This past weekend (January 6-7) Pastor Jeff presented four workshops at the Gay Christian Network Conference in Orlando, Florida. Meanwhile, David Squire, our Communications Director, staffed a booth at the conference offering books and materials published by LifeJourney Press, our publishing ministry.

The Gay Christian Network (GCN) operates one of the most popular web-based support organizations for LGBT Christians. GCN’s conferences typically draw about 500 participants, and provide a wonderful opportunity to promote our resources.

Jeff presented two workshops based on the book he co-authored, The Children Are Free. The third workshop was about our church’s discipleship materials — Discipleship 101 and 102. The fourth workshop presented our Pastoral Training Program to those who feel called to ministry.

The AIDS Walk supports services and programs that help more than 10,000 Hoosiers with HIV/AIDS. We’ll solicit pledges from family, friends, co-workers, and others to provide assistance with shelter, utilities, food, medicine, and other daily living needs.

Won’t you sign up today to be part of the LifeJourney Team? Your participation can make a difference to many people right here in Indiana. The walk is Saturday October 8 at University Park.

Sign up to be part of the LifeJourney Church Team at church on Sunday, or sign up directly online. Click “walker registration” then choose “LifeJourney Church” as your team. You can download the pledge form with instructions.

If you can’t walk, you can still participate by gathering pledges or sponsoring someone else. If you’d like to make a general team donation, please see Gina Walker or email the church office.

We now have 32 billboards sponsored, enough to allow us to stagger the start dates of our billboards to stretch the campaign from four weeks to eight. Here is some key info:

• Theme: Who Stole Jesus? Each billboard will proclaim that question and invite people to our web site for fuller discussion.
• Timing: September 19 – November 14. Half the billboards will go up the week of September 19. Each week thereafter we’ll add four more, until all are up. Each billboard will run for four weeks. The last billboards will come down around November 14.
• Yard signs. Yard signs, magnetic bumper stickers, and t-shirts will be available starting Sunday September 25, just a few days after the first billboards go up.
• Sermon Series. September 25 will also mark the beginning of an eight-week sermon series highlighting the gap between the Jesus of the Gospels and how he’s often presented by institutional Christianity.

If you want to sponsor a billboard, but haven’t yet, fill out this form. Meanwhile, let’s all be praying that this outreach campaign will give hope to many who have felt excluded from Christ — while causing many others to re-think how they present Jesus to the world.

On August 28 we announced a new billboard outreach campaign: Who Stole Jesus? Our goal is to highlight the gap between the Jesus of the Bible and how Jesus is often presented by institutional Christianity. See this document for details.

We believe our campaign will cause many who’ve been turned off by institutional Christianity to take another look at the real Jesus — loving, kind, flexible, merciful, joyful. We also want to challenge churches across central Indiana (and beyond) to step back and examine how they are presenting Jesus.

Already nine billboards have been sponsored by individuals or groups of friends within our church — and we anticipate receiving more sponsorships this Sunday. We hope to reach at least 20. Next Sunday, September 4, is the deadline to sponsor a billboard.

Yard signs will also be a key component of the campaign. If you plan to place yard signs, we need to know now, so we can order the right number. We also need to know how many bumper stickers and t-shirts to order.

If you want to sponsor a billboard, or plan to participate with yard signs, t-shirts, or bumper stickers, please fill out this document and bring it to church on Sunday or return it to the office. Our campaign will begin the week of September 19!

People regularly contact us from across the globe to say how much they love our sermon webcasts, daily devotionals, books, and other published materials. We’ve received emails and letters from all over the United States, England, Australia, Saudi Arabia, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and on and on. Many say that we are their Church — their spiritual lifeline — because they don’t have a viable option where they live.

