Reflecting on Jesus
Posted by Dave Clayton on 10/30/2011
Ethos Turns 3!
Posted by Dave Clayton on 10/23/2011
Ethos is Turning 3
Posted by Dave Clayton on 10/03/2011
On October 23rd, Ethos Church will be 3 years old.
It was just a few short years ago, that 12 people gathered in a living room off of Shackleford Drive to pray and dream about a new church family in the heart of downtown Nashville. It wasn’t long before that little living room could no longer hold our church and so we moved — first to a coffee shop, then to a park, and then finally to the Cannery.
As we approach our 3rd Birthday, it is hard to believe all of the things we have seen God do. The group of 12 has now become more than 1500 strong. One little house church has become more than 60 house churches scattered all across our city, and in April of 2011 we planted two churches and a school in India.
We’ve seen God heal people physically and spiritually, marriages reconciled, friends and neighbors baptized, parents and spouses return to Jesus, babies born, life celebrated, and so much more. It has been an incredible 3 years, and I can’t wait to see what the next 3 years will hold.
As we approach our 3rd Birthday there are two main ways that we are going to celebrate Jesus and the last 3 years as we gather:
ONE : BAPTISM SUNDAY
We can’t think of any better way to celebrate our 3rd birthday than by giving you the opportunity to take the next step in your relationship with Jesus publicly through baptism. On October 23rd, you will be able to be baptized at all of our Sunday Worship Gatherings. If you would like to be baptized or would like to find out more about baptism (…more)
TWO : CLEAN WATER
Last year we celebrated our birthday in a big way by giving our birthday away to provide clean water in 4 villages through Charity Water. Last October, on one Sunday, you gave more than $20,000 to celebrate Ethos Church turning 2. This year, we are praying we can give even more. On October 23rd, 100% of our offering will go to dig clean water wells through Charity Water, who just celebrated their 5th birthday by kicking off the campaign featured in the video below.
There are 3 ways we are asking every person in our church to participate in this celebration :
ONE : PRAY
Spend time praying about what God would have you give towards our clean water project. Our goal is that every man, woman, and child in our church will spend the next 3 weeks asking the Lord what he desires for us to GIVE.
TWO : SHARE
Share the story of Clean Water. Tell people about what we are praying God will do through us on October 23rd. Tell everyone you know (i.e. Friends, Co-workers, Parents, etc) and invite them to help us. On October 4th, we will relaunch www.AwakenaMovement.com, a site designed to help you share this part of our mission with people outside of the Ethos family.
THREE : GIVE
Give Generously. Give Sacrificially. Give Joyfully. 100% of the funds given to our Awaken a Movement Fund, and 100% of every donation given on October 23rd will go to provide clean water. You can give online HERE.
What a great 3 years it has been. I can’t wait to celebrate on October 23rd. I love our church, and I truly believe the best is yet to come.
Love you guys,
Dave Clayton
Vision and Teaching | Ethos Church
Sign Ups and Chairs
Posted by Luke Flener on 08/24/2011
Good afternoon. I hope you all are having an awesome week so far. I am still fired up after our time together on Sunday. I love worshipping God with our church family. I would like to take a couple of minutes to share a few really important things and solicit your prayers as we look towards the next couple of weeks at Ethos Church.
HOUSE CHURCH SIGN UPS
This Sunday, you will have the opportunity to sign up for a House Church. Ethos started as one house church of 12 people nearly 3 years ago, and I still believe the greatest way to get connected to the work of God and the people of Ethos Church is by connecting in a house church. This Sunday, you can sign up for a house church before or after all four of our worship gatherings. Simply stop by the orange tent in front of the Cannery, and one of our House Church volunteers will help you sign up. For more info on house churches, go to ethoslove.com/connect/house-churches
SPACE ISSUES
Many of you have been asking what we are planning to do in regards to space. This past Sunday, we had nearly 1400 people gather to worship God across our 4 worship gatherings. It was incredible, but this meant that many of you were standing, or sitting on the floor during our 10:45AM, 5PM, and 7PM Worship Gatherings (our 9:15AM still has a little breathing room). As we continue to pray through what is next, we have come up with a couple of solutions that will allow us to stay on mission with Jesus and within the fire codes at the Cannery as we seek God’s wisdom on what’s next. Here are a few ways you can help.
9:15AM WORSHIP GATHERING
We currently have space for about 150 people to join us on mission at the 9:15AM Gathering. If you are an early bird, it would help us greatly if you could help us free up some space at the other worship gatherings by joining us early. We only need 150 of you, so let us know if you are willing (questions@ethoslove.com / put 9:15AM in the subject line).
MORE CHAIRS
As of this Sunday, the room will be set up a bit differently to accommodate approximately 100 more seats per service. The room will be a little tight, but this will allow you to still invite your friends and family without worrying about them sitting on the floor in day old beer. If you or someone you know would like to help us purchase some more chairs you can do so by giving at ethoslove.com/give/give-online.
PARKING
If you are able to carpool, please do so. This will help us greatly with traffic flow. Also, just a friendly reminder, we are now being charged for using the big parking lot connected to the Cannery. If you can give an additional $1 per week in the orange GIVE boxes it will help us cover the cost. We have been falling a little short on that each week, so please remember to throw in an extra buck on your way out.
PRAYER and FASTING
I really believe God is up to something incredible within our church family, our city, and beyond. Our leadership team and staff are praying diligently that God will help us see what His plans are for Ethos as we seek to reach more people in this city. Can you please join us as we pray and fast for God’s guidance? Just pick a day, or several days each week, and just go for it. We can’t wait to see what the Lord might have in store.
