but when God opens doors for Atmosphere and works in and through us, we  will walk through them. Many times these open doors come to the leadership, whether it be speaking engagements, special meetings, youth group development, new campuses etc… What everyone needs to understand is that when a door opens for the leaders, it opens for all of us.

Open Doors:

Doors are opening fast within Atmosphere, many times it seems faster then we can move through them. What are these doors? New campus opportunities, new Student Life Groups starting along with new speaking engagements for some of our leaders. We have the chance to host regional conferences and trainings (The Calling & Lead) as youth ministries from around Maine contact us for partnering. All of these things are great and we as leaders can see God’s hand leading in these things, yet with all of these open doors we start to see the need for more people living on mission.

Our Needs:

1)    Prayer – We need hundreds of people on their knees praying for what God is doing, discernment in what we are to do, what open doors we are to walk through, what ones we are to pass by. We also need to be praying for the hurting people that are walking into SLG’s or our campuses on a weekly basis.

2)    People – We need more leaders. We need adults who are willing to give up their lives for the sake of the Gospel. We need students who look at their fellow students and are broken knowing they do not know Jesus, and are willing to live on mission for them. We need Student Life Group leaders, who can commit to reaching their friends for Jesus. We need College aged guys and girls who want to give up everything for the sake of the cross.

3)    Passion – We need students who have a passion for art, music, graphic design, sound, web design, and above all Jesus. When these things and Jesus collide the effect is a blessing to the body. What passion has God given you that you can serve him with?

Connecting:

Connect with us. Email us, follow us on twitter, subscribe to our blog, become our friend on facebook, or fill out the form below, just get connected! Know what is going on, find out where you can serve, help, and grow in your faith. Jesus is worth giving the whole of your life to!
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Get Updated

January 30th, 2010

Do you ever feel like you have no clue what is going on with Atmosphere? Do you feel like you’re always the last one to find out about outings, events and sermon series? Would you like to pray more intentionally? Below you will find a place to fill in your email and subscribe to our updates.

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A Very Merry Christmas

January 27th, 2010

Sarah Willson put together this slide show of our Christmas Program last month. Enjoy!

A Very Merry Christmas Slide Show from Atmosphere Church on Vimeo.

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True Community

January 25th, 2010
Community
Since we have established friendship’s intent to be more than just the list of names on a social networking site. A tangible view of friendship should destroy any semblance of a false communal identity. So lets do that, lets destroy this idea that friendship is a fad. Lets show the world that our friendships are gift’s in Christ and the community He grants us has a purpose. But what is the purpose? What can friendship mean apart from people with similar goals and interests? To quote a popular rock band on the matter, “True friends stab you in the front”
Now this isn’t to say that we should all walk around with switchblades waiting to shank our buddies when they beat us at Halo. What this displays is vastly more important.
Friendship should echo Christ’s love through classmates and be sung through co-workers. A voice that raises up the same canticle and a hand that helps to tear the fang’s from our heel. It is the wall between us and our last fix.
Paul describes the Church, or the ultimate community of friends, in 1 Cor. 12 as a harmony synonymous with our own body, with eyes seeing and ears hearing, legs running and arms grasping. This is what friendship means that we should live for others as Christ died for us. True friendship = True comm

Because friendship’s intent is to be more than just the list of names on a social networking site, a tangible view of friendship should destroy any semblance of a false communal identity. So let’s remove this idea of friendship being a fad. Lets show the world that our friendships are gifts in Christ and the community He grants us has a purpose. But what is the purpose? What can friendship mean apart from people with similar goals and interests?

True friends stab you in the front

…according to a popular rock band.

Now this isn’t to say that we should all walk around with switchblades waiting to shank our buddies when they beat us at Halo. What this displays is vastly more important.

Friendship should echo Christ’s love through classmates and be sung among co-workers. It is a voice that encourages, a hand that defends, and a judgment that corrects. It is the wall between us and our next fix.

Paul describes the Church, the ultimate community of friends, in 1 Corinthians 12 as a harmony synonymous with our own body, with eyes seeing and ears hearing, legs running and arms grasping. Friendship means that we should live for others as Christ died for us. True friendship = True community

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Atmosphere and Haiti (part 2)

January 22nd, 2010

Part of spreading the Gospel is being in partnership with other believers around the world. Atmosphere wants to help you be a part of that. So in addition to giving the offering from this past weekend directly to Haiti (we raised $1,013.63, and received another $500 for reaching that amount!),we have begun a new page on our website that connects you with the needs of others around the globe.

Atmosphere On Mission

At Atmosphere, we realize that we aren’t called to “missions”, as in many different tasks world-wide. As believers, we are called to The Mission of Jesus Christ who calls us to act in His name everywhere. That is why we began the “On Mission” page. This allows you to donate to, pray for, or even join with ministries from anywhere that exist to spread the Gospel of Jesus and serve people in His name. We hope that you can use this for Christ’s glory and fame.

What it is

Right now, this page lists several blogs and mission organizations that are raising funds for the relief effort in Haiti. We have it broken up into categories based on what each organization offers. There are some that are working to bring clean water, others bring food, and some help children in need. After this are those raising support in general and there are two ministries listed that are actually in Haiti.

What it will be

In the future, this page will change. We will continue to keep the people of Haiti on our hearts and minds, lifting them before the throne, but there will always be more needs that arise. Look back for trips that Atmosphere is sponsoring and other opportunities for you to get involved in.

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