Happy Spring! Can you believe it is April?
There is so much going on with MOPS International, our Area 20 (AL, GA, LA & MS) Communities, your MOPS Leadership Teams & groups and your families. Your Area 20 MOPS Volunteer Staff (MVS) Coach Team has been busy too! In February and March we welcomed two Ministry Coaches, Ashley Barnes and Ashley Bumgardner onto our Team. We also said good-bye to our Special Projects MVS, Janalyn Pomeroy, who moved to New York and Tasha Frizzell, Ministry Coach retired.
Every month we have new groups added to our Communities and for at least one year, those groups are coached by MOPS Staff, Group Care Specialists located working out of Denver. When those groups are ready, they transition to one of our local Coaches.
Each month, every identified MOPS Leader in an Active MOPS group will receive this Area 20 Monthly Update. Please remember to REGISTER all your leaders and identify them on your MOPS Group Management page.
If you need help updating, first go to the Tour page and read through the information: http://www.mopsvolunteers.org/groupmanagement/tour/
If you need further assistance after walking through that information, contact your Coach. Aren’t sure who is your Group’s Coach? She is identified for you on your Group Management page.
We look forward to connecting with your group with this update and we will also be contacting the Coordinator of your Leadership Team each month. All leaders are encouraged to contact your Coach anytime you have a concern or question.
We would like to invite all leaders to join our Area 20 MOPS Leaders Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/Area20MOPS/
The structure of our Monthly Update will include a brief word of encouragement or inspiration from an Area 20 MVS Coach, followed by our Area 20 News, MOPS International Announcements, Prayers & Praises, and a Community Report. If you ever have prayers or praises that you would like to share with MOPS Leaders in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana & Mississippi, please send them to your Coach.
Area 20 News
Join us for a local Come Alive Training Event! This time is meant for YOU, yes, YOU and your Leadership Team – everyone on the team including DGLs and Mentors - and potential leaders. Build in your Leadership Team’s Retreat time.
In Mark 5, Jesus tells us about two different women with two different backgrounds, but with one thing in common – when they met Jesus, they were transformed, restored and made whole. That’s what Jesus does. When he steps into the story, everything he touches moves from death to life.
Join us for an Event listed (or talk to your Coach about a location near you) as we explore what coming alive looks like for ourselves and embrace the influence we have in the lives of others – because when we share our story, we introduce Jesus into the life of a woman, giving her the chance to come alive!
You’ll also have the chance to share ideas, ask questions, and consider your own influence.
Some Can't Miss Features of a LIVE local Event:
• Door Prizes! Fun!
• Encouragement for you as a leader
• An opportunity to explore what coming alive looks like for yourself • Meet your MOPS Volunteer Staff • A chance to be equipped to help others embrace thier influence and introduce Jesus into the life of a woman • Enjoy your lunch while discussing what our speakers: Mandy Arioto, Hank Fortener, Ed Ollie, Jared Mackey shared on the DVD • Network with other leaders • Brainstorm ideas for next year's theme
Register for the Fortified Hills Baptist Church in Dallas GA on April 30th Event here:
https://mopsarea20comealiveleadershiptraining.eventbrite.com
Register for the McEachern Memorial Methodist in Powder Springs GA on May 14th Event here: https://www.mops.org/evt/?eventId=978
Register for the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL on May 14th Event here: http://www.mops.org/evt/?eventId=977
MOPS International Announcements
Do you have a picky eater? Do your kids have trouble sitting through mealtime? Join MOPS, Twiniversity, Healthy Child Healthy World, FIT4MOM, Big City Moms and Happy Family for a FREE webinar on April 7 from 1-2pm ET called: "Mealtime Success: Setting Up A Positive Eating Environment" with Amy Marlow, MPH, RD, CDN and the Happy Family Nutrition Advisor! Register today: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5330426147208318467
2016-17 MOPS International Theme – We Are the Starry Eyed
Sometimes we think we have to pick one, when in reality it is always both. Light and dark, hope and fear, kindness and risk, wonder and mundane. This is evidenced by the fact that we are people who are meant to live by both sunlight and moonlight. Our natural rhythms revolve around the circling of sun and moon. Yet often our tendency is to cling to one, the one that is more comfortable, forgetting that our fullest living comes when we embrace the swirly mix. Starry Eyed means looking for the light even when darkness is enveloping. It is an opportunity to hope recklessly and to witness God’s presence guiding things seen and unseen, comfortable and uncomfortable. When we reflect back over our lives, this year is going to stand out. It will be the year that we decided to live fully by both sunlight and moonlight. Because audacity is rising in the deepest and wildest parts of our souls. And the best part is, we will experience it all together. So the question becomes, When was the last time you felt fully alive? The last time you were so swept up with wonder that it took your breath away? That kindness made you feel powerful? Or audacious hope unraveled fear?
