One More Thing

Hi Five Oakers, The weekend is coming and I want to share a few things with you.

The Weekend

He's thirty years old. He's been languishing in prison for years. It's been 13 years since his brothers sold him into slavery. Two years since he was forgotten by someone with the connections to help him. And in one day he gets called up from the prison to the presence of Pharaoh in the palace. And the first words out of Pharaoh's mouth test whether Joseph will trust God in affluence as much as he trusted him in affliction.

It's hard to trust God when things are going badly. Sometimes it's equally hard to trust him when things are going really well. Some people who trust him in their affliction forget him in their affluence. Are you trusting God in your affluence? That's a question you'll take time to explore this weekend.

FYI

Rachel Lu on "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle: Will the Culture War Be Won in the Crib?"

The trends aren’t dramatic, but they are noteworthy nonetheless. Americans are gradually becoming more pro-life. ...Perhaps most remarkable of all, young adults in their twenties and early thirties show surprising sympathy for the pro-life position. This is somewhat unexpected, given that their views are not in general conservative. ...Their ideas about sexual morality are markedly non-traditional. Despite all of that, their attitudes towards abortion are if anything less permissive than those of preceding generations. How do we explain this strange decoupling of views?

One More Thing

One of the emotional high points of the Global Leadership Summit was feature they did on the special needs ministry at Willow. A lot of our own folks don't know about our special needs ministry, The Retreat. One of the mom's with a child in The Retreat recently posted this on Facebook.

"My 5yr old is in The Retreat class. As a part of her bedtime routine, she asks us "What day is it tomorrow?" Every other day of the week, she just accepts our answer and moves to the next part of her routine. But on Saturday nights, when she finds out that tomorrow is Sunday, her face lights up and she jumps up and down saying, "I get to go to church!" ... THANK YOU for that bright moment in our lives every week!"

A big thank you to all of you who serve in that ministry!

10 Tweets & GLS Highlight Video

"Everybody > Somebody," Acts 6:1-7

Highlight Video from the GLS Conference

1// The church is a volunteer intensive organization...people who know there is no greater satisfaction than being with God on mission.

2// A day came for the church when, because of opportunities and needs, they had to formalize aspects of ministry. That day was recorded in Acts 6.

3// Growth comes with challenges. Enjoy the journey.

4// There are no small parts. All roles are spiritual.

5// Patrick Lencioni: I'm tired of people talking about servant leadership. I don't know of any other kind."

6// Maybe you were chairman @ your last church or run a division… If you won’t take up a towel, you’re not qualified to lead in the church

7// Everybody has a calling and a community contribution. Stephen and Philip's callings were preaching & evangelism but also served tables

8// You will stall if you don't serve. You are hard-wired (Eph 2:10) and gifted (Rom 12:4-6) for service.

9// The more you “put in” to your church, the more you “get out” of your church.

10// Serving tables spreads salvation. "She told me she'll never forget 'that guy' because she felt like an angel was reaching out to her."