Why this?

The purpose of this blog is to keep track of the ideas, concerns, and plans of The Core Team. We plan for it to serve as a networking and brainstorming tool for Core Team. The dialogue presented in this blog is not intended to determine official positions or plans of the Core Team, but rather to facilitate an organized, yet egalitarian decision-making process. Hope it works!

Membership Ideas

I realized how silly it would be for us to require members to sign or pledge allegiance to a prescribed list of beliefs. I did, however, feel that this would be necessary for persons wanting to serve in specific capacities, such as teachers, mentors, or lead worshippers. For these roles, they would have to assent to the basic list of Core Beliefs and nothing more. We should market this fact to those who are afraid of “fundamentalists”, yet wish to be a part of a community where they can explore genuine Christian faith.

Split Committments

Ryan emailed me to urge me to consider committing either to The Core or to First Baptist, but not holding “dual membership”, so that I would not be divided in my effectiveness. I responded that neither The Core nor First Baptist had been meeting my family’s spiritual needs, and that this was our reason for being a part of both groups. Ryan felt that this was fair, but encouraged me to commit solely to serving with him in The Core.

It is our anticipation that The Core will become the kind of ecclesia that meets our needs for deep-rooted Bible teaching and corporate worship, but until we get farther past the planning/small group stage, we feel the need to stay connected to our brothers and sisters at First Baptist as well. Someday, The Core must visually reflect both the eminence and transcendence of our mighty and loving God. There's something of the bigness and otherness of God that I know we've missed while doing home church, the same way that we've missed the intimacy of fellowship while attending First Baptist.

Does anyone feel hurt by this? We sure hope you understand where we're coming from and trust that we love you as our very own family.

Grace,

matt

God News

Ryan and I met at the Mud Lounge tonight. I broke the news that he and Melissa would be staying until late Spring. We discussed the potential pros and cons of rejoining the group, as well as some loose ends that needed tying, particularly with regard to apologies and forgiveness.