Family Fun Night is a success

We are so fortunate to have a great staff. A few weeks ago we saw a new wrinkle of our staff's greatness when Julie (Klunzinger) Scott hosted the first family fun night. Parents and children attended a night of pizza, movies, competition, and fun.

Almost 50 people attended. What we loved the most was the chance to begin to introduce our families to other families. Goofing off, laughing, and sharing stories allows us to go from neighbors and guests to friends and eventually family.

If you are in the area, make sure you make plans to attend our Fall Festival on Oct 31st. God is doing a great work and we are so fortunate to get to be a part of Common Ground!

Building Progress

Much work has gone into the church building and it is almost complete. Some rooms are a major improvement, but may need another coat of paint. Landscaping has been put in, but we still have a few more to do and the mulch needs put into place. The exterior of the building has had a great facelift. We do still have areas that need to have a fresh coat of paint added and some paint still needs scraped.

The truth is, once you have a building you are never quite finished. For us, we are thankful for that. Our home base and ministry center has been a great tool already.

We continue to say thanks to those who have financially supported us and to Central Christian Church for providing this facility for new kingdom work!

iDesire makes a great impact

Our opening series to launch our worship services with was called "iDesire." Innate in all of us are some common values, general yearnings we all have about the world, life, and society.

The series had a great connection. Our opening week we used John Mayer's tune, "Waiting on the World" to discuss how we would like the world to change. Week 2 we talked about compassion and how we are to create a revolution of kindness. That week we were a part of a bay area event called "Carefest" through Somebody Cares Tampa Bay. Week 3 we talked about how we all value community. We interviewed Julio Cruz and he shared about our desire to implement community groups for everyone. The final week we talked about our character is founded in love. We interviewed Nolan English about his time in New Orleans post-Katina and how Common Ground will live out love in the local community.

What an awesome 4 weeks of worship services. We are seeing transformation and connection happen through the lives of those who attend. God has been so good to us. This is so much fun!

Family Values = Core Values

For the next four weeks, we are teaching a series called "Family Values." Every family has a set of values. Some are spoken, some may be written, but one way or another they are passed on to other generations.

What we value defines how we invest our lives. For Common Ground, our values should express how we desire to be known and recognized. Our four values are best exprienced in our personal relationships.

Values:


1. Live Graciously: Every person matters and all people need to belong to something greater their own life. We all come from a life that is lost and broken, but God calls all people to life found in him through Jesus as family.

2. Love Authentically: Loving relationships are the evidence of the reality of God. Our love for God shows in the way we love others. The highest honor of love is to love and be loved from an authentically pure life.

3. Learn Continually: Life is best learned together. God has written His story through the Bible. By studying His word and living it out together, we continue to live out the message of God as family.

4. Lead Sacrificially: Jesus exemplified our model for leadership and the church today shares that model in serving the world. Therefore, sacrificial leadership first in the home and then in the world.