Before we get to the details….two things:

1. Make sure you check out the new connexuscommunity.com.  It’s been completely redesigned from the ground up to make it easier for you and easier for your friends. Our media page makes it so much easier to get instant access to our entire message series catalogue.  And, I just love how easy and beautiful it now is to invite a friend right off our website.  Check out the whole thing…and send a link to your friends.
2. We are a week or two away from launching our fall kick off series, Modern Families (September 12th in Barrie and September 19th in Orillia). This is an incredible series to bring that friend you’ve been thinking about inviting for years. Reggie Joiner is flying up from Atlanta to teach one of the weeks of Modern Families, and Jeff Brodie and I will handle the rest as we bring you a series designed to speak into the reality of family life today.

And, as promised, here are the details for Sunday:

Barrie Campus

Part Two: We have an Answer

Some organizations have extraordinary environments that attract people to its doors. But like a visually appealing movie with no plot, is there something of substance behind the doors? In the case of a church, is there an extraordinary message at its foundation? And why is the message something you’d actually want to share with other people?

Service Times: 8:30 -9:40am & 10:00-11:10am | Galaxy Cinema 72 Commerce Park Drive Barrie

Orillia Campus

Part One:  We Had a Dream

How does a church grow? As a Christ follower, how do you grow? Believe it or not, those questions may be more linked than you think. This week, we want to introduce you to a question you can begin asking that will help you accomplish both in surprising ways.

Service Times: 8:30 -9:40am & 10:00-11:10am | Galaxy Cinema 865 West Ridge Blvd. Orillia

See you then!

That means we can make spiritual progress too.  This is an opportunity for you to go deeper in your faith.

We talked all about how to manage time in our Time Out series last month.  Here are a few priorities I’ve built into my life that have made a huge difference in my spiritual growth over the years.  Right now…your fall calendar is open enough for you to schedule these in.  Say no to some urgent things so you can say yes to what’s truly important, and write it in your calendar right now – before your days and weeks get eaten up by things you won’t remember in a month and that won’t matter in a year.

• Carve time out of your schedule to begin, rekindle or grow your personal relationship with God. It could be in the mornings or at lunch..or whenever.  But do it.
• Decide to make weekends a priority.  Yeah, I know I’m a preacher.  if I don’t show up I’ll probably get fired.  But this is a choice I made when I was in my twenties before I was a preacher. Getting practical teaching into your life and real community into your life is an incredible spiritual catalyst.
• Join a Community Group. I’ve got a full calendar like you do, but Wednesday nights are group nights in my home.  My wife Toni and I are part of a community group…and we love the people in it.  The way to get connected in a community group is to attend Group Link…you can schedule it now.  If you’re not sure about joining a group (too early in your journey), then join Starting Point.  We begin Starting Point in September too.   If you’re a student, your community groups happen at Inside Out or Xtreme. Parents, the way you get your younger kids into a group is to make sure they don’t miss Sunday mornings in Waumba Land or Upstreet.

There are other important things I’ve done and others have done: serving in a ministry and making giving a financial priority in my life have been huge spiritual catalysts too.  If you want more information on that, contact us.  We’d love to hear from you!

But…the fall is almost here.  Making some changes right now in how you spend your time can result in significant spiritual growth for you and your family in the next few months!

- Carey

We look forward to hosting you this Sunday in Barrie or Orillia! So come on out and enjoy an amazing band, some “Freakin Good” Coffee and a relevant message.

Oh…and bring a friend!

Orillia

Time Out

Part Three:  Taken

Sabbath. It’s an old word. Very few of us know what it actually means, and fewer of us would ever observe it. Join us this week for a fascinating look at the Biblical context of a day of rest and how it might actually speak into your overcrowded life today.

Service Times: 8:30-9:40 am & 10:00-11:10 am | Galaxy Theaters Orillia 865 West Ridge Blvd.

Barrie

Just Ask

Part One:  We Had a Dream

How does a church grow? As a Christ follower, how do you grow? Believe it or not, those questions may be more linked than you think. This week, we want to introduce you to a question you can begin asking that will help you accomplish both in surprising ways.

