THE DWELLING PLACE

Communion this Sunday 1.30.2011

John Hobbs — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:18:52 +0000

We will share Communion this Sunday at The Dwelling Place.

As I was thinking about it, I remembered something I posted a couple of years ago on my blog and thought I’d share it here as a meditation before this Sunday’s gathering. I look forward to sharing the Lord’s Supper with you.

Born to die…

By johnhobbs – December 17, 2008

Posted in: Church, Mission, Missions & Missional, The Dwelling Place CC

We always share communion on Christmas Sunday in our worship gathering. I was pondering this in light of the celebration of Christ’s birth. Why do we combine the crucifixion with the birth of Jesus? What is its significance and implication? As many of you will share the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist) this Sunday let me give you something to meditate on.

There is something wrapped in the mystery and miracle of Christ’s birth. We are overwhelmed by the beauty of His birth and celebrate His coming, but His coming was for what or whom? Like a seed potent with life and full of a greater destiny, Jesus birth is only the beginning of a journey to the cross. And like a seed He must die to fulfill His mission.

“…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, nd whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. Now My soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” John 12:24-27

I am reminded that as Jesus shared the Eucharist with His disciples, He told them to “share it with each other”. (Luke 22:17) As it was His mission to be sent into the world to die, we too are to follow Him and be Broken Bread and Poured Out Wine to a hungry and thirsty world looking for life in a wasteland. Within us is the incredible fragrance of Christ waiting to be sacrificed, broken and poured out like the bottle of perfume’ that Mary broke open and poured out on Jesus feet and hair. (John 12:3)

This Christmas, when you receive the Eucharist, which is not only Jesus Himself but also His Mission, find yourself in Him and your mission to be broken and poured out. Take it and share it among yourselves. We are not His unless we follow Him in like manner.

Let Christ be poured out into your hearts and go this Christmas giving your life to someone who needs Jesus.

Filed under: Events, Pastor's Thoughts, Worship

Kaci’s Chronicles: the latest from Bangladesh…

John Hobbs — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:46:15 +0000

Check out the latest news on Kaci’s Blog from Bangladesh!

Filed under: Missions

Great Book: “Setting Up Stones”

John Hobbs — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 20:44:55 +0000

As we all begin to evaluate this past year and what we might do differently in the new year, I thought I’d make a recommendation to you. As a father I am alway concerned about how as a parent I am going to model Christ to my kids and engage them in our home with spiritual things. Most of us already feel the battle to spend the time we would like with our kids and more importantly the time they need. And, how do we spend that time? How do we bring worship into our homes in meaningful ways?

My wife and I have friends in San Antonio (Greg and Martha Singleton) who have written an incredible book for the family called Setting Up Stones. We would like to recommend it to you and have provided an easy link to their website so you can read all about them and their book. Oh, and hopefully purchase a copy for your family. Click the picture above.

Filed under: Pastor's Thoughts, Spiritual Growth

YWAM Update – Kaci’s Chronicles

John Hobbs — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 21:49:36 +0000

Kaci’s latest blog is up, so we thought we would give all of you an update on what is happening with Kaci and her team at YWAM- mota. Below you will find a link to Kaci’s Blog and the latest newsletter from her team. They will be headed to Bangladesh & India soon. They could use your prayers and support. And any encouraging words you could send their way would be greatly appreciated.

Click the following to open, then click to enlarge.

Filed under: Church Update, Missions, Prayer

Christmas Gathering – December 19th

John Hobbs — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:26:26 +0000

Join us Sunday December 19th @ 4 pm for a Christmas gathering. There will not be a morning gathering. Come enjoy music, worship and the Christmas miracle.

Questions? Call 910-616-6645 or email us.

Filed under: Events

This week…

John Hobbs — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:53:43 +0000

Blessings to everyone. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I (John) will be away this weekend. I will be speaking Friday and Sunday in the OBX at Liberty Christian Fellowship. However, I know you will have an awesome time without me. So, there will be a DP Gathering as usual Sunday 10:30 am. Love on my family and I’ll see you next week. – Pastor John

Filed under: Church Update

YWAM Update…

John Hobbs — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:14:52 +0000

Have you heard of MOTA? MOTA (Marriage of the Arts) is an Arts Mission Ministry of YWAM (Youth With A Mission). They are taking the creative arts to various parts of the world to minister to issues of social justice.

The Dwelling Place has seen two of their family answer the call to follow God and MOTA to Germany. We wanted to update you on what they are doing and give you a personal way to stay connected to what’s going on with MOTA on the ground in Germany.

Check out the following links:

Kaci Gadberry at: Kaci’s Chronicles
Josh Goins at: The Blue Box
Marriage Of The Arts: MOTAdts
YWAM-Germany: YWAM herrnhut

Filed under: Missions

The Dwelling Place Project

John Hobbs — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:48:11 +0000

While we have been developing as a simple/organic church over the past year, we have continued to pay for our building and property. We have had it up for sale for the past two years with no offers. The economic strain that all of you are acutely aware of personally has also affected us greatly. We are facing the loss of our property if something is not done. Realizing we are but stewards of what God gives us, we are open to whatever He has for us. Our desire is to be faithful with what He gives us with the resources He provides. With this in mind we believe He has given us a vision for the property that is Kingdom and missional focused. After ministering in the Wilmington area for more than 14 years I have seen and experienced the difficulties that churches go through. I have seen many come and go due to the lack of resources needed to get a church off the ground and thrive. Many new churches cannot weather the infant season due to the cost of lease or rental space as well as the equipment needed as a start-up. There is also the need for local resources. There are many great conferences and seminars that would benefit churches, but many are too far away to be cost-effective. There is a need for unity in the local body of Christ which honestly does not exist.

