For those of you who aren't familiar with Fellowship Project let me share briefly what it is and what we are doing.
April 10, 2006 my family and I were living in Africa and God began formulating an idea for how to share the love of Christ with people back in the US, not through programs, but through everyday life. The past two years have been exciting as God has unfolded His idea and I have gained clarity through prayer, talking with many others, and reading some great books from guys who have had the same idea given to them by God. Fellowship Project is still in its infancy, but this past February we formed a partnership with a local church who are sending members to be trained to walk Jesus wherever they go.
We finished the first cycle of 2x2 Training in May and are preparing for our second cycle of training in August as well as making preparations for a seminar to introduce Fellowship Project to local "Legacy Churches" which should be ready to go in late July or August as well. There's a ton more to say, but for now that is enough. I hope to share frequently through this blog and strongly encourage feedback, questions, and advice from anyone and everyone.
May God richly bless you as you seek His face.
Shiloh
November 17, 2008
I sent this out to my prayer support team, but I wanted to add it here as well so that anyone could read where the Fellowship Project currently stands and what is on the horizon.
- Two families from two separate local churches have now completed the 2x2 Training and while they are still a bit unsure of where to go from here, they are completely devoted to hearing from the Lord and "Bringing Life to People" wherever they go. They are investing themselves into the lives of people who need Jesus and are sharing principles of the training with other believers in their home churches.
- During this cycle of training, and again during the evaluation time it became evident that there are some changes needed to the structure of the 2x2 Training to enhance it and allow the people going through it more opportunities to really "catch" the ideas and principles that we are learning. As a result, the next cycle of training will look a bit different and will probably be extended by a few more weeks. The next cycle of 2x2 Training will probably begin in January 2009 and I am already talking with about a dozen people who are very interested in going through the next cycle.
- I have been working on putting the meat of the 2x2 Training into a written format. It's not so much a manual as it is a workbook. The first draft is almost complete and should be ready by the end of the year. Once it is complete, it will be available for local churches and individuals to use as the Lord leads. I am really excited about this because I have recently had a good number of discussions with pastors and leaders that have followers of Jesus that want to live missionally, but need guidance and training and this tool can help.
- New opportunities for partnering with local churches have opened up recently. I am in the process of working with ReproducingChurches.com to establish a local gathering of pastors, church planters and other believers who want to gather together monthly for prayer, encouragment, and challenging each other to live missionally and to lead others to do the same.
- I have recently connected to a local church that is "one church of smaller house churches that meet during the week to grow together in living the way of Jesus." They are a church plant that is still working to completely find its identity and there are many opportunities for us to help each other. I can offer training to their leaders that will equip them to reproduce believers, disciple them, and release them to establish new house churches as a part of their greater community. They offer me an opportunity to see first hand what their church looks like, to see what struggles they are having, and to point those going through the 2x2 Training to another example of how churches can reproduce.
- A partnership with churches and church planters in Gainesville is on the horizon. Specifically, things are in progress to start a new work on the campus of the University of Florida. I'm not sure how involved I will be with this ministry, but I am very excited about everything I have heard about it so far. Hopefully sometime early next year there will be couples from five to eight local churches that will be trained to plant themselves among the students at UF with the intention of seeing a movement of students coming to faith and walking with Jesus over the next few years. Awesome!
- I've been in discussion with another local church in NE Marion County about hosting a Fellowship Project Forum in early January. The plan is to have sessions on a Friday evening and Saturday morning and other churches are welcome to attend. More details to come.
- We are having Advent Celebrations with our neighbors every Sunday leading up to Christmas starting on Nov. 30. Please keep this in your prayers, and pray specifically that my neighbors would find the gift of faith in Jesus this Christmas season.
Blessings,
Shiloh
June 2, 2009
I live an unbelievably blessed life. God has been so much more faithful to me than I to Him, and I really have no idea why. I would like to think that my heart means well, but I know myself well enough to know that isn't always true. For the past year and a half I have spent a lot of time sharing with and praying for my neighbors and looking for opportunities to walk Jesus among them and plant the Kingdom of God right where I live. I have been very intentional about it at times, but the past few months have opened my eyes to something new.
Have you ever planted a seed in a cup (or maybe in a garden) and checked it every day to see if it had sprouted yet? I did this as a kid many times and it always seemed like it took forever to sprout. Sometimes it never did (mostly because I forgot to water it). Some seeds sprout quickly and others take much longer. Nothing that we do can speed up how long it takes for a seed to germinate and sprout up, although there are some things that we do that prolongs the process. God used these past few months to show me that I needed to step back a bit and give Him the time to germinate the Kingdom seeds that Kim and I had planted and watered.
Easter Sunday was the day that we really saw the seeds sprouting. God was bringing spiritual growth and life to our neighborhood and it was so exciting to see. We have tried to be faithful to continue to water the seeds by offering to meet with our neighbors for spiritual discussions and prayer and friendship and in spite of my general disengagement and unavailability lately, God has continued to bring more and more growth.
Kim and Sue (one of our neighbors) planted a garden a few months ago. In fact, it was about the same time that I started my job. It has needed a lot of work, especially preparing the soil and watering and weeding. But it has been so cool to see all these different types of vegetables popping up out of the earth and getting bigger and bigger and bearing fruit. Now we are already beginning to harvest some of the beans and cucumbers. Soon we will have tomatoes, carrots, onions, squash, peppers, and on and on. What an awesome picture God has given us of what He is doing in our neighborhood.
We are now starting to see some fruit in the lives of our neighbors and I know that it is only going to get better and better. Please pray for the Kingdom garden that has been planted in SW Ocala. There is a lot of watering a weeding left to be done, and some spiritual insects will try to come and eat our fruit, but God is so faithful and we are so blessed.
May you begin to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, and water the spiritual garden in the place where God has asked you to be. And may you be patient as you wait for the seeds to sprout. And may you celebrate abundantly as the garden grows and fruit is born.
Blessings,
Shiloh
March 30, 2010
Wow! Have you ever been completely humbled and totally blessed and encouraged at the same time? I've had that kind of experience the past couple of days, really the past couple of weeks. I feel like God is giving me so much more clarity and precision to the vision that I call Fellowship Project. Some of it has been very humbling as I see where I have really dropped the ball, and yet I can also see so much more clearly the direction I need to go and the steps I need to take to get there. In some ways it is kind of like the fog is lifting and I can see a bit further down the road. The danger in that is that I must stay focused on what is directly in front of me and not too far down the road. Anyway, I want to share a few prayer requests with you and let you know that a legitimate newsletter/update is coming soon. Thank you for your patience and your prayers. I hope that I can clearly communicate some of the excitement I have about what God is doing with His vision for me and my family and for Fellowship Project as a whole.
Blessings,
Shiloh
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