Retreat Open Thread

This is an open thread for anyone to comment about the retreat. What was it like? What did God teach you? What entertaining things happened while playing games and talking at 2AM?

Comments are open!

Maps to the Retreat

For those of you (like me) who are looking for a last-minute map to the retreat, here is a post from the past that will help:

2009 Retreat Financial Aid

In case you hadn't heard already, the annual Watershed retreat is almost here. It's a great chance to meet and deepen friendships with other Watershedders, but most importantly to go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Remember to register this Thursday!

If you're really excited about going, but bummed because the $20 registration fee is an issue, please don't let it be an issue. There is financial help available. Talk to any member of the leadership team (Steve, John, Bill, Sue, Mike, Joe, Amber, or Matt), and we'll make sure you're taken care of. We want you to be there, whether or not you have $20 to spare.

Watershed Retreat Registration!

The Watershed retreat is only a couple weeks away! The retreat will be Friday night, Jan 30th thru Saturday afternoon, Jan 31st. You will hear more details about the retreat at our weekly meetings, but I wanted to post a note here that we will begin accepting registrations this week (Jan 15th). The registration cost is $20. More info to come soon....

New Year's Day - Game Night!

In place of our regular worship gathering on January 1, Watershed will be meeting at New Covenant Bible Church for a game night to celebrate the new year. We'll be meeting in the Middle School room, which is down in the NCBC basement. Arrive anytime after 7:00pm and bring your favorite board games!

NCBC is located just behind Mike McGrath's on Center Point Rd. Park in the West lot and enter through the green door on the south side of the building. Go down the stairs and the Middle School room will be the second room on your left as you walk North.

We ask everyone coming to please bring a snack or drink to share.

We hope you can make it!

QUICK UPDATE: If the door happens to be locked when you arrive (sometimes the janitor does that, not knowing folks are downstairs), call Steve's cell and he'll come let you in: 350-9700.

Tonight's Gathering Cancelled - Dec 18

After careful consideration, we have decided to cancel tonight's worship gathering (Dec 18) due to the impending storm. I realize the storm hasn't hit us yet, but based on the radar and the prediction for ice/sleet, we feel that its better to err on the side of caution. We don't want to risk anyone getting in an accident trying to get to Watershed, or getting home afterward (by 9 we'll be in the thick of the storm). The area colleges have also cancelled their evening activities and we tend to follow them.

In addition, Karen McCaa our scheduled speaker was coming up from Iowa City and did not feel safe making the drive up and back with the icy conditions. So altogether we feel it is best to cancel tonight's gathering.

Stay safe and stay dry! And have a Merry Christmas!

This Thursday -- Open Mic Night

As a reminder, this Thursday's Watershed gathering will be Open Mic night. Be thinking about what you're thankful for in this Thanksgiving season, and plan to share some of your thoughts with the rest of the group.

Also, after Watershed we will have a social time with refreshments. See ya there. :-)

This Thursday - Last Park Night!

This week we will be meeting at Daniels Park for our Thursday gathering. Folks plan to be there by 5:30-ish, but show up whenever you'd like. Feel free to bring your own food to grill. We'll sing a few songs and have a brief devotional by Leah Romaneli at 7:30.

A map is in the following link. From H Ave NE, go north on Oakland Rd NE (Oakland is a one-way). Take the northmost (second) entrance into the park. We'll be at the upper pavilion.

http://tinyurl.com/67oy8w

Hope to see you all there!

-Steve

*Friday Update* Service Project: August 14th

Fri Update: About 10-15 people made it out to Springville and, somewhat surprisingly, we were able to do a good amount of cleaning and put a first coat on about half of the shed. We will need to put another coat on, as well as paint the other half. The plan is to meet at Maranatha at 8:30am on Saturday, and head out to Springville and work on it until it's done. If you're able to join us, that would be great. Thanks!

Thu Update: The radar is showing rain for this evening (Aug 14), but we're going to try our luck. We may not get to paint, but we'll do some more prep work at least (power-washing, etc). We may not stay as long as planned though, so if you were planning to come late you should still call Joe (431-9495) and see what's up.

Check back again tomorrow (Friday) to see if we'll be painting on Saturday!

Next Thursday (August 14th) is our next service project! This month, we're going to be going out to Chris Thompson's parents' house to do some painting and possibly housework. His parents are older and not in the best of health, so this is a good way to help them out and minister to them.

We will primarily be painting a shed, but before painting we'll need to power wash the shed to erase some chalky film deposit. In order allow as much time as possible, we'll be meeting at Maranatha at 5pm, however if you can't make it that early, you can meet us "on location" whenever you're available -- we'll be there till 8:30 or 9pm probably.

After it gets too dark to work (or when we get our task done), we will hang out for a while and enjoy some smores. :-)

Here's a link to directions from Maranatha Bible Church. And here's a satellite view of the yard -- the shed is the larger building northeast of the house.

Special Event: Guthridge Park

This Thursday is an unusual 5th Thursday of the month. In honor of this, we are going to have a special evening at the park. We're going to meet at Guthridge Park in Hiawatha at the "Red" Pavilion at 7:00. We will bring some usual games -- like frisbee and Mafia or board games in the pavilion. There may be special appearances of games related to bean bag toss or water balloons. If you have some other games, feel free to bring those as well.

As in previous events at parks, we will have the grill hot (at 7pm this time), so if you'd like to bring meat to grill (or other food) feel free.

We won't have a regular worship/devotional session on this particular evening -- it's just a casual time to hang out with friends and have some fun. Hope to see you there!

