e-news for week of 11/15/09

As we head toward Thanksgiving I’ve had a lot of ongoing reflection and thankfulness.

Top ten things I love about Forum:
10. The fascinatingly gifted/talented/quirky/and at times – outright goofy staff. Everyone on this team loves the Lord and loves serving Him.
9. All the incredible worship leaders we have. This past Sunday, as Becca led at the south campus and was talking about Forum being a “piece of heaven as we worship together” reminded me of both the presence of God and the joy it is as we come together. We literally have several of my personal favorite worship leaders. (BTW - Thanks to all of you – you all are the BEST!)
8. We have a truly intergenerational, multiethnic, socially diverse church body.
7. I love the commitment to God’s word.
6. I love the intentional strategy to take Christ to Columbia and the world.
5. I love that we try new stuff. I love that we’ve started a campus on the north end of town to help connect people to Jesus.
4. I love it that we intentionally connect people to Jesus. I think about this past Sunday night as Kay Matney was baptized.
3.
2.
(I’m going to ask you all to help fill in this list – I can keep going – but I’d love to hear from you all. I’m making my list and checking it twice and will add to it in next week’s email)
1. God is the center. That’s not a platitude – it’s what is.

I’m very pleased to communicate that Paxton Spencer came through surgery well. When talking about first hand/chair faith I cannot communicate the level of faith Freddy and Jessica have displayed throughout this journey. Let’s continue to lift Paxton up in prayer.

I also want to ask for your prayers as I do the memorial service for Om Sehgal this Saturday morning at 11 a.m. Om was a Hindu throughout his life and due to the prayer efforts of many people and especially his son, Om confessed Christ as Lord about 3 weeks before he passed. This funeral will have a lot of opportunity for respectfully sharing the gospel with his friends and family. Please pray for right words and the Spirit to lead and guide as Christ is lifted up.

Next Sunday (November 29) will be a family worship day. As a ministry, we perpetually strive to do new things to best help families come together around Christ. We’re trying this so that those children who are over two years old can worship with you as parents. The service will be designed that morning for the entire family. Our nursery will operate as usual.

This Sunday we continue in the First Hand Faith Series looking into the generational cycle and faith patterns of King David, Solomon, and Rehoboam.

See you Sunday. — Scott