Welcome from John & Marla Coroy! Community is the context; Relationship is the objective, Love is the motive and Life is the result!

Good to see someone else from the 'Springs here. We are still in the inquiring stage of the simple church movement.
God Bless,
Jamey

We gathered in a simple church for about a year. It dissolved. We are now in a small IC in Ocean Springs but I am still interested in simple church philosophy. Not trying to marry the two, but miss the close fellowship.

It’s ok with the double posting. I’m still learning all the ins and outs of this thing myself so I’m not sure exactly what the operation procedure is.
The simple church we were in seemed to be a dictatorship. It had been in existence for ten years and when we left there was only 1 other person there besides the host family. The leader was adding 1000 sq ft to his house to make his own “upper room”. His quote, not mine.
Needless to say the experience affected us. I didn’t take it personally but my wife did. I had not thought it affected her to the extent that it did until I told her about this site. We didn’t realize that the simple church was so wide spread.
I am hoping she will warm up to the idea.

I hope ya'll had a great weekend. God blessed us with a beautiful one, didn't He? We escaped the gnats by taking the kids a few miles north to do some fishing and a picnic. Had a friend come with us and had a great time fellowshipping. Its funny now that I think about it, the majority of my friends that we spend time with are fellow believers and only one attends worship where we do. Strange. Anyways, God bless you and Marla and I do want to continue this conversation. I am learning alot.

Awww tennis. Played alot myself in High School and when I was in the Airforce (many many moons ago). Thank you for the blog post. I forward it to Karen. Sometimes its easier for wives to hear it from someone other than their hubby's. When I talk to others about the simple church life, I get this glazed look.
Your brother in Christ,
Jamey

Well I hope you blog more if you get a chance. I love to learn and to see what other people think about certain subjects. I'm the type of person who researches things to death (took me over a year to decide what bible version to stick with. And that is still up in the air).
Tonite was our Wed. night "bible study" at our local congragation. It was more like another sermon. I'm the newly appointed deacon of benevolence. Someone from off the street came in needing help. He was a young man who was living in his car with his grandfather. Ofcourse we are told the church cannot give cash, but we can offer food and gas up the car, even pay for a night at a hotel. I met this young man at the closest gas station, filled his car up and started talking to him about options he could try. Gave him a few names of local shelters and ministries I know of and hopefully they can get in there for a short time.
I don't know if this is a problem with other IC's. Most I know don't even have a food pantry. Ours is small, and with the funding I am given will probably stay small (tho building fund and ministers pay = over 70% of our budget). I get flack because I tell people of other pantrys they can use and don't mind if I see bags from other congragations in their cars. What we give these folks won't last longer than a day and people are not poor for just a day. Anyways I missed our bible study tonight which may have been a blessing.
How does a simple church handle benevolence to those outside of the church?
Sent Karen your blog. She is in the middle of getting our taxes together (we are self-employed so its a job) and as soon as she is done.
Sorry for the rambling, just tired and frustrated.
Jamey

Well I hope ya'll had a great weekend at the house church conference. Would love to hear an update from it. I was wondering if Mike Indest was there? His site is one of my favs and I'm making my way thru his archived radio programs.
I too take exception over some's interpretation of women's role in fellowship. But I'm very glad to hear that there are those out there that can work through the differences.
We went back to SW La this weekend. On the trip there, Karen got a call from her dad. Her mom is in the hospital in Hattisburgh. She has an infection in her heart valve and their going to need to do a replacement. I just got back from there. Karen is staying up there. Tho it is looking well for her, please keep her in ya'lls prayers. Her name is Donna Trotter.
On a more positive note, Karen is warming up more and more to the idea of simple church life. We took her dad (a baptist preacher) and her sister out to eat tonight and they were talking about problems with their church over the building fund. I have learned with them to pick my battles but Karen spoke up and just went to town about how different the IC is with the NT church. I just smiled to myself. She does listen to my rantings :-)

Thank you very much for the prayers. It seems that she has stabilized and the doctors have a handle on things but she will need a heart valve replacement. Karen has been staying at the hospital so her dad can get some rest and go to work. I been going back and forth to Hattisburgh. Her mom is suppose to be in the hospital for the next couple of days with the surgery to be scheduled sometime in the middle of April.
I'm not sure if brother Dan is a relative, but if he is a Trotter I wouldn't be shocked if he is one. Especially if he is of the Baptist persuasion.
I will keep ya'll updated on whats all happening. Thanks again for ya'lls prayers. It means alot to both Karen and I.
God Bless
Jamey

John and Marla,
Been gone for awhile, back and forth to Hattisburg. Karen's mom is doing better but they want to do the heart valve transplant April 16th. I'm busy with the keeping up with the business and shuttling Karen back and forth. Your prayers have been felt and very apreciated. Maybe after all this is done we can have a cup of coffee somewhere and fellowship.
I'll keep ya'll up to date as much as I can and again thank you so much for your prayers.
Ya'll have a happy Easter.
Your brother in Christ,
Jamey