Henry Williams

Hi Five Oakers,

There are several things I want to share with you today.

#1 – Get a recap of the service with highlights of our prayers, readings and songs here.

#2 – Great time today as our staff served at the Feed My Starving Children event. So much fun to see 17 people come from the Hartford to serve at the 11:30 time slot. Their company gives them time off this sort of thing.

#3 – Over the last two weekends, 13 Five Oakers went through 20 hours of training for our Care Ministry Befriender ministry! It was a marathon, and it will yield great results. You’ll be hearing more about this ministry in the coming weeks. But thank you to all of you who went through the training and for the leadership of Jake Eyler, Dan and Betty Juntune and Kent O’Grady in launching this ministry.

#4 – Last weekend we had a film crew shooting for a new 60-second video we’ll post prominently on our website. The idea is to give a little snapshot of our church. Not informational. More an impression. By the way, here’s a screen shot sneak peak into our new website that is still in development.

#5 – The worship leader search continues, but it's incredible how many people who have told me we haven’t skipped a beat. We are so blessed by the hard work and excellence of our volunteers in Worship Arts and Dan Lukas’ leadership. Thank you to all of you.

#6 – Kingdom Rock VBS online registration will be opening soon and a decorating team is dreaming up a Throne Room plan for the worship center.

#7 – The Student Ministry team that will be going to Jersey City this summer is learning the Kingdom Rock program to lead at Woodbury and then on the following week in Jersey City for their short-term mission!

#8 – The city had a public meeting for our new street sign and everything went well. We’re getting closer to getting permission to build it on the same location as our current sign.

#9 – I mentioned it last weekend, but in case you missed it, I think Bill O’Reilly has been watching our podcasts: "Bill O'Reilly's next blockbuster: 'Killing Jesus'." Actually, after hearing him talk a bit about it, I'm not so sure.

#10 – Here are the comments from the cards we send to first-time attendees:

1/28 – It was different than what we were used to but so nice, and welcoming. The kids loved the band.
2/10 – People were welcoming as soon as we walked in the door! We are looking for a new place to worship on Saturdays – we’ll be back!

#11 – Here are your comments from the Communication Cards:

It’s amazing to see God working in this church and my life over the last year. Beautiful growth.
Awesome praise leader last week.
First song set the tone for the wonderful service. [That Prelude song was incredible!]
What a blessing to hear Revelation song. Please pray it more often.
Great opening worship set!
Beautiful singing ladies! Worship and service, again awesome! Thank you all.
Pre-service song – very nice, beautiful lyrics. Loved the cup and kiss part Henry.
Dan rocks!
Pastor Henry, thank you for the suggested book! “A Praying Life”. It was written as if it were personally for me. It’s helped greatly. God bless you. [SO glad it impacted you. My absolute favorite book on prayer.]
Beautiful opening song (though a bit too loud) in the middle. Henry – I love how you look deeper into the specific words and historical context in Bible passages.
I liked the lower more reflective music this week. But ready for some stand-up, clap-your hand, feel the Holy Spirit down deep in here – music – just saying.
Awesome worship set this morning Dan and worship band. Excellent message Henry. I am blessed!
Beautiful, beautiful opening duet. Alex you wailed on the second song on the drums – awesome. That worship set was absolutely an awesome selection and performed set – thanks. I felt ushered into the presence of God. Great worship!

#12 – Here’s the sermon in 10 tweets, Luke 22:39-53, “When you are Desperate & God is Silent”:

God’s silence is serious stuff. But silence is exactly what Jesus experiences while he prayed desperately in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Hearing from God in a crisis takes more time if you weren't listening to God before the crisis.
“Devote yourself to prayer” (Col. 4:2). You don’t have to devote yourself to what comes easy.
Focus on the relationship, not the ritual.
Take every opportunity to pray that you already have. Don’t waste your opportunities during worship, meals, small group prayer times...
If you’ve been building your life on sand and the storm is washing it away, find a rock and start rebuilding.
God speaks even when he is silent. Seven Orfield: "The quieter the room, the more things you hear."
Jesus endured God’s silence so you can experience God’s presence.
Jesus drinks the cup because of our kiss. Cup = God’s wrath. Kiss = Independence, separation.
This is the gospel. And it’s to the gospel that we need to return when God is silent.

#13 – Remember, no worship services this weekend. We’ll be worshiping through service all weekend.

God bless you, Pastor Henry

Hi Five Oakers,

There are several things I want to share with you today.

#1 – Get a recap of the service with highlights of our prayers, readings and songs here.

#2 – A half million meals for Feed My Starving Children means we need you to sign up if you haven't already! And it means we need to fill up our slots on Thursday and Friday. Those are tough times to fill, and there are still many openings, so can you bring a group from work to one of those days?

