5 posts tagged “church of christ”

My church has requested the creation of an online directory that is password protected. Our congregation has roughly 200 members. I would love to turn the online directory into more of a social networking thing for our congregation where members can post information about their lives (and I'm not sure what else, I would love to hear some more thinking on the possibilities). Our paper directory is divided by family with contact information and information about each individual family member (name, birthday, email, hobbies, etc.). The online directory would at least have to function as well as the paper directory.

Some of the (starting) questions that I'm getting stuck on are:

• Is this something that can be (should be) done with regular MT or should we look into Enterprise? (Is this something that should be done with MT at all?)
• What kind of budget should I ask for to do this?
• What are the possibilities for something like this?
• Is this too ambitious? I mean, we're only a congregation of 200 (on a good day). Is this just too much?
• I'm sure I'm missing thinking about something else, please chime in and let me know.

I've had a crazy whirlwind of a first six weeks postpartum.

• My husband and I are the registrars for a summer camp. Every Sunday afternoon while the camp is in session we are out at camp to check kids in for registration. This year Emma went with me. She's visited the camp every week of her life since she's was born. Two of those six weeks were almost entirely spent out at camp. This will be her first entire week away from camp.
• I was never much of a baby wearer with my other two kids, but out of necessity I've been wearing Emma a lot and now I'm loving it!
• For someone that was never much of a baby wearer I have a surprisingly sizable number of baby wearing devices. I have Baby Björn (I also had a Infantino baby carrier, but I gave it away), a Maya Wrap style ring sling, a Moby Wrap and three Slinglings pouch slings.
  
• Lately I'm loving the pouch slings.
  
• Breastfeeding is thankfully going well. And because of camp, I've had a lot of practice nursing in public. It's more nerve wrecking than it should be. Thanks America!
  
• I love Belly Huggers! Turn any shirt into a nursing shirt.
• I've had a few baby blues and crazy hormonal moments, but thankfully so far nothing that looks like postpartum depression.
  
• Our family took a mini vacation to the Lipscomb Lectureships (now known as the "Summer Celebration"). It was a bittersweet experience. The campus is beautiful, the people are very friendly, staying in the dorms (for super cheap) was fun, the organizational flow of the classes and keynote speakers was great, the children's programs were wonderful... So many reasons why I would love to participate in an event like this every year, but the teachings in the classes were saddening to hear. In spite of what people tell you, you still think it can't be as bad as it's made out to be, but I was really saddened by the teachings I heard.
  
• My postpartum healing has gone very well and pretty quick this time around.
  
• Movable Type 4 will be coming out soon and I'm incredibly excited! I'm hoping the beta testing will be finished up before the new school year starts so I can install the new version for the student blogs. Seriously, I get all giddy thinking about all the stuff I'm going to be able to do with the new version. I'm a complete and hopeless geek. I can't deny it.
• And last, but not least, a gratutious baby photo:

What are the things in life that you're truly passionate about? 
Submitted by Jess.

My religion. That affects the way I view and the way I behave in all aspects of my life. It shapes the way I raise my children, my behavior as a wife, the expectations I have of my husband, the way I treat other people, what I expect out of myself...everything. I cannot separate it from my political views, my sense of humor, my sense of sympathy and empathy, my understanding of love, my joy, or my sadness; it's all shaped by my religion.

As the title says, this has been a busy week. We just got back from our trip to FHU Sunday evening. We had to drive back to a different church congregation because this week also starts our area cooperative meeting. The cooperative meeting is a once-a-year event where a preacher is invited to come speak at a number of area congregations over a series of days. Traditionally, the cooperative meeting hasn't been much of an evangelistic tool as an opportunity for edification within the church. And that's fine to have something like that. It is really nice to see all people from different congregations.

This week has also really started the stress from yearbook and newspaper. The first yearbook deadline fast approaching and first newspaper will be coming out soon, which means stress for my husband and lots of extra odd and end jobs for me. It's funny, my husband was talking about how the cooperative meeting always comes at such a stressful time in the year, there's a strong temptation just not to go. Every time we do go, however, we always feel refreshed and revived. We're always glad we went. I guess that's what its supposed to do.

I'm also working on getting things ready for an outreach effort that's about to start for my church. Every year my church rents a booth at the North Georgia State Fair to raise awareness and answer questions about the Bible and the churches of Christ. If you're in the area, please stop by. Anyway, we always agonize over exactly what to have to give out to people and I usually volunteer to create some of the items that fall into the category of "wouldn't it be cool if we had..." (at this point my husband promptly volunteers me to create that). This year I've actually had a lighter load of stuff to create, just a sticker that fits the size of a mailing label, yet still looks cute. I'm also creating a kind of label card to go with a short bead craft activity for kids.

That's basically why I haven't posted much this week. I hope to be vox'ing some more in the near future.

I love the singing at church. We have congregational acapella singing. It's so beautiful to listen to and be a part of. I found this video of a church of Christ in Alabama that recorded their congregation singing. It is pretty typical of the churches of Christ that I've visited.

Most people not familiar with worship services within the churches of Christ are a little taken aback by how "sparse" the service seems, but look past that and just hear the singing. It's beautiful. Close your eyes and just listen.

At the end of the video are a few people just singing for fun after the service. I used to love to do that. Not many people at the congregation where I attend now like to do that. I miss it.