May 4, 2010

Thank You!

Posted by Garry

So, you never really know until it happens.

We planned, and prayed, and hoped, and prepared, and worked… But until the doors opened, we really didn’t know what it would look like. Would Summit Church Waterford be a place where people could come in contact with the reality that they matter to God? Would people pour into an unrealized vision? Would an elementary school be a place where people would come to encounter fellowship and connect with other people trying to learn, love, and live the way of Jesus? Would it be a community?

In a lot of ways, quite appropriately, that first Sunday service felt a lot like that first day of fifth grade where you were pretty sure you would see all of your friends, but you were a bit irrationally worried that all your friends had moved away, or decided over the summer that they would now be hanging out with other friends instead of you. Ok, maybe that was just me.

But it wasn’t like that. It was amazing. And it is still amazing every week. I love Summit Waterford. I love the people I get to see every Sunday. I love that lots of people still wear bright green shirts that say ‘I’m going local.’ I love that people still cheer when we announce something exciting about the progress of the permanent facility, or that we are launching a ministry at the Waterford campus. I love that people stand around and talk, and laugh, and meet other people after services. I love that Summit Waterford is a place where it is clear that God still uses creativity and innovation, coupled with people’s willing spirits, to form communities of faith. The gospel of love, hope, and redemption through Jesus is being preached and lived out.

Thanks to everyone who has been great in making this vision a reality. Let’s keep moving together.

For further updates on Summit Waterford news and events, please visit the Summit Church blog. We are merging these blogs together!

March 26, 2010

Community

Posted by Cheez

Have you ever known someone that wished they could go back to a time or place in their past and experience it again? Not because they made a mistake and want to correct it, but because they want to live in that moment again. They might have a fond memory or a feeling of peace from that time in life. For some it might be college or shocker: high school. For me, one of those moments is the first time I visited Summit so many years ago. I had been to a few churches in town and found a lot of good teaching, but none of them felt like “home.” Summit was meeting in a high school cafeteria at the time, which on the outside did not bode well for placing this church in that “home” category at all. The chairs were not that comfortable, the stage was hard to see, there was ugly white cafeteria walls surrounding everyone, the children were in the next room sectioned off like cattle in rainbow play corrals. However, when the service was over an almost magical thing occurred; everyone stood up and collected their chair and as I stood in line to stack mine on a cart some one I had never met before started talking to me.

A conversation began and I made a new friend. When I looked around it was happening everywhere. Everyone was serving and meeting one another. I am convinced that, in those early days, this church was blessed by that cafeteria’s ugly walls and uncomfortable chairs. Yes- those chairs made a family. It made a “home.” It didn’t look like it, but there it was, a collective group of people serving and loving one another. I have been so jealous ever since I heard about Waterford. They get a moment to step back to that magical time. I often wish there was still only one service and the room had to be cleared. I know that Andy and the rest of the musicians are glad to have a home, but I miss the community that was formed by those moments after the service. We served and we loved and a community was born.

March 11, 2010

Why do you stand here? - Part II

Posted by Garry

To most fully live out the calling of Summit Waterford – we need to be in the Waterford community. If you have committed to be a part of the team, we need you. Even if you still have questions, we need you. Summit Waterford simply won’t be the fellowship of people it is called to be without you. But as we move quickly towards launching Summit Waterford in Waterford we do have increased clarity on some of the most pressing questions.

When is Summit’s Waterford team moving to east Orlando?

Sunday, March 21st (with services at 9 and 11am)

What is the status of the permanent facility?

As we move into this temporary facility we are still actively pursuing a permanent space. We are in active negotiations on a building. If we were to secure that facility in the coming weeks (which is possible) we will likely be able to occupy this permanent space by fall of this year.

Where is Waterford’s temporary campus?

Lawton Chiles Elementary School (11001 Bloomfield Drive Orlando, FL 32825)
This location gives us great access to our entire team through close proximity to 408 and 417, Rouse, Lake Underhill, and Dean Road. It also is located very near or intended target area for a permanent facility.

Why an elementary school?

Lawton Chiles Elementary School gives us a facility to worship and grow in while demanding relatively small start-up cost. This school has been very accommodating to us and will allow us to store all of our equipment on-site. This means set-up/tear-down will be more easily done on a Sunday (just to clarify, we still really need you to pour into the set-up/tear-down process).

How long will we be in this temporary space?

As long as is needed to secure, design, and construct our permanent facility and not a day longer. This is a temporary solution as we look forward to our permanent home.

What will be available at this temporary space?
In each of the two services, all aspects will be live with the exception of the video broadcast of the sermon teaching. Each week one of the Summit worship bands will lead the service in worship and there will be live Strategic Concerns specific to the Waterford campus.

