IF Gathering 2021

Opening Remarks

Hello everyone and welcome out to If Gathering 2021 here at The Outpost Church. For anyone who I don’t already know, my name is Danielle Wood and I will be your host this weekend along with Renee Hubbard and Kristi Carney (will you ladies stand up and wave hello)? If you need anything throughout the weekend, catch one of us and between the three of us, we should be able to point you in the right direction.

Thank you all so very much for joining us this weekend. Just you being here has already made this so very special.

Before we really get things kicked off, I wanted to cover a couple of logistics things.

Point out the bathrooms...

We are also trying to adhere to all local and state COVID guidelines for your safety as well as the safety of the families and children that will be gathering here this upcoming Sunday for our weekly gathering. So if you could help us by wearing your mask whenever you are in the building (with the exception of when we are eating) that will be very helpful. We have snacks and coffee at the back tables. Feel free to take as much of that as you want but please only touch what you are planning to take.

We are super blessed to be partnering with The Shiplap Shop and Coffee House next door for coffee and donuts in the morning as well as some of our prizes we will be giving away this weekend. If you would reach into your bag and pull out the little card that looks like this (hold up the coffee order card). At this time we are going to have you fill out your coffee order so we can have your coffee here in the morning when you arrive. I’m going to put up the Menu on our screen now and give you a few seconds to fill out this card.

Give a 30 seconds to 1 minute for them to fill out the card.

Shiplap Slide will be up on screen

Alright, just set that aside for a second and we will collect them here in a moment.

We are also blessed to be partnering with The Masonry Cafe across the street for our lunches tomorrow. Since there are ____ # of us here though, we also need to get that order placed tonight so they’ve got plenty of time to have our lunches ready for tomorrow. If you could reach back into your bag and pull out the paper that looks like this (hold up the lunch order form).

There are nine different options to choose from on the lunch menu. They are really good about allergies dietary restrictions and just about anything on that list can be made gluten free or vegetarian. If you could take a few seconds and fill that out, making sure to write legibly so all of our orders are correct we will come around in just a second to collect those.

Give about 30 seconds to 1 minute for them to fill that out and then have Renee and Kristi go around and collect all of the coffee and lunch order forms. Have them bring them to me up front so I (Devin) can immediately run them across the street.

We wanted to ensure that cost was not a barrier for anyone who wanted to attend this weekend’s IF event but the reality is that these events are pricey to put on…especially for a new church plant lol. We stand by the commitment to make this a free event for anyone who needs it to be. We also want to be transparent and give anyone a chance who may want to to give as you feel led. Our cost comes out to about $25 per person. Feel free to give as you feel led in the brown box hanging on the back wall or to even sponsor someone else if you want to but we want you to feel no pressure at all in this.

Ok. I think that is all of the announcements we had before getting started.

We are so excited to be able to host If Gathering this year and are excited for this to be a recurring thing here at The Outpost Church. We have been preparing and praying for this event for several weeks now.

And, this weekend, we invite you to come as you are. Weary…discouraged…lonely…empty…seeking…suffering…ashamed…afraid…sick…or maybe free…hopeful…expectant. We came together this weekend because we want to be reminded that: God’s kingdom is coming. We want His will to be done on this earth as it is in heaven and our heart and prayer is that “on earth as it is in heaven” starts with us. And we would stop wondering if it is possible to change the world. IT IS POSSIBLE!

This year, at If:Gathering 2021, we are going to talk about how we do that. The theme of these two days is going to be “Even If.” Even if the worst happens, we don’t lose hope. No, in fact, we have a job to do. And we need each other to do it.

Just like this group here, there are women gathered virtually all over the world. In fact, there are over 5,000 events in 56 countries. You’ll hear from men and women in other countries, other generations, other denominations, other demographics, gathering in the name of Jesus this weekend. Only God could accomplish this, and you are an important part. We are grateful you are here, and we pray that God would use us to cause an awakening in each of our corners of the world. We pray that this gathering is a spark towards the work that God wants to do in our generation to make disciples who make disciples to the ends of the earth.

Here is a bit of a disclaimer and perhaps a bit of expectation management for this weekend. What we know we can expect is that technology isn’t going to work perfectly. There may be moments where it’s awkward…the video might buffer, skip, or heaven forbid, completely go down. We’re going to lean in, we’re going to have grace, and we’re going to ask you to be flexible, and let’s make the best of our time together!

