CP Men,
I apologize for the candid video I threw together yesterday. Hopefully, this will help better explain the vision of this group.
PLEASE. Don’t forget to read this post below this one as well!! I hope to see you all Tuesday night!!
Click here to see this video larger on Vimeo!!
All For Him,
Trout-N-Ducks
Welcome guys. For those of you who don’t know me, or have not met me face to face yet, my name is Derek Murphy. A brief overview of who I am would look like this. I love God, family, and friends. I am an outdoor enthusiast and a construction manager by trade. I am a member of Cross Point Community Church and I am passionate about men’s ministry. To learn more about me, visit my blog at Blind & Stream.
Over the past year I have been praying for God to point me in a clear direction in being a leader to the men of Cross Point. In the wake of this quest, I have been studying the dynamics of our men and talking individually with the guys of the church about their concerns, their satisfactions, and their needs.
Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of the guys you see breaking the threshold on Sundays have one thing in common; “We need more opportunities to meet new men in the church.” Through, what I am certain is, the power of prayer, and in counseling with the small group pastors of the church, this small group is about to launch “The Outdoor Expeditions Men’s Network”.
What is a “Men’s Network”?
This network is a gathering place. A common ground. It is on online social network where our guys can go, day or night, to meet or get connected with other men in the church with similar interests. It is a fraternity in a sense, without the dues, rush, or hazing. The format of this network tool is very much the same as Facebook.
Is it a “Small Group”?
Ultimately, this network will be a very LARGE group, open and available to all men that attend Cross Point. However, this network DOES HAVE, and is centered around, this “Outdoor Expeditions” small group.
Is it private?? What are the prerequisites?
Yes, in a sense, it is private. The goal of this group is to provide an environment where Cross Point men can meet other Cross Point men, thus creating “authentic relationships” within the church and making the body of Christ stronger. The requirements to be a brother in this fraternity?…..Be a man. Attend Cross Point. Commit to investing time and effort to the other men of the group. And ultimately, recruiting more of our guys to join us.
When? Where? What?
The network itself should never rest. Men should be accountable to other men all of the time. If engaging in an activity, invite other men in the church with similar interests to join you. In other words, CREATE OPPORTUNITY .
The small group, however, will be every Tuesday night at 6:00 PM. Currently, we will be meeting at the Bordeaux Library meeting room (about 5 minutes from the church off of Briley Parkway). To kick things off, we will be reading and utilizing the book “Wild at Heart” as our guide for weekly discussions. There is no limit to how many men attend the Tuesday night meeting.
The format of this group is simple. Meet as a group. Socialize. Fellowship. Pray together. Divide into smaller groups. Open up and become accountable to other members of the group. The objective of this format is to be sitting with a different smaller group of guys each week, thus providing opportunity to meet and bond with different men in the church.
What do I have to do to join?
First. Pray. Please pray for this group and for the future members. God is always looking for ways to provide for each of us. Equally, God wants us to behave together as Christ following men. He wants us to grow together through accountability, “as iron sharpens iron”.
Second. Show up. Get involved. Think outside the box and create ways and opportunities for other members to get together and engage together.
Last. Attend the small group. This is where it all gets laid on the line. Allow God to help you in being supportive, arranging schedules, and opening up so that a guy that was a stranger yesterday….becomes a friend today.
KICK OFF!!!
We will have a kick off meeting to launch ths group this coming Tuesday, February 3rd, in the Cross Point cafe’ at 6:00PM. Please make every effort to attend. In the long run guys, we CAN make this happen….and it is all worth it. Please come and join us.
All for Him,
Derek
Outdoor Expeditions:
Well, the first quarter of this new small group is coming to an end. We have faced some challenges together over the past few months, but have had some great times as well. We have watched football games and rock bands together. We also experienced and prayed over two of our guys through bringing new life to the world. However the most important thing is that we have stuck together and survived through a very crucial inaugural period.
In going into this next term together we have some exiting things coming up. First of all is our study itself. We will be moving into an examination of our roles as men as we take a journey through the Wild at Heart study. 
Secondly, we are growing in number through contacts and sign-ups at the CP small group fair. Next, we have moved our meeting night and location to a time and place that is more convenient to the group as a whole. Finally, we are moving out of winter into spring, which will provide us with better weather and opportunity to get out as a group and enjoy the great outdoors and to get into the community and do the Lords work.
I am truly excited about where OE has been. I am even more exited about where we are going. I am most certainly looking forward to what this group can do together over the next few months as we challenge ourselves to become better Christians and better men. Please be praying for the Outdoor Expeditions group. Please invite your friends and try and get some guys involved in the study and activities over the next few months. I enjoy learning together and serving out Lord with each and every one of you guys. I will see you all Tuesday night.
