Celebrate Recovery Blog

I promised last time we talked I would describe to you what my favorite night of the month looked like, CR leaders' meeting. It is the one night a month I get to be with people who share the same common goal.  The goal of finding the most effective ways to reach out to people with hurts, hang-ups, and habits.

So without wasting anytime I will give you our agenda for last Thursday:

6:30-7:00  Pot luck dinner (my favorite part)  And, Man, do we have some good cooks!  I even have a few pretty good Louisiana specialties myself.

7:00-7:10  Opening prayer and praise song 

7:10-8:10   Address agenda items:

1.  We wrote "love-o-grams" to a Celebrate Recovery family whose house burned down.  This is a great way to begin our meeting with an outward focus.

2.  During our church remodeling right now, Frank is the new CR "Chairman" over the chair moving committee.  He will enlist others to serve in this area.  We then addressed housekeeping needs, such as, which classes would have to be relocated and how all of us would do this with a smile and enthusiasm.

3.  Discussed CR in the Park:  This is an annual fellowship event with no teaching.  Just great fun between all our local CRs and recovery houses.  Last year we fed over 500 people and we exposed members of the community to what fun CR is.  We're expecting a great turn out again this year.  And I will tell you more about it after April 18th.

4.  Update on recovery house:  We opened our first recovery house, not across town, but on our own church campus this past month.  We discussed how we can be the most effective in ministering to these men.

5.  CRI update:  78 men will graduate in the second wave of Step Studies at a local prison on March 25th! The graduation will be open to anyone who wants to attend from our local CRs.

6.  Encourager Coach notes:  We complied a list of all who have donated to the recovery house to mail them thank-you cards.

7.  Extra Mile Award:  We gave a $25 gas card to the person who has went above and beyond this past month in CR service.

8:10-8:30  Devotional by Ministry Leader Apprentice

Josh told a powerful story from Purpose Driven magazine about a man who gave his kidney to someone he met in small group.  I would love to share the whole story with you but the point boils down to CR is successful because we choose the "Get To" attitude!

Closed out with this verse:

"I have been crucified with Christ.  I no longer live but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself up for me."  (Gal. 2:20)

Leaders' meetings are a great way to set your group up for success!

Peace,

Mac

Unity!  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I love talking about Celebrate Recovery!  Which really translates into, I love talking about our One and Only Higher Power Jesus Christ!  Since we are taking the message that has been entrusted with us to many who don’t know him, it is vital that we be united. To do this will take planning.  It won’t just happen.

To get the picture, please read Big John 17:20-26 (Little John is in the back.) We read how Jesus says the only way the world will know that He was sent from the Father is for us, as believers, to be as one, just as Jesus the Son and God the Father are one.

What an order! Can it be done?  Our Father wouldn't ask if it couldn't be done.  We will not be effective in getting the word out if we are at odds in our own CR or if we are at odds with other CR's.

Where then do we begin?  Leaders meetings!  I can't begin to stress how important monthly meetings are.  I have found groups that are struggling have one of two issues or both - not adhering to the guidelines & not having leaders meetings.  Who wants to add another night to our already busy schedule, right?!

I hope you know by now, if I am writing about something, it's because I've been there!  In the early days of our CR, I thought I knew enough about recovery and "running a group" that I didn't need to take up another night of my busy schedule with meetings.

The result was on Friday nights I would spend the majority of my time putting out fires. Taking care of everybody (codependent) was really hard work. That’s when I heard the voice of reason (Mary) who said we really ought to have leaders meetings and iron out problems before Friday.  

So barely a year into our CR journey, we started doing what was suggested from the start (I am a little hard headed).  Long story short, Mary was right, and now instead of putting out fires on Friday night, my big responsibility on Friday night is to show all our leaders and volunteers how much I love and appreciate what they do & welcome the Newcomer.  It's still hard to believe I really "Get To" do this!

The first Thursday of every month is my favorite night of the month. That’s when I "Get To" dream and plan with others who can't keep quiet about what Jesus has done for them.

In taking this one simple step, the unity that Jesus talks about in Big John takes hold and grows into something even the world sees as incredible. People with many different backgrounds coming together for a common goal.

Next time I write I will describe to you how one of our leaders' meetings looks and share with you some of the ways we are discussing to "get The Word out" and how we can become more unified with other local CR'S.

Peace,

Mac