Tuesday Memo

Hi Five Oakers, What a great weekend! I don't know how the "Friday Fun Night" Invite team pulled off food and games for over 450 people who came to the Game Cafe (and pulled it off so well), when we were not expecting a crowd that size, but they did a fantastic job.

Check out some more photos at the end of this post.

The baptisms were also a highlight of the weekend. We did it differently than ever before, and while we have about a half dozen tweaks we want to make for the next time around, we loved the congregational participation, the faith stories and the way our church celebrated. One of my highlights came from Saturday night when a grandfather, baptizing his two grandsons, said, "As your grandfather and your brother in Christ, I baptize you...." It was really hard to join him in the words that followed.

And here are most of the comments and questions from the weekend Communication Cards:

// Thanks for a very powerful and moving service!

// Henry, I hope you back up your computer to a safe location, since your life is on it! Great worship, great message! [Yes, I do backups regularly but I do have to think about the location of the backups. Thanks.]

// Thank you for the worship set and for your musical, spiritual leadership in our church. Terrific conclusion to a terrific series, ”Rule of Life: God in My Everything” – a great worship sermon. Beautiful closing prayer Henry. Fantastic baptism!

// Pastor Henry, thank you for this series. Very impactful, practical and key for our daily life. Best series and study we have done. [I hope some more small groups will also do the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality course you all did in the near future.]

// Brooke, you rock my world with your voice. Thank you for touching my heart with the words you just sang and Cheryl what a powerful testimony you shared.

// Praise God for all He’s given to this church!

// Love all the painted names up front! It puts all the names right in front of us to remind us of the depths and breadth of who God is.

// Signs look awesome!

// Missing the Palms today. The importance of this day and the season always hits home with tangible take away like palms.

// Rejoicing with our worship team for our Lord. Thank you for giving your talents to Honor God!

// Wow! We leave for a three week vacation and return to find out that Pastor Henry is a “graybeard”! [That's a term?]

// Such a great sermon, one we all can relate to so well. Thank you for all of the down-to-earth ideas of honoring God while we work. I so appreciate how real your sermons are. P.S. when we miss, I love to listen to the podcast while I walk our dog. So great to stay “caught up!” [Music to my ears. When I preach, I'm discipling the congregation. Series sermons do build on each other to some degree. So I love to hear that!]

One More Thing

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

The Weekend

I'm really looking forward to Game Cafe tonight (Friday). Lois and I love the game Settlers of Catan, so we'll be playing that our table. Anyone who wants to learn (first come, first serve) can join us and I'll teach them how to play.

This is the final week of our Rule of Life series and I'll focus on brining God into our everyday at work or school.

And it's also Palm Sunday weekend. And this year we'll be celebrating several baptisms. It will look and feel different than you've experienced before at Five Oaks. I can't wait!

It's going to be a great weekend.

FYI

Tim Challies on "Parenting Well in a Digital World"

Parents often feel intimidated by new technologies, so do not bother to investigate them. Instead, they hand their children devices without really understanding their power and capabilities, and that leaves the children as the ones who bear all the risk.

Jeff Vanderstelt on "Stop just going to church"

I watched young and old come to know the love of Jesus and receive very informal but effective training in how to become responsible, hard-working, loving men. Because of my parents’ ministry at home and at work, many men still call our family “their own.” However, the church never called this “ministry.”

One More Thing

Joe Thorn in Experiencing the Trinity:

“Holding indifference, apathy, or bitterness toward the church sets you against what God holds dear. It shows that what Jesus loves and saves is not worth your own time, interest, and affection. This fact applies to the church universal and the church local. God has called you to himself to be a part of his people. How you interact with the people of God reveals much about your relationships with the Lord (Matt. 25:31-46). If you love the Lord, you will love his church (1 John 4:7-12).”