Service Times: 8:30-9:40 am & 10:00-11:10 am | Galaxy Theaters Barrie 72 Commerce Park Dr.

Why?  Because we think your kids will end up stronger in the end.  Kids who attend the same service week in and week out have a huge advantage over those who don’t:  they can build a strong relationship with their small group leader and the friends in their group. And at Connexus, small groups for kids of every age are one of the cornerstones of our family ministry strategy.  They help you parent beyond your capacity because they widen the circle of influence in your child’s life.

At Connexus, we don’t really have ‘teachers’ who lead ‘classes’, we have group leaders who lead small groups.  The goals for our small group leaders include getting to know your child personally and helping the kids in their group apply the day’s lesson to whatever situation they’re facing in life.   We keep our groups small on purpose.  We love it when group leaders don’t just know the name of the kids in their groups, but they know their story:  their favourite foods, colours, movies, their friends…their heart.

As a parent this gives you another adult in your child’s life saying the same thing you would say.  If your child has reached his or her fifth birthday, you realize that you can say something all day long and your kids might ignore it, but someone else can walk in the room and say what you’ve been saying and your child bursts out with “that’s such a great idea.  I think I’ll do that.”  It’s in those moments you try not to roll your eyes and scream at the same time. That’s the power of another voice.

Peers also shape a child or teen.  We all sense that our child’s friends help determine the direction and quality of their lives…so it’s critical to have positive peer relationships in their lives.  When you commit to attending the same service every week, you help foster friendships in your child’s life that can help them run in the right direction.

Since relationships always get better with consistency and time, attending the same service weekly really leverages those relationships fully.

The flexibility of having two services each Sunday is great for guests and those tightly scheduled weekends we all run into once in a while, but when you choose a service and decide to attend it regularly, you really help your family thrive.

- Carey

Not only do we hope our Time Out series will help you, but it’s so applicable to every day life it’s a great series to bring friends to. So load up the van and bring everyone out Sunday at 8:30 or 10:00 to either one of our campuses.  It’s going to be awesome!

Barrie Campus

Time Out | Part Two: White Space
Look at your calendar for the week ahead. Chances are you’ve got more things to do than days to do them in. Now look six months ahead. What do you see? For most of us, it’s just white space. How do you go from having nothing scheduled to being too busy to think? This weekend, we’ll learn from Jesus how to arrange our time around what matters most.

Service Times: 8:30-9:40 am & 10:00-11:10 am | Galaxy Theaters Barrie 72 Commerce Park Dr.

Orillia Campus

Time Out | Part One: Missin’ Out

Why do we chase every opportunity that comes our way? Why do we want what we want now? Is there a reason our ten year olds have personal calendars? How can you compete in the 21st century and not live this way? This week, we’ll look at an assumption underneath our drive for more that might drastically alter the way we think and live.

Service Times: 8:30-9:40 am & 10:00-11:10 am | Galaxy Theater Orillia 865 West Ridge Blvd.

What’s encouraging us is that you’ve been inviting your friends: 90% of the people who walk through the doors at Connexus for the first time came because you told them about Connexus.  We want to help you do that even better.

So here’s a question we would love for you to answer: what’s the best thing we can give you to help you invite your friends to Connexus?

Here are some of the things we’ve done to help make it easier for you to invite friends:  we’ve given you flyers promoting the next series to hand to your friends personally, given out key chain tags, built a website with free messages and a way to invite your friends, started this blog, put Connexus on Twitter, created a Facebook Fan Page and even handed out gift cards to restaurants and coffee shops so you can take your friends out after church.  The fall, we’ve got something even bigger planned as an incentive to invite your friends (dont’ ask…it’s a surprise for now).

Two questions:

• Which of these have you used the most to invite your friends?

• What other things could we do or could we give you that would help you invite your friends?

We’re all ears.

We’re happy to announce that the winner of two tickets to Saturday’s Roger’s Cup in Toronto.  And the winner is Staney, who attends Connexus.  Staney won the random draw among all the commenters.  Congratulations!