Trout-n-Ducks
OE,
For Monday night, October 13th here are 3 things that you need to know:
1. Where exactly are we meeting?
2. What content are we going to review?
3. What is it that we are doing afterwards again?
CLARIFICATION:
1. Where are we meeting? Where is our new meeting place?
- We will be meeting at my office in the conference room, based on discussions with the group.
- I work at Solomon Builders. The address is 4539 Trousdale Drive, N’Ville, 37204.
- I-65 to Harding Place. Go East (away from Lipscomb). Pass Sidco Drive (where Cracker Barrel is) to the next stoplight, and get in left turn lane. This is Trousdale Drive. Turn left and go about 1/2 mile, through stop light, Solomon’s office on left hand side of Trousdale.
- We ARE still meeting up at 6:00 PM.
- Click on link here for printable directions from the church.
View Larger Map<BR
2. What content are we going to review?
- I will have a list of discussion questions from Chapters 1 & 2.
- If you have the book, please read these chapters. This will certainly help broaden discussions.
- If you don’t have the book, don’t worry about it. Come with an open mind and impromptu answers. This is also great for discussion.
- BRING A FRIEND WITH YOU!!
3. What is it that we are doing afterwards again?
- Vandelay Monday.
- For those that want to go hang out for extended fellowship we will be going to The Rutlege to hang out and watch The Vandelay’s play.
- We will do this once a month.
- This is a great opportunity to get to know one another better and to meet other people from Cross Point in a more relaxed environment.
- Cover charge is free to get in.
- For more information, see post below.
- BRING ANOTHER MAN WITH YOU!!
- Downtown off of 40. 410 4th Ave South (near Safe Haven)
- Click here for directions to The Rutledge from Solomon Builders.
View Larger Map
See you all tomorrow night!! BRING A FRIEND WITH YOU!!
Trout-n-Ducks
OE,
As I have stated, I want to create opportunities for this group to get out together. Find some extra curricular activities. In light of this, beginning this coming Monday, I am going to start Vandelay Monday once a month for those who want to participate.
As some of you may know, our worship leader at Cross Point (Jarred Morris) and a few of the musicians / singers (Miranda, Jason, and Jad) have a 90’s cover band called the Vandelay’s. If you have not seen them perform you are truly missing out. This group is very talented and they put on a great show.
So, one Monday night a month, I will designate as Vandelay Monday. We will have our regular group session and try to finish up around 8:00. For those that enjoy your Monday night out, and are not quite ready to go home, we will leave and meet up at the Rutledge (I will post directions later for you). The Vandelays start about 8:30. There is no cover charge and there are usually good drink and food specials.
This will be a great opportunity for futher bonding within the group. Plus, I am usually starving, so this is where I will eat. There is typically a good group of Cross Point people there as well. At the same time, we will be providing great support to our own Vandelay’s. Also, please feel free to have your significant other join us, as I will do from time to time.
Please leave feedback and let me know what you all think. I look forward to our next group session and to the opportunity to “hang out” with some of you guys afterwords. This is going to be good fun in a good environment. Please make plans to attend and help me in support of these guys.
You can check out The Vandelay’s here.
Trout-n-Ducks
OE,
This past Monday night we had our first meeting. Due to my lack of diligence in getting the start date out to you guys, we were pretty low in number. However, for the guys that were there, we had a great conversation about vision, and about men, and about what each of us was looking for in a small group.
This is my heart really desires. I want to see a group for men by men. I want the ideas, materials, conversations, discussions, and events to be contributed into and accepted by all of the members. Like I stated last week, this is not my website, it is our website. This is not my small group, it is your small group. That is where we are headed. In the mean time, we are going to have some meaningful growth together, while at the same time having some fun.
So. What is next???
We will be meeting again Monday night. For the sake of this being our first meeting, where all of us are anticipated to be in attendance, I am going to try and find a way to have our meeting at the church again. We may move our location the following week. Please keep tuned to your e-mail and to OE for updates.
Currently I am trying to call each of you individually to make sure I have all of your contact information correct and that you are receiving my e-mails. It would help me out a great deal if you responded or posted on the site at the bottom of this post and/or on the message board to let me know that you are getting the information that I am putting out there and letting me know that you will be attending Monday night. This would help me in tracking us all down and getting the group organized.
Finally, the literature. I have posted the information for the book in the sidebar. You can get this fairly cheap, in hardback or softback, from Amazon or Half.com. If you choose to get it at the bookstore, they only have it in hardback, and it is about $20. I was unaware of this price when I chose this book. Like I told the guys last week, look at it this way, you read it and give it to someone else to read or put it on a bookshelf. That way you have only spent $10 dollars for the book, and you boght someone a $10 gift or decoration for your library.