This is the year to experience all of it. Because We Are the Starry Eyed. And Starry Eyed means…
WONDER
Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it… Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. – Jeremiah 33:2-3 Life has a way of draining the wonder out of us. We get betrayed, lose something or someone, opportunities don’t pan out, we miss a year’s worth of sleep, and slowly a layer of hardness develops. We become just a little bit more cynical and a little more worn out, completely forgetting how to be astonished. Wonder is wide-eyed. It is primal and unexpected. Wonder washes away any trace of stagnancy or hesitancy, any desire to numb the day away. It is a nod to the fact that life is wilder, weirder and more profound than we are comfortable with, and that is thrilling. So, this year we will search out wonder like our lives depend on it. Because they do. We will stand under a sky full of stars and become overcome by the vastness of the universe, we will stay up too late laughing with friends, a sunrise will take our breath away, and we will go out of our way to be moved.
Wonder will bring us home to ourselves. We choose wonder. Because We Are the Starry Eyed.
HOPE
Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. – Psalm 139:12 We live on the edge of a dirt sphere hurling through the universe at 67,000 mph and we can’t help but question how we got here and what it all means. Sometimes it is a heartbreaking mess, isn’t it? But then there are those moments when it’s something else, something good, something that matters, something more. We’re made of bone, water and dust which remind us of our connectedness to the universe; but we are also made of Spirit, an intangible spark that is bursting with questions while simultaneously insisting that there’s a point to all this breathing and being. This is hope: the belief that it all matters. Hope is mysterious and surprising, obstinate and reckless. It is convinced that light is ahead of us and the path will unfold as we take our next step. Hope is the awareness that there is always more to the story and that every sunset
brings an opportunity to marvel at a sunrise.
We choose hope. Because We Are the Starry Eyed.
KINDNESS
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. – Genesis 1:1-5 (NASB) We can’t sit by and idly suggest that something is not right but do nothing to offer solutions. We are responsible for one another. The pain of the world echoes in our depths, telling us that something must be done, but what? When the task of changing the world feels overwhelming, perhaps all we need to do is make a ripple. One small ripple can cause wars to cease, hope to be restored and gaping heart-wounds to heal. This year we invoke a movement of kindness. Letters will litter the globe, tucked between slats of wood at the playground, left on a subway seat, slipped under the tattered mat of a shanty in Guatemala. The words we breathe over strangers in the form of handwriting and paper will birth ripples of kindness throughout the world. Because we are not powerless. We choose to live fully in all gradations of illumination. The stars beckon us toward dawn even when the night is dark. We do the same. We are no longer spectators wishing for change, we are participants bringing warmth and light. We choose kindness. Because We Are the Starry Eyed. Starry Eyed is… Seeing the light in the darkness and choosing to live courageously in both. It is opening our eyes to wonder and choosing hope over fear. Starry Eyed is significant acts of kindness that send ripples of light into the world. It is a choice to live fully and wholly and to breathe our way back to life. If you feel anxious and don’t know why … If you are busy and distracted from the things you truly care about … If you are restless for an unexpected encounter with God … If you long to feel alive, to regain a sense of wonder, to hope a little freer and to be a powerful force of kindness in the world, then we’d love for you to join us in becoming Starry Eyed. This year we will run wildly toward wonder, hope and kindness because We Are the Starry Eyed and we choose to see the light.
If you would like a theme-specific membership form, postcard to invite moms & a one-page summary of the theme, contact your Coach. She can send you these invaluable materials.
Guess what time it is?? It’s MOPS group renewal time!
It’s one of our favorite times of the entire year because we get to send you super fun things via snail mail. This year, we have filled your Group Experience Kits to the brim with lots and lots of goodies.
When you break open that box you’ll see:
• Becoming Starry Eyed: Practices to Cultivate Wonder, Hope and Kindness Guidebook
• 17 Video Stories centered around the theme concepts of Wonder, Hope and Kindness
• 10 complete meeting plans • 10 Leader training video segments
• Access to MOPS Group Management
• Kids Curriculum from What’s in the Bible? & Sing n’ Sprout
• A sample Membership Kit
• Oh, and tons and tons of other surprises along the way
Can we just say, we might have outdone ourselves this time!
The best part is, when you renew your group, you get all of this, plus the satisfaction of knowing that you’re going to make A LOT of moms super happy for just $159!
When you renew your MOPS group in April, you get some amazing perks:
• You’re first in line to get your kits when they start to ship out in May (think of this as the VIP treatment). • You’ll get $2 off the regular price on registration for your moms, making their membership just $22.95.
ALSO, when you register 10 moms, you’ll get one membership for free (because who doesn’t love free stuff?).
• Plus, when you renew your group in April you’ll get one free (you heard us right, FREE) membership that can be redeemed anytime before June 30th, 2016. So, the question is, how excited are you to renew your group?
Hopefully just as excited as we are to have you as a part of our MOPS family! For even more information visit mops.org/renewal.
MOMcon
Are you and your Leadership Team going to MOMcon?? We are and we hope to see you there!
Go to http://www.mops.org/momcon-2016/ for more details and registration.
MOPS International Leadership Conference – runs September 29 – October 1, 2016 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Prayers & Praises
Praises for all the MOPS Leaders that participated in our Area 20 MOPS Leaders Facebook Page Party! Your thoughtful questions, inspirational stories, and active participation encouraged and equipped us all.
Pray for our Area 20 MOPS Leaders as they prepare for the end of MOPS year, transition their team, and begin the renewal process.
Pray for our Area 20 MVS Team as we prepare for our Come Alive Events, welcome our new Coaches, and hope that more MOPS Leaders will answer God’s call to be a part of our team.
