Introducing Awaken Orlando
As many of my readers know, I have a passion for church planting in addition to my “day job” as Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. This past July, my team (God has raised up an incredible group of leaders around a vision for a missional church) launched Awaken Orlando.
Our web site is coming soon, but I wanted to put out a draft of some of the copy for feedback. I have been influenced heavily by my friend Alex McManus as well as his brother Erwin’s book An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind. Awaken Orlando shares the essential core values of Mosaic.
If you are in the Orlando, Florida (United States) area, we would love to have you as a guest or partner in our venture to “ignite humanity one dreamer at a time.” We meet for worship Sundays 10:45 AM at 1665 N. Chickasaw Trail (Orlando, FL 32825).
Vision:
Awaken Orlando is a missional community that seeks to embody and reflect God’s character to and for the world. We seek to serve as a catalytic movement that will “ignite humanity one dreamer at a time.â€
Values:
Awaken Orlando Wesleyan Church seeks to live out its vision for our community of faith around five core values:
Wind (Commission)
Mission is the reason that the Church exists.
Mission is the heartbeat of the Christ following movement. Followers of Jesus Christ are unleashed upon conversion to serve as part of God’s mission to bring restoration, hope, and wholeness to Creation. This is rooted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we follow our crucified and risen Lord into the world to serve as voices of hope.
Water (Community)
Love is the context of all mission.
Christians are to be known by love. Period. Love stands at the core of God’s character and is to be the defining mark of Jesus’ followers. Community is more than a buzzword. Human beings were created to live in authentic relationships with one another. Love is the basis for community and serves as the essential ingredient of mission.
Wood (Connection)
Structure must always submit to Spirit.
All people are created in the image of God. All people are intrinsically valuable and crafted by God with gifts, talents, and passions. Our community must always be on the lookout for the treasure found in the new people whom God guides to our community. As Jesus’ visible body on earth, we must always submit our agendas and structures for a total makeover by God as we seek to invite and unleash women and men to live freely as the people whom God created them to be.
Fire (Consumed)
Relevance to culture is not optional.
Jesus Christ was the most relevant and incredible person who has ever walked the earth. As Son of God, he took on human flesh to show us what it means to be a human being. Following Jesus then ought to make the community of faith the most relevant movement on earth. We are not interested in mimicking culture, but in creating culture. We engage contemporary culture in order to reach men and women who are desperate for the true life that is found only through relationship with God.
Earth (Creativity)
Personal transformation is the natural result of encountering God.
Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ propels us into a radically new life. Through the Spirit, God reshapes us and releases us to begin to live as the people whom God created us to be. Each person in our community of faith has a profound contribution to make to the whole. This is a dynamic life in which God unleashes our gifts, talents, and passions to be used for the good of all Creation. Following Jesus Christ is the only way to live the life of God’s dreams. We aim to help persons to grow and live into the reality of New Creation that comes through following Jesus.
© 2007 Brian D. Russell
Hi Brian,
That sounds amazing. I will be having fun seeing how Awaken Orlando grows and ignites those dreamers - cool stuff.
See you in Feb, happy new year!
Please quell my uneasiness… those symbols look awful “new-age-y” to me.
I enjoy your writing, and I think your Theology is on target, but there’s just “something” a little unsettling about your icons and their titles.
Please know that I am not being critical, just concerned.
Betty
Hi Tony,
I look forward to seeing you in February as well.
Peace,
Brian
Hi Betty,
Thank you for your question.
Awaken Orlando is about reaching non-believers with the Gospel. We use creativity as represented in the art symbols (these are small parts of larger banners) to represent the unleashing of a person’s gifts, talents, and passions through Conversion and New Birth.
The symbols are rooted in biblical metaphor: Wind = moving of the Spirit, Wood = grafting of new persons into the Vine, Earth = potter (God) shaping the believer into a new vessel, Fire = a symbol of God’s powerful presence throughout Scripture. Water clearly evokes baptismal images, but moreover its imagery of being immersed and surround by water is a powerful metaphor for authentic community..
I preach the Bible unapologetically, but I will say that I try to avoid “insider” talk in favor of language that invites “outsiders” to experience salvation through faith in Jesus Christ so that God can fill them with the Spirit and unleash women and men back into the world to participate actively in God’s mission.
I appreciate the questions very much Betty, and am curious what you or others think of my response.
Peace,
Brian
Brian,
I think that the elemental nature that illustrates your vision communicates very well to the world. I like the choice. Some how, as basic as these elements are, this is an innovative concept. Funny, huh?
I am proud to know that this is happening in our kingdom.
“I am proud to know that this is happening in our kingdom.”
Meaning, “I am proud to know that this is happing in the kingdom”
Thanks, dude.
Thank you Brian. I do recognize those elements in the scripures, I just wanted to make sure of the reasons for using them.
I am a craft/artist, and deal with an awful lot of unbelievers, agnostics, and outright athiests. Most of these folks describe themselves as “spiritual” which can mean anything, as none of them believe that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I can see how they would embrace these symbols and just might open the door to dialogue.
I can also see where one would need to be careful in using them as well.
Thank you for your time in replying. I really appreciate it.
betty
Betty,
Awaken Orlando is particularly interested in reaching artists and high creatives. This is part of our strategic vision in using these symbols. The key for us is for the symbols to have a real tangible reality behind them.
[...] Mission is the reason that the Church exists. This is the first of our core values at Awaken Orlando. [...]
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We visited Awaken Orlando when we were in Orlando for the Wesleyan Chaplains and spouses retreat. Please send me the address so we can make a monthly monatary donation to this ministry. Thanks and may God richly bless you!!
Dianna,
did you get my enote?
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[...] am using the StrengthsFinder as a growth tool for our leadership team at Awaken Orlando. Longterm I hope to implement it as part of our overall leadership development program for our [...]