Henry Williams

Hi Five Oakers!

I have NINE things I want to share with you today.

#1- Good Friday and Easter services were incredible! I was so blessed and so were you, judging by your comments. I can't list all the comments from the Communication Cards. Three pages on a Word document. But we had about 15 first-time decisions between our services and Treehouse. Dozens asked for more information or the challenging book I mentioned. Here are some of your comments:

Have appreciated the way your church's services are. Good production value.
I hope you all feel as loved today as I do!
Amen to the message and Bill’s message too!
Thank you for your tremendous message of hope, of courage… the gospel. Happy Easter.
Awesome message and to absolutely minister by the I Corinthians 15 message. Another bedrock truth for my personal apologetics to defend my belief in Christ. We all need to be prepared to defend our faith. Thank you Pastor Henry and Justin – you are blessed.
He is risen! Happy Easter!
Beautiful service. One of the best I have ever been a part of.
The cross was enough. So I need to start letting my thoughts, words and actions reflect that truth more and more in my life each day.
Thank you for being so faithful to the Word of God!
Loved the new version of “Christ the Lord Has Risen”. However, I have to say, seeing Justin all “dressed up” was weird.
Bill’s video is awesome! I have a friend that must see it. Will it be on YouTube? [See it below in my next point. You can trace it down to Vimeo and share it with others.]
I feel so blessed to be here today.
The music makes me dance! Great sermon. Awesome preaching today.
Thank you for opening wide all the levels of faith throughout life.
Thank you for being an amazing church that helps to sustain and grow God’s light in me.
Thank you Bill for your testimony. What a powerful way to connect to the message and Christ in a more personal way.
So blessed by God and the ministries of Five Oaks.
Loved the music! Missed having more flowers.
Great service! I like that the format was based on our standard service. Nice portrayal of what services at Five Oaks are lie for first time guests/visitors. Faith story was a good addition.
Thanks for sharing your story Bill.
Happy Easter! May God bless the staff and volunteers of Five Oaks!
Great Easter service. Very hopeful. Loved the connection between the Good Friday service and the Easter service in the music. [Justin was wondering how many would make the connection. The closing song of Good Friday was the opening song of Easter.]
Last night's service was so wonderful, so powerful, great music and video! The message, Tim, was amazing and clear. Good message today Henry, thanks for calling people to Christ.
We loved the message. We love Five Oaks. Great faith story. Nice “Beretta” reference.
Our neighbor...whom we’ve been praying for, for several years, came with us tonight. Praise God!
Wonderful message, you get the truth out! (Like always.)
Thank you for a beautiful Easter service. So proud to be a part of Five Oaks.
Awesome service – you all did an amazing job. Our 5^th anniversary with Five Oaks was fabulous! Complete chills. Thank you all so much.
Powerful sermon, Henry. I was praying for you before you started speaking, that your words would reach many this morning. He is risen indeed! Please list the names of the books on your blogs – for friends and family members. [We normally send out A Search for the Spiritual: Exploring Real Christianity by James Emery White for people who would like more information on Christianity, as well as an Alpha booklet called "Why Jesus?" The more challenging book I spoke of was The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller.]
Henry – I loved today’s message and the story of faith Bill shared. I want to be challenged more in my belief of Christ so please challenge me!
Strong faith story – so real and authentic.
...thank you for leading us into a great time of worship. He is risen!
I enjoy offering communion and like the dipping, but would enjoy having individual cups occasionally too.
What’s between “?” & “√”, “?” and “C”. please? [I'm not sure what you mean. I'm guessing it has to do with the marks I asked for response. I wasn't trying to be comprehensive. Just was looking for the first two responses and the last one was to give everyone something to mark down. It encourages everyone who is making a decision to see everyone marking something.]
It is very loud. Good message.

#2- Here's Bill Wilson's faith story. It was shot by Jonathan Haage. I love how sharp, colorful and bright it is. And I can't say enough about how well Bill told his story. It sparked some thoughts about why people reject Christ that I was able to address after the video.

Faith Story - Bill Wilson from Five Oaks on Vimeo.

