e-news for week of 8/10 - 8/16

Intentionally connecting people to Jesus. I now say it in my sleep. I examine my day to day routine through it. I try and order my schedule around that phrase. Forum, this is our driving impetus. I recently read an observation that described all that occurs in heaven: worship, love, a state of perfection and peace, genuine community, new bodies, and more than our words can describe. The reality is: one thing that is no longer an option in heaven is leading someone who doesn’t know Jesus to him. Last week you were given an informational brochure entitled, “I. C.” that lays out some of the details about a focused and aggressive plan to strive to intentionally connect people to Jesus and impact Columbia. If you didn’t get one of those, please pick one up this Sunday.

Toward this end, I recently sent letters to over 70 of my personal friends in churches that I’ve served asking them for prayer primarily. By the time I’m done with the letters we will have sent those out to nearly 150 families who are kingdom minded. We are already getting a lot of response to this. Other people in God’s kingdom are going to be on their knees daily for this effort. Some of them are expressing the desire to help Forum financially toward this end. Primarily I wanted prayer warriors both within and outside of Forum to be praying for us. I do want to challenge each family within Forum to begin to pray about a sacrificial gift over and above your normal tithe to go toward this effort. Melody and I are committed to this effort and if every family were to give sacrificially as we have chosen to do, the entire effort would be fully financed many times over. That’s simply me communicating that I believe this is a God thing and that we need to hop on board. I firmly believe that when God is leading a ministry in a specific direction you are to join God where He is working/leading. That’s the type of thing that led my family to Forum, the type of thing that led Jared here, the type of thing that led…. (the list could go on and on) Let me encourage you to make this a significant part of your prayer life as well as asking the Lord what He would have you to do fiscally and service wise toward this effort. I love serving the Lord here with you and can’t wait to see how the answered prayers unfold as we see more people intentionally connected to Jesus.

Here’s some of what’s happening on the forefront:

· Fall program kick offs are just around the corner. So watch the web site and your bulletin for specific dates and times.

· If you still haven’t become part of a Life Group, please contact Ted Mountjoy. Those will be in full swing within the next month.

· September 21st Ben Merold – one of the all time legends where church growth and preaching are concerned will be preaching in all three of our services. The Harvester Christian Church that he ministered to entered into a multi-site ministry several years ago. Should be a great time of challenge.

· A Forum Forum on October 2nd will be a gathering in the middle of the week for information sharing. It’ll happen in the auditorium from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

· Our Annual Church Picnic will be October 5th at Twin Lakes Park. We’ll fill you in on the details soon.

· Katelyn still needs help with the 4th and 5th grade class at 11:00. She has two Sundays a month that are open. Would you be willing to help out one or both of those Sundays? If so, please contact Katelyn.