Life with a Living God Conference THIS Friday and Saturday!

Life with a Living God: A Practical Workshop on the Holy Spirit and the Christian Life

July 17-18 at United Church on the Green

• July 17th, 7 pm-10 pm

• July 18th, 9 am-10 pm

• $20 / person if cost is a problem, give what you can. if cost is not an issue, please give $20
  

• childcare provided on both days
  

Speakers:
Jordan and Sonya Seng
Bluewater Mission, Hawaii
Robin Morrison
Anaheim Vineyard

The focus will be on hearing from God, life in the power of the Holy Spirit, and following Jesus against the odds.

There will be practical teaching from scripture, lots of great stories, and plenty of time for prayer and listening to God.

We have some wonderful (not to mention massively gifted) folks coming out to facilitate this meeting, including Jordan and Sonya Seng (pastors of Bluewater Mission, Hawaii) and Robin Morrison (prophetic guy from Anaheim Vineyard).

questions?
email info@elmcityvineyard.org

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Details

We have four sessions: Friday Night (7-10) and Saturday (9-11:30, 2-4:30, 7-10).

All of the sessions will be led by our team, and will have Jordan Seng as the main speaker. Jordan is a dear friend with whom we have done much ministry. His bio is below:

Jordan Seng, the pastor of Bluewater Mission, has been engaged in teaching, healing and prophetic ministry, worship, small groups, missions and church planting for the last twenty years. Before helping to begin Bluewater Mission, he served for four years in the Presbyterian church and about 16 in the Vineyard association of churches. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Theory from the University of Chicago. He and his wife Sonya have two children.

All of the meetings will have plenty of time for prayer for folks, as well as worship and childcare.

There are no breakout sessions...we will all be together the whole time. Each session will be devoted to a different aspect of life with a living God (hence the title of the conference ;-)), with a focus on practical empowerment for average folks. As it stands now, we will have a session on the power of the Holy Spirit, a session of hearing from God/prophecy, a session on healing, and a wildcard session. We are being a little bit flexible on the sessions, so that we can flow with whatever God seems to be doing with our group.

We do not expect a huge crowd... I would guess fifty or so... it will be accessible, human-size, practical, and powerful. We hope you can make it.

download the flyer by clicking here

ELM CITY VINEYARD 2009 SUMMER CONFERENCE

Church Administrator Position

As we talked about Monday night at the Finances Forum, as God continues to grow ECV, it seems that it's time to start building a(n albeit modest) paid staff to help support and advance the things that God is doing in our community. At the moment, that means that we're looking to hire two part-time staff members: an administrator (15 hours/week) and a pastor (20 hours/week). You'll hear more about the pastoral hire in coming weeks and months. However, starting today, we're accepting applications for the administrator position.

We're hoping that an administrator will be able to serve our community by putting valuable time and energy into communications, coordination, and the various critical details of what we do. (There's a more formal job description below.) We'd really like to hire someone who's already invested in our community; consider—that person may be YOU. If so, please email a cover letter and resumé to info@elmcityvineyard.org ASAP (we'll start arranging interviews late next week).

In all this, let's be thankful. God is building something… and we get to be a part of it.

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The Elm City Vineyard is hiring a Church Administrator, to begin work as soon as possible. The ideal candidate will be organized, attentive to detail, comfortable with technology (basic web tools and applications, email, etc.), flexible in change, and a gracious and capable communicator via written and spoken word. More advanced technical skills (e.g. familiarity with HTML, RSS, and digital media technologies) and/or skill and interest in graphic design would be preferred. As the position would benefit from familiarity with the church, its people, and its programs, preference will be given to candidates who are already active members of ECV.

Basic duties will include updating the content of the ECV's web presence, managing the Google Group, maintaining the weekly sermon recordings, managing the ECV's relationship with our host church (United Church), managing various Sunday volunteer teams and logistics tasks, scheduling meetings, collecting and maintaining data relevant to the ECV's ministry, and coordinating the dissemination of announcements and other information through ECV's various communications media (blog, email, calendar, Sunday announcements, homegroup announcements). Depending on the skills and interests of the individual hired, other tasks could involve some financial bookkeeping, design & distribution of promotional materials, and/or more substantial technology projects.

This position will be 15 hours per week. Compensation will be $15/hr.

One Thing @ 426 Prospect #6

Quick Reminder: This Thursday evening (7:30pm @ 426 Prospect #6) for our Thursday of Awesomeness, we're continuing our mini-series on the "One Thing." The first session went really well—lots of good questions, lots of things to chew on… So, by all means, even if you missed the first, come join the conversation.