#3- The new Story of God small group experience launches this weekend. Register here. Lois and I will lead it with the O'Grady's so we can better accommodate another large group. I'm going to try a couple new innovations this time. The 40-Day Bible reading guide books arrived. I'm excited about how they came out. Much better than using the handouts.

#4- Here are the comments we received from the cards send to first-time guests (these are not from our Easter services):

I may be moving to Woodbury – my daughter...attends – I was a teacher and LOVED the stations – excellent participation for all! I attend New Hope Church in Crystal now – your pastor’s sermon was powerful!! I will visit again. God Bless you!!
Thank you for welcoming us so promptly! We enjoyed worshiping with you, especially the music, the informality and the use of AV. We have always attended churches that utilize visual media to support the message, but I missed being able to follow the Bible verses along with the pastor since they were not as readily displayed. Loved the coffee shop too, nice, homey, comforting touch! [

#5- In case you missed it in my blue comments on the comments, I mention the books I send inquirers and the challenging book I talked about. Look for the blue bracketed comments. Someone told me that Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" (1h 11m) and "The Case for Faith" (1h 19m) documentaries are both available on Netflix streaming. The Case for Faith is only available on Netflix streaming until 4/13/2012.

#6- The Women's Ministry continues to make a big impact on those who attend their small groups, on the hungry in our city and even on women in other countries. In March they partnered with our own Margo Neibling who led and taught at a Women's Conference in Ethiopia. Before leaving, Margo made up information cards on the women who would be attending so the women here could pray. Many were also able to send notes of encouragement to the women they were praying for. Here's what Margo wrote about the event:

We covered some every significant topics (personal boundaries, parenting, abuse and sexuality)... Some topics we covered "kicked in" doors as the women wrestled with something they had been taught as "culturally" correct but was not "Biblically" correct! I know your prayers made a HUGE difference. When I shared with the ladies that they each had a prayer partner through Five Oaks Women's Ministry...they were so excited and wanted me to share with you how special that was for them to have a "sister-in-Christ" from another culture praying for them!

#7- Speaking of the Women's Ministry, my mom will be one of the runway models for the spring event and fashion show! The event is April 21, 10am – 12pm and tickets are $5. Register here. Jeni Carlson will be speaking at the event.

#8- Guys, this is the big Courageous Challenge event weekend on Saturday morning.

#9- Remember, we don't have any Saturday services this weekend. We'll only have two Sunday services and Stephen Kendrick will be speaking again. Guys, as I said before, the message on Saturday will be focused on guys and will have a special impact on our lives because of that. Bring your sons, brothers, dad's and friends. I hope you can all make it on Saturday morning.

God bless you all. See you on the weekend!

Pastor Henry

Hi Five Oakers,

I have TEN things I want to share with you,

# 1- Dan Lukas did a great job leading worship last weekend. A big thank you to worship band. I love the first song they did for reflection, "Search Me." It's a Dan Lukas original. We've done it at least one other time, and it's a perfect song for reflection and response.

"Search Me"

even the dark is light to you

nothing is hidden from your eyes

steal away the broken lies

breath truth, bring life

search me and know me

discern my thoughts oh God

search me and know me

see if there be any wicked ways

# 2- We looked at another encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees (from Luke 11) and I noted five traits of religious hypocrisy. One was that it is OCD on minors and MIA on majors. I love that a high school student came up afterward with his note sheet and asked what those letters stood for. His note sheet was full of his notes!

