Upcoming Church Wide Business Meeting & "Forward-Motion"

This coming Sunday (December 14), we will have our very first church wide business meeting immediately following the Sunday night gathering. This meeting is a crucial step toward our development as a church.

Also, a few weeks ago we discussed our sixth and final Core Value: Forward-Motion: We believe that we were meant to live with an awareness of a culture that is constantly shifting and changing. We will always be mindful of these trends and changes and adjust accordingly.

If you are interested in learning more about this, here are some great books:

1) A New Kind Of Christian
(Brian McLaren)

2) The Church On The Other Side
(Brian McLaren)

3) Velvet Elvis
(Rob Bell)

4) Simply Christian
(N.T. Wright)

5) A Peculiar People
(Rodney Clapp)

Thanks for checking in. Have a great week!

-Rob

Week 05: "Celebration"

Here are some important events to be watching for:

1) Echo Bible Church Business Meeting (December 14)
Immediately following the Sunday evening Gathering on December 14, we will be holding our first ever church-wide business meeting. While this may not sound very exciting, this is an incredibly important step toward establishing ourselves as a church and shaping the future of Echo.

2) Home Groups Begin in January
As we talked about two weeks ago at the Sunday Gathering, we are
committed to being a people who are deeply connected to one another
and involved in each other's lives. Because of this, we are planning
to launch our home groups this January. This not simply a program of
various small groups for various types of people. We want these groups
to be mini-churches in which people discover deep and meaningful
community. If you are interested in being a part of this, please email
me and let me know (echobiblechurch@gmail.com).


This past weekend at the Gathering, we explored the fifth of our core values, Celebration:We were meant to celebrate the divine in the daily and to be a voice of hope in our world.

If you are interested in reading more about this, here are some great books:

1) For All God's Worth
(N.T. Wright)

2) Chasing Daylight
(Erwin McManus)

3) Through Painted Deserts
(Donald Miller)

4) Heaven Is A Place On Earth
(Michael Witmer)

As always, thanks for checking in, and don't forget that the weekend Gathering happens at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell every Sunday. See you there!

-Rob

Week 04: "Serving"

At the Sunday Gathering, we are continuing in our series "What We Believe." Through this six-part series, we are exploring the six core values that define us as a church. This past Sunday, we discussed our fourth core value: Serving: We were meant to offer ourselves in service to God and to others. We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving for the benefit of other people.

We talked about the idea that we have been saved, not simply to congratulate ourselves for being saved, but so that we could be empowered to do good in the world and thereby showing the world what God is truly like.

If you are interested in studying more about this, here are some good books:

1) Good News About Injustice
(Gary Haugen)

2) The Irresistible Revolution
(Shane Claiborne)

3) The Shaping Of Things To Come
(Frost and Hirsch)

4) Rich Christians In An Age Of Hunger
(Ronald Sider)

5) The Revolution
(ed. Heather Zydek)

This weekend, we will be continuing in this series with our fifth core value: Celebration.

As always, we meet at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell at 107 Montreal in Hurst (see link to the right for a map). The Gathering begins at 5:30pm, and childcare is provided.

Have a great week!

-Rob

Christmas Boxes and Week 03: "Community"

We are participating with several churches in a mission project. There are hundreds of children living in rural Mexico who are in desperate situations. The holiday season can be especially difficult for a child who feels that he or she has been forgotten. We want to join with others who are providing Christmas gifts for children who would otherwise receive nothing. If you are interested in helping us with this, please email me (echobiblechurch@gmail.com). If you like, you can specify the gender and age range of the child who will receive your gift. Just let me know what you would like. Dennis Swanzy is distributing the empty boxes to be filled with gifts. If you will notify me of your desire to participate, I will send your information to Dennis, and he will bring a box for you to the gathering this Sunday.

This past Sunday, we continued our current teaching series, "What We Believe" with the third of our core values: Community:We believe that we were meant to live a life that is deeply connected with others. We will always seek to be a church that honors community.

If you are interested in reading more about this, here are some books...

1) Life Together
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

2) Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them
(John Ortberg)

3) Waking the Dead
(John Eldredge)

Does reading this blog feel a little like watching Reading Rainbow?

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week. See you Sunday!

