Grove Puts Down Roots!!!!

We had our first meeting on December 14 with a lot of coffee, food, sharing, laughter, singing, and hearing about what Christmas is about: Jesus Himself! If anyone has any reflections or thoughts about the gathering, what you experienced, how God spoke to you, or what you hope to see God do in this ministry in the future, let us know in the comments section. Our next get together will be at 6:30pm on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 to watch Oklahoma and USC in the Orange Bowl. This will be a great time to get to know one another a bit more, bring some friends, and have a good time. Hope you all have a great Christmas! Grace and Peace to each one of you!

What is Worship Anyway?

I am really excited about The Grove tonight. I pray that God uses it to reveal Himself to us and that it becomes an environment where people can really meet with God and worship Him. John 4 talks about how the Father seeks worshippers, those who worship in Spirit and in Truth. Sometimes, though, when we are trying to do something different, we can fall into the trap of being cool or trendy. I was reading the blog of a friend of mine today named Andrew Jones. I go to his blog pretty often to see what is going on in his life and ministry. He lives in Scotland and works as a missionary to emerging generations of young people all around the world. He had some really thought provoking comments on worship that I thought were relevant to us as we begin this journey together. The whole thing can be found here in a post called Is Our Worship Cool?. But, here is an excerpt:

I do not want to serve coolness but neither do i want to serve the tradition of worship. My worship should be a response to the goodness of God, to His revelation of Himself in me, to me. If my worship is to be given in spirit and in truth, it will most likely come from the deepest part of me and be communicated with art forms that are mine, words that are my language. If i use the language and tools of another, then the gift of worship may be offered by me but may represent the gift of another. Doesnt God ask for my gift?If i offer God my worship, in the artforms that i hope will carry the gift, there will be some who see the result as cool, and others who will see it as lame. This will always be the case. And even if my gift is called cool, the same gift will be not cool in 5 years time. Even lamer in 10 years. To attempt a "cool" worship offering is therefore an impossible task.

Well, I am praying that we are "cool" to God through our true worship so that He is pleased with us and so He receives praise. That is what it is all about anyway.

Welcome to the Grove

Howdy Folks. We're all so excited about what God's done and is doing in this community we live in. Join us Tuesday night, December 14th for some coffee, community, and a worship experience that can't be contained in a Sunday morning worship service. We have been meeting and praying for this event for several months now and God has rocked our worlds. We're all so excited to see what is going to happen in Montgomery. Stay for a while, look around, have some coffee, worship, talk about things going on, listen to music, draw on the tables, sing, pray, lift your hands, sit in silence, weep, make a joyful noise, meet new friends, impact Montgomery, impact Alabama, impact the world. Welcome to The Grove.

How Do I Get There?

The Grove meets on Tuesday nights at 7 pm at Gateway. the address is 3300 Bell Road. We are located just off the intersection of Vaughn and Bell. From Vaughn, turn onto Bell going toward Troy Hwy (away from Atlanta Hwy). We are about 1/10 of a mile on the right - across from Domino's Pizza & Ruddles.