Some Pictures from Raleigh for Y'all

Mr. Cangelosi checking on the Christmas roast.

Mrs. Cangelosi, Kendell and me :)

Christmas frenzy.

Ross and I at the NC Museum of Natural Science.

Willow Creek Community Church in the News

Willow Creek gets still more ambitious for Christmas (link)

BY ED FANSELOW
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, December 21, 2006

Christmas Party at the Stangers' ...After All the Cool People had Gone Home.

Go to Mama's blog to see more the festivities :)

What's Up?

Hi everybody! This December is living up to the month's reputation and keeping me good and busy!

Last week Ross and I went to his company Christmas party on the Spirit of Chicago. There was dancing and dinner and we even braved the cold to go stand out on the deck and watch the sky line go by.




This time of year is especially busy for the Stangers, with rehearsals for Christmas tagged on to their regular duties. Christmas at Willow is going to be pretty special this year, so, if you want to come and see what Steph and Mark have been working so hard to prepare for, click on the link below to get your free tickets!



Next week I ditch the Stangers to go to North Carolina with Ross for Christmas. We're leaving the 22nd and coming after the New Year. I'll get to meet the Cangelosis and, Ross promises me, sleep in as much as I want :P I can't wait! And when I come home Mally will be starting day care and I'll be looking for new work. Exciting times!

Willow Creek Community Church in the News

Giants in the Land
by Abram Book
Christianity Today, Leadership Journal.net

The pastors who gave us "purpose-driven" ministry and "seeker-oriented" services are leading their churches to take up new causes, campaigns that do not promise growth, at least not traditional church growth.

Rick Warren is championing the eradication of AIDS, illiteracy, and poverty in Africa, and Bill Hybels has named racial reconciliation as his next summit worth climbing. The question is, will their churches and the thousands of churches that take their cues from Saddleback and Willow Creek join the campaigns?

A skeptical observer of these developments suggested this article be titled "Boomer Pastors Get a Social Conscience," noting that concern for social issues was characteristic of his own generation since before they were named "busters." It is true that the prominent churches of the boomer-led era are known more for excellence in leadership, weekend services, and evangelism than for tackling social justice issues, but to attribute their leaders' recent elevation of social causes to the midlife need for significance and legacy seems a harsh judgment.

The megachurch pastors who have set trends in worship style and evangelism for three decades have done so out of concern for the lost people of their (and the subsequent) generation.

Their emphasis was in leading Christians to reach unchurched people in their surrounding communities effectively. Now, with their paradigm-shifting strategies ingrained on their local congregations and espoused by pastors in churches worldwide, these prominent leaders are turning their focus further outward.

They're shifting their efforts to people and issues that cannot be changed within the walls of their large auditoriums, or by cell group meetings in their church members' suburban living rooms, or through pilgrimages to summits at satellite host sites across North America.

The apostles of the contemporary church are moving out of Jerusalem and Judea, through despised Samaria, to address even larger issues worldwide. And they're inviting their purpose-driven and seeker-oriented disciples to follow.

Click here for the rest of the article.