Sawmill Campus Blog

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder about the conference this weekend.  If you can get away for even one of the sessions it will be completely worth your time!  Here are the details:

Date:  Friday, July 9th at 7:30pm & Saturday July 10th at 9am – Cooper Rd. Location

Cost:  Free (no pre-registration required)

Teachers:  Rich Nathan & Robbie Dawkins (pastor from the Chicago area)

Purpose:  To press into God and ask for more of His Presence and Power in our lives and in the life of our church

hey everyone,

this message is just for the ladies at Sawmill.  please see Helene’s note below.  Helene is one of our many wonderful leaders at Sawmill and she would love to have you join her. 

Hi all,

I would like to invite all Sawmill women to meet up for dinner before the first Women’s Summer Series. It will be fun getting to know each other and then we can sit together in the auditorium at Cooper Rd.
We’ll be meeting on June 16th at 5:30 at the Hoggy’s on Sawmill Road, a few doors down from Kroger Marketplace. It’s usually not crowded inside at this time, so we should be able to get several tables. We should be able to leave before 7:00 to make it in plenty of time for the 7:30 start time.

If you know you can make it, please rsvp to me (cruisedirectorhb@gmail.com) and I will go early and save some tables. But if you don’t know for sure and it turns out you can make it, just show up–the more the merrier!

Have a blessed week,
Helene

hey everyone!

here are a couple upcoming outreaches:

1.  Mother’s Day Family Photos:  when money gets tight these are the types of things that usually go first.  we’d like to bless as many families as possible (in AND outside the church) by providing a professional quality photo of their family for free.  we’ll start taking the photos immediately following the service on Mother’s Day, May 9th.  the prints will be available no later than the following sunday.  attendance at the service is not required and no rsvp is necessary.  please spread the word to those in your neighborhood and family who this might really bless. 

2.  SERVE Columbus:  every spring our church picks a saturday morning to go out into the community and serve a variety of needs.  on May 15th at 9am we will be doing our part of SERVE Columbus by meeting in front of Davis Middle School and heading out to serve.  there are 5 projects scheduled.  i’d love to have you participate.  also, if there is a project you would like to lead and is in addition to the 5, we’d love that as well!  just let me know your idea. 

Projects 1-3:  Clean up and fix up Olde Sawmill Park/Fix and paint some outdoor items at Wright Elementary/Green Space beautification project at a low-income apt. complex

Projects 4-5:  Dollar theater ticket give-away/Water bottle give-away at Antrim Park.  both of these projects will occur in the early afternoon so they won’t meet at Davis at 9am.

CONTACT DAVE ANDERSON IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED:  dave.anderson@vineyardcolumbus.org

*THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF A TON OF FUN PROJECTS WE GET TO BLESS OUR COMMUNITY WITH THIS SUMMER.  THANKS FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP!  LET’S PRAY THAT GOD DOES MORE THAN WE COULD EVER IMAGINE AND RELATIONSHIPS START FORMING ALL OVER OUR AREA.

* Below are a few photos from our Easter Egg Hunt Outreach – we had close to 150 kids show up!

The reading plan I follow has me working through the book of Joshua.  As I was reading this past week I was struck by something Joshua prayed in a time of distress:

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites?…If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!”  – Joshua 7:7

 The Israelites had begun to take over the Promise Land and were moving from city to city to battle the inhabitants.  They had tremendous success until this point, but found themselves routed by the inhabitants of the city of Ai.  Joshua could not believe it and was distressed (hence his prayer).  Later on we find out that God had removed His hand of favor because there was sin in the camp.  After the sin was dealt with the people continued on in victory and the taking of the land. 

I found myself being able to relate tremendously to Joshua in this moment.  He had just experienced a set-back that was unanticipated.  The task was bigger and harder than he thought.  He was dealing with frustration and confusion – wondering if God was going to keep His promises.  There were probably some rumblings in the camp about how this plan was not a good one and they should turn back.  Doubts began to creep in, with some wondering if maybe they really hadn’t heard from God at all on this endeavor.

Have you ever had an unanticipated set-back in your life that caused you to wonder if you should stop heading in one particular direction, or caused you to think it might not be worth it?  Sure you have!  We all have.  And for a few brief moments we think like Joshua did about how “easy” we had it at some point in our past.  We are tempted to glorify and romanticize a previous life stage, rather than partnering with God in our current circumstances and calling.  (BTW – the “other side of the Jordan” presented challenges for the Israelites as well – battles, leadership changes, Moses’ death, no place to call “home”, etc..)

