Florida Crown Emmaus Newsletter
| A Gateway to Christ |
February 2018 |
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Have you ever spent time looking back at the impact the Walk to Emmaus has had on your life? Whether you went on your weekend recently or went a long time ago like I did, it is always good to reflect on what you learned on your weekend and maybe there was something you learned but couldn't implement then but now you can. As your new Spiritual Director, I decided I wanted to review my weekend. I am inviting you on this journey with me to review your weekend as well. Some months I will review one talk and tell how it impacted me. Other months, I might get ambitious and cover two of the talks from the weekend. This month we are going to talk about priorities. I have my notebook here with me. I'll wait for you to go find yours.....The first month of the year is behind us and if you are like most people, if you made a resolution it has not been as successful as you had hoped. February is when we get back to the routine of our daily lives and the spiritual journey that was fresh at the end of the year gets washed over by the waves of other priorities. Most people that attend a weekend can point to one moment when something was said or done that would change the rest of their lives. For me, it was the priorities talk. The talk made me realize that I needed to do a better job being a husband and father. I thought I was doing well with my priorities, but I realized on my weekend that I was focused more on me and less on those around me. I wrote down three questions that help determining what are my priorities. 1. What do I think about? 2. Where do I spend my time? 3. Where do I spend my money? Do you remember these questions from your walk? I can say that my answers today are very different than they were back then, but that doesn't mean they are always where they need to be. I think I'm a better father and husband, bud I also hope I'm am much better disciple of Jesus Christ as well. Here is the summary I wrote; 'Priorities dictate actions in our lives. We have to recognize the fact that either we set our priorities, or the world will set them for us'. Setting priorities is an ongoing task. I encourage you to look at your priorities and make any necessary corrections and as always, work on becoming a better disciple.
DeColores and Fly With Christ!
Steve Painter
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My name is Dave Preston, I made my walk on Florida Crown Walk to Emmaus Number 17 where I sat at the Table of Matthew. I worship and serve at Wesconnett United Methodist Church, and I am your new Assistant Community Spiritual Director. I was the Chrysalis Community spiritual Director for many years and have had the pleasure of serving on both men's and women's walks with many of you in this community. I also serve in Kairos at Columbia Correctional Institution. You want to see the Spirit move, get in the middle of about sixty guys in blue singing Amazing Grace/These Chains Are Gone! I am an Ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church serving as a Local Pastor with an amazing group of people at Wesconnett UMC. I have been married to Dana, (pronounced "Donna"!) for 31 years and we are waiting on our first grandchild, a little girl coming this month to our daughter Leah and Son-in-Law Matt, of whom we are most proud !.
As one of your Spiritual Directors along with Pastor Steve Painter, I will be praying to continue the powerful witness and work of the Holy Spirit in and through this incredible Emmaus Community. We are the "hands and feet of Christ." and we stand on the work of many saints before, but there is much to be done and a harvest awaits. I thank God and this community for the opportunity to serve in this capacity.
De Colores!
Rev. Dave Preston
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2018 Gathering Calendar
Calling ALL churches, large and small: We need you, one and all!
Below is the Gathering/Rush dates. The Board Position of Gathering/Rush Coordinator is vacant at this time. If you would like to be considered or are interested in this position please contact Kathy Scott or any Emmaus Board Member.
The dates of our 2018 Gatherings/Rushes and locations as currently assigned, are:
January 27 - Mandarin UMC
February 17 - Lakeshore UMC
March 17 -
April 21 -
May 19 -
June 16 -
August 18 - Middleburg UMC
September 15 -
October 20 - FOURTH DAY -
November 18 -
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My name is Steve Babine, I worship and serve at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship and went on FCE Walk #35 where I sat at the table of Peter. I'm married to Tandee and we have two great girls, Catherine and Danielle.
I am excited to take on the Men's Team Selection role and look forward to working closely with the board and the community.
Have you ever spent time looking back at the impact the Walk to Emmaus has had on your life? Whether you went on your weekend recently or went a long time ago like I did, it is always good to reflect on what you learned on your weekend and maybe there was something you learned but couldn't implement then but now you can. As your new Spiritual Director, I decided I wanted to review my weekend. I am inviting you on this journey with me to review your weekend as well. Some months I will review one talk and tell how it impacted me. Other months, I might get ambitious and cover two of the talks from the weekend. This month we are going to talk about priorities. I have my notebook here with me. I'll wait for you to go find yours.....The first month of the year is behind us and if you are like most people, if you made a resolution it has not been as successful as you had hoped. February is when we get back to the routine of our daily lives and the spiritual journey that was fresh at the end of the year gets washed over by the waves of other priorities. Most people that attend a weekend can point to one moment when something was said or done that would change the rest of their lives. For me, it was the priorities talk. The talk made me realize that I needed to do a better job being a husband and father. I thought I was doing well with my priorities, but I realized on my weekend that I was focused more on me and less on those around me. I wrote down three questions that help determining what are my priorities. 1. What do I think about? 2. Where do I spend my time? 3. Where do I spend my money? Do you remember these questions from your walk? I can say that my answers today are very different than they were back then, but that doesn't mean they are always where they need to be. I think I'm a better father and husband, bud I also hope I'm am much better disciple of Jesus Christ as well. Here is the summary I wrote; 'Priorities dictate actions in our lives. We have to recognize the fact that either we set our priorities, or the world will set them for us'. Setting priorities is an ongoing task. I encourage you to look at your priorities and make any necessary corrections and as always, work on becoming a better disciple.
DeColores and Fly With Christ!
Steve Babine
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If you have moved, changed your email address or phone number, please let the Communication Director know so we can ensure your information is correct so you can continue to recieve the Emmaus Newslettrers and information.
