The Freeway is part of a great city-wide network of churches called TrueCity… “churches together for the good of the city.” Every year right around this time we gather together for a conference to celebrate what God is up to in our midst in Hamilton. This year the conference is happening on February 19 and 20 and there are basically three components to our gathering together:

1. “Stories & Song” – Celebrating God’s active presence in our city. (This takes place at Philpott Memorial Church on Friday evening.)
2. “Prayer” – A time to connect with God’s heart for our city through prayer. (This takes place at Philpott Memorial Church on Saturday morning.)
3. “In Concert Coffee House” – Great music and art and conversation. (This takes place at The Freeway on Saturday evening.)

In addition, there will be a 24/7 prayer room established at Philpott for one week: February 19 to 26. If you are interested in registering (or volunteering) for any of the events of the conference, please drop me a line: pernell@frwy.ca

Saturday night’s Art of Sound music festival was amazing. And although we didn’t raise what we had hoped, we did manage to raise just over a thousand dollars for The Freeway (and some more for Haiti as well), which is totally amazing. The musicians were all top-notch this year… really good line-up. And the people who came really seemed to enjoy themselves.

A few BIG THANK-YOU’S:

• To all the musicians and our amazing DJ who shared their talent with us. Your music was inspiring and beautiful. Thank you for giving your time and energy to help support the coffee house. Can’t wait to see you perform again soon.
• To all the folks who helped clean the coffee house, prepare for the festival, and then clean again, thank you so much. I am always amazed at what amazing volunteers we have at The Freeway.
• To all our fine baristas and other coffee house leaders who worked so hard before, during, and after the event, thank you so much for all your work. We definitely have the best baristas anywhere in the world… and people notice.
• To the sound technicians who made the job of the musicians so much easier, thank you. And to the DWL Group, thank you for providing the sound gear for our lower level stage.
• To everyone who came to support The Freeway and local music, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I really can’t wait until next year… and I hope to see you all at the coffee house supporting local artists and our community commons soon.

If you are part of a church that is thinking of starting a third place, and you have ended up on this site as part of your research (this happens for us now and again, it seems), allow me to suggest that you consider not starting a third place if any of the following things apply to you:

1. If there is already a third place in your neighbourhood.
2. If you are thinking of designating a room(s) in your church building for the third place.
3. If you are planning to create a third place as a way to evangelize, or grow your church.
4. If you are planning for this to be a place that is seldom/rarely open (ie. one evening per week).
5. If you think this will make you a bunch of money to fund your church.
6. If you think this is the new model for missional church… the next thing to do in church… everyone’s doing it.
7. If you have a hard (impossible?) time with living in tension.
8. If you feel the need to see results (quickly?) in terms of the number of people who join your church, find Jesus, etc. through the third place.
9. If you are not completely aware of the neighbourhood you are wanting to start the third place in. Do your homework. Live there for a few years.
10. If you have not gone through a process of discerning what the Spirit of God is up to / creating /doing in your neighbourhood.

It may sound silly, but I can’t tell you the number of church leaders who have approached us to “learn the ropes” and more than one of the above applied to them.

If you would like to arrange a time to chat with us further about third places, mission, or neighbourhood engagement, drop us a line any time: info@frwy.ca, or consider coming to our Cultivate Learning Party on Saturday, March 20 in order to spend the day learning alongside us.

Hey Readers! You may or may not know that The Freeway has live music every Friday evening. Some things you should know about Fridays:

• It is usually $5 at the door which goes to support our musicians.
• We have 3 performers per night and music generally starts at 8 pm.
• It is an all ages venue with a wide variety of music.

If you are a musician (or know someone who is) and you have a website or myspace or a way we can hear your tunes, email me at miranda@frwy.ca … Let’s see if your sound melds with our venue and if we can book you in the near future!

And for you music lovers who don’t consider yourself a musician – don’t forget this great space on a Friday night. Come out and enjoy delicious fair trade coffee, fresh baked goods, and quality local music!

Help-Portrait is a world-wide movement of photographers joining together to use their skills and resources to give back to those in need this holiday season.
 
On Saturday December 12th photographers will set up in studios, community centres, coffee shoppes, and churches to take quality portraits of individuals or families who generally do not have access to professional photography. Each participant will be able to pick up a free 8×10 or 5×7 of themselves the following week.
 
It’s been a hard year for a lot of people in our community. We want to make them feel beautiful.

www.helpportrait.com

Starting September 1st, The coffee house is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 am to 10 pm (we are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).

From June 1st – August 31st our new hours of operation are as follows:

Monday: 7 am – 4 pm
Tuesday: 7 am – 4 pm
Wednesday: 7 am – 10 pm (community workshops in the evenings)
Thursday: 7 am – 4 pm
Friday: 7am – Midnight (live music in the evenings)
Saturday: We are closed, but our space is available to rent.
Sunday: We are closed, but we have worship gatherings at 6 pm.

Click on image to enlarge.