Alright not sure if you are getting all that we have going on out here in Oviedo but our little congregation is busy serving, connecting, worshipping, fellowshippping and just plain old having FUN!!!

The best way to stay in the know is to be on the email list with Amanda Hartley our site coordinator (amanda.hartley@northlandchurch.net). She has semi-weekly emails that go out Wed or Thurs (really nice and pretty too!) with the happenings out in Oviedo the next 2 weeks or so. In that email she always has a link to this BLOG page as well as a reminder of our AWESOME FACEBOOK PAGE, just search for and become friends/fan of Northland at Oviedo!

There are also emails that are more specific with the teachings and goings on for Student Ministries and another one for Children’s Ministries. If that is of interest all you need to do is get on the email list for Michelle Smith our Children’s Ministry Coordinator (michelle.smith@northlandchurch.net) OR Erica Emler our Student Ministry Coordinator (erica.emler@northlandchurch.net)!

Get in the know, be involved, stay connected or as we always say out here in Oviedo, “BE A PART OF IT”

Here is the July Calendar, print it or pick it up on Sunday!  july-2009-oviedo

I just finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan with our small group. We did the small group study video segments (available for any of you who are interested) and discussion questions along with the reading. Maggie and I read the book last fall and it has been a catalyst for many conversations in our home, with our friends and family, and in the various ministry settings we find ourselves in, ever since. This group took a while to finish the small group study because we occasionally did fellowship gatherings, served together and have been preparing to leave for a mission trip next week to Swazi, South Africa. It has been a wild ride Read the rest of this entry »

We have not done one of these for a few months and there could not be a better person or reason to bring it back. We often serve alongside someone, receive communion or prayer from them, even say hi and shake their hand but we don’t really get a chance to know them. I have often said that one of the great tragedies of modern Christianity is the lack of opportunity and boldness to share our stories with one another in a way that reveals God at work in and through our lives. But, every once in a while Read the rest of this entry »

by Maggie JobsonLast week Jeremy wrote about the “In Her Shoes” Tea that took place Saturday May 30th. The tea culminated with the call to put on an event for women in our community that find themselves in hard times. Thirty one women signed up to be on a team coming together this summer to plan and implement the vision we have received from Luke 14:13 (please go read).

Jesus Himself laid this idea of serving the least of these as a basic quality of those who would follow Him. So too the Old Testament is filled with commands of this nature. Isaiah 58 is one of these places in Scripture where we hear the voice of God the Father telling His people what it is He asks of them. Read the rest of this entry »

June is off to a great start with many great opportunities to get connected and be involved in the exciting work God is doing all around the world. On the heels of our May focus of Missional Living comes a great opportunity to make a worldwide impact without even leaving your home. Hopefully you all received Pastor Joel’s reminder invitation to watch or go and be a part of the GLOBAL MEDIA OUTREACH Online Missionary Training that was held in Longwood this last week.   If you missed it you can still go to the website (www.globalmediaoutreach.com) and find all the info you need to sign up and get started or you can give me Jeremy a call or email.  Maggie and I are excited to BE A PART OF THIS with you!  We have another unique opportunity to do International Missions right here in our own back yard.  An ongoing relationship with IFM & FISH, two international student outreach ministries that are on campus at UCF, has opened up some new ways for our congregation to get involved IFM-FISH Details Flyer.  There will be a training/Q&A meeting on Satyurday June 20th IFM Training Flyer where you can learn about the simple and more advanced ways to minister to the over 2000 international students at UCF. 

There are several other ways to get plugged in, serve and have fun in our community this month!  The June Northland @ Oviedo flyer is now available.  June 2009 Oviedo  Print this out, or grab one from the Information Table in the foyer - keep it handy and don’t miss out on the exciting opportunities for adults, teens and children this month at Northland Oviedo!