Commications Director
Richard Jacobs
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Reunion Group Coordinator
Last month, I wrote about God's plan for the Israelites as He prepared them to move into the Promised Land. The first step was to take a census. So here comes the boring (but enlightening) part of the Book of Numbers. The census has been taken based on the current Florida Crown Emmaus database.
We have a total of 4263 Pilgrims that have taken the Walk to Emmaus listed in our database
*. These individuals hail from some 329 churches throughout Northeast Florida and other areas.
As God did with the Israelites, we have segregated this group into several logical regions. God did it by tribes of Jacob (Israel); we will be doing it by geographic regions, which seem to make more sense for our purposes. The Regions are defined as Northeast Florida, Westside Jacksonville, Southside Jacksonville, Northside Jacksonville, Clay County, Jacksonville Beaches, and Other areas (outside Jacksonville Metro).
We will be focusing on the top 25 churches in each Region, which allows us to support about 90% of the existing FCE members in the database. Each Region will be divided into five Areas, with Area Coordinators covering five churches each. We are currently seeking Area Coordinators with responsibility for communications among each group of five Area churches.
Our goal is to simply help re-invigorate the reunion group's currently in place and stimulate creation of new reunion groups. We are working on a website that will facilitate communication of available groups by Region and Area. We hope to have this in place, along with the Regional Coordinators by end of March.
Our plan for this year is to follow God's example in Numbers to organize our community by geographic regions to help stimulate and encourage the Reunion Groups to "Pray, Study, and Act" in accordance with Emmaus principles. Also, we will strive to motivate these Reunion Groups to reach out to their existing members that may have been absent and attempt to get them to return to their groups. And, of course, we will continue to reach out to potential new pilgrims who have not yet taken an Emmaus weekend and invite and sponsor them as they are called.
Anyone interested in becoming either a Regional or Area Coordinator or the Reunion Group Coordinator for their church, should feel free to contact me at
[email protected] or by phone at (904)509-6650. Phil Jacobs and Harry Mills are currently Regional Coordinators for Clay County and Northeast Florida respectively.
I hope I can count on all of you to support this effort to organize and prepare a plan that is God driven to increase our numbers and our ability to serve. I pray that this plan, much like the plan God laid out in Numbers, will help us to grow in our faith and provide a vehicle for greater fellowship and evangelism within our Emmaus community.
Trusting God,
Paul Frendahl,
Reunion Group Coordinator
*Some number of the members in our database are no longer part of Florida Crown Emmaus, and some have passed away or moved, so the actual number is still unclear
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| Emmaus Newsletter Check with all of your Emmaus friends to ensure that they're getting the newsletter. If they aren't, encourage them to go to the website to sign up, text EMMAUS to 22828 for a signup prompt, or send a note to [email protected]to get their email address added. There are several ways and we want our Community to stay informed! |
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Board of Directors List
Community Lay Director - Kathy Scott (904) 612-4361
Asst. Community Lay Director - Bill Adams (904) 771-4268
Community Spiritual Director -
Rev Steve Painter (904) 553-3250
Community Spiritual Director -
Rev. Dave Preston 904-616-6817
Treasurer - Celeste Willis 208-0965
Men's Team Selection -Steve Babine 687-3544
Women's Team Selection -
Barbara Rowe (904) 642-5995
Secretary - Hugh Fletcher (904) 223-4744
Registrar - Verna Fields 771-7450
Agape, Prayer Vigil - Tracy Crissman (904) 534-3356
Gatherings - Vacant
Kitchen Coordinator- Aileen Wood (904) 491-4900
Physical Arrangements - Mike Oakes
(904) 434-7444
Music - Joe Alexander (904) 221-5791
Communications Director - Richard Jacobs (904) 742-5151
Reunion Groups - Paul Frendahl (904) 509-6650
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CHRYSALIS
At the girls' Chrysalis candlelight, the team sang the song "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective. After three days of talks, prayers, table time, and lots of food these young women were declaring in song that their Chrysalis weekend had shone a bright light on their lighthouse - their God. Their voices echoing in song what had been reinforced all weekend: "Your great love will lead me through" as they "trust the promise you will carry me safe to shore."
What a perfect song to describe the mission of Chrysalis: a lighthouse. It shines in the darkness of the fourth days of these young men and women who have now had the experience of a lifetime. They have made new friends, Christian friends, and they will now continue to grow in Christ to not only become leaders in their churches, but also out in the world.
Those who have not experienced the joy, love, and grace of an Emmaus or Chrysalis weekend may ask, "How can this three day experience grow church leaders and disciples for Christ?" For some a seed has been planted; for others a seed that had been previously sown was fertilized; for others it was a walk (or flight) with the Holy Spirit by their sides.
With the state of today's world, we need Chrysalis to shine the teachings of Christ in a materialistic, dark world. While needing a solid foundation provided by their churches, these young adults need time away from the world bathed in agape love and Christian fellowship.
Fly with Christ
Susie Goodhart
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| ABOUT THE WALK TO EMMAUS The Mission: Empowering Leaders to be the hands and feet of Christ
The Vision: Fourth Day Leaders Embodying Jesus Christ
"I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfill God's creational intentions." -- Unknown
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| Florida Crown Emmaus PO Box 351588 Jacksonville, FL 32235 flcrownemmaus.com
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January 27 - Mandarin UMC
February 17 - Lakeshore UMC
March 17 -
April 21 -
May 19 -
June 16 -
August 18 - Middleburg UMC
September 15 -
October 20 - FOURTH DAY -
November 18 -
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Florida Crown Emmaus
www.floridacrownemmaus.com
Jacksonville, Florida 32235
Communications
904-382-7323 |
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