Need a reason to come to CommonGround this Friday?

Ok...well, here are some Reasons you should be at commonground this Friday...

1.  Gathering with  other Kingdom minded women to worship the Living God.

2.  Have you heard?  Kara Spence is bringing the word!

3.  We're celebrating our 15th CG with 15, yes F I F T E E N  giveaways!

4.  We're collecting shower curtains, cleaning supplies, and bed pillows for Faith Recovery Center in Lincoln Park!

5.  Baby, its cold outside!  We've got a coffee and cocoa bar with your name on it!

6.  We're announcing our April Outreach, Project 327,  you won't want to miss this launch!

7.   You'll meet lots and lots of women from 30+ area churches!

8.  We miss your sweet faces!

9.   Amazing Afterparty!

10.  Rumor has it...CG Hoodies will be on sale!

Friday, January 25th 7pm -  We can't wait!
Connection Church
3855 Sheldon Rd
Canton, MI 48188

Kara Spence, speaker for Jan 25th CG event!

Happy New Year CGgirl!

TWENTY THIRTEEN is here and we have some fantastic news to share!   Kara Spence will be sharing the Word of God with us at our next event and we couldn't be more excited.   Kara is a dynamic voice in this generation and you will be encouraged and challenged to chase harder after Christ after listening to her.   Bring ears to hear! Kara has a passion for teenagers, if you  have any in your sphere of influence this is a great opportunity to invite them.    We want to fill this place next week!   You can read more about Kara below.

We'll be collecting items ( Bed Pillows, Shower Curtains and Cleaning Supplies) for the Faith Recovery Center in Lincoln Park that evening.   Along with the CG Worship Band, we'll have 15 giveaways in celebration of our 15th CG!,  and the fantastic after party will be in full swing with coffee/cocoa bar and appetizers galore!     See you at 7pm - Connection Church - 3855 Sheldon Rd  Canton, MI 48188

[caption id="attachment_803" align="aligncenter" width="228"] CGgirls Speaker Jan 2013[/caption]

Kara Spence is a full time student currently working on her Masters of Divinity in Theology with the goal of a PhD in Apologetics.  She is passionate about teenagers and has been a youth leader and mentor to teenage girls for the past decade.  Raised in both England and the US as well as gaining a 3 year Pastoral Leadership Diploma in Australia has a passion for travel and sharing the gospel to various cultures.  She is currently developing a program for teenagers to overcome their struggle with depression and plans to write theological books for teenagers to grasp the deep truth of the Word in a simple way in the near future.

Recap: April's Event - A M A Z I N G!

We are still glowing from all that God did in and through CGgirls at Friday Night's event.  Here are some highlights from Friday Night!

• Our spotlight focus was on Royal Family Kids Camp.   Amazing ministry for foster kids ... RFKC is a camp held each year for foster kids.  Crazy good stuff is going on through RFKC!    CGgirls collected 505 items for RFKC and really blew us away.   There were enough items to cover 5 years (Yep, FIVE years of camp!).    When the body of Christ works together something really wonderful happens, doesn't it?


• 150 women from 32 different churches gathered together at CG  and it was incredible to see so many new faces!  Really, really cool!  Thank you ladies for getting the word out about CGgirls!  Invite, Invite, Invite!


• We had four churches represented in our Worship Band -- Connection Church,  Trinity Church in Lansing,  Oak Pointe Church and Rivers of Living Water.   Isn't that fantastic?


• We announced a very special outreach focus for our July 27th event.   CGgirls will be partnering with Hope 4 Western Wayne County  -- a HUGE outreach happening on Saturday, August 18th in Westland.   H4WWC will be providing incredible outreach to 5000 people.   Stay tuned...more on the blog this week!


• We had 14 women sign up for the CGgirls:Inspire! Women's Leadership Network  that we are creating.  Very excited about this!  Leave a comment on this blog if you'd like to receive more info!


• Talk about a full circle moment...our PCL girls were in the front row on Friday night.  How stinkin' cool is that?!

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CGGirls: Roll Call!

 

Rollllll Callll.... on Friday Night, women from 29 different churches gathered together for a Girl's Night with a God Focus!

1. Detroit First Church
2. Pineview Church
3. Connection Church, Canton MI
4. Allen Park Nazarene Church,  Allen Park MI
5. Life Church, Canton MI
6. Metro South Church
7. Northridge Church, Plymouth MI
8. Rivers of Living Water, Taylor MI
9. St. Paul's Lutheran, Livonia MI
10. His House Christian Fellowship, Eastern Michigan University
11. WFM - Westland, MI
12. Huron Hills Church
13. Garden City Presbyterian, Garden City MI
14. Westland Free Methodist, Westland MI
15. Elevate/Frenchtown Missionary Baptist
16. Faith Baptist
17.  Downriver Christian Church
18. Northwest Christian Church
19. Calvary Baptist Church
20. Faith Baptist Church, Adrian MI
21. NCA
22. Parkside Church of Christ
23. Faith Assembly, Belleville MI
24. The Crossing, Farmington MI
25.  Downriver Church of God
26. Harvest Bible Chapel
27. Southpointe Church
28. Beacon Baptist
29.Cornerstone Christian Church,  Jackson MI

CG Girls, are you in it to win it?

Oh.....this is exciting!

Did you know that at each CG event, we have giveaways during the fantastic after party!  Please check out one of the giveaways that has been donated for the next commonground event on January 27, 2012:




Is that cool or what?  I am so excited to see which one of you wins this PINK camera and case!

