Easter Sunday is quickly approaching and I can’t wait.  I love the Easter season.  The change of the weather, the energy and atmosphere of the church, a signal of new life and new beginnings.  Starting Easter Sunday, we have a 50 day season of spiritual emphasis like we have never had before at 217church.  After 2 years and 2 weeks of ministry, it is time to take it to the next level.  I wanted to take this time and share with you some of the details about the new “Live Differently” 50 Day Spiritual Emphasis.  Live Differently is all about transformation against the odds.  What will we be addressing?

Four Areas of Spiritual Health

#1 Spiritual Health – Easter Sunday April 8th, we will be focusing on our spiritual health. Each Sunday during Live Differently you will hear this phrase – “Salvation is free but discipleship will cost you everything.”  On Easter we will be addressing the heart issue of following Christ.  What are the practices of a Christ follower? What does a healthy spiritual life look like? Heart transformation is the key and the habits of prayer, reading the word, studying scripture, and meditating on it all flow from a heart transformed.  The challenge will be to join a small group for SEVEN CONSECUTIVE WEEKS.  Taking this time to engage in a spiritually intensive season is going to sharpen us in our focus as individuals and a church.  If you want the most out of the series you have to be in a small group!

#2 Financial Health – For the next two weeks, April 15th & 22nd, we will deal with one of the most difficult issues, how we live a healthy financial Life.  How do we work, live, save, and give? Should debt be an option? How does God want me to give? God has some incredible things to say about what financial health looks like and we want to address some lies the culture has fed to us. How much debt can we pay off by the end of 2012 as a church?  Let’s find out!

#3 Physical Health – April 29th & May 6th we will tackle our heart condition and how we treat our bodies.  For some of us, this will be a literal heart check.  There is no way around it, your body matters to God.  Did you know that heart disease kills more people every year than car accidents? God cares that we take care of our earthly shell and we will discover how nutrition, exercise and healthy living matter to God. How many pounds will we lose?  Will we choose to live healthy lives in 2012?  Let’s encourage each other!

#4 Family Health – The last two weeks, May 13th & 20th we will deal with the foundational structure of society, the family.  We will deal with marriage, parenting and single living and what God’s intention for the family is. How will our marriages be healthier? What if our relationship with our children exponentially improved?  God has to deal with our hearts first and there are some great direction in scripture that speaks directly to the health of the family.

Three Environments of Reinforcement

#1 Weekend Worship – You will not want to miss a weekend as every Sunday at 10:00am and 11:30am as we worship collectively together.  What does play-doh have to do with your marriage?  Come find out and you will see.

#2 Small Group Connection – We are asking each small group to meet for seven consecutive weeks and study the “Live Differently” material we have been working hard producing and publishing in house.  Each group will get a 7 lesson DVD video curriculum and each person a small group booklet that will help guide them along the way.  We have some fun times planned for your small group with some great ideas for growth.  We want EVERYONE who calls 217church home to be in a small group.  For this reason, we want to start 15 new groups.  Want to H.O.S.T. a group?  Here is what you need

• H -Have a Heart for People – We aren’t looking for professionals, but people will a love for people

• O – Open up your Home/Apartment – We need place for these groups to meet!  we currently have 14 homes, but to get everyone in a group, we need at least 14 more!  Are you game?  e-mail dan@217church now!

• S – Serve A Snack/Share A Meal Together – Food is an incredible way to build relationships!  I love eating with people.  Don’t worry, after your 1st meeting, you can involve everyone in your group in sharing the responsibility for this.

• T- Turn on the DVD/Host a Discussion – The DVD will be easy to understand and the lesson will be full of questions to ask.  As a H.O.S.T., you just take people right through the discussion question and some veterans of small groups will be there to help you along the way with any questions you may have.

#3 Individual Journaling/Life Transformations – At the end of the 7 weeks you will have 4 vision statements for your life, rooted in scripture, God inspired, written by you, birthed out of heart change inspired by the Holy Spirit.  My prayer has always been for us to be a healthy church.  It begins with healthy people!  This process is something I personally have been doing for over 10 years and has helped me incredibly.  I can’t wait to introduce it to you.

Get ready!  God is about to do something pretty incredible in your life…