As some of you know a few of us travelled to West Union Mennonite Church in Parnell Iowa in October.  We have had several exchanges with them, a few of them coming here to visit third way and a few of us heading down there.   Well they held a fundraiser lunch for third way last time we were down there.  Last week we received a check from them for $2,400!  This gift helps us catch up financially, get some equipment we have needed, and put a little in savings as well. We were also able to send a small gift to Reba Place Fellowship as they are financially struggling at this point.  A big thank you to West Union.  You could send a little thank you note to

Check our new creative team blog http://soundofsouls.blogspot.com/

Notes from the Leadership meeting 12/15/2011 at the Gilberts
(Present – Eddie, Danny, Alisha, Brian, Seth and Jessie)

1) West union gave us $2400 – What to do with it?
-Give/Tithe $240 to Reba (For Nurturing Communities Project)
-Put $1000 in our savings (Back up fund / help fund)
-Put $1160 in checking (for Thirdway to be caught up on finances)
-Possible $500-$600 from checking account will go towards purchasing a new used laptop for Thirdway

*Danny – addressed whether the community is meeting their financial commitments monthly
*Seth – Responded that Jessie will be sending out quarterly giving reports / also this will be a Mind and Strength discussion topic at their next meeting (budget and fund-raising)

2) Seth’s Role at Hamlin and whether Thirdway can hire on a Heart team leader / third staff member
-Seth is currently working 20hrs at Hamlin and he is possibly going to move to 25-30hrs
-Seth is currently doing 20hrs at Thirdway / do we want him to move to 10hrs and give 10hrs to someone else?

*Seth – our options are either that I cut to 10hrs a week for Thirdway and we take half my salary and just put it in the bank to build a reserve or I cut to 10hrs and we give half my salary to a person who could lead the Heart team, and have a mentor/pastoral care role at Thirdway (Person of consideration – Daleen)
*Danny – Thought this (Second option above) was a good idea but was wanting to hear from Seth how his role at Thirdway was going
*Seth – Explained that he works best with a team / admitted that he does not feel that Pastoral Care is his Strength and it is Daleen’s / three people working together with different gifting is a healthier way to function
*Alisha – Thought it would be a good idea to hire Daleen / also thought we should do a three month check in to see how Daleen likes the role and how Thirdway is handling it Financially

The Decision was made! - we would like to offer the position to Daleen!
1) Explaining to Daleen that this is a position of Faith / trusting that finances will come in
2) We will be doing a three month check in with her
3) and Seth will be writing out a job description for Daleen (Jessie would like one too)

3) Decision about who is on the Heart team
-together we chose one person from each small group that would seem like a good fit to put on the Heart team

*Alisha – some small groups have two people who are ‘heart’ gifted / this group is looking large is it logistically more difficult to meet up with a larger group?
*Seth – Positives (good way to keep connected with all the small groups) and negatives (More difficult to find a time that works for everyone to meet – unless it is set on a regular bases) to choosing one person from each group
*Danny – Suggested we just go through and see how big the group would really be
*Eddie – Will Seth be at each of the Heart team meetings?
*Danny – Voiced that it was nice to have Seth at their soul meeting in the beginning to get the ball rolling (clarify their role, help set an agenda, then just check in with them from time to time)

The list of possible Heart Team members
-Daleen (As Leader)
-Dumont / Brooke
-Amanda
-Eddie
-Matt Axelson
-Justin / Alisha

*Alisha – suggested that since Daleen will be the new Heart Team leader Seth should meet with her first and go over this list with her to get her opinion before putting out an invitation to the above people to be apart of the Heart team (everyone agreed this was a good idea)
*Seth – Is planning to meet up with Daleen to discuss her new role and the possible heart team members listed above and heart team roles listed below / Seth and Daleen will discuss together how to talk to new possible members about their possible new role on the Heart Team  / Daleen’s New possition will be announced at a Thirdway Sunday service to the community

Seth’s idea of the Heart Team’s role
1) Covenant groups (together) -check in -New people placement process -conflicts -some sort of common study
2) Member care (individual) -relational tithe -home care -planned meals…….
3) Mentoring and Decipleship (internal)
4) New Members / School of Love (general) -prayer -classes – learning and growing

*Eddie – had a side thought about knowing of a common craving for more of an emotionally spiritual worship time (More expressions of the arts incorporated into our service) / wondered if the soul team Heart team would help in this area / noticed that as a community we have been more heady but their is a need for more heartiness
*Jessie – Thought that maybe this could be an area that the Soul team works on / possibly will need to bring in another member or two who is gifted in the creative arts to the Soul team to help Danny and Jessica in areas of the soul outside of music / like dance, painting, silent retreats…..creativity breeds creativity)

*Seth
The Heart Team – How we respond to people’s hurting / also making sure there is nutriance and life blood to live well
The Soul Team – Creative and Artistic

4) Not going to have time to discuss the hopes and dreams we listed at the Fall Retreat (maybe next meeting) 
-Jessie will type up notes from meeting and send them to everyone
-Eddie will send Jessie some dates that work to meet up again in March and then Jessie will communicate with others to plan next leadership meeting
-Spring Leadership retreat weekend!

