talk points for the meeting

here are some of the talk-points we'll go over on wednesday night...

1. advertise "worshipping the creator" as an “experience” rather than worship service/gathering.
2. this is a hugely personal experience. the participants put on headphones and personal CD players and experience this with separate CD tracks that are all about 6 minutes long.
3. we learned from the stations of the cross (specifically the “Jesus meets the women” fingerprints station) that it might be better if we didn’t have a definitive start time. instead it might be beneficial to advertise worshipping the creator as being “open from” (5 until 9, 4 to 10, whatever works).
4. each station would be set up by a separate person who would have free reign on it (can use anything we have and anything else they want to bring in) and would need to set it up on thursday, friday or saturday morning. We will number the tables from 1 to 7 so they know where to put their particular station stuff in the family life center.
   
   the person who is responsible for the station would also tear it down (by 2 on Sunday?).
5. work in shifts on the evening of the “experience”.

other talk points:

7. growing the “brainstorming” team
8. developing a community of artists
9. advertising (post cards, www.thewellgathering.com, full page insert in bulletin)

brainstorming meeting this wednesday night @ 8

we will meet at 8 pm this wednesday night at the main building to brainstorm the well for this month and months beyond.

notes from the february planning session

• our theme for the month of february (feb 25) will be love.
  what is love? (baby don't hurt me.) what's love got to do with it?
  
  
• we'll discuss (through stations and message) the way the world views love and the very different way that Christ views love.
  
  
• our worship space will be, essentially, that of a high school valentine's dance. red, white, pink...balloons, expired valentine junk.
  
  
• jennie and betsy will tag-team it on the message. may involve small groups.
  
  
• scriptures could include 1 corinthians 13 and selections from song of solomon.
  
  
• could include clips from movies such as say anything and jerry maguire.
  
  
• stations will include "the dream date station", "hearts magnetic prayers", what else?
  
  
• we will not heavily advertise the theme this month as we strive to bring awareness to the regularity of the well - the last saturday of each month.

*please also note the updated calendar for the year below this post.

planning session this wednesday

we will plan the february 25 well gathering this wednesday at 8 pm at the family life center.

starting this month we will meet on the first wednesday of each month to plan the next well and briefly discuss the previous one.

we’d love to have you there this Wednesday to help us brainstorm.

finding GOD in the desert

this sunday at noon we will meet to talk about october's well gathering. everyone and anyone is welcome to come and discuss our next gathering over food and drinks in the special studies classroom in the adult wing of grace umc.

our theme this month is "finding GOD in the desert" and we will be discussing the desert times in our lives. we touched on this in july but we will focus on it this month. our conversation will be centered around finding GOD in the desert times.

between now and then think about the following and bring your ideas:

• scriptures
  
• liturgy
• visual aids
  
• video & movie clips (feel free to bring a dvd or video)
  
• artwork (print it out if it comes from the internet)
  
• songs (from the church and from the world) & hymns
  
• prayer stations
• other ideas

let's get the ball rolling. leave a comment here with ideas.

here's how to comment:

1. click "comments" below this blog.
   
2. write what you want.
3. click "other"
4. type your name in the name box and (if you have one) your website in the website box
5. in the "word verification" box type the squiggly word that is above that box. it will be something non-sensical like "lymonf".
6. Click "publish your post".
   

taking the offering

we started to talk about offerings at well gatherings and never finished. considering we spend money it is something we need to discuss. i think we could do one of the following:

1. take a traditional offering (but use wooden baskets or something like that) and as we announce the offering say, "If you are a regular attender of grace umc, we'd like for you to give what you can to help us keep the well going." something like that.
2. or...get a wooden box with a slot and place it by the door.
3. any other ideas?

from today's well planning meeting

Here's some of the stuff we said in today's meeting:

1. theme for thursday, october 27 well gathering - "finding GOD in the desert" (read more here and leave comments). this is a change.
2. all-church wednesday night well gathering (probably christmas time - december 21?)
3. sign-up sheets (with theme for following month listed) for different areas of involvement at the well gatherings by door.
4. coffee, drinks, snacks, etc. at the well
5. what else?
   

tonight's planning meeting

tonight @ 7 we will talk about:

themes for the remainder of the year
how to support those themes
how/who to advertise/market the well
etc.

august 25 - planning meeting

we have decided it best to make august 25 a planning session instead of an actual service. our next gathering will be thursday, september 29.

it's going to take some time to hit our stride.

more info on the meeting to come.