Marc’s Musings

I just found this note Cale wrote about a year ago.

In this day of increasing gas prices, it seems nothing is left untouched.

But you know it’s a travesty when it even reachs the Wheel of Fortune.

Contestants on the television game show Wheel Of Fortune have been hit especially hard at the podiums in recent months due to skyrocketing vowel prices, which reached a record $600 last week.

Read all about it on the wonderfully satirical website, the Onion.

While you’re there, check out New Starbucks Opens In Rest Room Of Existing Starbucks.

We’re having a blast at WDW.

Our vacation blog is: http://pdv2008.blogspot.com/.

Photos, commentary, and more!

Yeah, I know we’re supposed to be vacationing. But we’re blogging because we want to try the “blog slurp” feature of Blurb.com to make a book of our vacation.

Well, today is the day we closed the Vineyard Church of Waterville. (Earlier posts in this process are: Going out with a bang and Free Gas on Channel 6.)

I’ve never had a funeral for a church before, but I think we did an exceptional job today. Here was our order of worship:

• Opening song: “More than Ever” from the Dwell DVD
• Offering
• Purging of the church
  

  We spent about 30 minutes tossing things into the dumpster. Everyone got to play. We filled it high. Then we took a sawz-all to the the old church sign and “buried” it in the dumpster. It was quite cathartic for all of us.

• Horizons DVD
  

  I am immensely proud of being part of the Vineyard movement. This video shows where we come from, what we stand for, and where we’re going. You can see this wonderful 18 minute video at www.watervillevineyard.org

• Communion with the worship song “Dwell”
• Prayer
  

  We pushed the chairs back and held hands to pray. We thanked God for this portion of the journey. We prayed for our time of rest. And we gave thanks for the people that have been part of the journey that weren’t there by offering up their names.

• Stacking of the chairs

Then we all came over to our house for a cookout.

Now, the floor is bare, the fridge is empty, and the signs are down.

Please pray for us as we rest, both that we will grow closer to Jesus and that we will rest. (Already I’ve had numerous opportunities to get really busy with pastor-type stuff this summer. So far, I’ve been able to respectfully say “no”!)

Remember, if you want to be notified of our new church plant, there’s a email sign up list at www.watervillevineyard.org.

It’s funny, I’ve always said that VCW had to plant a new church in our first five years. I just didn’t realize the next church plant would be another Vineyard in Waterville!

Caroline Cornish of WCSH Channel 6 did a wonderful story on the free gas give away.

The video is at: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=87232

She’s got a fun, corny ending that fits me to a “T”!

As I was thinking about closing the Vineyard Church of Waterville, I came up with a new analogy. If a car breaks down, you don’t yell at the passengers or order them to get out of the car and push it. You take it to the shop and have it fixed.

That’s what we’re doing with the church. It sure beats pushing the car!

Just finishing watching Meet the Robinsons.

When the new family drives off in a 1970’s car. And my 8 year old son shouts, “HEY! That must’ve been in the 1900’s!!! They’re not wearing seatbelts!!!”

I grimace and smile. Em cracks up.

Then he says, “No really. That must’ve been back when you guys were growing up.” (As in way back in the 1900’s.)

I’m not making this up!

It’s happening!

WCSH News was on hand to find out why we were giving away free gas and to hear about our plans for VCW 2.0. They even interviewed people at the pump!

There’s still some gas available, so if you’re in the Waterville area head over to Lucien’s Mobil (right off I-95 exit 127.) Regular gas is $3.73 but because the Vineyard is paying the first 25 cents on each gallon, the regular is $3.48!

It’s another fun way to help out our community.

[If you get Channel 6, would you tape tonight's newscast? Our TV doesn't necessarily get NBC but I'd love to have a copy.]

Need I say more?

I am thrilled beyond words to announce that Ask Without Fear is now on Amazon.com!

If you’ve purchased a copy, please write your review! If not, you can get a copy here:

• Ask Without Fear!: A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors With What Matters to Them Most

or here:

• Ask Without Fear at Fundraisingcoach.com

(Hint: You get the autograph if you buy through the Fundraisingcoach.com link.

Closing the church just didn’t seem right without doing some servant evangelism!

We have touched around 5000 individuals since we started, and we didn’t “get” servant evangelism until year 2!

Servant evangelism is about sharing God’s love in very practical, and often quirky, ways. And what’s a very real concern for our neighbors? The cost of gas.

So we’ve decided to do a “gas pay down” here in Waterville at Lucien’s Mobil on KMD.

On Friday, May 16 at 6 a.m., the Vineyard Church of Waterville is paying 25 cents of every single gallon of gas. We’ll keep it going for the first 1000 gallons sold!

Would you help us get the word out?

To see what we mean by servant evangelism, go to http://watervillevineyard.org/servantevangelism.htm

Okay, so I’m realizing merely joining the Romans8movement group on Facebook didn’t make me memorize the chapter.

It didn’t even help to print out the chapter from Biblegateway.com.

So today I’ll start reading Romans 8. I bet that will be an important step toward memorizing the chapter!