Imagine a social gathering that was put together for the sole purpose of those not invited. A group of women did just that last weekend in Oviedo. The Women’s Tea was entitled “In Her Shoes” and had local social activist and visionary Krissy Todd, founder of the Hope Foundation as the guest speaker. Krissy shared her story and what it has been like to be ‘in her shoes’ as God has moved her from small business owner and mom to outreach ministry and homeless/poverty advocate. Krissy then talked about what it is like to be ‘in their shoes’, the shoes of the women she serves every week through the food pantry right here in Oviedo. What it must be like to have had a home, a job, a family, a normal life and have it all disappear for whatever reason and how they have to cope and survive. These stories are riveting and they are not in some foreign land, they are here in our own backyards. The tea and food were great, Krissy painted a picture of how great our God is and how He works through the lives of normal individuals to further the work of His kingdom. The women in attendance were able to see and hear how God creates opportunities for each and every one of us to be the bearers of the ‘good news’, putting hands and feet to the gospel, where we are with what we’ve got, right now. What an event right? Well that is not even the best part…

The end of the event was marked with a vision Read the rest of this entry »

WOW what an amazing experience this has been, each week connecting with people in the foyer and throughout the week about ways each of us can answer the call to live a Missional life, made by Christ in his last instructions here on earth (Matthew 28 and Acts 1).We met International Mission workers (www.gemission.org and www.pioneers.org) that will be going to the ends of the earth with the Gospel, giving their lives to the call. We have also been introduced to International Outreach Ministries that bring the good news of the Lord in the form of food, water, healthcare, and safety through Compassion International (www.compassion.org) and With This Ring (www.withthisring.org).

We came closer to home and focused in on Read the rest of this entry »

Our goals this month is to present you with as many opportunities as possible to live out the call to be on mission with Christ, to live a Missional Life, doing what you can with what you’ve got, where you are, right now. We have looked at the radical response and call of International Missionaries who will leave everything behind to go and bring the good news to the lost in another land. Then we looked at aid ministries that work throughout the world meeting real needs, right now and through those relationships bring the good news of Christ with them; from adopting children with a low-cost monthly donation that provides education, healthcare and safety (www.compassion.org) to the radical giving of material things to create funds for the drilling of wells, giving life through clean water (www.withthisring.org). Then we brought it closer to home with people going on short term mission trips from our congregation and how it has impacted their lives already and how you can be a part of it with them (http://www.northlandchurch.net/main/journey/). This week’s focus in the foyer is on local ministries that are responding to the call of the gospel in action, being the hands and feet of Jesus to those with needs, physically and spiritually, right in our community. We have several ministries featured and encourage you to find out how you can be involved, as a volunteer, prayer partner, host home, financial partner, and more. Read the rest of this entry »

We are so blessed here at Northland because we have such an incredible short-term missions department, called Distributed Journeys. This team works tirelessly to provide incredible opportunities to each of you to serve in the Kingdom of God all around the nation and the world! From New Orleans after Katrina to Sri Lanka there are trips of all lengths, costs, commitments, needs, and times. They mostly occur in the summer months but do go on all year long. Check out the Northland website for more information http://www.northlandchurch.net/main/journey/

Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend we launched into a month long journey of re-discovering what it looks like to live a life with mission, a Missional Life. My sermon focused on a few key verses that described the Mission of God as the redemption of his creation through His Son’s work and that we have been invited into that work with Him. It is happening all around us and we called by Christ for no other purpose. We heard the simplicity of the command: “repent and be baptized…follow me…with the power of the Holy Spirit…teach them to obey all that I have commanded…make disciples of them…” Disciple simple mean ‘learner’ so we talked about being constant ‘learners’ of Christ, following Him, being transformed into his likeness, entering into His mission more and more. We remembered that LOVE is the key to obeying all he commanded and it is the way they will know we are His. Then we met in the Courtyard, ate and fellowshipped with each other. We talked about the application of this in our lives, we saw that at work in the Children and Student Ministries, and we met two couples who have responded to that call in a very tangible and radical way, by being long term over-seas missionaries. Awesome! Then on Wednesday night many of us gathered just to worship God for who He is and what He has done in our lives, our church, our community and the world. It was tremendous and won’t be the last time we do it! Check out photos on our Facebook page and the Blog!This weekend we shift our Foyer Focus onto the International Outreach aspect of Living a Missional Life with two ministries near and dear to our family’s heart. Read the rest of this entry »