For Monday night, please get familiar with the book and read the first two chapters. This book reads very easy. If you have not read Ortberg before, he is a very illustrated writer, Even if you don’t like to read, you will like this. Challenge yourself guys. That is what we are here to do.
In Him,
Trout-N-Ducks
OE,
For those of you who were able to compensate their schedule and make it out last night, I am thankful for the time of fellowship that we shared. I will post here tonight and recap our meeting.
Until then, here is an issue that I need help with. We currently have 13-15 of us that could, and hopefully will, show up for Monday night meetings. In fact, our objective is for this number to grow. We would have no trouble fitting into the CP Cafe with this number. However, upon discussions with Ashley yesterday, the Cafe is booked two Monday nights a month, and frankly, I do not personally want to meet every other Wednesday. I love the routing of meeting together with your community each week. So, the question & the dilemma is, where can we meet?
We will have access and security issues with meeting in the sanctuary. I would love for someone to facilitate this group at their home, but it is really asking too much to facilitate more than 6-8 people. We could meet in a public location, i.e. Cracker Barrel, but it would probably be a bit too confined. The last place that I know of is at my office in my conference room, at 4549 Trousdale Drive (just off of I-65 and Harding Place).
So help me out here boys. Give me some ideas. Lets see what we can come up with, and then we will vote!! I love community. Let’s make this thing happen. Leave your thoughts and ideas on the comments space below. That is how a blog works!!
Later Guys,
Trout-N-Ducks
Guys. If you are reading this, you have read your e-mail from me and are tracking the group.
I am so excited about getting this group rolling. We had a full crew sign up for this startup session. That is awesome guys. I cannot wait to meet each of you. I apologize for getting the e-mail and information out so late.
So, if you have received your e-mail, a phone call, or are reading this page, we WILL be getting together tomorrow night, September 29th, at the church. We will meet in the Cross Point Cafe at 6:00PM. We will NOT be covering material. I would like to take a night to gather thought and ideas, and have a great time of fellowship for meeting one another.
As far as the curriculum goes, the information is on the front page. I am currently shopping to buy these books in soft back and in bulk to save everyone some money. Currently, the hardback version is about twenty bucks. I think I can get enough softback books for us for about twelve bucks each. If you want to go ahead and pick up a copy, please let me know.
Please take some time to browse around the blog. Pay special attention to the “Group Pages” on the top of the sidebar. Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions on the blog under “Message Board Page” on this site in lieu of having to e-mail me. This way, you can contact me anyplace that you have internet access. These messages WILL come to my e-mail and on my Blackberry.
Please read the “About Outdoor Expeditions” page and or the post below to get a feel for the direction I am taking us. Also notice that I have set up a prayer request page. If we are going to be accountable to one another, we will certainly support each other’s prayer needs.
Thanks for everything guys. We will see you tomorrow night.
Derek Murphy
A.K.A. Trout-N-Ducks
Welcome to Outdoor Expeditions, a small group community of Cross Point Community Church.
Webster defines ‘Expedition’ as “a journey undertaken for a specific purpose or objective”. As Christian men, our ultimate purpose or objective is heaven. Our time on earth is our journey. It is in this journey that we are petitioned to be great leaders, fathers, husbands, and disciples of Christ.
Outdoor Expeditions is a small group community, designed for men and outdoor enthusiasts, established to help us excel in our journey. We will achieve this together through open relationship and accountability.
My goal as the leader of this group is to develop and grow a Christian group of men who learn to grow strong together, over an undetermined perior of time, by learning to confide in and lean on one another. So where does the outdoor part come in?
As an avid outdoorsman, I have found that I can relate all that life has to throw at me to my experiences in the field. So do you have to be a hunter or a fisherman or a backpacker to join this community? Absolutely not. The prerequisite for this group is only that you are a man that is searching to grow in Christ.
However, if you love God’s natural creation. If you enjoy your time in nature, whether it be hunting, playing golf, or just walking through the woods, then this is the place for you. If you want to learn or participate in a particular outdoor activity, and have never gotten the opportunity, then this is the place for you. The outdoors is what I know. Illustrations of each of our relationships and experiences in the outdoors will be the foundation of our weekly discussions. In the end, I will organize camping, hunting, fishing, backpacking, and even volunteer missions trips for anyone that would like to participate. This group is designed to develop strong, outgoing, and energetic servants of Christ. The outdoors is just an incredible bonus!!
Derek Murphy
Outdoor Expeditions
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