Open Door Ministries Blog

Uprise:: College Ministry

 

We are launching our new College Ministry called Uprise in a few short months and are looking for volunteers who are willing to partner with us as we reach out to the campus. We will be having a meeting on January 22 following the 10:45am service at Open Door. If you’d like to be a part of this ministry please make plans to join us for this meeting! 

Check out the video below to meet our leaders and hear the heart behind the ministry!

 

 

 

 

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8 Things You Need to Know from Our Senior Pastor

Hey, Open Door, I’ve got a few things I wanted to share with you today…

Before that though, thank you for all the kind words and prayers. Deana and I certainly appreciate each one of them. Our lives seem to be so busy, but very productive. We are so grateful to pastor a people who are so easy to care for. 

Many have asked about Deana's mom. She has been placed in a nursing facility in Greensboro, and is settling in. Hopefully, she will respond to therapy and do very well. It was such a blessing to find a new facility for her. 

We are enjoying this beautiful fall weather and looking forward to a few days away next month. But as we bring October to a close don't forget Fall Festival Monday night. It should be a wonderful time for all. 

I can’t tell you how exciting the past few weeks have been for myself and for us as a church.  I wanted to quickly recap some of the incredible things we’ve seen God do over the past few weeks and encourage you to pray with us about a few things:

 #1 – We recently had our Night of Worship last week.  It was incredible.  The altars were full as people gave their hearts to Jesus and received the Holy Spirit and healing.  I can’t wait for the next one!

#2 – We’ve also seen many lives changed and impacted in our Worship Services.  Over the past month alone we’ve seen over 28 lives either come to faith in Jesus Christ or rededicate their lives to Him, and over 8 of those were in our KIDMO and 418 Ministries for kids and students.  I’m so excited for what God’s going to do next!

#3 – We also opened up a new wing of our Child Development Center, which has allowed us to grow our CDC students to over 140.  We enlarged our playground and have made some improvements around the grounds of the campus.  To top it off, we were given a free gift of soil to use for future constructions totaling well over $100,000.

#4 – For those of you that could attend, we had a special Night of Worship for our volunteers and Life Group leaders at the end of September.  We felt strongly that we needed to record this and we are so excited about the possibilities for this being a powerful tool for ministry to our church.  We will release more details about this CD project as soon as we can.

#5 – We are really praying for our 418 Students and their parents to continue to see the importance of the environment we are creating for them each Sunday night.  I believe that it is so important for Middle School and High School students to be engaged and active in a Student Ministry.  Not only does this require the commitment from the students, but also from the parents.  Our prayer is that parents and their students would see the importance of this and participate with us.

#6 – In light of all the lives that are being changed and saved by Jesus we are trying desperately to hear the voice of God and seek His direction about how to create more opportunities for people to grow in their faith.  We are evaluating our Life Groups and seeing how to encourage discipleship to happen more and more.

#7 – Aaron Kennedy, our Administrative Pastor, is the keynote speaker at an upcoming conference, so please be praying for him as he will be speaking to church leaders from many different churches and countries.  Also, our Student Pastor, Tyler Braden, has the opportunity to preach at Christ Covenant School to their entire student body.  Our prayers are with him as well.

#8 – Lastly, we are praying about launching several new ministries at the beginning of the year and into next year.  Please pray for us that we would clearly hear the voice of God about these areas, that we would act in faith, and that we would have people step up and commit to helping us accomplish what we feel God is calling us to do.

Thanks for your time.  It's an honor to be your Pastor.

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Greg Kennedy

 

Taste of Night of Worship

  Night of Worship was in a single word AWESOME!

God moved in some incredible and unimaginable ways and we believe that lives were changed!

Below are some snap shots from the night for you all to enjoy!

 Hope you will plan on joining us for the next one!

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American Red Cross Blood Drive

June 22 from 3pm-7pm you have the opportunity to save a life by donating blood to the American Red Cross on behalf of Open Door Ministries and A Small Miracle Inc.

Last year we donated 25 pints and this year they have set our goal to 28 pints! We can do that ODM!!

Please make plans to join us and help make a difference in our community and world!

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Child Care Development Center

It is our pleasure to announce that starting this fall, we will be offering a half-day, preschool program. Each child must be 4-years-old by October 15th.

Call 252-321-1163 to register now!

We also are taking applications for part and full-time teacher and assistant positions.  Stop by the Center to pick up an application TODAY!

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Men's Golf Trip

All men of Open Door are invited to join us for our 2nd annual Golf Trip, July 28-30.  You'll experience some of the best golf courses in the sand hills of North Carolina.  Stop by the Information Center and pick up a flyer with all the details.  The deposit for the trip is due no later than June 25.

 

Raising Next Generation Leaders

We are honored to celebrate the Ordination of one of our staff pastors and son, Aaron Kennedy on May 15 at Open Door Ministries. Similar to Baptism, which is an outward demonstration of an inward change, Ordination is the outward and official recognition of a call to ministry and service to the church.

After years of preparation, instruction and mentoring, we are pleased to see Aaron take this next step into fulfilling his calling before God.  We cannot thank you enough for the part many of you have played in his life and preparation for this next step.  Our heart is that Open Door will see many pastors, missionaries and dedicated Christian workers raised up to step into the call God has for them.  We’ve already enjoyed the privilege of raising and restoring missionaries and pastors into the ministry near and abroad.

This ordination will publicly support Aaron’s inward call and his personal awareness of that call of God to ministry with an outward acknowledgement before the Church Body. Ministry is the work of the entire body of Christ, with five specific offices set aside (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) to expressly prepare God’s people for the work of service (Ephesians 4:12). 

According to 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9, there are basic qualification for Ministers.  They deal with spiritual maturity and godliness, public credibility and faithfulness in marriage.  Also, a well-managed and respectable family, personal temperance and discipline, hospitality and teaching ability are required. We trust your experiences with Aaron also confirm his calling and qualification.

We are both confident that our work is not finished at Open Door; there will be no adjustment in the way ministry or business is conducted in the church. At Open Door we believe in intentionally investing in the next generation.  We are a generational house and our heart is to raise up and disciple passionate believers of Jesus Christ. This is Aaron’s next step and we trust there will be many that follow.  It is with grateful hearts that we thank Bishop Houston Miles, EFI Chairman Phillip Miles and Dr. Frank Harvey for setting aside time to Confer Ordination upon Aaron on May 15 during both services.

We hope you’ll make plans to join us!

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Greg and Deana Kennedy

 

 

Exciting Changes!

As many of you probably already know, we have seen a HUGE increase in the amount of two and three-year-olds that are now attending Open Door.  

Because of this increase, we are happy to announce that starting Sunday, February 13th we will be opening an additional room to help serve the families of Open Door better!  This would simply not be possible without the faithful devotion of our Baby K volunteers! Their willingness to serve never ceases to amaze me!

We are so privileged to be able to serve the ODM families every week! Their little ones bring such joy to everyone that they come in contact with and we count ourselves truly blessed to be able to minister to them week in and week out!  We would like to think that we are teaching them about the unfailing love of Jesus but the truth is, they are teaching us!  

Thank you so much for your support!  We are so excited about this new change!

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Miriam

Job Posting: Director of Student Ministry

As many of you know our Senior Pastor, Greg Kennedy, announced a few weeks ago that one of our goals this year was to strengthen our Student Ministry and add a Director of Student Ministry to our team at Open Door. We as a leadership team have been in discussions as to what this position will require and what we are looking for as God leads us down this new and exciting road. As we look to the future, this position is of absolute importance as we fulfill what God has called us to accomplish in our city. We are ready to proceed with finding the right fit for that critical leadership position.

Are you a natural leader? Do you have a passion for God and the youth of our city? Do you think creatively and outside the box? Do you desire to see God do something bigger than you? Then you could be the right fit for what we are looking for as the Director of Student Ministry at Open Door Ministries.

How are you wired?

Dynamic Leader - You know how to lead and empower a diverse group of people

Connector - You desire to network with people to build teams and understand the power of "we"

Evangelist - You are a gifted storyteller and know how to motivate and inspire through one-on-one interactions and platform communications 

Administrative - You are an organized person who can oversee the structure of a team and the communication of the ministry through mail, email, schedules and social media

Communicator - You have the ability to deliver a relevant message to our students and to begin to develop a team of communicators that will position the Open Door Student Ministry for the future

Strategic Thinker - You envision the steps to get from here to there and see things to completion 

Character - You've demonstrated integrity over the years in words, action, and relationships

Likability - People like you and you are able to connect well with adults as well as youth

Experience - You have experience working with youth in a variety of different functions, including but not limited to Student Ministry (preferably on staff of a Youth Ministry or as assistant or team member)

If you are selected for this position, your primary responsibilities will include:

• * Helping bring greater vision and purpose to Open Door's Student Ministry
• * To stay consistent with the vision and values of the Church
• * To recruit, train, and identify leaders that will help us fulfill that vision
• * To organize weekly services, special events and trips throughout the year
• * You will posses the DNA of Open Door Ministries and will work together with a team to raise up a generation of unashamed, uninhibited worshippers. 

Additionally, your role will be to connect with parents as well as students, and to council, love, and pastor students as well as their parents. You will manage the student ministries budget, and connect with other Directors of Student Ministries in our area.

For our church story click here.

If interested in applying, email your resume and cover message to Aaron Kennedy at aaronkennedy@go2odm.com.

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GroupLink

 

We believe the best place for life change to take place is within a small group, or as we call them at ODM, LifeGroups.  In a LifeGroup people read and study God's word, pray together and develop relationships with each other.  These relationships are so important because they help us develop community with one another, and without community, we can never be all that God has called us to be.

The primary way we connect our people with groups is at an event we call GroupLink.  Held in our main auditorium, we setup environments for groups to form and develop.  At GroupLink, we don't place you in a group, you choose your own.

GroupLink is for anyone looking for a men's, women's or couple's group or anyone currently in a group but ready to change.

If you would like to attend our next GroupLink which will be Sunday, January 30th at 6pm, please click here and fill out the form as completely as possible.

We are excited about you being a part of our LifeGroup Ministry.  

It's gonna be our best year yet!!!

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