A little about If Gathering for anyone who has never experienced an If event.

IF:Gathering was founded eight years ago by Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head. Nothing to Prove, and several more books and Bible Studies, in response to God’s call on her life to “disciple a generation.” The IF:Gathering ministry is working to achieve this vision by creating resources and experiences and putting them in your hands to gather, equip, and unleash women to make disciples. Not only that, but IF also offers you a like-hearted community here in our local context and a global community of women who desire to live for God’s glory and for the good of others. We love God’s Word, and we are about the old, orthodox things found in it —holiness, repentance, Spirit, and truth. This weekend, we hope that you enjoy the opportunity to connect with God and with one another.

The “IF” in the ministry’s name comes from the declaration that “If God is real, then we want more than anything to live out His calling to make disciples in our generation.”

This is why we are so excited here at The Outpost Church to partner with this amazing ministry. Will you pray with me now as we launch into our first session that we would see this vision become a reality here in our context and in all of our lives?

PRAY

Here we go…session 1.

Video Starts

Session ends

Session 1 Dismissal Talking Points

Please use the next 15 minutes to use the restroom, stretch, grab a snack, or just go outside and take your mask off for a few minutes lol.

If you could be back in your seats at _________ o’clock we will be getting started again. We will put a 3 minute countdown clock up on the screen and start session 2 as soon as it ends.

Session 2

We would not recommend announcements a the top of this session. We would recommend keeping it moving because women will want to go home and go to bed. :)

Session 2 Dismissal Talking Points

Man that was great. Well, thank you so very much for joining us tonight for sessions one and two. We have three more amazing sessions tomorrow that we hope you can join us for.

Just a couple of announcements.

We will be getting started promptly at _________ o’clock tomorrow morning with a breakout session led by Trillia Newbell entitled Living Faithfully Despite All of the Noise. We hope this will be incredibly relevant to everyone here.

We will have your coffee order here waiting for you in the morning so no need to grab a coffee before coming. We will also have donuts and all of the snacks in the back of the room available in the morning for breakfast.

If you could help us out tonight by making sure you take everything with you because we will be sanitizing everything in preparation for tomorrow morning after everyone leaves. And be sure to bring your tote back with you tomorrow when you come.

Thank you again so much for joining us and we can’t wait to see you all back bright and early tomorrow.

Have a good night and God bless.

Day 2

Breakout Session Introduction

Well good morning and welcome back! Hopefully you all had a great night and are ready to dive back in.

We are going to start the morning off with a breakout session led by Trillia Newbell entitled Living Faithfully Despite All of the Noise.

This session is slated for 45 minutes and then we will take a break. If you saw another breakout session you would have liked to have watched, fear not. When you registered for this event, you actually were creating an account on the IF Gathering website. On that account, you have the ability to watch another breakout of your choosing. You just have to watch it before Monday morning, otherwise, all of the sessions and breakouts will be available after March 22nd on Right Now Media. As a church, we have a subscription to this streaming service and if you get with me during one of our breaks, I can connect you with how you can watch the whole event and all of the breakouts through Right Now Media.

Without further ado let’s pray and turn things over to Trillia Newbell.

PRAY

Start Video

Video Ends

Give 10 minutes for a break. We will start the 3 minute countdown for you to be back in your seats for us to be able to start session 3 by ________ o’clock.

Session 3 Introduction

Well alright welcome back!

Ask one or two people to share something they took away from the breakout session.

Give a quick reminder of the logistics (bathrooms, masks, snacks, lunch, etc.)

After this session, we will have lunch out in the foyer in pre-boxed packages with your name on it. We don’t have room for all _____ of us to rush in there and grab it at once and so I will come up and dismiss us by table just to avoid a choke-point there in the lobby.

Will you join me in prayer as we kick off our next session?

PRAY

Start Video

Video Ends

Lunch and Conversation Card Instructions

What an amazing session!

Alright, we are going to be breaking for lunch now but I want to give us a few instructions as we are getting started with this.

I am going to dismiss us by tables here in just a moment but before I do, you are going to see a stack of conversation cards on your table labeled “Set one”

If you’ve been around IF before, you know one thing we care about is diving deeper and spending time reflecting with each other. Transformation happens as we share and confess and dive in together. Grab the cards marked ‘set one’ and read the question out loud and dive in! Do not waste time so that you can go deeper than surface level conversation. Feel free to go through them at your own pace; don’t worry about getting to all of them.

