Come to a FREE movie with us!

Hey everyone, Katie and I are thinking about going to an advance screening of the movie Thank You For Smoking next Tuesday, April 4th at 7:30pm. You can pick up a complimentary passes (one per person, each pass lets two people in) at Style Weekly, 1707 Summit Ave.

If you haven't heard about the movie, check it out online. But basically, as best I understand it, its kind of a mockumentary on the smoking industry and lobbying groups. It's gotten great reviews so I'm excited about checking it out!

PS. Leave a comment or give me a call if you're going so we know to look for you there.

An Awesome Article

You absolutely must read this article:
The Singer Solution to World Poverty

I first read this article when it was presented to me in my AP English class in my senior year of high school. It really moved me then, and is hitting me in whole new ways now that I am more financially independent.

In it the philosopher Peter Singer challenges the our understanding of the morality of our economic choices. I won't go deep into my own thoughts on the matter right now, because I don't want to take away from Singer's article. Seriously, a must read.

Hello New You!

Last night, we kicked off our "Soul Clinic" series which is focused on healing but also so much more. God's ultimate vision for us is not just to heal us so we can be "normal" again but to take us far beyond that. The passage we focused on was in Judges 6, the story of Gideon, a farmer's son living in Israel during the time of the Midianite occupation. Verse 11 and following says that a angel came and sat down near Gideon and greeted him by say, "The Lord is with you, O mighty warrior!" Nothing in the story would lead us to believe that anything about Gideon was mighty or militant and yet the angel greets with the name "Mighty Warrior." Gideon was just as baffled as we are by the salutation and endeavors at that point to correct the angel is his obvious error.

But was the angel mistaken or was he just privy to things about Gideon that even Gideon was not yet aware of? Gideon does go on to defeat the Midianites and save Israel in quite a "might warrior-ish" way. So it would seem that Gideon was the one mistaken in the first place.

As we think about God's vision for our lives we should have a similar sneaking suspicion that God may know things about our true identity and potential that we are not yet aware of. If God came to us today with a new name, a name that spoke to our destiny in this life, would we balk like Gideon did, like Abraham did, like Moses, Mary, and so many others did? Or would we take in good confidence that God is seeing us not only as who we are but also as the person we're becoming?

Today you may doubt how extraordinary you are but God doesn't. I believe that, for many Christ followers, God has already laid a vision on your heart of what your life should be about. For those that haven't received that from God, Christian or not-yet-Christian, he is faithful to provide that if you pursue him and listen. My prayer for you today is that you have the wisdom the hear God's calling on your life, his vision for who you are, and that you would have the courage to pursue that new identity.

Greetings, extraordinary person! The world is waiting for you.

Prayer @ Team Lucas HQ

Beth and I thought that it would be really cool to spend a little time praying together. So, we'd to invite all of you to come over to our place this Tuesday at 8pm. We'll provide some snacky-snacks and there'll be plenty of hang out time before and afterwards. Basically, we just want to obey God's call to prayer and use that as something that will bind our community together.

Who: You all
What: Praying, snacking, hanging out
Where: Team Lucas HQ
When: Tuesday, March 21st, 8pm
Why: Because we like you

-John & Beth

The Place Where It's OK not to be OK

I loved our discussion about community tonight. It was great to talk about what community is - but to hear all the great things about our community was really uplifting. Not to say that we're perfect by any means; we talked some about our challenges which are very true.

But what I like about our group is that we truly are coming together. Those of you who took some business classes in school may remember the 4 stages of group performance: forming, storming, norming, and performing. I'm not sure the "storming" part is that relevant - but I do think we're getting into our norming stage. Yes, its still a little awkward to speak up during discussion times, but we're all getting more relaxed and we trust each other. And that is so key.

I really took notice of something Jason said tonight. He said we wanted our group to be somewhere where it was ok not to be ok. I think we all desperately long for a place like that. Truth be told, we all are "not ok" - I know I'm not. We all come broken before God - and each other - to build each other up. I think we're beginning to do that even now.

If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

~Ecclesiastes 4:10

Lost Marathan - Part 2

After a successful part 1 of the Lost Marathan, Season 1, we're having a part 2 of the marathon this Sunday, March 5, at 2pm. Come hang out and watch one of the coolest shows ever! Directions to the Huckabees (1708 Villageway Dr., Richmond, VA 23229)...

• From Route 64, take the exit for Parham Rd. (South)
• Once on Parham, take a Right onto Three Chopt Rd.
• Take your 2nd Left onto Villageway Dr.
• Their house is on the right, #1708

You can also google map it by clicking here.

How Connected Are We?

Last night at Core Community we took a survey on connected we are. Out of 11 people, check out the totals below...





How many email addresses do you have?...40
How many emails did you send/receive today?...294
How many screen names do you have?...31
How many phone numbers do you have?...24
How many phone conversations did you have today?...65
How many blogs do you have/read?...33
How many Podcasts/RSS feeds do you subscribe to?...16
How many magazines/newletters do you subscribe to?...32
How many days a week do you buy the newspaper?...27
-------
Total:562