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Really cool all that's happening in Women's ministry. Take a look. This is from an update letter from Dee Meyers, our Women's Ministry Leader.

Bible Studies: Our Fall Bible Studies are off to an amazing start.  Lives are truly being impacted by these studies:

  • There are 15 women attending on Monday nights – one group of Jesus: The One and Only; and one group of Breaking Free, both by Beth Moore.
  • There are 7 very committed members of “First Place for Health” meeting every Monday night at 7pm.  They have set goals and are on their way to meeting them. Three of the members of this group do not attend Five Oaks!
  • There are over 50 women on Wednesday mornings – two groups of Jesus: The One and Only; and 5 groups of Breaking Free.
  • Margo Neibling has a group of 7 women in her “Sharpening Your Focus” class.  We are receiving great feedback from the ladies in this study about how much they are learning about themselves in such a short period!  These ladies are some of the key women leaders in our church and I know some great things are going to aspire out of this group.

Health and Fitness: Our Health and Fitness Team has been hosting Free Exercise Classes each Monday evening. We have a solid group of 8-12 regular attenders to the 6 pm classes, and we're getting between 20 and 30 women every week for Prayerful Flow.  About 1/3 of the ladies attending the Flow class are guests, some of whom haven't been attending church.  Kristen has been humbled by seeing two of those guests attending our worship services after coming to class!

Book Club: Our October Book Club is: The Resolution for Women, by Priscilla Shirer – this is a follow up to the movie Courageous.  We have sold 15 books. 

Christmas Event:  We are busy planning our Christmas Event for Monday Dec. 5 at 7pm, an event that will truly celebrate Jesus being “Here With Us”.  MN Author, speaker, worship leader, Kristie Kerr, from Fourth Floor Ministries will be our guest speaker! 

Impact Event: On Sunday, October 23, a group of volunteers went to the Ronald McDonald House at Children’s Hospital in Mpls with huge donations of food from our congregation to feed a “burrito buffet” to over 65 families with sick children at the hospital.  We truly made a difference for these families that night. 

Women's Conference: 47 Women joined us for the Women of Faith “Imagine” Conference on Oct. 21 and 22.  We know for sure that two women made first-time decisions for Christ on Saturday!  It was very powerful! 

The Weekend

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- Started "First Things First" series last weekend with a message on five mistakes disciples make based on Luke 9:27-56). I said the last point was going to be powerful: What you think God thinks of you will determine almost everything in your life. Do you see disappointment on God's face or adoration? After the service someone told me that one hit him right between the eyes. 

- Some Com Card comments on the service: "[Replacing] faith w/formulas and fighting the wrong enemy points really hit home with me" - "Thank you for the [point] about loving people who might hold other political views than our own. As a pro-life democrat, I always feel like fellow church members are not welcoming of democrats." - "Thanks for awesome worship Justin..."

- Handed out 3x5 cards and asked everyone to write down any ministry they've done in the last couple of months for people outside of Five Oaks. Just wait until you see the size of the stack in two weekends!

- People really hung around in the Commons after services this weekend. That's normal, but it seemed like more than usual. A lot of buzz in the building.

- The Christmas CD has gone to the guy who will mix it all (he's the drummer from the Crowder Band).

- I'm very excited about a new Five Oaks Christmas tradition starting in December: "One Starry Night: A Family Christmas Experience." It will be very good this year, but I think this is going to grow in intensity and quality each year. Music by the Fusion Band, live animals, drama...all throughout our Commons. More info coming soon.

- This weekend's message is on Luke 9:57-10:24. Lots of ground to cover. I recently read the book on Starbucks' comeback by its founder. He talked about trying to regain Starbucks' coffee authority. Come find out three ways to lose your missional authority. One of them is to proclaim an optional Jesus. Who would do that? Some of you who are reading this right now! Come and see.

- Met a young family from Madison during 10-Minute Connect. Went to Blackhawk there (love that church). They miss the town and the church. I wanted to tell them about how great the Twin Cities are and the fun places they will get to discover...but I didn't get a chance. I hope they end up at Five Oaks so I can finish the conversation.

- Next Monday and Tuesday our Staff Leadership Team is going to go write a script in a two-day off-site meeting. I'll tell you more about that next week.