will you join us as we pray together on the National Day of Prayer?

You are invited to pray together with theChurchofWestOrange.com for the National Day of Prayer on May 3rd at 6:30PM @ the pavillion in downtown Winter Garden over near the splash pad.

We will be praying in various ways, such as:

• confessing to God our need as His church to love like He loves us
• asking for wisdom as to how we can love neighbors and nations together
• praying for strength and wisdom for local, state, and national leaders
• praying for unity around purpose for the local church expressions and ministries of Central Florida

Hope you can join us!

Much love.
-jason

remembering together on Good Friday (and a few notes from last mtg)

Hope to see you on Good Friday at noon at the Jesse Brock Community Center in Winter Garden across from Dillard Elementary School. Let’s communicate this opportunity to remember together with our respective local church expressions. It will start at noon with several worship stations as you come into the Community Center, and it will conclude by 12:50. What a special chance to worship Jesus as His church together on that Passion-filled day when He declared loud and clear that to Him we are worth dying for.

For those who led in different stations last year, please come prepared to lead in those stations again. Let me know if plans have changed for some reason

ALSO, here are a few notes from last COWO mtg:

:: the guys and gals agreed to set aside a special offering on Easter Sunday to give for the completion of the Shower Trailer for Matthew’s Hope. $4000 is needed to finalize and make ready for use this important service for our homeless friends who simply want a shower and for some who really want to clean up for work or a job interview. For those willing to participate, PLEASE LET US KNOW and we will give you further instructions from there.

:: there will be a Women’s Luncheon for the ladies of Matthew’s Hope Tuesday, April 17th at the Matthew’s Hope facility on the campus of the West Orange Church of Christ on Daniels Road. Julie and Carole with Hope Counseling in conjunction with Matthew’s Hope will be hosting this special, affirming meal together. Volunteers are needed, and they are to be women only, specifically women who previously know the women of Matthew’s Hope. ALSO, extra volunteers are needed that day for Matthew’s Hope normal activities because of the female volunteers who will be focusing on the luncheon. THANKS!!! Let Karen or Scott know if you can help!

:: NEXT Community Church’s Student Ministry Cafe is open to all youth ministries, especially those smaller groups who have no space. It is called “The Well” and is intended to be a unifying community center for the students of West Orange county. Let NEXT’s leadership know if you are interested!!!

:: St. Pauls and Mark Marsden hold a Saturday Gathering Downtown for the homeless of the downtown area. They are in need of a group to lead one Saturday a month at 9am. If interested and for more details, contact Mark Marsden with St. Pauls Pres of Ocoee.

:: we are looking at a day in May for a Serve Day Together. Details coming soon!!!

:: If anyone knows of an inexpensive vehicle for sale, one of our local pastors is in need of something for his family. Please let us know!
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Grateful to be growing in unity around mission as the church together loving the people of West Orange County and beyond. May we continue to pray together, encourage together, and keep asking, “how can we give ourselves away together” for the sake of “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Love y’all!
-jason

prayer together this Saturday at 11:00am in downtown Winter Garden…

This Saturday morning at 11:00 in downtown Winter Garden we will have our first of six community prayer events together. This first one will be unique in that it will be more like a “flash mob” than a long prayer gathering. Here are the details:

:: get to the Winter Garden Farmer’s Market and the Plant Street area no later than 10:45am.

:: be listening around 11:00 for the song “Amazing Grace” being played and sung on the median of Plant Street somewhere between the Tri and Run and Axum Coffeehouse.

:: come toward the person playing and singing and join in with him in song.

:: when the song ends, kneel down where you are and begin to SILENTLY pray.

:: the guitarist / singer will then sing “Song to My Family” by Gungor (from their independent release “Ancient Skies” then under the name of “the Michael Gungor Band”). This is a song of confession and challenge and commitment to be the church as Jesus intended together.

:: while he is singing, be silently praying as the Spirit leads you, but please do pray these two things – (1) a confession that we as the local church expressions of West Orange County have not been the church together as Jesus intended, and (2) a commitment that we want to value unity around mission as Jesus prayed we would (John 17:18-23) as well as a request for wisdom as to how we may love the community the way Jesus has  loved us.

:: when the song is over, simply disperse quietly back into the normal rhythms of the Farmer’s Market and Plant Street.

Hope to see you there. Involve your kids. Facebook and email and text and tweet it out to invite others that you think would really value this confession and commitment together.

Love y’all. Grateful that we can serve and pray and be the church together to West Orange County and beyond.
-jason

some highlights and important notes to remember…

Hey guys and gals!

A few quick highlights from our last mtg as well as some important items to promote with our respective local church families. Here you go:

:: Click here to get all the Reading God’s Story links for the book and the audio version of the readings and more.