# 3- Here are all the comments from the Communication Cards:

Great music, great song choice. “Washed White as Snow” was great for Palm Sunday. Nice job Dan. “Let God Arise."
If you want people to recite things on the screen, speak slow enough people can get the words out. Music was great!
Great job on the worship set. Loved the crescendos! Really appreciating our drummers lately – the nuanced strokes. Henry great example with coffee cup – vivid! Excellent message, Henry! Your pauses and pace were very effective. Great closing song.
Great message. Thanks.
Great message Henry! It challenged me, especially the part about resisting change.
Powerful message.
Henry, thanks for the extra encouragement for the men’s event. Your little tidbit about you and Lois is much appreciated!
One of the most powerful messages I can remember. Ever. Thank you. [That means a lot to me coming from you. Thank you.]
Good job Dan Lukas.
Great job Dan and worship team.
Especially appreciated Dan’s call for reflection after Christ be the center of our lives. What would that look like… made me really thing about what I was singing and challenged me to live like that.[I agree. Love the way he went back to that part of the song and asked us to reflect on it. Both Dan and Justin deeply and passionately want to LEAD us into worship...straight from the heart to our hearts toward God.]
Thank you worship team.
Thanks for your mid-week memo’s Henry. First response song was awesome!
Loved the message, but where’s Palm Sunday? [Not sure if you were looking for more of if you missed the Call to Worship at the beginning of worship. That's where we focused on it.]
I love Five Oaks – awesome church, awesome people, awesome staff. Thank you.
Thanks for your honesty, Henry.
Thanks for your promotion of the “Courageous” event. It’s going to be awesome.
I forgot my notebook, wished for a small spot to take notes on bulletin, inspired sermons need notes for me to study later. [Not sure if you're aware that we have outlines on tables as you come in. Check it out. If you forget to pick it up, don't be shy. Feel free to get up and go get one. And I'm really glad you take notes and reflect on the message!!!]

# 4- After looking for feedback from a bunch of people we decided to keep our summer outdoor service, baptism, and all-church picnic at Hudson on the St. Croix River. It'll take place on July 22, so put it on the calendar. We want to add some new elements this year to keep it fresh. If you've not been baptised as a believer in Christ, maybe this is your year!

# 5- Jerry Meras is moving along in his plans to bike from CA to MN this summer with a group of Five Oakers to raise money and exposure for Feed My Starving Children (and to fund our event for next year). He met this week with people from FMSC and they are already proving to be a huge help in making this a great event. They are full of great ideas.

# 6- For all of you who love statistics, here's some information on the volume of sound in our worship services in relation to other sounds and OSHA standards for safety:

Normal Conversation - 60-65dB
Telephone Dial Tone - 80dB
Hand Drill - 98dB
Snowmobile/Motorcycle - 100dB
Mower (at 3 ft) - 107dB
OSHA Daily Permissible Noise Levels (hours per day)
- 90dB - 8 hrs
- 92dB - 6 hrs
- 95dB - 4 hrs
- 97dB - 3 hrs
- 100dB - 2 hrs
- 102dB - 1.5 hrs
- 105dB - 1 hr

We normally run our volume in our gatherings around 93-94dB with peaks up to 95-96dB. Just thought you might be interested.

#7 - The book edition of the 40-day guided journey through the Bible that I wrote arrives this week in time for the next Story of God 7-week small group experience. (Register to attend here.) I did the self-publishing thing through Amazon (great experience), but I hope to make some more edits and seek out a publisher in the coming year. If you have any inroads with any publishers and could put in a word for me, let me know. I think it's a unique tool that can help a lot of people become biblically literate and enhance understanding for people who have been reading the Bible all their lives.

# 8- The Good Friday service will be very similar to last year. It was very moving and high effective. We ran out of room last year, so arrive early. Sorry, but we're not ready to do two yet. Maybe if we run high again this year we can consider it.

# 9- Easter is going to be awesome because (1) it's all about the resurrection (you can't go wrong with that); (2) we have a great Faith Story on video; (3) we're singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and we're having the full complement of Response Stations; (4) my message is shaping up really well and focuses on 1 Corinthians 15:13-20 (I've got a great opening illustration that sets things up and serves as a metaphor for the message); (5) Christians will be challenged to live in the reality of the resurrection (and better understand what that means); and (6) the gospel will be clearly presented and people will be crossing the line of faith. It doesn't get any better than that so bring yourself and your unchurched friends and participate as heaven cheers!

# 10- Have you registered for the Easter service you'll be attending? 9:45am on Sunday is closed! Register for an open service here.

God bless you and see you on the greatest weekend of the year,

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Mid-Week Memo