In response to all this feedback, we feel called to provide more intentional support for our “global members.” So we’re developing a complete package of spiritual resources that will include:

• An upgraded sermon webcast with higher quality video and sound. Our new system will also enable us to offer musical portions of our worship service.
• Daily online meditations called Be Still and Know — which are already available on our web site.
• Weekly online “Going Deeper” Oasis Groups that feature discussions of Sunday’s sermon and offer face-to-face video contact. Imagine the power of being able to participate in a weekly spiritual small group from anywhere in the world!
• Participation in our annual Soul Care Planning process. Remote participants will receive the same prayer support and encouragement throughout the year as local members.
• Pastoral counseling support via phone or internet from a staff minister. We plan to hire Pastor Vivian Wyatt to perform this role for our global members and to coordinate the care they receive.
• Staff support for house churches that may form in your area using resources provided by our Church. Our Minister of Outreach David Zier will support this function.
• Prayer chain support for important prayer requests you wish to share.
• Remote service opportunities such as participating in our prayer chain and other ministries that allow for online participation.

Our goal is to go as far as possible toward providing our global members with the same level of connection and support as members living in Indianapolis.

To accomplish this, we need your help! In recent weeks, we’ve challenged our local members to increase their weekly giving to enable us to implement the plan described above.

Now we’re turning to our remote users — people like yourself — to ask if you will help us reach and maintain this goal. If you are blessed by the resources our Church provides, and if you would like to help us increase the support we offer people like yourself, please consider becoming a regular electronic giver — at any level.

Just go to www.LifeJourneyChurch.cc/donate. Electronic givers can always adjust or stop their giving, at a moments notice, at that same link.

If we reach our financial goal soon, we will be able to implement most of the pieces of our remote membership plan this summer. Let’s make sure LGBTQ people everywhere can get the spiritual support they need! Thank you for considering this important ministry outreach.

In Christ,
Pastor Jeff

The Indianapolis Pride Parade and Festival is on June 11, and we’re going to work together to make it better than ever! Here are some ways to participate:

• We will march in the Indy Pride parade, and would like as many of us as possible to join in, wearing a LifeJourney Church t-shirt. Shirts are available in the bookstore at church, in sizes from youth small to 4XL.
• We would like to find a “balloon coordinator.” This person would be responsible for inflating and distributing balloons before the parade.
• We’re looking for a few folks to staff the church booth at the Festival. Shifts will be two to three hours, and two or three people will be assigned to each shift. There’s no “proselytizing” involved — booth staff will pass out brochures, answer questions, and mostly, just be friendly.

If you want to be part of any of these activities, please fill out the form in Sunday’s Weekly News, or contact David Squire. We’ll get more details out to you as the date approaches.

A group of folks from Jesus MCC attended our denomination’s triennial General Conference in Mexico the week of June 27–July 3. Our official delegation, sent by our church included Pastor Jeff and Lay Delegates Curt Pickard and Melissa Bruce. Three other folks funded their own trips: Carla Peck, and Julie and Brent Walsh.

Here’s a report on hightlights from the Conference.

• Restructuring. At the business meeting, delegates approved a reconfiguration of the governing structure of our denomination. The primary purpose was to consolidate various boards into a single Governing Board, to reduce expenses and create clarity in strategic decisionmaking.
• Progressive Evangelical Network. Pastor Jeff convened a meeting of 55 leaders from MCCs who share our church’s approach to ministry. The group decided to become an official network within MCC, and plans to meet and communicate regularly to share resources and to speak with a common voice on matters of denominational direction.
• Found Pearl Press. Our church’s publishing ministry, Found Pearl Press, was a featured sponsor of General Conference. From a booth in the Expo Hall, we offered a whole range of resources for other churches, including our newly-published Discipleship 101/102 workbooks. Our booth attracted strong interest and we sold about $1,600 of our resources to interested congregations. We want to express deepest thanks to those who volunteered countless hours at our booth: Curt, Melissa, Carla, Julie, and Brent. Pastor Jeff dialogued with renowned Christian singer and songwriter, Ray Boltz, about distributing his newest album via Found Pearl Press.
• Africa Meeting. Pastor Jeff convened a meeting of African leaders to discuss how to best share our church’s book on homosexuality and the Bible — The Children Are Free — in Africa, where the need for an affirming Gospel message is so critical. Leaders from Kenya and South Africa will be taking the lead in coordinating the printing and distribution of our book in Africa.
• Australia Meeting. Pastor Jeff met with the pastor of Crave MCC, Sydney, Australia, to discuss how we can support their growing ministry. Crave MCC is a congregation of about 60 young adults who minister in a style similar to our church and already use our Discipleship materials. Crave MCC is not only interested in broadening their use of our materials, but also contributing materials of their own to the work of Found Pearl Press.
• Partnership with The Fellowship. “The Fellowship” is a group of about 20 Christian churches that work together in coalition. Their congregations are predominantly African American and LGBT. MCC and The Fellowship are exploring forming an intentional partnership. Key leaders and many congregants from The Fellowship were present at Conference, so everyone could become better acquainted and explore what a partnership might look like. Discussions are going very well and will likely lead to some type of formal agreement in the near future.
• Award for our Church. Jesus MCC was given one of MCC’s two highest honors, the Excellence In Ministry Award, in recognition of our innovative work in creating Discipleship resources for MCC congregations.

