JON ALLEN

Well it is Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) at 3:00am and I can't fall asleep to save my life. I have been laying in bed for hours with thoughts constantly flooding my mind of how much you all mean to me and how we can be everything God is calling us to be. Have you ever had one of those nights where you have something on your mind and you know that there is no way you will be able to fall asleep until you put it down on paper, or in this case, in a blog? Tonight is one of those nights.

God desires for us to be a community of love, one that cares for others with true authenticity, mutuality, sympathy, and mercy. A community just like Ronnie talked about tonight and will talk about tomorrow morning. We have accomplished so much as a body in this area and we are already learning to do this on a level that I have not seen before, but I also believe that we have lightyears to go. So much is left undone, so much left to learn. I believe that in order to achieve the level of community that God requires it is going to demand a complete change in thinking, both for me and for you. "The Table" has been taking us on a journey to discover the true purpose for our church and what our roles are. I believe that tonight God is revealing to me what the final installment of this series needs to address... being a biblical community of fellowship, not an institutional organization of programs.

On February 9 we are going to have our first Small Group Boot Camp. I have heard several people make the comment that the term Boot Camp seems a bit strange and even a bit scary, but let me explain why we chose that term. For those of you who are or have been in the military you know what boot camp is designed to do... break you down, strip you of your comfort, remove you old habits, remove the norm, and create new habits, new norms. We need to do the same. Many of us have been corrupted by experience. We do things a certain way because that is how we have always done them, well that needs to change.

If we are going to be the biblical community that God desires we need to strip away what we know of church and how it should operate and look at the unique design that God has for us. We need to search His Word and seek out what true community looks like and how we achieve it. This series and this boot camp are just the beginning of the journey, but it's time to go! Let the revolution begin!