November 10th—December 20th

The Vision
From the beginning, Grassroots has had the vision of planting a self-sustaining and multiplying gospel movement that brings spiritual and social renewal to Puna and the world.

God’s Past Faithfulness
Over the last two and a half years we have moved slowly but consistently towards this vision. We have been blessed by a strong and unified leadership team, favor in the community, fruitfulness in gospel ministry, and consistent financial provision.

Our Present and Future Need
Grassroots Church is coming to a very significant crossroads as a young church. The support from our sending church expired in 2009 and in 2010 we will be on our own for sustaining the financial side of our ministry. For 2009, our budget was almost as tight as it could be without giving up either our full-time pastor or our sunday meeting location. In 2010, our budget will be even tighter and we are estimating that if the giving of the present Grassroots people remain the same, we will still need an additional $1,700-$2,000 a month to make budget.

The Possible Consequences of our Budget Deficit
The honest reality is that ministry costs money and if we cannot make budget we will need to give up our building and/or the blessing of having a full-time pastor. While the church is so much more than a meeting location and a pastor, our concern is that this downsizing will cost us dearly in momentum and ministry opportunities.

A Solemn Call to Prayer, Fasting, and Mission
We are calling everyone who considers Grassroots to be their home church to join us in a focused season of prayer, fasting, and mission for 40 days.

Beginning: Tuesday November 10th and Ending: Sunday December 20th.

Prayer Gatherings Wednesday Evenings @ the Grassroots Office 7pm-9pm during 40 Days.

Prayer, Fasting and Mission Details
Our heart is to be united together as we seek God and so we would encourage everyone who participates to use the prayer and mission guide on the back of this sheet for direction and accountability. No one else will see your sheet but we would encourage you to fill it in throughout the 40 days.

We are asking people to choose one day a week for themselves in which they will fast from 1-3 meals and spend the time they would normally be eating in prayer. We would also encourage people to consider fasting from TV, Internet, movies, etc. and to instead spend this time in prayer and Bible reading. For more on fasting, see Hunger for God.
We will be having group prayer gatherings at the church office once a week during the 40 days and we would ask that everyone who participates make it a priority to attend at least one of these gatherings.

Download Prayer Guide: 40 Days Prayer Cards

For help on fasting, download A Hunger for God intro by John Piper: Hunger for God Intro

A new website offers some very helpful information is sifting through the fact and fantasy of Dan Brown’s book and movie.  For those interested, there is also a site dedicated to The Da Vinci Code.

With Angel’s and Demons hitting the box office, Dan Brown and his wonderfully entertaining novels are back in the limelight.  Ross Ross Douthat’s latest NYT column explains the appeal of Dan Brown and also offers some great links to some related topics.

I am a homegrown Punatic with a love for the cultures and religions of the world.  In my studies, I recently came across an enlightening quote from Mahatma Gandhi, a man that I deeply respect.  Gandhi was asked by E. Stanley Jones, a friend and Christian missionary what advice he might have for indigenizing the teachings of Christ in India.  While Gandhi’s words apply directly to Christians like me, I believe that we can all learn from his insight and wisdom. (continue reading…)

We are working on transferring all of our site content to our new blog site.  Please be patient with us.  We hope to have most of it setup by Easter, and then we will have the final tweaks done by the end of April.

Enjoy.

John Piper has a great new article on nudity.  This is relevant for us in how we should think about our local nude beach, Kahena.

Ray Fowler has a great post about cohabitation before marriage. It never ceises to amaze me how obedience to the scriptures (especially when it comes to family life) really does lead to the healthiest and most fulfilled life possible. Check out the statistics for cohabitation here.

Willow Creek Church, pastored by Bill Hybills has been arguably the most influential church in America when it comes to teaching other churches how to do programed ministry. At over 20,000 attendees, they are one of the largest churches in America and their leadership conferences have been attended by tens of thousands of church leaders. After 30 years of pioneering a consumer program-driven church growth strategy, Willow Creek is repenting… After an in depth study of their church, they have come to see that their strategy simply doesn’t work.For me, this is a powerful confirmation of the call on our church to be about grassroots, of the people community. Offering fancy programs and events does not change hearts. It is only through the work of God’s Spirit as we grow together in community to love Jesus and love people. After all, church is a lot simpler than we often make it out to be.Read the full article here

Lately we have been looking at how Jesus calls out and rebukes the religious hyprocrites of his day. This short video has been very helpful for me in rebuking my own inner religious hyprocrite.

Check out more great sermon videos by Pasor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church