The fact of the matter was that God had called them to cross the Jordan and to engage in the battle so they might inherit what was promised.  He called them out of their comfort zone so they could inherit something better than they had ever imagined.  Even in the set-back, the promise still stood and it didn’t change the fact that what the Israelites were engaged in was good and was from God. 

Here are a few ways I think this applies to our lives:

1.  You might be experiencing some set-backs and discouraging circumstances in your life.  But I want to encourage you to not turn back and not to give up.  God is in it and wants to do more than you can imagine if you just keep turning to him like Joshua did and following his lead.  At the end of his life Joshua boasted about what God had done in fulfilling His promises to the people……you can bet he was happy he didn’t chuck the whole endeavor in those few moments outside the city of Ai years back. 

2.  At Sawmill Campus we have set-backs from time to time.  We have technical challenges, challenges in making sure the children’s curriculum is working for our kids, challenges with the lights in the gym wanting to keep turning on and off by themselves (spooky!),  wanting to be a diverse campus and not having arrived yet, and on and on.  Much of this goes mostly unnoticed on Sundays, but I am often aware of how things could be better.  You might be too   But I couldn’t help but feel the Lord speaking to me through this passage saying, “Corey, it is so good that you and the people at Sawmill were not content to stay on the other side of the Jordan.  You took a step of faith and have followed me to this thing called Sawmill Campus, and I am in it.  Keep pressing forward.  Keep seeking me.  You are going to look back and be so happy you kept pressing on and chasing my promises for you and the church”. 

I hope this encourages you and you’ll keep pressing in to all that God has called you to.  The end results are going to be worth it!

We will be hosting an Easter service at Sawmill Campus at 10am on April 4th.  I want to encourage you to  invite family, friends, and neighbors to attend.  This is a wonderful opporunity for our new satellite campus to welcome new visitors and to do a really good job of making people feel comfortable and “at home”. 

Please be praying for all of our services at Vineyard Columbus.  We are in desperate need of the Spirit of God showing up and touching lives.  My prayer is that many people who are visiting simply out of tradition or obligation to other family members will encounter the Risen Christ. 

I am so humbled to be on this journey with you, and I cannot wait to celebrate the Savior’s Ressurection with you!

The way I have tried to view the growth and maturity of Sawmill Campus is through developmental stages.  In the first 15 weeks or so after the launch we were working hard at figuring out “how to do Sunday”.  This took more time than I thought, but was a really good learning experience.  We certainly don’t have it mastered yet, but we’ve grown a lot and  I’m learning there is no such thing as “the perfect service”. 

The next developmental stage I think we have encountered is “community building”.  We have simply needed time to get to know one another and begin to feel comfortable with those around us.  This is clearly on-going and important, and it is the reason we have tried to do things like the potlucks after service as well as launch new small groups.  I welcome any new ideas to add to this mix.

The stage we are about to enter (and never leave) is the outreach phase.  As I think about “why” we decided to launch Sawmill the driving force was always reaching people for Christ and seeing His Kingdom advanced in our communities.  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about moving into this stage.  Recently I sat down to think through various outreaches we could engage in.  I’d like to list a few that we are thinking about and then hear from you about other ideas that you would be excited about getting involved with.  Here are a few:

Easter Egg Hunt, Tax Day Stamp Give-Away, Free Mother’s Day Photos (single moms?), SERVE Columbus projects, Zoo Day, Sports Camps, Vacation Bible School in 2 apartment complexes, Single Parent’s Fair, and random acts of kindness (water bottles, free dollar theater tickets, etc..).

Over the past month VLI students have been serving Sawmill Campus by leading servant evangelism projects in our area, telling people about the church.  Here is the email I received from one of the leaders after his project was finished.  I can’t wait to see God use us to touch more peoples’ lives for the sake of His Son!  

Corey,

The outreach went very well on Saturday to the Sawbury commons. What an ethnically diverse area! We talked with many different people including hispanics, people from Russia, and a man from Africa. We gave them a loaf of homemade bread with the churches card on it. We also encouraged people to check out the church, which some showed a genuine interest. It was exciting to see God allow different opportunities for us to minister to people in a variety of ways. On a couple of instances we were able to pray for people in regards to healing, job needs, and relationship problems. One lady in particular stands out to me. We were on our last couple loaves of bread and we came to a house with a lady who could barely get the door open because of all the boxes on her floor. When we opened the door we explained that we had a housewarming gift for her because we have a new church in the area. She broke down in tears. She had come from Cleveland (just yesterday) and had been out of work for a year. She had finally decided to leave Cleveland and got a job here in Columbus. She was doing the move to Columbus all on her own. We had an opportunity to pray with her about her future. It was so neat to see God specifically meet a need. This is just one of several stories. What an area that is ripe for the gospel. Thanks again Corey.