:: please share with female leaders in any type of community or ministry leadership about the opportunity to be a part of a new Women’s Leadership Prayer and Bible Study Group put together by Julie Wolf and Carole Batten and Hope Counseling. They will meet Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00 beginning February 29th at the Educational Building of the United Methodist Church in Winter Garden. It will be a safe place for support and vulnerability and encouragement. They will launch out by studying “Strong Woman. Soft Heart.” Call Julie or Carole with questions or for more details at 407.758.5693.

:: Stay tuned for more details on a luncheon for the women of Matthew’s Hope coming next month.

:: Come out March 14th for the Bread of Life building dedication at 10am. God has provided for this new facility. Mark and the crew are so grateful, and want to share it and celebrate with all of us. Click here to “LIKE” their Facebook page as well as to learn more about Bread of Life and get directions to their facility.

:: Let’s all try to make it out for Prayer and Worship Together as a community the last Wednesday night of every month at 7:30 at New Chief Cornerstone’s church building located at 820 S Park Ave. in Winter Garden.

:: Put it on your calendars again for this April 6th at noon for another midday Church of West Orange Good Friday gathering. Location and details TBA.

:: And last but not least, make sure our church families know about our “Community Prayer Flash Mob” February 25th at 11:00 on Plant Street in downtown Winter Garden during the Farmer’s Market. Please try to be there and bring along as many from our church families as you can. Here are the instructions for that day:

Right at 11:00, someone will begin playing “Amazing Grace” in the center of the median island there on Plant Street. That is our queue to come out from the crowd and stand on the median island on all sides of the person playing. When that song ends, we will all kneel in a posture of prayer. Then, the guitarist will play and sing a song by Michael Gungor entitled “Song for My Family.” It is a simple song of confession and commitment – confession as the church for not being the church as Jesus intended, and commitment from the church to be the family of God as Jesus intended. It is an appropriate way to begin the first of six community prayer events for 2012. After the Gungor song ends, we will simply all go back into the crowd or head out. It will be a definite opportunity to share with anyone who asks why we did that why it was that we did that and who the Church of West Orange is trying to become together.

Love y’all so much!
-jason

PS – next COWO mtg is Wednesday morning, March 14th, 9:30 to 11:00. Hope to see you there, too, as we pray together, encourage one another, and continue to ask “how will we continue to give ourselves away together?”

new year, now praying, next mtg for the Church of West Orange…

Happy New Year to the beautiful people of West Orange County and all of Central Florida!!! So grateful for those leaders here in our community who are taking the prayer of Jesus in John 17 so seriously as to prioritize cultivating for unity and being the church together.

Here’s a quick note with three very important topics to pay attention to, highlighted below.

NOW PRAYING IN OUR WEEKLY GATHERING
We have decided together to make it a priority in our weekly worship gatherings to be praying for one another. The request was made to make a list of as many local church expressions in our community that we could think of and schedule to pray for them respectively in our weekly gatherings. Then, the following week, send a note out to the leaders and their church families encouraging them that we prayed for them and love them and want to know how we can serve them in what they are doing. Please forgive us if you are not on this list. IF YOU WILL BRING IT TO MY ATTENTION, I WILL UPDATE THE LIST.

So, here it is. Click on the link below to download and save or print out the PDF with the weekly prayer schedule.

2012 prayer guide for Sunday gatherings

NOW PRAYING LIKE A FLASH MOB
At our upcoming Church of West Orange mtg, we will be discussing how to gather like a flash mob six different times in 2012 to pray for unity around mission and for love of the near Jesus to be made known to the people of our community. We will select six strategic locations in Windermere, Winter Garden, Ocoee, Apopka, Oakland, and Gotha. Looking forward to this!!!

NEXT COWO MTG
…is next Wednesday, January 11th, from 9:30am to 11:00am at HOUSE BLEND CAFE in Ocoee. Hope to see you there as we pray together, encourage one another, and leave to give ourselves away together.

Much love!
-jason

Check out these four upcoming events in the next week all somehow related with the Church of West Orange local churches & organizations…

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16TH

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17TH

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19TH
On Monday night, Robin Caputo with the Orange / Seminole Foster Children’s Association will be hosting a Christmas celebration for foster kids and their foster parents  from 5pm to 9pm at the Mark Street Senior Recreation Center in downtown Orlando on the corner of Magnolia and Colonial. They not only will be giving away the items we have been collecting together, but volunteers are also needed for that evening. If you are interested, please call Robin at 407.222.0594.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20TH
Please be in prayer for a Christmas celebration for Matthew’s Hope and the folks they serve in the community Tuesday night, Dec 20th, as well. This event is not open for anyone and everyone, as space is limited. But we wanted you to be aware of it and to be praying for this special celebration.

Matthew’s Hope got bling.

Well, at least they are partnering with a proven jewelry company and some generous folks who want to do some fundraising for them this Christmas season. Buy some awesome jewelry for Christmas gifts, and 50% of the sales go to benefit Matthew’s Hope.

Check out this flyer for more details: