I literally had to pinch myself last Sunday. It was one of those – “this is happening kind of moments.” The way I pinched myself before I walked down the aisle to say, “I do” to a beautiful and godly woman when I was 20. The way I felt when 33 people gave their lives to the Lord when I was preaching in India last year. When I stood up to give the greeting at north campus I momentarily lost composure and was speechless. We didn’t fully know what to expect, but this is for sure:
God is working in our lives and in our church. I wish I could lay out all that I’m aware of, but there just isn’t enough room. Maybe we should establish a God at Work blog for the Forum campuses. In just a nutshell:
North campus launched with 183 in attendance. Things went sterling. God was lifted up, people heard about Jesus, for a first Sunday – it was stellar. A friend came in from out of town to give us an outside set of eyes and his comment was, “From where I was, things went flawlessly.” Personally, I’m not after flawless (but it was nice to hear), we want to lift up Jesus and that happened for sure.
We’re out of room in the bulletin, so let me share with some of the nuts and bolts within the ministry: 790 overall attendance last Sunday, 737 weekly worship average over the past 4 weeks, 330 in the Sunday morning Bible studies, and offering average for 4 weeks is $21,300 (weekly budget needs $20,800
Those who have recently joined Forum or made decisions for Christ include: Travis Tipton baptized 2 -22, Louis and Alicia Hendricks joined 2- 22, Grace Vega baptized 3-8, Jeff & Janet Turnbull – joined 3-8, Spencer Hockman – baptized 3-15, Danny & Darla Tharp – joined 3-15, and Riley Blattner baptized 3-15.
As a staff and ministry, let me be transparently honest – all that is going on is beyond our abilities and capabilities and we know it. God leads us. God prompts us. God called us to partner with Him. We walk by faith. Let me encourage you to encourage and lift up our staff both in prayer and verbally. God drew a really energetic and solid team here – let’s keep building one another up.
I’m excited that God is calling people to be a part of Forum. I’m glad God is leading people lovingly toward the cross to glimpse the effects of sin on his son Jesus. Our sin caused that kind of spiritual breach. As we lift up Jesus, he draws people to him. He loves us so much. I hope you get it. I hope you never take his sacrifice for granted.
This week we’ll continue in our March Madness series looking at Jesus and how he was and is “off the charts.” What does that mean? Let me give you a taste – a heart pounding dunk in a game that electrifies the crowd will show up in the statistics chart as “2.” 2 points – that’s how it will show up on the charts. The play – the energy – the emotion – all those other things can’t be quantified. Jesus lived an “off the charts” kind of life and this Sunday we hope to give you a glimpse. Can’t wait to worship with you this Sunday - Scott
PS – We are having a carpet tearing out party in protest of the government bailouts (that’s not really why we are doing but I thought it might help get more people here) this Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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