I Am The Elliots from FC Holden.

For years we’ve done series.  A lot of churches do series, and for the last 9 years we’ve been no different.  We’ve done series too.  Typically they are topical in nature and many times they are practical and timely.

But in his blog posts, Ben inspired me last year when he was preparing for Story ’09 to find our own voice as a church when we share the truths of God’s word.  Me?  I like stories.  I like Jesus stories.  I like Jewish stories.  I like mythological stories.  And I like stories of Forrest running from bullies in Greenbow, Alabama and meeting president after president after president because of the “circumstances” in his life.

So last fall when Ben was preaching the idea of story, Carie and I were viewing  the season 4 DVD’s of House and together were enthralled by the amazing storytelling techniques of the writers of this emmy winning show.   During this time, I had this thought:  Why couldn’t we do a season instead of a series?  Focusing not necessarily on a topic, but by a story inspired by the major themes of Scripture.

And the process began.  The first thing I did was acquire the help of one of my favorite writers, Jeff Campbell, who gladly accepted my idea and was ready to run with it.  So we started to talk about characters, development, story, arcs, and themes.  Then we began to write a story.  At first I participated, writing a few of the scripts, but then I gladly turned it over to the master, and Jeff has written a season of focused plot, interesting characters, and engaging themes.

Then MB took control.  As the producer and director of the new season, she drafted some great actors, and will be producing some of the stories that will be performed over the next 13 weeks at Fellowship Church.

So beginning this Sunday morning @Fellowship, February 7, 2010, we will be presenting a new season, called “I am the Eliots”.  The story of 4 individuals whose lives are forever changed when they lose someone they love.  A funeral doesn’t answer questions, a funeral asks them, and the questions they begin to ask are questions that we could all stand to ask as we wrestle with life here on planet earth.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the idea or if you’re in the area, what you thought about the premiere presentation here at Fellowship Church, or you will be able to view it online on FCTV.

My friend Brian said it best when I told him the idea about 3 months ago.  He listened intently, sounded shocked by its innovativeness, then responded,

“Marty, you’ll either look like a genius or an idiot.”

I just have to say this:

I’m really excited about what is happening at Fellowship Church here in Central Massachusetts.  The community that is being built and vision-driven for His glory is an amazing thing to watch.  I feel humbled and stoked  by the stories I’ve heard over the last 6 months about what God is doing in the lives of people in and through this community.  Whatever is happening, it’s because God is using amazing people who are using there gifts to further his kingdom, as opposed to their empires.

I believe this weekend will only fuel this fire in our community as we begin the “One Prayer” series for the 2nd year in a row.  This will be a month long series we’ll be doing with 1600 other churches in the US and 20 other countries!  As Fellowship grows, it shouldn’t just grow in number (though that’s what a healthy church does), but in it’s impact on the kingdom of God.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this weekend, my favorite pastor in the entire world (outside of my dad) will be speaking at our church.

This will be good times!

And it loves me!

Even the best sports teams eventually lose momentum.  How they respond to that loss is the important thing however, as their response can either put them on track to get back on the momentum band wagon, or keep them far away.  The Celtics are the world champions, right?  And right now they’ve lost a bit of momentum by losing to two  really good teams, quite possibly their two best competitors for the title.  But Garrett officially tells me at Finders on Friday not to worry, because “defense in the playoffs is totally different than in the regular season,and the Celtics are a defensive team.”

We’ll see how that goes, but now for my point.  I’m thrilled at some of the momentum we’ve built this spring at the FC.  God is really working in people’s hearts and each Sunday I walk away feeling like God is doing something big here in this church.  Here are a few of the things I’ve seen:

Our services have been pretty packed as of late, having to add rows regularly, but the cool thing is that we’ve also added regular attenders, including one family of 10.  If that doesn’t fill a row or two…

The spirit in our services has been electric. Thank you God!

Al and his team have done some amazing planning as far as creativity in the services.  The music and videos have been just what the doctor ordered.  And for me, by the time I get up to speak, the commotion is down to a minimum.  People are focused.