-Rob

Halloween Cookout & Week 02: "Wholeness"

This Friday (Halloween), we are having a cookout in the front yard of Jason and Angie Kimbrell (107 Montreal. Click here for a map). We will start grilling at around sunset (approximately 6pm). Come hang out and greet trick-or-treater families and help us get to know the neighbors. Everyone is welcome.

This past Sunday at the Gathering, we continued in our series on "What We Believe" with the second of our core values: Wholeness: We believe that Jesus wants to save every part of us and to restore us from the inside out. We will always seek to be put back together in a holistic way.

If you want to read more on this value or to understand why we have listed this as one of our non-negotiable top six, here are some books to check out:

1) The Ragamuffin Gospel
(Brennan Manning)

2) Abba's Child

(Brennan Manning)

3)  The Emotionally Healthy Church
(Peter Scazzero)

4) Let Your Life Speak
(Parker Palmer)

5) The Inner Voice of Love
(Henri Nouwen)

This weekend, the core value that we will be discussing is Community.

Don't forget that our weekly gathering happens at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell. See you there!

-Rob

Week 01: "The Grand Narrative"

Our first Sunday Gathering was this past weekend. We began a six-part series called "What We Believe." This series will be focused on looking at our six core values and how they will shape the DNA of our church as we move forward. 

The first core is The Grand Narrative: We believe in and affirm everything that the Bible affirms. We believe that the Bible is inspired and that it is instructive for those who seek to live out the way of Jesus.

We discussed the idea that we are living in the midst of a story that God is telling and that we are invited to play a part. If you are interested in reading more about this concept and why we have named it as our first core value, here are some great resources:

1) How Can the Bible Be Authoritative? (article by N.T. Wright)
This article is perhaps the single best treatment on the exploration of Scripture that I have ever read. This is where the analogy of the Five-Act Play was first introduced (at least to me). If you are at all interested in Narrative Theology, you simply must read this article.

2) The Last Word 

(N.T. Wright)

3) The Drama of Scripture 

(Bartholomew & Goheen)

4) Engaging God's World
(Cornelius Plantinga)

5) Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be
(Middleton & Walsh)

This weekend, we'll be talking through the second core value: Wholeness.

Don't forget, we meet at 5:30pm at the home of Jason and Angie Kimbrell. See you there!

Rob

Mission, Vision, and Values

We had a great planning meeting last night. Thanks to all of you who attended. We are well on our way.

Our top priority has been to construct and define the DNA of Echo. After weeks of praying, editing, thinking, and re-editing, we have crafted our official Mission Statement. It is in the column directly to your right.

Also, we have four primary vision statements. These are our barometers for success and failure. This is what we see when we look at the future of this church:

A church that equips her people to live as Jesus calls us to live.
Our weekend gatherings are not merely services meant to attract or entertain. The purpose of the weekend gathering is to open our eyes to the way that we were created to live and to challenge us to respond to that call.

A church of Missional communities.
These are not simply small groups. These are small communities that exist in homes that seek to offer hope, renewal, and celebration not only to those who attend, but also to any who may cross our paths.

A church that serves and offers herself to the communities in which she exists.
We want our friends and neighbors to be glad that we are here and long for us to stay. We believe that when Jesus moves into the neighborhood, things should get better.

A church that offers hope and healing to the most marginalized and oppressed people around the world.

Also, we have defined our six core values:

The Grand Narrative
We believe in and affirm everything that the Bible affirms. We believe that the Bible is inspired and that it is instructive for those who seek to live out the way of Jesus.

Wholeness
We believe that Jesus wants to save every part of us and to restore us from the inside out. We will always seek to be put back together in a holistic way.

Community
We believe that we were meant to live a life that is deeply connected with others. We will always seek to be a church that honors community.

Serving
We were meant to offer ourselves in service to God and to others. We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving for the benefit of other people.

Celebration
We were meant to celebrate the divine in the daily and to be a voice of hope in our world.

Forward-Motion
We believe that we were meant to live with an awareness of a culture that is constantly shifting and changing. We will always be mindful of these trends and changes and adjust accordingly.


The first six weeks of our Sunday gathering will be a series that unpacks these values and helps us to see what it would look like to be a church that embodies them.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend!

-Rob