Last week Ben Edwards did a photo shoot with the Antioch staff – vintage style (or what looks like “old south” to me).

He’s the man.

Check out all the different images on his blog post.

Below is a snapshot of the back of the Antioch bulletins.

The Staff Team has had a fair share of growth recently!!  We’ve added, Connie Gabbert part-time (who’s responsible for all the amazing artwork, including the slide below, at Antioch), Ben Larson (who’ll be creating the best Choir and Drama teams Bend has ever seen), Michael Walker a.k.a. “Walker” part-time (who’s helping with production, music, sound and recording projects at Antioch) and Erin Lytle (who’s the worlds greatest event planner and all around gifted administrator).

The cool thing is, through a bunch of shuffling, we haven’t increased the budget by $1 so far.  How crazy is that?!

Anyway, with 25 summer interns – 10 of whom are staying for a year – and a phenomenal staff team, I really can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

I’m excited for this Fall and what is to come –

We had our Antioch Staff Xmas Party this past Saturday night.  I know, it was a little late this year!

We want to do more staff stuff this year… it’s the old saying, if you play together you stay together.

Highlights from the party included:

• The Cowboy’s winning their playoff game (the game was on most of the night, which made both myself and Travis Van Voorst very happy!)
• Brandon and Keri Reynolds wrapping up a white elephant gift committing Kip and Kristen Jones to a night of babysitting without them knowing it
• The Tabasco basketball tie that Matt gave and Brandon (unfortunately) chose.  It’s one of those gifts we’ll be seeing again and again in the future
• and, of course, tons of great food!!

I love the team we have at Antioch.  Amazing people to work with and be able to count as friends…

This week is “Community” week at Antioch.

In church, every week should be community week, but this one’s a little different as we’re launching 32 community groups and having a catered lunch by Aloho Cafe on Sunday after the service.

Antioch has always had a tough time with Community and Small Groups, so Brandon Reynolds has recently moved his whole focus to interns, community groups and getting people connected at Antioch.  He now goes by the title of “Community Pastor” and is loving getting to focus on people.

Brandon has been slaving away for months to revamp the connection process at Antioch and to plan for the kick-off this Sunday.  Our goal is to have everyone in Antioch tied in relationally in some meaningful capacity with other people at Antioch.  Community Groups aren’t the goal… they are simply a tool or a means to the end of true organic community and authentic relationships.

If you live in Bend, have any questions or want to help in this area of ministry, e-mail him at brandon@antiochchurch.org

Brandon also designed a shirt for community@antioch – so here’s a picture of the staff with their uniform for Sunday!!

One of the coolest things that has happened over the last 2 1/2 years since we planted Antioch is the caliber of people that God has brought our way.

Here are some pictures and videos from our Antioch Staff Christmas Party.

Karie Reynolds took the prize on the “Ugly Sweater” contest, but not without controversy (Emi had a doozy of an outfit too!)

Some strange games… Kim stealing Nicole’s gift at the end of the White Elephant exchange… and mountains of food (that Justin had no problem tackling) made it one to remember!

This week we added two more e-newsletters to the mix. There is a new monthly newsletter for parents and children’s workers in the Antioch Kids program as well as a regular newsletter for the college.

In the next couple of weeks we will add another as well… what we are calling a “V-Newlsetter” that spotlights volunteers and service opportunities.

I’m pretty excited about the upswing in communication. A friend of mine has a saying that “in the absence of communication, people expect the worst.” Basically, the less people know the more critical they will be and the more wrong assumptions they will make.

It is like the old saying, “People are down on what they’re not up on!”

It’s kind of like a room that is poorly lit. The less light the less visibility… the more light the more visibility. I kind of think that communication in a church is like lighting up the room and making things more visible.

Every church I’ve ever worked at (or heard about) fights an uphill battle with communication. Some ministries put the responsibility on the congregation — “it is your job to find out what is going on.”

I tend to think that it is the staff’s responsibility to try and over communicate. We’re the ones with our hands on the light switch.

Anyway, with all the new newsletters we’re kind of saying, “let there be light!”

Gary made this fun little video from some stills and clips that he shot on the Staff Retreat this past weekend.

Let me know if you need some dictionary help with the “Gary lingo“!!!!

The staff at Antioch headed out to the Prineville Reservoir for our First Annual Staff Retreat.

The goal was simply to relax and play before we gear up for this fall.

I thought it was a pretty funny sight seeing Tim Hardin’s boat being pulled by our stylin church van!!