Worship Leader Search Completed!

Here's an email message we sent to our church family earlier today.

Dear Five Oaks Family,

I’m very happy to inform you that we have completed the search for a worship leader! The result is different than we expected when we first set out, but we are confident God is leading us in this direction. It will be a good fit for Five Oaks, and I am excited to see it unfold.

First, we have decided to move forward with a Worship Leader team approach. Joining our team is Jeremy Sanoski. As you may remember, Jeremy led worship three weekends ago and in February. Or you may remember him from this year’s Coffee House. He will begin his new role at Five Oaks starting in September and will lead worship approximately half of the weekends throughout the year. Jeremy loves what we are doing at Five Oaks and is eager to help us accomplish our mission through our worship services. In addition to his service at Five Oaks, Jeremy already has an active music ministry in the Twin Cities and on a national stage with Go Fish.

Second, Dan Lukas will move to the front lines of our worship ministry, leading our worship band members and vocalists and leading worship approximately half of the weekends. Dan will continue to serve on our staff executive team and as the overall director of the Worship Arts staff and ministry, as he has since the fall of 2011.

Third, we are on a search for a Fusion worship leader who will not only lead the high school band but will also disciple and develop the students who serve on that team. This will be a paid, part-time position and we appreciate any leads you can send us.

Lastly, I want to offer special thanks to the folks who served on our search team for their time, the intensity of their prayers, their love for the church and the feedback they gave us as we pondered this decision. Thanks also to all of you who joined us in prayer during this search.

There’s a lot more I could say, but I’ll give you a chance to ask your questions and address the more frequent ones on my blog. So email me your comments or questions.

Blessings,

Pastor Henry

Financial Peace U Results

Here's a note I received from Will Stanfest. Will taught the course with CarrieAnn, his wife.

Hey Henry,

Figured I'd give you a recap of this year's Financial Peace class. Palm Sunday was our graduation party and final lesson. This year we used the new 9 week class format, and it was a hit. The new videos are very well done, with interesting in-class 'case studies' that help apply the principles learned in real world situations.

FPU for January of 2013 by the numbers:
61 people signed up for the class
8 families attended (at least a few lessons) from outside our church

Over the 9 weeks of the class, the 17 families in attendance at graduation were able to pay off just over $165,000 in non-mortgage debt, and were able to put over $167,000 into savings! That's a total improvement of over $332,000!

Absolutely incredible!

These families were all amazing, and deserve a ton of credit for the hard work put in to make the changes needed to secure their financial future.

I really love this class because it teaches the tools each of us need to manage the money God has entrusted us with. With these tools we can use it in a way that honors Him, and blesses those around us.

Thanks again for supporting FPU at Five Oaks, and have a blessed week!

-Will

Congratulations to all who attended and made this kind of dent in their finances! Thank you Will and CarrieAnn.