The idea is to talk about how we can live our lives in an integrated way—as one thing, instead of so many disparate pieces. The hope is that as we learn to integrate our lives, our schedules, our ways of thinking and talking, we'll be in a better place individually and collectively to interact constructively with all the various folks in our lives about what it means for us to follow Jesus. So come join me (Matt) and Josh for some teaching, conversation and prayer along these lines this Thursday (7/9), 7/23, and 7/30 at 7:30 at 426 Prospect.

Fireworks in the City, Evening of July 4th

Fireworks in the City
9pm, July 4th
Meet at Ikea Front Entrance (closest to Long Wharf)

New Haven’s firework celebration is happening tomorrow (Saturday) at 9pm at Long Wharf Park.  Join people from our city to gather and celebrate the holiday.  We’ll be meeting at 9pm in front of Ikea’s main entrance.  It’s the one closest to Long Wharf itself.  Here’s more some details from a great local New Haven blog: http://nhbulletin.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-haven-fireworks-july-4.html  

FYI, I found the blog googling SIIIRL (Summer Institute on Islam, Intercultural Relations, and Leadership), a program run by some of our church members.  You can simply e-mail the editor and get your events published on the main site.  Helpful tip for us as we continue to build relationships with the city.  See you around this weekend!

ECV Finances Forum: THIS MONDAY

ECV Finances Forum
Monday, July 6th, 8pm
79 Maple St. #1

So, geez, money and the church; everyone's favorite topic... :-P But this is church budgeting ECV-style! We are so privileged to have the opportunity to use the funds with which God has blessed us to support the things He cares about in the world: righting injustice, caring for the poor, advancing the gospel, building His Church. Spending money has never been so much fun.

Seriously, the board of trustees (Katie Smith, Kathy Maskell, Kathy Saperstein, Jeremy Blum, Steve Fitzgerald and I) have been hard at work over the past several months to come up with a budget for FY09-10 that creatively and substantially supports the vision that God's given ECV.

This Monday, July 6th at 8pm, we want to share with you what we've been thinking about—there are some really substantial things we feel like God is leading us to do—get your input and feedback, and move forward in continuing to invest our money into the things God is doing in our city and around the world. More will be coming soon on this topic (charts, graphs; if you love data, this is your thing); we really want to handle the money God has given us with integrity and the best way we know to do that is to be transparent.

So, come, join us!

Lighthouse CANCELLED, Friday Potluck Instead

New Plan:

Pre-4th of July Potluck
Fantastic Friday 7:30pm
426 Prospect St. Apt #6 

Alas, Thursdays of Awesomeness seem to be plagued by rain.  There’s a decent chance for rain tomorrow, so we are postponing the trip to Lighthouse Point until later in the summer.  In its place will be a Fantastic Friday.  Come to 426 Prospect Friday at 7:30pm and potluck!  Whether your dishes represent a 4^th of July tradition or simply do the important work of feeding everybody, we hope you’ll take this opportunity to relax, hang out with friends, and get to know folks if you’re new to the ECV community.  In case of clear skies, we might be able to head to the roof and BBQ if anyone was really set on that plan.  Please feel free to invite others. See you Friday!

Giving on the Green: Sharing Your Wednesday Lunch

Every Wednesday 12:30pm

Slifka Center en route to New Haven Green

Got a free lunch break this summer? Every Wednesday afternoon at 12:30pm people meet at the Slifka Center (80 Wall Street) and walk to the New Haven Green where we give out bagged lunches and drinks to anyone who asks for them. People recognize our faces and the brown boxes we carry. Those in need often ask for someone to pray with them and relationships form from week to week as many people gather around a bench and talk with us. If you are interested in this type of outreach, please consider joining us one Wednesday. It’d be great to have ECVers joining this larger city effort. Hope to see folks in the main lobby at the Slifka Center on Wednesday.

Every Wednesday 5:30pm

Phelps Gate en route to Columbus House

There is another opportunity for community outreach called Nightrunners that takes place on Wednesday nights at 5:30pm. Nightrunners is a local ministry that visits Columbus House, a homeless shelter in New Haven. We talk with residents about their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs over dinner and orient them towards resources available at Columbus House while fostering relationships. We meet at Phelps Gate (344 College Street) at 5:30pm and drive to Columbus House (586 Ella T. Grasso Boulevard; you can drive yourself if that’s easier). If you’re interested in either opportunity call Josh at 317.522.7179 or e-mail him.