On tuesday evenings i help run a basketball league at the vineyard community center.  What this means for my family is they don’t see me all day.  I am usually the one that puts my 2 year old to bed, except for on tuesday nights. 

So this morning my wife just happened to be walking by ava’s room when she woke up, so she went in and got her.  I was in the room next to hers.  As my wife walked in the door the first words out of my daughter’s mouth were, “is daddy here?”.  Her mom told her i was and she immediately ran into the room, walked over to me, and just starting smiling.  This caused a big grin to come over my face, knowing that she missed me and I had missed her.  She seemed delighted to be with me, and I felt the same.  After these few moments i moved on with my day, not thinking much about it.

Later on in the day I felt like the Lord spoke these words to me as He brought to mind my experience: ” Do you remember how excited she was to see you and to be in your presence?  Do you remember how that brought joy to your heart?  Do you remember the feeling you had when you saw her?  You were delighted and filled with joy.  The two of you delighted in one another.”

Then He said, “This is how I feel about you.  I am delighted when you delight in Me.  I am filled with joy when you ask for My presence.”

This isn’t a new thought for me, and I’m sure it’s not for you.  But it leaves me with a couple questions:

1.  Do I really believe He delights in me?  2.  Do I really believe it makes his heart happy when I ask for and desire his presence?  This seems like such a simple thing.  I am reminded of Jesus’ words to Martha when he told her that “only one thing is needed”……ie. Himself. 

I pray this week you will experience His presence in a wonderful and refreshing way.  I pray you might get just a glimpse of the joy He has when He looks upon you.  And I pray you might begin to ask more frequently my daughter’s question, “is daddy here?”.

Do you ever take the time time to stop and ask the question “Why do I do what I do?”.  From time to time I find it very refreshing and helpful for my soul to think through what is motivating me to be a good husband, father, employee, pastor, and follower of Christ.  This spiritual discipline re-energizes me and brings new focus and passion to what God has called me to.

This year my wife and I are using a reading guide that takes us through the Bible in one year.  It has been a wonderful practice to do together.  We are currently reading the book of Acts and I came across the verse above as I read through the 8th chapter.  As soon as I read it I felt like the Holy Spirit was reminding me of why we have embarked upon our adventure together at Sawmill Campus.  At the end of the day, when all the details have been worked out and people have been served and obstacles have been overcome, the reason we have stepped out into uncharted territory is to see people experience Jesus in fresh new ways so as to be set free.  This is what Luke is describing in Acts.  Philip had preached the good news and many people were healed and the city rejoiced that the Kingdom of God had broken in to their community.

Thanks for coming along on this ride called “Sawmill”.  My prayer is that God will do for our community what he did for that town in Samaria many years ago.  May many experience great joy as God works in and through us.  I hope this small verse will encourage and re-energize you to keep pressing on and asking the Lord to do great things in northwest Columbus and beyond.

-corey

I’m glad you have decided to check it out.  My intent is to use this blog in several ways:

1.  To share what the Lord is doing at Sawmill Campus – specific stories that you might not otherwise be aware of.  For example, our children’s ministry leader openings filled up over a month in advance of the next session - this is unheard of at most churches!  We are blessed to have so many people in our midst who are willing to serve.

2.  To dream with you.  This is a really big one for me.  I believe God has put so many dreams in the hearts of His people and He wants to release us with the resources to go out and pursue those dreams for the sake of His Name.  I think this blog is a place where we can leave comments for one another and share our dreams.  It’s a place where as I talk about what I believe God is calling Sawmill to pursue we are able to line up the resources that God has placed into Sawmill with the dreams that He is placing in our hearts so we might actually see things happen and peoples’ lives get touched.

3.  To share a few of my own thoughts about what God is doing in my own life, in hopes that it causes you to think about what God is doing in your own life so as to encourage us to keep pursuing and seeking after Him.  I’m not sure how often this will happen, but my goal is to write something weekly, if not more.

4.  To provide information.  We will do our best to keep all the relevant information you need under the “Events” and “Outreaches” tabs of this blog.  This information will also be listed on the Sawmill Campus page of the vineyard website.  I want to encourage you to check out these tabs right now as we have just rolled out a bunch of new outreaches for the next couple months.  Would love to have you involved!

Thanks again for stopping in!  Please sign up your email address (over there to the right!) so we can send you updates to the blog as they come about.  Talk with you soon!

-corey