Holiday

Coming up on Sunday December 20th will be Kaleo's last Holiday event of 2009. We will be sharing potluck together starting at 6:00pm at the Listening Room Cafe!
All are welcome!

Also this next week as it is the week of Christmas, we will not be having Life Group gatherings as normal, but will resume regular gatherings the week after.

A reminder for this week, Life Groups will be combined this week as we meet at the Arnet's on Wednesday Night at 7pm.

Kaleo Coaching

Family and Friends of Kaleo Nashville,

We are excited to announce our next leadership training opportunity. It will take place this Tuesday (Dec 8th) from 6pm-8pm at the District Office (Trevecca Tower's Annex) Cconference Room.

Our special speaker is Philip Zimmermann, church planter in Mainz Germany.
Coffee will be provided and it should be a great time of fellowship. So, grab a friend and come. Please RSVP so that we will know how many to plan for.
kaleonashville@gmail.com

This past month we were priveledged as a community to host a couple Germans for a few days. Hans Zimmerman and Tobias Kassühlke... These two fellows are on a tour called First Supper (http://www.firstsupper.de/) where they are doing some very real ministry as they travel around the States and Germany. One of the days we had with them, we took a day trip to Chattanooga, TN with our leadership team. And admist the chaos of driving with a van full of leaders, a little rain, and some scary vehicle situations, we had very good discussion and some priceless time of sharing with Hans and Tobias. So, a shout out to them of thanks for a great time and for investing into us and the ministry of Kaleo Nashville!

Community

What does it mean to be in community?

This word is tossed around a whole lot, especially in the 'church' world.

What does it mean to actually love your neighbor so much that you share your stuff with him? That he or she can simply come over and have refrigerator rights? What would it look like if that is how it was with everyone? If we actually did share... everything? 

Before we could ever get there we actually have to know the people around us first. - Not just their names, but who they are... their stories. How many of us just know the people who live beside us? Sure we know our friends, but what about everyone else we live around day in and day out? Something like that requires from us intentionality. Because without intentionality our culture simply no longer provides opportunity for genuine interaction to occur. 

 Then we must go beyond truly knowing them to truly loving them. Loving them, actually as much as we love ourselves... The thing is though this is not something you can just force to happen. You can't just squint really hard and bare through it and call it loving your neighbor. True love is a natural out pouring of your heart, it's out of the overflow of your love for God Himself. So really, it's God loving through you. 

We as Kaleo are probing the depths of these questions and what our faith and love asks of us. 

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In an attempt to know and love we are hosting a Free Sale! (It's like a yard sale, except everything's free :) ) 

1. If you want to donate some things to it simply let us know (kaleonashville@gmail.com)

2. If anything you should come and hang out with us and eat some dogs and smores!

COMMUNITY FREE SALE

The Arnet's place, Saturday November 21st @ 8:00am on... 

For more info just ask!

May you know, and may you love. May you live in Community.

October Newsletter Article

Jesus made a statement at the beginning of His ministry that defined what His life on earth was about. He said, “the kingdom of God has come near.” (Mark 1:15) Jesus said this because His very life and body being present on this earth, God being here, was the actual cause of heaven arriving on earth. Because when Jesus Christ walked into a scene everything was different. Blind people began to see, hungry people were fed, lonely people were no longer alone, the dead were raised, the hurting were healed, and the list goes on and on. Because when Jesus was there, death, brokenness, pain, loneliness… had no option except to leave. And when Jesus was there, life, hope, love, joy, peace, comfort… had no option except to arrive.

 

Our dream as Kaleo Nashville is to see how the kingdom of heaven breaks into our lives, our city, and our world. Because we believe as we are the church, the people of God, the body of Christ, we are called to the same mission Jesus has. To see heaven come to earth, to see lives changed and healed, to see the places where we live marked by a community of peace, to see our world transformed by the love of God.

