Important Journey Group Dates

I hope you are enjoying the summer season with the long evenings, cookouts, and time with friends and family. And hopefully you have enjoyed a break from the rigors of leading a Journey Group. I for one, am thankful that God gives us times of rest and refreshment along with times of fruitful ministry. As August rolls around, that means that our season of rest is coming to an end and it is time to regroup and rally the Journey Group team for another year of strong discipleship. You will be receiving more detailed information from us in the coming weeks, but I wanted to drop you a quick note with these important dates:

Sunday, August 15 - this is the date for our Journey Group Leader Fall Kickoff event. This is a very important time to come together as Journey Group Leaders and Coaches to align ourselves around one mission and vision for the year as well as sharpening our leadership abilities. We want every leader to be there for this! We’ll send you an invitation with additional details, but you can plan on a 6:00pm – 8:00pm timeframe.

Sunday, August 22 (Old Mill only) – this is “promotion Sunday” for the kids and typically the first Sunday for groups that meet on the Old Mill Campus on Sunday mornings. Due to the holiday weekend on September 5 and the fact that the church wide curriculum does not begin until September 12, we will follow this schedule for the first few weeks:

August 22 - 2nd/4th Sunday groups meet (a relational time to reconnect) August 29 - 1st/3rd Sunday groups meet (a relational time to reconnect) September 5 - no groups meet (holiday weekend) September 12 - resume regular monthly schedule for groups and begin using the curriculum provided

Sunday, August 29 – this is the date for GroupLink this year. If you are launching a new group or your group has room for new members, we want you there to meet and mingle with people who are looking for a group. This is a very effective way to help people get connected into a group. If your group is already full, I invite you to give me a call to talk about ways to add a few more and multiply your leadership. GroupLink will be held in the Old Mill Student Center from 6 PM – 8 PM.

Sunday, September 12 – even though we won’t have a big party with fireworks and such, this Sunday marks the first official week of the Journey Group year. As a church, we will all be studying the book of Acts from September 12 – October 10 (only 5 weeks!) so please plan to use this curriculum in your Journey Group for those weeks. We will have the leader materials (if not the complete Journey Group material) for you at the Fall Kickoff on August 15.

I know there are more than a few Journey Group leaders that I have not met yet. I look forward to meeting each of you in time and serving along side you. If you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns that you would like to share with me, please feel free to call or email and we’ll talk.

Dave Irwin