July Park: Bever Park

Our location for our meeting on Thursday, July 24 is Bever Park. We'll be at Bever Pavilion (click for a map). It's at the east entrance to the park. Come early to grill and chill, and our worship time will start at 7:30.

This Week - Meeting at Maranatha

Just a quick reminder that this Thursday is a "regular" worship gathering at Maranatha Bible Church. See you there!

Watershed Serving at Mission of Hope

As was announced last Thursday at Watershed, we will not have a normal Watershed meeting this Thursday, July 10th. Instead, the following Monday, July 14th, we will be preparing and serving a meal at Mission of Hope. Mission of Hope is serving meals twice a day for the community, focusing on those displaced by the recent flood.

We are in need of a number of volunteers to make this opportunity a success. Here are the options:

• Providing Food (bring food to Mission of Hope on Jul 14 or work out an arrangement with those preparing other food)
• Preparing Food (? - appx 6:30pm)
• Serving Food (5:15pm - appx 7:30pm)
• Cleanup (appx 7:00pm - appx 9:00pm)

If you have questions or would like to sign up contact Joe Clark, or leave a comment here.

Watershed at Palisades St Park

This Thursday, June 26th we will be having our Watershed gathering outside at Palisades-Kepler St Park. Feel free to come anytime after 6pm for food and fellowship and a chance to enjoy the great outdoors. There are grills at the park, but you will need to bring your own food/drink. Also feel free to bring a frisbee or a ball to kick or throw around. We will start a time of worship at 7:30. We will also have a fire and smores afterwards so plan to stick around. If you came out to Palisades last year, you'll remember how much fun it was. You don't want to miss out!

Here is a map showing how to get to the park, which is off US 30 going east toward Mt Vernon. Here is a map of the park. We have reserved Shelter #1. 

Helping Mission of Hope Flood Relief Center

We as the Watershed community have the opportunity to come alongside and help the Mission of Hope organization as they minister to the flood victims in the area. They have opened their doors as a relief center. We will be collecting food and supply donations at our Watershed gatherings for the next several weeks (see list below).

They can use our help in several different ways:

Prayer. Pray not only for the people affected by the flood, but also for the staff serving them...that they may remain able and faithful servants to our King

Food. They/we will be serving at least two meals per day (currently planning on lunch and dinner), and also are giving a bag of non-perishable food items away.

Supplies.

Biggest Needs:

• men's underwear
• men's clothing, esp larger sizes
• white socks
• jeans
• shorts
• toilet paper
• paper towels
• towels

Other Needs:

• clothing
• toiletries/hygeine products
• cleaning supplie

Time. They will need volunteers to work in the kitchen, food pantry, provide transport, sort and distribute clothing, provide prayer and counseling, answer phones, make calls/recruit, etc. A special need right now is nightly cleanup from 9pm - midnight.

To sign up to volunteer, call Cathy or Pastor Ron at New Beginnings Church Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4:30 pm at (319)294-5393, or email at newbeginningschurch2002@hotmail.com

July's Park - Bever Park

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have updated the Summer Schedule to reflect that we now have a park reserved for the 4th Thursday in July. We'll be gathering at Bever Park in the Bever Pavilion.

Also, we are investigating whether the floods have caused problems at Palisades Kepler State Park where we are scheduled to gather on June 26th. Be watching this blog for updated information. As of right now, we are planning on still going to Palisades.

Saturday Serving Project Update

As you may have guessed, the rain and flooding has forced us to cancel the painting project schedule for this Saturday. However, we are planning to do flood relief work instead, so we will still meet at Maranatha at 8:30 am. We will have details for you then. Since circumstances are changing rapidly it is hard to plan very far in advance.

If you are unable to make it to Maranatha tomorrow morning but are still interested in meeting us somewhere to help, or if you have any other questions, please give John a call @ 319.431.0083.

Serving those affected by flooding

I'm at work downtown, and we're putting our disaster recovery plan into action with some temporary work locations. And for people that just work downtown, that's fine.

But people who live near downtown, or in other areas affected by the flooding river, need help. Serve the City has a page dedicated to emergency flood assistance. I think they are coordinating with Linn County Emergency Management. It sounds like the needs are constantly changing, so check the emergency flood assistance page and call in.

Also, check Erin's post below or the various news outlets (KCRG, Gazette, etc) for more ways to serve.

Another serving opportunity - Sandbagging

Since this is a "serving" week in the summer schedule, this seems appropriate to post...

Want to help your community and neighbors?  Make sandbags!  They are doing them 24 hrs. a day all week.  For more info (like where to go), see to KCRG's website.

No Watershed on Thurs (June 12), Service Project on Sat (June 14)

We will not be gathering this Thursday (June 12th) but will be having a service project on Saturday the 14th instead. We will meet at Maranatha Bible Church at 8:30am to receive instructions and then drive to our location, and work til 4pm.

We are partnering with an organization called Brighten and several area churches to help paint and repair the outside of several homes in the Wellington Heights neighborhood. We will specifically be scraping and painting the 2nd story of one home. We will be working on ladders and scaffolding, but for those who aren't a big fan of heights, we will have work on lower levels for you as well. All you need to bring is some old clothes that you don't mind getting dirty and stained with paint. All the other stuff we need will be supplied to us. I've been told the old paint we are scraping off is lead-based, so I will provide some face masks for us to use.

We hope to see as many of you out there as possible, so please consider serving the people in our community alongside other young adults.