(for the record, the speech at the end of the service was not planned, nor did I even know the person who walked up to the stage and spoke into the mic.  But she evidentally really liked our service because she’ll be back next week she says.)

The web campus, led by Billy, has seen more than 10 attenders every week for the last month, includingpeople from New York, Vermont, Ohio, and Germany.

Is it me, or is our ministry for children the best in the state of Massachusetts?  Yes, I think it is.  Great job Steve and the rest of the Family ministries Team!  Kids love going to our church.

Some great things are happening at Fellowship,and you can see it yourself.  Check out this link to view our services on demand.

One more thing I’m excited about is my new small group is starting up this Wednesday.  If you’re looking to get involved at Fellowship, this would be a great way to start.  We’re meeting at the Holman household this Wed. at 6:30 pm.

How have you seen God work at Fellowship?

Hola!  I hope you’re having an amazing Columbus Day.  You can read why we celebrate this explorer/adventurer here.

I have recently returned from the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta and here was my schedule for the weekend:

Friday, 5:30 pm – Catalyst Conference ends.  Begin drive home of 1100 miles.
Saturday, 12:00 pm – Arrive home from long drive with Steve, Al, Billy, and Steve Bramlett.
Saturday, 1:00 pm – After unpacking and chatting with Carie for a bit, I began preparing for a 6:00 pm wedding I was officiating.
Saturday, 2:00 pm – Began searching for my message for Sunday morning @ Fellowship.  It was nowhere to be found on my computer.  So I wrote down a few thoughts I had and prayed a lot.
Saturday, 4:00 pm – began to prepare for the wedding (ironing clothes, polishing shoes, etc…)
Saturday, 4:30 pm – Nap time.
Saturday, 5:15 pm – wake up and finish dressing.
Saturday, 5:20 pm – drive to the wedding.
Saturday, 6:00 pm – Wedding time!
Saturday, 10:00 pm – Leaving the wedding reception.
Saturday, 10:30 pm – Sweet sleep.  I was about to drop.
Sunday, 4:14 am – Wakie, wakie, eggs and bacie!  And immediately begin preparing for Sunday morning @ Fellowship.
Sunday, 10:30 am – Sunday Morning @ Fellowship!
Sunday, 1:30 pm – Drive to Malta, NY to celebrate Tina’s Birthday
Sunday, 4:30 pm – Party with Carie, Jessica, Tom, Tina, Ray, Joanna, Steve, Amy, and several others.
Sunday, 8:00 pm – Watched The Patriots get their world rocked.
Sunday, 12:00 am – Finally get to go to bed!

It’s been such a crazy last several days.  I love it!  And today is relax day, enjoying my wife and a few friends in New York!  Tomorrow I have a great idea I’ll be blogging about. At least to me it’s a great idea.  You can judge for yourself.

What are you doing to celebrate Christipher?

Catalyst ’06 with Jeff and my southern family, Dave, DD, and Ridgeway!

This week the team at Fellowship Church is taking a road trip to Hotlanta to attend the Catalyst Conference.  I’m really looking forward to spending time with them and praying and talking about the future of our church, along with hearing from some of the best leaders in America.
I’ll be blogging and twittering throughout the event, and even plan on sharing some live stuff from our trip and hotel meeting room on Mogulus.

We leave soon.  Are you excited?

Results for this post

For Claire.

I read this earlier this morning as I caught up on my blogs, and couldn’t stop laughing for almost 5 minutes.  It reminded me of my days in this place.

Last week my message focused on baptism, and how important it is for us to be able to choose whether or not we identify with Christ at a time when we can actually choose to identify with Him. 
I am excited this Sunday morning, June 1st, to be able to experience the baptism of an elementary student, a new mother, and a retired mother, who have come forward to publicly declare that they are now following Christ!

Anyone else at Fellowship want to take that step?  This will be a great opportunity! 

We also showed a baptism video from Mark Batterson’s church in Washington DC.  It was pretty inspiring, and I received a lot of comments about how it touched people, and even some comments about how convicting it was as they remembered their own baptism and how maybe they’ve lost that fire.

Have you lost that fire?