December Newsletter

The contents of the Berman December Newsletter are posted below:
Dear Friends and Family:
The Bermans have many reasons to rejoice this Christmas season, but the one that is filling mine and Shannon's hearts the most is that we finally feel like we're home.  When Shannon and I were married on November 3, 2001, the notion of a being home was not something to be grasped.  Between August of 2001 and August 2002, I went through three job changes and periods of unemployment, finally deciding to go into seminary in 2002, when we moved into an apartment.  In 2004, we moved to Memphis, and that was just starting to feel like home when we felt the Lord leading us back to seminary for round two.  In May 2007, we moved to Dallas, where we rented a house for two years.  Upon graduation in August of 2009, when we finally decided to plant a church in Tulsa, we knew that Tulsa was where home would finally be.

There really isn't anything better than spending Christmas at home, is there?  Home is where traditions are started, memories are shared, and kids are raised; home is where arguments are had and where forgiveness is sought; home is where true intimacy lies as you are fully known and at the same time fully loved for who you are.  Home, for us this holiday season, is this house, this city, and this church-- ethos church. 

Even though we really don't have any committed members yet, we have great hopes for what God is going to accomplish through this church.  We are confident that the Gospel-centered preaching and teaching that we dream of bringing to this city will be used by God to change the ethos of Tulsa- the way that Tulsa sees and perceives God. 

Your gifts and generosity to us over the past year has helped us get to this point.  Your gifts have helped us to be home.  And for that, we are so grateful, we can hardly put it into words.  Thank you for your generosity.  Thank you for loving and supporting us.  Thank you for sending us home.  We love you!  And Merry Christmas!

When to Begin Meeting?

As a church planter, I find it difficult to gauge people, especially in regard to strategic timing.  The question I get over and over again these days is, "When and where does your church meet?"  This is a difficult question, because new churches can't really begin meeting until... well, until they have people that actually buy in to the vision and WANT to begin meeting.  We are in the stage that occurs right before that begins to happen... the stage where we are trying to explain our vision and our philosophy, and building relationships with people who have expressed interest in being a part of our core team of people.

Because we plan to launch ethos church in the fall of 2010, replete with worship leaders, childcare, and a building, we must do the groundwork that occurs right before that happens... and that is to gather a core group.  In order to gather a core group, there must be evangelism being done, because let's face it-- the last thing we want to do is to draw people away from their churches and build a new church full of church-goers!  What we want to do instead is to introduce non-church-goers to the person and work of Jesus, and we want to begin a new church full of unchurched and de-churched people who don't have pre-conceived ideas of what church is and what church should be. 

Now, does that mean that we don't want mature, church-attending people in our church?  Of course we want them, because if we are going to be a disciple-making church, then how else are the de-churched and un-churched people going to grow in their faith if a mature believer doesn't disciple them?  We need mature folks to disciple people in our church!

Which category do you fall into?  Do you need to re-connect with a church?  Are you a mature believer who is interested in our mission?  If so, we want to invite you to join our vision for this city.  It's gonna be a fun ride.

6 Guys... and Counting

My friend Matt Chandler at the Village church in Texas has a great plan for discipleship.  He takes three guys and pours his life into them for a year, and after that year, he hopes that they are then ready to go and do the same for someone else.  His staff goes through the discipleship process, they too disciple men, and after a few years, the laws of compounding interest begin to take place, and multiplication of disciples starts to happen.  After 6 years, that church is full of discipled guys.  

It's really no different than what Jesus did.  He took 12 guys, and although he occasionally preached to thousands, he really walked through life with the Twelve.  After being discipled, those guys took the message of the Gospel and they took it to the world, a few men at a time.  That is our dream at ethos church... that instead of a bunch of groups sprouting up all over the place in hopes of community happening, we want discipleship groups sprouting up all over the place, with the hopes of life transformation happening. 

We believe, at our core, in discipleship, and we hope that the men's group, which is starting up with 6 guys this coming Monday night, will be the beginning of a new ethos... a new way of thinking about God in our community.

Discipleship Group Starting Monday Night, 11.09.09

This Monday night we will be starting up a new men's discipleship group.  We have almost half a dozen signed up and ready to go.  If you are interested in coming, know these three things:

1. The first few weeks are informational only; no commitment required
2. You will not be required to "share your junk."  We believe that you will share whatever is on your heart whenever you feel comfortable to do so.  
3. You will learn more about the faith than you ever thought possible.
4. This is just as good for non-believers as it is for those who have been in church their whole lives.  If you would like to call the last group who went through the process, let me know and I will get you their numbers.  It changed their lives.  

I hope you can make it!

Website's Popularity Growing

The new website is getting rave reviews... we couldn't be happier!  Out of the hundreds of people that have checked it out, I haven't heard one complaint!  Praise God for Cloversites.com!

I am trying to decide how to proceed with upcoming meetings... should I do informational meetings in groups, or individually with couples?  If you wanted to hear about ethos church, how would YOU like to do it?  Post your comments below.

Thanks everyone, and God bless!

New Website!

For a long time, I have been researching websites. It is so difficult to decide on the layout! If there was one thing I was looking for, it was simplicity. I wanted it to be uber-easy to find what you’re looking for on our website, and I finally found a website that I loved, and then I went to the web developer’s website, and I was happy to learn that it was inexpensive, fast, and easy to put up a website! All of that to say, with a little help from my brother in law Isai, I finally finished the website, and it is almost ready to launch! The new web address is…….. www.ethostulsa.com