Mid-Week Memo

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Hi Five Oakers,

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

#1 - I'll mix my comments about service in with yours. Here's what you wrote on the Communication Cards this weekend:

  • Thank you for preaching the word so faithfully.
  • Excellent, compelling message, Henry. [I loved giving that message. I rewrote it in the car on the way home from our trip to Sioux Falls. (Thanks for driving both ways, Lois, so I could work!) Hanging out with my father-in-law gave me some more stories I look forward to sharing here and there. He just turned 84, so when he talks about his childhood it's so different from what most of us have experienced that just about everything he says is interesting or funny.]
  • Thank you worship band! Awesome! [I agree. They did so many interesting things with the music and their voices. And the sound mix was powerful. Thanks, Mark. It was deep sounding and even loud without being harsh once again. I think we're starting to hit our stride on this.]
  • I love my church! Great message and music – thank you Jesus. He is alive and lives in me. 
  • Love – love – love the service. 
  • Aimee did an amazing job singing harmony, beautiful and anointed. The “reserved for families with children” is a nice welcoming touch on the back rows. Keep up the good work Five Oaks. [I made a point to tell Aimee what a great job she did in that song. Perfect.]
  • I liked introducing myself by name to those sitting around me and learning my “neighbors” name. [There's more of that to come. We need to connect better in our services. We are not a huge mega-church where people go to be anonymous. We have an intimate setting. We need to capitalize on that without making people feel uncomfortable. One of our members gave me a great idea and we're going to run with it. I'll be explaining what we're doing in my message on June 9/10 weekend.]
  • Thanks for rockin’ the house Justin!  Another great message, Henry! 
  • Great music, great mix, perfect volume. Great message, great energy.

#2 - You can now look at a more in-depth review of our weekend service here. It includes the elements of worship that guide our service (i.e., our order of worship, our liturgy), snippets from songs we sing, all the readings and prayers, the benediction and a video highlight from my message. This is a great opportunity to spend some more time in the prayers and remember how God spoke to you in the service.

#3 - This is our first Saturday supper for the summer and the new Saturday service time for the summer: 5pm. The staff sampled Davanni's pizza this week to help pick the kind of pizza we will be serving. Nice to work at Five Oaks! I can't stay for supper this week because we are serving the Cuban meal to the winning family from the auction! It's going to be a fun evening.

#4 - Two dates to put in your calendar for the summer:

  • St. Croix/Hudson Baptism Service and All-Church Picnic - July 22 - One outdoor service that weekend followed by a baptism in the St. Croix and a picnic for everyone who wants to stick around.
  • Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit - August 9 & 10 - We had 120 Five Oakers attend last year and I've NEVER heard anyone regret going. Here's what I hear all the time: "I wish I hadn't waited so long to come." This is for everybody including stay-at-home parents and students. You will be spiritually fed and inspired. It's profound and practical. It will blow your mind. Join over 100,000 other people around the world. Make this your first year. Is there anything else I can say to convince you to come?

#5 - Here are all the comments we received back from first-time guests:

  • 5/21 - I enjoyed the service and felt welcomed.  I appreciated the Bible-based teaching sermon.
  • 5/21 - Worship is awesome, I like the idea of communion every Sunday.  Never had that before.  The lighting of the candles I like.  All and all I like it very much.  The messages are very good and presented very well.

#6 - They told us in our Kid's Hope training that this question would be asked at some time: "How many other kids do you meet with?" I got the question last week from my Kids Hope Mentee! It was fun to say, "You're the only one." The school would like 10 additional mentors next year. If you are able, will you prayerfully consider?

#7 - Coming this fall: We're going to plant ourselves for about four weeks on a couple of verses in Luke that bring out the importance of Scripture. We'll explore the trustworthiness of the Bible, how to study the Bible, etc. Start praying about a friend or family member you can invite to this series...someone with a lot of questions or doubts about Bible and faith.

#8 - Some fun and/or informative stuff I came across this week applying my "Input" strength:

  • You know I like eating and I'm a firm believer in eating responsibly (i.e., eating healthy, controlling portions, and eating delicious things), so here are 9 Tips for Eating Christianly.
  • I also like taking quick naps for quick recovery during the day and found this helpful and full of great, practical information I've been applying with great results: "How to nap"
  • Along the same lines, Michael Hyatt did a podcast on napping. Did you know some really famous people made a habit of napping. Check out the manuscript of the episode here or his post on the episode here.  
  • Patrick Lencioni says creativity arises from being "joyfully inefficient" here. Thanks to the inefficiencies of my Input "strength," sometimes I feel like I should be the most creative person in the universe!

#9 - We'll be singing a song written by Dan Lukas this weekend that has a great tie-in with my message on Luke 14:1-11. Here are the words so you can begin to prepare to worship with them:

"Teach Me"

you hear the humble when they cry
feel the wounds we have inside
you love the poor as they are
your heart is for the ones far away

i want to be like you jesus
i want to be like you jesus

teach me to be humble
teach me what is great
teach me to love others
teach me not to hate

you find the broken in us all
you welcome in the prodigal
you call into to darkness come
you call us daughters and sons

See you on the weekend.

Blessings to you, Pastor Henry