TheDeSocios.com

Its been two years since I started serving at City Reformed, and though there have been some times of stress and struggle I really love working with Matt, Dave, Dave and Andy.
This weekend we will be getting away for a time of discussion, vision-casting, and most importantly prayer.

We will try to focus on three areas, leadership sustainability, theological training, and church planting/ growth. We are not necessarily deciding anything this week, we are just taking time to process what’s ahead at City Reformed.

Pray that we are united in our discussions, that we use this time to grow closer as a group, and that we are faithful to use the resources that Christ has given us.

In the next week or so City Reformed will be moving its offices from Suite 204 at 160 N Craig St. to 3524 Blvd of the Allies.

This is a great move for our church.
We are excited about our new office. Let me give you some of the perks:
-2x the size of our existing office
-A sink (its the simple things that make life so nice)
-a big storage closet, as opposed to a big storage office….
-Much better parking, did I mention it’s free
-better class space
-A chance to make our office look a bit more presentable

Why does getting a new office matter?
Moving to this new space allows us to save money by hosting events in the office that otherwise would have either not taken place, or would have cost us rental money. In our current office we were forced to rent for any event over 20 people, and this caused a dilemma, it was not very wise to invest in furniture if it would not be used, but without furniture the space was less useful, meaning that there was less reason to make it seem presentable. Currently our office is minimally functional. Some people might be thinking that spending money on office furniture is kind of silly, but in reality we are simply trying to make our office reflect our church culture, we want it to be a warn and inviting place where people can get to know each other. In addition if you went to someone’s home and they made you sit on the floor, it might be quaint the first time, but after a while, if they were never finished moving in, you’d start to wonder if this family had some tie to penndot.

What does this mean in the coming weeks?
Most of the people that go to City Reformed have moved in the last few years, so many people understand some of the hassles of moving: packing, transferring services, and trying to find things when you unpack.
With the new office we are going to be moving all of our computers, or library, and all of our paperwork and other stuff to the new office. Much of the furniture in our present office is not owned by us and that means that we will also be purchasing furniture so that when you come into the new office you don’t see Matt or I, sitting on a milk crate in the middle of the floor, typing away at a computer which is sitting on an empty moving box.

This also means that our lines of communication will be hindered for a few days, we are hoping to have much of the move accomplished by sometime next week. Our plan is to have the internet and phones setup next Wednesday, but we might hit some snags. If you send an email next week and we haven’t responded by the end of that week, we would ask that you resend the message.

What does this mean in the long term?
At our church we have three categories of events: small group events (1-20 people), medium size events (20-60 people), and all church events. Our current office was only useful for small group events, so this meant everything was rented for medium events and all church events. Our new space will be able to fill this role of being used for medium sized events.

In the end it’s not about offices with better lighting, or new furniture, it’s about Jesus. Would you pray with us that this new office would be another tool that we can use to extend grace to each other, and to those people who have not yet met Jesus.

Check out this interesting graph I found over at nytimes.com

The Pittsburgh Public School District is developing a massive scholarship program for all their High School graduates. The plan would give each student $5,000 each year toward college, until 2010 when that sum could be raised to $10,000 a year if students passed the state graduation test.
The catch is that you have to be in school 90% of the days (days missed are counted from unexcused absences, and suspensions) and you need to be in the district for all 4 years of High School. The schools that are acceptable are all state schools and most colleges and trade school in Allegheny county. For frame of reference Pitt costs about $13,000 a year for students in Pennsylvania.
The really cool part is that even if your are on a full scholarship you can still be eligible for up to $1,000 a year.
It seems like a pretty sweet deal. Lets see if its around in 2020 when my kids are in school.

So this is my first year where I will continue to be working in a church both through the summer and the fall.
Alot of exciting things are happening at City Reformed.