That’s right, there’s a full load on a forklift that’s on top of another forklift. Maybe these guys are a couple of french fries short of a happy meal. Speaking of dumb things, we are continuing our series “Dumb Things that Smart People Believe” this week at CCC. Don’t miss it!
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If you know how to drive, someone taught you how.
If you know how to play a sport, someone showed you the ropes.
If you’re reading this, someone taught you the letters and how to piece them together to make words.
We don’t expect any of these skills to develop on their own; they are taught and learned.
Learning how to manage our finances works the same way. It takes tools and skills to navigate the realm of money well. We are offering a small group aimed at teaching some of these basic financial skills, such as budgeting, addressing debt, and insurance, just to name a few.
This group will begin meeting on April 22nd at CCC from 7 to 9 PM and will run for three sessions, meeting every other week. If you are interested in more information or would like to join this group, please contact Nic Cox at 410.933.8330 or nic.cox@communitycc.net.
The Friday before Easter, traditionally known as Good Friday, is an important day in the life of those who follow Jesus. Good Friday is when we specifically set aside time to remember the suffering, trial, and death of Jesus. Our faith is built upon the events of that dark Friday and the triumph we find in the resurrection on Easter Sunday. There are many ways to observe Good Friday, the day Jesus died on a cross for our sins.
We encourage you to gather together with your small group, family, or friends to remember the price Jesus paid for us. We’ve created a Good Friday guide to help as we engage more deeply with Good Friday.
In my experience, this is one of the most deeply meaningful times I’ve ever spent with my friends and small group. The opportunity to read together the story of Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and death is powerful. The chance to celebrate communion in a smaller setting while remembering the last supper is stirring. Praying together while reflecting on the last words of Jesus is moving. (And that’s just three of the suggestions listed in the Good Friday Guide).
I hope you pick up a Good Friday guide at CCC on Sunday or download one HERE and use it as a part of your Good Friday celebration this year.
Hey Friends,
I trust this email finds you doing well.
I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks as we approach the heart of the Easter season. I’m quite excited to gather with all of you not only on Easter Sunday, April 4, but also this coming Sunday, March 28.
This Sunday, you’ll want to make sure and pick up your place holders for whichever Easter service you plan to attend. (Three identical services are happening on Easter Sunday at 8:30, 10, and 11:30. Note that these are different from our normal service times of 9:30 and 11am and KidStuf will take place during the 10am service.) Picking up a place holder for you and whomever is joining you will be incredibly helpful as we prepare for the celebration that day. You can pick them up in the lobby of CCC on Sunday. (They’re free.)
You may also want to pick up a copy of the Good Friday Guide while you’re at CCC on Sunday. It has an abundance of possible ideas for you to take advantage of on Good Friday (April 2) with your family, your small group, or some friends. They’re free as well and you can also download the Good Friday Guide from our website, here.
In the meantime, I hope you all have a terrific rest of your week. And I hope to see you all this Sunday.
David Robinson
After tracking your expenses for one month, you should have a good idea of where your money is going. Here are some resources that are helpful in creating a budget for planning your expenses.
Dave Ramsey’s Gazelle Budget Lite – This is an online calculator that helps create a budget based on net monthly income.
Crown Financial offers free Percentage Guides that gives you an idea of what categories to budget for and approximately what percentage of your income should be assigned to each category. Use the one that fits your context the closest:
They also offer a Budget Analysis Form to help compare the difference between what you’re currently spending and the new monthly guideline budget you chose from the above resources.
On Sunday Nic Cox talked about Moolah, covering some very practical insights regarding how we can handle our finances well. Nic made the point that we can’t manage our money if we don’t know where it’s going. He challenged all of us to track our expenses for one month. Here are some useful resources that can help:
The 30 Day Diary on Crown’s Website can help track expenses in a ledger format.
Mint.com is a free online resource that will track all of your debit and credit card expenses. Mint will automatically categorize them, but you can create your own subcategories and tags as well. At any point you can see a pie chart showing the breakdown of where your money is going.
We are excited to have Alathea (the Greek word for truth), with us this Sunday, March 21. If you haven’t seen them live just yet you may have heard their Appalachian-style folk tunes around CCC in videos or in the music that plays before services get started. It’s definitely shaping up to be the highlight of your week once again. Not only do we have Alathea trekking north from Tennessee to join us again, but we’re also starting a brand new sermon series! We look forward to seeing you on Sunday at 9:30 or 11:00.
This Sunday is Daylight Saving Time. Be sure to set your clocks forward Saturday night if they don’t take care of that on their own. Did you know that Daylight Saving Time apparently results in less traffic fatalities? So, set your clocks forward, possibly save some lives in the process, and join us at 9:30AM or 11:00AM for what is hopefully the highlight of your week.
Hey Friends,
I trust you’re all relishing in the break of warm weather we’re enjoying over the last several days. (Maybe the snow piles will fully disappear before June after all!)
I thoroughly enjoyed our time together this past Sunday at CCC as we celebrated our 4 year anniversary. It’s hard to believe 4 years have passed since the first day we started meeting at 8094 Sandpiper Circle. As I’ve said many times, it’s been a fantastic start, especially considering that 80% of new churches never make it past year 3. So as we say goodbye to year 4 and start in on year 5, I am overwhelmingly grateful to God for his goodness and grace that has been evident in countless ways since March 5, 2006. And I’m grateful to God for all of you who are committed to seeking and serving Jesus through the life of this new church.
As we inch closer to this year’s Easter celebration, I am excited to see how the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead some 2,000 years ago, will be at work in each of our lives in the coming months and years together.
Speaking of Easter, you’ll want to be aware that we’re adding a third service for that particular Sunday, April 4. This will slightly shift our typical service times. We’ll have three identical services at 8:30am, 10am, and 11:30am on Easter Sunday. Children’s Ministry Programming (Discovery Island, Kid’s Kove, and Baby Bay) will be unaffected by the time change, but note that KidStuf (where kids take their parents to learn) will take place during the 10am service.
To help balance out the services, we’re asking everyone to pick up place holders for whichever service they plan to attend. The place holders are free and are not tickets, but they will help us prepare well for one of the most important Sundays of the year. (You can begin picking up place holders on Sunday in the lobby at CCC.)
This coming Sunday, March 14 is the final week of our current series called “Why”. It’s also a baptism celebration Sunday, which means we get to celebrate together with folks who are taking the important and crucial step of being baptized into Christ Jesus. We love participating alongside people who are being baptized. It’s one of our favorite things. You don’t want to miss it.
So be sure and set your clocks ahead this Saturday evening (That’s right, Daylight Savings Time begins) and make your way on over to CCC at either 9:30am or 11am.
I hope to see you all then.
David Robinson
If you’ve been around Community Christian Church, you may have noticed we don’t exactly look like other churches. This might have you wondering about some things. How did CCC get started? Who’s on staff at CCC? What does CCC believe? What’s my next step at CCC?
There is a place to get these and other questions addressed: Starting Point. Starting Point is a two-hour gathering in a fun, casual environment where we take a closer look at who CCC is and where we’re going. It is our hope that everyone, whether Sunday is your first week or if you’ve been coming to CCC since the doors opened, will find his or her way to Starting Point.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and at CCC a great place to start is at Starting Point. If you haven’t been to Starting Point before, it might be the next step for you at CCC.
Our next Starting Point is Sunday, March 14th from 10:45 – 12:45. Click here to sign up online or by calling the church office at 410.933.8330