Monday, August 31, 2009

Introducing Bloom

Jessica and I tried for HOURS to make a video for you all to watch, and our *plan* was to inform you of the details for our new book club.


That plan failed miserably.

SO, here's the scoop:

The name of the book club is Bloom and the tag is Read. Discuss. Grow.

Do you love it as much as we do? We think that it has so many cool interpretations. Our prayer is that it will become a vibrant community of believers who can challenge each other and encourage one another in our walks. Our common bond will be the books that we read - and we think Crazy Love is the perfect way to start.

We will start discussing Crazy Love on Sept. 13th...we have set up a website (which was designed by the amazing Danielle at The Design Girl), as well as a ning site to keep everyone on the same page.

Pun completely unintended.




Don't be intimidated by the ning site. It is a free social network that will allow us to have live chats, post questions/thoughts/recipes/whatever on the discussion boards and engage in the Bloom community. Be sure you upload a picture so we can see each of you! There isn't much there now, but there will be. Just be patient with us.

Each week we will do a blog post about the chapter assigned from the previous week (ie: on Sept. 13 we will blog about the intro and chapter 1). Then that Wednesday, guest bloggers will write a post about the the chapter/topic of discussion/something relevant. We believe this will be a great way to get different opinions and encourage conversation. We are really excited about the contributers who are on-board-we have pastors, writers, all kinds of fun people.

So, in lieu of an informative video, have a laugh with (at) us, and we'll see you on the 13th.

Bloom Introduction from angie smith on Vimeo.


Love,


Angie and Jessica

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Video

Intro Video

Bloom Introduction from angie smith on Vimeo.

Community

A huge part of this book club has been the community and relationships that have formed, and we are looking forward to continuing that on the Blog Frog forum! Be sure to join the community and dive into the discussions. It's a valuable part of our journey as we dive into the books.

Current Book

The Fall 2010 selection will be announced on September 26, so check back soon.

Past Books
Strong Women, Soft Hearts: A Woman's Guide to Cultivating a Wise Heart and a Passionate Life.

Same Kind of Different as Me

Crazy Love

Recommendations

What would be a book club, without recommendation of some other books that we love? We will continue to add to this list over time. We hope you will enjoy these books as much as we have!

Spiritual Growth



Bible Knowledge/Study

What the Bible Is All About

Prayer/Christian Growth

Praying God's Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds

Intimacy with Christ

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Library of Spiritual Classics, Volume 2)

The Seeking Heart

Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul

Ragamuffin Gospel

What's So Amazing About Grace?

The Pursuit of God

Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist

Your God Is Too Safe

When you buy books using the links on this page, you are helping provide books for people who are not able to afford purchasing the current book club book. Thank you for your support!

About Us


Hi, I'm Jessica. And I'm Angie. Thanks for stopping by!

We are best friends who met at church four years ago, when Angie was pregnant with her daughter, Kate. Jessica's husband Matthew had gone to college with Angie's husband Todd. After weeks of talking about it, we finally got together for dinner and a life-long friendship was instantly formed.

Since then we have spent hours crafting, laughing and crying, enjoying our children playing and walking through our last pregnancies together (of Audrey and Elias).

Reading is a love we both share, and we hope that Bloom grows into a long-lasting book club where friendships are formed from around the world. Thank you for joining us in this endeavor. We are honored that you would spend time in community with us.