Sept. NoVA Emergent Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

So we've had some really great discussions the last couple months and have seen some new faces and old friends.

This month, Mike Croghan will lead us into the world of sound bites as he shares a bit about the upcoming October Christianity 21 Conference in Minneapolis. 23 female theologians, speakers, pastors, and presenters will gather to share and engage participants in holistic, communal, and innovative experiences and discussions/presentations. The website for Christianity 21 is: http://christianity21.com/

We'll gather at the following place on Monday, September 7 at 8 pm:

(Look for the "Cohort" sign if you're new - usually sitting at the tall tables near the entrance)
Dogwood Tavern
132 West Broad Street
Falls Church, VA

Can't wait to see you all and enjoy the evening together.

Cheers,
Tom Lynch

July Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

At our next meeting I propose we do the following:

1) Meet and Greet for new visitors (Let's make a push to have some new friends join us...spread the word and invite some people or get reconnected)

Let me know how many people you will bring with you that are interested in having some good conversation.

2) Talk church planting. I'm going to get together sometime in the near future with some folks from the DC Cohort and would love to be able to share some thoughts from one of our meetings.

Our gathering information is same as last month (plenty of parking behind tavern):

Monday, July 6 @ 8 pm (Look for the "Cohort" sign if you're new)
Dogwood Tavern
132 West Broad Street
Falls Church, VA

See you all soon.

Peace,

Tom Lynch

June NoVA Cohort Meeting

Greetings Cohorters?!,

So my wife and I leave for Italy tomorrow and I wanted to be sure to get a note out to all of you about the June gathering. Can one of you send the "reply all" reminder the Saturday or Sunday before? Any volunteers?

I've resigned my "3rd job" and will be using some of that thought energy on our cohort gatherings. At our next meeting I propose we do the following:

1) Meet and Greet for new visitors (Let's make a push to have some new friends join us...spread the word and invite some people or get reconnected)
2) Decide a gathering format for the next 4 months

I personally would love to get to know some of you better and hope we can connect on a more significant level.

Our gathering information is as follows:

Monday, June 1 @ 8 pm (Look for the "Cohort" sign if you're new)
Dogwood Tavern
132 West Broad Street
Falls Church, VA

See you all soon.

Grace and mercy,

Tom Lynch

May Cohort Gathering

Hey Everyone,

We're gathering on Monday evening to talk about the recent meeting regarding Emergent Village on Monday, May 4, 2009 at 8 pm.

Let me know if you're planning on being there. Also, we'll be needing to to change location because the Starbucks we've been meeting at has changed their hours.

Location info below...see you Monday night.

Tom

Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎ - (703) 534-3111

Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Information and blog post that we're talking about below. Hope to see you all there.

April Cohort Gathering

Hello Everyone,

Well we missed our March meeting and that is my fault but I'm back on top of my life (as much as that is possible) and hope we can pick up in April. Also, please invite someone if you think they'd enjoy the conversation.

Recently, Mike C. posted an interesting post on the "Restless Church" website in which many of us are members. I think this will be a great discussion starter for the next couple gatherings. I've included an excerpt below and also a link to the whole post here:
http://www.mendingshift.com/2009/03/25/the-remerging-church/

As usual we're meeting at the following:

Hope to see you there. Please let me know if you're coming since the place we gather is quite small and if we add a few more we might need to move locations down the street to a different Starbucks.

Gathering Specifics:

8 pm - April 13, 2009

Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎ - (703) 534-3111

Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Excerpt:

Jeromy Johnson, in a short, beautiful essay, captures precisely what I hope this "restless church" thing is about - or could be about, if it ever really gains momentum. Here's an excerpt:

A remerging of the willing. This is how I believe history will define this time.

A remerging of those who don’t want to put aside their differences for unity’s sake, but want unity to be found in recognizing and embracing the beauty in all of our differences. (Paul’s description of the Body comes to mind for me here).

A remerging of those who realize they don’t need to seek permission from the “top” to unite and walk together in love, but now see that Jesus already gave them permission to unite and then prayed that they would.

A remerging of those who choose reconciliation, healing, and forgiveness over entrenchment, division, fear, and anger.

A remerging of those who choose to toss aside the rules and theologies that divide, and choose to embrace the healing freedom that really does exist in Christ.

Amen, and amen, and amen.

February Cohort Gathering

Hi folks! It's Mike Croghan, filling in for Tom this month with updates - we usually meet on the first Monday of the month, but...well...the first Monday sort of crept up on us. So why don't we meet on the second Monday instead?

8 pm - February 9th, 2009
Starbucks at Falls Plaza
1218 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA‎
(703) 534-3111
Orange Line Accessible - West Falls Church Station

Discussion Topic - Tom suggested "Stories of Prayer" - people sharing times of meaningful prayer and what that looked like. I'll add this spin to it: I, personally, would be particular interested in talking about times of prayer that were helpful in contexts of ministry, discernment, and/or community. But, as always, we will of course talk about whatever we want to. :-)

Hope to see you there!