Erwin McManus

Just a reminder to those of you who want to attend the Erwin McManus event on Nov. 4th. You can buy your tickets online at the EAI Website (click on events). You can choose to spend your whole Saturday there (€20) or opt for just the evening session (€10). Erwin will be speaking on Uprising.

Leadership Summit

Looking forward to the upcoming Leadership Summit. A good crew of us are going to be taking the weekend up at Belfast to be challenged and learn. Rumour has it that there is going to be a video of a video of an interview with Bono! Seriously though, really looking forward to the weekend and the conversations it begins.

Link: Leadership Summit

Snowboard Trip Informational Meeting

The Journey lads-only Snowboard Trip happening in February 2007 will be having its informational meeting on Wed. October 4th at 8pm at Cormac & Karen's home in Blackrock. Send us an email: journeycommunity [at] gmail [dot] com and we'll pass you on the info. Also, if you know of any lads in 3rd-6th year who would like to come along, please let them know.

Snowboard Camp 2007

Well after a summer of searching and praying we finally found the location for this year's snowboarding camp. It will be In the lovely town (I've never been there but almost everything in the Alps is lovely) of Valtournenche in Northern Italy. Those who know their geography are well aware that this puts us only 9kms away from the Breuil-Cervinia-Zermatt ski resort (ya, that's the place with the Matterhorn). This resort is one of the top ranked ski resorts in the world. What's more, the place that we found gives us reduced rates on snowboard rental and ski-passes meaning it looks like it should fit into our budget. We also have 40 beds this year which gives us a much greater capacity than last year. Just wanted to let you all get excited with us.

Serve The City Basketball Camp

A few of us from the Journey will be helping with Serve The City's first basketball camp in Stillorgan. It will be a day for kids ages 10-14. There's something for all skill levels. If you're new to the game, come and learn the fundamentals of the game. If you've played the sport before, come ready to develop and strengthen those skills. Irish basketball star Jerome Westbrook will be leading the one-day camp. If you have a child aged 10-14 who you think would be interested in the day please send us an email at journeycommunity [at] gmail.com.

Details:
Location - St. Benildus College, Stillorgan
Date - Saturday, 23rd of September 2007
Time - 9:45am - 4pm

3 Days With 3 Events

1. Marriage Day - Saturday, Sept. 16th 2007. There is still some space if you would like to join us as we take a day to invest in our marriages. It will be held at the Ramada Woodland Court Hotel, Southern Cross Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow from 9:45am to 4:30pm. The cost is €20 per person but please don't let the cost stop you from attending. We will be happy to cover it for you if needed. The sessions will be led by Mark and Carol Rathe who are visiting Dublin from Filmore, California. Mark is the pastor of a church there and he and his wife, Carol, lead marriage weekend retreats for couples at their church each year. Some of us from The Journey spent time with Mark and Carol when we were in the US last summer and we invited them to help us run a similar type seminar next time they came to Ireland. We'd love to have you join us.

2. Celebration Day - Sunday, Sept. 17th 2006. We will be gathering at Urban Junction (map) for a time of worship, teaching and eating (not necessarily in that order). We'll be meeting/eating from 6-8:30pm and will be blessed with a trad session for those who want to stay a bit longer. There will be an activity for the kids as well as a creche. Come along if you can.

3. Inaugural CS Lewis Lecture - Monday, Sept. 18th 2006. Join those of us attending this session with Michael Schluter entitled "Mere Christianity: A Private Matter?" The event is being organized by the Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI) and will be held at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street. From the website:

Michael worked as a consultant economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute and the World Bank in East Africa for six years, after completing a PhD in agricultural economics at Cornell University. In 1982, he established the Jubilee Centre (a Christian think tank focusing on social and economic issues) followed by work on reconciliation in South Africa. He established the Relationships Foundation in 1994, being Chief Executive until becoming Chairman in November 2000. Michael has co-authored The R Factor (1993), The R Option (2003) and contributed to Relational Justice (1994), Building a Relational Society: New priorities for public policy (1996), Christian Perspectives on Law and Relationism (2000) and Christianity in a Changing World (2000). He now has special responsibilities for developing and communicating the Foundation's core message.

The cost for the night is only €10 (payable on the night). Please email EAI and tell them if you plan to be there.

They Keep Stealing our Name!

Saw another church community with a great name: The Journey. They seem to be slightly more tech savvy. Their site reminds me that this blog needs a face lift.

Serving the City

We were delighted to support the Serve the City initiative which was introduced to Dublin this year and led by our friends Alan & Sheryl McElwee. Visiting teams from the US were joined by local volunteers to undertake various d.i.y. projects around Dublin. In all, about 50 volunteers took part. Projects included lots of painting - inside and outside, flooring an attic, putting up shelving, gardening and playing music in a nursing home. Volunteers gathered each day for 1 week to serve and show loving kindness to those who are not in a position to do these jobs for themselves - disabled people, single mums, the poor and the sick.



What a great opportunity to let people know that we care and to serve others as Jesus would have done. As volunteers, we were blessed by those who served alongside us, by hearing the stories of those whom we served and by bringing some joy into their lives. We are looking forward to serving some of these people again and we will also be looking for more serving opportunities in our communities in the weeks and months ahead.

Why not join us on one of these projects or let us know about a project you think we could help with or simply pray for us and for those we are serving. Thanks.
Cormac