 

Kaleo is Greek, it is the root word in the term Ecclesia, which is the word we translate as “Church.” An Ecclesia is a gathering, it’s a community of people. The root word kaleo means, to call, invite, to bear the name of. We as the church are the called. We are called by Christ to take up our crosses and carry on the mission He began as it continues through us, His people.

 

Kaleo Nashville is a local church in the city of Nashville, TN. We are a church with a missional heart. We are a church who is simply taking some steps back and asking questions like, What does it mean to be the church instead of just doing church? We hope to be a source of light and hope for the people in the city of Nashville, to not simply exist, but actually make our community better because the people of God are in it. Our desire is to see people excited for Jesus, finding a place to grow as a person in Christ, and using their lives in loving and serving others.

 

We are excited to have just begun this great journey here in Nashville! We hope and pray that you will join us on this way to being the people God has called us to be, a people of love, a people of healing, a people of hope, a people of action. 

Odd Beginnings

It's an exihilerating blast when you finally get in the boat and begin to head down stream. The journey has begun.

The thing with some journeys that God calls us to take is that they simply are not easy. Actually that may be the case with almost all of them. So, in actuality this one may be like getting in a boat and going upstream instead of down.

As Kaleo Nashville we believe that when we truly begin to act like the people of God and begin to not just dream but actually live as people who are citizens of heaven, we will look pretty ridiculous to the rest of the world.

We are on a jounrney to truly Know our GOD. And when we really begin to know who our God is we begin to look and act and do things differently.
I think this past Saturday many of us learned more about our God as we took actions of love toward others expecting nothing in return.
...Yeah we looked a little odd.

But often the kingdom of God looks just like that... odd.

Prayer

So the official kick-off weekend for Kaleo Nashville is fastly approaching!
September 12th and 13th. As we go into this final week before things actually begin we move forward with a spirit of humility. Humbleness in seeing how God has brought us this far and how faithful He has been in leading us. It is exciting to think that the dream He has so long placed in our hearts is finally coming to fruit in many ways.
So, for this next week especially we are asking for your prayer.

-Prayer that God will truly use us as a body to bless the city of Nashville not only this next Saturday, but from then onward.
-That the weather would be nice as we plan to be mowing people's grass and picking up trash and washing cars...
-That all the preparations that are happening would continue smoothly.
-That we will have all the supplies and equipment we need to bless Nashville on Saturday the 12th.
-That God would be glorified in it all!

Thank you for your prayers! If possible come and join KaleoNashville and other volunteers who plan to spend Saturday the 12th of Sept. blessing the city of Nashville.
(details on KaleoNashville.com)

-Shalom

Temptation

As the Kaleo Nashville official ''kick-off" weekend approaches pretty quickly, there is sooo much that needs to be done. I could continually spend every moment of the day running like a chicken with his head cut off doing doing doing. And yet more would need to get done, or atleast thats the way I tend to feel. I think in all this though the temptation is to believe that we are the ones 'making' Kaleo happen in the first place. Which I am happy to say is a lie from sheol...
It can be such a huge temptation though to try to make everything happen on our own, to work harder and faster, to make as many phone calls as possible, to do, and worry worry worry.
But I am learning more that we must continually, take steps back and say, "God, this is about You, this is about Your Kingdom, and not about us or anything we are even capable of doing."
To be at that place in body and heart to say, "Lord, if you don't show up this whole thing is going down." There is nothing we can do to make Kaleo Nashville happen. Ofcourse we aren't sitting on our butts waiting on a miracle, but at the same time we can't believe we can 'work' it into existance. The only reason we do anything at all is because we feel called by God to do. We are participants in His story and plan. He isn't a participant in ours. It's all His, He is the One who makes it all happen the way He wants it to. However that may be. Temptation says to us, "work harder, make it all happen! If you want it to be successful you have to work harder at it!"
I praise God that we can say that the only way anything will ever be successful is if God does it and not us!


"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat- for He grants sleep to those He loves." Psalm 127