INVITE EVERYONE YOU KNOW
Finally, invite everyone you know to come be a part of what God is doing at Ethos. (Not your friends on mission at other churches.) Don’t allow a crowded room to be your excuse for not sharing the love of Jesus with your friends that do not yet know him.
What a great time to be a part of God’s church here in Nashville. I believe we are only seeing the beginning of what God desires to do in us and through us for His glory … in Nashville, and far beyond.
See you Sunday!
SONGS: 9|19|10
Posted by Will Shinnick on 09/21/2010
Song Name | Written By
O Praise Him | David Crowder
Song of Hope | Robbie Seay and others
A Mighty Fortress | Christy and Nathan Nockels
In Christ Alone | Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
Follow You | Ed Cash, Leeland Mooring, and Jack Mooring
Till I See You | Joel Houston and Jadwin Gillies
Reign in Us | Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Ben Glover
Want to Volunteer?
Posted by Dave Clayton on 09/16/2009
On Sunday, August 30th, more than 200 of you made the commitment to serve as a volunteer at Ethos. People committed to help out with our Welcome Team, Technology Team, Set Up Team, Tear Down Team, Service Team, Kids Team, and much more.
As we continue to put these teams into place we still have several major needs for volunteers.
Technology Team
Our technology team is responsible for everything connected with our Audio and Visual needs at Ethos Church. We still need 4-6 good volunteers that can commit to serving at either the 5 PM or the 7 PM Worship Gatherings. If you are interested in serving on the technology team please email us at (ethoschurch@gmail.com) with the word “tech” in the subject line.
Set Up Team
Our set up team is responsible for setting everything up each week before the 5 PM Worship Gathering. The set up includes: unloading the trailer, setting up the chairs, setting up the tables and communion, and setting up the welcome stations and ethos kids area. We still need 6-8 committed volunteers to help us with the set up team. The set up team arrives at the Cannery at 2:45 pm each Sunday. If you are interested in helping or would like more information please email us at (ethoschurch@gmail.com) with the word “setup” in the subject line.
Finally, beginning in two weeks you will have the opportunity to sign up for any of our volunteer teams on a weekly basis. Thanks for choosing to be a participant in what God is doing, and not simply a spectator. It is an honor to serve with you. See you Sunday.
New Life
Posted by Dave Clayton on 03/02/2009
Last night was incredible. The Cannery was packed. I am amazed at how many new faces I see each week. We had several folks that drove a long way just to show their support and encouragement. For a church that is only a few months old — that support means so much.
To be honest, I wasn’t too excited about last night. I had been sick all day, and Will Shinnick (our worship leader) had been sick all week, and to be completely honest I was just exhausted. In fact, last night would have been one of those nights where I would have stayed home if I had the option.
But I am so glad that I was there. William Rowell made the decision to give his life to Jesus last night. After church, about 30 or so people made the drive over to the Mark and Martha’s house where we baptized William. I don’t know if I have ever seen anyone as full of joy as William was when he came up out of the water.
It never gets old seeing someone give their life to Jesus. For those of you at Ethos, now we have the responsibility of praying for, encouraging, and supporting William on his journey. I love you guys and I hope you were living for Christ and his Kingdom today.
Baptism
Posted by Dave Clayton on 02/08/2009
Guys I just wanted to share some great news with all of you. Tonight after worship, Allie Wasmer gave her life to Christ. It was amazing to be there with several of her closest friends, including her sister, as she went under the water. As I am writing this, I am so full of excitement and energy just knowing that God is rejoicing over our new sister. Thank God tonight, pray for Allie, and tell your friends of all the great things God is doing. Good night.
Jesus in the Streets
Posted by Dave Clayton on 02/05/2009
Once a month, all of our house churches push pause on our weekly meetings and instead of meeting in a home we spend time just being the church. It is really inspiring to see all of the creative ways our house churches choose to serve the people of our city. Last night hundreds of you rolled up your sleeves and shared the love of Christ with people you have never met in most cases.
I thought it would be good to share a few of the things you guys did. After all, if you are involved in a house church, you are probably only aware of the way your house church served. Here are just a few of the ways you guys served:
* Made a meal and ate dinner with the men in a Half Way House
* Set up and played cards with the shut ins at Carestone Retirement Home
* Wrote encouragement cards to your friends and family members that don’t know Jesus
* Passed out blankets, hand warmers, and coffee to the Homeless Community
* Gave manicures and pedicures to the women living at Mending Hearts
* Made soup and visited elderly shut-ins
* Spent a week helping serve the needs of one of our Ethos Family Members who has been down on his luck
* and much more…
Proud of you guys. Keep being the church.
Monday, Monday
Posted by Dave Clayton on 01/26/2009
Wow. What a night last night. Thanks to Andrew, Elliot, and Ben for leading worship. Thanks to everyone for being so flexible as we continue to work through our space issues. Keep inviting your friends, and we will keep looking for ways to make more room. Make sure you take some time this week to just thank God for what He is doing in Nashville, and pray that He will continue to make it clear where He would want us to serve along side the things He is already doing.
Just a couple of house keeping items:
1.) Remember this week Worship at 4 pm and Superbowl Party at 5 pm. We will be showing the game on a 10 foot screen and several large tvs. If you have not signed up to bring food email Brooke (brookeakin@friendshipchristian.org).
2.) House Churches meet Wed. Night at 7 pm. If you are not apart of one yet, it is not too late. Just look on the House Church page and find one near you.
3.) Finally, keep praying. Pray for each other. Pray for our church. Pray for our city. Pray for your friends that don’t know Christ.
Have a great day tomorrow. Live with purpose.