I know you are yelling at the screen saying, "PICK ME! PICK ME!"  and I hear ya, I really hear ya.  :)

This is how you can really be in it to win it...

1.  Come to the event. (Yep, you need to be present to win your present!)

2.  Head straight to the giveaway table. (no pushing or shoving, please!) :)

3.  Fill out your form and place in the pink bucket. (Saying "HELLO" to Nora who runs that table is an okay thing, too!)

The greatest thing about doing CG is that all of you are in it to win it.   Finishing your race of faith -- strong!

Have an amazing weekend!

I saw the snow and immediately missed my flip flops.
Only a few more months until we are reunited!   :)

Roll Call! PS -- are you flickin' your B.I.C.? :)

CG Girls,  can you believe its been a week since CG Girls gathered together from these churches:

1. Milan Free Methodist


2. Rivers of Living Water


3. Connection Church


4. Metro South Church


5. Northridge Church


6. Grace Christian


7. Beacon Baptist - Taylor


8. St. Luke


9. Church of Jesus Christ


10. Monroe Vineyard


11. Calvary Baptist


12. EMU


13. Highland Park Baptist


14. Life Church - Canton


15. Calvary Baptist Church


16. Church of The King


17. St. Thomas A' Beckett


18. St. Francis


19. Dearborn Free Methodist Church


20. Faith Baptist


21. Harvest Bible Chapel


22. Elevate - Monroe


23. Huntington Woods Lutheran Church


24. SS Simon & St. Jude Westland


25. Bethany Bible Church


26. Dearborn Presbyterian


27. Neuburgh UMC


28. Hartford Church


29. Merriman Rd Baptist


30. Wyandotte Family Church

We said it that night and we'll say it again here...

Anyone who says unity in the body of Christ does not exist has not been to a CG event!   This is amazing...30 churches represented.    Look what God is doing!

CommonGround: Pregame

It's the day before CG, Girls!!!   The excitement is starting to build.

The exciting part is watching to see what will God do this time.  He is limitless!

We're doing our part....and that includes ...



Can you stand it?????????   :)

Tomorrow morning over 1000 gift tags will be on this pink beauty as we get the afterparty room together for quite a celebration!

Check out what the CG Girls over at Rivers of Living Water did this past week?   The kids at Camp Kesem are off to a great start!

Loved & Known by God? Yeah, thats some crazy love!

Good Monday Morning, Girls!

I can imagine that some of you are heading into work this morning,  or maybe figuring out what to do with your imalreadyboredwithsummerchild,   or maybe....you are planning to get your summer vacation on the books very soon!   Whatever you find your mind trying to handle this Monday morning I hope you take a few minutes to remember you are loved and known.  Loved and known by the most amazing God...the One who is the creator of all life.    Sometimes I ponder that thought and it absolutely leaves me speechless.   The Creator of all life knows me.   Like...really, really knows me.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.  MSG (Psalm 139:13-16)

Isn't the reality of that staggering?

Perhaps that's why Project Crazy Love is something that is never far from my mind these days.   As I sit in my office fingers pounding on this keyboard, I'm well aware that 14 girls just a few miles from here are loved and known by the same God who loves and knows me.   God loves us equally.    He knows their sin,  He knows my sin,  He knows your sin. 

Let's not kid ourselves, there is always full disclosure with God. 

And still....He loves.  He chooses to love us.   And He waits.  He waits for us to want to know Him.

Patiently, He waits for us.

We have an opportunity with our (can you believe it 10th CG!) October 21st event to adopt these 14 young women for Christmas.    We'll be bringing unwrapped gifts that evening to be given to them at a special surprise luncheon in December.

It all starts this Friday night at CG.  At the after party you'll find a 6ft pink Christmas Tree with close to 1000 gift tags on it.   Pick one, ten or twenty and bring those gifts back to the October event.   Big Shout out to the CG girls at Metro South and Rivers of Living Water Church - they are each taking the responsibility to get all the gifts for two of the girls!

Project Crazy Love is starting....are you ready?

Takin' it from the pews to the pavement!

We're still basking in the afterglow of such an amazing CommonGround gathering on Friday, October 15th.  If you were in attendance, you know what we're talking about it!  

It was A M A Z I N G !!

Our spotlight was "Meeting the Need Providing the Feed"  with the hope  to provide ODM Food Bank with a bunch of can goods to help with the holiday season coming up.  CommonGround Girls did not disappoint!   Many families were touched by the women of CG.   That is pretty sweet!

CG girls, if you are looking for a place to serve in our community this holiday season...please consider serving at Open Door Ministry in Canton, Michigan.  ODM provides a wonderful opportunity for you to serve on Thursday nights from 430pm - 8pm.  You can't go wrong with continuing the conversation that started at this CG.   

In the next few days, I'll be sharing with you about sister2sister project for January 2011.  If you have a heart for women who are far from God...you won't want to miss the next post!  Stay tuned !

Here are some highlights from the last CG: 

• 120 women gathered


• 20 different churches were represented (all time high for CG)


• 1056 items were collected to meet the need by providing the feed!

[caption id="attachment_338" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Steve & Jackie Darr fit all that food into their van! "][/caption]



(photo credits:  Autumn Thornsberry &  Kim Ryan)

project backpack

Happy Friday to our all commonground girls!  I hope you have some fantastic plans this weekend.  At the very least...get those pink toes outside and enjoy the sun (bring an umbrella, too!).

I was pretty excited today when I saw that we have our FIRST backpack donated for our outreach spotlight on July 16th.  Very, Very cool!    I have heard through the momsknowbest grapevine that after July 4th stores will have an abundant array for backpacks to choose from.