Henry Williams

Hi Five Oakers, We already had a quarterly meeting set up for our Staff Leadership Team to review how we are doing on our goals for the ministry year, but the weekend results from the campaign added a sense of…I really don’t know how to describe it. We sense the momentum and the affirmation of the congregation—our congregation wants to be challenged and is committing and showed up. That makes us want to be better leaders. We have an even great sense of responsibility and mission. Our Staff Leadership Team knows we need to hold each other more accountable and spur each other on to do everything possible through him who makes everything possible. And all that made our daylong offsite one of the best and most productive meetings we’ve ever had. Way to go church. Way to go team.

Here's the sermon from last weekend in 10 tweets: "FOR [ God ] – God’s Glory, Our Glory (John 3:16):

For six weeks we’ve gone back to the why. Why? For God so loved, and God’s love compels us to love the world he so loves.
The capital campaign has been about reaffirming our commitment to this mission of reconciliation.
After 10 years one of our members decided to move from attending to being the church. That’s what the campaign is about.
Pastor Kalil (Jordan), International GLS Video: “Don’t look at the opposition. Look at the opportunities.”
That was a $10K email.
You should be in agreement on what you will give if you are married.
Get some skin in the game.
If you’re not a giver, start now. Pick a number. Don’t wait to hear a voice from God.
You have won the lottery. Now what?
I’m not asking you to do something I’m not willing to do myself.

Bonus Tweet: 98 Families…$1.2M…3/4 of the way to our goal…

I love you and pray for you, Five Oakers!

Blessings, Pastor Henry

The Israelites have escaped Egypt only to find themselves seemingly trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea. Immediately they forget all that God has done for them to get them to this point so they fail to trust him to get them out of this new predicament.

Because they believe they can't move forward, they want to go back to Egypt.

They should be asking God for an eleventh plague after seeing all those miracles of grand proportion, but instead they accuse and complain to God.

God has saved them by the blood of a lamb when the Destroyer came to Egypt and passed over their homes, but they don't believe they can trust him to guide them in their new life, free from the bondage of slavery.

Yet God by his grace says, "I will fight for you and all you need to do is stand fast, be silent before me and watch what I do."

That's the first passage we tackle in this new series beginning this weekend.

Sound relevant?

This weekend is all about the gospel--how to be saved by God and how to live in that salvation and freedom.

The gospel is not the A, B, C's of the Christian life but the A to Z.

This is one of those weekends--actually, one of those series--that will speak deeply to your own journey but will leave you thinking, "I wish I had invited my friend who is far from God," because it will clearly proclaim the Gospel.

I'm praying for lots of folks to come and cross the line of faith, for you and I to grow in our faith and for all of us to join together in prayer on this.