Connection Central

Hello WAIO- Welcome to the new Connection Central Blog. This format should make our info and opinions it easier to access and accessible to more people.

This weeks services were completely awesome. We should have an update this week on the pledges for Our Connection.

Our services times remain the same but the emphasis will be on the basics - worship, praise, prayer,ministry. We strongly believe that a focus on the simple moving of the Holy Spirit will prepare us for what the Lord has planned in the Fall of the year. Come expecting miracles and tangible "God" experiences during this month.

Check out the many informative blogs available through the website to stay abreast of the activities and schedules of your favorite ministry expressions.

Come prepared to serve this month, since many of our regulars may be out for vacations.

Be blessed with this great scripture from the Message translation (Psa 116:16-19)
"Oh God, here I am, your servant: set free for your service! I'm ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice and pray in the name of God. I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it in company with his people, in the place of worship, in God's house, in Jerusalem, God's city. Hallelujah!"

Ideas for Small Group Outreach and Service



This month, consider a change of pace for your small group. If you normally cease meeting in the summer, think about continuing to meet but at a different time and location:

If you normally meet in the evening, try a Saturday morning.

Consider meeting on an early weekday morning for breakfast at a local restaurant.

Meet in the afternoon, outside in a park, or on someone’s back deck.

Meet late in the evening at a local coffee shop or bookstore.

Consider adjusting your lessons to allow more time to think and pray:

Spend some meetings entirely in prayer and worship, focusing on the lost in your community.

Focus your summer meetings around outreach projects. Meet for a short time of prayer and worship, then engage in an outreach project. Finish your time with sharing the day’s experiences.

Hit the streets and prayer walk during your meeting time.

As you change the time and/or place of your small group meeting, look around and see who is standing around watching. Smile and, if the opportunity arises, visit with each person, inviting him or her to join your group.

Remember Rule #1...It's Golden
An excerpt from The Power of Attitude by Mac Anderson

I grew up in Trenton, a west Tennessee town of five thousand people. I have wonderful memories of those first eighteen years, and many people in Trenton influenced my life in very positive ways. My football coach, Walter Kilzer, taught me the importance of hard work, discipline, and believing in myself. My history teacher, Fred Culp, is still the funniest person I've ever met. He taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings.

But my father was my hero. He taught me many things, but at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with respect...to live the Golden Rule. I remember one particular instance of him teaching this "life lesson" as if it were yesterday. Dad owned a furniture store, and I used to dust the furniture every Wednesday after school to earn my allowance. One afternoon I observed my Dad talking to all the customers as they came in...the hardware store owner, the banker, a farmer, a doctor. At the end of the day, just as Dad was closing, the garbage collector came in.

I was ready to go home, and I thought that surely Dad wouldn't spend too much time with him. But I was wrong. Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before. He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more. I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left, I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him? He's just the garbage collector." Dad then looked at me, locked the front door to the store, and said, "Son, let's talk."

He said, "I'm your father and I tell you lots of stuff as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this...treat every human being just the way that you would want to be treated." He said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it, but I want to make sure it's the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you would never have said what you said." We sat there and talked for another hour about the meaning and the power of the Golden Rule. Dad said, "If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't, your life probably will be very unhappy and without meaning."

I recently heard someone say, "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of incalculable value." Truer words were never spoken.

Do Your Lessons TEACH?
Kurt Johnston

It pains me to admit this, but on "rare" occasions (say, three times a month!), my junior high lessons miss the mark. I'm sharper than most, so I've learned to spot the very subtle signs: students snoring in the front row, paper airplanes flying through the room, glazed-over eyes staring into space as drool slowly drips from the mouth.

While there's certainly no magic formula for teaching success, here's a filter that's helped me: I evaluate each lesson by looking at what I've prepared and asking myself, Does this lesson T.E.A.C.H.?

