e-news for week of 9/7 - 9/13

Before I start into my article, let me bare my heart for a moment. I’m writing this on 9-11. I pray we never forget and I hope we pray for our country, our president, our current leaders, our military, and our future leaders. Scripture commands it and my heart loves this great country. After reading the rest of this – and you want to read it all – please spend some moments in prayer for our nation.

Now here’s some of the Forum stuff that I love to share. I’m already really enjoying this new series, “Gone Fishing” and can’t wait to see where it will lead us as a church. I appreciate both Jared and Justin speaking over the past two Sundays as I planned sermons and trajectory for 2009. They are both great, aren’t they? (that’s rhetorical – I don’t want a flood of emails to confirm what I already know) This Sunday I’ll be sharing about fishing with a net. We’re going to look at a very familiar passage but I promise you – you’ll never look at it and fishing for that matter in the same way again. I hope you will be inspired on multi levels.

Secondly, I’m stoked. Frankly, it’s been one of those weeks of God activity. About 3 weeks ago I sent letters to 75 of my friends asking them to help support our multi-site effort with prayer and even funds. I received a couple of responses on Monday and the first one contained a daily promise to pray, a check for $1,000, and a letter of encouragement to me and to our body that I’ll share excerpts from at a future point. I’m startled when I think that here’s someone who will probably never attend Forum, who has no relationship to MO, yet because they view this as God’s activity – they want to partner and join Him at work. We’ll have a special offering/time of commitment for over and above our regular tithes and offerings that will occur on November 16. Please be praying about what you can do in terms of sacrificial giving.

And speaking of the activity of God – we have been praying about a place for what we’re calling our “One” day worship and this week God aligned things for us. First, let me tell you what the “One” day event is, what it’s designed to do, and where it will take place. “One” day will be a morning in which all three services will meet at the same time. We are one church, yet due to our desire to utilize our space with great fiscal stewardship – we have three services. November 9 at 10:30 a.m. we will meet as one at the Columbia Performing Arts Center. This is designed to accomplish a couple of things: 1. This will help all to get a glimpse of what our second campus will feel like. 2. It will help you to get a bigger picture as to the impact Forum has. Those who come to 8:15 worship tend to think of Forum as 125 people, 9:30 – 200 people, and 11 – 325 people with 140 in our children’s areas would be the overall rough “high” numbers in those services. I think it will be ultimately healthy for us to blow the roof off of a place as we assemble for “One” day. We’ll give you full details soon.

Here are some of the upcoming ministry opportunities that are in front of us:

· Pre-K through 5th grade Kickball Camp is being postponed until next Sunday night, Sept. 21 at 5:30 due to the rainy weather.

· September 21 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.

· Girlfriends Bible Study will begin on Tuesday, September 23 at 9:00 – 11 a.m. and 6:30 – 8 p.m. or Wednesday, September 24 at 6:30 p.m. You can pick up your book at the Information Center this Sunday. There will also be a MOMs (Mothers of Miracles) group that will meet on Tuesdays from 9 – 11 a.m. beginning September 30. You can also sign up for the MOMs group at the Information Center this Sunday.

· A Forum Forum on October 2 from 6:30 – 8 pm will be a time for our church body to hear about multi-site, to have questions answered concerning multi-site, and to spend time in prayer for our church body as we strive to intentionally connect people to Jesus. We ask that questions you might have be presubmitted by emailing carolyn@forumchristian.org so that we can tightly answer questions you might have.

· Our Annual Church Picnic will be October 5th at Twin Lakes Park. We are asking families to bring a couple of dishes to share. Meat and drinks will be provided. We will meet at 4 p.m. and the meal will be served at 5 p.m.

· There will be a Men of Impact Retreat on Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18. Watch for more details. The theme is “Staying on the Right Path.” Cost for the weekend is $15.

Truly looking forward to encountering God with you this Sunday -- Scott