The first ever monthly leader meeting is this Sunday, Spetember 14th!  I need some suggestions of a better name than "leader meeting", does anyone have anything fun in mind?

The location and time have changed to the following:
Place: St' Florian's Sanctuary
Time: 11:15 AM

Food will be provided, feel free to bring your loved ones as we won't have any KW available at this time. 

All leaders, coaches, assistant leaders and any who are interested in knowing more about GL leadership are invited to come.

See you soon!

The first one hour monthly GL leader meeting is coming upon us! It's next Sunday at 11:00 am after church service.

I hope that you will find these meetings worth while to attend, and we're trying to make them as short as possible so that it's not a burden on your schedule, especially in the midst of football season.

Speaking of football season, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) this past sunday with Jen to get some lunch.  I wanted to scope the place out and talk to the manager to make sure we can have our group of people there.  Well, it became painfully obvious to me that this was the wrong place to have a meeting during football season.  At 11:30 the place was packed and LOUD!  Stay tuned as we arrange another place to meet.

It took allot of last minute preparation but we did it!  We got the Fall 2008 directories published and released on time.  Now, I know they look exactly the same as the old ones, but with a Fall 2008 designation on the cover.  But there is a huge difference inside!

There were major changes, some of the special teams groups have been consolidated to help being a special teams person easier and more exciting.  Some groups have changed their focus as they have finished the curriculum they were going through.  But most exciting of all, we have added nine (9) new groups to the directory!   The passions of people to get involved and make a difference for every man, woman and child is evident. 

Here are some of the new groups that are listed and be sure to check them out in the directory or look at the online directory http://www.thechapelatelmwood.com/grouplife/currentgroups.php

• Transition Team
• Foosball Group
• Administrative Support
• Community Walks
• Single Mothers
• Lockport Crew
• Construction Zone: Men at Work
• Middle School
• Xp3 High School
• Single Parenting for Dad's

And there's more to come, there at least three additional groups that are being planned and organized right now.

If you're interested in being a leader, we will be having a leader orientation some time this September, the date is TBD.  You're also welcome to join us at BWW for our monthly leader meeting on September 14th.

We're introducing a new change to GroupLife.  Starting Spetember 14th, after church at 11:00 AM all leaders, coaches and assistant leaders are asked to attend the GroupLife leader meetings.  These meetings will initially be held at Buffalo Wild Wings, until we have a more permanent location.  The meeting will last only one hour and then you can stay to eat lunch or head home. 

Everyone who is in any leader role is asked to make this a priority and attend. Non-leaders are also invited to attend to get a behind-the-scenes look at what being a leader is like, so invite those who are interested to come along.

Our time together will be somewhat structured so that we can be finished in one hour.  Things we will always include in our meetings will be vision recasting and group prayer, organized by coaching groups.  The meetings may also include announcements, group testimony, prayer requests, event planning, and leader empowering lessons. The format will evolve over time as we understand what works and what doesn't.

Below are the future dates for the next year so you can schedule your calendars accordingly.

I'll see you on the 14th at BWW! 

For all of you who read this blog, I have created a Facebook group for GroupLife. 

Facebook is a fun program to use because it allows us to see who the others are that are interested in GroupLife.  I'm currently in the process of posting pictures of the GroupLife retreat that Don Santucci provided me.   Thanks Don!!!

Hope to see you on Facebook.  Here's a link to try, but I can't promise it's going to work http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28625986244   I'll be honest I'm new to the facebook thing right now.

-Craig

We had a great time this past weekend at the 1st ever GroupLife Retreat held at the Holiday Inn on Grand Island. 

A great time was had by all as we had an opportunity to celebrate the GroupLife leaders who make it possible for all of us develop meaningful relationships with others and grow closer to God.  We had a chance to play games, tell stories and joke around.  Then we learned all about the importance of building relationships in order to have the privilege to invite others into our groups and eventually into our church to hear the life changing word of God.  Somewhere in between all of that we also got to eat lots of food prepared by the Holiday Inn.  The hotel did a great job at making us feel comfortable and welcomed.

We're going to use the retreat as a launching point into a couple of new GL initiatives, I'll be sharing more about those a little later this week. 

One last thing, we're sending the Fall 2008 GL Directory out to the printers this week.  Please get your directory edits or additions to me ASAP.

Keep your calendars cleared for next year's retreat on August 7th and 8th.

Congratulations to the GroupLife Women's Softball Team

They won their league championship this summer.

I've got to say that I am overly excited about the GroupLife retreat coming up this weekend!  Alot of planning and preperation is going into this so that we can have togehter and also to get encouraged by our awesome special speaker John Stickl.  There will be 45 GL leaders, coaches and assistant leaders at the retreat!!   What an awesome way to celebrate our almost 5 months as a new Elmwood ministry!!

See you all this weeked.

-Craig