Is it True? Is it biblically sound? Are verses used in context? Is the whole Scripture considered? I've fallen into the trap many times of starting with my version of truth or my "soapbox" of the moment and then searching the Scriptures for a verse that seems to back it up.

Is it Encouraging? Does this lesson motivate and encourage students toward some sort of action or commitment? If I'm teaching a hard truth, am I doing so in an encouraging way? Remember, it's the good news!

Is it Applicable? Does this study or lesson apply to the world of a junior higher? Have I made the effort to make the biblical truth actually true to them? Does this lesson equip them to live out their faith beyond the walls of the church?

Is it Clear? Is this lesson easily understood? Is the main point clear? Is it logical? Does it make sense? Does it have a "flow"?

Is it Humorous? You don't have to be drop-dead funny, but junior highers like to laugh, and they like to have fun. They expect Bible studies to be boring...surprise them by adding a few humorous stories and some fun interaction. When students are smiling and laughing with each other during your lesson, they're also learning more.

This is what I've learned: Just because I'm talking, I'm not necessarily teaching; and just because I'm teaching, students aren't necessarily learning. Eyes still glaze over occasionally, but there's much less drool.

A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.

All pitchers are liars or crybabies.

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.

Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.

Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.

Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.

He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious.

How can you think and hit at the same time?

I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.

I just want to thank everyone who made this day necessary.

I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?

I never said most of the things I said.

I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.

I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.

I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.

I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.

If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em.

If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.

If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it.

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

In baseball, you don't know nothing.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

It ain't over till it's over.

It ain't the heat, it's the humility.

It gets late early out there.

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.

It's like deja-vu, all over again.

It's pretty far, but it doesn't seem like it.

Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.

Slump? I ain't in no slump... I just ain't hitting.

So I'm ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face.

The future ain't what it used to be.

The future isn't what it used to be.

The only color I don't have is navy brown.

The other teams could make trouble for us if they win.


The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.

There are some people who, if they don't already know, you can't tell 'em.

We have deep depth.

We made too many wrong mistakes.

When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it.

You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.

You can observe a lot by just watching.

You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.

You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours.

You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you.

Every once in a while, you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You can't do that. It's gone, gone forever.

A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.

Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.' In other words a good offense wins.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.

I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.

I couldn't help but be impressed by the magnitude of the earthquake.

I don't watch it, but I know enough to comment on it.

I have a very good family. I'm very fortunate to have a very good family. I believe very strongly in the family. It's one of the things we have in our platform, is to talk about it.

I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.

I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.

I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.

I understand the importance of bondage between parent and child.

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

I've never professed to be anything but an average student.

If Al Gore invented the Internet, I invented spell check.

If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure.

If you give a person a fish, they'll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they'll fish for a lifetime.

Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.

Smokers and sinners
by John Fischer

A smoker in a non-smoking environment is a little like a sinner in church.

Both smokers and sinners gravitate together. They hit it off immediately. They know the traits, and can spot another one of their kind without any trouble. They don't mind being outcasts as long as they can have some company.

Sometimes they have to sneak, like when smoking dads have to sneak out of the cabin on camping trips so they can grab a few quick puffs on the volleyball court. (Sinners always have to sneak around non-sinners.)

It almost seems that smokers and sinners have more fun. They accept each other at pretty much face value. There's little to prove. Both can be outspoken about their dependencies and pretty raw about the realities of life. When smoking used to be allowed in the back rows of an airplane, it was always a noisy, happy group back there. Made me feel a little envious.

Smokers and sinners also share a level of condemnation from an increasingly non-smoking (and in the case of the church -- non-sinning) culture.

What's alarming about this is how easily the comparisons can be made, and how much the church resembles a non-smoking public.

We need a smoker's church -- a place that welcomes sinners and makes them feel at home. In such an environment, no sneaking is necessary, and there is no condemnation, because we all know what we deserve.

I don't know about you but I want to be around the smokers. Non-sinners aren't going to be able to come along side and relate to anyone. Besides, is anybody really not sinning?