Mid-Week Memo

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Hi Five Oakers,

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

#1 - Last weekend's message was the kind of passage I would not choose to preach on. The only reason I would ever spend an entire message talking about the fire of judgment and division Jesus said he would bring is because we're working our way through a book of the Bible and that was the next passage. I'm thankful for that discipline and that it takes my preferences out of the mix. Here were your comments about the service from the Communication Cards:

  • The sermon two weeks ago revealed to me that I’ve been greedy with my time which is really His time. Thank you for your words that helped God to speak to me. Thank you for the reminder of pride today.  
  • Thank you for helping me understand repenting in a new way. The Bible study you sent is tremendous and full of grace.
  • Great message Henry!
  • Loved the music today. Heard the guitar and playing nuances. The drums blended well with the rest of band. Noticeably louder than in weeks past. I know we get complaints about harshness or loudness. I at least enjoyed the volume/energy level.
  • Henry, thank you for sharing God’s truth with us. Your message, God’s message, was heard loud and clear! Thanks! 
  • Great message, Henry. Praise God for His continued deliverance in my life!
  • Thank you for not making a change in your sermon just because it’s Mothers Day! God bless you!
  • Thank you for the encouragement to the Group Life writer this week - yes, great lesson! For anyone reading the blog, are you feeling any prodding of the Holy Spirit to join the writing team? Contact Dave Baar (davebaar@comcast.net) [Amen!]
  • Great opening set. Thank you. Henry, thanks for introducing this message in the context of Mother’s Day – nice and important tie in. I like the board – whether post-it, whiteboard or chalk – it tends to impression we are digging in learning, being taught. Great message closing with tender assurances and call to salvation. Great closing set – from “How Great Thou Art”…on!
  • The Cross was enough – reminded me of what Jesus did for me. Amen! 
  • Love hearing Kara sing!
  • Enjoyed the music today. Nice to have singable songs.
  • Thank you for this series Henry.

#2 - I received this email from Will and CarrieAnn Standfest who led the 13-week Financial Peace University class. They concluded it this last weekend.

Hey Henry,

Financial Peace University was great this year, we had a great group of families participate. We all learned together, and were able to encourage each other throughout the class. Six of the families taking the class were able to attend graduation this weekend. Since the beginning of class, these families were able to pay off $27,000 in debt, and put $4100 into savings!! It has been a blessing to be a part of lasting change in the lives of these families.

Thanks again for supporting FPU at Five Oaks, and I hope others can be encouraged by this.

Amazing! This course really works. Thanks to the Stanfests for leading this. It's a lot of work and their enthusiasm for it is contagious. 

#3 - Friend me on Facebook if you haven't already. Anyway, I changed my profile picture for the first time ever. I was playing with a new photo app while watching American Idol and loved the "sketch" option. So I got this email today:

Emerson loved the idea of coloring the photo you posted on facebook this morning.  Once finished, she hung it on the fridge next to her mother's day photo of herself she made in kindergarten.

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Not bad, although I had to go brush my teeth after seeing this. 

By the way, that's in San Diego from this last March, not far from Hodad's, Ocean Beach (huge hamburgers and featured in Diners and Dives).

#4 - Have I told you how much I'm loving my Kid's Hope mentoring hour each week? As a matter of fact, I think I have. Well our director Sarah Bowers and Jerry Meras met with the principle and they are loving it too. They would like TEN more mentors for next fall! Not everyone has the flexibility to do this during the working day, but if you can...

#5 - Speaking of Kid's Hope. One of the teachers at Woodbury Elementary sent me this email this week:

Today a third grader looked at my “Bible” tie and said, “Hey, I know those books.  Those are the books of the Bible."  I said, “What church do you go to?” “Five Oaks and some people from our church come here.”...She was reading, “Genesis, Matthew, Hebrews, Ephesians…” pronouncing them correctly.  It’s always good to know of a Bible teaching church!

#6 - Important News Flash: We're changing the time of the Saturday service for the summer starting in two Saturdays (June 2). And we're adding dinner afterward for anyone who wants to stay and eat. After surveying our Saturday Nighters, we found that lots of them preferred a later time for the summer, but we also found that starting later creates some trouble for families because it makes supper so late. So we're going going a bit later, 5pm, and we'll have some pizza or subs each week after the service. Should be fun. Come and try it out!

#7 - If you show up late this week to our worship gathering, you'll miss a new song written by several folks on our worship team. I asked Justin about the song and he wrote...

...Nathan Stocker, Alex Hovda, Alex and Analisa Gerbig, and I wrote it. We had a worship night where we all got together just to sing. It was the same night Erinn painted the Easter painting. She painted that while we were writing the song. The song came pretty quickly then we recorded a demo version of the song. Later we reworked the lyrics and it all came together.

It's really a great song. I heard it for the first time at Encounter last week. Be early because they start about 3 minutes BEFORE the service starts!

#8 - Not sure yet how much I'll focus on it, but we'll spend some time talking about spiritual warfare this weekend as we study Luke 13:10-21.

Blessings to you, Pastor Henry