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Gavin Duerson

husband. dad. simple church alliance. inside joke music.

Summer Updates (in Photos)

Summer Updates It’s hard to believe that we are about to turn the page on yet another summer!  I wanted to take a few seconds and share some byte-sized updates from simple church happenings.  Thank you for having covered many of these opportunities with prayer. University of Kentucky Simple Church Training         Zumé Project – Kentucky   Summer Celebration Gathering       Water Blast Camp     Awaken Conference in Paintsville, KY     Regional Gathering with Gospel Fellowships       Simple Church Conference Coming Up! Golf Church Finally… What is going on in your neck of the woods?  We would love to hear about what God is doing in your life and in your simple church!  How can we pray for you?  Any news to pass along?  Let us continue… Read More »Summer Updates (in Photos)

Summer Network Gathering – July 30

  July 30th, we will return to the Wheeler’s Farm for a network wide summer gathering.  Worship, Prayer, Fellowship, Picnic, Fishing? Rock Skipping? Playing in the creek? The possibilities are endless.  We even hope to celebrate baptisms! Simple Church Summer Network Gathering Saturday July 30, 6-9PM Music By Gideon Maki What To Bring: Your Own Picnic Dinner (Food, Drinks, utensils, etc.) Chairs/Blanket Water shoes (if you want to get into the creek) Everyone in your simple church community! flashlight A Friend (or two or three) A Song or Encouraging Testimony To Share? (optional)   Baptism:  Would you like to take part in believer’s baptism?  Do you have a friend or a child that might like to profess their faith in Christ by being baptized?  This will be a great opportunity for you or a friend to take… Read More »Summer Network Gathering – July 30

Church By A Big Tree

God is giving birth to a simple church composed of folks who originally connected through an “ultimate frisbee” team.  I met Lynnette Malott and her family a week ago when visiting this neat new community of Jesus followers.  Today she posted to her Facebook page the comments below.  I asked her if I could repost here.  — One year in Kentucky today. We moved out here to be part of a church plant, but tonight we did church by a big tree in the park with a group of entirely different people. One of the women that I had just met said to me last week that our church plant didn’t fail, it just ended up looking differently than we thought it would. What a great perspective. Yes, we moved out here to plant Renovation Church ,… Read More »Church By A Big Tree

New Podcasts Up!

Hello friends! We have several new podcasts up at keepitsimplepodcast.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes at this link as well. It’s been awhile since I’ve updated the links, so you may remember that beginning with Episode 65, Tom and I re-launched the podcast with the idea of starting from scratch and re-introducing the “Who?” “What?” “When?” “Where?” “Why?” and “How?” questions surrounding simple/organic church. Episode 75 “Who Can Baptize Others in The Simple Church?” was just released. You can check out all the new episodes and the old ones at our website.  If you feel so inclined, I review on iTunes apparently helps the podcast come up more often in searches. Thanks for listening!  I pray it encourages you along the journey and provides good food for thought and discussion!  

What are you willing to do to spread the word?

What are you willing to do to spread the word about Jesus?  If God asked you to do something hard and that would take over three years to complete would you be willing to see it through?  These are a few of the question that I left the theater last Tuesday night asking myself after the premiere of Seek First. Seek First is a skate video that was made by members of the simple church in Lexington known as “Skate Church.”  I won’t go into all the details here mostly because the Lexington Herald Leader did a great job on sharing the vision for the video in last Saturday’s paper (read here).  The short version is that God spoke to Josh Roberts several years ago and told Him to make a skate video that would share… Read More »What are you willing to do to spread the word?

Seek First Video Premiere / June 21

The folks from the Skate Church are premiering “Seek First” on June 21st at the Kentucky Theater.  Seek First is a skate video documentary featuring some of their best tricks over the last three years and also features the faith stories of Jonathan Wilson, Josh Roberts, Gideon Maki, and Sam Mullins. June 21 – 9:00PM Kentucky Theater, Downtown Lexington  214 E Main St, Lexington, KY 40507 Admission is Free! From the www.seekfirstvideo.com website: Over three years ago, Josh Roberts sensed that God was leading him to make a skate video that would share the message of hope and forgiveness through Jesus that he had recently experienced.  As Josh expressed his desire to make a video, God began bringing a host of people to the table to support this project.  What is more, as Josh began filming… Read More »Seek First Video Premiere / June 21

Zumé Project Overview

The Zumé Project Small Tools for BIG IMPACT in the Kingdom Below is the Zumé Project overview.  I would ask that you pray about your involvement in this project.  Most of all, please pray that the Holy Spirit leads it!  Essentially, it is the same project of Simple Church Alliance as from the beginning we have been led to “multiply disciples and simple churches, starting in Central Kentucky and extending to the ends of the earth.”  The best way to think of Zumé is a tool that I believe God is going to use to help achieve this vision He has given us. I will be expanding on this outline in the weeks to come, but for now here is the overview…   Download this overview in a pdf file. (feel free to share) Download the “Kentucky” overview… Read More »Zumé Project Overview

From Bluegrass To The Middle East

From the Bluegrass to the Middle East One of the most fascinating aspects of “simple” church is the desire to build up disciples that are full of passion for God’s glory. Simple church provides a community and space where all believers are equipped with the tools necessary to question and understand the Bible, seek truth by the Spirit and share with others who they know Jesus to be. Before too long, the simple church multiplies out of itself, and where there was one church before, now there are three or four that takes the former’s place! My experience with a simple church with University classmates has matched up with this line of thinking. Over the last three years, we have grown so much and God has prepared us for a lifestyle of Christ wherever we… Read More »From Bluegrass To The Middle East

Zumé Project Preview

UPDATE: Join Gavin and Forrest Head, with BigLife@Home for a Google Hangout on Wednesday June 1st at 8PM to learn more about the Zumé Project and pray for our nation.  Details HERE.  Over the last several months people from around the country have been coming together from various denominations and even types of churches to pray for and consider the common purpose of multiplying disciples, and yes, simple churches across the nation under the banner of the Zumé Project.  The Zumé Project (see video below) is an approach to fulfilling the Great Commission in North America by helping to establish disciple making groups or simple churches in every census tract (geographic block of 10,000 people) in the country.  The Zumé Project, when launched in August, will offer an online tool that will allow anyone to have free self-guided online training and… Read More »Zumé Project Preview

Podcast: When You Come Together Part 1 & 2

Keep it Simple Podcast #68 – When You Come Together Part 1 Keep it Simple Podcast #69 – When You Come together Part 2 We have talked about “being” church in recent episodes. Today, Gavin and Tom explore “doing” church in a simple context. What happens when a simple church gathers each week? What goes on at a simple church meeting? What does a simple church do on the other six days of the week? Starting a few podcasts back, we “rebooted” the podcast and essentially started over!  To follow along with our new “season” of sorts, check out Podcast #65 and follow along!  You can download All Podcasts at www.keepitsimplepodcast.com or subscribe on iTunes!  It’s also really helpful if you review the podcast on iTunes and rate it!  Thanks ! Part 1 Part 2