We encourage you to really go for it with these cards. Something may come up that your group needs to just stop and pray through together. There may be someone in your group that just needs encouragement and prayer…we encourage you to use this time to minister to one another and be ministered to.

We will be meeting back in our seats for session 4 at ________ o’clock and will run the three minute countdown clock as well.

With that said let’s give thanks for this amazing lunch and I will start dismissing tables.

PRAY

Dismiss table by table for lunch.

Session 4 Introduction

Alright welcome back!

How was lunch?

How about a round of applause for The Masonry Cafe...

Hopefully the conversation at your table was as good and as transformative as it was at mine!

One of the events hosted by IF on a monthly basis is called IF:Table. This is an opportunity to gather women around your table once a month and create a space for them to feel known by providing an environment for conversation about following God and giving Him away to others. IF:Gathering will provide conversation cards much like the ones you’ve worked through here as well as inspiration for your meal.

I want to give Anne Cone a moment to talk about what this experience looks like and how it can be an amazing tool of discipleship that really anyone with a table in their house can participate in.

Give Anne a few minutes to talk about IF:Table.

Have Anne Pray

Start Session 4 Video.

Video Ends

Session 4 Ending Remarks

Alright we are going to take a 10 minute break. Feel free to move around, grab some coffee or a snack, and use the restroom.

Let’s be back in our seats by _______ o’clock and be ready to finish strong!

Session 5 Introduction

Well welcome back to our final session! Hopefully this has been an amazing life-giving experience for everyone here. We have been so blessed to host this and are incredibly excited to partner with IF to bring more of there events in the future. The easiest way to keep track of future IF offerings here at The Outpost Church is by following us on Facebook and Instagram.

Before we start this session I am going to ask you to go into your bag we gave you yesterday and pull out the candle. There are sharpies on each of your tables and as soon as we get into session 5, we will be getting instructions of what we are going to do with these.

With that said, let’s get started!

Session 5 Closing Announcements

Amazing. Well, that was the end of the scheduled video content for this IF Gathering but it isn’t quite the end of the event. We are going to have an opportunity for anyone who can stick around to work through the final set of conversation cards that actually help us walk away with some tangible steps to go forward with. Our hope is that you will use this time to work through anything that may have come up for you during the five sessions.

We will take ______ minutes to work through these.

Before we do that and before we release anyone who may be needing to leave before we start this final portion, I want to tell you about a follow-up to the IF:Gathering we will be offering here at The Outpost Church Starting (next week…or whenever you are planning to start it…insert your own details here).

We are going to be offering the How to Read Your Bible class here on ___________ evenings from __________ to ___________ weekly.

Does the Bible feel too intimidating and complex? Does understanding it feel impossible, and so you don’t even try?

In this six-week study, we want to help you understand why the Bible is the greatest tool we have. We want to open your eyes to the way the Old Testament and New Testament connect and show you the purpose of each book of the Bible. Through this study, featuring teaching videos from Jennie Allen, Bianca Juarez Olthoff, and Jo Saxton you will:

Understand that the Bible is relevant for you here and now.

Uncover what each of the books of the Bible are about and how they all connect.

Discover a method to breaking down Scripture in order to better comprehend it.

Have a new confidence in understanding the Bible and a hunger to know it more.

Ok. I am going to pray and give us about ten minutes to stretch our legs, grab a snack, and if you need to go before this final session we thank you so very much for your attendance and for making this event so special.

I’m pretty sure you won’t have enough time to do the other set of conversation cards, so feel free to send them home with the attendees and encourage them to continue the conversation with their people in their places. If that is the case, you can just move on to the final ending.

Let’s try and be back in our seats by ________ o’clock to work through our final set of conversation cards.

Have a team at the back door to thank those who may leave for coming.

Upon returning from break, remind them of the instructions for the conversation cards.

Give them ___________ minutes to work through them.

Come back up to the stage.

Closing Remarks

Well alright that is everything. We hope you have enjoyed this event.

We are so thankful for every one of you that have come out to make this so successful.

If you are interested in attending the how to read your Bible women’s group on ___________ nights at _________ then I would invite you to sign up on the sheet on the round table out in the foyer before you leave today.

Let’s go out of here in the power of God’s Spirit to carry the mission of Jesus to our places and the people He has given us to make disciples of. Let me pray for us as we are dismissed.

PRAY.

Dismiss.