Here are the notes from the Fall Retreat! Thanks again for all you do – the Retreat was great! Jessie

Looking over the past year:
-Some key words: Risk, Joy, Healing, Family
-Developed the Soul, Heart, Mind and Strength
-We are still together!
-SMC visits and deepening of relationships
-The gift of children (Fruitfulness)
-Relational Stability
-House feels more stable / Family
-Como’s – survived and are learning
-Party (Fun and Dancing – Family)
-Crisis (Groundswell – Como’s)
-Stabilty Foundation (Relationships) / Adaptable Structure
-Welcoming to new and visitors / hospitality
-Work Day (Common work)
-Serving together (Loaves and Fish, Sunday Work, Gultier, Hamline Community)
-Survived Financially
-Karla Adolphe concert
-The Laurel 4-plex!
-Pace of Life / communication
-Healing

Things we want to work on next year or dreams we want to work towards:
-Converting the basement of Groundswell into a Art Studio/Shop/Concert area
-Ministry Center on University (Possibly with House of Mercy and Hamline church)
This would provide a space for things like ESL, Homeless care, Babysitting, Art classes, Dance classes, and more…..
-Recording time/studio -Get out a Thirdway CD
-SMC everyone visit one of the communities in the next year
-Relational Tithe
-Outside Fund raising (Possibly presenting the Ministry Center idea)
-Empowering people more in their gifts
-More Kids and Teens
-Covenant group growth
-Financial stability / Groundswell stability
-Fruit / enough for us and to share
-Awareness of how we can serve Thirdway/each other rather than how Thirdway can serve us
-Potlucks
-Twin cities community of Communities / The Taste?
-Children Ministry / Care and Teaching
-Helping the outer layer of the Onion
-Inviting more people into our life together
-Groundswell (expanding / doing more / funraising / events / grand opening)
-Vision of an Eagle (Strong, Predatory, Simple)
-Move to the Morning (Sunday meeting)
-Another house hold / Own a house…. / alternative living situations

Summer Up along with who will aide in making it happen:
-Children and Youth (Mind and Strength Sunday Kids – Heart team Mentoring)
-Financial Stability / Fundraiser  (Mind and Strength)
-Relational Tithe (Heart)
-M&S / SMC (Heart) -TC community of Communities (Natalie)
-Groundswell (Mind and Strength / Soul)
-Covenant groups and Ceremony (Heart)
-Inward and Outward / Ministry Center (Mind and Strength)
-Alternative ways to increase intentional community (Everyone!)

The leadership team met last night to talk about 2 things.  Should we fully transition to Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength teams, and who will we task with shepherding the covenant group formation and orientation.  The leadership decided to keep our existing leadership team, but meet 4 times a year to check in about the overall vision of thirdway.  We decided we wanted to move forward with the heart team (pastoral leadership team) and talked about who might serve on that team.  We felt that we needed a bit more time to form that group, but did not want that to slow the forming of new groups.  Sooooo.. we decided to put a group of 8 folks we thought were either future heart team members, or people who have shown a desire to help small groups form.  That task group to help form covenant groups is Brian / Daleen, Eddie, Danny, Amanda, Jessica, Alisha / Tim.  They will meet the next three tuesday evenings to get covenant groups started. That’s it for now.  Seth

Hey Thirdway Folk – we were thinking since this next weekend is Memorial Day Weekend that we would skip doing our own service (since a handful of people may be out of town or doing family stuff) and join in with the House of Mercy’s service! This is a good opportunity for us to visit the House of Mercy community and check out what is going on there – they will even be serving treats to welcome us! Please join if you can – they are located at 104 Snelling Avenue South, Saint Paul, MN 55105 (Feel free to let me know if you have any questions)! Peace

Hey All,

We are back from the SMC Camp Meeting this past week!
We had a group of 12 head out to Plow Creek farm to set ourselves up in tent villages on the small meadow there. It was a great turn out for our community, and for the event as a whole. With 100 people representing 7 different communities, there was no shortage of conversation to be had. There were young folks to connect with, as well as lots of older folks to learn from. I sat in on several workshops, to learn about a life-transforming creative writing project going on in San Quentin prison, how to sustain community for the long haul, and the differing needs of folks in community who are at different life stages.

Nearly every member of our Third Way representative group remarked how welcomed they felt, how much the event felt like a family reunion, and how much fun they were having! And it did feel like family, too. There were many faces, all friendly, all willing to sit down to conversation with any one of us.

The highlight of the weekend (for me, anyway!) was a “lack-of-talent” show (variety show) that took place on Saturday night. It was long, but amazing. Watching folks make fools of themselves, folks express their hearts through poetry or song, and having fun all together as a big group was a unifying experience. I certainly know what I’m looking forward to at the next camp meeting.

Seth shared with the group on Friday morning, sharing his own story and the story of God, encouraging us as we write our own stories. Some points that stood out to me from the teaching were the ideas Seth shared about how to be a good protagonist. He mentioned that a good protagonist has to want something! A good story includes the protagonist pursuing something meaningful, something worthwhile in his or her own life. Seth also encouraged us to fall in love with Jesus as a person. To love Jesus, not his ethics or the things he believed.

We heard about SMC’s relationship to Valle Nuevo, a village in El Salvador. We saw a slideshow with photos from this year’s delegation group to Valle Nuevo. This relationship is one of the primary reasons that SMC pools resources together. It was encouraging for me to see a very large group of communities sharing resources for more that its own sake!

There was lots of free time to connect with folks–swimming, meals, hikes, campfires, sitting around, shooting the breeze!

At the end of weekend there was an “open mic” time for anybody to share things they had learned, ways they had been encouraged by the gathering. Folks’ observations were very meaningful! In all honesty, I half-expected that time to be lame. But it wasn’t! It wasn’t sappy or boring or drawn out. It was moving, humorous, unifying. Praise God. That “affirmations” time was followed by a chance for each community to offer 2 prayer requests, and to be prayed for by someone in the crowd. We wrapped up the weekend by taking communion together and then sharing the noontime meal.

Hopefully I can get some photos up here! Let me work on that. For now, i hope you enjoyed the update!

Peace,
Natalie