MCC’s next General Conference will occur in Chicago in 2013.

Pride Season is fast approaching and we’re going to work together to make it better than ever! Here are some ways you can participate:

• We will march in the Indy Pride parade on June 12, and would like as many of us as possible to join in, wearing a Jesus MCC t-shirt. More shirts will be available in the church bookstore on May 30, in sizes from Youth Small to 6XL.
• We’re looking for a few folks to staff the church booth at the Festival. Shifts will be two to three hours, and two or three people will be assigned to each shift. There’s no “proselytizing” involved—booth staff will pass out brochures, answer questions, and mostly, just be friendly.
• New this year: LGBT Family Picnic at Eagle Creek Park, also on June 12. Jesus MCC is a sponsor of this event, and we’ll have a church booth there, same as at the Pride Festival.
• Our Choirs and Instrumentalists will perform a three-song set at the Indy Pride Festival. Look for them on the main stage at 11:45 pm!
• We’re exploring the possibility of having a float in the parade next year. We want to put our heads together and explore ideas.

If you want to be part of any of these activities, please email David Squire.

Jesus MCC's group in the 2009 Indy Pride Parade.

Jesus MCC's Band and Choirs perform at Indy Pride.

As a congregation on the move, we want to be as diverse in age as we are in ethnicity and gender. To help move us toward greater diversity, we would like to invite all who are 35 and under to a focus group on Sunday, June 13, following the 11:00 am service. A pizza lunch will be provided.

Join Jeff and Melody for lunch and give us your insights into the ways we can move forward together to provide stellar ministry. We need to hear directly from you so be sure to be there!

Please let us know you’re coming so we can plan accordingly. You can register with the form in Sunday’s Weekly News, or email Melody Merida.

On Saturday July 25, Jesus MCC will have a full-page ad in a special Profiles in Faith supplement to the Indianapolis Star. This will appear in northern Indianapolis and Hamilton County.

This is an exciting outreach for us, as it will position our church right alongside many other major local churches. The ad presents our church as a welcoming, diverse place where you can make friends and explore deep questions of faith. Please be in prayer for this outreach!

You can view the ad here.  (~1mb pdf) In addition to this ad, there will be a brief article and contact info.

Many, many thanks to everyone who was part of the June 13 Pride Day outreach!

From the marchers in the parade, to everyone who shared info and literature at the church booth, to the fantastic band and choir performance — you were fabulous!

Collectively, we had untold opportunities to share the most vital message ever: There’s a place for you in God’s family!

Jesus MCC's group in the 2009 Indy Pride Parade.

Jesus MCC's Band and Choirs perform at Indy Pride.

Fifty-six activist leaders from around the world received copies of The Children Are Free at the 24th Worldwide Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Vienna, Austria, in November, 2008.

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Great news! Our sermon webcast is now up and running! Each Sunday’s sermon is now posted by Wednesday of that week.

Many thanks go to everyone who has contributed to make this happen, including our Media Team, which does incredible work each week! Please lift this endeavor in prayer — may it reach out to those who are seeking a message of God’s love.

Still to come:

• Television-style intro and exit segments.
• a software upgrade that will improve several functions.
• same-day access: soon, we’ll have a team in place that will make the video and audio sermons available on Sunday afternoon. If you’d like to be part of this technical, behind-the-scenes team, please email the web manager.

Check out the webcast here: JesusMCC.org/listen/

We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions — please email or call the office.