#3 – Here are your comments from the Communication Cards:

The new “guest” music leader today was great! Bring him back for more sometime! [I’m sure we will.]
Henry, thanks. some of the best messages from Luke have been when you (and Tim) have tackled the “familiar” stories. You’ve passed along truths from a new perspective or drive home again the old story unapologetically.
Worshipful worship, genuine. Nice to have some ‘older, familiar’ songs.
In the midst of my alcoholism I sat down to do a Bible study as I lost my battle again and was drinking a glass of wine, the first verse I read was Luke 22:31-32. I wept to know it wasn’t’ “if” I turned back, but “when”. Really spoke to me again today as I haven’t been here in a while.
Worship was great!
Henry, thank you for your encouraging words. Jeremy, you did a wonderful job, thank you.
Really like the worship leader. [I really enjoyed Jeremy too.]
New worship/music director?? [Nope. A friend of Dan Lukas and has led here one other time.]
Loved the music today, especially “Let God Arise”. Thanks!
Loved the worship leader this morning!
Great sermon Henry.
I really like the worship leader today.
Amazing worship today! Thanks!
Jeremy was fantastic! Lots of energy, great voice! Would be a great replacement for Justin.
The worship leader was tremendous. Thanks for leading.
Loved the message! I needed this today. Had been feeling guilty about my own weakness and vulnerability! (I thought it was funny Peter argued w/Jesus – then realized I am absolutely the same.)
Henry, your message was sent by God to me tonight. Every word that you spoke pierced my heart and was exactly what I needed to mend my relationship with [a relative of mine].
This Jeremy guy who filled in for worship, he’s awesome! Keep him if it’s possible.
Great overall sound in the music.
Thank you for the great worship set! Nice job. Great message again Henry. Great worship!!
I so appreciate Jeni and how composed she is in all situations! She is such a joy to me and I love seeing her each week. Consider you spoke directly to me - and I heard you. Well, a very relevant message today!! I leave with hope again.
Awesome lead vocals!
Beautiful worship today!
Music was great tonight!
Really enjoyed the worship leader today! Great energy – good volume.
Worship leader – nice voice, seems at home; plays well. We like him! Would Peter have had to tell or the Holy Spirit could have inspired the writer, possibly?? [Yes, it’s possible, but given the fact that the gospel writers all depended on sources (as Luke tells us explicitly in Luke 1), more likely Peter reported it, not that the Spirit “ratted” on him. Haha.]
Every once in awhile you show financials on the worship program – would love to see this – once a month maybe – to see if we are + or – each week. Thanks. Great message and rocking worship. Thanks. [I’m sure Brian read this and will consider it.]

#4 – The worship leader search team is working away and doing some preliminary interviews. Keep praying for God to make the match!

#5 - Several projects are making great progress:

Redesign of the look of our children's areas and children's Sunday school in the CLC. We received the first draft from the designer this week.
Total redesign of our web site. Working on content.
The development of a new weekly Worship Guide.
New Street sign: After a delay of more than two years because of possible expansion of Radio Drive in front of our building, we are moving much closer to getting approval to put it in this spring of fall.

#6 – Here’s a comment from the first-time guest cards:

2/3 - Not sure about ‘casual’ attitude with coffee in sanctuary. Liked stations, but enjoy communion given to me by pastor. Really enjoyed music/band.

#7 –You might notice a videographer here this weekend. He's shooting footage for a new feature for our website that will give a quick view of Five Oaks in one minute.

#8 - Here’s the sermon in 10 tweets, Luke 22:31-34, 54-62, “Your Failures & Your Future”:

How you face your failures will determine how your failures will shape your future.
Peter disagrees with Jesus. He seems to have made a habit of disagreeing with Jesus.
There’s a direct correlation between the possibility of failure and the awareness of our propensity to fail.
What if Peter had admitted his own weakness and vulnerability instead of confidently vowing to stick by Jesus no matter what?
Paul Tripp prayer: I am a man in desperate need of help. Send help today. Help me accept it.
True repentance begins when you say, “Yes, I was mistreated or duped or disadvantaged, but I own my own reaction.”
“Worldly grief” is self-defeating, devalues God’s sacrifice and is self-centered.
Jn 21, Jesus never refers to his denial, lies or breaking his vow. He lifts the lid of the sin. He asks, “Do you love me more than these?”
Story: “I can’t forgive because my career is more important to me than Jesus.”
Peter didn’t lick his tendency to cave under pressure (see Gal 2; but also 2 Pet 3:15-17). Repentance is a way of life for those in Christ.

#9 – Powerful passage this coming weekend: Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Hope to see you this weekend.

God bless you, Pastor Henry

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