Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have a few things I want to share with you.

#1 - Wow, what a weekend with Stephen Kendrick. Thanks for Matt Turvey, Bill Wilson and the Journeymen's ministry we got a huge faith lift. His talk to fathers on Saturday was challenging and very practical. Over 400 men showed up. His message on Sunday was the most inspiring message I've ever heard on prayer. I loved his personal stories and you come away convinced that those movies could never have been made without God. Simply amazing.

#2 - I loved Stephen's answer to the guy who asked how to broach the subject of leadership in his home with his wife. Stephen said, "Don't ask your wife to step back. You step up." Listen, that's the essential problem in most Christian homes. The Bible rarely addresses the matter of who is in charge in the home. But it does speak of leadership as sacrificial love. Paul tells men to step up to leadership by loving like Jesus loved when he gave his life for the church. And as far as parenting is concerned, the problem is that men don't step up enough as spiritual leaders for their kids in their homes. Way too many leave it to their wives and the church. I love that one of the couples who attended one of our Story of God groups last year came because the husband was convicted about his lack of spiritual leadership with his kids at our Visionary Parenting Conference with Rob Rienow. He felt he needed to learn more about the Bible and ground his faith so he could lead out. Great answer, Stephen!

#3 - On Saturday Stephen talked about how one of his mentors taught him how to lead family devotions/worship at home.

• Gather the family and ask them how their day went. He does it before bedtime for his young kids.
• Pray.
• Read a chapter of the Bible. He started at the beginning. I'd like to put together a list of the top 365 chapters of the Bible for families to read in one year. I could even add the Story of God icons. What do you think? Anyway, Stephen noted that you don't have to know what the chapter is about before you read it. No special preparation is necessary.
• Quiz the kids and give away quarters for right answers. Make it fun. And you can make the questions up right there from the reading. That's it. Simple, but the Bible is central and it gets into your kids' hearts.

#4 - I've seen Fireproof and Courageous but never got around to seeing Facing the Giants. I certainly plan to see it now, and I'd also like to see their first movie even though he admits the quality of the filming isn't outstanding. 

#5 - Here are the comments we received on the Communication Cards this weekend (and one by email):

• Thank you for bringing Stephen Kendrick to Five Oaks. Awesome lesson. 
• Thank you for your support of the Courageous Challenge. We’ve already heard from so many men of life changes, new commitments to Christ, first time accepters of Christ, and men asking for next steps. Thanks to Dan and Kent for their support with logistics.
• I attended the Courageous event and it was awesome! Thank you! 
• Thank you – I was so moved. Praise God for touching me with the desire to learn, to pray unceasingly. [Loved what he said in the first service. Praying without ceasing is like starting your day with a phone call from God and then keeping him on the line all day.]
• Powerful service! Thank you! 
• Wow! How awesome this was. Thank you Men’s ministries!
• I would like Steven’s sermon notes for Saturday and Sunday. [We can't post the message, but we can make it available to you if you contact the church office or let us know on your Communication Card.]
• Thank you for the absolutely awesome men’s event on Saturday morning. I went with my son and I was so happy that we went! Great work Men’s Ministry! Awesome message today from Stephen! 
• Thanks to God for Bill Wilson and Men’s group for what you have done for my family (Turvey’s). God is good.
• I’m so inspired and feel challenged to pray every day. I know God has a plan for me and I want to see and feel what He will do through me for others. 
• This ties in completely with the Beth Moore (Stephen) study Believing God – I’m doing right now. Praise the Lord I made it today! Amen! I hope this will be on a podcast so I can share it with my women’s group ladies who don’t attend Five Oaks.
• I received another Beginning Bible and Purpose Driven Life. My plan is to give the second “dose” to a friend who is in need. 
• I do not belong to Five Oaks, but have visited there three times and am very impressed by what you have to offer. I particularly wanted to express my appreciation to Five Oaks for hosting the Stephen Kendrick events this weekend. I attended the Courageous Challenge event on Saturday and also visited your church to hear him speak on Sunday. The events were life-changing and I appreciated the opportunity to share in those events more than I can say.  Thank you to the organizers and to Five Oaks for such terrific opportunities for us to connect with Christ.

#6 - Here are the comments we received back from Easter weekend guests:

• My wife and I liked the childcare, very much enjoyed the sermon and enjoyed the music.  The volume of the music is/was too loud.  Mustering up the courage to wear ear plugs in church is too akin to a rock concert, and an experience not usually associated with church music.  How about acoustic?  The handoff of kids was rather hectic given we were attending the second service and there were kids both coming and going at the same time.  Felt like we had to be diligent because there were so many people! 
• We really enjoy Five Oaks.  We will be back.
• I did find/feel the music and sermon to be gospel/Bible based.  No one greeted me or made me to feel welcomed at Five Oaks at all. [I'm truly sorry you didn't feel welcomed. You're likely to have a different experience on a regular weekend. So many new faces and so much congestion on Easter.]

#7 - Todd and Kellie Stocker are the keynote speakers for the Woodbury Area Prayer Breakfast on May 1 this year!!! You will not want to miss this. Go here to register.

#8 - My message this weekend is on Luke 12:1-12 and focuses on standing strong for Christ in environments that are hostile to our faith. What Jesus says may surprise you.

#9 - Justin will lead us in worship with a simple, acoustic set this weekend. I love it when the worship team changes it up like this.

It's going to be a great great weekend and I look forward to seeing all of you.

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

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.

Register here to hear Stephen Kendrick, the co-writer and producer of the Courageous movie. 

#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