I'm so pumped about what God is doing within Overflow Collective (OC). If you've been out of the loop, OC is now a network of missional church communities (MCCs). (We define what MCCs are on our website: http://overflowcollective.org/#/churches-mccs) For us, our focus is on expanding the Kingdom much more so than building up our brand, Sunday services, etc, and we're trying to let our behaviors reflect this desire. Here's just a snapshot of what gets us excited...
We've been having more people connect and interact in our MCCs throughout the week than at our Sunday services. We're celebrating this!!!! While we'd welcome everyone to come on Sunday, this fact means we're reaching people who for whatever reason aren't interested in "church as usual." We've made a decision to prioritize biblical community over attendance at a service, and as a result, God's allowing us to connect with people that we wouldn't otherwise be able to reach.
We have two Knoxville based churches that are uniquely different from each other and are experiencing authentic, biblical church community around the mission of Jesus. Even though they share overall vision and DNA, the way they're expressing church life is unique to their culture of people and context. We celebrate the diversity that's happening!
In Kodak, TN, we're helping our first MCC form outside of Knoxville. This community is currently meeting in the restaurant at the Smokies' Stadium, and I can't wait to see how God continues to form this disciple-making community.
As we look into the 2nd half of 2013, we believe we're just getting started. We currently have 8 people involved in intense leadership development because we can see the potential for several more MCCs forming as we move into the fall and spring of 2014.
God's moving, and we're just trying to keep up. If you're a part of Overflow Collective in some capacity, I want to encourage you to continue following Jesus throughout your rhythms of life. He wants to work in and through your life to meet people where they are and move them forward with Him as you overflow your faith! If you're connected to another church but you pray over OC, please continue to pray that God grants us the necessary wisdom to stay in step with Him as we learn on the fly. If you have questions about what we're doing or maybe you're aren't connected to a church and would like to know more about OC, I'd love to have coffee or talk on the phone sometime. Feel free to email me: joshoverflowcollective@gmail.com