Base Camp will be an essential part of the ministry in this temporary space. Families of kids in children’s ministry who have committed to be a part of Summit Waterford will receive an orientation packet in the coming days that will give vital information about classroom assignments and check-in procedures, but in most ways the process will be very similar to the process at the Herndon campus. There will even be large group for our K-5th kids.

Currently we are in the process of determining the feasibility of Base Camp Live! in the temporary space. We are working diligently to develop a form of BCL while we are there.

Because this facility is a Sunday only facility, there are ministry components that happen during the week at the Herndon campus that won’t occur for logistical reasons at the temporary facility. Fortunately, as we are one church meeting on multiple campuses, we would invite those interested to participate in those ministries at Herndon, and we will do everything we can to facilitate that happening.

Seeing people connected in Christ-centered relationships is core. We currently have more than ten Summit Connect: Waterford Groups and will continue to both train leaders and offer Group Nights so that people can move towards deepening relationships.

March 5, 2010

Why do you stand here? (Part I)

Posted by Garry

My son turned five the other day. A few days before he crossed the bridge of manhood, he looked at his grandmother and said, ‘Nanny, I’m done with being five.’

My ever optimistic wife inserted, ‘That’s good buddy, because you will be five in just a few days.’ Shaking his head, and sighing deeply, he whispered just loud enough to hear as he walked away, ‘It’s about time.’

Kids think that way. They desperately, intensely want to get to what’s next. They see nothing but potential. They see what is beyond and they want to get there. They constantly hope and dream. It is just who they are.

It’s not really that way for adults. As we get older we start to ‘settle down’ and ‘get into a groove’. When we find something good, we latch onto it and hold on tight. And in some ways, rightfully so. In a world where things aren’t the way they should be, it is nice to take a few of the variables away and surround ourselves with things that are right.

But what about the adventure? Isn’t there still good to be found in the unknown? Especially in the unknown?

The book of Acts opens essentially asking this question: should we settle in, or joyfully keep moving forward? Jesus gives the disciples the charge to keep going, keep loving, keep sharing the hope of restoration with the world. And then, Jesus is taken up into heaven while they look to the sky. Moments later, two men, or angels ask a question with massive ramifications.

‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky?’ (Acts 1:11)

Our response might be, ‘Exactly, why did they just stand there. They had work to do. They had to share the gospel. They were the messengers to the world that Jesus is the only hope for humanity to be what it was intended to be. Jesus called them to go.’

But, like so often, this isn’t God’s word because it is a story about how God used to call people and how people used to respond. This is in the bible because this lesson repeats itself daily in the calling of those that follow Jesus. And just like the disciples, we have the chance to stay, looking up to Jesus, or we can go get to work following Jesus. This is our story. And, just like my five-year-old, we can be excited about what’s next even if it take us into the unknown through faith and sacrifice.

At Summit we want to go. We want to participate in God’s coming kingdom. We want to be a part of the story that God is writing on history. Through leveraging our gifts, talents, resources, and technology we reach lost people with the truth of Jesus. For Summit Church Waterford to move from vision to reality it will take people believing that God still calls people, that God still loves people, and that people pouring in really does matter.

And so it’s time to go.

February 19, 2010

Get Packing (part 3)

Posted by Garry

Get Packing (Part 3)
…and so the journey continues. We hope you can join us in the South Meeting Room this Sunday, February 21st, at the 10:45 Summit Church Waterford service. We will be giving very specific details about when we will be moving to Waterford and where we will be worshiping. Since we are so close to being in the community, these next three things are so important.
So here they are—three things you can do now to prepare your supplies (Joshua1:1-11) and get packing for our move to Waterford:

1. Jump in now! Serve.
• We need 20 more Base Camp volunteers. It is core to who we are as Summit Church to be able to communicate to kids that they matter to God and can be a part of his family now. We need people who are willing to communicate this through serving in Base Camp on Sunday mornings. When we are in Waterford, we will have two service times, so everyone will have an opportunity to serve in one service and be served by attending the other service.
• We need set-up/tear-down team members. We need EVERYONE. Really. We all have to pour in to be willing to stack a chair or hang a sign or make coffee or…well, you get the point.
If you are willing to participate in either of these two vital ministries, please e-mail me and we will get you connected. (Garry – gabbott@summitconnect.org)

2. Summit Connect: Waterford Group Night – Sunday, March 7th, at 7:30pm.
Connecting in groups is foundational to who God calls us to be. If you aren’t in a Summit Connect: Waterford group, this is a great chance to jump in! Connect and do life with others who have stepped up and said ‘yes’ to being a part of the Summit Waterford community. It matters.

3. Continue to pray for the process.
We have a temporary home and we are in active negotiations to secure a permanent facility. Please keep praying that God would orchestrate the timing, and that we’re willing to trust him and be faithful through the remainder of the process.