In the meantime, we’re enjoying learning from you.  If you missed the comment feed on the post, it’s great reading.  The four top things you identified as things that make it easy to invite your friends were (in no particular order)

1. The music
2. The message
3. The friendly welcome
4. A non-judgmental attitude

We’re so encouraged that these things are helping you invite your friends.  Feel free to tell us more…in the meantime, you can read the full comments here.

Thanks so much everyone!  And congrats Staney!

- Carey

So here’s how we’re going to give the tickets away:

• Anyone can win…you don’t have to attend Connexus.  So tell your friends who love tennis about this and get them in on the contest.
• Contest closes at 4:00 p.m. (EST) tomorrow, Tuesday, August 10th.
• You enter by posting a comment on this blog post.
• The staff at Connexus Church will enter all comments into a random draw and select one winner.  (Don’t comment multiple times….one comment per person will get entered).

Here’s what we’d love to hear from you about in your comment (because we love learning):

• If you attend church, what aspect of what we do (or what your church does) makes it most easy for you to invite a friend?
• If you don’t attend church, what might help bring you one step closer to attending?

There we go…comment away and enter the draw.  We’ll  announce the winner late tomorrow afternoon!

- Carey

We are launching our new series “Time Out” in Barrie this weekend and next weekend in Orillia!

In Barrie we are playing Nintendo!! Come early to the service and we will have some old school Nintendo set up in the foyer for you to play before and after the services.

In Orillia this week we are finishing up our Twisted series and we have something fun in the service planned so don’t miss it!

Barrie Campus

Time Out | Part One: Missin’ Out

Why do we chase every opportunity that comes our way? Why do we want what we want now? Is there a reason our ten year olds have personal calenders? How can you compete in the 21st century and not live this way? This week, we’ll look at an assumption underneath our drive for more that might drastically alter the way we think and live.

Service Times: 8:30-9:40 am & 10:00-11:10 am | Galaxy Theaters Barrie 72 Commerce Park Dr.

Orillia Campus

Twisted | Part Five: Mistaken Identity

Sin is a very uncomfortable word. It implies that there exists a moral absolute that we are accountable to and a moral absolute that we have fallen short of. And as a result, this word has almost completely dropped out of our vocabulary. But when we allow the concept of sin to be twisted, there are far-reaching consequences that we seldom recognize.

Service Times: 8:30-9:40 am & 10:00-11:10 am | Galaxy Theaters Orillia 865 West Ridge Blvd.

As you likely realize, our ministry at Connexus is 100% funded through the generous support of those who attend our campuses.  We get no government money and no outside organization funds our budget.  You do.  Every week, we take up an offering, and that enables what happens.

I got a note the other day that we now have 100 people who have decided to give to Connexus using on-line banking. Thank you!  It makes giving easier for you and helps us more predictably manage our budget.  Many more give regularly using cheques and cash.  Regardless of how you give, it makes this a great moment to thank all of you who give sacrificially and regularly to Connexus.

When you give at Connexus:

• You enable the kind of life change we saw on July 25th when 24 people were baptized.  The stories behind those baptisms are amazing…and we can’t wait to share them via video this fall at our weekend services.
• You give kids a small group in which they can develop meaningful relationships with friends running in the same direction and with an adult leader who says the same kinds of things a good parent would say.
• You create an environment in Central Ontario in which we can easily invite our friends who don’t go to church.  We dreamt of building a church unchurched people love to attend.  That dream is being realized by God’s grace.

When you give meaningfully, you also grow spiritually.  In the end,  giving is about trust.  If you want to grow your trust in God and dependence on God, give a generous portion of what he’s given you back to the Kingdom of God.  You don’t need to depend on God if you have everything you need covered.  But when you begin to give sacrificially, you lean into him at a much deeper and more meaningful level.

If you want to know more about how to give at Connexus, you can learn more here. If you want to learn more about giving, feel free to ask a question here or talk to us in person.

In the meantime, to all of you who give, thank you.  For those of you who might begin giving now that you’ve started attending – thank you!  You are changing lives across Central Ontario and beyond.  And for that, we’re incredibly grateful!

- Carey