Given the space at Faith House and the numbers we had last spring, and our interest in exploring organic growth options, over the summer we asked whether there were people who were interested in being part of a test bud, and there were. In late September, five people began meeting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning at Faith House, testing a model of having breakfast together and then worship, seeing how it works to have back-to-back services in the same space. So far we’ve been hearing enthusiastic reports, and that having five is fine for this early exploratory phase. They don’t anticipate staying that small and are very open to visitors or others who would like to explore with them.

Both the 9:00 group and the 11:00 group are part of one Open Table, so we are all exploring this with and through them. Leadership Group will continue to review how things are going for the bud, and how things are going for the 11:00 group. The bud may decide to experiment with the details of when and where. Together we may decide that it isn’t quite time yet for a network. Or we may be surprised and delighted by what unfolds. It’s early days yet – let’s keep watching.
Sally

Open Tablers,

There's something I want to "throw out there" after a conversation with Susan Setiawan and somebody else (forget who!) a couple of Sundays ago.  The idea is to try to get permission to use the old Abshire mansion, new Maple City Health Care center (where Susan works), as a meeting place.  She says there is a room about 1/2 again the size of Faith and they have a kitchen there too.  One negative would be a farther bike ride for students, and others.  Susan felt pretty sure that they would agree to our use, since they are all about sharing the space with the community.
 Anne