Our proposal is simple, though the task is not. We propose a project we are calling The Dwelling Place Project, to create a location that houses many churches and ministries utilizing the same building at different times during the week. At the some location we would also provide Bible Studies open to the community as well as conferences, seminars and a variety of resources that would benefit both those at The Dwelling Place as well as the community. We believe this will provide opportunities for the churches and community to share in these resources and create relationships across church/denominational lines.

Imagine a christian counseling professional coming and providing a seminar locally as a very low-cost to local pastors and church leaders or a worship seminar for local worship leaders. There could be ongoing teaching on a variety of topics promoting discipleship and helping small churches where they may not have the teachers or the funding to hire a teaching or discipleship pastor.

Ephesians 2:22 states we are “being built into a dwelling place of God by the Spirit.” Our hope is to create a Dwelling Place for different parts of the body to grow and connect; to provide for the community a place to connect and grow without an agenda to recruit them for a certain church body.

This is a tall order. In the same way we are seeking to serve many parts of Christ’s body, it will take many parts coming together to make this happen. We are trusting God for the resources, however we know that means he moves on the hearts of generous and faithful people to provide. Our financial need is great. We are currently seeking individuals who believe in what we are proposing to help us financially. We are on a short time-table before the economic pressure of our ministry become too great to maintain this building that we currently don’t use because it is more than our church needs at the time. But, it could be a tremendous resource for the body of Christ in so many ways.

If you are interested in this project, for information or you would like to support it financially; please contact us at: info@thedwellingplacecc.com or call 910.616.6419.

Filed under: Church Update, Events, Missions

Go into all the world… OPEN LETTER from Josh Goins

John Hobbs — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:32:37 +0000

This past week we said our “see ya laters” to Josh because he doesn’t say goodbye. Josh is now in Germany with YWAM Marriage of the Arts DTS for 7 months. We wanted to share his support letter with all of you. He also ha a blog mentioned in the letter where you can follow him. If you are interested in giving monetary support (which would be appreciated and needed), you can send make checks out to The Dwelling Place and mail them to 4841 Stillwell Rd. - Wilmington, NC 28412. (All gifts are Tax-deductable.)

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope you are all doing well. I am writing this to tell you that God has given me a wonderful opportunity to serve Him and others. The organization and university known as YWAM (Youth With A Mission) has a DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Herrnhut, Germany. The school has a program called “Marriage of the Arts”, that aims to educate believers in using there artistic gifts to change the world.

In this 7 month long school we will go through 3 phases. The first is a lecture phase which consists of learning about God and His character and His Love for us. The second phase focuses on arts training, we will be challenged within our disciplines to push our abilities, mine being music. The third phase is the outreach portion, where we will show the world Gods love through serving others in practical ways.

A major focus of the DTS base in Germany is fighting extreme poverty. Last year a team of artists, musicians, writers, photographers, and film makers went to Ethiopia. They visited a landfill known as “Trash City” that was home to a community of people. The team spent a lot of time living, building relationships, and helping these people. They made a documentary about the people of “Trash City” in order to raise awareness and money to help these people out of the landfill. All of the different arts disciplines came together to create something that would tell the story of a people in need. I have been playing the cello and studying music for close to 17 years now and I had never realized the true value of the arts until now. More importantly it is humbling to see Gods love for people being displayed through people’s gifts. God has called me to go to Germany and take part in the school and outreach going on there.

I am writing this asking for your prayers and support. My church is helping me to raise money for this and so all of the money will be sent to the church. The total needed for the trip is $5000. This total is based on $2515 for tuition, which cover tuition, food, and housing. Then $81 for the application fee, $101 for the passport, an estimated $50 for a student visa, $340 for health insurance, $(TBD) for round trip train tickets from the airport to the town of Herrnhut, and $1360 for round trip plane tickets. The remaining balance will go towards spending money, for things like toiletries, traveling, helping others, and the outreach portion of the school. I have $1600 saved for this trip already. This is a chance for people to be blessed and bless others through there giving.

I will be updating my blog (http://joshuagoins.blogspot.com/) so that you can keep up with the on goings of the work being done through this school and how these funds are being used. Also there will be a pay pal account linked to my blog where you can donate money as well. I will also be emailing and mailing updates. I am thankful and humbled by all of this, the opportunities God has given me, relying on Gods provision, and God actively seeking to Love us.

It is exciting to become apart of something bigger than myself and help bring change in the world. After the 7 months are up I leave it in Gods Hands to guide me to where He wants me next. I have several options but I want to be obedient to His plans for my life, something that is new for me. Below is a list of mailing and contact information.

Thank you and God bless,

Joshua Goins

A couple of links that may interest you:

Marriage of the Arts

YWAM Germany DTS

Filed under: Missions

Gathering this week: Wednesday Aug. 4th

John Hobbs — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:28:30 +0000

Our Sunday Gathering this week has been moved to Wednesday August 4th @ 6:30 pm. Usually we meet for a meal and fellowship on Wednesdays, but this week we will share a meal then worship and pray together. So, bring something to share for the meal if you are able and plan to enjoy God’s presence together. Next week we will be back on track for our Sunday Gathering.

Flexibility: A key to healthy church community and loving relationships.

Thanks everybody for being flexible!

Filed under: Dwelling Places, Events, Worship