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Get More! Stretch

Welcome to the Stretch Issue "Get More" page! Here you can access all the rich media content to deepen your reading experience!

"FullFill Fountain" with Elisa Morgan

Questions to prod your personal thinking and processing or for use in group discussion and are arranged by article title.

“Onwards and Upwards”

REFLECT ON:

1. What experiences have you had that, like Heather’s, were difficult as you were moving through them but proved to be valuable experiences for you?

2. Have you had any “Kilimanjaro sunrise” moments? And if so, how did they affect you?

3. Heather writes, “And so, although each day may have a different function--working
towards something, achieving a goal, recovering from a struggle-- every day is equally important, equally filled with God’s presence, equally a building block of eternity. I am accountable for my steps, whether they lead up or down, or are stilled by rare breathless moments of beauty.” How would your life change if you began to view each day as a “building block of eternity”?

4. Heather stretched by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. What’s one thing you can do to stretch yourself this year in your leadership? In your personal life? In your relationship with God?

“Grace Place”

REFLECT ON:

1. Pomegranate Place started as a“safe, comfortable place for women to have meaningful conversations.” Where are you able to have safe conversations in your own life?

2. A critical and judgmental spirit often keeps us for meeting or working with people who are unlike us. Yet Vaun says that at Pomegranate Place she sees “Christian women laughing with neo-pagan women. Young lesbian women partner with older married women to raise funds for women in the Congo.“ What does this stir in you? How can you learn from this—and how can it help shape your spirit?

3. Vaun has developed her leadership skills through volunteer work, mentors and schooling. How are you developing your personal leadership skills?

4. Vaun asks, “Is there anything tugging at your heart so strongly that you can’t NOT do it?” Take time to think about—and answer—that question. What would it take for you to act on the answer? Or are you already doing so?

“Untamed Hospitality”

REFLECT ON:

1. “Hospitality isn’t so much what we do, but who we are,” writes Beth Newman. Yet she mistakenly believed that it was necessary to have one’s “house in order” before extending hospitality. Is this a myth you subscribe to as well? And how does the idea of “hospitality being who we are” affect your understanding of hospitality?

2. Dr. Newman writes, “In addition to being who we truly are, we must accept that we live in a world of abundance, not scarcity.” This has been difficult for many over the past couple of years due to the economy. Do you naturally see abundance or scarcity? How does this view affect your approach to hospitality?

3. Annie Dillard is quoted: “Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? …The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets….” Do agree or disagree with this statement? Why did you respond the way you did?

4. Dr. Newman asks, “How do we view others? Are they interruptions, threats, irritations? Do we see others in our lives as opportunities for our advancement? Are they to be used or to be served?” How would you answer these questions?

5. The “habit of being” is necessary to live hospitality that takes us beyond our wildest imagination. How can you shift your focus from “doing” to “being” so that you’ll be more open to extending hospitality when the opportunity arises?

"Who's She?" with Halee Scott

Each issue of FullFill contains surprise tidbits ranging from ideas for organization, trend tips, recipes, little-known facts to who knows what!

Bonus

FullFill Fountain

In the spirit of hospitality, Elisa Morgan, Publisher of FullFill hosted a “Fountain” (an informal gathering of women) in November at Pomegranate Place in Denver, Colorado.

Participants included Alexandra, Carol, Lindsay, Karen P, Karen S, Mary Beth, Carla, Constance, Jen, and Hilary and focused on the theme of this issue, “Stretch.” Here’s the agenda, which we invite you to adapt and use at an event designed to help you extend hospitality to the women in your life–whether they be those you know well or those you’d like to get to know better. Be sure to view the video snippets that help flesh out the “Fountain” so that you can experience it for yourself!

7:00-7:15pm Sip

Refreshing eats and exercise.

Place card on table with verse: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…” Isaiah 55:1

Offer an array of serving utensils, from eye-dropper to slotted spoon to funnel to large ladle. Instruct each participant to fill a glass with water with utensil selected to represent how she is currently receiving refreshment (in what size dose).

7:15-8:15pm Stir

Starter: Read from The Steward Leader by Scott Rodin pp. 95-96.

Consider questions:

-Where am I most confident today? How can I take the next step?

-Where am I most insecure/afraid? What baby step can I take?

Joining in:

Each participant to share poem, reading, thought, object about “Stretch.” (Preassigned)

8:15-8:30pm Fountain

God’s Word: Hebrews 12:1-13

Partner Prayer — Look up and select a woman to silently pray for.

8:30-8:40pm Pour

Consider personal application. Record on FullFill bookmark: Next step in confidence. Next step in fear.