e-news for week of 1/11 - 1/17

This Sunday we continue travelling on our road trip. I truly want to thank all of you for all the encouragement for this series. This is one I was up in the air on – and I can tell that it’s truly where God wanted to lead us as a church right now for a lot of reasons. This Sunday we’ll look at two of the most timeless truths that we need to be aware of connected to our existence. Read Exodus 5 ahead of time and see if you can spot at least two existential dilemmas that all men face – we’ll talk about them on Sunday.

As we are in the “road trip” series, at the same time – God has our congregation on a journey onto new horizons. On March 18, Lord willing, we will start the north campus. Each of you should receive a paper edition of the Forum Connection that will also be posted online for you to access. Let me be extremely clear – clear to the point of tedium and redundancy – I’m not excited about a second campus – I’m excited about the unchurched and dechurched that will get connected to Jesus. As a church, I am expecting the maturity of Christ in all of us during this whole journey. I do not want any of us focusing on who is leading worship at either campus, who is speaking at which campus, which minister is at what campus, etc. We are to focus on the mission at hand, to stay unified in terms of purpose, and to reach people in the name of Christ. Ever since the first day that I arrived here at Forum – unity has been on the forefront of our focus. This has been purposeful and deliberate. We are on the cusp of a ministry expansion that will require an even heightened sense of unity and any level of spiritual immaturity will only take our eyes off of Christ or the mission. It is time for laser like focus and that focus must be on the Lord.

I truly look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday. We were at 90% capacity in third service this past Sunday which is a great thing – helps us to rub shoulders with one another – and given the subzero temperatures – togetherness is a great thing. Also, do someone you care about an act of love and invite them to church. See you Sunday - Scott

e-news for week of 1/4 - 1/10

What an ultra cool Sunday in terms of kicking off the New Year in worship and in God's word. I love that we are a worshiping church. I love it that we are a church on mission to connect people to God. I love it that we are a giving, growing body. I love it new people tell me over and over how welcomed and accepted they feel. I love it that we are a church body that serves people in need. I love it that we are walking by faith as we seek to launch a second campus. (BTW - the elders Monday night decided to move forward with the second campus with the target date for the "dry run" on March 8 and the first full Sunday occurring on March 15, 2009 - so continue to pray hard - everyone who is on our mailing list will get a paper newsletter next week with a bunch of details and clearer vision as to what all will occur leading up to this launch) I love it that Forum is a church that loves God...that loves His word and His precepts.

I'm excited about this "Roadtrip" series. God has us on a spiritual journey - and though we don't fully know all the twists and turns on this road of life - we have a date with destiny and destination - namely heaven. This Sunday - we'll be talking about how God has a purpose for your life - a destiny and how to zero in on that. We continue "roadtripping" this Sunday - can't wait to worship our big, huge, awesome, glorious God with you this Sunday.

Scott